Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea-Chapter 163

My first impression upon entering the escape pod was that it felt like being placed in a coffin. The passenger had to stand upright, and the distance between my body and the escape pod was incredibly close. If two adults had entered here, they would have been so tightly packed that they couldn’t move and would barely be able to breathe.

It gave the feeling of being forcibly trapped in a single-person elevator, a space so small that a claustrophobic person would likely faint within three seconds of entering. I closed my eyes as soon as the escape pod door shut, with Tumanako’s eyes being the last thing I saw.

The moment I realized I was trapped alone in this narrow escape pod, fear suddenly struck me. Struggling not to be swept away by the overwhelming wave of fear, I tried to comfort myself and instill confidence.

This is a safe place.

I am perfectly protected.

There’s nothing dangerous anymore.

If I wait here for a little while, I can leave the underwater base.

As I closed my eyes, took slow deep breaths, and composed myself, a surprising sense of calm washed over me. It felt like I was wedged into a tight space like a narrow wardrobe or under a bed, places I used to hide in as a child.

In reality, the interior of the escape pod was seamlessly wrapped in a soft, pliable material like a tube to reduce impact. When I opened my eyes, an improved light green perfluorodecalin explosively gushed out, enveloping my entire body in 0.5 seconds.

I was momentarily frightened by the soft light green liquid continuously flooding into my mouth and nostrils. However, knowing that this liquid wasn’t toxic to the body, I tried to breathe in and out as usual. Although my body instinctively rejected the liquid filling my bronchi and lungs, the more I tried to breathe, the more I was automatically submerged in the liquid.

My lungs, startled by this sudden calamity, began to protest vigorously to me, their owner. Unable to breathe as before, my chest burned with pain. According to the underwater base guidebook, it shouldn’t be very painful, but thinking about it now, that explanation was a complete lie. It felt like my chest was on fire.

My chest and bronchi hurt and stung so much that I wondered if drowning would be this painful. Tears fell without me realizing it, but the soft light green liquid completely swallowed them, leaving no trace. Like a creature accidentally fallen into a sticky swamp, I desperately flailed my limbs and resisted with screams. But the more I struggled, the more it felt like I had plunged into a drink cup made of green jelly.

Only when the pain reached a level where I thought I might just die did I finally manage to breathe. It was so amazing to be able to breathe through my nose in the liquid that I tried various experiments and ended up forcibly drinking about a cup’s worth. It was salty enough to jolt me awake.

They said they added a bit of saltiness to prevent passengers from drinking too much, but after actually tasting it, I thought seawater might be sweeter. Forgetting that I was completely submerged in liquid, I instinctively tried to spit it out with a “ptooey,” but as it rushed into my mouth, I had to swallow about another mouthful while crying.

As soon as the pain in my chest subsided slightly, I thought of the people who had taken the escape pod before me. Did Henry really go through this pain? …When I meet their parents, I’m going to grab them by the collar first.

As I breathed with a gurgling sound, I suddenly started to worry about the Rapidopora in my bag. Would it be okay? I hadn’t heard anything about this liquid affecting plants or animals. Tumanako had said he wouldn’t leave me alone if anything happened to the Rapidopora, and it didn’t sound like an empty threat.

I thought that to prevent all my hair from being shaved off, I’d have to shake out the roots of the Rapidopora in my bag as soon as I reached the sea surface, no matter what.

Basically, the escape pod is single-use and designed for one person. As it approaches the surface, a life raft automatically deploys to prevent the escape pod from sinking due to its weight, and allows the person in the escape pod to survive in the sea until rescue.

According to the guidebook, each escape pod has a GPS and a Search and Rescue Radar Transponder (SART) that continuously sends rescue request signals to nearby ships. If a ship passes near the escape pod, it will be displayed on that ship’s radar indicating the escape pod’s location.

The attitude that escape pod passengers should take is to survive diligently and wait for rescue. I’ve heard that nowadays, sea rescues are more often done by drones, but since this is my first experience with anything sea-related, I’m not sure. I’ll be rescued. I just need to wait. I calmed myself down as I breathed in the light green liquid.

In the early days, it’s said that there was nothing displayed inside the escape pods used underwater. In the cramped escape pod, passengers couldn’t see outside, and there was nothing to look at except their own watch.

So, people who used escape pods in the beginning had to hope that the pod, twice their size, would properly reach the sea surface while they were trapped unable to move. It’s horrifying just to imagine.

Moreover, they didn’t know when to open the escape pod door. Apparently, it was designed so that the door could be opened after a certain amount of time had passed. If a person in the escape pod accidentally opened the door while ascending to the surface, they would have been forced to swim with the marlins.

