Kim Gayoung opened her eyes wide as if struck by lightning and began to write. Three restaurant staff, research assistants, security... The man said with a sense of injustice,
"Velliar Riley, that bitch, sent out the children and the disabled first."
Kim Gayoung, who works at the Underwater Pollution Center, quickly scribbled on the paper when she saw my expression. Velliar Riley, the director of the Underwater Pollution Center. When Yujin heard this, he spoke expressionlessly towards the door,
"So, you're a man with fully functional limbs, unable to board the escape pod first. The cargo elevator was unusable, right?"
"It stopped. Answer my question first. Why did you come here?"
Lee Ji-hyun said he had a good idea and wrote a note to Yujin to buy some time. Then he started searching for something on Loaker's pad. Yujin looked at us three and smiled slightly. Then, looking at the steel door, he wiped the smile off his face and continued,
"Do you know what was in the empty cylindrical tank next to you? It was jellyfish. For 30 years, 11 research teams have studied them. After a few species of jellyfish were discovered to revert to a younger state before their lifespan ends due to poor external conditions or aging, people believed these characteristics could help extend human life. Since there are still many people suffering from incurable diseases, if there was a way to revert them to a disease-free infant state, immortality wouldn't be just a dream. I couldn't just let 6000 jellyfish, which might have lived with Earth for 4.6 billion years, die because of actions I didn't take. They can live forever. If I hadn't released them, they would have died here, trapped, despite their immortality."
Yujin looked at the steel door with a complicated expression.
"The team next to us was researching coral reefs to help them grow even in severely polluted marine environments. I saw a researcher from that team dead in the fourth-floor corridor. I couldn't open the lab door, so I couldn't get in, but I could enter our lab and this one. Even if our efforts seem small, future generations might use them to thrive. In 50 years, or 100 years after I'm gone, the sea might turn blue and transparent again. So much money and time have been invested here. I didn't want all that to go to waste, so I came here."
Yujin sighed and continued,
"Maybe people like you won't understand. You might think it's a waste of precious time to release jellyfish when your life is on the line and there's no immediate benefit. Or you might think one human life is more important than hundreds or thousands of animal lives."
Lee Ji-hyun flinched but didn't react further.
"You might also think I'm wasting my life pointlessly for resources and welfare we won't enjoy in our lifetime. I don't want to waste my precious time trying to convince people like you. I'll use that time to do what I want without worrying about others. I've finished answering, so now it's your turn to ask. Why did you try to enter this lab?"
The man huffed in annoyance.
"You all, including you, have no sense of reality. The more I hear about your doormat mentality, the more disgusted I feel. If you wanted to live like that, you should have had kids and spent your life volunteering. Why did you come to this underwater base and torment innocent people?"
While checking the status of the cat and snake in my bag, I noticed Kim Gayoung was writing names in her notebook. She took out the translation earpiece and tilted her head, striking out names one by one from the top. Yujin, looking both amused and exasperated, answered us steadily.
"I've done a lot of volunteer work, especially teaching basic science to adults. Surprisingly, many people over 30 want to study science. And you still haven't answered my question. From what I saw on the third and fourth floors, you've hurt a lot of innocent people. ...There's no need for you to enter this lab. My research can't help you now, and I'm not attacking you."
Lee Ji-hyun seemed to have failed to find anything on Loaker's pad. "If you don't have teeth, you have to live with your gums," he muttered. He logged out of my ID on my pad and logged in with his own. Lee Ji-hyun entered the engineer system, submitted a leave request for Shin Hae-ryang, his approver, and approved it through Michael Loaker's pad, sending it as a same-day leave.
...What is he doing? Now, Lee Ji-hyun was submitting a request for the deep-sea biology center's electrical system under his name. Since Shin Hae-ryang was absent, he could directly request approval from Michael Loaker. Lee Ji-hyun wrote the request very simply, but the demands below were extensive.
Approval Request: a
Reason for Approval Request: a
A window popped up, asking for at least five characters. Lee Ji-hyun silently cursed and wrote again.
Approval Request: aaaaa
Reason for Approval Request: aaaaa
The approval request went to Michael Loaker, and Lee Ji-hyun pressed the approval button on Loaker's pad. Once it was properly approved, Lee Ji-hyun sighed and checked the approved documents on my pad. The man spoke to Yujin in an annoyed voice.
"I thought you came from the main control room. I figured if you could get in, you could find a way out."
I looked at the hydrochloric acid bottle between Kim Gayoung and me, wondering if I could put it in my bag. I considered the benefits of using it to attack someone, but I didn't want to think about the horrific consequences if it broke. I just gave up on the idea.
Kim Gayoung was narrowing her eyes and circling a name several times. She wrote to me,
[It's probably this guy.]
Arthur Goodman. After writing many names and deleting them, Kim Gayoung put the translation earpiece back in her ear and wrote,
[He works in the lab next to us. A white guy with curly brown hair, tall and thin, but looks ordinary. He probably works on waste-related research like us.]
Lee Ji-hyun glanced at what Kim Gayoung wrote but immediately turned back to Loaker's pad. He bit his lip and wrote on the notebook,
[We can turn off the lights in the deep-sea biology center. And we can raise the barrier to the third-floor Underwater Pollution Center. If the conversation is accurate, there might not be an escape pod, but taking the elevator might still be better. It's a very dangerous choice, but maybe no one has operated it.]
[I trust you!]
Kim Gayoung wrote, blocking Lee Ji-hyun's pen. Lee Ji-hyun looked at me, then at Yujin, and nodded. He pressed the barrier section on Loaker's pad.
[Do you want to open the closed barrier?]
I had seen this message before. I chose it when entering the deep-sea biology center from the main control room. Lee Ji-hyun pressed the [Yes] button, confirmed the barrier's removal on the map, and then pressed another button on the pad.
[Do you want to close the barrier?] [Yes] [No] buttons appeared, but Lee Ji-hyun didn't press anything and turned off the pad screen. He was now looking at the buttons under the aaaaa-approved document on my pad. I put my bag back on. Kim Gayoung wrote one last note.
[The power will go out. Come to us then!]
I showed it to Yujin, who nodded. Kim Gayoung gathered the notebook and pens and scattered them back on the researchers' desks. Yujin took a deep breath and spoke calmly to the man.
"From our conversation, you can see I'm not the kind of person who calculates gains and losses. And even if I could help you, I wouldn't think of helping someone who kills people in such a situation."
"Isn't this situation a reason to kill more? You could get rid of people you dislike or things you've always hated. If the underwater base collapses, the bodies will be eaten by fish anyway. Don't be hypocritical, think about it. You must have a lot of people you dislike, right?"
Yujin frowned and shouted,
"Hey, you selfish bastard! I'm different from you! That's why you're trapped here! When others reach out to you, you just look for a chance to bite their fingers! You can't leave because Angela died, lowering the barrier and breaking the pad, right?! When the remaining researchers risk their lives to find their labs, you only think about killing them!"
The man on the other side of the steel door was silent for a moment. I held Lee Ji-hyun's hand. He held a pad on his forearm and was pressing the buttons of the approved content with his free fingers. ...It seemed turning off the power of the research center wasn't easy.
Kim Gayoung held a pad. Kim Gayoung, Lee Ji-hyun, and I stood in a long line. I closed my eyes and extended my hand towards Yujin. The man's bored voice was heard.
"You're not needed anymore."
I felt a hand grab mine in the darkness. He must have uncrossed his arms.