CH 4

As I strolled through the central district for 10 minutes, I stumbled upon a place that seemed eerily similar to a dental clinic.

Beside an English word, a porcelain skull of an elephant was displayed as a decoration in front of the dental clinic. The teeth and head alone were about three meters in size. Furthermore, a few pictures of what appeared to be elephant teeth were hanging on the wall.

After briefly staring down the menacing eyes of a shark with its gleaming white pupils, I turned my head away. The interior of the place seemed to further distance people from a dental clinic that was already lacking intimacy.

I didn’t know who had designed it, but I decided that I had to tidy up a few pictures while keeping an eye out. But then, my attention was caught by the unit chair. Wow. This is the latest model. It’s the one that can take X-rays right from the chair. All of the instruments were brand new.

As I looked around, searching for basic equipment, such as a new dental mirror, probe, forceps, suction, spoon, high-speed, low-speed, and a functioning unit chair, I was interrupted by a knock on the wall from a blonde woman. Then, the wall opened automatically, revealing a storage space containing a tray, an injector, a clamp, and other items.

After thanking her, I started pounding on the walls with my fists. I could see mouse gag, forceps and tissue forceps, blades and burs, crown grippers, needles, and other brand new items on the other walls, but they were either stuck haphazardly or stored in boxes without any regard for their placement. I frantically opened one box after another.

“They said to get the lidocaine (local anesthesia) from the first floor of the hospital,” she said.

As I was tearing open boxes by hand, searching for the trays, and asking where the syringes were, she watched me intently. But when she spoke, I suddenly came to my senses. Maybe I had gone crazy with the pressure of opening tomorrow.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Park Mu-hyun, the new dentist who arrived today.”

“Hello, I’m Elliot Brown. Please call me Elliot. You seem very busy.”

“I heard that we’re opening tomorrow.”

I thought to myself that I was being inundated with patients already, but Elliot brought me coffee, which made me feel like I was being reborn.

“Thank you.”

Watching me struggle to hold onto the coffee cup with trembling hands, Elliot offered me some words of encouragement. “Calm down, doctor. There is already one patient scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.”

“One patient? Just one patient? But I heard that there are 1,000 people working here. It’s free, isn’t it?” I exclaimed.

“I imagined the people staying at the underwater base rushing to the dental clinic like angry wild boars, pushing and punching each other to get treatment and refusing to form a line.

“The details are not visible to me, but it shouldn’t be too urgent. It’s the first dental treatment that the clinic is opening. You must be the bravest person in the underwater base. Hmm… About 500 people in the Fourth Underwater Base, about 100 people in the Third Underwater Base, about 100 people in the Second Underwater Base, about 100 people in the First Underwater Base, and about 150 people on the Artificial Island, so it adds up to roughly 1,000 people.”

“I expected at least 20 to 30 people per day, but it’s Sunday today, so the 20 people who made a reservation will be the only ones today. Don’t worry too much.”

Upon hearing these words, I collapsed onto the floor, feeling drained of all my strength and passion. According to simple calculations, only four people could be treated per day. As the immediate pressure dissipated somewhat, I sipped the coffee that Elliot had given me.

“Everyone in the underwater base knows that the dental clinic isn’t ready yet. So, the early adopters will visit the clinic, and when they don’t die, people will start making reservations. At this point, people are probably thinking they’ll have their wisdom teeth pulled out, undergo treatment without anesthesia, or have their molars extracted by a punch to the cheek.”

“Fortunately, I can cater to those expectations and preferences.”

Elliot finally smiled at my joke. She was an absolute beauty with white, neat teeth.

“I’m conducting counseling sessions here. Everyone who comes to the underwater base has to receive counseling. Right now… it seems like you don’t have the time.” Elliot’s voice trailed off as she looked around at the unpacked boxes and scattered medical equipment. I quickly made an appointment, afraid that I might be asked to do it immediately. “Can I contact you around Wednesday? By then, you should have some free time.”

I hoped there would be some free time.

“Cheer up.”

Leaving those words behind, Elliot vanished like the wind. I collected only the essential items for the first dental treatment and tidied up a bit. When I searched through the drawers, I found some small shark skulls that could be placed on the counseling desk. I wish I could meet the person who did the interior design here. Looking at the shark pictures hanging on the wall only made me feel worse. The already dark and gloomy underwater environment was made even gloomier by the white-eyed shark pictures in the background. I tore them all off the walls.

