Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

The android, as if it were the most natural thing to do, raised its arm and pointed in our direction, guiding the cult members to our hiding spot. Seo Jihyuk and Yoo Geum-yi had also just narrowly managed to move out of the way.

The man immediately directed a barrage of gunfire towards the area indicated by the android. I was shaking and covered my mouth with my hands in horror. The exhibited gems were also being hit by the gunfire. It seemed another cult member also realized the madness of the situation.

“Have you lost your mind?! Each of those gems is worth more than your life! You could be hired and rehired ten times over, even in your past and future lives!”

A sharp female voice pierced my terrified ears. Were the gems really that valuable? The man murmured something in response, but I couldn’t make it out. Then I heard footsteps. Multiple people were moving to hunt us down. What should we do? How can we escape this? Baek Ae-young handed me a pistol, urging me to take it. Trembling, I accepted it without a word.

Baek Ae-young herself held a rifle she had taken from Tyler. Shin Haeryang also gripped a gun they had taken from the third underwater base and waited. There was no sign of tension in Shin Haeryang; he appeared as calm as if he were resting on a park bench. How could someone be this composed in such a situation? Wasn’t he afraid at all?

The two of them waited quietly, anticipating the approach of the others. I prayed they wouldn’t come. Baek Ae-young, looking for the right moment, instructed me to crawl around the side of the gem pedestal we were near. If they reached the end where the benitoite was, we had no choice but to hide on the sides to remain unseen.

Baek Ae-young, Shin Haeryang, and I moved perpendicularly from our hiding spot to stay out of sight and waited. It seemed the armed individuals had reached where we were initially hiding. Someone loudly announced that we were not there, and they began to scatter to search for us.

I could clearly hear footsteps heading our way. Clenching my teeth as the footsteps grew closer, I knew they would soon see us hiding if they turned their heads just slightly. I trembled, holding the gun and praying silently to every deity I could think of, hoping we wouldn’t be discovered. However, it seemed the prayers of a former atheist had no effect, as someone came in our direction.

Shin Haeryang quickly grabbed the intruder, redirecting their rifle’s barrel towards the ceiling while placing his own gun under the assailant’s chin. The person, about to scream, stopped abruptly upon seeing Shin Haeryang, showing a moment of shock and then annoyance. Baek Ae-young, with mechanical precision, also aimed her gun at the cult member, pausing momentarily. The intruder, a brown-haired woman, seemed to recognize the three of them, except for me. The sequence of actions knocked off the woman’s black shark-like cap, which rolled on the ground. Shin Haeryang, holding his gun to the woman’s chin, spoke in a very low voice.

“Brown. We didn’t see you, and you didn’t see us. Answer.”

It seemed Shin Haeryang would pull the trigger without hesitation if she refused. Under Shin Haeryang’s threat, the woman named Brown looked at Baek Ae-young, who was aiming a gun at her, for a few seconds before speaking in a very low voice.

“I didn’t see you.”

Right after saying that, Baek Ae-young picked up the cap that had fallen on the floor and placed it back on Brown’s head, who was slightly bowing. Brown watched Baek Ae-young for a few seconds, then, as if searching for someone, turned her head around before casually walking past us and heading elsewhere.

As I slowly exhaled a breath filled with tension, concern for Seo Jihyuk and Yoo Geum-yi began to grow in my mind. Seo Jihyuk, unable to use one of his legs, was he hiding well? What about Yoo Geum-yi? She couldn’t shoot a gun. Baek Ae-young frowned and wiped the sweat trickling down her cheek with the back of her hand. “What should we do?” she whispered to Shin Haeryang, almost like the wind. Her expression clearly showed a willingness to open fire on the people there at any moment. It seemed like Brown was an acquaintance, but did she also want to shoot her?

Shin Haeryang seemed to think that escaping without revealing our presence to them would be a huge advantage in our escape. However, Baek Ae-young appeared to believe that engaging in a gunfight now, even with the odds of 9 against 2, would be better. She speculated that the three unarmed among them must be high-ranking individuals.

I respected the judgment of both. The reason it wasn’t 9 against 3 was that I clearly wouldn’t be able to contribute effectively as a shooter. But I could probably fire a gun.

I expected the two to have a lengthy discussion to reconcile their opinions. However, after each had expressed their view just once, Shin Haeryang frowned at Baek Ae-young’s suggestion and then nodded. There was no time to waste. Right. That made sense. Seo Jihyuk and Yoo Geum-yi might be on the verge of being discovered. We couldn’t count on the same luck happening again.

