Chapter 166

Name：Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea Author：
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Chapter 166

Inside the escape pod port, all the familiar faces were already gathered, with only one person I hadn’t seen before. At first, I thought he was a foreigner due to his light red hair, but after hearing him converse with Jeong Sanghyun, I realized he was Korean.

His bangs fell to his eyes, and perhaps because his hair had grown long, he had tied the back into a small ponytail. He had multiple earrings in both ears along with piercings, and tattoos peeked out from his neck and beside his ears, not fully covered by the engineer suit.

From a distance, I thought he was wearing an engineer suit, but upon closer inspection, I noticed that the pants portion of the suit had been cut off above a certain point. Below both knees were prosthetic legs.

He was sitting on a waiting chair next to the escape pod with his hands clasped, but when he saw us, he stood up. The man, who was over 180cm tall, waved his right arm towards us.

Up close, I could see that the little finger and ring finger of his right hand were also prosthetic. The black matte prosthetic fingers made it look like he was wearing finger gloves from afar.

I’ve seen quite a few due to spinal and eye issues in the ward, but this is the first time I’ve seen one inside the underwater base. Prosthetic limbs and braces vary depending on the body part, but they’re not usually very noticeable unless the user undresses. Moreover, these days they’ve become so sophisticated that they’re hard to quickly identify with the naked eye, and since most people use electronic prostheses, it’s not easy to notice them.

If it weren’t for his hair, his legs would have been the first thing I noticed. I thought he was wearing black pants with a unique pattern. Or maybe he had plucked a few grape vines from the First Underwater Base’s vineyard and wrapped them around his ankles and calves.

Upon closer observation, they were state-of-the-art electronic prosthetic legs, elaborately decorated in black with green and light green accents. I know this prosthetic series because it’s supplied to my friend’s orthopedic clinic; they’re typically shipped from the factory in white. This is to allow buyers to customize the design to their taste, and it seemed he had opted for a black base with green vine-like imagery. Does he like plants?

Many patients order custom exterior designs to match their skin color, so it’s been a while since I’ve seen one decorated in black like this. My friend ordered a bright red one, calling it “passionate red,” but recently he switched to a pitch-black one, spouting nonsense about it being “stylish black.”

Looking at this person’s prosthetic hand, a thought suddenly crossed my mind: is black the trend these days? I hope that trend doesn’t reach teeth.

“Hello. I’m Park Moohyun, a dentist.”

Could this be Kim Jae-hee? Having shaken hands while greeting people for five days, I almost reflexively extended my right hand. The man with gentle eye corners, contrasting his flamboyant appearance, casually took my right hand and shook it.

Ah, right. Come to think of it, if we just take the elevator for 10 minutes from here, we could get prosthetic maintenance done at the Daehan Island hospital, right?

When the body is unwell, even going to the hospital becomes a major task. Whether someone has a dark past or a history of injury, living close to a hospital is a prerequisite for survival. Being able to visit the hospital directly from the dormitory and receive regular psychological therapy for free... Depending on the person, this could be a decent workplace.

Losing a body part often brings social anxiety and depression hand in hand. It’s nearly impossible to drive them away with willpower alone. Thinking about it, the underwater base might actually be suitable for people with disabilities. Of course, I’m going to resign.

“Hello. I’m Kim Jae-hee from Engineer Team A. ...Oh, your left eye.”

Jae-hee spoke as if exclaiming when our eyes met. It’s usually not very noticeable, but the color looks slightly different when light reflects off it. He noticed after all. I nodded slowly.

“Yes, I got one put in too. It cost quite a bit.”

“Same here. My whole body is a money-eating hippo.”

Jae-hee said this with a light laugh. The black matte-coated fingers gently released my hand, mimicking the movement of his other fingers.

Prosthetic limbs need to be replaced every 2 to 5 years. Depending on who used it, how much, on which amputated part, and in what condition, the replacement time can be even sooner. And these assistive devices aren’t cheap. They cost at least a month’s salary, and in the case of electronic prostheses, they can cost up to tens of billions depending on their functions.

Fortunately, our country has good health insurance, but I can’t imagine how I would have lived if I were American. I probably couldn’t have become a dentist. I wouldn’t have even dreamed of paying for my younger sibling’s college or my mother’s back surgery with the money I earned.

Going to America to undergo the complex process of surgically implanting a new artificial eyeball, the cost of two people’s surgeries, nursing care, and rehabilitation expenses all draining away as hospital bills, the bank balance of a fairly well-off middle-class family of four literally evaporated as if it had never existed. As I was briefly ruminating on this troubling past, Kim Jae-hee suddenly said to me,

“Is there any brilliant solution if you go to Daehan Island? Sanghyun, do you know how to fly a helicopter or drive a boat?”

“You just drive it, right! It’s not like I haven’t played a game or two! Ah, really! I’ll take you with me, hyung!”

“I think Daehan Island will be a mess too. Didn’t you only play fighting games or dating games with girls?”

Then Kim Jae-hee laughed heartily and patted Sanghyun’s shoulder, saying,

“Whether I wait here or get on a boat you drive up there, it seems equally doomed. If that’s the case, I’d rather stay with my team members.”

“Augh! Then at least let me take the escape pod first!”

Hearing Kim Jae-hee’s words, Carlos’s face lit up and he said,

“You’re not going? Hey! One person from your Team A isn’t going! Then this person’s escape pod is mine!”

Carlos and Sanghyun behaved as if they were about to eat Seo Jihyuk alive to get on the escape pod, while Seo Jihyuk stood blocking them in the place where Jae-hee had been standing earlier, as if he were listening to dogs barking.

Come to think of it, Shin Haeryang isn’t here with Engineer Team A. Looking at Engineer Team D, Vladimir was missing there too. Instead of the silent Viktor, Nikolai was muttering something while pointing at Seo Jihyuk, and judging by the lack of translation, he seemed to be sharing what had just happened to Sophia and Nikita in his team with somewhat intense words.

Sophia absent-mindedly nodded mechanically to Nikolai’s story, then covered her mouth and staggered towards the bathroom. Nikita, who had been next to Sophia, was slowly walking, following her. Every time I see those people, I wonder, how much did they drink?

“Where did the team leaders of the engineering teams go?”

Surely the team leaders didn’t escape first in the escape pods? I asked Baek Ae-young, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, and her answer came with a sigh.

“Two people from each team disappeared. The Russian team leader and ours went to take a look around the central building. Ah, it’s a secret that we went to the dormitory. The team leaders told their team members to stay put right here. They probably thought we might disappear if we moved around on our own. We didn’t move an inch from here, okay?”

Baek Ae-young winked at me cutely with one eye. It seemed she meant for me to keep quiet about it.

Well, I think Shin Haeryang will know what his team members did as soon as he sees them. Looking at the water dripping at Seo Jihyuk’s feet, I asked,

“There are four escape pods left, but you haven’t launched them.”

“What if we find Jihyun unni or the deputy team leader with critical injuries that require immediate hospital transfer? It doesn’t seem like this underwater base will collapse in 10 minutes, right? The team leader said he’d come and make a decision in 10 minutes. It’s the same for the Russians too. We’re fighting less over the few escape pods we have.”

Carlos, the only non-engineer, fidgeted anxiously, stuck between the two engineering teams. Tumanako, who had been looking around the unfamiliar escape pod port, approached Seo Jihyuk, pointed at the number showing four escape pods remaining, and asked,

“We can escape by taking these escape pods, right?”

Two people. Seo Jihyuk looked at Tumanako and his expression became troubled.

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