After Tyler, one person from the engineering team and one from the mining team came by as well. Excluding the patients who had visited purely because of cavities or fallen prosthetics, when I compiled the statistics for the past three days’ visitors, I realized that enough people to count with both hands had come to the dental clinic because of a single person.
If only the leader of Engineering Team A could hold back, I might be able to laze around and still get paid. Or if his patience ran out a little more, I might have to work without a moment’s rest. Using the tablet I had, I searched for Sin Haeryang in the employee search field through the undersea base program.
[Engineering Team A Leader Sin Haeryang *Resting]
There was a chat function, so I considered sending him a message, then wondered whether it was really proper to contact someone who was resting after work hours. And when I thought about what I would even say, I lost the courage to start a chat.
What was I supposed to ask if I contacted him? Nice to meet you, Mr. Sin Haeryang. I’m Bak Muhyeon, a dentist who arrived at the undersea base three days ago. I hear you’ve been going around knocking the teeth out of people on the engineering and mining teams. Is that true? What’s that? You’ve never done such a thing? I must have misunderstood? I apologize. Ah, you want me to come with you to a back alley for a moment—does the undersea base even have back alleys? I’m the only dentist within a thirty-kilometer radius, so could you please avoid hitting me in the face?
I grinned to myself, letting my imagination run wild, then shook my head. I’d meet him someday. I searched every name I’d heard over the past three days in the employee search.
[Engineering Team A Staff Gang Sujeong *Resting]
After hesitating for quite a while, I used the chat program for the first time. [Hello, Ms. Gang Sujeong. Thank you for the carrier. Thanks to you, my bag found its way to my room. I’ll buy you something good to eat later. Have a good day today.] Then I looked through the posts on the undersea base bulletin board and the cafeteria menu, checked the appointment time, and called in the next patient.
Overall, women’s oral conditions tended to be much better than men’s. Teenagers’ teeth were a similarly disastrous mess regardless of gender, but from their twenties onward, the difference became obvious. In other words, among the human specimens who guzzled alcohol, smoked, or wandered around like beasts, stinking without having brushed their teeth, the proportion of males was overwhelming. Surprisingly, though, people in the undersea base seemed to make at least some effort to take care of their teeth, regardless of gender.
Well, of course they would. If I were out in space, I’d brush my teeth diligently too. Just being on a spaceship would feel like my head was about to burst, so I wouldn’t want to add the headache of cavities on top of that. In an isolated situation, where it wasn’t easy to receive medical services exactly when you wanted them, many people tried hard to take care of themselves. Of course, there were plenty of humans who didn’t.
The man named Sato in front of me was one of those who did. Sato Ryusuke, an engineer on Team B, was one of the few humans among those who had visited the dental clinic at this undersea base who flossed “properly.” The reason was simple. He had two snaggle teeth, and there were many areas that couldn’t be brushed with a toothbrush, so foreign matter would get stuck if he didn’t floss.
“Do you happen to do orthodontics as well?”
“You want to correct your snaggle teeth?”
“Yes. Is it possible?”
“Nothing has been decided regarding orthodontics yet. I’ve already made an inquiry, but they said it’ll take about a month for the regulations to be set. I’ll let you know when I get an answer. As you may already know, orthodontic treatment takes at least two to three years, and it’ll be bothersome, uncomfortable, and painful.”
Sato Ryusuke was in his early thirties and had severe malocclusion, so screws would have to be placed in his gums, meaning it would take at least two to three years. I explained the general details of orthodontics to him at length. If he got braces, perfectly healthy natural teeth would have to be extracted, and there would be foods he’d need to avoid.
I couldn’t help wondering whether someone who rode a submersible into the deep sea to repair an undersea base could even undergo orthodontic treatment. Wearing braces and walking around inside the base itself probably wouldn’t be an issue. I explained how much it would cost, by Korean medical service standards, if he had braces attached directly to his teeth. After telling him he’d need to be careful about all sorts of things once the treatment began, and adding just in case that he should be especially careful about fights or accidents, the Japanese man snorted.
