Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

Chapter 122

Although I had seen this scene before, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. As I stared blankly for 1-2 seconds at the escape pods descending in a parabolic arc, Seo Jihyuk slapped my shoulder from beside me. … I almost fell over. Seo Jihyuk, who was pushing Kang Soojung’s back with his head like a cow, said in a low voice:

“We have to go!”

“Hey, Jihyuk. The escape pods, look…”

“Forget the escape pods, let’s go.”

Even the people who had been caressing each other with fists and kicks stopped fighting at the shouts of those around them. And now they were watching the escape pods, which had been launched towards the sea surface, being pulled back into the sea.

Kim Ga-young looked at the escape pods displayed on the screen and then at me as I was moving away. The moment our eyes met, I was led out of the escape pod port by Seo Jihyuk’s hand. Dragging the unconscious Infinity Church believer like luggage, Seo Jihyuk said to me and Kang Soojung:

“We need to go to the sports center right now. We need to go as fast as possible.”

“What about that unconscious person?”

“Ah, this is a gift for our team leader.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. Are you going to carry this person on your back?”

“It would be best if we could disassemble him and take him.”

Seo Jihyuk seemed to be joking, but seeing that my and Kang Soojung’s expressions weren’t good, he said, somewhat flustered:

“Of course, that’s a joke. I’ll carry him on my back. Or is there a better way?”

“… There’s a cart. A cart. There’s a cart over there.”

“There’s a cart? Where?”

When Kang Soojung pulled a handle on a part of the wall in the corner of the corridor, there was a folding cart underneath that could be used to move things. As Kang Soojung unfolded the cart into an L-shape, Seo Jihyuk, looking pleased, roughly crumpled the unconscious person onto it and said:

“So this was here?”

“Even if you’re physically fit, you need to use tools sometimes.”

“As expected of our deputy team leader. You know how to use your head.”

Kang Soojung made an expression as if she wasn’t sure whether Seo Jihyuk was insulting or complimenting her. As Seo Jihyuk was about to push the cart away, I quickly grabbed him, alarmed, and said:

“… Jihyuk. That person’s leg is dragging outside the cart.”

“He’s wearing shoes. Right now, it’s not important that someone’s leg is dragging on the floor. We need to run at full speed immediately. Understood?”

Then Seo Jihyuk started running forward, pushing the cart with force. The cart made a low drrrrrr sound, but the wheel noise was not as loud as I thought. Instead, it disappeared smoothly, as if sliding.

“Huh? Hey!”

Kang Soojung started running after Seo Jihyuk, and only after Seo Jihyuk’s back had disappeared did I realize I was the last one here and started running. How can he run so well while pushing a cart with a person on it?

We ran at full speed without taking a single breath until we reached the central building. As I ran, I could barely keep Seo Jihyuk in sight ahead, only managing to not lose sight of Kang Soojung’s back. Seo Jihyuk slowed down about three times, stopping to pick up and put back the person’s arms and legs that fell off the cart, then running again. When I was out of breath and my whole body was drenched in sweat, Seo Jihyuk slowed down again.

“If only we had a rope, I’d tie the body to the cart.”

As the arm trembled from the cart’s vibration and fell off the edge onto the floor, Seo Jihyuk quickly lifted the arm back onto the cart with disgust and ran off again. After running frantically, I could see the shape of a snake coiled around an egg in the distance.

Seo Jihyuk slowed down, carefully pushing the cart, and started walking slowly. As I coughed violently from running too quickly after a long time, Kang Soojung looked at me with pity and patted my back. Kang Soojung, who was also catching her breath, wiped the sweat from her chin with the back of her hand and protested to Seo Jihyuk:

“We could have stayed and watched the escape pod situation a bit longer.”

“In this situation, we shouldn’t do what everyone else is doing. It’s not like watching for a few more seconds would make them rise to the surface.”

“Is that so?”

Seo Jihyuk crossed the Infinity Church believer’s arms like an Egyptian mummy and asked me:

“Doctor, were any of those escape pods successfully escaping to the sea surface?”

“Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff! Almost, none, none of them!”

Seo Jihyuk left the cart there and carried the person on his back. Then he approached the sports center door. Baek Ae-young was waiting for us, leaning against the door like a gatekeeper. Upon seeing Seo Jihyuk, Baek Ae-young frowned and said:

“You’re so slow.”

“We came as fast as we could. How’s Jihyun?”

“She’s fine.”

Baek Ae-young smiled at Kang Soojung with an angelic voice and said:

“Deputy team leader, you’ve worked hard.”

“Yeah, Ae-young. You’ve been through a lot too.”

Baek Ae-young nodded towards me, and I nodded back reflexively. Baek Ae-young passed by us and went towards the cart left in the distance.

When we opened the door to the sports center, I was completely overwhelmed by the sight before my eyes. I couldn’t even imagine how to enter this place. All the exercise equipment had been stacked in front of the sports center entrance like a game of Tetris. As I stood dumbfounded looking at the densely packed entrance with no gaps, Yoo Geum-yi called out to me from the left corner:

“You need to come this way. Step on this, climb over that, like this. They say if you step on the wrong part, it’ll collapse.”

