Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

The people hiding behind the vending machines started to emerge but quickly ducked back in. Why… is he shooting the vending machine? Only when the machine made strange noises and burst with a thud after taking multiple bullets did Shin Haeryang stop firing, his murderous intensity preventing anyone from stopping him. Only Vladimir, standing beside him, spoke as if dumbfounded by Shin’s actions.

“Hey. Our people are over there.”

“I know.”

“Your team members too.”

“Think I’m shooting blind? Instead of repeating this shit at every escape route, these selfish bastards might as well die by my hand here.”

Vladimir gestured toward the N-Team engineers with his chin, trying to placate Shin.

“It worked out fine. No one’s injured.”

“Just got lucky.”

“Picky bastard.”

As Shin’s gunfire ceased, people started cautiously emerging from behind the vending machines. Vladimir walked toward Nikita, seemingly unconcerned whether his team members might have been shot behind the machines.

Nikita stood next to me, staring at Ichita, who’d taken multiple shots to the lungs. The rope marks around his neck were vividly blue from the parachute cord. People gathered around Ichita, who was still gasping for breath, while Yamashita was already dead.

From my perspective, unless Ichita got to Daehan Island’s emergency room immediately, survival seemed impossible. As his shot-up lungs struggled for air, blood flooded out with every breath, gurgling from his mouth and nose. He’ll drown in his own blood.

Nikita, her face still splattered with blood, silently approached Ichita’s face. Then, without hesitation, she used the knife from Baek Ae-young to slash across Ichita’s cheek. Shocked, I jumped to my feet.

Suddenly something blocked my view – Seo Jihyuk had raised his arm between Nikita and me.

“That’s… not something good to watch.”

“Just now… that—”

When I pointed behind Jihyuk in shock, he shook his head.

“Doctor, take the Kiwi lady and go wash up.”

“But still—”

“Quickly.”

After meeting Seo Jihyuk’s expressionless stare, I looked at Tumanako sitting dazed beside me. Blood was splattered all over her face and hair. I must look just as bad.

I helped Tumanako up and we staggered away together. Just inside the Central District, we saw bathroom signs. I was about to send Tumanako alone into the women’s room when Tyler suddenly came to mind, and I worried about who might be in there.

I took Tumanako to the men’s room, turned on the faucet, and helped wash her face. Haven’t washed someone else’s face since helping my little brother. After roughly washing away the blood from her face and hair, Tumanako seemed to come to her senses and started sniffling and crying.

I washed my hands at the adjacent sink, washed my face, and rinsed my mouth. The hot, metallic smell of blood instantly faded. Listening to Tumanako’s crying mixed with the soap smell, fatigue hit me hard.

My legs gave out and I collapsed to the floor without realizing it. A startled Tumanako asked if I was okay. Muscle pain’s hitting everywhere. I wanted to lie down and sleep without doing anything. I barely kept my eyes open against the encroaching exhaustion and answered.

“I’m fine. Just my legs giving out.”

“Were you shot?”

“No. Just out of shape.”

Tumanako gave me a dumbfounded look at that.

“I’ll be fine after some rest.”

Adrenaline helps deliver superhuman strength in emergencies. However, it doesn’t take responsibility for the muscles that handled that power. That’s solely my responsibility as the body’s owner. Tumanako let out a big sigh and sat down on the bathroom floor with me.

“…First time I’ve seen people killing and dying.”

It’s not my first time, but it always feels new. You can’t get numb to this kind of shock. It feels like piling new psychological trauma on top of other fresh psychological trauma. There’s only one right answer here – quickly escape from this continuous stress situation.

“Me too. Planning to quit this underwater facility ASAP. Can’t live here anymore.”

“…Me too. I want to leave too. It’s too scary, too horrible. I want to get out of here fast. I’m going to cut off all my hair that got his blood on it. What if I get infected from his blood?”

“Should be fine since we washed it off. Won’t you lose all your bangs though?”

“My head shape’s pretty, so it’s fine.”

Still sniffling, Tumanako rinsed her hair again with soap and water. I could tell she desperately wanted to properly wash her hair but was holding back.

My legs felt like heavy stones. As I grabbed the sink and stood up creakily, my body felt like a completely broken robot. Must be from using too much strength suddenly. Watching Tumanako’s back, I tried to speak in a deliberately cheerful voice.

“Still, thanks to Tumanako calling out, I managed to hide safely.”

“Everyone was hiding while you were wandering the corridor. No space behind the vending machines?”

“Too tight for four men to hide together.”

“That’s no excuse. In emergencies, you squeeze together, spill your guts, hold your breath – whatever it takes to hide together. What’s wrong with you?”

