Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

Seawater was gushing in at an alarming rate, already up to my ankles. I tried to get Shin Haeryang to regain consciousness, but considering our situation I wondered if losing awareness might actually be better for him, so I left him. However Haeryang’s eyes soon opened on their own. He briskly assessed his condition and the state of the cable car. His eyes shifted to me. From that gaze I realized something shrapnel-like must also be lodged in my abdomen. Up till now I hadn’t felt any pain thanks to the adrenaline, but it now hit me with a vengeance. Dammit.  

“I’m sorry.”  

There was a rasp in Haeryang’s voice. I plopped down onto the mangled chair and shook my head.  

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for.”

“Ae-young…?”

I started to reply but a spike of pain in my stomach stopped me. I shook my head again. I knew at this point there was nothing either of us could do to help the other, so I said what I wanted.  

“Thank you for bringing me this far.”

“You were…a better partner than I expected.”

“What were you expecting?”

“A follower from Infinity Church.”   

Good lord. At Haeryang’s words I laughed then winced as the movement pulled at my wound. I managed to gasp out a response.   

“I’m an atheist.”  

“I’m…an agnostic.”  

“So is that reserving judgement on if gods exist?”

“If there is one I’ll go kill him now.”  

Why’s this guy trying to make me laugh right before death? Still smiling, I noticed the water that had already flooded in was past my calves. I lifted Haeryang up onto the wrecked chair to the best of my ability. My legs and waist submerged as a result, and the seawater hitting my injuries wrenched a groan from my throat. Looking at the rifle looped over his shoulder, Haeryang spoke to me.  

“I don’t want to drown.” 

“Huh?”

“I…decided I wouldn’t die by drowning.”  

“Uh…I see.” 

Haeryang tapped the gun with his fingers a few times. This crazy bastard. It reminded me of something Seo Jihyuk had done. I instinctively shook my head.  

“Is there any point in me trying to stop you? Or what difference does it make if you die here from water filling your lungs, blood loss, organ damage, or a bullet?”

Haeryang completely ignored what I said. No, why do none of the people I meet at these Underwater Bases listen to me? He merely rummaged around inside his clothes, ripped off a necklace he had on and tossed it into the seawater. The lapis lazuli pendant glowed fluorescent before disappearing into the dark water in an instant. Haeryang looked at me and said,

“Look away. Shut your eyes. It won’t be pretty.”  

“I’ll watch intently. Stare right at it! So don’t do it…Can’t you stay with me?”

Haeryang seemed to consider it, then grinned wryly at me and shook his head repeatedly.  

“It’s my last moment, I’ll do as I please.”

The instant I turned my head and squeezed my eyes shut there was a gunshot. I could feel something spattering my face but had no desire to touch or look at it. I kept my eyes screwed tight. As if that would transport me out of this place.  

When the water rose chest high as I sat in the chair I lifted my head to see everything in the cable car floating. I was cold. As I rubbed my shoulders my gaze fell on the bag strapped across my chest. I opened it and pulled out the curled up snake from an inner pocket.  

Concerns like the snake biting me no longer mattered. It wrapped around my wrist, forearm and hand, flicking its yellow tongue this way and that. Hey. I’m sorry. I brought you here but didn’t take care of you or get you out.   

The sea rushed in with frightening speed. The water was up to my shoulders now. I went from sitting in the chair to standing to now floating along with everything else getting swept into the cable car by the incoming tide. Breathing became difficult, impossible to tell if it was because of the seawater crowding out the air or the shrapnel lodged in my gut.   

I looked around for something to put the snake on, but there was nothing it could climb onto. With no other choice I placed it atop my head. And though the screen was cracked Baek Ae-young’s tablet still had some charge left. I was grateful for that small light cutting through the darkness. And I struggled to suppress the nearly overwhelming impulse to escape immediately through one of the broken flooded sections of the cable car.   

We must be in deep waters here. Going outside I’d die instantly from the water pressure. Or I’d float from air trapped in my lungs, prolonging drowning to death a little. I didn’t have the courage to actively end my life. But now facing imminent demise I understood. Those who pulled the trigger truly possessed unimaginable bravery.  

For a time after Shin Haeryang’s death, waves of dread about my impending drowning crashed through me unrelentingly. But after weeping for about 3 minutes even such terror and anxiety vanished. There was no heart left to break further. With the snake resting atop my head now, I had come to definitively accept dying by drowning.

