"At the time, I only thought Beck's story was complete nonsense. He simply didn't want to tell me what had happened, so he used such an absurd tale to fob me off. I figured Mr. Taim must have already bought him off, and that made me panic, because I realized I couldn't find a single person in the entire team I could trust. I wanted to turn around and go straight to Mr. Taim to resign. Maybe I never should have taken this job in the first place. But I hadn't completely lost my mind yet. Those retired soldiers all had guns, and I didn't want to clash with them, especially when we were out in the wilderness with no one else around. So until I found an opportunity, all I could do was obediently continue serving as their guide.
"After what happened that night, the scientists were all somewhat dejected. But perhaps it was just my imagination: the expedition had clearly lost two members, yet Mr. Taim seemed more spirited than ever. What surprised me most, though, were those retired soldiers. They had lost two companions, yet they did not seem worried in the slightest, nor did they show much grief. Their calmness was terrifying. Since I had been keeping an eye on them these past few days, I also discovered one of their little secrets.
"That was, this group of retired soldiers performed a small ritual before meals, something like saying grace. But it was not Christian, and they did it very discreetly, trying to keep it hidden from the others. In other words, they were probably all from some secret cult, and that made me feel even worse.
"My father was Inuit, but I personally leaned more toward atheism. Usually, I wasn't particularly opposed to mysterious things