I took a deep breath and let it out again after taking in Yugeum lying on the long bench. I wanted to go to the bathroom to see my swollen face and aching side, but I couldn't leave Yugeum alone here. I decided to wait for Lee Ji-hyun and Kim Ga-young to return before going.
I didn't want to risk separating the women one by one in a place with so many unknown men. No matter how trustworthy someone might seem, you never know when or how a crime might occur. This man named Kanu might be showing such kindness only to me.
Just as I was trying to muster up some rarely used caution, Kanu, who was trying to stop the bleeding on my forehead, was a rather cheerful man in his 40s. He asked me while talking about his major, research field, and lab.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Park Mu-hyun."
"Where are you from?"
"Um... well..."
I wondered if it was okay to tell him that we could leave this research center and go to the main building. They might be desperate to leave the research center like that guy Arthur Goodman. Kanu said to me, who didn't seem to want to talk much.
"Why don't you ask me what you're curious about? I'll tell you as much as I can."
"......Why didn't you escape?"
"Well, it's already been revealed, but I'm terminally ill, so I gave up my seat on the escape boat to someone else. My brain is very special, you see."
Kanu pointed to his head and made a light tapping sound with his fingertips. He then frowned and held his forehead for a moment, perhaps due to a headache. I watched him endure the headache and slowly asked.
"Can't it be treated with surgery?"
"It had spread quite a bit, and they said surgery might cause me to lose my memory, so I refused. I plan to keep researching until the end and die doing it."
"I'm sorry. ...What about the others? I thought there would be more people here."
"There are about 10 people left now. I was a bit late to the escape boats because of severe dizziness, and by the time I got there, Bell was dealing with the chaos. He was trying to organize the evacuation, starting with the teenagers."
Teenagers? Teenagers? Weren't minors not allowed in the underwater base? Surprised, I asked Kanu.
"Are there really such young researchers? They're minors, right?"
"There are some kids with different brains. They can do complex calculations in their heads, memorize a 300-page book in just 5 minutes, and understand CD as soon as they learn AB. They're like the new human beings created by humanity, geniuses."
Ah, such kids do exist. I've only seen one in my life. Because of him, I first learned that there were special education centers for geniuses in our country. He usually went out with me to buy ice cream, played games, watched TV, and kicked a soccer ball, so I never knew he was so brilliant. I heard he was doing some research somewhere.
"The research center has 500 staff members, but there were only 350 escape boats, and the cargo elevator stopped working on the first floor. The rare earth center, which was flooding like a deluge, was completely sealed off by Bell. Still, the water level kept rising, people were screaming and running around, and it was utter chaos."
Kanu coughed lightly and continued.
"Everyone gathered on the first floor where the escape boats were. The research center treats those special kids as adults. There were 8 geniuses in total, but they were pushed to the corner by the adults. They were the first to leave. Next were those with disabilities or chronic illnesses, followed by female researchers and staff. I was surprised to see Bell reciting the health conditions and family details of the researchers. He never showed any such traits before."
Kanu, who had shown sympathy for Bell, sighed as he looked down at the escape boat port on the first floor from the third floor. I frowned as I saw the water on the first and second floors. Maybe it was because I had just gotten up, but I felt a bit dizzy. I was a bit feverish, but I didn't want to lie down and never get up again, so I wobbled over to the chair and sat down.
"......What about the others?"
"From what the other kids who arrived earlier said, the rare earth center was completely gone. You can tell from the water here that the connecting corridor to the rare earth center is also flooded. Water keeps seeping in from somewhere. There were about 100 people in the rare earth center at the time. A few of the rare earth kids managed to survive, but in the end, about 400 people had to compete for 350 seats. When there were about 80 people left, the water on the first floor had risen to our knees."
Kanu pointed to his knee as he spoke.
"A few people voluntarily gave up their seats, some stayed because their friends or family were left behind, some stayed to continue their research, and some caused a commotion trying to get on but couldn't. Some argued about Bell forcibly sealing off the rare earth center, and others kept shouting about why people with disabilities were allowed to escape first. It was chaos, with people yelling at Bell not to escape."
