"Coming here, I used the stairs for the first time. Anyway, there’s an elevator on both sides of each corridor, so researchers don’t need to walk. Plus, there’s a restaurant inside the research center, and free vending machines are everywhere. If you get lucky and apply for the internal accommodation, you don’t even need to leave the center. People like me who don’t get lucky end up using the main building’s dormitory, which houses over a hundred people."
It seems the researchers hardly ever leave the center. After all, it’s a place where all three meals are provided, there’s accommodation, and the working hours are strictly set. For some people, it’s heaven, but for others, it’s hell.
"Which floor is the Deep-Sea Biology Center located on in the Kim lab?"
"The lab is on the 2nd floor. It used to be on the 7th floor, but our professor got into a scuffle with the professor in the next room, and Maloney moved us to the 2nd floor. I remember the day we moved. We either moved the equipment ourselves or had the medics and support staff do it. Now, looking back, it was a good move from the 7th floor to the 2nd floor. It’s easier to escape in a situation like this."
"······Do professors fight?"
At my question, the researcher Kim Gayoung exchanged glances with Yoo Geum and giggled.
"Yeah, they do."
"When professors fight, they fight like elementary school kids. It’s about research funding, whether to include someone’s name on a paper, how much you contributed, why you’re breathing, whether you eat together or not."
I see. What I saw······No, not what I saw. Our side also had professors who were not normal. There was one who would bark at residents during rounds, and quite a few perverts. I could understand if the violence was vertical, but I never thought the professors would fight each other horizontally. Even in dentistry, it can get quite brutal. There were times when people would threaten to punch you in the face, saying they would do your implant if you dared to challenge them.
Lee Ji-hyun was almost flying down the stairs and waiting for us on the 3rd floor. As we entered the 3rd floor, the smell of gunpowder became more intense.
We turned our heads when we saw a few bodies lying on the floor. More bodies, with chunks of flesh missing, were found as we walked down the corridor, even after Angela Maloney’s incident.
I checked if they were still alive, and Lee Ji-hyun took only a photo of their faces before moving on. Some of the lab rooms had their doors wide open, and when we walked in, we found that the tanks containing deep-sea creatures had been opened, allowing them to escape. Yoo Geum glanced inside the messy lab and said,
"They’ve all been released."
Lee Ji-hyun, who had followed us in, looked at the empty tanks for about two seconds with curiosity and quickly left the lab, saying,
"Busy trying to escape, but the researchers still thought about this?"
Yoo Geum thought for a moment while walking and then said,
"Probably not. If they didn’t, they’d probably think about it for the rest of their lives."
"Even fish?"
"Whether it’s fish, jellyfish, coral, or anything else. I prefer not to use marine animals in experiments if there’s another way to achieve the research goals. If it can’t be replaced with tissue culture or simulations, we should use existing experimental records statistically or handle marine animals as humanely as possible. That’s the ethical responsibility researchers should have."
"They don’t have souls, though."
"Excuse me?"
"They don’t have souls."
Yoo Geum stopped walking, taken aback by the statement. Kim Gayoung, who was walking more slowly behind Yoo Geum due to the pain in her leg, pushed Yoo Geum’s back with both hands, and Yoo Geum, pushed by the hands, started walking again while quietly thinking.
Hmm. Most of the barking I heard was half related to religion or power. I asked, aware of the heavy bag on my back,
"Are you thinking from a religious perspective?"
"Although it’s not my opinion."
Lee Ji-hyun answered slightly uncomfortably. After walking down the corridor of the 3rd floor building, Yoo Geum carefully answered Lee Ji-hyun’s question.
"Before the 19th century, intellectuals mocked those who felt empathy for animals. They thought animals just reacted to external stimuli. They treated animals like machines that made sounds, like a phone alarm. It wasn’t a sin to beat a dog or cat to death. Women, Africans, and Asians were also treated as animals. All beings that feel pain should be equal and should be able to escape from that pain."
Yoo Geum continued talking while looking at the open lab rooms.