Something about that “hide together” comment strangely comforted me. Tumanako was speaking English, but I heard Korean. Maybe because it transcended the language barrier, it touched my heart more deeply.

I remembered Baek Ae-young making room despite the tight space, and Nikita not complaining at all. Even if they’d kicked me out, I wouldn’t have blamed them. Same with Shin Haeryang shooting at the vending machine. Can’t explain why, but it felt oddly cathartic. Someone who seemed like they’d begrudge every bullet in this situation. Shooting like that – what if someone got hit by a stray bullet? Tears started welling up in my eyes.

“You’re absolutely right, Tumanako.”

As tears streamed down my cheeks, all the suddenly surging emotions flowed out with them. Tumanako blew her nose hard and added while washing her hands.

“Right. Next time you get kicked out like that, point at the vending machine with your whole body and shout that you’re hiding there. Got it?”

Now only laughter remained on my face. Ah, how embarrassing. Going from sobbing to laughing. This evil facility making a grown man over thirty cry so many times. I’m not usually a crybaby. But… seeing kind people makes me tear up.

Suddenly I missed Kim Ga-young terribly. When Kim Ga-young and Yoo Geum-yi open their bakery, I’ll set up a dental clinic in that building. I’ll buy bread every three days. No, three times a day. I’ll work hard to earn money and help their bakery.

After washing my face again and walking out like a centenarian, people were still there – seems we hadn’t taken too long.

Takahashi Yurie and Sato Ryusuke had their hands tied with parachute cord. Seo Jihyuk, who’d gagged Sato’s mouth with the cord, landed a heavy punch to the back of his head while his team leader was checking the pad. It was a fury-filled swing that made a sharp crack.

Unable to stay upright, Sato’s upper body toppled sideways. Even as Sato glared from his near-prone position on the floor, Seo Jihyuk casually asked Takahashi beside him as if nothing had happened.

“Really haven’t seen our Jihyun? Our tall deputy team leader? Come on, don’t mind your team leader, just tell me.”

“Don’t know.”

“Think carefully. Maybe you saw her briefly this morning. Might’ve passed by without realizing.”

“I really don’t know.”

“Haah…”

Takahashi suddenly smiled and asked Seo Jihyuk.

“Why ask us about your team member?”

“Yeah, good question… But why’d you break surveillance cameras on your way here? Before that you were running around like monkeys not giving a damn.”

“Dunno… Oh, come to think of it, I might’ve seen Jihyun.”

“What? Where?”

“Think she ran toward the East District.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. Running like a pig.”

Seo Jihyuk frowned at Takahashi Yurie’s words. Suddenly sensing a shadow, he looked aside to find Shin Haeryang standing there, silently watching him. Jihyuk smiled awkwardly and quickly answered despite no question being asked.

“You said to tie their hands and gag them, haha. Almost done.”

Seo Jihyuk swiftly moved to gag Takahashi’s mouth with parachute cord too. Then he approached Shin Haeryang somewhat excitedly and asked.

“Takahashi says she saw our people going to East District, could they really be there?”

Shin Haeryang shook his head at Seo Jihyuk’s hopeful face.

“They should’ve been caught on CCTV at least once. How could they move through West District, Central, and East Districts avoiding all cameras?”

“Maybe they had help from that bastard?”

“Who?”

“The son of a bitch who played us – you, me, and Ae-young – and specifically kidnapped those two civilian women from our team.”

“…Get Sanghyun and Jae-hee.”

Vladimir looked at the bound and gagged Japanese people, then stroked Takahashi’s head with his huge hand while speaking to Shin Haeryang.

“No need to package them up like this.”

“We’re taking them.”

“Huh? What’re you saying? They’ve been ours since Dmitri and Irina were killed.”

“You heard them say Yamashita did it.”

Listening to Jung Sanghyun’s explanation to Carlos, apparently Yamashita had shot Dmitri as a test to check if the gun worked properly. He was explaining something called “Christie-something” – a word I’d never heard in my life.

Nikita was wiping the messy blade on Ichita’s clothes. Looking at Ichita’s face, though hard to see through all the blood, it seemed like she’d carved a grid pattern with the knife. I quickly turned away.

Vladimir argued with Shin Haeryang while methodically stepping on Sato’s thigh. Seo Jihyuk had tied him up so well not a single groan escaped.

“Of course they’d blame someone else if they want to avoid dying right now.”

“Like your team, we’re missing two members too.”

“Seems like you suspect they killed your people and hid them somewhere. We have priority. Especially this one – he’s a gift for our deputy team leader.”