"......If I stay here for about a year, I might become the kind of person who can dig a hole in the bottom of the submarine base with a spoon. But, yes. As Yujin said, 72 people is too much. If I were to dig the floor of someone's room out of frustration, I wouldn't destroy the escape pod."
Yujin, sensing my fear, gently tapped my arm with her small hand. We were both sitting on the floor, making it easy for Yujin to tap my arm.
"Why are you so weak! Have some confidence. And don't make casual remarks about situations. You might be blamed as the main culprit for destroying the submarine base later!"
As Yujin was looking through the backpack that Baeg Ae-young had given me, she found a bottle of Valentine's Day alcohol and her eyes widened. She then fiddled with the cap with her fingertips and said,
"Even if you call me naive, I have nothing to say. But it's too beastly to drop one's humanity and fight like a dog at a time like this."
"......You're incredibly strong, Yujin."
"Where?"
You're mentally strong. Mentally. In this situation, you're trying to think positively and make moral judgments. You're not trying to drag others into the trash can like a water ghost just because you're in a trashy situation. I'm acting like a real loser, but you're not calling me a moron and giving up on me. There are so many things. Maybe I'm just having a tough day. I'm being too self-destructive.
"Everything. Your knees were strong when you fell earlier, too."
"Even if it hurts, I endure and keep going."
Even if it hurts, I endure and keep going. It feels like a useful quote for life. I repeated those words to myself and then, looking at the bottle cap that Yujin was still fiddling with, I asked,
"Are you going to open it?"
"Here? Drink alcohol? Absolutely not! I don't know who put this in the backpack─I quickly answered. Mr. Seo Ji-hyuk─I knew it. Absolutely not. If we go out, it's fine, but we can't drink now."
Yujin quickly zipped up the backpack, worried that I might try to drink it.
"I don't plan to drink it. I'll drink it when we go out. ......When I get my first paycheck here, I'll spend it all on alcohol."
"Who knows if you'll even get a paycheck? Hmm. ......The nearest bar is in Hawaii."
"Is there not a single bar on this damn artificial island?"
"Would the engineers and mining team members work with a clear head if there were?"
I had no response to that. I thought of Engineer Da, who had become a bad example after getting drunk and sleeping in the elevator. Especially if there were bars, the psychologist Elliott would be in a panic. There are so many prescription drugs that shouldn't be mixed with alcohol.
"Elliott!"
"Yes?"
"Since he has a special job, he'll stay in Baekho Village, right?!"
"If you mean the psychologists, they'll stay in Daehan."
"Oh......That's a relief."
With a sigh, I took off my backpack and lay down on the floor. The floor was cold, and if I had been wearing wet clothes until now, I would have definitely caught a cold.
"Baeg Ae-young is late."
"There are no new posts."
Neither of us suggested taking the elevator. If Yujin wanted to leave the deep-sea base first, I would let her go and wait for Baeg Ae-young alone. But based on Yujin's character so far, she wouldn't leave alone. She would probably send me first and wait for Baeg Ae-young herself. ......Unless the situation gets even more chaotic.
Waiting indefinitely made me anxious. If 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or even until the life support system made it hard to breathe, and Baeg Ae-young still didn't show up? What if Baeg Ae-young was attacked or couldn't come to the elevator for some reason? Would I have to force Yujin onto the elevator?
Unlike my anxiety, Yujin asked casually, "Do you know why there's a dental clinic in the submarine base?"
"I don't know. Maybe people's teeth are in bad shape?"
Lying there, Yujin's voice, mixed with laughter, sounded like a lullaby.
"Muhyun, you might not know, but the dental clinic in the submarine base is not a necessity but a good facility to have. The North Pacific Submarine Organization decided to gradually increase such facilities when they came here. Do you know what that means? They've given up on trying to refreeze the ice caps that melted decades ago or trying to restore flooded lands. They've started to compromise. Think about when the previous generation barely managed to send a hundred people to Mars after all the efforts of the Galaxy Project, the astronomical amounts of money spent, and even sacrificing their lives. What about the money spent on the Moon Project and the Planet Project? Efforts to go into space have started to stagnate.
