Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea-Chapter 152

“What do you want to know?”

My voice came out slightly sharp as I tried to hide my tension. Shin Hae-ryang, who had come closer, took off his gun and placed it on the floor to his right. It was on the opposite side from me and the unconscious John Doe, and far from Tumanako as well. Then he leaned against the elevator wall. With his hands clasped on his knees, Shin Hae-ryang hesitated slightly before asking.

“Why are you so terrified?”

I was expecting questions like “Are you actually an Infinity Church believer?” or “Where did you get all this knowledge from? Spill everything if you want to live.”

I was tensed up, ready to make excuses that I had no connection to Infinity Church and was just an unlucky dentist caught up in this mess. Trying to feign composure, I retorted like someone caught off guard.

“Me?”

“You’ve been scared since we first met until now. Especially after our group got guns, your condition worsened, and after Henry escaped, you’ve been showing reactions close to panic.”

“I… I think I’m fine.”

“Your pupils have been constantly dilated due to excessive adrenaline secretion. I thought that was normal for you, but Jihyuk said it wasn’t. Check your heart rate.”

I dazedly checked my pulse, and it was over 140 beats per minute. I’m usually a person with almost low blood pressure within the normal range. My body is going crazy. …Then my mental state probably isn’t normal either.

“Are you afraid of guns?”

At Shin Hae-ryang’s question, my gaze automatically turned to the gun. The gun itself isn’t scary. Even a gun decorated with green jewels is just a piece of metal when thrown on the floor. I’m afraid of people. Why can they be so cruel? They don’t have to be.

“I’m more afraid of the person holding the gun than the gun itself.”

“I feel the same way.”

“Mr. Shin Hae-ryang, are you afraid of anything?”

With such physical abilities, height, and build, he has things he’s afraid of? Shin Hae-ryang smiled lightly and said.

“I’m human too, so of course I have fears.”

Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden power outage. Experiencing a power outage in the elevator is now familiar. As long as no one suddenly touches me like a ghost, I won’t be startled.

Tumanako whimpered, “What’s this? What’s going on? Why is this happening?” As Baek Ae-young started explaining about the standby power that would activate in 5 minutes, Seo Jihyuk sighed and turned on the light of his pad. Because of the pad’s light, we could only distinguish the outlines of people. I took out a flashlight from my bag and shone it towards the elevator wall. As it brightened, people’s faces relaxed a bit. Shin Hae-ryang looked at the flashlight beam and said in a subdued voice.

“Before I hear your story, let me tell you a few boring updates about myself.”

“Huh? Okay.”

“I’m scheduled to resign in three weeks.”

“What?!”

This is the first I’m hearing of this. Is this something everyone in the undersea base already knows and I’m just finding out now?

“I’ve already moved out most of my belongings.”

I thought things were stored in the drawers or closets provided in the room, but I guess not. I thought minimalism was this person’s interior design principle, but it turns out he’s just moving out.

“Ah! That’s why there was hardly anything in Room 22. Then does Seo Jihyuk perhaps resign too?”

Wondering if the almost empty room might be Seo Jihyuk’s, I asked, and Shin Hae-ryang confirmed my question.

“Yes. Jihyuk leaves a week before me. Ae-young has two more months left. She came in two months later.”

Baek Ae-young glanced this way when she heard her name, and at the sound of “two months,” a quiet muttering could be heard. It was a curse along the lines of “They called us here saying we were needed, but now they’re leaving first.”

“Don’t you have any thoughts of extending your contract?”

“I’d like to, but the places I’m currently contracted with didn’t agree to an extension. Especially the Korean government side notified that they would end the contract with the company I belong to.”

“May I ask the reason? Has the contract period expired?”

“They said I damaged Korea’s image and reputation, and there were complaints from other countries.”

“Huh.”

I can understand the image and reputation part. But do they really need to cut him off? It seems like mandatory mental counseling or human rights education might be a good approach too. Look at Kang Soo-jung. She beats people with words, not fists. Since Shin Hae-ryang’s conversation style seems sufficient to drive the other person crazy, isn’t there a way to make his fists fly a little less?

What happens to Engineering Team D if the team leader is fired like this? Does Deputy Team Leader Kang Soo-jung become the team leader? …If Team Leader Shin Hae-ryang leaves, will the truckloads of dental patients decrease? What will happen when the patients who used to throw punches along with Shin Hae-ryang hear this news? Shin Hae-ryang spoke about his resignation news as if it were no big deal.

“The previous perception of Korean engineers was that they were ATMs or punching bags, so I wonder if there’s any image left to damage, but I guess outsiders don’t see it that way. …The other teams don’t know this fact yet.”

“Except for Team Ra members, you’re telling me first?”

“Yes. There’s something I’d like to ask of you. If the Engineering Team D people you met today visit the dental office due to assault, please contact me. I’ll leave you my contact information.”

