Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea-Chapter 160

As Shin Haeryang silently stared at Tumanako, Tumanako’s overflowing confidence and brazenness seemed to waver gradually. He slowly said to Tumanako,

“If you apply for an E-7 visa, it takes about a week for the Ministry of Justice to respond.”

She’s really thinking of applying. There’s no such thing as empty words for her. However, Tumanako seemed rather reassured by those words.

“You’ll protect me, of course, so I won’t be dead when it’s approved, right?”

“…I’ve never applied for a hair designer before, so it’s uncertain whether the Ministry of Justice will approve it.”

Can’t you just make her Korean without any conditions? Is it such a big deal to protect one more woman? …Or not? Am I thinking only from my perspective? These people said their contract was only to protect Koreans. Maybe if there’s a problem while taking a New Zealander along, it might become a matter of national dispute later.

“Korea would be at a loss if they don’t take someone as capable as me!”

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on freёwebnoѵel.com.

Seo Jihyuk smiled silently at those words. Then, with his chin resting on one hand, he watched the two of them.

Baek Ae-young seemed completely uninterested in what Shin Haeryang and Tumanako were saying to each other. She quickly checked her gun, then methodically took out all the weapons she had, confirmed their condition and location, and put them all back in. Then she took out all the bundles of cash hidden in her pants pockets.

Using the rubber bands lying around, she separately bundled the high-denomination bills. After the volume reduced by more than half, she put them in her pants pocket and checked if they were properly secured. The remaining low-denomination bills, which she didn’t seem to intend to take, were roughly gathered and placed in the hair salon’s sink. Watching Baek Ae-young’s movements, like a squirrel busy sorting grains, I heard the conversation beside me again.

“There’s a condition.”

“What is it?”

Tumanako asked with her fists clenched tightly. Tumanako probably did this unconsciously, but Shin Haeryang didn’t seem to care at all about the possibility of Tumanako’s small fists flying at him.

“If there’s a next escape pod or chance to escape, please cooperate to ensure Park Moohyun can escape with top priority.”

Hearing my name, I snapped back to attention and said,

“I’m fine.”

Both of them unanimously ignored my response.

“…Alright. The person who goes out after him is me. Promise.”

“I promise.”

Tumanako held out her palm. Shin Haeryang looked at the hand before grasping it. For a few seconds, Tumanako seemed to pull Shin Haeryang slightly towards her, but Shin Haeryang’s body, seated on the floor, didn’t budge an inch, like a block of iron. Tumanako lowered her head with a sigh. Then she lightly touched her nose to Shin Haeryang’s nose before pulling away.

“Phew. I let you off because you’re handsome.”

As Tumanako moved back, Seo Jihyuk made a fuss, more so than Shin Haeryang whose nose tip had suddenly been rubbed.

“What? What? What did you just do? I didn’t see it wrong, did I? Didn’t you mess up something that should be done on the lips?”

As Seo Jihyuk asked the two with a goofy face, Baek Ae-young, separating the jewelry she had stolen into those containing gold and those without, said,

“Idiot. It’s called ‘hongi’.”

“What’s that? What? Why do they touch so closely like that?”

“Imagine you doing that with Liam from the Engineer B team.”

The smile disappeared completely from Seo Jihyuk’s face. Then, as if it was horrifying, he said,

“Was she approaching to kill? Did our team leader just nearly die? But seeing how they’re both calmly glaring at me, it seems whatever attempt it was, it failed.”

“Don’t you have any close friends among the New Zealanders?”

To Tumanako’s question, Seo Jihyuk shrugged his shoulders and said,

“I don’t like a single one of those Engineer B team bastards even as much as a cockroach’s hind leg.”

Watching Seo Jihyuk shudder, Tumanako asked curiously,

“Why are the engineers on such bad terms with each other? Every engineer who comes to the hair salon is dying to badmouth people from other country teams. They talk a lot about the Korean team in particular.”

Seo Jihyuk tried to help Baek Ae-young with her jewelry sorting, but after getting his hand slapped hard, he sighed and said,

“When I arrived, the engineers were getting along really well. The Korean team was losing in the hierarchy battle and getting beaten up in order by the other 7 engineering teams, so it was very peaceful. Even those who shouldn’t get along well somehow knew the Korean team engineers’ payday perfectly, lining up in order to kindly extort money, and having fun slapping their cheeks a bit in a friendly manner.”

Tumanako froze with her mouth open.

“At that time, the Korean team leader was a woman named Yang from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, but she went missing. And Jo, who was the deputy team leader, was temporarily in charge, but during work hours, two employees who ran away were caught trying to stow away on a foreign ship. One female employee shut down a research lab in the South District Research Center and started eating and sleeping there. Another female employee didn’t even come to her own room, saying she was sharing a room with an American team guy, and the rest of the idiots were busy sucking up to idiots from other teams.”

Seo Jihyuk, hugging his gun, said in a gloomy voice,

“That bastard Jo would open employees’ room doors using his team leader authority as a reflex after getting his knees kicked a few times, and Jihyun and I were newly hired here? The atmosphere was a mess, and some bastard who didn’t know Jihyun and I had switched rooms opened my room door, trying to sleep.”

