I rubbed my head this way and that with a wet towel, imagining the water draining down through those small holes from earlier. Whether the people who had struggled to dive into the water and open the drains had done so for nothing would be revealed starting now. Looking at the water that came up to my ankles, I thought of the streets currently submerged and the ruined cities. It wasn't as if those cities had been submerged due to a lack of drains.
The Arctic glaciers had already almost completely melted. Because most Arctic glaciers existed while floating in the ocean, melting them didn't significantly raise sea levels. The biggest problem was the Antarctic ice sheet. Unlike the Arctic, Antarctica was in a state where massive chunks of ice sat atop the Antarctic continent. As the Antarctic ice sheet melted, sea levels rose continuously, and quite a few cities were submerged.
Property values in the coastal cities that had supposedly been quite expensive hit rock bottom. It was because, as the water level rose, they had become breeding grounds for bugs and trash, or the land and buildings had been submerged.
I approached the railing to watch the water drain, with the damp towel on my head. The water that had been lapping at my ankles until just now was continuing to recede, leaving barely enough to cover the soles of my feet. I could feel the water that had nearly reached the third floor slowly disappearing. Licking the salt lingering at the corner of my lips, I felt a small measure of relief.
"...Maybe the elevator is working normally, too." A hope flickered in my mind like a lightbulb. Just then, Carter approached me and called out.
"Dentist."
"Yes."
"What's in that bag?"
What do you mean, what. I had a cat and a snake, one each. Come to think of it, under the whale doll that was under the cat, there should have been a flashlight and a family photo that I had completely forgotten about. There were also sugar-free candies and chocolates that I had tossed in like scattering seeds, and a water bottle half-filled with water. Now that I thought about it, unlike in my dreams, I hadn't shared candy with people very often.
At Carter's observation, I looked around and saw that among the people, I was the only one wearing a backpack. I answered nonchalantly.
"It's nothing much."
"What do you have in there that you carry it around like that?"
I was about to say I had a cat, but then I realized that animals were prohibited items inside the undersea base, and closed my mouth. Gim Gayeong, Yu Geumi, and Yi Jihyeon were people who knew I carried animals in my backpack, and who had willingly invested their own time and lives in situations where they might die, claiming they would release marine creatures that had nothing to do with them. How would this person react to animals? I read an unknown menace in the other's tone, and so I spoke to Carter again. Getting caught with a cat didn't seem like it would do me any good.
"...It's really nothing much."
"Hand it over!"
And Carter reached his hand toward my backpack. He tried to snatch the bag away entirely, so I stepped back in surprise. As I retreated a few steps, Carter spoke to the person behind me.
"Grab the bag!"
At that moment, someone grabbed the backpack I was wearing from behind. I pushed against Carter's shoulders and arms with my arms as he charged from the front, and looked back at the person latched onto my back. It was Benjamin. Benjamin was trying to pull the bag off my shoulder. As I shoved the strap that had slipped down to my forearm back onto my shoulder, I snapped at Carter in front of me.
"What do you think you're doing!"
I heard Yu Geumi scream. She had been sitting on the floor where the water had receded, massaging her waist and legs. Gim Gayeong shouted toward us.
"Let him go!"
Just then, my left leg was suddenly lifted into the air. As I was holding Carter's arms with both of mine and struggling against him, Benjamin had grabbed my left leg with his other hand while holding the backpack. Benjamin ordered Carter.
"Grab the other leg!"
Fat chance. Carter tried to let go of his arms that I was grabbing to grab my remaining right leg, but I didn't let go of Carter's arms. Leaning against the railing, I held my center of gravity and endured. Benjamin had lifted only one of my legs, but when I thrashed like a caught fish, he lost his grip on my left leg too. As the opponent reached his hand out to grab my leg again, I kicked his hand hard with my foot.
"Argh! Fuck!"
At Benjamin's scream and the commotion, Kanu and Logan, who had been sharing a cigarette in the corner, were watching the bizarre sight of the three of us. Kanu approached and asked me leisurely.
"What are you doing?"
At that voice devoid of tension, I felt like strength was draining from my entire body involuntarily.
"These guys are trying to steal my backpack!"
I shouted before either of them could speak first. Gim Gayeong, who had been shouting from the opposite hallway, came running toward us and slipped spectacularly because of the water on the floor, falling over. Yu Geumi, who had barely been walking, could be seen in the distance struggling to help up Gim Gayeong. Yi Jihyeon, lacking stamina, sat in a chair unable to move, only looking up to watch the spectacle.
Carter still had both his arms in my grip, and Benjamin was tugging at my backpack. Kanu blew out cigarette smoke and now asked Carter a question.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"What do you mean what! Look at this bastard, he's the only one with a bag! Hey! What's in that bag!"
