Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

Chapter 22

The child opened his eyes and met with the frightened faces of the adults. The child, too, started to feel afraid seeing unfamiliar people surrounding him.

“Who are you? Where am I? Where is my dad?”

In a theater filled with darkness, I felt like crying first, seeing the blurry image of the child who seemed about to cry in the dim light that came through the door. From outside, the screams of people continued to be heard. Yoo Geum-yi shushed, placing a finger on the child’s lips and asked quietly. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“Shh… Quiet. What’s your name?”

As she diverted the child’s attention, I rummaged through my backpack only with my fingertips in search of candy. ‘If he eats something, he’ll be quiet.’ Only when I put my hand in the bag did I realize there was a snake inside, and I cursed inwardly while rummaging through the bag.

“It’s Henry. Where’s my dad?”

“Your dad’s at work right now… What’s your dad’s name?”

“Leonard Sanders.”

Yoo Geum-yi’s gaze sharpened. “Is your father the American engineer Leonard Sanders? Is your mother’s name Nevaeh Hopkins?”

“Do you know my mom and dad?”

“I’m Yoo Geum-yi. I occasionally met your mom and dad in the lounge. Didn’t you live with your mom?”

“Today is a day for my dad to play with me.”

Yoo Geum-yi groaned. I hurriedly took out chocolates and candies and extended them to her, who passed them on to Henry. Henry took what Yoo Geum-yi gave naturally into his hands. He probably didn’t know who his parents were, but he shouldn’t be taught to freely accept food from strangers.

“I’m a friend of your mom. If you behave, you’ll see your dad after work.”

Upon seeing the candy, the child made a puzzled expression. “I can’t eat candy because of my braces. My mom said I can’t.”

In order to help Yoo Geum-yi, I quickly jumped in with backup. It’s okay to eat! It’s okay!

“I’m a dentist. You can eat it. I’ll check your teeth afterward.” I pulled out a whale plushie toy from the bag along with the candy in my hand in a hurry, but the child looked at the 30cm long orange whale plushie and shook his head.

“I’m not young enough to play with things like this.”

Henry responded matter-of-factly. He didn’t cry, even in the situation where he woke up in the dark surrounded by strangers. I would have been crying and shouting asking where my mom was and who these people are. ‘This kid is brave. Adults tremble holding this sort of thing while receiving dental treatment. Kids in Korea tend to hold onto plushies during treatment, is it different for American kids?’

Kim Gayoung observed the child and asked, “How old are you?”

“I’m seven.”

“You’re all grown up then, aren’t you?”

“Right. Yeah, soon he’ll be driving and drinking.”

As I asked Seo Jihyuk for agreement, he seemed flustered and started to spout nonsense. Shin Haeryang, who only moved his eyes to confirm the localized confusion on our side, gestured with his hand as if to say keep quiet after hearing the noise outside the door. I was flustered and covered Henry’s mouth with my hand. But Henry, as if it was only natural, pushed my hand away. Unlike me, who was impatient and anxious about the screams outside the cinema, the child asked very calmly.

“Why?”

“We need to be quiet. We can’t be found by the people outside.”

“Then you could just tell me to be quiet.”

I lost my words at the logical assertion of this seven-year-old. So, as I closed my mouth like zipping it up in thin air, the child did the same with their mouth. ‘Since when has a seven-year-old been this smart? It was hard to tell since every child, whether they were 7, 17, or 27, who came to the dentist was always screaming in the same terrified tone.’

The multimedia room had no lock. Instead, if the multimedia room’s door is closed, it’s assumed that someone is using it, and there was an unspoken rule not to enter inside. If it’s not in use, we leave the door slightly ajar. As Shin Haeryang entered, a streak of light from outside infiltrated the dark multimedia room.

In a situation where even breathing was stifled, a shadowy figure passing by dimmed the light. I was so tense that I would have screamed if someone touched me suddenly. Then, out of the blue, someone opened the door of the multimedia room and strode in.

Unbeknownst to me, the whale stuffed animal I had been holding had disappeared, and I noticed that Baek Ae-young was threatening someone with a knife beside their eye. Probably, Shin Haeryang, who had stuffed the stuffed animal in the opponent’s mouth and pinned the individual’s head to the ground as he or she entered the multimedia room by holding down the struggling body with his own. In the meanwhile, Baek Ae-young was threatening the person with a knife, and it seemed like Seo Jihyuk was also grappling the opponent’s kicking feet.

Kim Gayoung recognized the opponent and said, “Huh? Ms. Smith?”

“Who?”

As I asked, Kim Ga-young quickly replied, “Jennifer Smith. She’s the team leader of E engineering team.”

The engineering team is all composed of Americans, or so I’ve heard. I could even see the strength leaving the struggling feet at Kim Gayoung’s words. However, Seo Jihyuk didn’t let go of his grip on the feet.

Shin Hae-ryang spoke to Jennifer quietly, “If you scream, I can’t promise what I’ll do. Nod your head if you’ll be quiet.”

Jennifer, who was lying on the floor like a frog, nodded. Still, Baek Ae-young did not put away her threatening knife but remained still. Only the blade of the knife gleamed in the dark, and the blade by her eyes went down towards her cheeks. Shin Haeryang, who pulled the stuffed animal from Jennifer’s mouth, slid a toy dolphin towards me with his foot. When I picked it up, the tail part was wet from saliva.