In fact, someone who had taken an escape pod only opened the door after what they thought was enough time for it to have reached the surface, but for some reason, they were thrown into the water at a depth of 30 meters. That person was able to barely survive because they were a skilled diver, but thinking about my current situation, it’s terrifyingly frightening.

Initially, it seems they thought it was a waste of money to install additional features like panels showing the escape pod’s position or displaying time in these single-use pods.

All safety protocols and rescue agreements were written in blood and lives, but it wasn’t until escape pod passengers started dying during their ascent that panels were installed inside the pods so passengers could check how far they had come.

Instead of just yelling at people to endure for a mere 15 minutes, they finally acknowledged, much later, that in a situation where one has to use an escape pod, the passenger is already in a terrible mental state due to anxiety and tension, and in that state, they can’t make rational decisions.

They started to pay a little attention to cases where claustrophobic patients couldn’t bear being trapped in a narrow space and opened the emergency release of the sealed escape pod door mid-ascent, or to the situations of people who couldn’t stay still in one position due to injury or disability. Only after countless people had died because of money.

Today’s escape pods have undergone numerous improvements. In addition to the escape pod door opening automatically, the rescue boat deploys automatically before reaching the surface, so the passenger doesn’t need to do anything. If you search inside the escape pod, there should also be a life jacket available for temporary use.

Thinking about it now, I couldn’t understand how people in the early days used escape pods with such anxiety. No, come to think of it, they didn’t use them because they wanted to. They must have used them because they had no choice.

When the escape pod was launched, the red dot that had been at -1000m was now passing -500m. I carefully watched my escape pod move. At this speed, it would soon reach -200m where the Second Underwater Base was located.

The escape pod was moving faster than I had expected. It was rocketing towards the surface at an incredible speed while withstanding the high pressure of the deep sea. If the escape pod encounters marine life along the way, it’s said that they would be completely torn apart by the pod’s speed. I couldn’t imagine how chaotic the sea would become with numerous escape pods ascending to the surface all at once.

Please, let there be no marine life in the path of my ascending escape pod. Especially no whales.

I hate the thought of making a hole in the magnificent body of that wonderful creature, and I also don’t want my escape pod to crash into it and break down.

…Sharks are okay though. If my escape pod crashes into the shark that bit my side while ascending, that’s fine. That’s really unavoidable. I made wishes frantically without any god.

The escape pod was now passing -300m. There’s nothing you can do inside an escape pod. You just wait quietly. After the initially scary time passed, I just felt bored and anxious. I hate waiting so much.

I stroked the smooth cloth bag hanging on my shoulder with my fingertips. What if Tumanako had taken the escape pod? If I had stayed in the underwater base, could I have been of a little more help to others? …Or not. I might have been more of a burden. I probably wouldn’t have been of much help to others, then or now. It’s hard enough to take care of myself.

Seo Jihyuk, Baek Ae-young, and Shin Haeryang, who remained in the underwater base, must have desperately wanted to take the escape pod too. They just didn’t show it outwardly. …I feel so ashamed for taking the escape pod after having my seat given up by kids younger than me. If I were even a year older, I should be taking responsibility for that much more time lived.

The red escape pod was now passing the number -200m. We had struggled so much, walking up those broken stairs in the darkness to reach that place. It felt ridiculous that I was easily passing the Second Underwater Base just by sitting still in the escape pod, and it made me laugh.

As the escape pod kept ascending, worry for the people left in the underwater base and concern for those on Daehan Island washed over me simultaneously. How would the people left in the underwater base now enter the Second Underwater Base and make it to the surface? The path I had taken with them only reached the cable car of the Second Underwater Base, and it seemed like a failed route no matter how I thought about it.

Would three armed people and one civilian be okay? Would things be different this time? I chewed over all the regrets and remorse from the first attempt, ultimately concluding that it couldn’t be helped.

I couldn’t have done better. Those people and I must have made the best choices we could in that situation. Even if I could turn back time, I couldn’t have done any better. They’ll do better now that I’m not there.

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Lee Jihyun, Yoo Geum-yi, Henry, Kang Soojung, and Shuran would be on Daehan Island. I hope they’re doing well and safe. Emma would have escaped well. She would be hiding somewhere with the cat and snake, avoiding capture by the armed people. Emma can curl up so small she can’t be found, she has good athletic ability, and she runs quickly.

I hope Kang Soojung has already taken everyone else and left by boat for the Marshall Islands or Hawaii. I should just look at the sky until someone comes to find the escape pod. Even if a typhoon rages outside, sea water and rain lash my face, and lightning strikes the escape pod, I wanted to breathe the outside air. I will absolutely not go back into the sea.

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