Man Can Live on Bread Alone

I took the Central Elevator up to the 3rd Undersea Base and set one of every kind of bread on a tray. The bakery there was called Babylonia. I had no idea why anyone would name it that, but the bread was extraordinary—fresh from the oven every day, and in more varieties than I could keep straight. At first I hadn't understood the people who lined up and waited for the moment it came out. Now I did. My eyes went to the defiant line carved into the wall inside the shop.

If I had to choose between bread and rice, I would choose rice. Even so, the bread in this place was so good I had no grounds left to argue with that sentence. The first time I tried their sweet red-bean bun, I told myself it only seemed wonderful because I was hungry enough to swallow it without chewing. It was just as good on a full stomach.

The cafeteria food was perfectly decent, but this was good enough that I could believe someone down here was simply taking their meals in bread. I thought about filling the whole tray with nothing but the kinds I liked, then played it safe and took one of each. I had no idea who would want what.

Kang Soojeong was back on duty in three hours. She happened to be in her quarters, talking and laughing with friends, and she had asked if I wanted to come by. I remembered the appointment I had in two hours, asked whether it was really all right for me to show up, and only after she said it was did I knock—four coffees and an armful of bread in hand. She opened the door in a light shirt and jeans.

"You made it, Doctor."

"Hi!"

"Hello."

"Hello. I'm Park Moohyun, the new dentist."

Both of the others were engineers, though from different teams. One was Zixuan of Engineer Team La. The other was Lily, a Canadian with Engineer Team Ah. The three of them were gym friends, they said. They had met at the fitness center in Jungang-dong, and when none of them felt like training they encouraged one another—and insulted one another. All three stood over five foot eleven, and the forearms reaching for the coffee were corded with muscle that was frankly intimidating.

Listening to them talk, I realized only then that most of the women engineers on the base trained on a regular schedule. I thought of my own body, which had nothing on it but the muscle of ordinary living, and began a quiet round of self-reproach. While I was down here, I ought to put some muscle on myself.

"I should start working out."

"Good idea. The men train a lot. The women have a trainer named Emily, and the men have James."

"Now that you mention it, I remember James cursing his way through every day at the start, because the guys smashed so much of the equipment."

"Who's James?"

"There's a trainer from the States. James Miller. Tell him you're just starting and he'll walk you through it."

Zixuan took in the blank, foolish look on my face and spelled it out.

"Red training suit. Six foot five, muscle wrapped around every inch of him. He wears that exact same suit every single day. I wonder if he even washes it."

"Sounds like most of the men living down here are in good shape."

Kang Soojeong shook her head at that.

"Not all of them."

"You only get a workout if you actually work out."

Having said it, Zixuan wiped a smear of whipped cream from her lip with her thumb, licked it off, and quickly cleaned the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. I was a beat too late with a napkin; as I lowered the hand I'd offered, Lily, beside me, smiled, took the napkin I was still holding, and wiped the cream from Zixuan's fingers.

The talk had turned to training, and I nearly asked whether Team Leader Shin Haeryang went around cracking jaws like a passing storm. Then I remembered he was Kang Soojeong's superior and let it go. Other engineers were in the room besides; if I opened my mouth, it would only be gossip behind his back. Silence was always golden. Even so, Elliot, who handled the counseling, and Yook Geum-yi, the researcher—you really couldn't tell, just by looking, whether either of them trained.

"Did you work out before, or only after you came to the base?"

I asked it nursing a small, foolish hope that if I lived down here long enough, muscle might simply arrive the way breathing did. To my surprise, Zixuan agreed without any fuss.

"After I got here. Nothing you use in the sea is light."

Watching her reach for another piece of bread even as she said it, I knew I had misjudged the portions. The three of them ate more than I had expected. Because I had bought one of every kind, there were something like seventeen pieces, and the whole pile vanished in a blink. So I'd only managed to put out a snack. I should have bought more. When I said as much, short and plain, Kang Soojeong shook her head.

"We're only eating like this because it's a cheat day. We don't actually eat much bread."

"I eat plenty, thanks," Lily shot back. "You're the one who has rice instead of bread!"

"Then eat rice."

At Kang Soojeong's flat reply, Zixuan snickered. Lily picked up a donut, murmuring as she did.

"God, it's been forever since I had sugar."

She sucked her fingers clean, then asked why the clinic was called Deep Blue. It was one of the few questions about the base I could answer with any confidence. When she had heard me out, she crooked a finger and said:

"An American named that. No question. Canadians don't name things that way."

"The names around here are a complete mess. The cafeteria in Jungang-dong is called The Full Manchu-Han Banquet. What kind of name is that? The only Chinese food they actually serve is dumplings."

Kang Soojeong looked at Zixuan. Zixuan met the look as if she had been wronged.

"You were the one who wanted to call it Suragan—the royal kitchen! What even is a Suragan? Mine was better. I wanted to name it Sichuan Cuisine!"

The gossip was too good. I stayed until I was cutting it dangerously close to my appointment, then got up first. Half a coffee still in my hand, I turned to Kang Soojeong.

"Thank you for the help with my suitcase—and for inviting me to tea."

"I'm the one who should thank you. I booked for next week, so please take care of me."

"See you later."

"That was delicious!"

Kang Soojeong pressed two cups of instant ramen into my arms. I left Room 24 in Baekho-dong, flung the ramen onto the bed in my own Room 38, and took off at a dead run. I was in such a hurry that I collided with someone coming from the emergency escape pods and nearly dumped what was left of my coffee. I caught his arm as he pitched forward and only just kept him on his feet. A short man. I looked at his face and, scraping frantically through my memory, finally came up with the name.

"Hello, Mr. Tamaki. Is your shirt all right?"

He stared at me, went rigid with astonishment, and couldn't seem to settle. A glance at his clothes suggested the coffee hadn't splashed him, thankfully. Tamaki hesitated, then asked:

"Are you seeing patients tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's my day off. How is the wound?"

"......It's all right."

"I'm glad. I'm still trying to decide what to do with tomorrow. It's my first day off since I got to the base."

"I see."

Tamaki fumbled toward something else and then shut his mouth. A few seconds of awkward silence followed. I told him I would see him again and started running once more. Only two patients were booked for the afternoon, and I couldn't make even that small a number wait. I sprinted straight across Jungang-dong and only just made it back to Deep Blue in time for the appointment.