BLDS Chapter 186

Shin Haeryang spoke as he entered Deep Blue.

“Aren’t you worried you might die?”

“I’m very worried.”

Actually, I’m not that worried about myself, but I am concerned about the others. I mean… I come back to life when I die. The others… they come back too.

…I need to escape this strange phenomenon that makes me take life—mine and others’—so lightly. Stay too long and my mental health will deteriorate rapidly. Shin Haeryang checked the Deep Blue door and said.

“Not many will come to check the dental clinic. Three at most.”

I doubt it. I don’t think I could subdue even one attacker.

“How can I help?”

“Move the treatment room chairs into the corridor. The lights will go out soon. Don’t worry about what happens in the consultation room and corridor—just stay in the treatment room with Ae-young.”

Following instructions, I moved the chairs where Ga-young and Shin Haeryang had sat into the corridor. Shin Haeryang lifted the two metal chairs and threw them sideways, letting them fall. Not sure what he’s planning, but anyone entering Deep Blue would have to avoid those two overturned chairs in the narrow corridor.

“Anything else I can help with?”

“…Would you consider being more honest with me? I’ll figure it out eventually, but hearing it directly would be faster.”

Shin Haeryang tied parachute cord to one overturned chair leg and unwound the cord wrapped around his forearm. He cut the cord and started connecting its end to a low drawer pulled from the consultation room.

“You probably won’t believe me.”

Is he connecting the cord like that to trip people? How vicious. With them carrying guns, falling and hitting their chin on the floor could break their jaw or teeth. Shin Haeryang looked at several nails in the corridor wall and was about to make another trap when he stopped, looking at me. Guess he’ll just stand there until I talk. I sighed and said.

“I’m living the same day repeatedly.”

“…How does the repetition work?”

While his eyes looked at me like I was crazy, his tone and questions weren’t judgmental—which I… appreciate. If the only remaining members in this dental clinic are an unconscious dying patient, a raving mad dentist, and a staff member who extracts teeth with his fist, the future and reputation of the underwater base’s dental clinic would be forever ruined. Though maybe that doesn’t matter since this place is geographically rock bottom anyway.

“I wake up in the morning, struggle through the day, die around afternoon, then wake up again in my room around 7 AM today. But since others don’t remember the repeating day, it seems I’m the only one living like this.”

Explaining it to someone else, this sounds like a normal office worker’s day.

“Do you die by getting shot by terrorists?”

“Uh… No. I die in various ways. Sometimes getting shot, sometimes getting my side bitten by a shark, sometimes drowning.”

“Have you been in this situation before—the three of us in the dental clinic facing them with Ae-young injured?”

A situation like this before? If there had been, I would’ve tried to avoid it.

“No. This is my first time coming to Deep Blue like this.”

“How did the Infinity Church learn about your unique ability? You said others don’t remember the repeating day.”

Wow. Sharp.

“I wonder about that too. Before, most Infinity Church stayed in the Second Underwater Base. This is the first time they’ve come down to the Fourth Underwater Base looking for me, knowing my exact name.”

“Have you met anyone else with the same ability?”

“No. Ah! …But I heard about a similar situation.”

I briefly explained to Shin Haeryang about the Haitian woman who survived the space station, which Kanu had told me about. While listening, Shin Haeryang skillfully tied parachute cord to a nail left from a picture frame, then tied it to another nail on the opposite wall. Considering the frame hung at eye level, this trap clearly targeted people’s necks or chins. After checking the cord’s condition, Shin Haeryang muttered.

“One survivor…”

“Could something similar to what happened to her be happening in the underwater base?”

“Was Infinity Church present at the space station too?”

“I didn’t hear about that. But the person who told me the story was one of the Infinity Church.”

Shin Haeryang thought for a moment, then entered the consultation room and used his gun stock to break the Greenland shark picture frame leaning against the wall, collecting several nasty-looking glass shards. I considered offering him a scalpel but knowing what he’d use it for, I couldn’t bring myself to speak. While scattering broken glass inside and outside Deep Blue, Shin Haeryang asked.

“Two of our team members disappeared at 7:02 AM—is that when you wake up?”

“Yes. I remember Sujung and Jihyun escaping on an intact escape pod.”

Seeing Shin Haeryang’s expression, I hastily added.

“I forgot to mention something. When people escape on an undamaged escape pod or reach Daehan Island’s Level 0, they disappear from the underwater base.”

“What do you mean by disappear?”