Now, people are trying to survive in the polluted oceans of Earth. The Atlantic submarine base will be completed soon. They've practically poured all the construction personnel and funds from the surrounding countries into it. The Indian Ocean submarine base will also be developed soon. The ocean floor has been chosen not for mining but as a necessary habitat for human survival.
Of course, no one knows how much this choice will backfire in the future. Scientists have made many dire predictions. It's easy to predict that the crazy guy who ordered sparrows to be killed caused an insect infestation and people to starve, but we don't know what will happen to humans building and living in structures 3 kilometers below the ocean, or what impact it will have on the Earth."
"Like this mess?"
I asked with a laugh, and Yujin also chuckled.
"Yes, like this mess. I hope that when people operate the Atlantic submarine base, they will have learned from this disaster and be in a better state."
"I plan to survive and give interviews, so please exclude me from the worst-case scenarios."
"I won't die either! I have so many things I haven't done yet. ......I haven't even finished my thesis! Suddenly, I feel like dying!"
Yujin started to roughly twist her hair with her fingers.
"Do you know what my thesis topic is? It's similar to a jellyfish but a fish that Muhyun has never seen. It almost always moves along the deep-sea floor, and it's so strange that it's questionable whether it should even be called a fish. When I pour reagents and observe it, it......"
Listening to Yujin's voice, I could push away some of my anxiety and the worry and guilt about the people who entered the Blue Dragon Village escape pod. After pushing away the anxiety that had been overwhelming me after a long run, I felt an overwhelming wave of sleepiness. I found myself in my Baekho Village dorm room. The room was filled with water, and the new socks I had bought for coming here were floating around like fish. I could swim freely in the water and naturally breathe underwater as I left the room and walked down the hallway.
All kinds of things from the rooms brushed past me as I walked down the hallway. I passed cups, scarves, chairs, earphones, cosmetics, and basketballs. The place was completely submerged, but I could breathe calmly like a fish and leisurely observe the rooms. All the walls in the hallway were transparent, so I could see inside the rooms. I passed room 38, my room, and saw an alarm on the pad in room 22, Shin Hae-ryang's room.
People were hiding all sorts of things in their small rooms. Forbidden foods, weapons, and drugs. As I passed room 8, someone was floating inside. It was someone I had never seen before, and their face was hidden by their hair. The person quickly grabbed me as I passed and started to strangle me.
Despite being underwater, the voice was so clear in my ears. Why didn't you save me! At that moment, water started to fill my mouth. As I swallowed the seawater, I instantly couldn't breathe. You could have saved me! I couldn't breathe. I flailed my arms and legs, trying to get away from the person.
Save me!
I can't!
Save me!
I don't have the strength!
Save me!
I startled awake, thrashing on the floor. Baeg Ae-young and Yujin were looking at me as I was crawling on all fours, trying to swim on the floor. I was in a half-awake, half-asleep state as I got up from the floor.
"How long did I sleep?"
Yujin checked the time and said,
"About 5 minutes."
I thought I had slept for about 5 hours. Yujin handed me water, which I gulped down. Baeg Ae-young, who had been talking to Yujin, pointed to the elevator.
"When I went to the submarine side, all the usable submarines were already gone. There is one two-person manual submarine, but I won't ask if either of you has driven one before. (Yujin laughed nervously) Anyway, you two should take the elevator to the third submarine base right now."
The elevator was already starting to move, as if the button had already been pressed. Yujin, hearing Baeg Ae-young's answer, frowned and asked,
"What about you, Baeg Ae-young?"
"I'm going to the escape pod side. You two should go first."
"Are you going to help them? I'll go too!"
Baeg Ae-young smiled at my words.
"Help them? I just want to know what's happening. Go first, as Mr. Shin said."
Yujin, anxious, said to Baeg Ae-young,
"Those two might be in great danger. They knocked twice! Not three times. I heard it clearly! You might be in danger too!"
"I know."
That simple and cool answer made me even more restless, so I added,
"Someone died from a thigh artery injury and excessive bleeding. It might be safer to go with us."
Baeg Ae-young nodded, as if she had already heard from Yujin.
"Probably a gunshot wound."
"Excuse me?"
"There were some people who died from gunshot wounds in the submarines. I also saw some bullet holes in the internal panels of the submarines."
"But......Those two didn't make any such sounds."
Yujin's words made Baeg Ae-young smile with wide eyes.