Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea - Chapter 83

“Uh… Why don’t you search the center director’s office or something?”

Kanu stood up from his seat, as if to say there might be a first aid kit or something. In the distance, Kim Ga-young and Lee Jihyun were approaching with a man named Sam. It seemed like Jihyun was saying something to Ga-young’s hand, but it was too far away to hear properly. Ga-young’s hand was wrapped in someone’s clothing. It didn’t look like her hand was in good condition.

I told the two of them not to take their eyes off Yoo Geum-yi and walked to the bathroom. I wanted to run there quickly, but it hurt every time I moved, so I had no choice but to walk forcibly. My side ached with each breath.

Is it fractured? No. If it were fractured, it wouldn’t hurt this much. If the pain were that severe, I would’ve already been crying, screaming, and rolling on the floor. …… It’ll be fine. Let’s not worry before getting an X-ray. Worrying now will only increase my concerns. Let’s put off worrying until later. Let’s focus on the present.

Looking in the mirror, the colors of the right and left sides of my face were different. The left side was quite fine, but the right side was bright red and bruised. Moreover, it was completely bloody. Wow. Is this what I look like? Plus, the right side of my face was starting to swell. Unlike the intact left side, there was a gash above my right eyebrow, where a scab had formed with fibers or threads from the towel, and the bleeding had stopped for now. I looked around and took off my top. The left side was fine, but the right shoulder, arm, and side, where Arthur had pounded, were developing bright red bruises from the punches.

…… It’s okay. I can walk. I can move. It’s a complete minor injury. I tried to instill some confidence in myself.

When you’re alone in the bathroom, looking at the parts of your body that were hit by someone with a bloody face, your mood naturally hits rock bottom. Come to think of it, I think it was fortunate that it was dark. I couldn’t see the face of the opponent beating me properly. And because of the darkness, I couldn’t clearly see the opponent’s face melting as they thrashed me. I didn’t want to see those sights clearly with my own eyes and revisit that scene again on a lonely night.

To save myself from becoming depressed, I forcibly showered myself with praise. It’s all in the past. It’s way better than Jihyun, Ga-young, or Yoo Geum-yi getting beaten like this. It ended up this way because it was me. The left side is fine, isn’t it? You’ve seen much more terrible things while working, haven’t you?

First, I carefully washed my bloody face and the blood-stained neck with water. Faces normally bleed a lot when injured. Was he wearing a ring? Or were his nails long? …… I don’t know. I can’t remember. As I wiped away the blood, my reflection in the mirror returned to its usual appearance. My elevated heart rate also returned to normal.

I also rinsed the injured areas under running water and took out a towel from my bag to press against the wounds. I looked in the mirror to check if my teeth were okay, sighing once before slamming it. While rummaging through the bathroom drawers, I found toothpaste, a toothbrush, and mouthwash that someone had left behind, so I gargled with the mouthwash. The torn inside of my mouth seemed to scream in agony, but it was better than not doing it, so I rinsed and spit twice. I walked out into the hallway feeling somewhat better. A man named James saw me and pointed his finger down the opposite corridor.

When I went there, it was the center director’s office, and people were lying on the floor. I thought they might be sleeping, but when I checked, one person had an ax stuck in their stomach, another had a dented skull as if they had been hit with a hammer. There was also a person who seemed to have been hit in the mouth and jaw with a hammer, with all their upper and lower teeth knocked out. Damn, this is crazy.

I could see at a glance that there were more than ten corpses densely packed like Tetris, so I hurriedly passed through that office and went further inside. In the inner room, there were people Kanu referred to as those who were dying, sprawled on the sofa. One man had an office scissors stuck in his head and a pen in his eye. Next to him was a person with a broken glass bottle stuck in their stomach and neck, and another with broken limbs and blood pouring from the back of their head. Thankfully, all three seemed unconscious.

…… It doesn’t seem like anyone here particularly needs a dentist. An emergency medicine specialist should come here instead of me. Next, general surgery, orthopedics, thoracic surgery, ophthalmology, etc.—all the medical and surgical departments in a university hospital should come. …… Instead of me.

Kanu was next to those people, taking out a dusty emergency bag hung from the ceiling. As Kanu wiped away the dust with his hand, a red and white cross became visible, making it look somewhat like an emergency bag. Oh. It’s not a cheap first aid kit? …… But when opened, the contents were similar to a cheap first aid kit. Still, it’s better than nothing to have hydrogen peroxide and gauze. As I frantically rummaged through the emergency bag to check what was inside, the woman closest to me spoke to me as I made noise.