"······Actually, I might not have a soul either. I can’t even count the exact number of marine animals that died without my hands being stained. While we’re on the topic, I’m going to the 2nd floor to my lab after you three leave the Deep-Sea Biology Center and enter the Deep-Sea Pollution Center."
Kim Gayoung, who had been pushing Yoo Geum’s back, asked,
"Alone? You’re going alone?"
"Yes. I don’t want to feel guilty every time I go to an aquarium or a sushi restaurant for something I didn’t do."
Lee Ji-hyun listened quietly and then asked Yoo Geum in a small voice,
"······Do fish feel pain?"
"Yes."
Lee Ji-hyun stopped and asked Yoo Geum,
"Is Mr. Kim’s lab far from here?"
I smiled quietly at her question. Then my eyes met Kim Gayoung’s, who was still smiling.
Lee Ji-hyun asked if we could stop by Yoo Geum’s lab on the 2nd floor and then go to the Deep-Sea Biology Center through the 3rd floor. Kim Gayoung raised her hand slightly and asked,
"I’ll wholeheartedly agree, but if I don’t agree, what happens?"
"You can stay here or go ahead."
"I’ll go with you."
At Kim Gayoung’s answer, I quickly said,
"I’ll go too!"
Walking alone in a corridor with bodies lying around? Just the thought of it makes me uncomfortable. I recalled the cable car filling with water and the snake placed on my head, then shook off the memory.
No matter what, I don’t want to be alone anymore. I saw Kim Gayoung wipe away tears from the corners of her eyes as she shivered slightly from fear.
Lee Ji-hyun told us to head back to the corridor with the stairs, so we walked without stopping. Lee Ji-hyun led the way with Yoo Geum, who knew the path, and Kim Gayoung and I followed behind. Kim Gayoung smiled lightly and said,
"Oh, ······I just can’t control my emotions lately. I cry easily at touching scenes. Even sad movies make me cry these days."
"Isn’t that natural?"
"I didn’t used to. But lately, I’ve been crying a lot for no reason. I cry when I see good people. It’s funny, isn’t it?"
Kim Gayoung wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and muttered softly. I cry when I see people doing good things. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. Then, as if making an excuse, she quickly added,
"Maybe it’s because I’ve been repeating the same pattern: going to the dormitory to rest and sleep after work, then waking up and going to work again, and repeating the cycle."
"Don’t worry too much. Everyone is like that. Talking to people will make you feel better."
I thought I had a pretty normal work life, but maybe I wasn’t as isolated as I thought. Kim Gayoung, frowning, carefully descended the stairs and said,
"There’s hardly any reason to talk to people here. Apart from conversations in the lab, there’s really nothing to talk about. It ends with ordering coffee at the cafe."
"What if you increase the conversations in the lab?"
"······No one wants to talk much with their colleagues. Everyone is so exhausted. It’s better to talk less for everyone’s sake."
"Watching dramatic daily life videos might help."
"That’s a good idea. Do I seem too emotional?"
Well, I can’t even count how many times I’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster while trying to save you. To me, you seem fine.
"While talking to you, I didn’t feel anything particularly strange. I try to talk a lot with my dental patients."
"Why?"
"To find out if it’s only this area that hurts, or if it doesn’t hurt there, where exactly it hurts, and where it feels sensitive. To understand what kind of diet led to this condition, how flossing can result in this state, if you really brush your teeth more than twice a day, or if you’re lying. Whether it’s possible to make a drill that’s quieter, and if you have any revolutionary technology to share. Why you haven’t been to the dentist for so long, why you trust folk remedies but not dental treatments, why you don’t believe me when I say you have a cavity and insist it’s just a spot on your tooth. How you can say you don’t drink when I can clearly smell alcohol on your breath. Why heavy smokers with yellowed teeth come to the dentist, even though smoking is strictly prohibited here in the underwater base."
My grumbling made Kim Gayoung chuckle, and I also smiled slightly. As Lee Ji-hyun and Yoo Geum quickly descended the stairs and entered the 2nd floor corridor, Yoo Geum led the way and said,