Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

Chapter 145

As soon as I hit the floor, gunshots rang out. When I looked back, Zhu Shi’an had collapsed on the ground. Her body writhed on the floor as if struck by an invisible giant. I first snatched the gun Zhu Shi’an was holding and threw it towards the distant corridor.

“Doctor, are you hurt anywhere?”

Looking closely, I saw Seo Jihyuk was speaking to me from the ceiling. Even though I could only see his eyes, I was incredibly glad to see him. Why am I so happy? I felt my body, wondering if I had been shot, while answering Seo Jihyuk’s question:

“No, I’m not.”

Zhu Shi’an, lying on her side as if in pain, felt her right shoulder with her left hand. Only then did I realize that Seo Jihyuk had shot Zhu Shi’an in the shoulder. Seo Jihyuk landed on the floor with a thud from the ceiling. How on earth did he hide that bulk?

“Is there a place in the ceiling where an adult man can hide?”

“There’s an air ventilation system for this corridor up there. It’s good for sneaking a smoke sometimes.”

Seo Jihyuk spoke without taking his eyes off the fallen Zhu Shi’an. It’s more amazing that someone of that size could be crumpled up in such a narrow space. I reached out as Seo Jihyuk was wearing my bag. Seo Jihyuk handed over the bag and said to me in a disgruntled tone:

“What 5 minutes? It took over 10 minutes. You have no idea how worried I was.”

“Don’t worry too much, I wasn’t actually worried.”

Leaving me dumbfounded, Seo Jihyuk looked Zhu Shi’an up and down. It seemed he was checking for other weapons on her body rather than looking at the gunshot wound. Then, brushing off the dust stuck to his shoulder with disgust, he coughed and said:

“It’s surprisingly spacious up there. The problem is, if you’re not careful, the top of your head might get grated by the ventilation fan, which is a bit unfortunate.”

“How long were you in there?”

I asked as I took a towel from my bag and pressed it on Zhu Shi’an’s shoulder wound. The dry towel was instantly soaked with blood. Zhu Shi’an twisted her body, groaning in pain.

“Not long. About 2 minutes? Doctor, don’t press it yourself. Tell her to press it.”

Seo Jihyuk gently pulled my upper body and pushed me back. I hastily retreated, wondering if Seo Jihyuk had medical knowledge about gunshot wounds, but he made Zhu Shi’an press her right shoulder with her uninjured left hand. …Looking from behind, it wasn’t much different from what I had been doing. He was just making Zhu Shi’an do the compression I had been doing with my hands.

“That’s right. Good job. Yes, press the entry wound like that. Press harder.”

“You… you crazy bastard! Let go! Get your hands off!”

As Zhu Shi’an shouted, knocking away Seo Jihyuk’s forcefully pressing hands, Seo Jihyuk slowly backed away. Then, after coldly observing Zhu Shi’an’s state, he concluded:

“She’s fine.”

“You son of a bitch!”

Seo Jihyuk shrugged his shoulders, looking at Zhu Shi’an trembling in pain, and answered spitefully:

“I avoided the vital spots.”

“You call that an explanation?!”

“It hurts like hell, but it won’t kill you.”

“Shut up!”

I sighed and took out another towel from my bag. Then I wiped Zhu Shi’an’s face, which was a mess of tears and sweat. Seo Jihyuk retrieved Zhu Shi’an’s thrown gun, came back, and said as if complaining:

“You have no idea how much I agonized up there. The angle was hard to get right.”

“What?!”

“I’m not asking for your gratitude, but if you’re thankful I shot your shoulder instead of your head, send a postcard. Better yet, send dollars instead of a postcard.”

“You think I’d be grateful?! I want to kill you in an incredibly painful way!”

Zhu Shi’an spoke deliberately, as if conscious of the translator.

“Sure.”

“I said I want to kill you!”

“Seeing you shout like that, you’ll live another 50 years. Don’t strain your neck like that, relax. Raising your blood pressure will only make the blood flow faster.”

All sorts of curses in various languages spewed from Zhu Shi’an’s mouth. There was no way she could exert force with her left hand due to the pain. Zhu Shi’an’s left hand slipped, dropping the towel, and I pressed her shoulder again in place of her left hand. Zhu Shi’an groaned in pain from my action, then said tearfully:

“My right hand won’t move.”

“…It’ll be alright.”

So that’s why he aimed for the right shoulder. Seo Jihyuk, scratching the back of his head, answered:

“That’s why I shot there. …These days, treating severed nerves and rehabilitation costs at least 200 million won. You guys have a lot of money, right? Don’t worry too much.”

“…Do you know how much it hurts? You’ve never been shot!”

“I have. It hurts like hell. Want another one?”

“I’ll kill you!”

“I’d rather die …naturally from the passage of time about 70 years from now than by your hands.”

While holding down the struggling Zhu Shi’an, I tried to stop Seo Jihyuk who was provoking her.

“Jihyuk, stop teasing her.”

Seo Jihyuk, who had been answering Zhu Shi’an with a grin, saw my action and said:

“There’s no need to do that. I don’t know how many people she killed at the escape pod port, but it must be quite a few. And she might have killed you too, doctor.”

I sighed, looking at the blood-soaked towel and Zhu Shi’an’s contorted face. While pressing the shoulder with the towel and timing it, I answered Seo Jihyuk:

“That may be true. But I’m doing this for myself. If I don’t focus on something right now, I feel like I might collapse.”