Ignoring my flabbergasted expression, Shin Haeryang asked the woman named Jennifer, “What happened in the North district?”

“…A Japanese engineer shot a gun. People got hit and fell. I ran and hid here.”

It was then that I understood why Baek Ae-young had stopped in the central district just now. There had been a gunshot. I didn’t realize it was a gunshot. I thought it was the sound of metal bending somewhere.

“Are there any escape pods left in the North district?”

When Jennifer shut her mouth, Shin Haeryang twisted the woman’s head about 60 degrees with his hand that was holding her hair. As her head turned abruptly, Jennifer’s eyes met Henry’s. Startled to see Henry, Jennifer exclaimed, “Why is the kid here?” and let out a groan before answering:

“They’re fighting over the six remaining ones. The Russian, Japanese, and Chinese teams were yelling and fighting, so our team went over, and a guy from the Japanese team pulled out a gun and started shooting.”

“Who from the Japanese team?”

“I don’t know. They all look alike.”

“What kind of gun was it?”

“It looked like a submachine gun (SMG), but I didn’t see it clearly because I was running away.”

“Have you been to the South  district?”

“No.”

“How about the East district?”

“I haven’t been there either!”

“And West district?”

“We were in the middle of working, you know! We’d just come into the North area, less than 10 minutes ago, after helping Mining Team 3 with some robot repairs.”

“Tell me if you know anything about the situation of the other teams.”

“…Take your hand off my head, you bast*rd!”

Shin Haeryang withdrew his hand, which was aggressively gripping Jennifer’s hair. Baek Ae-young, distanced Jennifer from Shin Haeryang and smoothed out her dishevelled hair. Suddenly, the knife that had been in Baek Ae-young’s hand was gone. Due to the dim lighting in the multimedia room, Jennifer, who hadn’t clearly seen who had brandished the knife between Baek Ae-young and Shin Haeryang, mistakenly thought it was Shin Hae Ryang and clung to Baek Ae-young.

Baek Ae-young quickly comforted Jennifer, patting her back. Immediately, a slew of curses aimed at team leader Shin erupted from Jennifer’s mouth.

Watching this scene unfold in less than a minute, Seo Jihyuk asked in the midst of the chaotic atmosphere, “So… is Daniel from your team alive?”

“That bast*rd used me as a shield when the bullets started flying!”

“Ah, that bast8rd never changes.”

From their conversation, it seemed that a member of the Japanese team had shot at his own team, causing a crossfire. During the chaos, Daniel Rodriguez, a member of the same team, had used Jennifer as a shield to escape from the North area. Jennifer was fuming as she spoke, but once her excitement subsided a little, I carefully asked.

“Was Kevin Wilson part of the American team?”

“…Yeah. He probably stayed in the dorm because he said he had a severe headache.”

As she responded, Jennifer’s face hardened.

In the middle of what I was saying, Henry asked, “What about Leonard Sanders?”

Jennifer, having seen Yoo Geum-yi and Kim Ga Young’s flashy X-mark and various gestures behind the child, looked at the child’s face and said, “…He’s working right now. Am I your father’s supervisor? Who brought you here?”

“My dad did.”

Jennifer seemed to be struggling to maintain her expression as her face twisted into a semblance of a smile. As someone who has had some experience with social interactions, it seemed to me that Jennifer wanted to chew Leonard out as soon as possible.

“Ah… I see. Where’s your mom?”

“Mom went to visit grandma.”

“…You should’ve stayed with your mom, why are you here looking for your dad?”

Kim Gayoung held her head as if she was getting a headache from that question. It seemed like there was a complex family history.

Yoo Geum-yi tried to divert the attention by asking Jennifer about a different topic, “Where were you headed?”

“We were planning to use the South district’s escape pod. The Russian guys said that since the Korean team went this way and didn’t return, they must’ve escaped.”

There was a moment of silence. The sound of Henry rolling a piece of candy in his mouth was the loudest. Jennifer spoke harshly, “Since you’re here, it seems like you couldn’t escape,” looking at Shin Haeryang.

Shin Haeryang seemed to consider Jennifer’s words to be no more than the barking of a dog.

As I put a saliva-stained whale doll that everyone had ignored into my bag, I said, “We won’t be able to escape using the South district’s escape pod.”

“Why?”

To Jennifer’s question, Baek Ae-young answered with a sigh, “Most of the escape pods in the South district are broken. Do you happen to know who checked them last?”

“It wasn’t us.  A month ago, we inspected the North district’s escape pods with the Chinese team. It must have been either Australia or New Zealand team.”

“Our team was in charge of the West district. We were in the same team with Australians. They disliked inspecting with Chinese.”

“I think the East district’s ones were inspected by the Russians and Canadians. We drank together with the ones who finished the inspection…” Seo Jihyuk trailed off, glancing at Shin Haeryang.

Kim Gayoung frowned and spoke up, “The South district’s escape pods must have been checked by the Japanese and New Zealand teams.”

“Well… someone could have damaged them after the inspection.”

Silence briefly descended following Yoo Geum-yi’s words. The screams and gunshots that could be heard from outside suddenly ceased, as if such things had never occurred to begin with.

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