Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

For a while, they discussed their escape when Shin Hae-ryang spoke to Vladimir with dissatisfaction.

“You said you’d quit drinking.”

“Did you really believe a Russian would quit drinking?”

As Shin Hae-ryang glared at him, Vladimir glared back, then looked around at the quiet surroundings and said, “We’ll head to North District.”

North District was located to the north of the cross-shaped underwater base. It was said to house both mining facilities and accommodations for the mining teams, but I had never been there before. We had to go from West District to Central Districrt, and then from Central District to North District. Everyone who had been sitting and resting stood up.

In particular, the engineers from multiple teams followed behind Vladimir. Only Yoo Geum-yi, Carlos, the sleeping child, and I were left. Carlos was a member of one of the mining teams, and Yoo Geum-yi was a researcher, so they belonged to different teams. As for me, I didn’t really have a team. The engineers’ judgment must be right. I trust the experts’ opinions.

Nikita looked at the child and spoke with a scowl, “Which crazy bastard brought a kid into an underwater base?”

No answer came.

No matter how much I let my imagination run wild, I couldn’t think of anything good. The fact that the child had been asleep after taking a sleeping pill made it even more so. We tried to wake the child up but failed, so we decided to take turns carrying the child. Seo Ji-hyuk was the first to carry the child on his back, mentioning that he had a cousin of a similar age.

As soon as the conversation ended, everyone started walking. It was a bit slower than the usual alert pace, but faster than normal walking. I had thought that in a dangerous situation when escaping, one would sprint with incredible speed like a short-distance runner, but it wasn’t the case at all.

When I expressed my doubt, Shin Hae-ryang shook his head. “If we move like that, we’ll run out of stamina quickly. And it would be difficult to respond if something suddenly happens.”

Baek Ae-young, who had been listening to the conversation, came over to me and asked, “Is West District completely submerged in water?”

“Yes. I was the last one out.”

Hearing that, Baek Ae-young made a complicated expression. “Why is that?”

“Because of the things in the room.”

“Must be something important, huh?”

“Well… yeah.”

In the backpack I was carrying, there were two unidentified children. I couldn’t help but quietly ask, “Are they still alive?”

Baek Ae-young looked at me with a strange gaze. Then she looked at the child on Seo Ji-hyuk’s back and looked back at me. She then answered nervously, “No.”

She moved away from me, still frowning. It seemed like she had some kind of misunderstanding. When someone tapped my shoulder, I turned my head and saw a familiar face.

“Thanks for waking us up. On behalf of the team, I’d like to express our gratitude,” Vladimir said.

I felt embarrassed by the grandiose expression of gratitude right in front of me. “Oh. No problem. Anyone would have done the same.”

As I said this, seemingly embarrassed, Vladimir immediately cut me off.

“I wouldn’t have.”

“…”

“That’s why I’m thanking you.”

With that, he immediately turned on his heel and walked back to his team. Wow… why are the people here so cold? It’s chilly. Cold. Extremely cold.

After a few days, it seemed like all the engineers had a certain coldness about them. They acted as if they were heartless iron robots. I had lived my life with a cold rationality and a scientific mindset, but I didn’t think I had reached that level yet.

Shin Hae-ryang, who had been talking to his team of engineers, approached me. “I’ve seen the deceased. Can you pronounce them dead, Muhyun?”

This was the fourth scariest thing I had ever heard in my life. What a crazy situation. What made it even scarier was that it wasn’t an unreasonable request. According to domestic law, a dentist can pronounce someone dead. However, it seemed like the laws were applied a little differently here in this underwater base.

I swallowed my hesitations and managed to answer.

“Yes.”

I never thought that I would actually have to deal with something like this in my career as a dentist. This is something that a dentist doesn’t have to do in their entire lifetime unless they’re incredibly unlucky. There are plenty of other doctors who can pronounce death, like those working in emergency rooms, for example.

As soon as I left the escape dock, there was a collapsed person. I swallowed the curses welling up in my throat and examined the lying person. Seeing the person’s face, it was someone I had never met before. That was somewhat of a relief. If it were a familiar face lying here… I didn’t even want to think about it.

No matter how I looked at them, the person appeared 100% dead. This person must have hit his head on something, as there was a fist-sized indentation on their head. On top of that, his pupils were wide open. Following Shin Hae-ryang’s gesture, I turned my head and saw hair, mixed with blood, stuck to a long metal handrail on the wall.

It seemed that the moment the underwater base shook, he had hit his head hard on the metal door handle. It was a terrifying scene that could appear in a nightmare. First, I checked his breathing and whether his heart was beating, but there were no signs of life. Soaked in seawater, my body temperature had dropped, while it seemed that the dead person in front of me had a higher body temperature. When I told Shin Hae-ryang the time and circumstances of death, he quickly took a picture with his pad and wrote the location and details on the photo.

“······Who is this person?”

“Kevin Wilson. He’s an engineer from the American mining team. According to the schedule, he should be helping the mining team and repairing mining robots, but he’s here.”

I hadn’t often seen a corpse this close. Especially as a dentist, I usually work by looking inside the mouths of living people. People come to the dentist because they’re afraid of dying. Damn it.

