By Zephyria Jin Mu-hae put on his usual jacket and left the house before dawn.
His eyes felt heavy from staying up all night, but he didn’t feel tired.
As he opened the door, he heard a faint rustling from the tightly closed study. But for some reason, Joo-oh didn’t follow him, saving him the trouble of arguing.
Mu-hae recalled the smooth face that looked up at him, then shook it off. That guy keeps lingering in his mind.
‘I hope he behaves himself until I get back.’
Should he buy something to eat on the way home? But there were no shops in sight.
That was because Starlight Road, despite its pleasant name, wasn’t a very safe neighborhood. The only shops open at this hour were suspicious ones.
At least during the day, the colorful scenery of the unauthorized settlement caught the eye. But when darkness fell, the street lost its light, and only a gloomy atmosphere lingered.
Even now, every visible window was fitted with rusty iron bars, ruining the street’s appearance. Director Gil’s Electronic Store in the distance was no better.
His residence was blocked from the entrance by a metal shutter. The metal plate, with obvious signs of being crumpled and straightened several times, was stained with crude graffiti and vulgar scribbles.
Beeeeeep!
As the piercing doorbell rang,
Who is it?
A tired voice came through the intercom.
“It’s me.”
Mu-hae?
Perhaps because of the unusual hour, he didn’t say anything for a while after asking for his identity.
After a moment of silence, the shutter rattled open. Boss Gil had found a cigarette and smoked it in the meantime, as a crushed butt was stuck in his hand.
“Someone drew a dick on the shutter again.”
“Damn it. It feels like they draw more when I erase it.”
“Do you know who’s doing it?”
“I don’t know. Probably drunk guys. Anyway, what brings you here at this hour?”
Boss Gil’s eyebrows were furrowed, though he asked casually. As if he had expected Mu-hae’s visit.
“I have something to confirm.”
“Confirm… Okay.”
“It’s not about anything else…”
“You went to the pawnshop yesterday, right?”
Boss Gil cut him off and answered first. This time, one of Mu-hae’s eyebrows twitched.
Judging by the mention of the pawnshop, his guess was correct. Jin Mu-hae felt his heart sink.
“This, uh, well.”
He suddenly became speechless. Mu-hae’s eyes darted around involuntarily before he barely managed to meet Boss Gil’s gaze.
The cigarette in his hand was emitting acrid smoke and gradually shortening.
“Boss Gil, did you… did you know about it too? That my father was doing this research.”
He asked directly. Mu-hae didn’t know enough to beat around the bush, and he wasn’t the type to mince words with Boss Gil anyway.
“How much did you see?”
Boss Gil asked calmly.
“No, how much did you hear?”
His tone was still the same as usual, but there was a strange heat in it. A thick emotion, like a desire or even an obsession, slowly began to gather in his eyes.
“Project Solar47.”
“…”
“Crystal Blue. Aberrant.”
“…”
“Reform. Should I say more? Which one do you want to hear?”
Boss Gil closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, the light in his eyes was unusually bright and full of energy.
It was hard to believe that he was an old man who lived the same routine every day in the slums.
Sigh, he took a long drag of his cigarette and exhaled, the corners of his mouth twisting into a slight smile.
“You’ve grown up a lot.”
The end of the cigarette burned quickly.
“So this day has come.”
He flicked the lit cigarette butt onto the floor and stomped it out with his slippered foot.
Black ash stained the greasy workshop floor.
“Sit down. This is going to be a long story.”
Boss Gil finally looked away and turned around. He staggered towards the corner of the workshop.
Jin Mu-hae watched his back for a moment, then squeezed the Watch on his wrist and opened his mouth.
“Here?”
His serious eyes wavered slightly.
“I don’t like the sofa here, it’s too dirty.”
“You’re a guy who brawls in even dirtier places, don’t be so picky.”
An incredulous voice echoed through the space filled with junk.
It was the first time he had been offered something like tea at Boss Gil’s house.
Goryeo City was relatively well-off among the Comfort zones, so there weren’t many people starving, but as much as food aid was provided, items beyond basic survival were expensive or hard to find.
Cheap ingredients like Beast Meat could be obtained by working, no matter how meager the job. But non-brittle rice, fragrant vegetables, and the like were beyond the reach of the slums.
Even obvious luxury goods like leaf tea were the preserve of the middle class and above. The Boss Gil that Mu-hae knew was far removed from that kind of life.
“It’s Haecha.”
“You drink this kind of thing?”
“Sometimes.”
He skillfully brewed what looked like high-quality tea leaves. The equally expensive-looking teapot didn’t suit Boss Gil at all.
“I don’t know where to start.”
Tsk, the man clicked his tongue and looked out the window. The black outside was already turning red with dawn.
“I met your old man in my twenties. Han Young, I mean Teacher Jung, took me there. Said he’d show me something special.”
With those words, Boss Gil’s reminiscence began.
“The top 10 percent of upper-level academy graduates go on to research institutes. After that, they get jobs there, so there are frequent gatherings for personal hobbies or research. It was a research group created by Jin Seong-jo. On the surface, it was studying how to mine Blue Energy.”
