Shin Hae-ryang looked at the pad for a while, then turned it off and handed it to me, saying clearly, "Let's go to Jujak-dong."
I must have smiled without realizing it. Shin Hae-ryang looked at me for a few seconds before speaking. Before he could say anything, Sofiya, who had been talking to Vladimir, said to us in a low voice, "We will go to Hyeonmu-dong as planned."
Carlos, as if waiting for the Russian team to speak, said loudly, "I will go to Hyeonmu-dong with the Russian team."
When Shin Hae-ryang looked at Baek Ae-young next to him, she just sighed. That must have been the team's okay sign. Seo Ji-hyuk was telling Nikolai to save a seat for me on the escape pod.
"Should I go and write something on the underwater bulletin board if there are any Engineer D team members?"
Sofiya, who had been looking at me, shook her head. Her dark brown hair swayed like thin threads. "Irina and Dmitry are not the kind to die easily, but they are also not the kind to want others to risk their lives to save them."
I flinched at the firm voice of the woman, who looked to be in her early twenties. It seemed to be a message that everyone should take care of themselves in dangerous situations. I had heard that the atmosphere varied by team, but it seemed that the people here were all about individual survival.
"What about the child?"
As I asked Vladimir, looking at the child on Carlos's back, he replied matter-of-factly, "Since you saved him, you take him."
It was cold. The Siberian weather couldn't be this cold. Shin Hae-ryang took the child from Carlos, who was trembling, and carried him. Carlos, giving Shin Hae-ryang a thumbs-up, quickly joined the Russians. As soon as they entered the central square, they headed north. Vladimir, standing at the back, said, "We'll meet on the surface, Doctor."
"See you later."
Vladimir waved his left hand twice, pointed to his wristwatch, and then put his fingers together. It seemed to be some kind of signal to Shin Hae-ryang, but Shin Hae-ryang completely ignored it. Baek Ae-young waved to Nikita. "See you later! All is well," echoed from a distance. I responded with a nod to their backs. A few seconds later, once the Engineer D team was completely out of sight, Shin Hae-ryang said, "The person trapped in Jujak-dong is Korean."
"Huh? How do you know that?"
"From the tone and the fact that the first post was written in Korean and then changed to English. Also, the emojis. It's probably Kim Ga-young, a researcher in Jujak-dong."
Only then did I realize that some of the sentences in the post I read were in Korean. I had used English and Korean so much in my daily life that I hadn't even noticed which language I was reading, which made me chuckle. Yu Jin's face brightened a little upon hearing Shin Hae-ryang's words.
"If Ga-young is alive, it's really lucky."
"Maybe not. They're all trapped in the room right now."
Seo Ji-hyuk, looking at the Jujak-dong blueprint on his pad, said. The entire Jujak-dong was black and dead. Seo Ji-hyuk hit my pad a few times, saying it might be broken if the electrical system wasn't completely dead. "Ouch! It won't break like that!"
"Still, it might be less scary being trapped with five people, right?"
Yu Jin, who had been writing a post on her pad, looked perplexed. "Won't the carbon dioxide in the room fill up faster?"
None of the suggestions were good. Maybe because they were engineers? I decided to take responsibility for the positivity here.
"Still, we can rescue them quickly when we get there. Don't worry too much."
"That's true. She won't die easily."
We exchanged awkward positivity to soothe our wounded spirits while Baek Ae-young posted:
Title: We are heading to Jujak-dong now.
Content: Who is in the room? What is the situation in Room 77? Are there any items that can help with breathing, swimming, or avoiding water pressure?
Baek Ae-young, seeing me read the post, explained, "I'm just asking in case. I know one crazy person who keeps a BCD vest, air tank, parachute, and fire extinguisher next to his bed because he doesn't know when he might die."
Isn't that a serious case of anxiety disorder? While waiting for a response or additional posts, we walked hard to leave the large central square. This area is filled with spaces that people use daily, like restaurants, cafes, and a central lounge. Of course, the dental office is in that corner. I consciously stopped my eyes from drifting in the direction of the dental office and asked Yu Jin, "What kind of person is Kim Ga-young?"
"Ga-young is a Ph.D. who does research on seawater purification. She came here to restore the marine environment because it's so polluted. She's really amazing. I want to get a Ph.D. soon... or maybe just give up."
