I struggled to keep my balance amidst the sudden chaos. Before I knew it, I was running in the opposite direction of the escape port with Yoo Geum-yi, our hands clasped tightly. My legs felt weak. Despite almost tripping over several times, Yoo Geum-yi firmly held my hand, pulling me back up. Tears welled up in my eyes unexpectedly. Could Yoo Geum-yi, with her height of 165 cm, be that strong? She was so small, her height, her hands, but her strength was immense. My vision blurred as my eyes filled with tears.

As we were sprinting through the empty hallway, Yoo Geum-yi slipped and fell. This time, it was my turn to help her up. She groaned, presumably from her knee hitting the floor, and clung to my arm as she stood. Despite falling several times, we ran back the way we came with like madmen.

We passed the laundry room, the stairs to the dormitory, then the restrooms, showers, and the Lounge 2 of the East living quarters. As we ran past another restroom, we finally reached the hallway with the elevator of the East district. That’s when my eyes met the enormous dragon eyes guarding the elevator. Ah, I can see the dragon’s face and eyes from the East district’s side. When I was walking from the Central district, I couldn’t see its eyes. The giant creature seemed to be mocking the pathetic creatures racing towards the elevator.

It wasn’t until we reached the elevator buttons that Yoo Geum-yi slumped against the wall. I was about to lie down, but then I remembered the cat and the snake in my backpack, so I dropped forward instead. The cold floor of the East district touched my cheek. ‘Are the cleaning robots doing a good job with the floor these days?’

I was gasping for breath after running so hard. It felt like my lungs were about to burst out of my mouth. I didn’t think I could run any more, even if someone was trying to kill me. I couldn’t remember the last time I ran this fast in my adult life. As I lay there trying to catch my breath, Yoo Geum-yi tremblingly took out a bottle of water from her backpack.

“Drink some water.”

“You first.”

While Yoo Geum-yi was drinking, I sat up from the floor at the threat of a headache if I didn’t drink. Barely managing to drink the water like a human, I realized that Baek Ae-yeong had not arrived at the elevator yet.

While waiting, I opened my backpack and checked on the cat first. Its wide eyes seemed to ask me why I put it through such an ordeal. The cat, which had been unwillingly put on a roller coaster, tried to escape from the backpack, but I pushed its head back in and quickly zipped it up.

“The cat is okay.”

If the cat understood me, it would probably have cursed at me. I then opened the snake’s bag. The snake was curled up motionless in the smallest pocket at the very bottom of the backpack. Since it was in the pocket closest to my back, it didn’t seem to have suffered much shock, but I had no way of knowing how the snake felt.

“I’m not sure about the snake.”

I took a few candies out of the backpack and handed them to Yoo Geum-yi, she shook her head. “I’ve lost my appetite from all the running.”

“Just keep it in your mouth.”

Yoo Geum-yi accepted the candy, but she seemed too weak to even unwrap it. She sighed heavily. “What do we do now?”

“Exactly.”

It was clear twice over. They were telling us not to enter. Something must have happened as soon as we entered the escape port. Yoo Geum-yi started to mumble, trying to sort out her thoughts. “There’s definitely someone in the escape port. And who was it in the laundry room?”

“Victoria.” 

I barely managed to recall the obscure name. As I spoke, I remembered the sight of her with a towel wrapped around her head, leaning against the wall. Every time I thought of it, I got chills. Yoo Geum-yi nodded in agreement.

“That’s right, Victoria. Victoria must have been attacked there and managed to make it to the laundry room. The trail of blood led in that direction. She must have died there from severe bleeding.”

“The attacker must have had a reason to attack her. Perhaps they were short on escape pods, or they didn’t like her for some reason, there could be any number of reasons.”

Yoo Geum-yi frowned at my words. She sighed heavily and said, “But if the attacker had control of the escape port, why didn’t they escape? Why are they still there? Shin Haeryang or Seo Jihyuk must have warned us not to enter because it’s so dangerous.”

“That’s right… Why couldn’t they escape? Could it be that the escape port was rigged not to function, or it’s broken?”

“Then wouldn’t that person also have to move immediately to another escape port to escape, just like us? Or at least take an elevator?”

“Well… Right?”

Yoo Geum-yi nodded her head. “Muhyun-ssi, I thought the person who attacked Victoria wouldn’t be near the escape port. Since we arrived after Victoria’s death, I figured that in the meantime the perpetrator would have already escaped or moved elsewhere if they couldn’t.”

“Hmm… That’s a possible thought.”

Something struck me that Yoo Geum-yi hadn’t pointed out, so I asked, “What if the escape pods are perfectly fine, but they’re just not escaping?”

Yoo Geum-yi frowned at my suggestion. It seemed she didn’t want to imagine someone staying at this underwater base with a functional escape pod, while water was leaking and gunshots could be heard.

“Wouldn’t that be completely insane?”

“Right?”

