Before Benjamin could snap back at Kanu, I asked Kanu first.
“What do you mean, it’s about the same whether we take the elevator out or not?”
Shouldn’t things get better if we leave this leaking undersea base? Why would being trapped in a place where water was leaking in be about the same as taking the elevator out? Did he perhaps know something about the Infinite Church, or have some other information? Beside me, Benjamin shouted at me.
“Hey! I was talking first! Why the hell are you butting in!”
“It means exactly what I said. There’s not much difference.”
“Just wait quietly.”
Lee Jihyun, Benjamin, Kanu, and me. The four of us were each saying something beside the elevator doors when—screeeeeech! A grating noise rang out. I turned my head to check the source of the sound, and saw Kevin, who had taken over a corner of the elevator, scraping the elevator wall with the blade of his axe. Then he said in a hoarse voice,
“Shut up!”
At that charisma, everyone who had been talking closed their mouths. Lee Jihyun glanced at us and Kevin, then buried her head back toward the elevator circuitry. Benjamin, who had been looking at Kevin, grumbled quietly from across from me.
“This is all your fault.”
“······Does blaming other people like that make your life any better?”
Benjamin lowered his body as if he wanted to lunge at me right away. But he didn’t attack. It seemed to be because Kevin, who was a good 10 centimeters taller than him and looked 20 kilograms heavier, was still watching us with an axe in hand. Benjamin said to me as if warning me,
“Consider yourself lucky today.”
Then he went over beside Carter, leaned against the elevator wall, and began glaring at me and Kanu.
Well. If I had been lucky today, wouldn’t I already be lying on a beach drinking a cocktail and listening to music, or taking a walk under the blue sky with the wind blowing against me?
Not stuck in the deep sea like this, trying to escape in a flooded elevator with people I didn’t know. I blew Benjamin out of my head in two seconds and tried to start talking to Kanu again.
At that moment, the elevator spoke to the people.
[Over capacity.]
The instant I heard that flat, pitchless voice, a chill ran down my back. Now that I thought about it, everyone had already gotten on, but the elevator doors still hadn’t closed. I’d thought it was because the doors had been open for a long time, or because Lee Jihyun was looking at the circuitry inside the elevator, but apparently that wasn’t all there was to it.
With the buttons for the 1st through 7th floors, as well as BA (Basic Area), lit up, the elevator spoke to us again as if ordering us out.
[Over capacity.]
Everyone turned their heads and looked at Lee Jihyun, who was standing beside the doors. Then Lee Jihyun looked at the water pooled on the elevator floor and the people, and spoke emotionlessly.
“It’s because of the weight of the water. The elevator can operate. It can’t go up because of the combined weight of the people and the water that’s risen past our ankles.”
James looked around at the watery elevator floor and asked Lee Jihyun,
“How heavy can water be? It says the capacity is fifty people, but there are only twelve of us here, and the water’s barely up to our ankles.”
Lee Jihyun merely stared blankly at people’s faces with a soulless expression. She looked like she didn’t even want to explain. Beside Kim Gayoung, Yu Geum looked at the elevator floor and the water level that had risen past her ankles, then splashed her way to the far end of the elevator. Then she splashed sideways again and began muttering.
“If we assume it’s 400 centimeters from here to that end, and roughly 300 centimeters from here to there, and if the current water height is about 25 centimeters······ Oh. Since 1 liter of water is the same as 1 kilogram, divide by 1000.”
Yu Geum spread her fingers wide, measured the water level on the floor, and sighed several times. Impressive. She was calculating the weight of the water with a formula. I had only just now remembered that 1 liter was 1 kilogram.
Yu Geum bit her lip, furrowed her brow, and said,
“It says 3,750 kilograms is the operable weight, but the water alone is roughly around 3,000 kilograms. But I calculated it roughly, so the water might weigh even more.”
Kim Gayoung said, “Our Geum is the best,” and vigorously kneaded Yu Geum’s shoulders. Beside them, I clapped quietly and then started doing simple multiplication. If I took the average as 75 kilograms and multiplied by twelve people. Then just the people here weighed around 900 kilograms.
Assuming the water really weighed 3,000 kilograms, to get down to 750 kilograms, at least two or more people had to get off. At that moment, Carter clung to the metal handrail inside the elevator with both arms and said,
“I······ I’m absolutely not getting off.”
Benjamin shouted wildly at the people.
“The people who got on the elevator last should hurry up and get off, if they have any conscience.”
At those words, Logan, who had been leaning against the elevator wall, burst out laughing. Ahahahaha! Low laughter from people like Sam, James, and Kanu filled the elevator.
Lee Jihyun and Kevin had gotten on early, and the rest of us had all entered the elevator at around the same time. I couldn’t even remember whether I’d gotten on late or early. Do you really think people are going to listen to you when you haven’t exactly been acting conscientiously yourself? Sure enough, no one got off the elevator after hearing Benjamin’s words.
