Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

Chapter 146

I’ve never dealt with a gunshot wound before. I don’t think a patient shot in the face would ever come to me in my lifetime. Maybe in the emergency room, but isn’t that how it is for most people living in Korea? As I was thinking along these lines, Zhu Shi’an, gasping in pain, said to Seo Jihyuk:

“It hurts like hell!”

“If you’d been shot in the head, it wouldn’t hurt. I guess I’m not considerate enough.”

Zhu Shi’an gritted her teeth, looking at the sarcastic Seo Jihyuk. I, who had been firmly holding and pressing the shoulder with a towel, took out a pill bottle from my pants pocket with my less blood-stained hand and said:

“I got some painkillers from someone who knows about them.”

Zhu Shi’an tried to grab the painkiller bottle I was holding with her trembling left hand but dropped it on the floor. I was also busy pressing the shoulder again with the towel.

In the meantime, Seo Jihyuk quickly grabbed the painkiller bottle that had fallen to the floor. Then he nimbly dodged Zhu Shi’an’s incoming kick. Seo Jihyuk opened the bottle to check its contents and said:

“Doctor, she doesn’t deserve these painkillers.”

“Give them back!”

Seo Jihyuk looked at the pills in the bottle and asked me in a playful voice:

“Who did you get these from?”

“Someone gave me the whole bottle when I said I needed painkillers on the way here.”

“Have you taken them before?”

“No. Should I not take them?”

“It’s okay to take them, but the pain-relieving effect is quite strong.”

Wasn’t it something like high-dose Tyl*nol? Surely it’s not drugs?

Zhu Shi’an, still lying down, aimed another kick at Seo Jihyuk. …As Seo Jihyuk said, she seems fine except for her shoulder. Seo Jihyuk avoided the incoming foot just by slightly moving his body backward. Zhu Shi’an, agitated and overwhelmed by pain and irritation, said:

“The dentist here was trying to give them to me!”

“The armed ruffian here says there needs to be a price for them?”

Seo Jihyuk, who had been teasing Zhu Shi’an, shook the pill bottle with a rattling sound. From my perspective, it didn’t seem like Zhu Shi’an could win against Seo Jihyuk in a war of words. Looking at the pills spinning around in Seo Jihyuk’s hand, I said:

“Just give them to her. I received them without any price too.”

“I see. Then watch how I sell them at a high price.”

“What?”

Then Seo Jihyuk shook the pill bottle in front of Zhu Shi’an’s eyes and said:

“Hey. Sell me your boat.”

“What?”

“I said sell me your boat. With that dentist’s broadcast and you guys walking around with guns, if it’s true that there are some weird cult members upstairs, the underwater base seems more dangerous than I thought. It doesn’t seem safe even after going up to Daehan Island, so I need to leave this place on a boat or a raft or whatever.”

“You want me to sell a boat for just a few painkillers?”

Zhu Shi’an had an incredulous expression.

“To be precise, I’ll give you the painkillers and even let you ride on my boat. I’m a generous person.”

“Who’s selling? It’s my boat! Do you think I’d sell a 50 million won boat for a few pills? Are you crazy?!”

“I’m saying I’ll even give you free shipping on my boat with your gunshot wound.”

“Who asked you to?!”

Seo Jihyuk tried to appeal that he would safely take the injured Zhu Shi’an to the boat, avoiding the cult fanatics, as an advantage of this deal, but Zhu Shi’an reacted as if she had heard nonsense from a robber trying to exchange painkillers for a boat.

I put down the blood-soaked towel beside me and pressed Zhu Shi’an’s shoulder with a new towel, saying:

“Jihyuk. Engineer B Team is in a cooperative relationship with the Infinite Bridge people. They don’t know that if they go to the second underwater base and contact the Infinite Bridge people, there’s a high chance they’ll be killed.”

Zhu Shi’an frowned at me and asked:

“What are you talking about?”

“The Infinite Bridge believes that a certain number of people must die as sacrifices. They won’t let Engineer B Team go so easily.”

“That can’t be! They promised!”

Seo Jihyuk, who had been rolling the pill bottle in his hand with a rattling sound, looked blankly at Zhu Shi’an and said:

“You’ve been scammed.”

Zhu Shi’an’s head, which had been looking at me, turned sharply towards Seo Jihyuk. Seo Jihyuk calmly said to Zhu Shi’an:

“Of course, I know scamming is your specialty. But there are very few people who can beat religious believers when it comes to lying. They’re great con artists.”

Zhu Shi’an, who had been enduring the pain of the gunshot wound with a pale face, suddenly fell silent. Then she closed her mouth and started glaring at Seo Jihyuk, and I realized that silence could make people more uncomfortable than curses. After being silent for a minute, Zhu Shi’an, sweating profusely, said:

“Then I’ll buy you. The boat? Fine. I’ll give you the boat. Kill Shin Hae-ryang and steal his pad.”

At that statement, I looked at Seo Jihyuk’s face almost reflexively, even though I was thinking I shouldn’t look. Seo Jihyuk, who had been blinking his eyes, heard this sudden proposal to assassinate his superior, but far from being flustered, he rather raised the corners of his mouth.

“…I like such gutsy women. But it’s not profitable to buy me. You should price me higher than a boat.”

“How much are you thinking?”

Seo Jihyuk said amusingly:

“Don’t you set an upper limit without knowing how much I’ll ask for?”