Baek Ae-young instructed me on where to hide. She told me to pull the trigger from here, hide behind this gem, shoot again, and then hide again. She emphasized the importance of hiding well. My position was behind a bright blue gem, similar in color to the lapis lazuli Shin Haeryang had shown me on the stairs. I stroked the gem on display in front of me with my bare hand, hoping that it would be resilient against bullets. Okay. I’m ready. I grabbed Shin Haeryang’s shoulder and asked.

“What’s the signal to start?”

“The gunfire. Think of it as killing them all.”

“If we don’t shoot, we’ll be killed. Don’t get killed!”

“Stay safe.”

With those final words, Shin Haeryang and Baek Ae-young, armed with automatic rifles, dashed behind another gem and disappeared, advancing forward. The cult members were heading in the direction where we had been earlier. I concentrated all my attention on gripping the gun, which felt like it was slipping from my sweaty palms. Baek Ae-young and Shin Haeryang soon vanished from my sight. A few minutes later, gunshots rang out. Bang! Bang! Tat-tat! Tadadada! Screams and cries of people echoed around.

Two unarmed cult members, a white-haired woman adorned in dazzling white gems and a black-haired man, started heading back towards the center of the exhibition hall. The woman, decked in earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, a waist belt, and a tiara, looked like a model in a jewelry photoshoot, all her accessories made of diamonds. She was running as fast as she could.

The black-haired man, upon closer inspection, was also wearing a deep green gemstone belt and a green necklace. I was hiding behind a blue gem on display, aiming my gun at them, unnoticed so far. The armed personnel hadn’t reached this side yet. If I was going to shoot, now was the moment. At that instant, a flurry of thoughts raced through my mind.

What if those people were innocent?

What if they were hostages of the armed personnel, just like the people lying outside?

What if my actions unjustly and tragically ended their lives?

What if, like Brown earlier, they would have just quietly let us go?

What if this cult doesn’t actually kill people and what’s spread around the elevators is just paint?

What if everyone around me is lying?

How would I cope with the deaths of the two people I shot?

What if their parents, children, families, lovers, and relatives naturally sought revenge on my family for their deaths?

What if the corpses of those people haunted my dreams every night?

What if I cry every day, engulfed in guilt and remorse for having pulled the trigger?

In almost an instant, these thoughts raced through my mind, and I realized my brain was making up all sorts of excuses not to pull the trigger. I don’t want to shoot. I don’t want to! Why should I? Why do I have to shoot someone? I’m someone who’s content with fixing people’s teeth, happy removing cavities, not someone who takes lives!

“Think of it as killing them all.”

Shin Haeryang’s words echoed in my head. Then, almost reflexively, I pulled the trigger several times, but my fingers felt numb and distant. The trigger was incredibly heavy, and I hadn’t realized how much strength it required. The sound of the gun was deafening. It was only after hearing the loud bang that I realized I had actually fired.

But when I regained my senses, I saw that the woman, whether silver or white-haired, was lying face down on the ground, and the black-haired man had been shot in the leg and fallen backward. The woman lying on the ground didn’t seem human, more like a mannequin that had fallen over.

The man I had shot was trying to get up, but each attempt sprayed blood on the floor. I watched him struggle with a thigh wound, unable to stand, and noticed he didn’t have a gun in his waist or hands. Stunned, I crawled and hid behind a large pink gemstone nearby.

Seconds later, someone started shooting at the gemstone I was hiding behind. The sound of gunfire made me scream and duck my head even lower. I was supposed to shoot and hide, then shoot again, but there was no opportunity for me to fire back. Bullets kept raining on my hiding spot. I was too afraid to raise my head, fearing a bullet might hit me. If they kept shooting at me, when would I ever get a chance to shoot back? The continuous gunfire was almost deafening.

“Elizabeth! Beth! Beth! Aaah! Beth! Wake up!”

The man who had been shot in the leg was lying on the ground, calling out repeatedly for the motionless woman. “Beth! Come on, wake up!” Meanwhile, gunshots and screams echoed from various directions, the man’s cries blending with the others.

If my memory serves me right, I had fired three shots at the woman’s chest and shoulder, and two shots at the man. The woman, who was running first towards the central aisle, fell after being shot, followed by the man, who seemed to have been hit by only one of the bullets. What should I do now? Is the woman definitely dead? If she’s still alive, could she be saved with immediate medical attention? And what about the living man? What should I do about myself, still hiding here?