Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

The man was in a position where pulling the trigger would result in shooting between his own legs. The muzzle of his gun, aimed at him, seemed unlikely to miss his face or chest. Even under these circumstances, with Seo Jihyuk aiming a gun at the man’s side, he still spoke.

“We… we survive in any situation.”

…Impressive. If it were me, I would be too terrified to utter a word.

“Do you want to shit your pants for the rest of your life?”

The chill down my spine ran deeper upon hearing Baek Ae-young’s voice. When Baek Ae-young aimed her gun from his head to his chest, then to his lower abdomen, the man gave up his gun and raised his hands. Shin Haeryang slowly took the surrendered gun. Seo Jihyuk shuddered as he looked at Baek Ae-young.

“Eh… You probably don’t understand the meaning of the threat you just made.”

“Is it my business to know?”

As I heard Baek Ae-young’s icy voice from behind, I walked over to the man lying nearby. As I approached the seemingly unconscious man, Seo Jihyuk stopped me.

“His carotid artery is severed. He’s dead for sure… Hey, are you coming out when I didn’t call you yet”

I thought Baek Ae-young was telling us to come out, but it seems like she wasn’t

“I… I thought we were supposed to capture him alive, not kill him.”

“If my leg had been fine, that would have been possible.”

I looked at the man’s neck lying next to where Seo Jihyuk had been, and it was horrifying to the point where I wanted to look away. Nearly the entire blade of the scissors we used to cut the blanket from the convenience store was lodged in his neck, and the flathead screwdriver that Baek Ae-young had held penetrated his neck. Regardless of whether you looked from up close or afar, he was clearly dead.

A scissor and screwdriver lodged in a person’s neck.

As I tried to examine the man with trembling hands, Yoo Geum-yi drew me back. I was effortlessly pulled back by her significantly smaller hands. The man lying in view had a steady stream of blood pouring from his neck, like a small thumb-sized fountain. A pool was continuously forming.

I stared blankly at the bleeding parts. Normally, that much blood should not flow out. Even when you lose a tooth, it does not bleed that much. It shouldn’t bleed that much.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears, thump thump thump thump. I felt suffocated as if I couldn’t breathe, and severe dizziness hit me. Yoo Geum-yi was covering my eyes with her small hand, but as soon as I thought that was impossible because of her height, I realized I had already collapsed on the floor. From the side, questions from Shin Haeryang murmured in my ear. My vision was pitch black.

Who are you guys?

Who’s the instigator?

How many armed personnel are there in the underwater base?

How did you get the guns in?

Despite my spinning vision, Yoo Geum-yi’s small hand covering my burning eyes felt so cold it was a bit sad.

I took out a water bottle from my bag and drank. Blankly, I rolled a piece of candy in my mouth. It tasted like lemon. And it was sweet. I had seen so many people suffering from tooth decay that I had avoided sweet things.

Taking out a water bottle from my bag, I absentmindedly put a piece of candy in my mouth and rolled it around. It tasted like lemon, and it was sweet. I had seen so many people struggling with tooth decay that I have been avoiding sweets.

Of course, part of the reason is that I simply dislike sweet foods. I respond heavily to sweetness, so even a little sweetness gives me a headache. I haven’t touched chocolates and candies, let alone jellies. I didn’t frequently drink carbonated or liquid drinks either. I hate alcohol, and I don’t smoke. To be precise, I tried smoking for a month because my friends gave me cigarettes several times, but it didn’t suit me, and it cost too much, so I quit. Now, for the past few hours, I have been consuming more sweet foods than I have in years combined. My teeth and pancreas must be in shock.

As I was lost in such thoughts, Yoo Geum-yi spoke, “Muhyun-ssi, you’re acting like this because you’re suddenly under a lot of stress.”

“But everyone here is likely under the same amount of stress.”

“People are not all the same. How each person perceives stress is different. And how they feel is also different. A spider crawling on the bed is nothing to me, but my little brother would scream and try to burn down the entire room.”

Feeling embarrassed by Yoo Geum-yi’s attempts to comfort me, I wiped my nose and eyes with the back of my hand.

“But you seem to be handling it well, Geum-yi-ssi.”

“Really? Actually, I’m not feeling so great either. Just…”

“Just?”

“Just enduring it… blood, you know. I see it in normal times. And in experiments.”

“Oh…”

She was a researcher. With my mind spinning, I tried hard to concentrate on what Yoo Geum-yi was saying.

“But seeing blood pouring out from someone’s neck like that… It’s my first time.”

“I see. It’s my first time seeing scissors in someone’s throat…”

“It must have been Jihyuk-ssi. I saw him hiding a pair of scissors in his leg cast at the convenience store.”

“I see.”

“Yes.”

Then there was a moment of silence. After Yoo Geum-yi dragged me to the kitchen, simply sitting down helped me return to my normal state quickly. The man with a screwdriver and scissors stuck in his neck and his eyeballs flipped over was just a few meters away from here, but I felt relieved just by not looking at him. I was in a mild state of shock.

“Hang in there, Muhyun-ssi. We managed to escape from the 4th Undersea Base, remember?”

“Right… We were stuck in an elevator not too long ago.”

“That’s tru. When the elevator fell, we both screamed.”

At the memory, Yoo Geum-yi faintly smiled. I, too, returned a small smile. I felt a lot better. I wasn’t struggling to breathe like before, and I wasn’t infinitely scared. I suddenly thanked Yoo Geum-yi.

