Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea - Chapter 100

The space story he’s talking about now seems almost identical to the situation I’m currently experiencing?

Did Kanu notice that I’m going through something like this?

Have I ever told Kanu about the dreams I’ve had?

Or did someone tell Kanu about the dreams I’ve had?

Or is he simply telling a story he learned about without any intention?

Is it one of the many fancies that people who believe in conspiracy theories like?

Could it be that the dreams I had were actually real events that happened, and I’m experiencing that situation again?

Space, but this is the deep sea?

…Could he be telling this story to make fun of me?

This story Kanu is telling may have nothing to do with me, and I may have just had a wrong dream.

All sorts of thoughts slapped the back of my head and passed by. Kanu yawned once, then looked around with lazy eyes and said,

“As you know, the explosion of the Martian base Ares was the largest scale death event since the London and New York incidents. Among the people who were a jumble of race, gender, and age, why was it that only one poor woman from Haiti, a third-world country, who had almost nothing, was able to survive?”

Why did only that person survive? Is there a reason? …Is it me here? It can’t be me, right?

“What conditions would have had to exist for such a thing to happen? Could such a situation be artificially created?”

As I was listening to Kanu’s story as if being sucked in, Logan irritably asked from the side,

“Where in that story is there hope, fun, or whatever? Was I fooled again?”

The story of all the people at the Martian base dying and only one person surviving didn’t seem fun or hopeful to Logan. A few people laughed softly or jeered, seeing Logan’s reaction.

“It became the starting point for research on time that was floundering to approach it in other ways besides biology, medicine, physics, and astronomy. Similar things had happened from a very long time ago in train derailments and passenger plane crashes.”

Kanu said while scratching his chin,

“People who very coincidentally avoided such accidents by a narrow margin, received revelations like dreams, sudden oversleeping, their pet dog ate their train ticket and passport, or strangely mistook the time on the date of the accident in the morning and were able to avoid such large-scale accidental deaths by very trivial things, or were able to be unharmed even while directly experiencing it at the scene of the incident.”

Kanu looked at Logan, who seemed dissatisfied, and acted like a professor generously allocating time for a stupid student.

“Entering the mid-21st century, the resource considered most important is now time. Not things like diamonds, oil, or food. Depending on how one can control time, almost omnipotent things can happen. It’s the only answer that can transcend the limits of organic beings.”

“What does that have to do with me being trapped in an elevator right now?”

Kanu clicked his tongue at Logan and said,

“If what happened to that Haitian woman at the Martian base also happens to someone specific here, we can make all the stupid things we did not happen at all, or make them better. For example, there’s no need to be trapped in an elevator in the deep sea like this and vent our dissatisfaction and stress at each other. If we could turn back time, we could all lie on the warm Pacific sand beach in Hawaii, bask in the sunlight and swim in the clean seawater. Or in my case, I could lie on my bed in San Francisco, simultaneously having coffee and cigarettes, and watch the news of the underwater base being wrecked as if it were someone else’s business.”

Logan seemed to be thinking about Kanu’s story with a puzzled expression. Thinking that I woke up in my room’s bed, I recalled the things I dismissed as dreams and asked Kanu,

“Then injuries that can’t be undone will also disappear. You could even bring dead people back to life?”

Kanu smiled at me mischievously.

“Yes. Isn’t it hopeful? Even our situation of being trapped in an elevator hundreds and thousands of meters under the sea due to a power outage can be resolved in an instant.”

If you’re unlucky, you could turn back time and make it worse. Like now. Even though I experienced a similar situation in my dream, it ended up like this. I barely swallowed those words. Then, recalling everything Kanu said, I became lost in thought. Kim Ga-young, who was quietly listening next to me, smiled crookedly and said to Kanu,

“Like that woman, one could easily escape from here alone while watching everyone die, with those experiences. …Or maybe not.”

Kim Ga-young turned her head and body to the side to look at me, then naturally turned her head and body towards Yoo Geum-yi as if stretching her waist and neck muscles. …What was that just now? Looking at me, Kim Ga-young shook her head very slightly.

As soon as I saw that action, I realized that there were three people in this elevator who knew about what I had experienced. If the things I thought were strange dreams and avoided were actually people dying, what happens? Like what happened in space, did I really turn back the past and come here? If that’s true, what happens if I reveal my situation to the people in this elevator?

