GB 79

Haero took a patient with severe bleeding from a flying fish-shaped fry that had grazed the upper part of his shoulder to the infirmary. He went to the makeshift operating room, which was usually kept closed, applied artificial skin made with pig genes to the torn shoulder joint, and administered anesthesia.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to wait for the anesthesia to take full effect.

“Bite down on this towel.”

The medical sailor followed the order, sweating profusely. At first, his hands were shaking, but now he was motionless, either having adapted or become numb.

Haero noticed that more torpedoes had been fired from the very subtle vibrations resonating sharply under his feet. While feeling this, his hands meticulously and continuously sutured the artificial skin that would protect against infection and blood loss until new flesh grew.

Just as he was almost finished with the suturing, the floor suddenly tilted at a severe angle. Haero instinctively held onto the patient to steady him. However, in doing so, he couldn’t protect his own body. He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth.

“Ah…!”

Suddenly, the world turned upside down.

Of course, the world hadn’t actually flipped, and he wasn’t in a strange place when he opened his eyes again, so the ship must have made a sharp turn. If it turned this quickly, it meant the ship was being pushed to its limits. It also meant that hunting the seawater was that challenging.

The sailor trembled, organizing in his mind the information he had learned from training and heard from his seniors.

“A-are you alright?”

He was still disoriented, his vision spinning. The sailor still diligently asked. There was no answer. He tried to stand up, grasping at whatever he could reach. As the sailor barely managed to raise his upper body, he let out a short scream at the sight before him.

“Doctor!”

Haero’s white uniform pants were soaked bright red.

Haero saw the sailor’s face shouting something at him, but he couldn’t hear the voice.

The emergency treatment wasn’t finished yet. It felt like something was pounding the ship’s hull. 

boom … boom… 

If that was the case, it was serious. If the hull was breached, it would be over.

He could go to the deck or bridge to assess the situation, but he wouldn’t do such a foolish thing. In the current situation, they probably couldn’t even launch a helicopter.

“Don’t worry about me, take care of the injured!” Haero shouted fiercely.

His vision was blurry. Probably because something was flowing from his forehead. He wiped it roughly with his sleeve. The black dress uniform jacket didn’t show what was on it. It was probably just sweat or blood. Haero sprinkled powdered hemostatic agent on his forehead. A pain like his flesh was instantly tightening washed over him.

“Watch for shock.”

He was worried about the patient going into shock, given the impact during treatment. Haero gritted his teeth and finished the procedure.

The line of injured being transported to the infirmary didn’t end. The repeated ship-wide announcements ordered all hands to battle stations and to replenish weapons including torpedoes in the armory.

A great commotion arose from the open bulkhead door.

“Secure it to the starboard outer deck!”

It was Yoon Moo-hwa’s voice.

Wearing a life jacket over his uniform jacket, he was hurriedly heading somewhere. Haero felt relieved just hearing that voice, without turning around. 

‘He’s safe.’

And a moment later, Yoon Moo-hwa appeared at the round window in the infirmary wall.

Water was pouring down continuously. It wasn’t raining. It was seawater splashing. Periodically, it poured down aggressively, as if to sweep everything away with a “swoosh, swoosh.”

Yoon Moo-hwa climbed up the ladder next to the infirmary window. They were above and below each other, separated by a steel plate.

Standing next to the large harpoon, he gave aiming orders with his own eyes, then decided to aim directly himself. He pulled off his eye patch and threw it away. The damp eye patch fell limply before being swept away by another wave that crashed like a torrent.

Yoon Moo-hwa closed one eye and focused with his artificial eye. The artificial eye was analyzing the seawater at a speed that would be unbearable without long training and adaptation.

Rather than attacking sporadically and randomly, he was trying to hit the same spot as much as possible, so there was clearly a weakened area where the flesh was exposed. The reason the seawater was behaving so fiercely in the first place was because it was in pain.

“Stick a harpoon or something into the left fin to immobilize it.” It was an order to the other ships.

“We can’t hold it for long!”  The tactical officer shouted through the fierce waves.

