Yu Jin and I exchanged looks of relief, high-fived each other, and started jumping up and down. However, the elevator remained stationary.
"Since the lights are on, won't it move up on its own if we just wait?"
"Yes! Let's wait instead of doing anything rash!"
So, Yu Jin and I sat and waited in the elevator for over ten minutes. Waiting like this made me feel worse than when the lights were out. Back then, we couldn't see each other's faces, but now, I could clearly see Yu Jin's frightened and anxious expression. Just as ten minutes had passed, Yu Jin spoke cautiously.
"I saw Ae-Young touch something earlier. What if we do the opposite?"
"Then we'll go back to the Fourth Submarine Base, won't we?"
"I don't know. Should we keep waiting?"
We had already waited in the elevator for over ten minutes. What were we waiting for? For the elevator to move up on its own like the lights came on? But it didn't budge at all. Should we wait for the Third Submarine Base people to rescue us? Or maybe, just a terrible thought, the people from the First, Second, and Third Submarine Bases had already evacuated. What if another shock like the one earlier hits again?
"路路路路路路I'll leave it to you, Jin."
"Mu-Hyun, you won't regret this, right?"
"No, I won't regret it or blame you."
"Alright. I'll pull this and connect this, and press this and connect it, and the light on the button came on."
Yu Jin suddenly and boldly pulled out the connected wires and connected them to another set of wires. The second set of wires was pulled out. I was still in shock when Yu Jin's sudden actions slowly filled me with dread.
"Wait, you can't just yank them out like that-."
The elevator jolted and started moving downward. It felt like my feet were sinking. The elevator began to plummet towards the bottom. Ahhhhh!
Yu Jin and I clung to each other, screaming for 110 seconds. We were still falling even after crying out for help and sobbing uncontrollably.
Eventually, Yu Jin remembered a position to minimize impact during an elevator fall and placed his backpack next to me before screaming. God! Buddha! Allah! Greek and Roman gods! Norse gods! Indian gods! If you have time, save me! No, take the time to save us! We screamed at the top of our lungs, but when we saw the people reflected in the elevator window, we finally shut our mouths.
It was Ae-Young. As soon as the elevator doors opened, a stunned Ae-Young, a ghostly Hai-Liang, and a pale Ji-Hyuk appeared. Ji-Hyuk was supported by Ae-Young and Hai-Liang as they helped him into the elevator. It was more like Ae-Young threw Ji-Hyuk into the elevator, and he landed on top of me, who was sitting on the floor.
Hai-Liang was carrying someone on his back. Only when he entered the elevator did I realize it was a woman lying face-to-face with him. Gunshots continued, and the sound of "bang, bang, bang" made my ears ring. The woman, who had been leaning on Hai-Liang, slid to the floor when he entered.
Hai-Liang grabbed the arm of the woman, who was half-dragged into the elevator, and pulled her inside. Blood trailed behind her like a line on the floor. Hai-Liang shouted at me, who was sitting in front of the open elevator door.
"Get down!"
I instinctively fell to the side, and a bullet hit the spot where my head had been. Soon, Hai-Liang kicked me and Ji-Hyuk to the side, and we were pushed into a corner of the elevator.
Yu Jin was trembling in the corner, away from the center of the elevator. The sound of someone running towards us was heard. Hai-Liang was covering us with his body, and more holes appeared in the front of the elevator. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
Someone was shooting at the elevator non-stop. I didn't realize that Ae-Young had been working on the control panel as soon as she entered the elevator. A man's scream was heard just before the elevator doors closed.
"Die!"
Bullets continued to hit the inside of the elevator. The walls were riddled with holes. Once the doors closed, the bullets stopped hitting the inside and started hitting the outside. The elevator began to ascend rapidly. I wanted to look outside through the elevator window, but Hai-Liang was still covering me and Ji-Hyuk.
"What happened?"
I asked with a hoarse voice, and Ae-Young responded with a tired voice.
"Let me ask first. Why did you come back down in the elevator?"
Yu Jin answered with a trembling voice, his eyes fixed on the bloodied woman in the elevator.
"The power went out, and the elevator stopped. It didn't move, so I did the opposite of what Ae-Young did."
Ae-Young sighed and wiped her face, then forced a smile.
"Thanks to you, we're alive."