“I’ll give you the boat plus an additional 100 million won.”

“The former Team Leader Jo sold out three employees and grabbed over 100 million won while fleeing to America. Isn’t it too easy to just give 100 million for killing Shin Hae-ryang?”

“…The most I can promise is 200 million won.”

This is the first time in my life I’ve witnessed a murder-for-hire scene, and even as an outsider, I think that amount doesn’t make sense. 200 million to kill someone? Just my waist alone would be worth five times that amount. Not to mention the eyes. …How much would someone have to pay to kill me? Just listening to these two people’s conversation feels like my sense of ethics is bungee jumping into the abyss.

Seo Jihyuk responded as if he had heard something very unfair in terms of the amount:

“Hey, do you think these guys attacked Shin Hae-ryang because they don’t need teeth? Do you think killing our team leader is easy? What’s 200 million? 200 million.”

Zhu Shi’an started making offers that she thought would benefit Seo Jihyuk:

“I’ll give you an apartment too. I’ll make it so you can immigrate right away. All the Engineer B Team members will welcome you, and New China will treat you as an honorary citizen.”

“That last one seems the most useless. I’m disappointed, Zhu Shi’an. You mock our A Team every day, calling us beggars. Why are you being so beggar-like now? Just 200 million? How stingy.”

“…1 billion won. That’s all the funds allocated to the team that we can use immediately. Ask Ha Yoon or Li Wei on the pad. Anything more than that requires approval from higher-ups.”

Seo Jihyuk said with a genuinely regretful expression:

“You’re telling me to blow off Team Leader Shin’s head when you don’t even have money? Sheesh. I don’t associate with beggars. I’m so disappointed. You’re really the poorest of the poor. I thought you at least had a lot of money when I heard you bragging to Ae-young about having boats and yachts and getting a lot of support.”

How many times is he saying ‘beggar’? It seems Seo Jihyuk’s goal is to tease Zhu Shi’an rather than actually intending to harm Shin Hae-ryang. Zhu Shi’an, with an agitated face, said to Seo Jihyuk:

“If you ask guys like Li Wei or Hao Ran, they might want to pay out of their own pockets. If you promise to at least bring Shin Hae-ryang’s pad, I’ll give you an extra 100 million out of my own pocket.”

Zhu Shi’an seemed to think of Shin Hae-ryang’s pad as a solution to break the situation where her team members were trapped in West District. She didn’t seem to imagine that Michael Roarker’s pad was with Engineer A Team. Well, I wouldn’t think that another team’s leader would steal their superior’s pad to delete CCTV footage either.

Seo Jihyuk rolled and spun the pill bottle around, and now he was tossing it up and down using the snap of his wrist. The pills that had been rattling and colliding here and there suddenly stopped.

“Give me 10 billion won in Korean currency. I don’t accept yuan, so give it in dollars.”

Zhu Shi’an’s expression was one of speechlessness, her mouth open. I too was at a loss for words. Zhu Shi’an regained her senses before me and answered. I just laughed hollowly after hearing Seo Jihyuk’s words.

“Where would I get that kind of money?!”

“The Japanese guys told me they’d give me 1 billion if I brought our team leader to them tied up. Are you worse than Japan?”

A torrent of curses poured out from Zhu Shi’an. It seemed like Seo Jihyuk and Shin Hae-ryang had equal shares, and curses about Korea and Japan started to mix in. The last words seemed to have severely touched some part of Zhu Shi’an. Even while panting due to pain and taking deep breaths, Zhu Shi’an didn’t stop cursing in Chinese.

…Both Sumire and Zhu Shi’an, these engineers have quite the temperament. Seo Jihyuk, looking at Zhu Shi’an whose face had turned red with anger, spitefully shook the pad and asked:

“Give up the unrealistic dream of buying me. Can you start the boat with the pad too?”

“…Yes.”

It’s the first time I’ve heard that boats can be started with electronic devices these days. Well, I’ve never been on a boat. In fact, it’s a bit surprising that some people in this underwater base own boats. And treating boats like cars. I have dentist colleagues, but I don’t think they’ve ever talked about buying boats.

“Is your boat where Ha Yoon’s boat is?”

“How did you know it was hidden there?”

“Hiding it doesn’t change much. Well, that’s one boat secured.”

Seo Jihyuk opened the pill bottle lid. Then he picked up exactly one pill with two fingers and put it down on the bare floor.

“Eat it before it gets cold.”

“You’re a real son of a bitch. You and your team leader. You’re exactly the same.”

“Nah, I’m still better than Team Leader Shin.”

I, who had been watching this insane deal scene with disbelieving eyes, said as I saw Seo Jihyuk trying to put the pill bottle back into my pants pocket:

“Jihyuk, you don’t really intend to kill Hae-ryang, do you?”

“…How can you be so sure? There’s always a possibility that I might suddenly go crazy and start shooting all our team members.”

At those words, a small hope seemed to rise in Zhu Shi’an’s eyes as she picked up the pill with her uninjured left hand. She looked as if she wished he would do just that. Well, the Seo Jihyuk I knew wasn’t that kind of person.

“You two seem close.”

“Really?”

Seo Jihyuk’s voice, filled with disbelief, asked me as if to confirm.

“Yes.”

“…Oh no. We shouldn’t appear that way.”