Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

Chapter 107

Kevin asked Ji-hyun at the ceiling,

“Is the elevator ceiling strong enough to support the weight of all the people here? Can we all climb up there?”

After pondering for a few seconds, Ji-hyun said,

“We have to climb up to escape anyway. Whether we’re down there or up here, I think it’s better to climb up even if the ceiling collapses.”

When she puts it that way, there’s nothing more to say. Since Ji-hyun doesn’t have the strength to pull other people up from above, it was decided to send up one person with some strength first. The men all said they would go up first. Kevin shrugged his shoulders at my gaze and said,

“My upper body is fine.”

I had already noticed that when he used his cell phone as an ax. Kevin said to the people,

“The person climbing up to the ceiling now needs to keep helping the rest of the people climb up.”

At that, Carter and Benjamin’s brows furrowed. Carter grumbled but didn’t say much. However, Benjamin, filled with dissatisfaction, said,

“In a situation like this, we should each fend for ourselves. Why do we have to help others or not? Pretending to be nice, seriously. Will you report me if I don’t help?”

Yeah… Rather than keeping quiet and later causing a fuss about why I should help others, it’s better to speak up now. I barely suppressed the urge to punch Benjamin, and Kevin, who was next to me, crossed his arms and asked,

“If you were alone, you wouldn’t have even made it this far. The same goes for me and everyone else. If we hadn’t cooperated, we would’ve been fish food at the flooding base. Why do you hate helping others so much? Why do you act like you’ll die if you suffer even a little loss?”

Benjamin looked at Kevin with a dumbfounded expression and said,

“Obviously, because all that matters is that I live well! Why should I take a loss because of others? And what do I care if others die or live? Who will give me back my precious time and energy? No one will compensate me for my losses anyway!”

Does that bastard think helping someone is a loss for him? How would he view people who do volunteer work without compensation? Sam pointed at Benjamin and said,

“Guys like you are called selfish fucking assholes. How little must you have been loved growing up to turn out so fucked up?”

“Not as much as you, pig bastard. Who are you to spew nonsense about someone else’s life!”

“Die by this pig’s hand!”

“I’ll kill you with these hooves!”

“This is perfect timing! I’ve been wanting to beat the shit out of you!”

When the fight was about to break out, Kim Ga-young and Yoo Geum-yi, who were sitting on the floor, quickly stood up and fled to the wall, fearing they would get caught up in it. People trying to stop the fight, people egging them on, people jumping in, people yelling and swinging their fists all tried to gather in the corner of the elevator, and Emma shouted,

“I told you not to gather so close together!”

This time, even Emma’s shout was entangled in the brawl. I saw Carter being knocked back by Logan’s fist. I was looking at Ji-hyun’s pathetic gaze from above when I said to Yoo Geum-yi next to me,

“Yoo Geum-yi-ssi, you go up first.”

“Uh… uh?!”

“Once you balance, step on my palm and stand up.”

I knelt on the floor, grabbed one of Yoo Geum-yi’s legs, and draped it over the back of my neck. Then I gritted my teeth and stood up, and Yoo Geum-yi, startled, propped her hand against the elevator wall. Yoo Geum-yi, forced to ride on my shoulders, flailed about, touching my face and hair with her hands, but soon balanced herself with her waist. Yoo Geum-yi’s stomach was touching the back of my head. Placing my palm under Yoo Geum-yi’s shoe sole, I said,

“Stand up!”

With Yoo Geum-yi sitting on the back of my neck, she tried to stand up as I instructed. This is something you can’t do unless you really trust the person supporting your body. Having experienced riding on shoulders myself, I know how unstable it is. However, when I pushed Yoo Geum-yi’s feet upward with my palms, her arms reached for the sky. Ji-hyun, who was watching us from the ceiling, also immediately stretched out both arms toward Yoo Geum-yi.

The two grabbed each other’s arms in midair, but I couldn’t relax. They don’t have the strength to pull each other up safely. I have to push her up!

I heard my arms, which hadn’t exercised, cursing at me. The owner is using the body so roughly, huh? When I lifted Yoo Geum-yi’s feet above my head with both arms as if doing a banzai, Ji-hyun was seen pulling Yoo Geum-yi and lying back. Yoo Geum-yi disappeared toward the ceiling, and after a while, she peeked her head out.

When I turned my head and looked at Kim Ga-young next to me, she shook her head vigorously at me.

“No, no. What you just did is a bit too much for me.”

Licking her dry mouth with her tongue and looking at the ceiling, Ga-young put on the backpack I handed her and said,

“I’ll stand like a hairtail in the sea.”

For a moment, I didn’t understand. What does a hairtail do?

“How does a hairtail… in the sea?”

“It stands with its long body upright like a knife. Instead of giving me a piggyback ride, let’s do it with me standing straight up.”

Ga-young brought her two hands together as if in prayer, then raised them vertically toward the sky. Hairtails don’t move flexibly like snakes? Even with such a long body?

The method itself isn’t bad. I just have to hand Ga-young, who has become straight like a flagpole, toward the ceiling like passing an umbrella. The problem is how firmly Ga-young can maintain the hairtail pose. If she wavers, she won’t be able to go up.