The last part turned into self-deprecation. Yu Jin, who had become noticeably more depressed after learning that the Jujak-dong research center had visibly disappeared, decided to keep talking.
"What kind of research do you do, Jin?"
"I do marine biology research."
"Like deep-sea squids?"
"Hahaha. Something like that."
Then the conversation died. Seeing the other person sink into depression, I realized my conversational skills were really poor and closed my mouth.
"Ga-young used to share snacks, which was nice."
Seo Ji-hyuk, who had been walking at the front, chimed in after hearing our conversation.
"Snacks?"
"Her hobby is baking, so she would borrow the kitchen to make macarons and cookies. When she's stressed, she makes a batch, and since she can't eat it all, she shares it with people around her. She also holds a baking class once a month. At that time, she sells the items she makes in the central square for the cost of materials."
Baek Ae-young smiled, as if she had tasted them.
"Ga-young's hands are big. She can bake 60 to 70 cookies at once."
"What have you tried?"
"I've had chocolate cookies and macarons. What was that lemon thing? The small one."
"Lemon Madeleines. Madeleines."
"Oh, right. That was the best. What about Team Leader Shin?"
Shin Hae-ryang, who had been carrying the child on his back, thought for a moment after hearing Seo Ji-hyuk's voice and answered, "Almond cookies with lots of almonds."
"Was there such a thing? Have you tried it, Jin?"
"No. I signed up for all of Ga-young's cooking classes, but there was nothing like that. What about you, Ae-young?"
"I haven't tried it either."
"This is suspicious."
"Almonds are hard to get."
I shrugged and continued the conversation.
"They must be delicious."
People surrounded and teased Team Leader Shin from all sides, but Shin Hae-ryang didn't budge. He just walked at the speed of an alarm at the end of the line. I was impressed. Even with a 6-year-old on his back, his gait was the same as when he wasn't carrying anyone.
"Stop."
Seo Ji-hyuk, who had been walking at the front, stopped immediately at the sound of the voice. A rumbling sound came from a distance, like low thunder, but it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Then the ground started to rumble and shake. I plopped down on the spot like Yu Jin. When the vibration subsided a bit, Baek Ae-young said, "Is that the sound of metal bending?"
No one answered. No way. ...It can't be real, right?
"Is it an earthquake?"
I asked in a shaky voice, and Shin Hae-ryang, who was next to me, shook his head.
"It's probably not an earthquake. The base is built on a plate that is not prone to earthquakes, and it is designed to withstand earthquakes of magnitude 7 or higher."
The underwater base, known for spending money in all directions, was designed to withstand earthquakes. I remembered a documentary where an expert proudly introduced the base, saying that while it would shake during an earthquake, it wouldn't collapse. My imagination was already running wild, thinking that a magnitude 7 or higher earthquake had hit here. Please, no. Seo Ji-hyuk, with an anxious look, asked Shin Hae-ryang, "What do we do?"
"We keep going."
Shin Hae-ryang helped Yu Jin, who was sitting on the ground, to her feet. His hand didn't reach me, so I got up on my own. As we left the central corridor, we soon approached Jujak-dong. The bridge connecting Jujak-dong and the central building seemed to be fine.
Title: The water is slowly rising in the room.
Content: There's nothing but food and books. What should I do? I'm in Room 77! Please save me. I'm Kim Ga-young from the Underwater Pollution Center.
Baek Ae-young showed this to the others, made a humming sound, and asked, "What do we do?"
"Jujak-dong might not have collapsed as much as we thought. When we saw it, the lights in Jujak-dong were all out in the darkness, so we thought the dormitory building had collapsed."
"Then maybe only the research center is gone, and only the front part of the dormitory has collapsed. The room number is at the end, so maybe it survived?"
"Even if the individual room doors are well-sealed, they are not strong enough to withstand external water pressure, so they probably didn't just get exposed to the outside."
While Seo Ji-hyuk and Baek Ae-young were discussing the technical aspects of how the person in the room could still be alive despite the rising water, I couldn't take my eyes off something passing by the window as we crossed the bridge. Something was passing by the window, and due to the light, it looked like a shadow outside.
It was hair. A long, yellow strand of hair was passing by the window. Shin Hae-ryang hit my shoulder hard. His well-built arm, which had done little exercise, pushed my shoulder from behind, turning my body 90 degrees to the side.