“…”
“The moment I saw the forbidden documents at Teacher Jung’s place, I was uncontrollably drawn in. I was already sick of the way humans lived in this era, so it was even more so. You don’t know, but I’m originally from Central. I was born and raised there and never left the center.”
Clink, Boss Gil took a sip of tea. He was so neat that he didn’t even make a sound when he drank. His unkempt hair was very unbalanced.
“You look surprised? I guess so? Hehe, anyway, we quickly became close. The three of us became the core and followed Seong-jo’s goals. Your old man was that kind of person. He wasn’t outstandingly handsome or noticeable, and he didn’t have a good background, but he had a passion that drew people in.”
Passion. It was a word that didn’t suit the pale face that was always in the study. Just like Boss Gil now.
Jin Mu-hae stared at the steaming tea for a moment, then asked in a fading voice.
“Was my father like that too?”
“Like what?”
“From the center, I mean, his background.”
“No. He was just ordinary. Well, he didn’t live in a run-down place like this either.”
Boss Gil gestured vaguely in the distance, as if to say that he lived inside the outer walls, in a proper residence.
If so, both Mu-hae’s father and Boss Gil had lived quite difficult lives. No matter how much better Goryeo City’s slums were than other Comfort zones, the environment was incomparable to that of the privileged class.
“I’ll ask again. How much did you see?”
“I didn’t read it all, of course.”
“I guess not. If it’s what that guy left behind, it wouldn’t be just a page or two. But what I’m talking about isn’t the research content.”
“Then…?”
Boss Gil’s brow furrowed at Mu-hae’s reaction. He seemed to be thinking about something for a moment, then drained the remaining tea and continued.
“Hmm, I said the three of us became the core of this project. But don’t you have any questions about that part?”
What should he be curious about in that part? Mu-hae’s calm face twitched.
Boss Gil took a long breath, as if he expected it. Sae-aek, the sound of air leaking was mixed in with his breathing.
“Interesting, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Mu-hae. The three of us shared everything, but our understanding differed depending on our field. Eventually, Seong-jo was the only one who cared about everything, and we just dug deeper into our respective roles.”
A plausible hypothesis flashed through Jin Mu-hae’s mind.
“So, the reason you kept asking how much I knew…”
“That’s right. To be honest, we each know different amounts about that matter. Your old man’s belongings may have recorded more than I knew, or vice versa-”
“The information that the remaining colleagues remember may not be in the records.”
“In that case, it’s probably an intentional omission.”
Boss Gil chuckled as if he finally understood.
“When Seong-jo brought you, I thought he had a lot of regrets. But the reason I agreed to his arrangement was because I had expectations. For you, Mu-hae.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s right that you don’t. But if my guess is correct, this is to test you.”
“Test?”
“This isn’t an ordinary matter, you know.”
Boss Gil tapped his wrist. Mu-hae glanced at his left arm with the Watch, then dropped the cup with a look of realization.
Clang, the cup that had luckily survived spat tea onto the old carpet. Feeling the wet sensation at his feet, Jin Mu-hae glared straight at Boss Gil.
“Don’t tell me…”
“Who would take a bag of who-knows-what for 200,000 Deal? Be reasonable.”
“Then what about the money?”
“We decided to see how much you could do. After giving the pawnshop a commission.”
“So where’s my money?”
Shock and betrayal welled up in Mu-hae’s eyes.
The memory of saving every penny with all sorts of hardships flashed through his mind.
“That inheritance will entrust you with the unfulfilled results and be a means to test and grow you. Dig into the records, track them down. It’s your job now, in your own way.”
“So where’s my money? My money.”
“Maybe you can go to places even we couldn’t…”
“My money! 204,000 Deal.”
“Ah, damn it, listen, you bastard! Don’t interrupt me. Do you think I would have eaten it all up?”
Boss Gil kicked Mu-hae’s shin. Jin Mu-hae groaned briefly and glared at him.
“The money needed for that, you were supposed to collect it. 204,000 Deal! You miser.”
“Why do you think I’d do that? I could just run away with the money.”
“Really? You won’t do it?”
At the meaningful question, Jin Mu-hae gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to tell anyone, but when his father’s records appeared before his eyes, he clearly felt joy.
The dangerous and fascinating feeling that bloomed amidst worry and anxiety. The feeling that his life, which had been drifting like a weed after the goal of his father’s inheritance disappeared, was preparing to run towards a single point again.
“…This is driving me crazy.”
“In the end, it’s your choice. I’ll put the funds in during the week, so use it to continue the project or spend it like a pig and die, do whatever you want.”
Boss Gil picked up the cup rolling on the floor and turned around. Mu-hae pressed his temples a few times, then sighed and got up from the sofa.
“I’ll… go for now.”
“Take out the trash on your way out.”
“Instead of trash, do you have anything to eat?”
“Are you starving?”
At the dumbfounded voice, Jin Mu-hae shook his head casually and dusted off his crumpled clothes.
“No. It’s just, there’s someone I need to bring a snack to.”
The smooth face that drooled over food came to mind, and he clicked his tongue involuntarily.
By now, that glutton would be waiting, wondering whether to tear the wallpaper or not. It would be better to put something in his mouth.