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Ga-young raised her hands, which she had clasped together at chest level, toward the ceiling. She stopped with her arms stretched upward. If she were to lift one leg from this posture, it would be like doing yoga. Ga-young lightly nodded her head in that pose, and I moved behind her back. I squatted down and grasped Ga-young’s calves with both hands. With her calves and thighs touching my neck and collarbone, I momentarily swallowed and held my breath.

I tried to lift Ga-young’s calves while straightening my bent knees. To avoid straining my back, I lifted her with my back as straight as possible, so it seemed I only needed to straighten my knees.

It wasn’t as easy as I thought. I should’ve done some squats. Even lifting a woman weighing just over 60kg, my body was making dying noises. The biggest regret since coming from the underwater base was why I didn’t exercise regularly. If I can just get out of here, I’ll start exercising right away. Until recently, the checkup said there were no issues. They said my back and spine were healthy enough for normal daily life! I bit my lip with my teeth as groans involuntarily escaped.

After straightening my knees and barely standing on two feet, I exhaled and lifted the calves I was hugging with both arms. Even though I was just lifting one person, my stomach and forearms were screaming. Looking at Ga-young’s feet, which had reached chest level, I said,

“Kick with your feet.”

Kick and use the rebound to go up! However, Ga-young merely pushed my chest with her feet as if pressing. I quickly brought my shoulders and forearms under Ga-young’s next footstep floating in the air, allowing her to step on my shoulders and climb up.

Four arms descended from above and grabbed Ga-young’s outstretched arms. The weight on my shoulders abruptly decreased, and when I looked up, Ga-young’s two feet vanished into the ceiling as if being sucked in.

I had only sent two people up to a height of about 3 meters, but my whole body was drenched in sweat. It felt like steam was coming from my head. Panting and wiping the sweat flowing down my chin with the back of my hand, I noticed it was quiet around me. Are they done fighting?

Some had newly acquired wounds on their faces, either from being punched or their hair and clothes in disarray. Kevin was keeping Benjamin and Sam, who were trying to go at it again, in check with his arm’s length and ax. Kanu was watching my actions with interest. Emma was sitting still in the same spot as before. Emma is a bit taller than the two who went up first. After taking a deep breath, I gestured to Emma.

“Come quickly. Before I get tired.”

After lifting two people in different ways, did I gain some knack for it? Not at all. Instead, I only learned which muscles hurt and how much. My arms were trembling. Thanks to the adrenaline rush, I’m okay for now, but I don’t think I can lift anyone after Emma. Emma hesitantly stood up from her seat.

James, whose sleeve button had flown off, asked me,

“Why are you doing this alone?”

“Don’t you know Koreans are all about hurry, hurry?”

Judging by their expressions, they really seem to have no idea. Licking my salty mouth with my tongue, I sighed and said,

“I don’t want to waste even a speck of energy fighting each other. And I want to get out of here quickly.”

Emma tucked the entire bottom hem of her long-sleeved top into her pants. Then she took off her shoes and socks. She rolled the two socks together and stuffed them into one shoe. She tapped the shoes to shake off any dirt, then stretched the neckline of her top wide and pushed the shoes inside. Watching her use her top as a shoe storage, I was momentarily surprised, but Emma didn’t seem to mind at all if her underwear got dirty from the shoe’s dirt. Well, if she only wore them inside the underwater base, the soles should be clean. Emma said to me,

“Extend one leg forward and bend your knee. Position one hand with the palm facing up, firmly press your fingers together against your chest, and raise the other hand in a fist toward the sky.”

When I awkwardly assumed the posture as instructed, Emma spoke again,

“I’ll step on your knee, palm, shoulder, and fist to climb up. If the timing is off, I might step on your head. Brace yourself.”

What? I was looking at my advanced left knee, the palm placed on my chest, and my shoulder. She’s going to step on my body like a zigzag staircase. Is that it?

At that moment, Emma started running. Wa- wait! As soon as I tensed my body for the impending impact, Emma was already right in front of me. Emma stepped on my left knee. And as soon as she stepped on my palm with her other foot, an impact came to my shoulder. I mustered my strength to keep my body from collapsing.

Estimating where Emma’s foot might be to step on my fist, I pushed her sole upward with my fist. As Emma leaped toward the sky like a falcon, Kim Ga-young and Yoo Geum-yi, who had stuck their upper bodies out, grabbed her arms, and a sound rang out as if Ji-hyun was dragging the two back. Emma’s legs kicked in the air and disappeared through the ceiling hatch.

Emma didn’t need me to lift her up with strength and hand her over. It felt like she had just stepped on a flimsy staircase and magnificently flown away. Blankly staring at the ceiling, I plopped down on the floor, feeling drained. The palm and left knee that had been used as a launchpad began to ache belatedly. I understood why she had taken off her shoes. If Emma had stepped on me wearing shoes, my fingers could have broken if I was unlucky.

Kim Ga-young poked her head out from above the ceiling and said,

“The next person to come up must be Park Moohyun. If you send up any other bastard, I won’t catch them.”

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