BLDS Chapter 149

Shin Hae-ryang tied Zhu Shi’an’s wrists together with parachute cord. John Doe, seemingly feeling a sense of camaraderie, approached Zhu Shi’an and showed him his own bound wrists, waving them. This appeared to be his natural personality.

My right arm has no feeling and it’s cold. Shin Hae-ryang paid no attention to Zhu Shi’an’s complaints. As the bleeding from the shoulder wasn’t stopping, I asked Shin Hae-ryang for just two minutes to stem the bleeding. Shin Hae-ryang, who had been ignoring Zhu Shi’an’s words, reluctantly nodded at me.

“We need to move as quickly as possible.”

At those words, I almost blurted out something like “Then why don’t you help?” but I held back. He would only act for the sake of people with Korean nationality. Well, given his personality, it was something that he didn’t immediately kill someone who had attempted to assassinate him, and didn’t stop me from providing first aid to someone he usually didn’t get along with.

I borrowed scissors from Baek Ae-young and cut up a dry towel from my bag into small pieces. I never thought I’d miss gauze this much. Somehow, Baek Ae-young had done something to the blades of these ordinary scissors, making them extremely sharp. They were sharp enough to cut through bone, and the towel was quickly cut into pieces with a swish-swish sound.

Tumanako helped cut the towel while sniffling beside me. Holding these pieces that were closer to rags than gauze, I took a deep breath in and out. Then I forcefully pushed the towel pieces into Zhu Shi’an’s shoulder where the bullet had passed through, as if planting them with my fingers. Only after filling the cavity created by the bullet with towel pieces was I barely able to stop the bleeding.

As I crudely pushed towel pieces into the hole in the flesh, Tumanako, who had been holding the towel beside me, ran to a corner saying he felt sick. John Doe, who had been standing and watching, was also throwing up next to Tumanako.

During this makeshift hemostasis process, I expected Zhu Shi’an to faint from the pain, but apart from saying it was disgusting and spewing Chinese curses while grimacing, he showed little reaction. Just how strong is that painkiller? When I get back to Korea, I’m going to request a component analysis of this painkiller.

After two minutes passed, people set off with military precision. The corridor of East District was unbearably cold. I couldn’t feel it when I was with Zhu Shi’an due to tension, but now I couldn’t tell if Seo Jihyuk’s shoddy massage had helped or if the painkiller was taking effect.

Shivering from the cold, I wrapped the wound with a towel and secured Zhu Shi’an’s right hand to his uninjured left shoulder, tying it this way and that. I couldn’t leave the right arm, which he said had no feeling, to bump into things here and there. As I made various knots with the towel, I said to Zhu Shi’an.

“You need to go to a hospital on Daehan Island. As soon as possible. This is just a temporary measure to stop the bleeding.”

Zhu Shi’an nodded slowly. All of Zhu Shi’an’s attention seemed to be focused on the pad Shin Hae-ryang was holding. That’s somewhat fortunate. At least he has something else to focus on besides the pain.

Since I had packed with things I used at home, thinking I could discard them at the undersea base if necessary, all the towels were old ones. Although they were washed clean and kept in the room, I felt a bit embarrassed seeing the text on the towels wrapped around Zhu Shi’an’s arm. How could I have known I’d be using the towel I received as a high school graduation memento like this? Since Zhu Shi’an and the others didn’t seem to care about that at all, I quickly got over my embarrassment.

Shin Hae-ryang, after surveying the people with his eyes, walked to the middle of the group and asked me.

“Doctor. How much do you know about gunshot wounds?”

It seemed Shin Hae-ryang, who had been at the very front, moved to the middle, and Seo Jihyuk took the lead as if taking over. After moving with these people a few times, I finally noticed a few things. The three of them were taking turns at the very front, the very back, and the middle, guarding against external attacks.

At first, I thought these behaviors were just walking habits of Shin Hae-ryang or Baek Ae-young, who liked being at the front or the rear. Well, back then there were only five of us including Yu Geum-i and me. And the situation was so chaotic that we couldn’t pay attention to who was walking in front or behind.

“I know next to nothing about it.”

I wish I could remain ignorant forever. Don’t expect too much from a dentist. We’re pretty useless outside of the dental office. And… I want to live being useless. You can exist in this world even if you’re not valuable, right? After that answer, Shin Hae-ryang didn’t ask me any more questions.

Suddenly, thinking about the standard of treatment and hygiene I used to hold. Seeing this shoddy wound packing with towels, I wonder what kind of profanities an emergency medicine specialist on Daehan Island would spew. Do you treat teeth like this too? No. It was a bit urgent at the time. Nobody was paying attention to the blood gushing from his shoulder. I sighed inwardly while looking at my sticky palms and fingers covered in dried blood, having an imaginary conversation with a doctor.

The workplace I newly started at has water leaking everywhere, I’m seeing gunshot wounds on my vacation, the patient is someone who pointed a gun at me, we’re walking through a corridor where we might freeze to death because the life support system is broken, and we’re heading towards a place where armed cult believers have made their nest. Could it get any worse?

