CH 9

The entire morning was quiet for the engineering team’s break, and the schedule was thinning out since the team leader left. I kept pressing the appointment confirmation button. After three days, I was starting to get used to working here. As soon as I sent the confirmation message, a group of Japanese patients came in one by one for their appointments.

Five of them had nothing special, just the usual dental issues like cavities, previous ceramic fillings that had fallen out, tartar removal, and gingivitis. But the last patient was quite peculiar. Tamaki Yuzuru, a man with lips completely bitten and cracked, was otherwise in good health. However, when he opened his mouth, it was a complete mess.

I had never seen so much inflammation in the mouth before. Inflammations were packed all over, including under the tongue, that just looking at it made me furrow my eyebrows involuntarily. How could it have become like this? Did a bomb go off in there? When I asked him what happened, he remained silent.

“Did you chew on sea urchins or hedgehogs?” I asked.

“No,” he replied slowly.

And then there was silence. When I applied anesthesia and used lasers to treat the inflamed areas, the smell of burning flesh filled the room. I sent a message to the next patient in advance, asking for their understanding as the appointment might run over time.

After prescribing antibiotics and painkillers, I gave him a lecture on what to avoid eating, such as rough and tough foods or anything too spicy or salty, and to avoid alcohol and cigarettes at all costs. I also advised him to get at least 8 hours of sleep and not to stress too much. Tamaki, who had been listening to me in a daze, slowly nodded his head. Then, I took out a vitamin candy from my pocket, which I had been eating one by one, and handed it to him.

“Since you’ve taken your vitamins, take one when you’re stressed out. Can you take a break?”

“No,” he replied.

How do these people even take a vacation? I mean, I have my weekends set, but I don’t know how those who work in 4 shifts take their vacations. “It’s best to rest, eat well, take your medicine, and sleep as much as you can. But if you can’t, there’s nothing you can do. If you ask your team leader if you can take a break based on the dentist’s opinion and it’s possible, come running back. I’ll say that Tamaki-san needs to rest for at least two days, so please take care of yourself.”

Tamaki remained silent as I handed him the dental floss, and I felt like I was overflowing with compassion.

“Let’s see you in three days. Take care of your health,” I said, finishing the appointment with a one-sided conversation. Then, I called the next patient.

As I was treating a cavity in one of the engineering team’s employees, someone messaged me on my pad. It was a Japanese coworker of mine who I had treated earlier, but oddly enough, he wasn’t asking about his own dental health. Instead, he inquired about Tamaki Yuzuru’s teeth. His name was different from that of my team leader Sato, so I responded while the patient rinsed his mouth, “I cannot disclose the medical records of others.” After that, the chat went silent.

It’s been a day since I arrived here, but I still can’t believe that I’m actually under the sea. Even if I tried not to recognize that I was trapped, there were times when I felt it acutely. It was strange.

Dentists are like regular employees or self-employed workers, who work constantly from the moment they arrive at work until they leave, except for lunchtime. In that sense, there wasn’t much difference between life on land and life at the underwater base. But when I actually arrived at the base, I felt a clear difference. Even the air I breathed felt different. It was like examining a patient on a plane. I felt like a fish trapped in an artificially created aquarium where humans could barely survive.

I was fortunate to be a somewhat introverted and inactive person, but those who disliked sitting still would probably go crazy after just one day at the underwater base. I felt a strong urge to breathe in the fresh air and feel the wind on my face. It had only been four days!

After checking the availability of my next appointment, I got on the central elevator without hesitation. Once I reached the ground floor, I aimlessly walked around the artificial island. The wind was incredibly strong. The white wind turbines installed on the island were spinning vigorously in the wind. I thought that if I had been a little lighter, I might have been blown away by the wind. After a few steps, the intense sunlight attacked my eyes.

After enjoying the sunlight, sea breeze, and dust for about five minutes, I felt an intense desire to go to the warm, quiet, and currently empty dental office. It was cold, the wind was too strong, and I wanted something sweet to drink. I quickly got back on the central elevator and ran to the coffee shop in the central hall.

The Red Coral coffee shop at the 4th Underwater Base was run by a Japanese woman named Fumiko. For several days, I drank most of the beverages available here twice a day. The best one was the Red Coral Coffee, which was a latte with three shots of espresso that allowed the caffeine to go straight into your veins. It was really delicious, but after drinking it, my hands would shake from the caffeine. I wanted to drink something sweet, but I ordered an Orange Blended for the next patient and waited.

There were plenty of chairs outside the cafe, and the people who ordered drinks were sitting, chatting, or even arguing with each other. Before I arrived, there seemed to be a couple arguing loudly. I was ready to intervene if they started throwing punches, or at least call a medic, but they continued to sit peacefully, exchanging quick and aggressive words.

I sat on a chair, sipping on a well-iced orange juice, pretending not to watch them. As I looked around, most of the people nearby were also watching them, so I relaxed a bit and headed back to the dental clinic, where I work.

On my way there, I suddenly wondered what would happen if a problem or argument arose here. Maybe there was an agreement, similar to the Underwater Artifact Protection Convention I read about in the underwater base guidebook, about protecting the employees of the underwater base? I still haven’t finished reading all my employment documents. Looking at the shark skull in the distance, I asked myself if I was tired. I squeezed the orange blended drink tightly with both hands. Being a newcomer to this underwater base, it was a bit awkward for me to work here. The work itself was quite different from working on land, and there were no dental hygienists or dental technicians, so I was doing everything myself. If not for the fact that everything was advanced equipment, I might have run away on my first day of work. Can I really run away? They pay me so much money here.

First of all, it is certain that the law applied in the underwater base is different from the law in Korea. Here, dentists can even make dentures. When I asked Freya if I was the only one using the dental clinic and if they weren’t going to hire anyone else, she said they had already posted a job opening in Russia and New Zealand. If I think about my hiring process, it will probably take at least two months for a new person to come. I looked at the approaching shark’s jaws and thought to myself. Alright, let’s set a goal to survive for the next two months.
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