“As long as it isn’t Team Leader Sin Haeryang, there’s no reason to fight in the undersea base.”
“The leader of Engineering Team A?”
“Have you met him?”
“No. Not yet. I’ve only heard his name.”
Sato began muttering something in Japanese. It seemed like he was wishing for Team Leader Sin Haeryang’s physical well-being in his own way, but he spoke so quickly that even my translator couldn’t catch any of it.
“What kind of person is he?”
I expected an answer like a farmer harvesting corn at the bottom of the sea, or Muhammad Ali of the abyss, but Sato’s reply was simple.
“He’s the leader of the Korean engineering team. His personality is a little peculiar.”
From his thin lips, the Japanese pronunciation of “peculiar” was translated by my old translator in a grotesquely drawn-out way. I opened my mouth to ask what exactly was peculiar about him, then stopped. I could see stagnant hatred in this man. Like old gasoline. Someone like me, who had lived harboring hatred, noticed it more easily. He was openly displaying some emotion of unknown origin, but facing it directly made me uncomfortable, so I shook my head slightly.
“I suppose his teeth must be perfectly fine.”
At that, Sato smiled. As soon as his thin lips lifted at the corners, the troublesome snaggle tooth was briefly revealed. His eyes gleamed. Sato, who had been fiddling with the orange whale, said,
“Doctor, did you come from China? Or America?”
I had learned this through the undersea base’s employee search, but nowhere were the nationality, age, race, or gender of anyone in the undersea base displayed. The intention was to support life in the undersea base without discrimination or prejudice, but in reality, people seemed to be forming teams with others of the same nationality, most team leaders seemed to have male names, and fairly underhanded things like work assignments changing according to age appeared to be going on.
It seemed like even questions like this shouldn’t be asked, but most of the people working at the undersea base already appeared to know one another’s nationality and age. He probably thought I was Chinese. He must not know my name. Most of my outward appearance looked East Asian. Except for one place. It was probably because of my eyes.
“I’m of Korean descent.”
Sato’s smile vanished in an instant.
“But your eye color.”
“Yes. One eye is bright blue. The other one is pitch black instead.”
When I was young, I developed acquired heterochromia after a traffic accident, but fortunately, I didn’t go blind. I don’t remember it, but I was told I had several surgeries as well. It doesn’t stand out much in daily life, but depending on how the light hits it, my iris sometimes looks blue. At my answer, Sato raised only the corners of his mouth in a faint smile and said smoothly,
“I’ll send Team Leader Sin your way soon so you won’t be bored, Doctor.”
Wow... A slight chill ran down my spine. It felt a little like the terror I’d felt when I rode the undersea base’s central elevator down three thousand meters.
According to Elliott, everyone who worked at this undersea base was required to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Only those who passed could work under the sea. In other words, most of the people I met were those certified by specialists as having no major psychological issues. The madness Sato had revealed, ever so slightly, was neatly tucked away and disappeared. I answered his words as if they were nothing important.
“...That’s all right. I want to get paid without working.”
My iris, damaged in the accident, felt itchy. I complimented him several times on taking relatively good care of his teeth, then gave him dental floss. When he said he would come again next time, I replied that I would see him then.
When I came back from the restroom, I saw the dental floss neatly placed on the waiting table. He must not have taken it because he already had one he used. Or maybe he didn’t like the one I gave him. I decided to think positively about the fact that one new container of dental floss was still in my hands.
Apparently, the engineering team leaders weren’t close enough to gather and drink together or go hang out together. Or maybe it was just that Sato and Team Leader Sin Haeryang were like that. Come to think of it, that team leader named Ivan hadn’t looked very sociable either.
I tossed the dental floss into the air several times and caught it, then threw it into the box full of dental floss. Had that remark meant he would recommend that the man come get dental treatment? Or was it, as I suspected, a warning of assault? I sighed once and called in the next patient.