“Thank you, Geum-yi-ssi. My head’s more clear now because of you.”

“You’re welcome.”

A small, cold hand gently patted my back. I was embarrassed. A grown man, not a child, was being comforted by a younger, shorter woman in this frightening situation. The moment I realized that, I felt like I wanted to die out of shame. Ugh, so embarrassing. What kind of a fool am I? I really need to get a grip.

As we came out of the kitchen, I was unsure whether the interrogation was over or whether we had just paused it. The dead man from before was covered up to his chest with an unknown cloth. I had no idea who did it.

Seo Jihyuk was sitting against the wall, his gun aimed at a man, and Baek Ae-young was doing the same, although he occasionally checked their surroundings more than the man in front of him. Shin Haeryang, keeping his gun aimed, didn’t take his eyes off the man as he spoke.

“…I think it might be dangerous to take the nearest elevator first.”

“So, people like these are guarding the elevator from above?”

“Yes.”

Then there was silence. After a few hours, I realized. This seemed to be Shin Haeryang’s nature. If you didn’t ask precisely or request an explanation, he wouldn’t tell you anything. I asked about the most curious thing.

“What kind of people are they?”

Seo Jihyuk seemed to be showing off a shark-shaped mark that looked like it was torn off from the dead man’s forearm with his left hand, but he flinched and hid it when he saw the blood splatter.

Watching Seo Jihyuk’s action, Shin Haeryang sighed lowly and said, “It’s a religion of people who have a thing for Greenland sharks.”

“No, you blasphemous bastard!”

The man, who had been shouting in a heated voice, quieted down as he felt the muzzle of Baek Ae-young’s gun against the back of his head. Startled by his voice, Yoo Geum-yi, who had hidden behind me, caused my startled heart to calm down, then I spoke.

“There are three elements of religion: doctrine, dogma, and denomination, right? Who is the doctrine, I mean, the founder of this religion?”

Shin Haeryang was, unusually, searching for an answer. It seemed like the result of his questioning was not very effective. After moving his pupils around, Shin Haeryang barely managed to say, “…Seems like a psychopath who likes seafood.”

“No!”

Baek Ae-young pressed the muzzle against the back of the man’s head again, quieting him down.

I asked Shin Haeryang once more, “What…uh, what’s the doctrine? The teachings of that religion.”

As Shin Haeryang hesitated while looking at the man, he ambiguously replied to me, “…Genocide of mankind?”

“You bastard!”

Now, Baek Ae-young banged the back of his head with the muzzle of the gun.

“Do you want a small, unhealing hole in that big head of yours? Huh? Want a hole for the wind to pass through?”

The man, threatened by Baek Ae-young, was so angry he didn’t know what to do. He was grinding his teeth, but it seemed more because he felt unfairly treated by Shin Haeryang’s answer than by Baek Ae-young’s action.

Shin Haeryang, not paying any attention to the man, continued, “It’s said that there are heavily armed, aggressive, and antisocial people in front of the second underwater base elevator. And they’re shooting anyone who comes up. We can’t trust this man’s answer, but if it’s true, it seems like there are approximately eight to twenty of them.”

I frowned at the number of armed personnel, but Yoo Geum-yi made a grim face looking at the shark on the man’s forearm.

“Do you mean Greenland shark?”

“…Yes. You seem to be the smartest one here, smarter than these infidels. We live with the immortal shark! We survive any danger and hardship!”

Hearing this, Yoo Geum-yi remarked, incredulously. “If a bullet hits your head or a knife sticks in your neck, you die.”

As soon as she said this, the man glared at Yoo Geum-yi. After a few seconds of staring back without backing down, Yoo Geum-yi blinked several times as if her eyes were dry, then quietly hid behind my back. Ah, crap. Something got into my eye. Rubbing her eye with the back of her hand, Yoo Geum-yi spoke from behind me.

“I’ve heard there is a religion that desires immortal life and considers a 600-year-old Greenland shark a friend. Its name was… ‘Church of the Ancient Shark’?”

“It’s Infinity!”

Hearing the man’s furious yell, Seo Jihyuk surveyed his surroundings warily. However, Yoo Geum-yi seemed unbothered by the man’s outburst.

“It’s impossible to live forever!”

“You fool. Ignorance is a sin. In places unbeknownst to you, research on immortality is underway. Don’t speak ignorantly about what you don’t know!”

Yoo Geum-yi, seemingly angry, crossed her arms and began to speak.

“Ah. There was a person just like you in the laboratory where I used to work. A total idiot among idiots. You know, when the temperature decreases, genes that suppress aging become active. In order to adapt to the freezing ocean, one has no choice but to slow down their metabolism and grow at an extremely slow rate. The Greenland shark is the only shark that lives in the coldest region, which is why they live so long! Humans are programmed by their DNA to live until they’re about 38! Even with the progress of modern science and medicine, the human lifespan is limited to around 150 years! If you throw a human into a sub-zero ocean like the Greenland shark, wouldn’t the human lifespan become about 10 minutes? What do you mean, live forever? Even living for 200 years is impossible!”

“The Greenland shark is the longest-living vertebrate on Earth. Humans are also vertebrates!”

Upon hearing the man’s absurd argument, Yoo Geum-yi, a marine biologist, looked like she was going to die of high blood pressure.