Gunshots continued. Since the gunfire aimed at the jewels above my head had stopped, I tried to shoot by extending my hand out from behind the cover of the jewels, but I suddenly thought that my hand might get hit. So, I cautiously extended only the barrel of the gun and fired two shots randomly. Bang bang!
After my gunshots, there were no screams, so it seemed no one was hit. I panted heavily from tension, wiped the sweat that had run down to my chin, and sighed in relief. I don't want to shoot people! It's too scary! I want to get out of here! I'm sorry. I really didn't know what it would be like to shoot at someone,
Am I really so desperate to survive that I'm going through all this? As I idly wondered if I could save the woman and the man by giving them first aid, the gunshots gradually faded away. They were coming from the exit of the exhibition hall, not from where I was. Just in case, I pulled my gun-wielding hand back from the jewels and waved it around, but no gunfire came. It seemed that the person who had been shooting at me had already moved on. I listened to the sounds fading away and, almost crying, cautiously stuck my head out from behind the displayed jewels. After almost making a full circle, I finally saw the name of the jewel I had been hiding behind: Pink Tourmaline. I slowly emerged, ready to hide behind the jewel again if necessary, and saw that only one woman with silver hair was lying on the ground. The man who had been shot was gone.
There was a bloodstain where the man had been, but no sign of him. Someone must have come and taken him away. I trembled, holding my gun, and emerged from my hiding spot. Worried that I might get shot in the head, I crawled out and approached the fallen woman.
The woman was still lying face down as she had been when I left. Seeing her, I felt like cursing myself and barely held back from sobbing. Blood was everywhere, and she looked like she had died while lying face down. I slowly turned her over so that her back was on the ground and checked for a pulse. She was definitely dead.
I tried to close her slightly open eyes by sweeping my palm over them, but the sensation of her eyelashes and eyelids made me shiver. It was a feeling I never wanted to experience again. I was about to leave her and go elsewhere, but the fear that she might suddenly open her eyes if I turned my back overwhelmed me. I didn't have the courage to look behind me where the body lay. Shivering, I slowly moved toward where the gunshots were still being heard. They must be shooting at each other, right? I have to help.
I moved by hiding behind one jewel, then another, crawling. At some point, my legs gave out, and I had to crawl. I didn't know how far I had moved. It wasn't until I saw a cult member's face that I realized I had moved deeper into the area where people were shooting.
A man was moving in and out from behind a jewel, shooting at a green jewel on the other side of a display pillar. I was positioned to his left rear.
In movies, people lick their lips and say "adios" before shooting, but in a real gunfight, there's no such luxury. I lay almost flat and shot directly at the man's back. I knew my shot had hit when I saw the bullet mark on his back. The man turned his head toward me, and I was so scared that he might see me that I immediately shot at his head. A hole appeared in the man's cheek, and he fell backward. I lay flat on the ground, waiting for a counterattack, but the man didn't move.
I crawled and buried my head behind a jewel display. I stayed still. The gunshots gradually faded away and were heard from outside the exit. When someone touched my shoulder, I was startled and tried to aim my gun, but Shin Hae-ryang quickly said, "It's me."
"What about the others?"
Shin Hae-ryang didn't answer but took the gun from the man I had shot. He then said quickly, "Ji-hyuk and Yoo Geum-i are behind the red jewel. Bring them."
"What about you, Mr. Shin Hae-ryang?"
"I'll help others too."
He was moving and shooting, but it seemed more to show that he was still shooting rather than to hit anyone. Seeing his reliable appearance, I started crawling toward the red jewel. I realized that both my palms were scraped as I crawled. Why didn't it hurt until now? I wondered as I continued crawling past the iolite and zircon. When I finally reached the red jewel, I saw that it was called Andesine.
As I crawled behind the jewel, I saw Seo Ji-hyuk aiming his gun at me and then lowering it. Seo Ji-hyuk was lying on his back, aiming his gun at me, and Yoo Geum-i was beside him. Yoo Geum-i was sitting sideways, leaning against the jewel display with her head and body. Seeing that one of her eyes was closed, I was reminded of the woman's body from the earlier shooting. I stammered, "Ms. Geum-i? Why... why are you... sleeping?"
"She's dead. She... why... she was hit by a grenade."
What's a grenade? I was in a daze and shook Yoo Geum-i's shoulder, thinking she was just sleeping. Only then did I realize that her right side, where she was leaning against the jewel, was covered in blood. The displayed jewel was a deep red, which is why I hadn't noticed it earlier. I saw that her right temple was bleeding profusely. I was speechless.
I don't know how long I stared at Yoo Geum-i's face in a daze. Seo Ji-hyuk called me several times and finally grabbed my arm to make me look at him. I realized that my whole body was shaking like a thin tree in the wind. Seo Ji-hyuk frowned and said to me, "Hey, snap out of it. I'm not in a position to take care of you."
"But... Ms. Geum-i... she's dead."
"Yoo Geum-i is dead, and I'm about to die too. It's a miracle I made it here with this leg. I only made it this far because we're all good people—Baek Sang-ah, you, Yoo Geum-i, and our team leader. If it were that idiotic jerk Jeong Sang-hyun or the heartless Kang Su-jeong, they wouldn't have brought me from the Fourth Underwater Base. I'd already be dead with a bullet in my head. Park Mu-hyun! Stop talking about the dead and listen to me. Take this and shoot. Especially aim for the ones targeting Baek Ae-young."
"What about you, Mr. Seo Ji-hyuk?"
"Can't you hear? Go."
"No! I can't go! They told me to bring you!"
Ignoring my words, Seo Ji-hyuk took my gun, checked the bullets, and gave me his gun.
"Team leader Shin is good, but he can't abandon people. If there's a useless person in the team, you have to leave them behind. I've known that guy for seven years, and he can't do that. But you, Mu-hyun, you're the one who can stick a drill into someone's mouth. You have a strong heart, so you can do it."
What kind of nonsense is this? What does a drill have to do with anything? It's completely irrelevant. I shook my head vigorously. My whole body was trembling from stress. I had cried so much on the way here that I thought I had no more tears left, but they streamed down my cheeks.
"I... I can't leave Mr. Seo Ji-hyuk. I'm a dentist! I've spent 10 years fixing people's mouths! If I leave you here, you'll die!"
"Whatever. Team leader Shin is doing the work of three people, and Baek Ae-young is a sharpshooter, but who knows when anyone's life will end. We could die quickly on the way to the First Underwater Base. Yoo Geum-i was hiding behind me, but who knew she would be hit by a stray bullet and die?"
He has a point. Even if I take Seo Ji-hyuk to where Shin Hae-ryang and Baek Ae-young are, we might get shot and die faster than if we stay here. But staying here doesn't guarantee survival either. If the cult members break into the exhibition hall, we'll be shot and killed.
"Then it's the same whether we die here or on the way. So, let's go together!"
Seo Ji-hyuk frowned at my words. He scratched the back of his head, sighed, and looked at me, shaking his head.
"Take Yoo Geum-i's bag."
I felt his rough words were a sign of agreement and sighed inwardly. I quickly approached Yoo Geum-i. She had fallen to the ground when I shook her shoulder. I saw the bag on her back. I quickly apologized to her and tried to carefully remove the bag strap from her body. As I bent her arm to take the strap off, I heard Seo Ji-hyuk's voice.
"I'm sorry to show you this."
When I turned my head from Yoo Geum-i, Seo Ji-hyuk was showing me his