Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea-Chapter 165

Baek Ae-young unwrapped her legs and released Seo Jihyuk’s arms that she had been restraining. On closer inspection, both Seo Jihyuk and Baek Ae-young were soaked up to their thighs in seawater. It seemed they had gone down to the bottom of the stairs, shouting, before being caught by others and forcibly brought up. Seo Jihyuk spoke in a dejected voice.

“Then where are they?”

“I don’t know. Since they’re not in the dormitory, let’s go back to the escape pod port as we agreed beforehand and wait for the team leader to bring some news.”

Baek Ae-young said while rotating her ankle and knee that she had strained. I asked Seo Jihyuk, who looked anxious.

“Have team members disappeared?”

“Yes. Our team’s deputy leader and Jihyun are missing. Lee Jihyun. The prettiest and most angelic girl in this godforsaken place has disappeared. …Doctor, are you sure there was no one in the rooms? Maybe the wardrobe wasn’t secured properly and fell on someone, or you missed someone hidden under a pile of blankets. They might have been hiding under a desk out of fear.”

I had scanned the rooms as I passed by, but there was no one. In my opinion, Jihyun seemed to be missing because she had left in an escape pod.

“There was no one in the dormitory. I’m certain. By the way, did you see Yoo Geum-yi on your way here?”

“No. Hey, Great White Shark.”

“I didn’t see her either.”

These people seemed to have come from the escape pod port area, and if Yoo Geum-yi wasn’t there, Henry wouldn’t be either. As I set down the heavy stone of tension that had been sitting on my chest, I inwardly sighed in relief. Nikolai suddenly approached me and asked.

“Our team members are missing too. Irina and Dmitri. We came out in such a hurry, but did you happen to see two Russians in the dormitory?”

“…They weren’t in the West District dormitory, so you might need to look elsewhere.”

If Sumire’s words were correct, those people probably wouldn’t be in the dormitory. Nikolai, perhaps feeling hungover, clutched his head and frowned as he looked at the soaked people and the less wet ones. An air of fatigue and discomfort hung around everyone.

As Viktor yawned loudly and started walking towards the escape pod port, the rest followed. Everyone was silent, perhaps exhausted from either trying to escape or from restraining others. We walked quietly towards the escape pod port, leaving wet footprints on the floor, when suddenly Seo Jihyuk spoke out of the blue to Baek Ae-young.

“I think someone must have kidnapped them.”

“Both the deputy leader and Jihyun unni in that short time?”

Although Baek Ae-young seemed to ask the question with a tone of contempt, Seo Jihyuk unflinchingly expounded his kidnapping theory.

“They must have taken Jihyun hostage first, then threatened the deputy leader and kidnapped her too. It takes less than 3 seconds to disappear from sight when a weapon is pointed at you.”

“And the three of us were such idiots that none of us noticed? Please. Say something that makes sense. …If that’s true, we should all retire out of sheer embarrassment.”

Nikolai, who had been walking with his brow furrowed, was staggering ahead, swaying back and forth with an unsteady gait that looked like he might fall at any moment. Walking behind Nikolai, I thought about three times, ‘Isn’t he going to fall?’ Around that time, Nikolai responded to Seo Jihyuk’s words.

“Only two women from your team disappeared, right? Isn’t it like what happened to Irina before?”

“What happened to Irina? Do people suddenly disappear in the underwater base?”

When Tumanako, who had been listening silently, asked curiously, Nikolai frowned and closed his mouth. An uncomfortable silence fell. Those who knew the answer to the question seemed reluctant to bring up such a topic, while those who didn’t know were just reading the atmosphere. I directed my question to the person who seemed kinder than Nikolai and could be the relief pitcher for this silence.

“Jihyuk, when and how did these two people disappear? …If you keep clenching your jaw like that, you’ll probably be seeing me again soon.”

Seo Jihyuk seemed to be trying to appear calm on the outside. The Seo Jihyuk who was dying from a gunshot wound endured the pain with sheer willpower, but somehow, the mental exhaustion now seemed similar to then.

“Huh? …Ah. We were repairing the outer wall when there was a problem outside, so we hurriedly came in through the outer wall entrance next to the escape pod port. We took off our equipment, had some water, and when we entered the connecting passage to the escape pod port, people were gone.”

“Did they suddenly disappear while walking? How did you find out?”

“When I looked back, they were gone. I’m sure I heard Jihyun’s footsteps behind me. The sound of her footsteps stopped, and when I turned around, she wasn’t there.”

Baek Ae-young, who had been listening to Seo Jihyuk’s explanation, sighed and muttered so quietly that no one else could hear. Since I was walking next to Baek Ae-young, I could barely make out her soft voice. “Geez. Ugh. Just listening to the explanation makes him sound like a total pervert.” I pretended not to hear Baek Ae-young’s muttering and asked Seo Jihyuk an additional question.

“What about Ms. Soojung?”

“The deputy leader asked the team leader if he had seen her pad because it was missing. When the team leader turned to answer, she was gone.”

“What time did they disappear? Do you remember?”

“It was 07:02 AM Korea time.”