I shouted in anger.
"What are you gonna do even if you know! This is my bag! Get your hands off! Why don't you piss off?!"
"You bastard! You! You never take this bag off your body except when going in the water! We don't know how much you've packed, so let us see! Who said we're stealing it!"
At those absurd words, I thrashed about and shouted.
"You're already trying to steal it, you brainless bastard!"
As Carter and I were shouting, Kanu let out another sigh, grabbed the backpack, and from behind grabbed the waistband of Benjamin's jeans—he had been aiming a kick at my ankle—and pulled. Since Benjamin had moved away from me, he automatically had no choice but to lose his grip on my backpack. Logan merely giggled with his hands in his pockets, watching our spectacle. Now only Carter and I remained confronting each other, still holding each other's arms. If the opponent tried to headbutt me by thrusting his head forward, I matched the timing and twisted my head this way and that, to the back or side. Watching that spectacle, Kanu spoke in a slow voice.
"Show what's inside the bag, kid."
Was he talking to me? A kid talking to me? Considering my age, I was speechless at Kanu's words, but at those words Carter let go of his arms with a displeased face and distanced himself from me. Benjamin was also at some distance from me. Panting and catching my breath, I barely calmed the breathing that felt like it would burst. I was in a state where I had prepared to jump in the opposite direction if either of them rushed at me.
Seeing that neither charged even after a few seconds, I alternately glared at the two men with my face scrunched up, then slowly took off my backpack. And I placed the backpack at my feet and pulled the zipper down. As the backpack zipper opened to a certain extent, I lifted the cat inside with both hands.
There was probably no need to tell them about the snake. Though I had only grabbed the cat around the chest, its body stretched out long like cheese. While I was blankly surprised at that strange body structure, Carter approached me. Then he looked inside the bag beneath the cat's lower body and snapped in annoyance.
"There's nothing in here!"
I had no idea what this guy had expected. Did he want me to be carrying money in my bag? ...Didn't it occur to him that I got a job because I'm broke? And how much money would a guy who just got a job have, anyway? Plus, did he really think I'd be carrying something as useless as money in a disaster situation like this? Pathetic bastard. I let out a big sigh.
"I told you, it's a cat."
When I answered calmly, Carter made all sorts of displeased faces and then stepped back. I tried to put the cat I was holding back into the backpack. However, someone snatched the cat from my hands like lightning. Benjamin spewed curses at me and threw the cat over the railing.
For a moment, I couldn't understand what I had seen. Without being able to think at all, I immediately threw my body outside the railing. I'll catch it! I reached out and gripped the cat's waist tightly with both hands like catching a basketball. In midair, I saw the cat's face with its eyes wide open in surprise. My body, floating in empty air, was plummeting straight down.
Before hitting the water, someone grabbed my ankle and calf. I hung in the air without even making a sound. Fearing I might drop the cat from the shock, I put strength into my hands, but no matter how hard I squeezed, the cat felt like a furry water balloon, and I felt like it would slip from my hands if I relaxed my arm strength.
After securely tucking the cat I held between my chin and arm while hanging upside down, I raised my head to see Gim Gayeong and Yu Geumi holding my ankle, and Kanu holding my opposite calf.
Gim Gayeong let out a loud groan and grabbed my left calf with both hands, pulling. Yu Geumi, her lips pale white, grabbed my clothes with wet hands. By the time the two of them pulled at the clothes on my thighs and stomach with all their might, I finally began to understand with my head what I had done.
...It was quite a shock, but falling into that seawater itself wasn't that great a danger. Because drainage was progressing gradually, the water level had still only risen to about the second floor.
Even if I had fallen as is, it would probably have been no more than the impact of diving into water from about a one-story height for me. If the cat had fallen alone, it would have been an enormous shock for a cat smaller than me.
It was around the time my lower body had almost returned to the third floor as Yu Geumi and Gim Gayeong grabbed and pulled at the clothes on my chest and forearms.
A loud scream was heard from my left. With my upper body barely draped over the railing, I looked to the side to see Benjamin flying over the railing and crashing down below.
"Uwaaaaaaah!"
And with that, he plunged into the water with a splash. Apparently, Kanu had thrown him.
The cat firmly nestled between my neck and shoulder let out a low protest, as if displeased. The moment my feet touched the floor, I immediately put the cat into the backpack. And I zipped it shut. Looking to the side, Sam and James were dusting off their hands next to Kanu. Only after putting the backpack on my back did I finally exhale a breath deeply from my body stiffened with tension.
Gim Gayeong sat on the floor completely limp, and Yu Geumi hung against the railing, breathing low.