Suddenly, all the lights in the corridor went out. There were still fluorescent lights on the floor like signposts in the corridor, so although I was startled for a moment, I wasn’t scared. I quickly retracted my rash thoughts. …Indeed, I shouldn’t have such arrogant thoughts. Even in the hospital, when you think there are no patients, they suddenly rush in.

Tumanako’s voice, frightened by the darkness, was heard. What’s this? What’s going on? Why did the lights go out? Baek Ae-young spoke in the darkness as if sighing. It never rains but it pours. I was startled enough to jump when I heard Shin Hae-ryang’s low voice beside me.

“Keep walking slowly.”

No wonder I heard footsteps. It seemed that Seo Jihyuk, Baek Ae-young, and Shin Hae-ryang didn’t think it necessary to stop walking or wait for the lights to come back on just because of a power outage.

How can we walk when we can’t see? What if I bump my nose into the back of the person in front of me? Someone must have had similar thoughts to mine. When someone touched my back with their hand in the darkness, I screamed “Aaaah!” in surprise. Then the person who touched my back also screamed like a dolphin’s ultrasound.

As one person screamed, the screaming spread as if it were contagious. I heard the sound of someone falling to the floor or groaning loudly. Right after that, Tumanako’s scream echoed through the corridor in a high-pitched 5-octave tone.

Amidst this commotion, Seo Jihyuk, who had been walking at the very front, shouted shrilly.

“Everyone sit on the floor! You’re not children, how can you scream just because it’s dark!”

I was eager to make excuses at Seo Jihyuk’s words. Just imagine if someone suddenly touches your back with their finger in the dark. Wouldn’t you scream? Am I the only one scared? Am I the only one scared?! …No. Maybe I am the only one scared.

I stopped walking and sat on the floor. Coughing with my throat hoarse from screaming, I asked the person behind me.

“Who’s behind me?”

“It’s me. Sorry. I was afraid of bumping into the person in front.”

Hearing the voice, I realized it was John Doe. He must have been walking in the darkness like a jiangshi with his arms stretched out in front of him, and touched my back with his fingers. I should have been sitting, but I kept hearing the sound of running footsteps.

Didn’t everyone sit on the floor? Then who’s running? A calm voice of someone sitting on the floor was heard in the darkness.

“Zhu Shi’an has stolen my pad from my side and is escaping.”

Hearing the content, I got goosebumps. It was scarier than when an unknown hand touched my back in the darkness. It was a fear that could momentarily make one forget the cold and darkness. Baek Ae-young, who was at the very end of the group, said quietly.

“Something jumped out, and even though I swung at it with the buttstock, I missed.”

Tumanako, who had been groaning, threw a question into the pitch-black darkness.

“Why don’t you shoot that Zhu Shi’an or whatever with a gun?”

The answer came from Shin Hae-ryang, who was in the middle of the group.

“No.”

I threw a question in the direction where he was supposed to be.

“Please explain a bit more.”

“…We don’t have night vision goggles. Shooting down a corridor where someone is escaping when we can’t see is a waste of bullets.”

“Ah. I guess it was him who pushed me. I was really surprised.”

The sound of Tumanako rubbing his buttocks that had hit the floor was heard. It seemed Zhu Shi’an was running towards the escape pod port and dormitory corridor rather than the submarine port, probably fearing that the group would chase after him. Perhaps because the corridor was long, the sound echoed well. The sound of footsteps at the end of the corridor faded away at a constant speed and then stopped with a thud. Hearing this, Baek Ae-young muttered. Of course he’d fall with his hands tied while running like that.

When I saw a light glowing like a firefly in the darkness, I looked and saw Seo Jihyuk looking at the light from his turned-on pad. It seemed to be Michael Roarke’s pad. Seo Jihyuk’s face illuminated by the pad light looked like a ghost from a cheap horror movie. Seo Jihyuk, not taking his eyes off the pad, spoke as if sighing.

“It’s my fault. Well. I have no excuse even if I had a hundred mouths.”

Shin Hae-ryang spoke briefly towards Seo Jihyuk.

“We got information by keeping him alive. And you got the boat, right?”

“Just curse at me. I think that would make me feel better. …Doc. The team leader told me to kill Zhu Shi’an and only bring you.”

“What? Yes. What?”

“If I had known this would happen… I should have just… done as I was told.”

Just as suddenly as the power outage had occurred, the lights unexpectedly came back on. Has it already been 5 minutes? As soon as the standby power activated, I squinted at the sudden light source.

Seo Jihyuk, who had been continuously exposing his eyes to light from the pad, put the pad down on the floor and grabbed his rifle while still sitting. Then, as soon as he took his stance, he pulled the trigger.

I was looking at Seo Jihyuk and only looked in the opposite direction after the gunshot rang out. At the end of the corridor, I saw a figure smaller than a pinky finger falling towards the floor. It dawned on me that Zhu Shi’an had fallen. And only after a few seconds did I realize that Seo Jihyuk had been looking at the pad light for dark adaptation. So that’s why he did that, to shoot immediately when the lights came on.

John Doe, who was behind me as I stood there stupidly, pushed my back as if telling me to hurry up. When I came to my senses, we had arrived at the elevator in East District. As I was pushed into the elevator and sat in the corner, all my senses felt so distant.