The Engineering Team D people I saw today are just Kang Soo-jung and Lee Jihyun. Yu Geum-i and Kim Ga-young are researchers, after all.

“What happens if I contact you?”

“After resigning from the undersea base, if there’s no problem with my schedule until the next job assignment, I’ll take about three months off. The nearby islands aren’t bad for a vacation. I’ll visit to buy some food and comfort them.”

And the assumption that he’ll take the teeth of those who assaulted his former team members as a souvenir of his visit – is that my delusion? It felt strange. This seems to be a secret known only within the team, but the fact that he included me made it even more so.

“What happens if I tell this to people from other engineer teams?”

“If you’re going to tell, I recommend selling it at a high price. And if that happens, it seems my resignation farewell party will be held every day.”

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It sounds like a party mixed with blood and screams. Shin Hae-ryang, who answered expressionlessly, thought for a moment and added.

“…The dental office will get busy along with it. But it will be peaceful after three weeks.”

He seemed to think that things would be a mess while he was there, but there would be no problems after he resigned. Thinking about Zhu Shi’an’s behavior, it seemed that all the grudges against Engineering Team D were concentrated on Shin Hae-ryang. Zhu Shi’an wasn’t on bad terms with Kang Soo-jung, but was only hostile towards Shin Hae-ryang. Is it too far-fetched to think that this person might have set up this dynamic? Realizing that all of Shin Hae-ryang’s statements were future-oriented, I asked blankly.

“You’re confident we can get out of here, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“…We might not make it out and die here, you know.”

After saying it, I realize I sound like a whining child. It’s because I’ve seen things. It’s because it seems like your or my peaceful resignation might never happen. No, does death automatically process as resignation?

I didn’t want to die being eaten by a shark, I didn’t want to die being shot, and I didn’t want to see other people die like that either. I think this is a modest wish, but in this undersea base, it seems to be a wish harder to fulfill than winning the lottery.

“You’re very worried about not being able to escape the undersea base.”

Wouldn’t it be strange if I weren’t? How do we escape to Daehan Island while avoiding the eyes of the Infinity Church believers in the Second Undersea Base? Moreover, as time passes, the undersea bases will collapse with a crash. If we don’t get out before that, we’ll die horribly. Shin Hae-ryang seemed to interpret my worry differently.

“Don’t you trust me?”

“It’s not that. …We have no idea what’s going to happen from now on.”

“? That’s how life usually is.”

His tone, as if stating the obvious, leaves me speechless. Right. Not knowing is normal. I happened to know what’s coming, but originally, it’s normal to live without seeing such things.

“I’ve told you one of my secrets, so please give me one of yours. Even a trivial one is fine.”

I thought Shin Hae-ryang would apply pressure and intimidation close to torture, wringing information out of me like squeezing a dry rag, but he didn’t. It was surprising how different it was from what I expected. Suddenly, I felt like no matter whether I lied or told the truth, the other person would filter it as they saw fit. And no matter how I thought about it, I didn’t think I could appropriately persuade the other person with lies. It’s also because I have a face that shows when I’m lying.

The thought suddenly occurred to me that he might tie me up tightly and sell me to Infinity Church, but I tried to dismiss such ominous imagination while looking at the unconscious John Doe. One of the people showing an enormous obsession with guns is trying to put down his gun and talk just because I said I was afraid. …Maybe we can get out this time. Or at least these people might succeed in escaping from here.

“I know a bit about the future. I’m living May 31st for the third time.”

I honestly spilled everything. I talked about the people I went with in order of our movement routes, and when I summarized it as much as possible, it wasn’t as long as I thought. Shin Hae-ryang asked detailed questions about things like the number of Infinity Church members and what happened at the gem exhibition. I glossed over the parts related to life and death, but Shin Hae-ryang didn’t particularly ask detailed questions about those parts. Without much reaction, he only asked, “Is that all you have to say?”

I let out a huge sigh of relief and explained what happened the second time. Summarizing the long day, it was all about going to the main engine and trying to escape through the main engine cargo elevator.

Seo Jihyuk snorted and didn’t even listen properly to parts like his knee being shot by Zhu Shi’an, but when Jihyun appeared in the story, he crawled right next to me, propped his chin on one hand, and started to focus. And he kept interjecting with comments like “Jihyun is pretty cool, right?” Baek Ae-young only listened at the beginning, then started talking to Tumanako, seemingly bored.

Just as I was about to start talking about what happened the third time, the lights came on and the elevator started moving. As I barely managed to bring the story to the present, Shin Hae-ryang fell into thought. Seo Jihyuk reacted more simply.

“The drug effect seems too strong, doesn’t it? I’m sure I only gave you half. Did you secretly take more? What kind of drugs have you been doing to think like this?”

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