“W-what happened?”

As Tumanako swallowed hard and asked, Seo Jihyuk yawned so wide his mouth might tear, then covered his mouth with his palm and said,

“That bastard who came into my room with a bunch of idiots was surprised and said, ‘Huh? This isn’t the right room?’ His tone suggested he never dreamed the room’s owner would be a handsome man in his 20s.”

Baek Ae-young made a face like she was about to throw up and said,

“Quickly correct the wrong parts.”

“I forgot to mention that he’s also fit, sexy, and a dashing hunk.”

“I feel sick. It would be legal for me to vomit on your head right now. …You should have killed them all back then. The same shitty thing happened again, didn’t it?”

Baek Ae-young seemed to be listening to Seo Jihyuk’s words half-heartedly. Perhaps the profit margin wasn’t as good as expected, she clicked her tongue while looking at rings that didn’t seem to contain gold.

“Cut me some slack. It was my first day on the job. I had to give them a bit of a beating and let them go alive. The new team leader was coming a week later, and I couldn’t hide five corpses in my cramped room until then. I didn’t even know how to lock my room door back then.

My room door would open automatically like an automatic door just by approaching it. Plus, I cleaned the blood off the floor with wet wipes and didn’t know where to throw the trash, so I hid those wet wipes and tissues in my room for two days.”

“Ugh. A man whining like that.”

Tumanako, who had been listening to Seo Jihyuk’s words in a daze, asked,

“Didn’t anyone help or try to stop it?”

“Seeing three guys lying sprawled on the floor, someone started calling other people from outside. Saying people had collapsed. I was happily waiting for someone to come and clean up this mess, but a New Zealand bastard who came into the room punched me in the jaw.”

Tumanako frowned and asked,

“I’m just curious, but how should one commit a perfect murder underwater? Can’t you just dump the body in the sea? It’s water all around.”

“Trash thrown into the sea either floats on the surface or sinks to the bottom. If I had just disposed of a few guys by throwing them into the sea, later on, mining robots or engineers repairing the outer walls might have gone, ‘Huh? What’s this? It’s the arms and legs of our team’s trash?’ and discovered them. If you throw them into the sea in front of Daehan Island, the waves might send them back to the beach saying, ‘Here’s some lost property~'”

Seo Jihyuk whined, rubbing his eyes with one hand, and said to Baek Ae-young,

“Boo-hoo-hoo. Ae-young, I’m only telling you this now, but you don’t know the hardships I went through during the three months waiting for you to arrive.”

“I don’t want to know at all.”

“Boo-hoo-hoo. I still can’t forget the look in Jihyun’s eyes, staring at me like I was a pervert for asking things like, ‘Jihyun, what time are you going to take a shower? How many times a day do you go to the bathroom? When are you going? What time do you sleep?'”

“You only picked pervert-like questions.”

Seo Jihyuk quickly gave up on getting sympathy from the busy Baek Ae-young about his past difficulties.

“If you hadn’t come after three months, I would have paid back the contract money or whatever and run away carrying Jihyun. I bet Team Leader Shin would have felt the same way. Right?”

“……”

Although Shin Haeryang didn’t say anything, he seemed to dislike that situation just as much. Seo Jihyuk calmly said to Tumanako,

“The underwater base is where greedy and overpowered bastards gather like swarming insects to obtain more mineral resources.

In a situation where even taking out loans to support wouldn’t be enough, only one country’s team is constantly pressured to bring in results without any government help?

And in that situation, the team members are all traitors with their eyes rolled back, trying to immigrate by sucking up to other countries? Exploitation is peaceful, I guess. Because you just have to accept unfair treatment and let them take whatever they ask for.

We’re on bad terms because we resisted trying to improve things. Until now, the other guys have been sitting quietly getting extra benefits, and suddenly Korea seems to be having a fit causing them losses, so the conflict continues.”

“Has it changed now?”

“Our team leader really hates compromising or yielding at an appropriate level.”

Suddenly hearing his name brought up, Shin Haeryang shook his head and said,

“It’s a story unrelated to working in a special position. Don’t worry about it.”

Baek Ae-young picked out only the jewelry with large gemstones and poured them onto the sink piled high with banknotes. Then she gathered mainly precious metals made of diamonds and gold, which were much smaller than the gems, and put them in her pocket.

“Aren’t you taking these?”

When I asked, looking at the sink, Baek Ae-young pointed to the gemstones of the rings and said,

“These look pretty on the outside, but they don’t sell for much. In a situation like this, diamonds or gold of the same size are the best. Doctor, make sure to remember this and use it later.”

“Diamonds or gold are the best…”

Gold is also the best for human teeth. Various alternatives have come out to replace gold, but we haven’t found a metal that can replace gold yet.

As Shin Haeryang checked the time and got up, Seo Jihyuk, who had been almost lying on the floor, also jumped up. Baek Ae-young approached the door as if about to fly. Seo Jihyuk checked outside here and there before slipping out. Baek Ae-young followed closely behind Seo Jihyuk. Tumanako and I moved together with Shin Haeryang.

Navigate to Other Chapters