“Engineer Team A members, Geum-yi, Henry, and the snake and cat were in West District but left the underwater base—after that, I couldn’t meet them in West District anymore. This is just my hypothesis, but this phenomenon seems to only apply within this underwater base. When I tried to go up to the surface using the South District cargo elevator, it wouldn’t properly stop at Level 0 (BA). At the time, I thought it was just a malfunction since the elevator kept stopping due to power outages, but thinking about it now, that doesn’t seem right. And when taking the escape pod up, some force prevented us from surfacing right before reaching sea level.”

While explaining everything I knew to Shin Haeryang as thoroughly as possible, I came to a light conclusion about my current situation.

“I might never be able to escape this underwater base.”

There’s a world of difference between thinking something in your head and saying it out loud. A wave of depression washed over me, soaking my body. But one thing’s still good.

“But I can help others escape.”

Better than no one being able to leave this underwater base. Though I couldn’t escape, the fact that others could leave provided some comfort. If I’m going to keep trying to survive, isn’t it better to help others if it can’t help me? If everything was meaningless and I just kept dying or suffering, I might have stayed buried in my room all day crying.

If the number of people who’ve left the underwater base becomes significantly greater than those still here, maybe those who left first could help me later.

I remembered the people I sent up in the elevator trying to pull me up. The force pulling me down is strong, but maybe if they tied a rope to me and a large group of people pulled together, I could get up?

I tried my best to think positively about my situation. Negative thoughts aren’t good for brain health.

Why can’t I leave? Why do others get to leave while only I have to suffer here? It’s easier and more addictive to keep repeating such thoughts and wallowing in despair and sadness. But if you keep ruminating on such thoughts and emotions, it becomes a habit. I don’t want to live with such habits.

Shin Haeryang was now trying to remove the consultation room door. He refused when I offered to help with what looked like a complete renovation of Deep Blue’s interior, then easily detached the door. While cleverly closing the consultation room door, Shin Haeryang said.

“Assuming everything you’ve said is true, that means in just five days since being hired, without even knowing the layout properly, you managed to find intact escape pods and help people escape through gunfire from crazed fanatics.”

…When you put it that way, it sounds too exaggerated? According to Shin Haeryang’s description, I’m an action movie protagonist. Should have about 20kg of muscle, work for a three-letter agency, be a white male in a suit. Drinking hard liquor and putting out cigarettes stylishly. Not a single thing that resembles me. I said sheepishly.

“I didn’t do it alone. Though you don’t remember, you helped, and I met many good people.”

“In this underwater base?”

His face showed clear disbelief. Just what have you been doing in this underwater base? Shin Haeryang moved the consultation room desk forward, thought for a moment, then moved it back.

“Even amid flying bullets, they recovered three corpses suspected to be you. Your death itself seems extremely important to the Infinity Church. And listening to your explanation, this ‘anomaly’ doesn’t seem to affect all believers. Perhaps your ability is extremely rare even within Infinity Church.”

“Why am I experiencing such a rare phenomenon? From what I hear, there seem to be people who’ve made huge donations to Infinity Church—why me and not them? They even put shark teeth in their mouths; with that kind of dedication, shouldn’t they be experiencing this instead of me? And Infinity Church people all carry jewels, but I don’t have any.”

“Jewels?”

“Yes.”

Shin Haeryang touched around his neck area and asked me.

“Does it matter what kind of mineral?”

“I don’t know. Among the Infinity Church I’ve seen, some had jewels hanging all over their bodies—thinking about it now, those people might have held quite high positions within Infinity Church.”

“Would that include implanting gold in the body? What about earrings or piercings?”

…Right. Does gold dental filling count? What about implants? Artificial organs? They use titanium in teeth, but my back is also completely fixed with titanium. It’s as hard as steel but light, with low reactivity and no toxicity, so they use titanium for almost all in-body metals. People who’ve had major accidents would all have titanium in their bodies—does that mean they have jewels too?

Shin Haeryang glared at Deep Blue’s door and said in a low voice.

“You won’t believe this, but… once, one of our team members spoke nonsense while high on drugs.”

“What?”

“When they weren’t in their right mind from the drugs, I asked why they joined the underwater base. They said they applied because they figured they wouldn’t die by fire here.”

Strange reason to join an underwater base.

“They said there was a fire while watching a movie in a theater. They only had 30 minutes, and had to escape within that time. Their prosthetic leg was sent to America for repairs so they were in a wheelchair, and they lost their brother in that accident. Said they watched their brother die 30 times. Usually I’d ignore such drug-induced ramblings, but thinking about it now, it’s strange.”

Then Shin Haeryang gestured for me to enter the treatment room.