“What happens if that breaks down?”
Seo Jihyuk hesitated at my startled question, failing to provide an immediate answer. He seemed to be contemplating a way to explain in simpler terms.
“The life support system we use in the underwater base decomposes water to produce oxygen. It then uses what comes out of that process to maintain the temperature. You understand this part, right? The life support system provides an appropriate level of oxygen and temperature within the underwater base, ensuring we can survive even at such high pressure. The fact that the temperature is dropping means there’s an issue somewhere.”
Shin Haeryang then comprehensively summed up Seo Ji-hyuk’s long and convoluted explanation: “The likelihood of death increases.”
He truly seemed to have a knack for instilling unease in people.
As Yoo Geum-yi and I were dumbfounded by Shin Haeryang’s statement, she spoke with a scared expression, “······So, should we head to the East district? Or should we go back to the Central District?”
Baek Ae-young, who was trailing behind and repeatedly looking over her shoulder, glanced at Shin Haeryang and then at Seo Jihyuk, shaking her head as if flabbergasted. She then smacked the two men on their backs and spoke, “Team Leader, you should explain things more thoroughly. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine as long as we quickly escape from the East district.”
I felt a slight easing of the anxiety gripping my heart. ‘Of course, if we manage to escape from the East district. However, we had already failed to escape from the West district and the South district.’
I asked Seo Jihyuk with rising impatience, “…How much time do we have left?”
Seo Jihyuk responded to me in a tone suggesting he genuinely had no idea. “I’m not exactly sure myself. This is a first for me.”
Shin Haeryang added fuel to the growing unease, saying, “We’re not sure how much time we have left, but the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air is going to increase rapidly. If this continues, we will suffocate.”
How lovely. Wonderful news indeed.
‘The West district had already been engulfed by water, the South district had been completely destroyed, in the North district, engineers fought over the escape pods, armed individuals wandered the Central district, and if we stayed too long in the East district, where we were headed, we would suffocate.’
“Well, at least we won’t die from gunshots or drowning here.”
At my hopeful remark, Yoo Geum-yi stared at me with a dumbfounded expression, then sighed in exasperation. “I hate everything’s happening right now.”
As we entered the East district, Yoo Geum-yi and I engaged in idle chatter to distract ourselves from the anxiety. What greeted us was an elevator leading to the third underwater base located at ~1000 meters. An azure dragon[1] was coiled around the elevator. A dragon model in an underwater base inhabited by people from over eight nations. It looked like it was designed to portray the dragon ascending with the elevator, but seeing it underwater made it look as though the dragon was sinking.
I asked Shin Haeryang as I stared at the blue-scaled dragon. “Why is there a dragon here?”
“Some lunatic in headquarters proposed the idea of using the four directional deities when they decided to turn the underwater base into a tourist attraction.”
I couldn’t tell from Shin Haeryang’s tone whether it was the lunatic at the headquarters he didn’t like, or the Azure Dragon coiling around the elevator itself. I had always wondered why they made separate names instead of simply calling ‘Black Tortoise district’, the north, and ‘Vermillion Bird district’, the south.[2]
“Was that proposal successful?”
“There’s not much to see in the deep sea. There are only dark waters, high pressure, and nightmare-like fish that look like they were drawn by children. Obviously, it was a failure.”
Yoo Geum-yi exclaimed, “Ah. So that’s why!” as she listened from the side. “A few years ago, statues of Vermillion Birds were erected at the entrances to the Deep-sea Research Center, Rare Earth Elements Center, and Marine Pollution Center. The researchers wondered why these were installed and made jokes about them being chickens, phoenixes, turkeys, and such. So that’s what happened.”
Baek Ae-young, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, sighed and said, “The concept was off. If they had put up crosses everywhere, pictures of suffering Jesus faces, images of two fish and five loaves of bread, and a few angel sculptures here and there to attract Christians, it would have been a huge success.”
“What does that mean?”
‘Why was Christianity coming into this?’ I didn’t know much about the religion, so I didn’t understand.
Baek Ae-young started to give a brief explanation for me. “Well… apparently there’s a passage in the Bible where God asks if you have walked to the depths of the sea. I don’t know much about it though.”
Upon hearing Baek Ae Young’s messy explanation, Shin Haeryang furrowed his brow and racked his brains, then said: “‘Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths?’ Job 38:16.”
‘A verse from the Bible? So there is someone who can recite something like that.’
Impressed, I asked Shin Haeryang, “Are you a Christian?”
“No, I’m not religious.”
“How did you remember that then?”
“Jennifer Smith, the team leader we met earlier, is a devout Christian. She brags on and on when she’s drunk about how she can confidently answer God’s question, which is why I remember it.”
Baek Ae-young nodded at his explanation and turned to me.