If only the rare earth center had been destroyed, more researchers would have survived than I thought. In my previous dream, it sounded like the main research center was completely destroyed by a missile. Was the damage really this minimal? I saw Kanu, who looked unharmed, out of the corner of my eye. He didn't seem to have any blood on him or any injuries.
"Were people boarding the escape boats in an orderly manner?"
"Surprisingly, quite orderly. The people who come here are full of knowledge. Even if they didn't agree with someone, they couldn't do much if many others didn't support them. Problems started when the number of people decreased."
"And what happened then?"
Kanu pointed in the direction Lee Ji-hyun had disappeared and answered.
"Lee Ji-hyun said we couldn't get on the boats, so we should hide somewhere else right away. He said it wouldn't be easy to resolve the situation through conversation. So, we took a few people and hid in a corner of the storage room on the 7th floor. We could hear screams and fighting from outside, but when we came out an hour later, the number of people had halved. I thought most of them had gone to the deep-sea biology center, so I tried to seal this place off using Bell's broken pad, failing many times. I didn't want the people who went to the biology center to come back here."
I turned my head from side to side. With only one eye, I had to turn my head more. There were 8 men on the third floor.
"Is this the number of survivors?"
"There are 8 people here, 3 people in the office who are dying, and a few more on other floors."
What do you mean by 'dying'? Seeing my expression, he shrugged and answered.
"Some of them fought each other with emergency axes and hammers and died. A few committed suicide in the corners. Some were stabbed with office scissors. There were a few survivors, but their injuries were too severe to do anything about. A few people were still upset that they, such great humans, couldn't escape because they were abandoned with incompetent and useless people, but once they realized they were trapped here, they went to the 6th or 7th floor. I and a few others took care of the bodies and the injured, laying them in the director's office and a few nearby labs."
"......What kind of injuries do they have?"
"Are you a doctor?"
I was pressing a towel to my right eye, so even though I could only see with my left eye, Kanu was smiling all over his face. I immediately shook my head.
"No, I'm a dentist."
I quickly wanted to convey my uselessness.
"Oh, you're the new dentist. D... Deep Black, right?"
I laughed at Kanu's words. Laughing made my split lip hurt. My cheek and the area around my eye also hurt. What did I do to my face? I licked my lips and the inside of my mouth, which was all torn up, and corrected my clinic's name.
"Deep Blue. I'm really upset. I've only been here for 5 days, and this happened. This place is really a mess."
"I agree. I'm a senior, but I was planning to quit soon."
Kanu extended his fist to me in a friendly manner, and I did the same. Our two weak fists bumped and fell apart. I touched my side and groaned softly. I shouldn't touch it. This is the first time I've been hit like this. I bit my lip as the sharp pain rose and said,
"If the injuries are mostly on the face, I can try to look at them."
"You should take care of your own face first, kid."
Kanu traced a circle around my face with his finger.
"Who did you fight with? The women's faces are fine, so it seems you were the one fighting. If it was a man, that's to be expected."
It seems he's misunderstanding something. How badly must my face be for him to say this? I've never hit anyone before today, nor have I ever been hit. If it comes to injuries, Yugeum and Lee Ji-hyun, who were hit by metal chairs, would be worse, and I can't imagine how badly Kim Ga-young's hands were burned by pouring acid in the dark.
"......I didn't do anything to be ashamed of. I'm here because they fought more fiercely than I did."
Yugeum, who had been lying down, groaned faintly, holding her back. I asked Kanu while listening to her voice.
"Do you have any medicine here?"
"I have some painkillers, and there might be a few in other offices."
"Do you have anything like Eperison Hydrochloride or Aceclofenac? ...Or at least some ordinary antiseptic. Cold medicine, or if nothing else, bandages. Even mouthwash would help."
Seeing Kanu's face, I hastily changed my question. There must be at least one in the lab, right? Researchers, do you brush your teeth?