Seawater rushed into my mouth, and the salty, bitter taste made me lose my senses. Moreover, my waist felt as if it had been split in two. When I opened my eyes, I saw Shin Hae-ryang pulling me and Se Ji-hyeok out of the water and dragging us up the stairs. The pain in my waist was so intense that I let out a scream, and at that moment, I understood how Shin Hae-ryang had found and pulled us out of the pitch-black water.
I realized that the parachute cord tied around my waist was connected to Shin Hae-ryang's arm. The same was true for Se Ji-hyeok, and Shin Hae-ryang had been pulling us by continuously winding the parachute cords.
Se Ji-hyeok regained consciousness and, like a person being reeled in, climbed the stairs step by step. I also crawled up, and at the top, Yoo Geum and Kim Ga-young, who had been waiting, dragged Se Ji-hyeok up.
I learned that you can even crawl up stairs. Today, I've been forced to learn so many new things. Suppressing my disarrayed feelings, I continued to crawl up the stairs. When Shin Hae-ryang finally emerged, Baek Ae-young lowered the partition that allowed us to return to the dormitory. As the relentless water that had been chasing us disappeared, I puffed up my lungs and took deep breaths, then lay down flat. Shin Hae-ryang's voice rumbled.
"Se Ji-hyeok. Your legs?"
He seemed to be asking because he had seen me fall.
"I'm fine."
"Teacher, are you hurt anywhere?"
It sounded like he was talking to me, so I looked at Shin Hae-ryang while lying down. My clothes were soaked with seawater, and I had no strength to stand. I wrung out the water from my clothes and replied.
"My heart is hurt."
"You're fine."
Shin Hae-ryang's firm answer echoed in my ears. Why are people here so cold? Is it because they've been underwater for too long? As Shin Hae-ryang approached me silently, I thought he was going to help me up, so I reached out my hand. However, Shin Hae-ryang magically untied the parachute cord from my body and retrieved it. As I groaned and got up, Yoo Geum and Kim Ga-young were hugging and crying.
"Ah! Sister, I thought you were dead!"
"Ah! I thought I was going to die!"
"Ga-young! Why were you locked in that room? Ah! You said you would escape quickly if something happened!"
"The door wouldn't open! Ah! The door! The door wouldn't open! Ah! All the other doors opened, but mine didn't! I was shouting for help, but everyone was escaping in the escape pods! Ah! They were running away even though they could hear me shouting for help! Ah!"
According to Kim Ga-young, who was crying, she had been reading a book in bed when a huge shock knocked her to the floor. She heard the sound of all the doors opening through the emergency alarm and forced entry, but only her door wouldn't open.
She shouted and pounded on the door, and people outside murmured and tried to open it, but eventually, only the sound of running footsteps could be heard. From then on, Kim Ga-young started pounding on the door, shouting, and flooding the underwater base bulletin board with pleas for help.
When the water started to seep in and the electricity went out, she lied and said that five people were in the room, fearing that no one would come to rescue her if they knew she was alone.
After crying for a long time, Kim Ga-young thanked the people who came to help her and apologized for lying. Her eyes and nose were red from crying. I remembered when I was trapped in the last room while checking the dormitory. If I had known I could request help through writing, and that more people would mean faster rescue, I would have lied and said that 1,000 people were with me, writing pleas for help.
Yoo Geum and Kim Ga-young's eyes and noses were red. I looked at them with a warm heart and put on my socks. I wrung out my shirt and shook off the water. Perhaps because there were only two Korean researchers in the underwater base of over 1,000 people, they seemed to be quite close. Baek Ae-young, who had been looking at them with a warm gaze, spoke softly.
"Ga-young, don't cry too much. You'll dehydrate and lose strength."