“There are some fanatics who would answer ‘Yes.’ Our team’s Lee Ji-hyun is a Christian and said there’s a 100% demand for this. She was convinced that if we started a deep-sea base tourism tour, more than half would be Christians.”
‘Then who was this Azure Dragon, barely visible at ~3000 meters below sea level, for? Who made it in the first place?’
I looked at the Azure Dragon and casually asked, “Then who made this?”
“Some bigwig upstairs, I suppose.”
At Seo Jihyuk’s comment, Shin Haeryang opened his mouth to say something but then shook his head. It seemed he was reluctant to even mention that lunatic from headquarters. Yoo Geum-yi, who had been attentively listening, was amazed.
“Oh… This is fascinating. I’ve never heard this story before.”
“Don’t you discuss this at the research center?”
Yoo Geum-yi laughed lightly at my question and said, “Researchers aren’t interested in anything other than increasing holidays and raises.”
“So they’re not increasing?”
“You’re sharp. You could close your dental practice and become a researcher. Want to join our lab? Although it seems like it’s disappearing anytime soon.”
I politely declined. As we approached the elevator coiled by the Azure Dragon, I muttered to myself while looking at its long body design.
“I don’t really want to view it negatively, but it seems like the Azure Dragon isn’t going up, but rather preventing the elevator from ascending.”
Seo Jihyuk, who was watching with me, smirked and responded, “I agree with that sentiment.”
“Well, let’s put aside those negative thoughts for now, we’re short on luck as it is.” Baek Ae-young said this as she pressed the elevator button. The door opened immediately and the empty elevator waited for them. With time, the doors closed again.
‘It seems to be working. This is our plan C. The best option is to take the escape pod, and if not, then the submarine.’
Seeing the elevator in front of me, I had a desperate desire to ride it. It was strange. The mere sight of an open elevator made me want to get in. I asked Shin Haeryang, “Would it be better to take the escape pod or submarine instead of riding this elevator right now?”
“Yes.”
With the engineer’s reply, I had nothing more to say.
“What should we do?”
When Baek Ae-young asked, Shin Haeryang frowned as if having a headache and eventually responded, “Do you think you can go alone?”
“If I have to go, I have to go.” Baek Ae-young, having said that, paused and began to stretch her legs. “After all, I would be the fastest one to go from here, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Running. Full-speed running. I’ll sprint to the submarine, check its condition and come back. Meanwhile, you all should head towards the escape pod.”
The locations of the East district’s submarine and the escape pod were at opposite ends. That said, there would be no need to use both at the same time. Besides, the ejection of the escape pod should not be hindered by the submarine.
“Are you sure you can go alone?”
Only then did I realize that my question was identical to Shin Haeryang’s. Baek Ae-young responded to my question with a half-smile. Shin Haeryang took my electronic pad, wrote a random post on the seabase forum bulletin, confirmed it was working, and handed it over to Baek Ae-young.
“Go to the submarine and check, then post it on the bulletin board. If anything happens, come back immediately via the elevator. If we find that the escape pod is unusable, we’ll head towards the elevator too.”
Baek Ae-young, tightening her leg muscles, said to Shin Haeryang, “Don’t think of escaping without me.”
Seo Jihyuk held Baek Ae-young and said, “I’ll escape before you.”
“I’m going first!” To my and Yoo Geumyi’s farewell, Baek Ae-young responded with a smile.
“Be careful.”
“See you later.”
As soon as the conversation ended, Baek Ae-young took a few hops on the spot and then started running fiercely. I thought we’d walked quite fast until now, but Baek Ae-young ran as if she was flying. She ran straight ahead, her footsteps echoing in the quiet East district. Her hair, tied back in a ponytail, fluttered like a flag in the wind.
“Wow. She’s really fast.”
Yoo Geum-yi then said, “Ae-young is really good at running,” as she watched Baek Ae-young’s back receding quickly.
As Seo Jihyuk urged us to hurry, everyone started walking briskly. He laughed and said, seemingly still thinking about Baek Ae-young. “The thing is, she’s not good at swimming, despite being a good runner.”
Yoo Geum-yi asked, seeming surprised at the comment, “How does she work in the deep sea if she can’t swim?”
“Engineers work in big external suits. They’re a bit like large diving suits that protect against water pressure. Think of it like wearing a thick spacesuit. When external repairs are needed, that’s how they work. But it’s not like there are only external breakdowns, there are many internal ones too, so there’s no trouble in doing her job.”
As Yoo Geum-yi seemed to contemplate this, she let out a low sigh and said, “I saw her fixing a leak in the shower in the living quarters before.”
“Ah, that place is always breaking down. Really. It’s been that way since it was designed poorly.”
Footnote(s)