“Are you the rescue team?”

The voice, interspersed with coughs, was calm. Did she just regain consciousness? Kanu flinched and turned his head, and I was so startled I nearly jumped. …… What should I say?

“…… No. I’m not with the rescue team.”

The thought of giving false hope and lying crossed my mind for a few seconds, but I just couldn’t do it. The woman asked again, still staring at the ceiling.

“…… Are my injuries severe? I can’t move my neck.”

I let go of the emergency kit and approached the woman. Kanu closed his eyes for a moment, then looked far away and spoke to her.

“Bel. You fell from the 6th floor. Remember? People threw you.”

“…… Enradi. What happened to Tina? Did Tina escape?”

“Tina is dead.”

Then Kanu paced around the sofa where Bel was lying, and suddenly ran out of the room. I was left alone in the room with a dying person, holding the emergency bag. Having inadvertently grasped the saline solution, I felt this situation was a tremendous burden.

Being unable to do anything while someone is dying next to you. …… Oh my god. I want to get out of here too. Bel. It’s probably Belial, right? Is there anything I can do for her? Belial, still looking at the ceiling, asked me as I clumsily got up.

“Are you still by my side?”

“Yes. I’m here.”

Belial was swallowing something, but I couldn’t tell if it was vomit or blood. With each breath, gurgling sounds and bloody foam rose up.

“I want to be next to Tina. Is she beside me by any chance?”

“…… What does she look like?”

“Martina Sanchez. She has long, curly brown hair …… She’s wearing black jeans …… a green knit sweater with a white gown. She’s probably wearing Crocs for shoes.”

“I think she might be in the next room. The people here are all injured.”

“I want to hold her hand before I die.”

Feeling relieved that there was something I could do for her, I immediately grabbed the emergency bag and left. Outside, Kanu was shakily lighting a cigarette. I didn’t even feel like asking why he was smoking in the underwater base. If I were the type of person who could suppress my anxiety and sadness with something like that, I might have snatched it and smoked it too. I hurriedly asked Kanu.

“Where is Martina’s corpse?”

“Probably in the next room.”

Following the trembling hand pointing next door, I ran to the room next to the center director’s office, but there were also corpses laid out there. It seemed like there were over thirty corpses. It was the first time I had seen so many dead bodies gathered in one place.

I thought it wouldn’t be easy to find a stranger in a place where the bodies were simply gathered without overlapping. But I found her unexpectedly easily. It was because Kim Ga-young was in that room, bending over to look at people’s faces. Ga-young, with both hands wrapped in a towel, was startled to see me suddenly enter the room and asked.

“Are you looking for someone?”

“Martina Sanchez!”

“It’s her.”

The person Ga-young pointed to with her chin was a very small-framed woman. I put my hands under the corpse’s back and knees and lifted her with both arms. She looked like she was just sleeping, as she hadn’t been dead for very long. I entered what looked like an inner reception room from the center director’s office. Bel was still staring at the ceiling. Worried that I might be too late, I quickly asked.

“Bel? Bel? Are you alive?”

“…… I’m still alive. Cough.”

I made it so that Bel’s fingertips touched the hand of the deceased Martina. I don’t know if she had any sensation. As Bel intertwined her fingertips with Martina’s fingers, I tried to think of something good to say.

No suitable phrases came to my mind. Maybe religious people could say something here. Or people who are good with words. Or if they majored in linguistics or studied a lot of humanities. Damn it. I should have read more books.

I wanted to praise Bel for trying to evacuate people in an orderly manner even in the chaotic situation at the underwater pollution center. That might not have meant anything or been of any help to her. But if I didn’t say anything, I felt like I would be crushed by the silence.

“I heard you tried to evacuate people.”

“……”

“I think that’s amazing. You could have escaped first, but you didn’t, and you did everything you could do here to the fullest.”

“…… Tina gave up her escape pod because I said I would stay. Gurgle.”

Bel, who swallowed the bloody foam and vomited, said.

“Then she got hit by fists while protecting me. Kicks too, and a knife. Cough. She grabbed me as I was thrown into the air and crashed to the floor with me.”

The woman, whose limbs were bent strangely and several ribs were protruding outward, explained the past as she shed tears of blood and bled from the back of her head.

…… What do I do? What can I do?! I felt immense sadness as I watched Bel, who could no longer swallow the bloody foam and began spitting it out. Why do I feel so dejected and angry? I felt a searing pain in my chest. I tried my best to restrain my emotions and told Bel.