Really... Are all engineers like this? As I rustled my backpack and opened it, a whale plushie with a smiling face peeked out. I took out the towel next to it and put it on my head. While thinking that once bitten by a snake, one is wary of ropes, I quickly pulled my hand out of the bag and distributed the sugar-free candies to everyone. I wondered if giving out candies was really for their benefit, but when would they eat them if not now? This is a bit rotten. I can fix it. Feeling the illusion of a snake climbing up my arm, I quickly pulled my hand out of the bag. Then, I gave each person a sugar-free candy. When I said my name and handed over the candy, Kim Ga-young, who had put a sugar-free grape candy in her mouth, wiped her eyes and nose with the back of her hand and calmed down. She then looked at the child lying on the floor and asked.
"Whose child is this?"
"We don't know. We found him in an empty room in Baekho-dong."
My casual tone, as if I had picked up an object, made Kim Ga-young say in disbelief.
"Minors aren't allowed in the underwater base, right?"
"Neither is seawater."
Se Ji-hyeok, who was chewing a sugar-free plum candy, untied the parachute cord from his waist and handed it to Shin Hae-ryang at his gesture. Kim Ga-young, who had been moving the candy from one cheek to the other, suddenly said.
"This isn't the time for that! We need to go to the escape pod immediately! Everyone else has already escaped!"
Looking at Yoo Geum's expression, I could guess mine. After a few seconds of silence, Baek Ae-young spoke awkwardly.
"That's... We've given up on the escape pods in Jujak-dong."
Shin Hae-ryang, who was chewing a sugar-free strawberry candy, shook his wet hair like a dog and said.
"We'll either go to the nearby Cheongryong-dong and take the remaining escape pod, or we'll take the elevator."
"The direct elevator from Jungang-dong?"
"No, we'll go up to -1000m first."
"If the direct elevator is safe, it's the easiest way to escape. Otherwise, how about Baekho-dong, which is as close as Cheongryong-dong?"
Kim Ga-young shook her head.
"We came from Baekho-dong."
While the engineers and researchers were discussing the fastest escape method, I carefully opened the backpack where I had put the cat. I did this because the cat hadn't moved at all during the journey, and I was worried. When I opened the bag, the cat, which seemed to like small spaces, was still inside. I looked at its cute face and then closed the backpack zipper again. It's well-behaved. Unlike when I put it in, it was completely silent. Is this normal for cats? I had never kept a pet, so I didn't know.
After a brief discussion of less than five minutes, they were preparing to move to Cheongryong-dong, which was to the east. It seemed they planned to go to the third underwater base via the Cheongryong-dong elevator if the escape pod in Cheongryong-dong was unusable.
Listening to Yoo Geum's grumbling, I learned that the external elevators that were supposed to be installed in Jujak-dong had all been moved to the research center. Elevators were essential in the research center. When researchers needed to go to the surface or had business to attend to, they all crowded into Jungang-dong to use the direct elevator. This was because they could use the cafe in Jungang-dong, and just leaving the research center made the researchers happy. From Yoo Geum's description, the research center seemed like a prison for the researchers. Oh, come on.
I picked up the child who was lying down and put on two backpacks in front. Feeling a bit embarrassed for not having heard earlier, I asked Baek Ae-young, who was next to me.
"What about the direct elevator in Jungang-dong?"
"It was rejected because it's too dangerous."
Aren't we going to Hyeonmu-dong? Why not? As Shin Hae-ryang approached and tried to take one of the backpacks I was carrying in front, I panicked.
"Ah, that's heavy."
It was at least 6kg because of the cat inside. Shin Hae-ryang picked up the backpack effortlessly with one hand and put it on his back. Then, he spoke just loud enough for me to hear.
"Is this your pet, teacher?"
It smells like an animal. I laughed in disbelief. You have a good nose. I wouldn't have known because of the seawater. As we ended up carrying the prohibited items together, I walked slowly next to Shin Hae-ryang and said.
"I found it."
"You seem to pick up a lot of strange things."
I closed my mouth, intending to argue, but I remembered the drunk Russians I had picked up recently. Shin Hae-ryang, who didn't intend to tell anyone about the animal, walked silently with the cat in the bag.