Were we at -100m? -200m? I touched my ear and my hand came away bloody. I had no clue where I’d been injured or how. Now that I thought about it, dying of nitrogen poisoning inside the cable car would’ve been a fairly tidy way to go. But there’d still be a corpse left behind. With the Underwater Bases collapsing would it even remain? There’d be no one to recover my body. Drowning, my lungs and trachea and stomach would all fill up with seawater. All sorts of fish would swarm my corpse to feed. Shrimp, crabs and similar crustaceans, deep sea creatures that resemble bugs would feast. Just my bones would be left, or even those would corrode from the saltwater.  

What would my family do when trying to find me? Please, I hope my family will forget me and live well, as if I had never been born. Just imagining my mother or little sister crying over me makes my chest feel like it will split apart from grief. As the eldest son I’m duty bound to provide for them and take my late father’s place. I’m supposed to pay my sister’s college tuition. And my mother’s medical fees. If Mom is too shocked by this news what will I do?

Sniffling, at some point I realized the water was up to my chin now. I anticipated the snake biting me in panic as the water rose further but surprisingly, it remained calmer than I was. Merely shifting uneasily atop my head instead of thrashing around in terror. As all sorts of thoughts ran through me there was a boom against the exterior wall of the cable car.  

I jerked in fright toward the sound. What bumped against the transparent glass wall of the cable car once more was a shark snout. I froze in fear for a few seconds before settling down.  

Seemed like rather than wandering the ocean as a drowned corpse, getting eaten by a shark might be better. Our blood spilling out probably attracted the shark to keep circling around the cable car. Hey. For the past five days I ran a dental clinic called Deep Blue! I told you my clinic’s sign has a way bigger, more magnificent great white on it. If that guy fought you he’d swallow you whole in one gulp.   

Boom!

Every time the shark rammed against the cable car it swayed, causing more seawater to gush inside through the breaches. The terror made me feel I’d lose my mind, yet facing imminent death I didn’t want to cower here pathetically trembling at some shark.  

Haeryang said he’d choose how to spend his final moments as he wished…was this a choice?! Dammit.  

They call sharks the guard dogs of the sea. A fine moniker. I bet those pseudopious bastards crowing whalesharks are their brethren wouldn’t offer their own bodies as shark bait with equivalent sacrificial spirit. I watched the shark drifting past the cable car, baring its eerie teeth before disappearing into the gloom. I slammed against the wall trying to get its attention. Not that a shark would care.  

“Hey, stop rushing me!”

The snake didn’t budge from atop my head. It seemed to know we were alike, trapped with water all around us. When my head bumped the ceiling the snake fluidly swam over and climbed up the damaged wall, flicking its tongue out and back anxiously.  

Good thing. It must’ve been so frightened accompanying me here but never once bit me. I wanted to pet it one last time but was afraid it wouldn’t like that so I stopped myself.  

I tried tearing the cable car door open by hand where water was streaming in. My palms split and bled but the blood swiftly diffused into the sea. I scraped up every last bit of strength and barely managed to make a gap I could fit through. Utterly exhausted, at the next boom I yelled pointlessly at the oblivious shark.  

“I’m going, stop hurrying me!”

Clutching the tablet with hands dripping blood, I took one final deep breath of what little freedom remained before exiting the cable car. My whole body ached. From the pressure? Too many injuries? There wasn’t an unhurt spot anywhere.  

Plus I couldn’t see a thing ahead of me. Everything was obscured. Humans can’t freely see underwater. That’s why we use goggles. We chose land over sea.  

I examined my palm. It must be bleeding. Excruciating pain flashed across it but I ignored that. As soon as it hit the seawater the tablet I held powered off. All I could make out before me in the deep was darkness, agony and death. Oddly I wasn’t very frightened. Just very cold, hurt and exhausted.  

Though I couldn’t see anything I strangely felt a presence nearby. I flailed my arms and legs toward it. I couldn’t even tell if I was making progress. Abruptly something enormous rushed up and bit deeply into my stomach. The pain made me wish I was dead. It was too painful, I opened my mouth to scream and lost all the air I’d been holding. It was worse than being trapped under an overturned car.  

Gulping seawater, I felt along the maw clamped to my midsection. I learned if bit by a shark, poke its eyes and it will release you, but how when its head was thrashing about so violently? Ridiculous…I regretted almost twenty times not placidly drowning with the snake inside the cable car. Then I blacked out.  

I awoke from falling off the bed.