Seo Jihyuk managed to climb over numerous pieces of exercise equipment and the wall of steel desks easily, even with a person slung over his shoulder. I tried my best to step only on the parts that Seo Jihyuk had stepped on. My legs, which had been overworked until just now, were trembling like taffy.

I saw Kang Soojung slip while climbing over this wall of steel, badly bruising her knee. With a curse, it took a long time before she could barely climb over the barricade, and it seemed her calves and knees were getting bruised from hitting the metal pieces here and there.

After climbing over the protective wall made of metal and exercise equipment, the inside of the sports center was surprisingly empty. Since all the exercise equipment was used to block the entrance, there was almost nothing inside. Tumanako waved at me while sitting next to Henry. I waved back and immediately lay down flat on the floor. Perhaps because I had been running non-stop for several minutes, I couldn’t move a finger.

Seo Jihyuk slammed the Infinity Church believer he had been carrying onto the sports center floor. The action was so rough that I got up in surprise, but when I realized the floor where he put the person down was like a mat, I sighed in relief and lay back down. Shin Hae-ryang looked at us and asked Kang Soojung:

“What happened to Ga-young?”

“She’s at the South District escape pod port. She said she’d stay with the researchers who saved her.”

“I see. And who’s this?”

When Shin Hae-ryang asked about the new unconscious person, Kang Soojung answered with a sigh:

“Ask Jihyuk. Jihyuk suddenly beat him up and kidnapped him.”

As Kang Soojung spoke as if this matter had nothing to do with her, Seo Jihyuk said, as if wronged:

“I brought a confirmed Infinity Church believer!”

Then he looked at Shin Hae-ryang as if seeking praise. Shin Hae-ryang silently turned his head towards the unconscious man. Kang Soojung looked at me lying on the floor with a sour expression, then at the man lying on the floor over there, and then back at Seo Jihyuk. Kang Soojung’s expression suggested she was confused about whether the Infinity Church believer Seo Jihyuk was referring to was me or that man.

I pointed at that man with my trembling finger while lying down. Seo Jihyuk also thought for a moment and pointed at the unconscious man. Kang Soojung’s fingers pointed at both me and the unconscious man. Shin Hae-ryang let out a light sigh and headed to the shower room connected to the sports center, dragging the unconscious believer along with Seo Jihyuk.

Lee Jihyun brought a water bottle and handed it to me as I lay there. As I received the water bottle with trembling hands, I asked Jihyun:

“How are you feeling?”

“I think I’m a bit better now.”

“Can I ask you one thing?”

Lee Jihyun had an expression as if she couldn’t guess what I was going to ask. Seeing me struggling to open the water bottle cap properly, she said:

“Yes. … Drink some water first, then ask.”

“Thank you. Uh… my question is a bit strange.”

“It’s okay.”

“To prevent serial killings, could you crash an elevator you’re riding in together with the serial killer?”

“… Is this some kind of personality test?”

Lee Jihyun asked, seemingly perplexed, as she watched me gulping down water. I thought for a moment and then answered:

“Yes.”

Lee Jihyun, frowning and pondering, spoke only after I had emptied more than half of the water bottle:

“A serial killer in the same elevator. … Crashing. Crashing, huh. I don’t think I would do that.”

“Why not?”

“The religion I believe in considers suicide to be a mortal sin almost equivalent to murder. It’s breaking one of the Ten Commandments. So I probably wouldn’t do it.”

“… I see. Thank you.”

Lee Jihyun looked at my face for a while and then asked:

“What’s the result of the test?”

“Huh? … You’re an incredibly brave person.”

Ignoring Lee Jihyun’s strange look, I drank water while half-lying down, and I could see Kang Soojung sitting and drinking water too. Is there a water purifier in the sports center? The coolness rising from the floor helped cool my heated back.

As I turned my head this way and that while lying down, I saw explanations about Ophion written on the walls of the sports center. Is that huge snake in front of the entrance earlier Ophion?

It is said that Eurynome, the goddess of all things born alone in chaos and a powerful sea goddess, created Ophion, a giant snake, while dancing on the waves. When Eurynome, the primordial goddess, laid an egg (the universe), her husband Ophion coiled his body around the egg seven times to incubate it, and finally, from the broken egg, numerous stars, the sky, the earth, and living beings were born. Then one day, suddenly, her husband Ophion arrogantly claimed that he had created the universe, and Eurynome, seeing this, stomped on Ophion’s head with her foot, breaking all his fangs, and banished him.

… Can a snake’s fangs be broken by being kicked? Then can snakes get dental treatment too? As I read the Cretan creation myth with a dazed mind, my legs and heart, which had been pounding from the full-speed run, gradually started to become lazy again.

Below the myth, there were brief additional explanations about Ophion’s abilities and mythology. As I read the sentence stating that snakes symbolize knowledge, and because they shed their skin and are reborn, they represent eternal life, reincarnation, and endless new resurrection, my drowsy eyes suddenly opened wide. Why are there such explanations or names in this underwater base? Why are there things like Blue Dragon, Dagon, or Dragon King in an underwater base?