Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The seawater rushed into my mouth. As I swallowed the salty, bitter water, my consciousness waned. On top of that, my waist hurt as if it had been violently twisted. When I opened my eyes, I saw Shin Haeryang pulling Seo Jihyuk and me out of the water and up the stairs. As the pain in my waist became unbearable, I realized how Shin Haeryang had managed to find and rescue us from the pitch-black water.

Unbeknownst to me, the parachute cords tied to my waist were connected to Shin Haeryang’s arm. The same went for Seo Jihyuk. Shin Haeryang had pulled us up by winding the cords around his arm continuously.

Seo Jihyuk regained his senses and, with heavy steps, climbed the stairs behind Shin Haeryang, who was like a fisherman reeling in his catch. I also crawled up the stairs, where Yoo Geum Yi and Kim Gayoung were waiting to grab Seo Jihyuk and pull him up.

‘It turns out you can climb stairs on all fours. Today has been a day of me learning new things by force.’ As I suppressed my messy emotions and continued my quadrupedal climb, Baek Aeyoung lowered the water barrier that allowed us to return to the living quarters once Shin Haeryang emerged. As the persistent water disappeared, I took in deep breaths, feeling as if my lungs would burst, and then lay flat on the floor.

Shin Haeryang’s voice resonated.

“Seo Jihyuk. Your legs?”

He seemed to be asking because he saw us fall.RêAd lateSt chapters at nô(v)e(l)bin/.c/o/m Only

“I’m fine.”

“Doctor. Are you injured anywhere?”

Then he talked to me, so I looked at Shin Haeryang while still lying down. My clothes were soaked with seawater, and I didn’t have the strength to get up. As I wrung the water out of my clothes, I replied, “My chest hurts.”

“You’re fine.”

Shin Haeryang’s decisive response reached my ears. Why are the people here so cold? Is it because they’ve been underwater for so long? I thought Shin Haeryang would help me up when he silently approached me, so I reached out my hand. However, he magically untied the parachute cords from my body and took them back. As I groaned and struggled to get up, Yoo Geum Yi and Kim Gayoung were hugging each other and crying.

“Waaaah! Eunnie! I thought you were dead!”

“Uwaah! I thought I was going to die too!”

“Gayoung eunnie, why were you locked in that room alone?! Waaaah! You said you’d be able to escape quickly if something happened!”

“The door wouldn’t open! Uwaaaah! The door! The door wouldn’t open! It seems like the doors in the other rooms opened, but mine wouldn’t! I yelled for help, and everyone was escaping together, but they left me behind! Uwaaaaah! They ran away, even though they could hear me screaming for help! Waaaah!”

According to Kim Gayoung’s tearful words, she had been reading a book on her bed when a sudden, massive shock sent her rolling onto the floor. Then, she heard the sound of doors opening from an emergency alarm and forced release, but her door remained stubbornly shut.

“If the direct elevator is safe, it’s the easiest way to escape. What about West District, which is as close to Central District?”

At Kim Ga-Young’s words, Yoo Geum-yi shook her head, saying, “We came from West District.”

While the engineers and researchers were discussing the quickest escape method, I carefully opened the backpack where I had stowed the cat. I was worried if it was okay since it hadn’t moved at all during the journey. As soon as I opened the bag, the cat looked into my eyes as it lay still.

It seemed to like the confined space and stayed quietly in the backpack. I stared at its cute face for a moment before zipping the bag back up. It was so well-behaved. There was no trace of the fierce demeanor it had when I first put it in the bag. Is this normal for a cat? I had never raised an animal before, so I didn’t know.

It seemed that a brief discussion lasting less than five minutes had already concluded, and preparations were being made to move to the East District, which was located to the east. If we couldn’t use the escape route in East District, we would at least take the elevator to the third underwater base.

When I heard Yoo Geum-yi grumbling, it seemed that all the external elevators intended for installation in Central District had been crowded into the research center. Elevators were essential in the research center. However, when researchers needed to go to the surface or had work-related matters, they all reluctantly came to Central District and used the direct elevator. This was because they could use the cafe in Central District, and just getting out of the research center made the researchers happy. Judging by Yoo Geum-yi’s expression, the research center seemed like a prison for the researchers. Nah, that can’t be.

After a brief discussion of less than five minutes, they were already preparing to move to the East District, located to the east. It seemed they were planning to go up to the third underwater base using the East District elevator, even if they couldn’t use the escape route.

I picked up the child who was lying down and wore the backpack on my front. Feeling a little embarrassed that I hadn’t been paying attention earlier, I asked Baek Ae-Young, who was next to me.

“What about the direct elevator in Central District?”

“It was dismissed as too dangerous.”

‘So, we’re not going there? Why?’

As I wondered, Shin Haeryang approached and tried to lift the backpack I was wearing in front, causing me to panic.

“Ah. That’s heavy.”

To be precise, the backpack weighed at least 6kg because it had a cat inside. Shin Haeryang effortlessly lifted the backpack with one hand and wore it on his back. Then he spoke just loud enough for me to hear.

“Is it your pet?”

At the comment, “It smells like an animal,” I laughed in disbelief. He had a good nose. I couldn’t even tell because of the seawater. As we divided the prohibited items among ourselves to carry, I walked slowly next to Shin Haeryang and said, “I found it.”

“You seem to pick up a lot of strange things.”

I closed my mouth, about to argue. I recalled the drunken Russians I had recently found. Shin Haeryang, who seemed to have no intention of revealing the presence of the animal to others, silently carried the bag with the cat inside.