…With a simple action, Kim Ga-young signaled me to shut my mouth. What does it mean? Kanu nodded at Kim Ga-young’s words and said,

“Well, I only know of one case properly. Doesn’t it seem possible? If one uses the privilege of going back to the past for personal gain. …Actually, it’s impossible to know who will be chosen in what way, and whether such a thing will really happen in a disaster situation. It’s almost like a superstitious story.”

Kim Ga-young largely rotated her shoulders and stretched her arms out upwards. Then, poking Yoo Geum-yi, who was frantically biting her lips and frowning next to her, she said,

“If it’s possible to go back to the past, I wish someone had stopped me from writing a resume for the underwater base. I don’t want to live here anymore.”

“Ah. …I want to choose a different major when I enter college. Or not go to college at all.”

I don’t know about Kim Ga-young, but Yoo Geum-yi’s words felt like a clear lie. To naturally move Kanu’s story to the past, I asked Yoo Geum-yi,

“What will you do for a living?”

“I want to bake bread and live off of that. I’ll just eat all the bread that doesn’t sell and is left over. I’m already eating bread for all three meals anyway. It’d be much better to make and consume it myself.”

Is that so? Is the story of dreaming of becoming a grand baker true? …I don’t know. Kim Ga-young smiled slyly at Yoo Geum-yi and said,

“Yeah? Then let’s bake bread together. There are times when I feel regret about why I chose my major, too.”

“Okay. First, I’ll bake the red bean bread, chocolate bread, and cakes.”

“Alright. Then I’ll bake the cookies and the remaining breads.”

“I will occasionally drop by that bakery and become an excellent consumer.”

I tried my best not to look at Jihyun. I wanted to immediately ask with my eyes, “You also know my situation, but can you keep quiet in this situation?”

No. Why can’t I get caught? I tried to calm my body that was desperate to unnaturally turn and look at Jihyun’s face. Then I tried to naturally fix my gaze on Yoo Geum-yi and Kim Ga-young next to me. Fortunately, there was no reaction from Jihyun’s side.

I have absolutely no relation to this story. I have absolutely no relation to Kanu’s story. So let’s act naturally. Act naturally. …I’m so anxious I’m going crazy.

It felt like someone would suddenly grab me and shout, “You’re the one experiencing something similar to that Haitian woman Kanu talked about!” In a situation where no one was saying anything to me, my feet were going numb.

Then suddenly, Emma reached out towards me and I was so startled it felt like my heart would burst. It seemed that the flashlight illuminating the ceiling was shaking. It wasn’t because I was holding one arm up and shining the flashlight at the ceiling, but because I was anxious without realizing it. What happens if I get caught? A feeling of anxiety with an unknown basis brushed my back.

When I handed the flashlight I was holding to Emma with a stiff face, Emma took the flashlight from me and retreated back to the corner where she originally was. Emma slightly raised her arm and held the flashlight towards the ceiling. When she rested her forearm on her knee, the light illuminated the ceiling without shaking.

As the light source disappeared from me, I finally started to feel a bit more at ease. Because I was holding the flashlight, people’s gazes would sometimes linger on me, but now my facial expressions and actions would be buried in the darkness of the elevator.

Logan suddenly said with his arms crossed,

“No, if you think about it that way, there should be at least one person alive in all sorts of disaster situations or places where mass deaths occur. But there are many incidents where everyone dies and there are no survivors.”

Kanu answered Logan’s words while yawning and leaning against the elevator wall,

“That’s right. There are a tremendous number of incidents without survivors, too.”

“If the elevator falls, everyone here will die, so it’ll just be the end.”

Logan also yawned and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. Kanu said to Logan,

“If we look at the entire underwater base, not just the 12 of us, there may be a possibility. The sect would scrape together all the events that occurred after humanity came into existence and search for the stories and contents of the survivors, and collect a tremendous amount of data. Unexpectedly, there were far more death incidents without survivors. Especially among the mass death cases, the repetitive continuity of time like at the Martian base almost never occurred due to massacres by civil war or dictators. These strange things only happen in accidents where a large number of people die in a very short period of time.”

Sect? It felt like having cold water poured on my head. I blankly asked Kanu while looking at him,

“Can I ask what Kanu’s religion is?”

Kanu answered right away as if it wasn’t difficult,

“What was the name again? Uh. The Infinity Church. I’m a member there.”

…But you’re not wearing that strange cap, and you’re not carrying a gun!