While Vladimir was deeply discussing the escape, Shin Hae-ryang said with a dissatisfied tone,
"You said you would quit drinking."
"Did you really believe a Russian could quit drinking?"
When Shin Hae-ryang glared, Vladimir glared back, then looked around the quiet surroundings and said,
"We are moving to Hyunmu-dong."
Hyunmu-dong is located to the north of the cross-shaped underwater base, where mining facilities and the miners' dormitories are located. I had never been there before. We had to move from Baekho-dong to Jungang-dong, and then from Jungang-dong to Hyunmu-dong. The people who had been sitting and resting all stood up.
In particular, the engineering team members followed Vladimir. Only I, Yoo Geum, Carlos, and the sleeping child remained. Carlos was part of the mining team, and Yoo Geum was a researcher, so they belonged to different teams. I didn't belong to any team. The engineers' judgment must be right; I trusted their expertise. Nikita, looking at the child, frowned and said,
"Who in their right mind brought a child to an underwater base?"
No one answered. No matter how much I tried to imagine, I couldn't come up with a good reason. It was even more disturbing knowing the child had taken a sleeping pill and was asleep. I tried to wake the child, but it didn't work, so we decided to take turns carrying it. Seo Ji-hyuk, who mentioned having a cousin of a similar age, carried the child on his back first.
As soon as the conversation ended, everyone started walking. Their pace was a bit slower than an alarm, but faster than usual. I had thought that in an emergency, we would run as fast as possible, like a sprint, but it wasn't the case. When I expressed my confusion, Shin Hae-ryang shook his head.
"If we walk like that, we'll quickly run out of energy. And it will be difficult to respond if something sudden happens."
Bae Ae-young, who had been listening to the conversation, approached me and asked,
"Is Baekho-dong completely flooded?"
"Yes, I was the last one to leave."
Upon hearing this, Bae Ae-young's expression became complicated.
"Why do you look like that?"
"It's because of the things in my room."
"Is there something important?"
"·Well·····yes."
The backpack I was carrying contained two unknown children. I asked quietly, half in disbelief,
"Are they alive?"
Bae Ae-young looked at me with a strange expression, then at the child on Seo Ji-hyuk's back, and back at me. She then reluctantly replied,
"No."
She frowned and moved away from me. It seemed like she had some misunderstanding. When someone tapped my shoulder, I turned to see a familiar face.
"Thanks for waking me up. I'm representing the team to thank you."
Vladimir said this. I felt a bit embarrassed by the grandiose thanks.
"Oh, it's nothing. ······Anyone would have done it."
Vladimir cut me off bluntly.
"I wouldn't have."
"······"
"That's why you should be thankful."
He then turned and walked back to his team. Man······Why are the people here so cold? It's cold. It's really cold. After a few days, I noticed that all the engineers were somewhat cold and acted like heartless tin robots. I had lived my life with a cold, rational mind, but I didn't think I was that cold. Shin Hae-ryang, who had been talking to his team, approached me.
"I saw a dead body. Can you declare the time of death?"
······This was the fourth most terrifying thing I had ever heard. What a crazy request. It was even more terrifying because it wasn't an unreasonable request. By domestic law, dentists can declare the time of death. However, the laws here in the underwater base seemed to be different. I swallowed the words that almost slipped out and managed to answer,
"······Yes."
I never thought such a thing would happen during my dental career. This is something a dentist would never need to do unless they were extremely unlucky. There are plenty of other doctors who can declare the time of death, like emergency room doctors.
As soon as we left the escape pod port, there was a fallen person. I swallowed all the curses rising in my throat and examined the person lying on the ground. The face was unfamiliar, which was somewhat a relief. If it had been someone I knew...
From every angle, it was 100% clear that the person was dead. The head had apparently hit something hard, and a fist-sized part of the skull was caved in. The pupils were widely dilated. Following Shin Hae-ryang's gesture, I turned and saw the person's hair, mixed with blood, stuck to a long metal handle on the wall.
It seemed the person had hit their head on the metal handle when the base shook. It was a terrifying sight, like something out of a nightmare. I first checked for breathing and a heartbeat, but there were no signs of life. The dead person's body temperature seemed higher than mine, which had dropped due to the seawater. When I stated the time of death and the time, Shin Hae-ryang took a photo with a pad and quickly wrote down the location and details.
"······Who is this person?"
"Kevin Wilson. He's an American and a member of the engineering team. According to the schedule, he should have been helping the mining team repair the mining robots, but he's here."
I rarely had to see a dead body up close. As a dentist, I work inside living people's mouths. No one comes to the dentist because they want to die. What a mess.
Swallowing my rising anger, I laid Wilson flat and straightened his arms. Just touching the body made me shiver. I gathered all my courage to close the half-open eyes with my palm. What a mess. Still, seeing the closed eyes made it a bit less terrifying.
If I could wash my hands, I would wash them ten times. It's okay. It's okay. Stay calm. Don't lose your composure. Stay calm. Only by moving away from the body could I forget the sensation of the eyelids on my palm. It seemed the Russians had gathered here to confirm the dead person.
Yoo Geum, who was shocked by the body, walked away, not even looking at it. She then asked me, still shuddering from the sensation,
"Can I carry it for you?"
She was pointing at the bag on my back. Yoo Geum knew there was a cat in my bag. I shook my head.
"It's fine. It's not heavy."
It's not as light as a ball of cotton, weighing about 6 kg, but it would be unreasonable to ask Yoo Geum, who is more than a head shorter than me, to carry it. I wasn't injured or anything. I was more curious about what the snake was doing in my bag.
Suddenly, someone touched my other shoulder. I jumped and turned to see Carlos looking at me. I was about to ask him to call my name, but I doubted he could remember it after only five days in the underwater base. In this situation, I didn't think he would remember my name even if I asked.
"Hey, I'm sorry for leaving earlier."
"It's fine."
Whether I said it was fine or not, it didn't make much difference. If I said it wasn't fine, it would only make our relationship worse, given that we barely knew each other. I had no expectations. I didn't have the kind of loyalty to ask him to stay. I just hoped no one was in rooms 1 to 37 in the dormitory. Or that they had already escaped on their own.
"I thought there wouldn't be enough escape pods, so I ran out first. Understand? I have a family waiting for me at home."
Hearing this, I thought of my mother and younger brother at home. I almost said, "Who doesn't have someone waiting for them at home?" but then I realized that people without anyone waiting for them shouldn't be in this hell. I swallowed the words.
"But you couldn't get on one."
It sounded a bit mocking, but I knew it wouldn't help the situation. Emotionally drained, I couldn't say anything nice. Carlos, either not hearing the sarcasm or understanding the translation well, looked uncomfortable and then at Shin Hae-ryang, grinding his teeth.
"There were escape pods when I arrived."
"Really?"
"Mr. Shin forced his two employees to get on and leave. They were arguing about who wouldn't get on, so I offered to go, but they completely ignored me. They were taking care of their own first."
Stay here? I wondered who in their right mind would stay in a leaking underwater base. If someone offered to stay so I could escape, I would bow and thank them and escape. Carlos, clearly annoyed, said,
"Be careful. You seem too nice. I'm telling you, if there aren't enough escape pods in Hyunmu-dong, it'll be chaos."