Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea - Chapter 89

With my lungs and mouth full of air, my body automatically tried to keep floating upwards. I briefly wondered if I should have grabbed something heavy to hold onto while diving. After a moment’s contemplation, I reassured myself that since I was already in the water, I should trust my own judgment. Tilting my head down, I kicked my legs.

Using the strength in my legs and the curves of my body, I continued descending vertically. On the way down, I pushed aside or threw back anything my hands hit or anything that got in the way. I grabbed the 2nd floor railings, walls, wall-mounted structures, and metal handles as I made my way down, but I couldn’t tell how much time was passing.

Quickly passing the 2nd floor, I saw the 1st floor railing as I descended. I thrust my arms forward, kicking my legs like crazy as I went down. A thought crossed my mind that I was using too much leg strength, and my lungs began to ache as if they were being scratched. I watched a few bubbles escape from my mouth as I continued kicking.

Why am I trying so hard to survive? Earth is a planet of water, so does it make sense that humans submerged in water can’t survive for more than 10 minutes? From a cosmic perspective, isn’t it a grand comedy that those who have already destroyed the oceans, claiming to be the masters of the Earth, are trying so hard to survive? All sorts of random thoughts popped into my head. …… Putting my head in the water seemed to make my sensitivity explode. If I just took a shower, I’d try to find the meaning of existence like a sage, but the moment I tried to dry my hair, I knew I’d become lazier and more foolish than anyone else. I won’t have these thoughts once I get out of here. Let’s focus on the goal for now.

Since I had descended vertically from the 3rd floor storage room, I was able to find the location of the 1st floor storage room more easily than I expected. It was the result of looking at the map and running simulations in my head several times before descending. Hanging onto the long metal handles installed on the 1st floor building wall, I moved while practically sticking to the wall.

According to the undersea base guidebook, the reason these metal handles were left on the walls throughout the entire base was that this place used to be completely submerged in water. They were originally made for the convenience of field staff and divers during construction, but later these handles were also used for the convenience of people with disabilities using this place, and now they were being used for me. They were quite useful, more than I thought. …… Although Kevin Wilson did hit his head on one of these handles and died.

The valve was located further down than I had anticipated. I felt around with my hands to confirm if it was the right valve, then tried turning it in the opposite direction. …… It was more stubborn than I expected. It seemed like it hadn’t been used for a long time. I lowered my legs that were floating above me in the water and gripped the valve with both feet. Then, using my forearms and arms, I pressed my body completely against the valve and twisted the handle sideways. After turning the stubborn handle half a turn, and then a full turn, the valve wouldn’t budge any further no matter how much force I applied.

Where’s the drain? As I turned my head this way and that, I saw countless tiny holes, smaller than fingernails, densely covering the floor in the distance. While feeling a slightly creepy sensation, I also felt like I was looking at a place where teeth had just fallen out, leaving only the gums. Hmm. Weird feeling. Spitting out a few droplets of water, I let go of the valve I was holding. Then, kicking off the floor, I ascended.

After ascending a certain distance, I now had to rely solely on the strength of my calves and thighs to go up. I tried not to lose the breath I was holding in my mouth, but while forcefully turning the valve, I unknowingly let out a little air. My lungs, chest, throat, and head all ached.

My legs began kicking the water at a tremendous speed to survive. However, it felt like I was hardly progressing a few centimeters despite moving my legs so hard. I’m moving my legs so vigorously, but it doesn’t feel like I’m going up! Being careful not to lose the remaining air in my mouth, I tirelessly swung my calves and thighs.

As I passed the 1st floor and was about to reach the 2nd floor, I saw Benjamin approaching right next to me. When I waved at him out of sudden joy, he looked at me, ignored me, and quickly ascended. Reaching the 2nd floor railing, he used it as a springboard to jump out of the water. Soon, the water surface came into my view, and I swam frantically, quickly rising.

As soon as I reached the surface, I opened my mouth and gulped air indiscriminately. I mistimed opening my mouth and inhaling, swallowing a handful of water. Salty and bitter. Coughing and spitting it out, I practically crawled onto the 3rd floor corridor, which was already slightly submerged. My long-sleeved shirt that I had taken off and left on the floor was floating in the water. I picked up the shirt, wrung out the water, and hung the sleeves around my neck to dry myself with it like a towel. Then I plopped down on the corridor floor. Water streamed down my face.

It felt so good to be able to freely gulp air. I could feel my whole body rejoicing at the oxygen filling me up. My calves and thighs were burning with strain. My legs, unaccustomed to exercise, seemed to be cursing me, their owner. I can’t move a muscle. My body won’t budge. Taking deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling several times, I sat blankly on the floor submerged in about 5-6 cm of water and counted the number of people. It took me two counts to realize that there were 9 people, including myself.

