"Mr. Muhyeon, thank you for waking me up. It’s been so hectic that I can only have a conversation now."
"No, it’s my duty."
I could sense Jang Sanghyun, who was a few meters away, snorting and rolling a candy. Yugeum turned her head to confirm his face but completely ignored him. Then she asked me and Kang Soojung,
"Where are you going?"
Kang Soojung, after looking at the barefoot people sprawled far away and hearing Yugeum’s words, nodded.
"Our team is heading to Cheongryong-dong. If we can’t use the escape boat, we’ll use the submarine. If that doesn’t work, we’ll think of it as our death and take the elevator."
"The Russian team said they will move to Hyeonmu-dong in two minutes and use the escape boat."
Kang Soojung glanced at the people far away and nodded again.
"Alright. Then we’ll part ways at Jungang-dong."
The Russians were groaning and getting up. Kang Soojung, after looking at the child lying on the ground, lifted him by the arm and carried him on her back. It was so natural, it seemed like water flowing. With Kang Soojung’s height exceeding 190cm, it looked like Henry was a scarf around her neck. Adjusting the child hanging on her back, Kang Soojung asked,
"Shall we go?"
"Yes."
Unlike in the dream, I had a bag slung over my back. The weight of the cat was heavy. Only then did I realize that the ground around the cat was littered with candies. Does the cat eat candy? Don’t eat it. Animals shouldn’t eat candy. Humans shouldn’t either. ...Thinking about it, I started to worry if the cat would eat a snake. I hesitated, wondering if Yugeum had knowledge about terrestrial animals, and then asked,
"Yugeum, do you... know if a cat can eat a snake?"
Fortunately, Yugeum didn’t call me crazy for asking such a question. She just looked at me strangely and nodded.
"Cats are predators that catch snakes."
"I see."
My worries suddenly increased. What if the cat starts a commotion by catching a snake in the bag? I had separated them, but it was just a thin barrier. As I was thinking about how to deal with this new concern, I was surprised to see Nikita approach me silently. Maybe because he was barefoot, there was no sound of footsteps. Nikita, who had been tousling his messy blonde hair, asked me,
"Did you see anyone else when you escaped from Baegho-dong?"
"Who are you referring to?"
"Someone like me, a Russian man."
"No, I didn’t. If I had, I would have brought him."
Nikita glanced at the child on Kang Soojung’s back, then at me, and said, "Alright," before running to catch up with his team. Lee Jihyun, who had been walking beside me, looked at Nikita’s back and said,
"It seems he doesn’t have a younger brother."
"Didn’t they say no minors were allowed here?"
Lee Jihyun laughed slightly, finding my question absurd. That laugh made me realize my mistake. Ah, if he came in, he must be an adult.
"His name is Dmitry. He’s tall, blonde, and has a shaved head. He’s not in their group, and neither is Irina. It seems he’s lost two of his teammates."
I recalled my room number, 37. At the same time, I realized I had never checked the numbers from 36 onwards. ...I hope no one is there. If they are, I hope they’ve already left the dorm. I can’t save everyone. I suddenly pushed away the overwhelming guilt. Everyone in this underwater base is an adult. They should be capable of taking responsibility for their own lives. As soon as I thought that, I saw people who had been sleeping and reeking of alcohol, like vodka, still staggering ahead.
...I hope the other adults are more responsible than those people. I walked for a while, looking at Henry’s face, who was asleep on Kang Soojung’s back, and then stopped. Viktor was the first to discover the person lying on the ground. He bent down to check if the person was alive, then announced to his team that he was dead. After touching the body, he shook his hand and continued walking. Kang Soojung sighed and said to Jang Sanghyun,
"Sanghyun, go take a picture of the face with the pad."
"······It feels weird to store a dead person’s face in my photo gallery."
Despite his grumbling, Jang Sanghyun ran over and took two pictures of the man’s face with the pad. Yugeum, who had been walking beside me, gasped and moved away from the body lying in the corridor, almost sticking to the wall.
Apart from Viktor, I was the only one who approached the body and checked for vital signs. It was the same person I had seen in the dream. His name was Kevin Wilson, an American, according to Shin Hae-ryang. His head was severely dented from hitting the metal handle installed in the corridor.
Since his eyes were open, I licked my dry lips, prepared myself mentally, and closed his eyes with my palm. Ugh. Damn. The sensation of the warm eyelid brushing against my palm was incredibly strange, especially with the long eyelashes sweeping my hand. I wanted to run away from the spot. I took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to regain my composure. I felt a bit relieved that the dead person’s eyes were closed. Jang Sanghyun, who had been taking pictures and stepping back, saw my action and said,
"Do you have to put on such a pretense?"
"I just did what I wanted to do."
Jang Sanghyun looked at me strangely and then moved to Kang Soojung’s side. Yugeum, who had been waiting for me, asked,
"Shall I carry your bag?"
"No, it’s fine."
"······I’ve never seen a body so close before."
"Me neither. I don’t usually see people die at the dentist’s office."
"Shouldn’t that never happen?"
"Right."
I laughed lightly, and Yugeum sighed in relief, following my lead. Carlos was approaching us. Then, Carlos smiled brightly at Yugeum and me and said,
"Hey, I saw you at the dorm. What’s your name?"
"I’m Park Muhyeon."
"I’m Carlos Luis. Where are you going?"
"I’m Yugeum. Mr. Muhyeon and I are heading to Jujak-dong."
"Really? I heard there are a lot of escape boats there?"
Swallowing the words about going to save someone trapped in the Jujak-dong dorm, I replied,
"No, if there are escape boats, we’ll use them. It’s better than everyone crowding into one area, right?"
"True?"
"Carlos, why are you going to Hyeonmu-dong?"
At Yugeum’s question, Carlos lowered his voice and glanced at the people walking ahead before answering,
"The Koreans here in Baegho-dong took all the remaining escape boats. I begged for a spot, but they completely ignored me. The Russians arrived late and only got to watch the boats launch. If they had come earlier, they would have fought like hell. Did you hear that Viktor broke an Australian’s face?"