Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea

Description

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Inside the 3000m underwater station, an international group of scientists and engineers live and research for possible settlement of entire human race. Park Mu-hyun, a reserved dentist joins the station in hopes for a quaint life in the deep sea. However, things quickly go south when the station gets attacked by a mysterious group of people.

As the water starts to fill in the living quarters, Park Mu-hyun grabs his backpack and immediately runs for his life, but where to? Now, the peaceful station becomes the ultimate survival stage of cult madness and chaos.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Be A Light in the Dark Sea (Official Name)
ใต้สมุทรไม่สิ้นแสง
어두운 바다의 등불이 되어
어바등
Related Series
N/A
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Recommendation Lists
  1. [KR] Light Novel
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Review
12 Reviews


GoldenDog04
GoldenDog04
May 22, 2024
Status: --
The book itself is midling, but I put a minus for nationalism. All the main characters are Koreans, despite the fact that the base is being developed by 7 countries. The author makes the characters as stereotypical and demonized as possible. For example: bad Russians are cold as the wind of Siberia. They got drunk on a military base in the firewood. While the noble Korean is trying to save as many people as possible, they all escaped after being woken up by the main character. In contrast to bad... more>> foreigners, "Noble Koreans" are shown who are so kind and humane. The main character, risking himself, puts the child on his back to save him from flooding, and the bad Russians throw him with the words "you saved him - that means your responsibility" The noble leader of the Korean group of engineers forcibly sends his two subordinate Koreans in a rescue capsule who selflessly wanted to stay at the base while the bad foreigners think how to get out themselves. The leader of the Koreans is so authoritative that he tells the leader of the Russians to stop drinking and in general managed to beat all foreigners at gambling by getting the opportunity to call the island by a Korean name and of course it is impossible not to mention how strong Koreans beat all foreigners to the left and right and they can only get angry and endure. The author feels so indifferent to foreigners that he called the woman by the male name Nikita. To sum up: Koreans are too exalted and foreigners are too belittled. I do not advise those who do not like this

P.S after reading the spoilers, I have to say it's even worse than I expected. I do not recommend reading it. These 5* reviews are misleading as always. <<less
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sosoeden
sosoeden
May 29, 2023
Status: --
I remember seeing fanarts of this novel, they looked cute and happy so I thought the genre was slice of life or something. When I read the summary with mtl, I was confused as hell like this novel includes cultists and cult but the fanarts I saw made it look like it's fluff and cute TT

Still, I gave it a try and I was hooked, I remember reading up to 200+ chapters with mtl (special thanks to my reading comprehension skills💀). And whew it was a rollercoaster ride. I felt... more>> so SO SO bad for Moohyun. I just wanted to hug him, I wanted to break into the chapter 1 of the novel, shake his shoulders and scream at him to leave quickly. My poor guy, he needs a break and he will definitely need a therapist after all this mess. I stopped reading this due to lack of time and stacking the chapters. But I'll be reading this again soon.

one of my fav line from Moohyun (mtl) :

Spoiler

'I don't like shooting. I hate to shoot! Why me. Why me. Why me! Why should I shoot people! I'm a bastard who's content with living a life fixing people's teeth! I'm a guy who's happy getting rid of cavities, not a guy who kills people!'

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RoastedSpinach
RoastedSpina
Oct 09, 2023
Status: c48
I was looking for novel to read after trying so many and quitting them because I was simply unintrested, then I stumbled upon this novel while on this site. The beautiful cover of the novel made me click it, and so I decided to try it. I had nothing better to do anyways,

I'm only on chapter 48 as of now, but man I am glad I decided to read this masterpiece. I honestly thought that every chapter after chapter 1 was great. I am a person who enjoys slow... more>> openings though so maybe that could be why. Main character is an intresting character, and so is the group he is with. Characters are so fun to read about and even just the chapters where they are just simply walking and talking are intresting.

If you are like me and have a hard time reading novels because you get unintrested easily I recommend this.

It has around 350 raw chapters (translated till chapter 38, but I'm just mtl it for now, and editing the mistakes.) <<less
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beginnings101
beginnings10
Sep 26, 2024
Status: c422
3 stars

I really liked this novel. Especially the MC, Park Muhyeon. The setting (the sea base and it's arrangement in general) was a bit confusing so any art would have helped here. It's not the usual power up novel with suave MC. In fact MC is very weak physically and mentally but his mentally strong points develop and shine throughout the novel. The novel might come across as a bit preachy constantly telling people to be good but I kind of liked that aspect of it. Racism is one of... more>> the tws here already but it was still a bit too much of a down point for me. It could have done without the racism to be honest.

Spoiler

Even though the novel constantly tries to tell people to be good the racism seems to contradict it. The Japanese are generally presented as dark and bad people who bully others, the Chinese are people with too much Sinocentrism, and the Russians are cold people who are addicted to alcohol.