Soaking wet, Yoo Geum-yi and Kim Ga-young saw me, smiled, and waved. I also gave them a thumbs up above my head. Wondering if anyone was missing, I looked around and saw Jihyun finally surface with a tremendous splash, utterly exhausted. Logan and Sam, who were nearby, grabbed Jihyun and pulled her out of the water. Jihyun lay face down on the corridor, coughing, seemingly lacking the strength to even move a finger. Yoo Geum-yi patted Jihyun’s back.

I thought about getting a towel for Jihyun, but then I remembered my splashing feet and the rising water. …… The cat! The cat in the backpack on the floor! The snake! Startled, I ran towards the small office where I had been before, slipping in the water and flailing my arms in the air, then cautiously began walking down the corridor. My younger sibling told me it was a waterproof backpack when giving it to me as a gift! It won’t get wet, right? Can they both swim? Are cats good swimmers? What about snakes? They’ll be fine! They should be fine, right? They have to be okay! …… What do I do!

As soon as I flew into the office where I had left my bag earlier, I was greeted by the sight of all the items left on the floor floating in about 10 cm of water. I frantically searched the room for my bag that might be floating in the water like a madman. …… It was nowhere to be found.

Thinking that the waterproof backpack might have floated out of the office door, I searched the nearby corridor back and forth. Then suddenly, I heard a low thumping sound. Wondering what it was, I realized the sound was coming from the center director’s office across the hall. Can a cat cause such noise? …… How would I know!

I quickly swung open the closed door of the center director’s office across the corridor and was speechless at the sight before me. The dead bodies that had been laid in that room were all floating in the water, colliding and pushing against each other, now bumping into the door I had opened. In the distance, several corpses were floating in the water, piling up against the wall.

After blankly staring at the scene for a few seconds, the urge to scream and the terror rushed over me. Frozen in place by the sight of the corpses, I trembled and closed the center director’s office door. …… I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see a thing. It’ll probably appear in my nightmares. Ah. Damn it.

Only after slowly backing away from the door could I finally breathe. Taking a deep breath, I began wandering the corridor again. Kim Ga-young, who had been watching me run around frantically, pale as a ghost, asked.

“Moohyun-ssi! What are you doing?”

“My backpack!”

“Follow me.”

Kim Ga-young entered the small office, opened the highest drawer of the filing cabinet that was bolted to the floor, and took out the backpack to hand to me. No wonder there were all sorts of documents floating on the floor. Choking back tears, I preciously hugged the backpack she handed me and asked.

“I had left it on the floor.”

“I moved it here because I didn’t know how fast the water would rise. The pad, shoes, and socks are all here, too.”

“Thank you for keeping them safe.”

Tears welled up strangely from my chest rather than my eyes. Suppressing the feeling of relief, I opened the bag to check if the cat and snake were okay first. The cat seemed to have been sleeping in the dark, blinking and squinting as the light entered. The snake was coiled up as usual. They both seemed displeased with me frantically checking on them. Whew. Thank God. Oh my. …… I’m sorry. I’m really bad at raising animals. I’m sorry. I’ll take better care of you next time. I should have been more attentive.

Kim Ga-young was taking out pads and distributing them to people. I felt like all the strength had drained from my body. Avoiding the cat’s body, I took out the last dry towel from the bag. The cat, now left without any towels, lay on the whale plush on the floor.

I draped one of the wet towels I had used before over my head. Then I wrung out the long-sleeved shirt hung around my neck two more times, shook it out, and put it on. I also put on the backpack. Having the familiar weight on my back was reassuring.

Letting out a deep sigh, I blankly stepped out into the corridor. People were talking about how cool they were in opening the drain valve and swimming out of the water. I heard voices comparing themselves to dolphins, sharks, whales, and stingrays.

I heard Sam making comments to Kanu and Jason about them being king prawns and king crabs, and Kanu giggling and retorting that the other person was a sea monkey. I shook my head, draining the water from my ears.

Completely soaked, Jihyun grabbed a chair that had been rolling around the corridor and sat on it like a throne, holding the pad handed to her by Kim Ga-young. She looked like an Olympic swimmer who had just finished the competition and won a gold medal. Drinking the water Yoo Geum-yi handed her, she was entering the engineer system on the pad.

When I handed Jihyun the dry towel, she roughly wiped her face and trembling fingers, heavy with fatigue, and passed the towel to the soaked Yoo Geum-yi. As Jihyun activated the automatic drainage system in the engineer system, she told everyone.

“It’s dangerous to go into the water now. When the drainage system starts, the water will drain through the open drain holes. Don’t go in the water because the water pressure and flow velocity will be high at the drain holes.”