Swallowing my rising anger, I laid Wilson flat on his back and straightened his arms. Just touching the corpse made me feel goosebumps all over my body. It took every ounce of courage I could muster to close his half-open eyes with my hand. At least with his eyes closed, it was slightly less horrifying.

If I could wash my hands, I would have done it ten times.

It’s okay. It’s okay. Pull yourself together. I can’t lose it now.

I managed to forget the sensation of touching the eyelids only when I moved away from the corpse. No wonder the Russians had gathered around here earlier, checking for dead people.

Yoo Geum-yi didn’t look at the corpse as she was shaken and walked away, not even glancing in that direction. Then, she asked me, still shivering from the touch of the corpse.

“Should I carry it for you?”

She pointed to the bag on my back. Yoo Geum-yi knew there was a cat in my bag. I shook my head.

“It’s okay. It’s not heavy.”

Although the 6kg weight was not as light as a feather, it would be ridiculous to ask Yoo Geum-yi, who was more than a head shorter than me, to carry it. It’s not like I’m injured. I was more curious about what the snake was doing in my bag than the cat.

Suddenly, someone tapped on my opposite shoulder. Startled, I turned my head and saw Carlos looking at me. He tried to call my name, but I doubted whether he would remember the name of someone who had only been in the underwater base for five days. In this situation, I wouldn’t remember other people’s names either.

“Hey. I’m sorry for leaving you behind earlier.”

“It’s alright.”

There was no difference between answering that it’s not okay or that it’s okay, so I said it was okay. If I had said it wasn’t okay, it would only mess up the relationship between us, who only knew each other’s faces and had no particular connection. To be honest, I didn’t have any expectations. There was no reason for him to stay with me. I just hoped that there was no one in rooms 1 to 37 of the accommodations. Or that they had already escaped on their own.

“I thought there wouldn’t be enough escape pods, so I went ahead first. You understand, right? I have a family waiting for me at home too.”

Hearing this, I immediately thought of my mother and younger brother at home. I almost blurted out, ‘Who doesn’t have someone waiting for them at home?’ but even those without anyone waiting shouldn’t be stuck in this hellish place. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“But you still couldn’t get on one.”

I couldn’t help but sound a bit sarcastic as I said that. There was nothing good to come from speaking this way in our current situation, but I couldn’t find any comforting words in my emotionally exhausted state.

Whether Carlos chose to ignore my snide remark or the translation was just too good, he glanced uncomfortably at Shin Hae-ryang before grinding his teeth before speaking, “There were escape pods when I arrived.”

“There were?”

“Mr. Shin forcibly put two of his employees who volunteered to stay behind onto a pod and sent them off. When they both refused to board the escape pods, I offered to take their place, but they completely ignored me. They just wanted to save their own family first.”

Stay behind here?

I suddenly became curious about who the lunatic was that decided to stay behind in a leaking underwater base. If it were me, I would be extremely grateful to anyone who offered to stay behind and give up their escape pod, and I would have left as soon as possible.

Carlos continued, seemingly irritated, “Be careful, brother. You’re too kind-hearted, so I’m giving you a heads up. If there aren’t enough escape pods at the North District, it’s going to be chaos.”

Yoo Geum-yi came to my side, listening to Carlos’ words, and growled, “Pray to God that there are still escape pods left!”

It seemed like Yoo Geum-yi was referring to the cross hanging around Carlos’ neck, but he just shrugged in response. “Of course, I’ll pray fervently to God, but look at those Russians. Do you think they’ll stay put if they can’t get on an escape pod? They stick together, you know.”

The engineering team quietly followed Vladimir’s lead. Whether they were still sleepy or hungover, they occasionally stumbled, holding onto walls or completely falling over, and loudly laughed at each other in this life-or-death situation.

“Anyway, we’re all in the same boat now. You know?”

With that, Carlos winked and went over to join the engineers in Team C.

Yoo Geum-yi looked visibly uncomfortable. “That guy will ditch me or Muhyun-ssi the moment things get tough.”

“That’s true. But anyone would do the same in a difficult situation.”

“Muhyun-ssi wouldn’t do that. Don’t defend that guy. Why didn’t you run away first then?”

It wasn’t that I was particularly moral, but my body had already been in motion. There was no time for calculations of gain or loss. Perhaps everyone felt the same.

“I do it to sleep well at night. I don’t want to regret my actions once we make it out alive.”

I felt like if I had escaped on my own, I would have been haunted by nightmares.

Yoo Geum-yi asked after hearing my response, “Oh, so you’re the type to dredge up every past mistake and regret them right before you sleep?”

“Are you not like that, Yoo Geum-yi?”

“I sleep like the dead as soon as my head hits the pillow.”

Yoo Geum-yi looked at the backpack with the cat in it and seemed to have a lot to say, but she swallowed her words after glancing at the people around her.

Author’s Note:

Team A Engineers – Team Leader Shin Hae-ryang – Korean

Team B Engineers – Team Leader Sato Ryusuke – Japanese

Team C Engineers – Team Leader Vladimir Sergeyevich Ivanov – Russian

Team D Engineers – Team Leader ??? – Chinese

Team E Engineers – Team Leader ??? – American

Team F Engineers – Team Leader ??? – New Zealander

Team G Engineers – Team Leader ??? – Australian

Team H Engineers – Team Leader ??? – Canadian