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Please take this review with a grain of salt and my review might be heavily biased since I am a sucker for unrealistically kind characters. <<less
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LoveLoveLovers
LoveLoveLove
May 18, 2023
Status: c21
I actually started reading this novel cause of the fanart in Twitter I give this a 5 stars :D,

I like the build up, the MC moving in isn't boring at all with his personality like he isnt cold and unemotional he just seems like a cool dude to hang with but not too cool just the group mom kinda friend hes kind but also sometimes serious when its time to be I also like that hes kinda a scaredy cat but not easily that scared like he can hold... more>> snakes and stuff I also like the height differences between him and the engineers like when the water is high to his chin the water only reaches their chests lol its interesting to meet the characters and I also like how the author makes the women buff and strong cause their in engineering, I also like the reasons there is an underwater station like the pollution extinction of alot of species and abandoning the plan to go outerspace because the ocean is getting worse faster than them moving into mars

I also like when the flood happens the MC immediately alerts everyone and rings the alarm even saving a cat snake and a random child that people are not allowed to bring, even a dude he saved said he would've left him and the others for his and friends survival , I also like the desperation and the freaking gore omg the f*cking hair 💀

Spoiler

the reveal that the escape pods that everyone was looking for are broken and they see the tracker on the pods slowly going deeper underwater jesus and the MC just says what about the people inside? And that was dark I personally like swimming but slowly going deeper than 3000m is insane in a small ass pod omg

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I hope more people read this I like the thriller of being 3000 f*cking meters underwater with 200 something People and most of them are probably insane even though they only get hired if their mentality passes 100 but being underwater for that long must have some affects with how there's a physiologist there for free actually this place don't sound that bad when not flooded they have a free Healthcare dental care and food that's absolutely delicious with those descriptions <<less
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mili_4951
mili_4951
Nov 13, 2024
Status: c67
Went without knowing anything and I couldn't possibly agree more with GoldenDog.

I was really excited to find a webnovel where the Korean MC may be able to interact with people of other countries. I mean, an Indian character in the first chapters? Sign me in!

However, I quickly noticed the bias in how the characters' physical appearance is descripted for the Koreans vs the foreigners. Then the stereotypes came in: Japanese bad, the Russians... I don't want to talk about it. I also found it a bit 🤨 at the whole... more>> Korean nationalism going on. MC complaining about English, like, seriously? Didn't you realize what you're signing up for? But lucky him, somebody made a Korean translation that's even better and fuller than the original!! Hallelujah!

I also found "???" how MC was judgemental about foreigners smoking and drinking but then was like "Haha, beating people? Less work for me!" about another Korean doing that.

It was disappointing to see how the webnovel so obviously wants to separate the Koreans from other foreigners, which is a shame because I find the actual Korean main cast to be rather... bland? Don't get me wrong, but it's obvious which stereotype they fall into. The Cult doesn't help either.

Normally this sort of thing doesn't affect me in webnovels, but the wasted potential in seeing the chemistry MC had with other characters, just sucks. Especially because it's a really interesting setting. The regression aspect of the story or MC don't seem to be anything special either... I guess I just expected more? I wanted to like it though, I truly did.😭 <<less
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reader272
reader272
May 16, 2025
Status: --
This was a book reccomendation from others and I went in expecting a lot. The thrilling parts didn't disappoint and you'll really see how demonic some people become in a situation of life and death.

Racism is a point of discussion in reviews so I'll also mention it. I'm not sure if the racism stem from patrioism or xenophobia, but the author did portray Russians and Chinese people viewed in a negative light by other characters. This is quite a sensitive topic due to the tense irl relationship between China–Japan–South Korea... more>> and there's also the whole calling Taiwan-Hongkong countries debate which I won't go into, but some characters' political stances are made pretty clear.

It's not obvious if you hadn't be racially typecasted or scorned, but the casual racism used as a means of verbal attacks within the character fractions was pretty apparent to me. There are good and bad people from all nations, but don't forget this is a Korean novel, the main casts are Koreans and people on the opposite side will mostly be portrayed in a more negative light because we are reading from a first-person perspective of a Korean. Does this mean the author is racist? Not really. The theme of grouping characters into their Nationality create an ongoing tension within different fractions. Different countries has been fighting since the start of the novel so who really knows if the author used political plot device to heighten character flaws, or used negative stereotypes as a tool to glorify Koreans. I'm a firm believer that characters' viewpoint in novels shouldn't be associated with the author's beliefs, so this didn't stop me from reading the novel. I've also read enough patriotic danmeis to become numb to propaganda in novels. The author does demonize some Koreans later on too, so I personally think they did it on purpose to create a flawed and judgemental environment where everyone gets pushed to the extreme.