“Who could it be? The two of them are both large and tall, but they still felt threatened enough to keep us out.”

“Yeah, who could it be?”

“They must have a weapon capable of making a hole in the thigh, right?”

“That’s likely?”

“Do you have the capability to suppress a person with a weapon?”

I nearly burst out laughing at Yoo Geum-yi’s question. “I’m the kind of person who could be overpowered just by someone simply wielding a spoon.”

None of the immoral people I had met came to mind. I knew more about the dental condition of the people I had met at the underwater base for five days than their character. I wiped my sweaty forehead with my sleeve and sighed.

‘If it was a dental issue, I could step forward, but running efficiently in such a massive underwater base or dealing with armed people was not my specialty.’

Sitting with my back against the elevator wall, waiting for someone to come, Yoo Geum-yi sucked on a candy.

“…The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it is! In this urgent situation where people would struggle to escape even if they helped each other, why are they attacking each other? Can you believe they shot each other trying to escape? And just now, in the East district too. Does it make sense to deliberately attack people? Moreover, haven’t they known and worked with each other for a long time? They should think about escaping while helping each other! If you escape using the main escape pods, won’t you die? Would you just leave without helping someone trapped underwater?!”

The pronunciation was a bit off since she was rolling the candy in her mouth, but I listened to Yoo Geum-yi’s grumbling and then asked, “Even if it’s someone I’ve known for a long time, like Dr. Kim (Gayoung), or anyone from the same lab?”

Yoo Geum-yi, upon hearing my cruel words, snorted, Ha!

“Stop joking, Muhyun-ssi. Do you think I’ve only met people who pleased me in my life? Of course, there are good people in the world, but there are also scum-like people, and plenty who I’ve wished would get hit by a drunk driver and die. But even in such dangerous situations, when we desperately need selfless cooperation, I’m not such a petty person who would dredge up past matters and demand payment in the current situation. And if I had any grievances, I would express them outright, apologize, or get an apology, rather than keeping a grudge and stabbing someone in the back when the situation changes!”

“… I apologize for my harsh words.”

“… I was too harsh as well. I’m sorry.”

Impressive. I now understand how Yoo Geum-yi can have so many friends and know more than half of the people at the underwater base. I tried to test her, but instead I got hit by my own question. I’m the complete opposite of her..

Compared to Yoo Geum-yi, I am like a lowly creature. Because whenever an incident occurs, I bottle up grudges like collecting points. I’m not particularly articulate, nor do I properly challenge the injustices that happen around me, nor have I had good luck, a lot of people on my side, or situations that favored me.

The only way I could bear the torment was to endure it, and the only thing I could do was remember the situation well. If there ever came a time when the heavens tilted in favor of the weak, I thought I could return the experiences I unwillingly went through or seek revenge. Because only the victims remember the harm. The perpetrators do not need to remember. Plus, it is rare for them to voluntarily stand in the position of the weak.

Therefore, when such drastic changes occur, it’s only natural that those who had grievances or had been patient blow up. Selfless cooperation, ha! People generally want cooperation only when it’s disadvantageous to them, and trample on others when it’s advantageous.

I’m not that kind of nice person. But luckily, I had only been at the underwater base for 5 days, and there had been no one who gave me a hard time. People like Ms. Kim Gayoung or Yoo Geum-yi, who I didn’t know well, were characters who hadn’t done anything to make me hate or resent them, which is why I thought of saving them. If it had been my arch-enemy, I would have definitely ignored them, telling them to become fish food.

‘… I’m not sure. Would I have decided not to save them?’

“Unlike Kim Gayoung-ssi, I’m the type to accumulate grudges, and if there was someone here I really didn’t like, and a special situation like this arose, I might wish for them to disappear painfully from this world due to a mistake or accident.”

“We all do that. We wish for mistakes or accidents, not directly going and killing them with a gun or a knife, or wishing for their ruin, or sabotaging at least 72 escape pods.”

“Still… it depends on the situation.”

Yoo Geum-yi furrowed her brow at my words. “The one saying it depends on the situation is the one carrying a cat and a snake on their back right now, isn’t it? Even if you dislike the situation and the people, don’t try to pull them down. Think about going up!”

‘This lady’s brutally honest. … I can ditch the backpack with the cat in it anytime. But would I be able to forget the cat’s fur color and those eyes when I get out alive? Wouldn’t I recall my regrets, like wishing I had at least knocked on the door of the engineer’s room or seen Henry’s obituary, in the middle of the night?’

I’m the type to regret everything. There’s almost nothing I haven’t regretted. Can helping others to avoid my own regret be considered a virtue? Even if Yoo Geum-yi thinks so, would she consider that as virtuous? People easily make selfish choices. Because it’s comfortable. Because it’s easy. Because it’s less tiring. Because it’s beneficial. I don’t plan on blaming those people. But if we can get out of here by making less selfish choices…