As I verbalized my situation specifically, it felt like my whole body was being crushed by fatigue. As the realization that no one would die immediately because of Zhu Shi’an rushed to my brain, a shallow sense of relief enveloped my body.

Next, I didn’t want to move a finger. I forced strength into my hands, trying to forget the feeling of wanting to lie down and sleep for three days straight, and the thought of wanting to lie down, mindlessly watch TV, and eat ice cream. The unpleasant sensation of the blood-soaked towel was reminding me of where reality was.

Seo Jihyuk, who nodded lightly at me, kept his distance while aiming his gun at Zhu Shi’an. Zhu Shi’an couldn’t move due to the shock from the gunshot. Instead, she continuously spewed out curses at Seo Jihyuk and Engineer A Team. Seo Jihyuk chuckled as he listened to the Korean words that popped up among the untranslated Chinese, and said:

“Why are you so indignant? If you picked up a gun, you should have been prepared to get shot.”

“Why should I get shot?!”

Seo Jihyuk was momentarily at a loss for words, then shook his head and said:

“…Wow. Really amazing. That belief that while others die from my bullets, the bullets aimed at me will curve and miss. How does the Communist Party brainwash people like that? Do they feed you something special?”

“You think we’ll just let this go? A gentleman’s revenge is not late even after ten years. We will definitely take revenge!”

Even I, numbed by fatigue, momentarily felt chilled by Zhu Shi’an’s tone as she gritted her teeth, but Seo Jihyuk yawned as if hearing a dog bark and said:

“I’m not scared at all. You guys always say that when you’re at a disadvantage. You might as well say you’ll win next year. What’s this about winning in 10 years?”

“Our team members won’t let you get away with this.”

“Ah, they’re going to save you from West District? Get a grip.”

I briefly explained to Seo Jihyuk about Zhu Shi’an’s hostile attitude towards Ha Yoon, then asked what I was curious about:

“Why don’t team members get along? Is there a reason?”

“Ah, these guys… what was it? Something related to politics, they have different connections. Jihyun explained it to me before. Ha Yoon is from the central south region, and you’re from Huadong, was it?”

Zhu Shi’an, even in the pain of her gunshot wound, looked at Seo Jihyuk with a pathetic expression and said:

“…It’s the opposite, you idiot.”

“Is that so? Were you guys from the military side? I heard Ha Yoon was something about the economic lifeline of some group. …Doctor, Jihyun has a strong stomach so she knows well, but I’m not very interested in the ecosystem of cockroaches.”

At those words, Zhu Shi’an, seemingly heated up, said with a flushed face:

“The only one with a brain among your team members is Lee Jihyun.”

“That’s right. You do know.”

“Ignorant bastards.”

“Well, well. You know our team’s hidden secret. Did you plant a spy or something?”

Thinking that she couldn’t communicate with Seo Jihyuk at all, Zhu Shi’an closed her mouth in a state of full anger. However, Seo Jihyuk forcibly took out the pad attached to Zhu Shi’an’s side and asked:

“Tell me the password for your pad. Is there anyone on your side? Someone who might help you, regardless of factions.”

“…Why?”

“So I can let them know you’re injured. Our team leader’s messenger just exploded. Your team members seem to have a lot of time on their hands. If it were me, I’d be digging in front of the West District barrier instead of terrorizing our team leader’s messenger.”

“…Li Wei.”

“Ah, that psychopath? Hey, isn’t there anyone else besides him?”

“What’s wrong with Li Wei!”

Zhu Shi’an shouted at Seo Jihyuk in a sharp voice. Seo Jihyuk entered Zhu Shi’an’s pad with the password she provided, but was taken aback by the flood of Chinese. Where was the language setting again? Seo Jihyuk, frowning while looking at the pad, said:

“He likes Ha Yoon, doesn’t he?”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“He does. It was obvious he liked Ha Yoon.”

“How would you know that?!”

“You can just tell by looking. Hmm. Let’s see.”

Seo Jihyuk spread out his fingers and started folding them one by one as he spoke:

“She’s pretty, has a good figure, smart, from a good family, rich, personality? I’m not sure about her personality. Seeing that our team leader likes her, I’m not convinced she’s okay. Didn’t all the guys in your team like Ha Yoon?”

As Seo Jihyuk asked this while ambiguously spreading and folding his finger at the personality part, Zhu Shi’an, gritting her teeth, quickly denied:

“No, they don’t.”

“I didn’t like that Li Wei guy at all. His personality is a bit… How should I put it? A unique psychopath? He’s like someone mass-produced with only the wrong genes of Qin Shi Huang and the Red Guards combined.”

I could only laugh hollowly at Seo Jihyuk’s words. What kind of person is he to say that? Zhu Shi’an wanted to pounce on Seo Jihyuk in her heart, but with me pressing her right shoulder and her body not moving as she wished due to the pain, she could only flail her left arm in anger. Watching Zhu Shi’an, Seo Jihyuk said:

“Anyway, the probability of him liking you is close to zero. And that guy has a calculator in his head, so he’s probably already sized you up completely.”

“What’s my evaluation then?”

“How should I know? Ask Li Wei. No, don’t ask that bastard. Just call someone else.”

“Lily.”

“Not her.”

“Kang Soojung.”

“Really? Hey, you might as well call Wei Qi or Hao Ran.”

“Just tell them I’m dead.”

Zhu Shi’an answered Seo Jihyuk, grinding her teeth. While Seo Jihyuk was playing with Zhu Shi’an’s pad, I checked Zhu Shi’an’s shoulder. Should I make a tourniquet?