“Three seconds, no, two seconds is enough.” Yoon Moo-hwa glanced at the prepared harpoons and had them all stacked together. 

He placed an internally explosive harpoon in the center, surrounded by regular spiked harpoons, then tied them with spare ropes. It shouldn’t break easily.

“They say they’re ready!” The tactical officer shouted. 

Yoon Moo-hwa saw the seawater open its mouth wide and start gulping down seawater, and he shouted, “Fire now!”

If it swallows and spits out the water, everything will be swept away. If the warships collide, it’s all over.

Although everyone knew Yoon Moo-hwa’s order was risky and dangerous, they also knew it was the only option. The seawater targeting Yoon Moo-hwa’s ship was also a calculated move. As it turned to face him, its left side was exposed defensively. Waiting for the moment when it turned its streamlined fin above the surface, the ships that had changed course upon receiving the order simultaneously fired their harpoons.

Sometimes the most primitive methods are the most powerful. Simple things are eternal.

The whaling harpoons, once symbols of barbarism, cruelty, and foolishness, were now used to protect passing whale pods from seawater. They protect both the whales and the fishing boats. The harpoons pierced the fin of the seawater, clearly a product of mutation.

The churning seawater suddenly stopped.

It probably took only about 2 seconds for the seawater, frozen with its mouth open, to start thrashing. The ships targeting the left fin all began to reverse and back away. The seawater, stunned by the impact, staggered and turned its gaze elsewhere.

That’s when it happened.

“Now!” Yoon Moo-hwa muttered as he fired the improvised harpoon. 

Modifying military weapons at will was certainly a violation of military law, but there’s something above that law. Survival.

What Yoon Moo-hwa fired was aimed at the area between the shark’s eye and lip, what could be called its cheek. The angle was from below upwards. Yoon Moo-hwa’s artificial eye calculated the point that could pierce through the palate and into the seawater’s brain. The success probability started with 0 and ranged to decimal places. Success depended entirely on Yoon Moo-hwa’s hand.

The rope attached to the harpoon began to shorten at an incredible speed. Hearing a “thud” sound is only possible in movies. Here, they could barely confirm it. 

Yoon Moo-hwa covered his eye and focused with his artificial eye. After confirming that the harpoon was firmly lodged in the seawater’s brain, he shouted, “Detonate it!”

It’s not like they’re detonating a nuclear warhead, so the explosion isn’t big. The world doesn’t roll like in the movies. Most things are actually far from movie-like.

Blood gushed from the nostrils of the seawater as the explosion occurred inside its skull. Along with the dark blue blood, an overwhelming fishy, rotten smell began to spread. It meant they had won and survived. The scent of survival was a rotten smell.

But they couldn’t let their guard down here.

“Tell them to cut the harpoon lines and get out of this area as much as possible! Tell them to move away to an area where the seawater can immediately return, but focus on maintaining the balance of the ships!” Yoon Moo-hwa quickly ordered as he headed towards the bridge.

Haero listened to the wet footsteps. While the intense battle was happening above, Haero was fighting another battle inside the infirmary. He was so busy providing emergency treatment to the incoming injured that he didn’t know what was happening above. By the time Yoon Moo-hwa passed by the infirmary again, he had roughly finished the situation and was looking at his own shin.

“…”

Their eyes met as Haero bent down to roll up his pants and check his wound, and Yoon Moo-hwa was passing by the infirmary.

Yoon Moo-hwa looked at Haero with wide eyes, then lowered his gaze to check his wound. However, his briefly halted footsteps quickly moved again.

Haero also bowed his head and sprinkled powdered hemostatic agent on the wound. It hurt enough to make him groan between his teeth. It was quite a deep wound, fortunate that the shin bone wasn’t visible.

“A-are you alright?” The medic asked with a tearful face. 

Haero nodded as he rummaged for anesthetic. After injecting the anesthetic into his own leg, he asked the medic, “Can you stitch up the wound?”

The medic’s face turned pale, then yellow, then quickly returned to its normal color. He nodded and grasped the needle.