CH 26

As I listened to Seo Jihyuk grumbling about the design of the South district, I suddenly remembered my own swimming abilities. ‘Could it be that in this leaky underwater base, I would have to swim to escape? I’m not really that good at swimming.’

“Do you swim well, Seo Jihyuk-ssi?”

In response to my question, Seo Jihyuk confidently said, “I used to be called Suncheon’s Seal.”

At that remark, Shin Haeryang, who was walking beside us, chuckled. Seeing his reaction, Seo Jihyuk laughed and added, “It’s a bit embarrassing to say this in front of our team leader. Actually, I was more of a river otter than a seal.”

The silly joke brought a small smile to Yoo Geum-yi and me as well.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I can swim well.”

“What else?”

“It means I can only swim well.”

Yoo Geum-yi suddenly let out a weary sigh.

“Well, I learned how to do the breaststroke and quit, so I can barely manage freestyle and backstroke. They say swimming in the ocean is worlds apart from swimming in a pool. I’ve never swam in the sea.”

Seo Jihyuk mimicked Yoo Geum-yi’s tone.

“Well, just swim the same way. It’s not difficult.”

As Shin Haeryang and I were just listening to the conversation, he turned to me and asked, “Can you swim?”

I answered in surprise, “Yes.”

“That’s enough.”

Is that it? I felt anxious at Shin Haeryang’s words. ‘How well do I need to swim to escape from here, 3km underwater?’

“How well should I be able to swim?”

“As long as you can move forward without sinking.”

“I can do at least that much.”

“Then it’s enough.”

“Can you swim, Shin Haeryang-ssi?”

“Yes.”

“How well can you swim?”

“As long as I don’t sink.”

“Then that’s fine.”

Upon observing our nonsensical conversation, Seo Jihyuk looked as if he couldn’t believe it. “Team leader does freediving. What do you mean, he can keep from sinking? He completely immerses himself in the water. He’s the man who can dive up to 100m with a single breath. He’s not human.”

“You just said he’s not human and human at the same time. Which one is correct?”

In response to my question, Seo Jihyuk chuckled and patted Shin Hae-ryang’s shoulder, “Both.”

Listening to Seo Jihyuk’s chatter while jogging, I eventually became so breathless that I could no longer speak. Considering it’s been less than an hour since I woke up, I had done nothing but walk or run. Seo Jihyuk and Yoo Geum-yi constantly chatted about along the East district without a break, and I envied their stamina.

“I’m just curious,” Yoo Geum-yi asked unexpectedly, to which Shin Hae-ryang gave a short answer, “Yes.”

“Why do engineers stay in both the East and the West districts?”

The personnel working in mining operations sleep in the North district in the north. The South district in the south is for researchers, the East district in the east is for engineers, and the West district in the west is used by those in other special occupations.

Shin Haeryang considered Yoo Geum-yi’s question before answering. “Initially, when the underwater base was being built, there were a lot more engineers than there are now.”

At Shin Haeryang’s words, Seo Jihyuk began to laugh.

While Shin Haeryang’s words weren’t incorrect, they didn’t seem to be the complete answer. In fact, the Korean and Russian teams stayed in the West district, while the other engineer teams resided in the East district. Why did they need to sleep separately?

Noticing Seo Jihyuk’s eager expression, Shin Haeryang gestured as if to say ‘go ahead and tell her.’Seo Jihyuk began to talk to Yoo Geum-yi. “Initially, when the accommodations were being assigned, there were quite a few people, and the Chinese made a big fuss, saying they’d sleep anywhere but in the North district.”

“Why not?”

“They said that the north symbolizes death and stuff. Also, for some reason, rooms 1 to 30 in the East district are considered unlucky or something, so the teams from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan all refused to stay there.”

I was amazed at the sight of people who believed in superstitions, even in the late 22nd century. ‘And they are engineers, right? They are the ones with the most scientific knowledge here, after the researchers.’

While I was panting from the walk, I was so flabbergasted that I gathered my breath and asked, “Just because of things like Feng Shui, they refused to use the accommodation?”