MC isn't as much of a holy father as people make him out to be. He saves others to soothe his own ego and turn a blind eye to some injustice happening if it benefits him. He doesn't try to save everyone and does things within his limits. He's a normal human and I love that he's extremely flawed. It does come off unrealistic when the people they save just so happen to be a kid, animals and other Koreans, but again it seems to be an ongoing theme to seperate each nationality into isolated groups. There are other groups out on rescue teams off screen, but we don't see them happening since MC sticks to the Korean team.

This novel is a thriller where people are stuck underwater trying to escape. It's one where humanity is tested and people's extreme sides come out to haunt others. There will be violence, touchy subjects and blatant disregard of human lives. I'm still reading it so my review might change, but it's been interesting so far.

The best thing about this novel is how compact and informational it is. It has won various awards and the author undoubtedly knows what they are writing about. *Please note to not judge people of other nationality by the stereotypes surrounding them in this novel. <<less
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Anoniii
Anoniii
Dec 11, 2024
Status: Completed
I love this novel so much! Recommended for people who love thrill and survival.

I wouldn't say it's perfect, but it's well written and the characters are likeable. Honestly I'm wondering if the author is a dentist or has dentist friend.

MC is a good person, a cinnamon roll that must be protected at all cost. He fits the title "holy father", to the point where there's a time in the novel where I think he's foolish, too soft, I wish he could be colder--But at the end, I must admit MC... more>> is a character I like and we all want in our life, maybe as friend, neighbor, or anything at all.

A bit confused about the whole "racism" thing, as I didn't sense that at all (I started this novel without reading the review). Maybe because I wasn't part of the countries mentioned in the novel, I see it as "camps" rather than "countries" and won't feel offended.

Even then, there's both good and bad person in each country. The Russian might seem cold to MC who's from different "camp", but they're loyal and protective to their own. The JP and CN also have their share of good people. Even the Korean side have bad apples (they will appear much later though) and the leader of the Korean Engineer Team isn't exactly selfless and noble:

Spoiler

They're mercenaries employed to protect the Korean citizen. Even MC was horrified when he found out, thinking that if he wasn't Korean then these guys would abandon him...

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As an end note, this novel got soooo many fanarts. Google the KR title if you want eye candy! <<less
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Shaiole
Shaiole
Dec 17, 2024
Status: --
The author demonize the characters as much as possible. Yep this is true but its not totally without reason.

1. Lawless Closed Workplace. Even people with same nationalilty can't agree with one another what more if you remove enforcement laws. There are rules yes, but only on paper.

2.
Spoiler

Deliberately hiring of bad eggs. I believe one of the heads involve in the hiring and constructionof the base deliberately hired people who he thinks are broken, violent and so on as team leaders. With bad team leaders, subordinates wont be that good also. Basically he wants good ppl to quit. It was mentioned sometime that there was good ppl but they resigned through underhanded methods. Even the MC was hired because he thought that from his past ptsd that he has low self esteem etc. There is a bias on korean nationality, but some of these koreans are also not right in the head.

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Basically what im saying is although there is some point of racism, it only points towards the people in the underground base. Don't let it keep you from reading.

What you may not like about it is if you came for a thriller action type of story. Some parts for example when people in some sort of downtime (while waiting for stuff or resting), they talk about life and stuffs. Similar to a small talk. There are lots of small talks in the story which may make the flow a bit slow. Some funny moments here are there. Random ungrateful people that do things out of spite could be so annoying. It is a dark depressing story with a bit of light. Not suitable for everyone but matches well with the title.
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Panchas
Panchas
Apr 24, 2023
Status: c17
I'm here after seeing a lot of fanart on twitter :')

It started out okayish but it quickly picked up with the actual plot now unfolding (~ch11/12) and I'm really looking forward to more!

thank you for the translations!
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kai0.1
kai0.1
Mar 10, 2025
Status: Completed
After humanity exhausted earth's resources, they shifted from Mars exploration to the deep sea to search for a new place for humans to settle. Park Moohyun, a dentist, is hired by NPIUS (North Pacific International Underwater Station) and assigned to the 4th station (the deepest one, aside from a 5th that's still under construction). The base is staffed with researchers studying marine life and engineers maintaining the station's safety (electricity, structure, et al).

This novel is really good. I almost dropped it because of the racist elements, but I'm glad I... more>> kept going. If you're sensitive to stereotypes, I wouldn't recommend it, but aside from that, it's a masterpiece.

The plot is so good, and I highly recommend going in without spoilers. At first, I wondered how this novel could be 388 chapters long, but it really surprised me. I did not expect the turn.

The extras are also really entertaining.

ch325 spoilers

Spoiler

One thing I didn't love was that I felt the arrival to the island a little rushed, but its just me.

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Bomtos
Bomtos
Dec 30, 2023
Status: c58
highly recommended. All of the characters are interesting and have personalities. The world-building is top-notch. It makes you attached to all of the characters. Definitely One of my favorite novel
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