Hai-Liang gently helped Ji-Hyuk sit up. Ji-Hyuk's face was pale, and he groaned. Not only was the woman bleeding, but Ji-Hyuk was also injured, as I could see bandages on his leg.
"Why, why is this happening?"
"I was shot. My knee joint is f*cked. It's impossible to heal."
Ji-Hyuk started cursing, using every swear word he knew. He was usually talkative, but I had never seen him curse so much. He looked like he was in so much pain that he wanted to roll on the floor but was barely holding back. Yu Jin asked, trembling.
"Can you walk?"
Hai-Liang shook his head calmly.
"He won't be able to walk until he gets treatment from an orthopedic surgeon. Do you have any painkillers?"
I couldn't take my eyes off the bloodied woman and managed to open my cat bag, taking out the cat. I didn't care if anyone saw. I rummaged through the bag and found the only painkiller I had, acetaminophen. I gave Ji-Hyuk one pill with water, and he looked at me as if I was joking.
"Even if I eat all of these, it won't stop the pain."
"That's all I have."
Ji-Hyuk looked like he wanted to curse me but swallowed the four pills without a word. To distract him from the pain, I forced a few candies into his mouth. His curses gradually decreased, and it was a two-for-one deal. After checking on the injured, I asked about the woman who looked like she was dead.
"What happened? Who is she?"
Hai-Liang, who was clearly angry, tried to keep his composure.
"Two teams, Chinese and Japanese, are armed. They're not the kind of people who will just sit back and let each other destroy themselves. Ji-Hyuk and I met a few engineers from the escape pod."
"Did the Chinese team shoot?"
"Yes. And this is Hai-Yun, the leader of the Chinese team. She's already dead."
Hai-Liang's expression darkened, and he fell silent. I was the only one with medical training. I approached the woman on the floor, checked her breathing and pulse, and declared her dead. This was the third time today. I barely held back my curses when Ae-Young clenched her teeth and said,
"With Hai-Yun dead, the engineers are in chaos. If you hear any Chinese, run immediately."
"Who was Hai-Yun?"
Ae-Young slowly explained, counting on her fingers.
"She was the richest, the smartest, and the most reasonable among the team leaders. But-."
She glanced at Hai-Liang and hesitated, then fell silent. It seemed like a gesture of respect. However, I was too focused on closing Hai-Yun's half-open eyes and straightening her body to notice. I asked, not realizing her hesitation.
"Why? Why?"
Hai-Liang and Ae-Young didn't answer, but Ji-Hyuk, who had been listening quietly, chewed his candy and said,
"Hai-Yun liked Team Leader Li-Wei. What? It's true. Team Leader. Ah! Ae-Young, you bitch. Hit me if you want! I can't walk, but I can still talk! Li-Wei that f*cking bastard doesn't like her, and that's that! I just found out today that Zhi-Shan from our team liked Li-Wei. Oh, really!"
Ae-Young gave up trying to silence Ji-Hyuk, and Hai-Liang let him rant, knowing his knee was in pain. Only Yu Jin and I were paying attention to Ji-Hyuk's story.
"The Blue Dragon District escape pod was taken over by these lunatics, and they shot everyone trying to escape. The bodies were piled up like a mountain next to the pod. Of course, some team members didn't like the idea of shooting civilians, like Hong-Tao from Taiwan and Shu-Lan from Hong Kong. You saw what happened to Hong-Tao, right?"
"Who is he?"
Too much had happened in a short time. Yu Jin also looked confused. Ji-Hyuk shouted, clearly furious.
"That guy. He was shot in the lung and lying next to the convenience store! As soon as he said he didn't want to shoot people, Li-Wei shot him. Damn. Hong-Tao was tough. How did he get there with a bullet in his lung? Maybe he didn't bleed much. Anyway, as soon as we entered the escape pod, we met Hai-Yun and Shu-Lan at the entrance. They didn't want to kill us and told us to pretend we didn't see them and escape somewhere else. But then Zhi-Shan, that crazy woman, shot my knee from behind!"
After removing the curses, it seemed that Zhi-Shan, Shu-Lan, and Hai-Yun started arguing, and Hai-Liang carried Ji-Hyuk and started to run. However, Zhi-Shan's scream drew the attention of the others.