The elevator spoke as if scolding us.
[Over capacity.]
When no one moved, Benjamin pointed at Sam, who was smirking, and said,
“You fat pig bastard. Get off already! If you were gone, we could fit two more people.”
Sam shouted angrily.
“You think if I get off, I’m going alone? I’ll grab you and take you with me. You ready to get off with a pig? Huh? You ready? I’m taking at least you down with me!”
Sam spread both arms wide and walked a few steps to the right and left like a crab, making Benjamin spew curses. James and Kanu watched the scene and snickered. Kevin shook his head and, looking at the elevator wall, said,
“Whoever it is, you’d better decide quickly.”
Then he dragged the axe blade across the elevator wall once more. Screeeeeech.
“I marked the water level as soon as I came into the elevator, and it keeps rising.”
So he hadn’t done that just to scare people earlier? On the elevator wall Kevin had scored with his axe, there was one line at the height of the ankle bone, and now another line had clearly appeared up around the calf.
······The water had gone down to about ankle height, and now it was rising again. Even with the drainage system running, we couldn’t stop the water from coming in. Fear began settling over people’s faces.
Logan asked the now-quiet people,
“So what. Do we have to fight it out and randomly shove about three people off?”
Logan rolled his neck loudly to loosen it, then said quietly, “I’m fine with that.” Then he loosened his wrists and fingers threateningly. At that action, Kevin silently tightened his grip on the axe handle. A faint tension brushed through the elevator. Logan looked around at the people and asked,
“Anyone here voluntarily feel like getting off the elevator?”
There was no answer. Logan was looking at Benjamin, and strangely, Kevin was looking at Benjamin too. Benjamin met Logan’s eyes, then turned his head and met Kevin’s eyes, then started cursing, asking why they were both looking at him.
We were already short on time, and now they wanted to start punching and wrestling inside this elevator? ······To be honest, if we were going to fight over riding the elevator, I’d rather just get off. I wasn’t exactly the lucky type on a normal day, so Kevin’s axe might slip from his hand or something and come flying at me. Let’s say Benjamin got forced out by violence. Then what? Who would be next?
If I was going to get caught up in a fight and get injured somewhere, it might be better to stay healthy and find some other way to escape. If that didn’t work, I could go back toward Main Operations.
But if I made that decision on my own here, there were at least two people who would be easily driven out by force. Those two had struggled to dive down and open the valve, and I didn’t want to see them get kicked off. Besides, I was responsible for the lives of the kids in my backpack too.
“Everyone’s desperate to live. Who would want to get off here?”
Emma, sitting in the corner, spoke while submerged in water. Since she was crouched on the floor, it looked like she’d be submerged up to her knees soon, but Emma sat there on the floor without moving an inch. She was sitting there like that even though her whole body was getting soaked.
Thinking that if a fight broke out, it might not be a bad idea to get off quickly and get back on, I looked at the door, then noticed that all the lights on the elevator buttons were lit. Almost unconsciously, I asked Lee Jihyun a question.
“Engineer! Can’t we have more than half the people get off here, stop the elevator on the 3rd or 4th floor, and drain the water there? The people can walk up the stairs and get back on at the 3rd floor.”
We could just avoid the 1st floor where water was pouring in, stop the elevator on another floor, bail out the water, and then get on. Lee Jihyun gave me a faint smile, then hardened her face toward the others and said,
“That’s a decent suggestion. Does anyone have a better idea? If not, I’d like to adopt this one.”
Maybe he thought he’d be forced out by violence if he stayed still, because Benjamin hurriedly pointed at Emma and said,
“Then tell her to get off first. I’m going up on the elevator whether it’s the 3rd floor or the 4th. I swam my ass off and opened the drain hole! In the first place, the people who did nothing and just got a free ride on the elevator should be the ones getting off!”
······Try saying that to Kevin too. Kim Gayoung said to Benjamin,
“You pathetic bastard.”
“······.”
“You loser.”
Whether he didn’t understand what insult he’d heard, or whether the translation came late, Benjamin only got angry after a few seconds.
“You don’t know when someone’s going easy on you!”
“You don’t know when someone’s going easy on you~”
Kim Gayoung snorted and mimicked Benjamin’s English. Then she looked at the people inside the elevator and got off. I looked at the people after Kim Gayoung, then got off the elevator too. I’d made the suggestion, so I had to set an example.
[Over capacity.]
Listening to the voice behind me, I followed Kim Gayoung’s back. Since Kim Gayoung and I had gotten off, it seemed like Yu Geum wouldn’t be kicked out. Even if she was forced off the elevator, she only had to walk up to the 3rd floor. Just as I started climbing the stairs on the 1st floor, I saw Yu Geum walking behind me.
“Why did you get off? You should have stayed on.”
Yu Geum smiled ambiguously and said,
“Most of us will probably have to get off anyway.”