At my words, Seo Jihyuk nodded vigorously, “Yes, exactly.” He continued, “Can you believe it? The southern building is named after the bird, and they said they were going to paint the dormitory building red here and there. The Chinese teams caused a commotion, demanding that the researchers give up their dormitory at the Research Center, but the researchers naturally refused. The Phoenix Building dormitory is right next to the research center, and it’s actually more spacious than the others since it was built last. Would the researchers readily give up such a dormitory to the Chinese engineers?”

“Absolutely not!” Yoo Geum-yi exclaimed.

Seo Jihyuk agreed with her statement and continued, “In the East district’s residential area, there are quite a few vacant rooms since it’s the place where the rest of the employees who aren’t engineers or part of the mining team stay. I told them to get lost to vacant rooms in the West district if they don’t like the ones in the East district, but they claim the West district’s rooms are a bad place because it’s numbered from 60 to 80, with the latter part being unlucky or something. The Chinese refused to use it for accommodation, making a fuss, so the Russians who preferred out-of-the-way places ended up staying there.””

I’ve always wondered why Russian engineers were using the rooms in the West district (as mine).

“They either want us to give up the spacious South district’s dormitory, which is both new and red as they wanted, or a room between 70 and 80 in the East district, which is close to the South district dormitory and far from the main gate. Originally, they wanted rooms 8 and 88, but when they found out it was bad in terms of feng shui, they asked for those rooms as an alternative. But those rooms were already occupied by the New Zealand team who had already unpacked their luggage. Do you know what they did next?”

“What did they do?”

It was fascinating. Even when I’m on the verge of suffocation, there’s nothing more interesting than stories about real estate, money, and superstitions.

When Yoo Geum-yi asked him a question, Seo Jihyuk replied with enthusiasm, “When the New Zealand team was out working, the Chinese team forcibly opened the door with the emergency access and moved their stuff. They took over that room.”

“My goodness. Didn’t the New Zealand team protest?”

At my question, Seo Jihyuk’s eyes sparkled. “Of course they did. Do you want to know how they handled it?”

“How did they handle it?”

“When Team Leader Liam of the New Zealand team saw their stuff haphazardly thrown into a different room, he was so mad that he confronted Hai Yun of the engineering team, threatening to deal with the culprit.”

“And then?”

“They gave him money. They showered him with fistfuls of dollars. I’m not sure how much they gave him, but judging by how they left the unpacking and started partying, it wasn’t a small sum. I didn’t know Hai Yun was that rich until then.”

Yoo Geum-yi and I couldn’t help but laugh at this, and Seo Jihyuk responded as if it were a headache. “It’s very amusing and exciting when you hear it as a third party, right? I mean, we might be able to find this kind of ridiculous incident amusing and criticize it once or twice a year, but it’s stressful when these absurd incidents happen every day.”

I thought about my room in the West district. It would be completely flooded by now. It wasn’t so bad, even though I only used it for five days. I hope everyone managed to evacuate from rooms 1 to 37. Come to think of it, Shin Hae-ryang said he was in the West district’s Room 22 . 

“But why does the Korean team live in the West district?”

“There’s a long story behind it.”

“Let’s save that story for later.”

As I turned my head after chatting with Seo Jihyuk, I saw Shin Haeryang’s side profile. He was looking at the floor, and without realizing it, I lowered my head and closed my mouth.

There were trails of blood drops leading to the laundry room.

‘If we go behind the laundry room right now, that will lead us to an escape hatch. It’s as if they’ve dropped breadcrumbs like Hansel and Gretel to find their way, considering the dotted trails of blood leading to the laundry room. It seems like someone’s been there or perhaps asking for help.’

Watching Shin Haeryang’s back as he moved towards the laundry room, all sorts of thriller movies I had seen before started popping up in my mind.

With a hushed tone, I voice my concern, “Could this be a trap? They’ve left a trail of blood drops like that.”

The sound of Yoo Geum-yi swallowing resonated near my ear.

Shin Haeryang dismissed my idea, saying, “If that were the case, the shape of the blood droplets would be different.”