That’s the time I woke up in bed? A chill ran down my spine. Then maybe… How should I explain this? It seems that people who escaped in escape pods at that time disappeared from this underwater base.

…Huh? Then, the South District Research Center was initially too damaged by missiles to enter, but the second time, people had managed to escape to some extent through escape pods. The previous time, it was completely destroyed by missiles again.

If this time the missile damage to the South District Research Center isn’t as extensive, wouldn’t the chances of the research center people surviving be greater than before? Since there are people who have already escaped to the surface using escape pods, wouldn’t the remaining people be able to use the escape pods, minus the number of people who have already used them?

No, then why couldn’t the people staying in this West District dormitory escape? Ah, right. …The escape pods here were damaged. Then are the people who take the damaged escape pods continuously dying in the same way?

If so, what happens if someone else tries to escape in the next iteration using an escape pod that was used by someone who escaped previously? Is there no problem even if they use it that way? The escape pods are designed for one person, aren’t they?

If leaving here by taking an escape pod means disappearing in the first place, shouldn’t there be many escape pods left when we went to the Third Underwater Base? Because the personnel in the Third Underwater Base would have already escaped to the surface many times over multiple iterations using escape pods. Then what is it? Do the iterations not overlap?

Then why weren’t the snake and cat there before? …Surely they’re not in the room this iteration? Maybe only the people who saw me leave in an escape pod get to escape? No way. I quickly mocked my own excessive self-consciousness and gave up trying to understand the complicated situation.

I hope the South District Research Center didn’t suffer much missile damage so we can go there. Rather than this, I feel like it would be faster to understand if I just threw myself in front of a smart physicist like Emma and begged her to explain while crying. My lack of knowledge leads to such poor results.

If I had studied physics, would it have helped in this situation? No. If we’re going down that road, if I had just a bit more medical knowledge about gunshot wounds, no, no. If I had more knowledge about firearms, or knew more about how to handle disaster situations, wouldn’t we have avoided getting to this point? If I had just exercised more diligently in my life, I might have been better off than now.

No. Think about it. I’m a dentist. I chose to be cooped up in a small room from morning until quitting time, staring into people’s mouths. Physics, gunshot wounds, or whatever, these aren’t the kind of knowledge I would normally encounter.

In the first place, I think it was a mistake to submit my resume here. I should have worked on land even if it meant dying on the street. What was I thinking, applying to an underwater base, getting bitten by a shark, nearly dying from drinking seawater.

As I was reflecting on my past actions and engaging in all sorts of introspection, Seo Jihyuk added, trying to relax his jaw:

“Honestly, I’m not too worried about the deputy leader. She’s small, lightweight, and it’s Jihyun, who hasn’t thrown many punches, that I’m really worried about.”

“Really? I’m terribly worried about both of them. Given their personalities.”

At Baek Ae-young’s words, Seo Jihyuk hesitated before quickly correcting himself.

“…Thanks for making me look like trash in an instant. I’m worried about both of them too. Boo-hoo-hoo. Jihyun, where did you go? Sob. At least stick close to the deputy leader. How could they hide someone of her size? If you stay together, we could find you faster, couldn’t we?”

As Seo Jihyuk started lamenting while walking, Tumanako asked Baek Ae-young. She seemed afraid that she might disappear suddenly too, hearing that people had vanished.

“Weren’t there any precursor symptoms before people disappeared? I walk around here alone every day. If I hear such things, I won’t even be able to go to the bathroom.”

“There weren’t any.”

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“Hmm. Then has anyone suddenly disappeared like this before?”

Baek Ae-young, who had been looking at Tumanako, closed her mouth and then frowned.

“This is different from that.”

“How is it different?”

Baek Ae-young sighed heavily before answering.

“It’s very different. Before, one team leader, two female employees, and two male employees, a total of five people, disappeared all at once. It was before I was hired, though.”

Tumanako, who had been wringing her clothes, was dumbfounded by this answer.

“No way. If so many, many… disappear, can engineering work even continue? Did they search for the people?”

“Of course it can’t. We did find them later. The problem is that they hid so well that it took about four months to find the last person.”

“Where were they hiding?”

“Apparently, they were living hidden in an empty lab in the South District Research Center. Only using the bathroom and shower at dawn. Eating food taken from vending machines. Stealing snacks from researchers. When they had to move during the day, they pretended to be doing repairs. Moreover, one researcher even pretended not to know and helped hide them?

We didn’t know this and kept pestering other teams, asking, ‘Did you kill them?’ We searched the nearby waters in case bodies had surfaced. We rushed like bullets to Guam and Hawaii every time unidentified bodies were found.”

“How is that different from this?”

“Of course, there’s a difference between people disappearing when I wasn’t around and people vanishing right under my nose while I’m wide awake.”

On the way to the escape pod port, Nikolai staggered about ten times and acted like he was going to vomit twice. I would have given him some water if I had any, but since I had nothing, I just made sure he was walking without bumping into anything. Viktor walked silently at the very end of the group. I wonder if he’s always this taciturn. I don’t know since I’ve hardly spoken to him.

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