By the time Elliot finished her coffee, I had barely managed to set up a treatment room that would not draw criticism even if the dental clinic were to open its doors. Well, to be precise, dust was flying around everywhere. But who would dare to open a window at a depth of -3,000 meters? I hoped the ventilation system in the underwater base was excellent. If the dental faculty saw this, they would faint.

Although I had not done much, five hours had already passed since I arrived. I realized that I had only eaten one bread that I received as a courtesy, besides that, nothing else. Feeling hungry, I left the dental clinic.

The restaurant in the central district was a buffet-style, and the food was quite good. There was rice and kimchi, and surprisingly, wide noodles made from soy meat, chives dumplings, vegetarian sushi, and various types of sandwiches. There were also different types of soups. I had heard that it was a gathering place for staff from eight different countries, but I never expected the food to be this good in the underwater environment.

In a rush, I ate my food and greeted everyone I met as a new dentist. I met so many people that there were hardly any memorable ones. I asked countless questions to everyone I met, but when I arrived at Section 38, my suitcase was waiting for me in the empty room. Finding my suitcase in the right place was a silent comfort for me. I thought I should buy some food for Kang Soo-jung later to show my gratitude. Oh, and some bread for Yoo Geum and coffee for Elliot too.

Carrying my shower and dental supplies, I headed to the shower room I had seen before arriving at the lodging. The shower room had several stalls, each a one-person space with a lockable door on the inside. The door was semi-transparent, so I could tell if someone was inside or not. I tried the water and found it to be smooth, but it wasn’t seawater. I vaguely remembered that the underwater base produced several tons of fresh water through desalination, but I couldn’t recall the exact details. After washing and drying my hair, I returned to my room.

I opened the electronic pad that Freya had given me and entered the underwater base program. The dental clinic was called “Deep Blue,” named after a famous Great White Shark. I wondered if the name had been chosen because the Great White Shark had the most incidents of attacking humans. I continued to read the explanation, not bothering with the simulation of fighting with a Great White Shark in my mind.

According to the program, the Great White Shark had teeth that were approximately 3 to 6 centimeters long, and they swam horizontally and then vertically to bite off their prey. It was like they were leaping out of the water to attack their prey. They were also intelligent and could bite a human body into two pieces with one bite. The Great White Shark had about 3,000 teeth, and if they lost or broke their teeth while hunting, they would replace them with healthy teeth immediately. The dental clinic was named after Deep Blue, a Great White Shark with a powerful jaw that could hunt whales, for the dental health of those staying in the underwater base.

I read the passage several times, almost memorizing it. I wondered why patients would come to a dental clinic named after a Great White Shark. I also wondered what the huge shark skull placed in front of the dental clinic was for. If someone asked me why they chose such a complicated name, I would not know what to say. If it were me, I would have named it something simple, like “Shark Dental” or “Great White Dental.” Perhaps foreigners were the ones who named it. “Deep Blue” had a dark navy color that gave me a melancholic feeling of the ocean depths. If it were up to me, I would have named it “Light Blue” for the sake of the patients. I sighed, not understanding why people put their family photos on their desks, next to their beds, on the walls, or in their wallets. I had never understood it.

The underwater base shook slightly. I took out some clothes from my suitcase and began to tidy up. I found the family photo I had buried deeply inside my clothes. Nowadays, people tend to take pictures and store them in their galleries, hardly looking at them again. To have a chance to look at it at least once or twice a day, I had printed it out and put it next to me. I used to wonder why adults printed and kept their family photos on their desks, next to their beds, on the walls, or in their wallets. I used to not understand, and I still didn’t.

The program is simple. I can reschedule an appointment to another day or confirm an appointment with a patient’s name on the scheduled date. I sent an alert to Yu Geum, letting her know that the appointment request for tomorrow with the patient, Yu Geum, had been confirmed. I wonder how the patients will see the alerts on their electronic pads. There are already reservations for two to three people a day on other dates, but I only read a few of the names and turned off the pad. I know I will read them all later anyway.