By Zephyria 
Comfort zones are money-guzzling hippos. A tremendous amount of energy and labor is consumed to create light, air, clean water, and a habitable environment.
Thanks to the efficiency of Blue Energy, most things manage to function, but for comfortable operation, the city itself needs to make money.
For the leader of a city to directly run a company is to wield power and wealth in both hands. Thus, following the model of the first Comfort Zone, a ‘Company’ with a form close to a public enterprise was created in every city.
‘I’d rather be thrown into a rocky mountain and told to come back alive.’
‘Then I couldn’t wear this suit, so no.’
Jin Mu-hae wore a suit for the first time in a while. The tight-fitting shirt and non-stretch pants were so constricting that it would be difficult to climb a building wall.
Of course, there was no chance he’d be running around in this outfit, but for someone who had always lived prepared for physical threats, it felt like his combat power had decreased.
The glasses on his face contributed to that feeling. When he tried to sweep his forehead, his hand kept bumping against them, and fingerprints were all over the useless glass lenses.
But if he took them off, he was worried someone would recognize him, and more than anything, Joo-oh liked them very much. Indeed, Mu-hae in the mirror looked like a proper Central human, beyond just having a fierce impression.
“Handsome. I like it.”
Joo-oh, also wearing a blue suit, twitched the corners of his lips upward. He had the kind of appearance that made any suit look good on him, regardless of hair or eye color.
If the size was right, he could have easily worn Mu-hae’s gray suit. He blended perfectly into formal attire without any special accessories.
“Be careful how you talk once you go through that entrance.”
“Of course. Of course, Team leader.”
Joo-oh, looking surprisingly intelligent, shook the pad in his hand.
—As technology advances, there are surprisingly more overlapping tasks. For the sake of efficiency, we are appropriately merging and abolishing them, but the surplus labor force that is pushed out is usually assigned to unpopular departments.
‘…So, what are you saying?’
—The processed food industry has been virtually handed over to the private sector since last year. It’s more efficient and has more to offer when Central securely holds the food itself. But the processed food department, ahead of the reorganization, has requested one last chance.
‘I don’t think sending me is going to be an opportunity.’
—No, it is. But wouldn’t it reduce the noise if we at least pretended to do so? Besides, the system there is moderately unlocked.
That guy is like a ghost. From the perspective of the entire Company, and further, the city management, the request of a humble department wouldn’t even reach the ears of the higher-ups.
Yet it was amazing how he meticulously picked out such things and brought them up when needed. It was as if he was following Mu-hae’s every move and planning in advance.
Besides, the way he spoke made him sound like a Company official, but even so, Gu-reum often entrusted Mu-hae with Central’s work as well.
It was only natural that his head was getting complicated. Amidst all the thoughts running rampant, Mu-hae decided to accept the offer for now.
Her instructions had never been poisonous even once.
“Today’s schedule is playing with Joo-oh.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, at least pretend to brief properly.”
“From 11 o’clock until lunchtime, there’s a meeting with the higher-ups, so no one can enter the office. And the Team leader will have a simple meal in the office.”
“Okay.”
He almost absentmindedly stroked his head, saying he did well. Mu-hae, shrinking his hand like a mimosa, headed to the 4th floor of the relatively small building.
Ding-!
The elevator opened, and everyone’s attention was focused on him. Mu-hae swept them all with a calm and composed gaze.
Everyone had a complicated expression, as if they had sensed his identity when a young man with a secretary appeared.
“I’m Lee Man-jae, the food development Team leader. This way, please.”
A man who looked quite young for the title of Team leader guided the two with hope fading in his eyes. The atmosphere was ominous, and the situation was clear at a glance.
A Team leader who was pushed into this place with no power or backing under the guise of promotion, and a manager who seemed too young to be a Team leader as well…
“I received prior notice and have vacated the office. There’s an in-house messenger, so feel free to call me anytime.”
Before coming here, Mu-hae had also looked into this futureless department. Back when Goryeo City was first built, the food development department was a promising place that used two entire floors of a huge building.
However, after the city was properly established, citizens began to have various tastes. They couldn’t compete with private companies that twisted their bodies to understand consumer needs.
Eventually, in line with Central’s policies, management and supervision were transferred to the center year by year, major business rights were handed over to the private sector, and finally, even the self-production line was dissolved, leaving them crippled.
It was called food development, but the products they held were now mostly nostalgic foods with increased shelf life.
“Small O Pasta is edible. It gives you some extra energy.”
“When have you ever eaten it?”
“……I don’t know.”
As soon as the office door closed, Joo-oh made another incomprehensible sound. He must have been fantasizing after seeing the canned pasta for the elderly sold in grocery stores.
Click. When he turned on the power attached to the desk, an icon appeared on the glass wall. When he tried entering search terms that might be subject to censorship, half were blocked and half went through.
“There are no listening devices.”
“I’ve been wondering before, how do you find those things?”
“I can do it.”
When an ambiguous answer came back, Mu-hae gave up asking further. When Joo-oh answered like that, it was closer to knowing because it was him rather than having a real method.
Like detecting Aberrants farther away than radar and bending metal. It took Mu-hae quite a long time to realize that fact. If you can’t understand it, it’s best to just ignore it.
“Sit over there. What kind of secretary keeps bothering me?”
“……Tch.”
Joo-oh, who had been squatting next to the chair and rubbing his head against Mu-hae’s leg, clicked his tongue and moved away.
He always did strange things, but he came to his senses when needed like this. If he had been a nuisance everywhere, he would have locked him up at home from the beginning and gone to work.
Isn’t that why he blended into everyday life and work like water, sticking together like a two-person team? It wasn’t that it was bad, but he felt like he had been drawn in.
Mu-hae took a deep breath and entered the memorized number into the network address. A white window seemed to pop up, and then, after a while, sparkle.
Natural Phenomenon Society (NPS)
He was properly connected to a blue background site. Soon, an eye-poppingly shabby and unreadable page appeared all over the glass wall.
Natural Phenomenon Society (NPS)
NPS was established to explore the wonders of the natural world, observing and studying the Earth’s phenomena that shape human life.
◇ We are passionate explorers striving to uncover the invisible principles of the world.
◇ Through research and collaboration, we expand knowledge and seek the truth that connects Blue Energy and life.
“What is this?”
It was such a subtle content that such a sound leaked out unintentionally. It was ordinary if it was ordinary, but strange if it was strange.
There could be organizations that explore and examine the ruined Earth environment. In fact, he heard that in some cities, the pollution level of the surrounding environment has dropped a lot, and they are trying their own terraforming.
But aren’t expressions like the wonders of the natural world and the truth that connects life a bit too much? Frankly, even after running the translator attached to this system, it was not immediately clear what they were talking about.
What caught his eye was the ‘Blue Energy’ written in the middle of the phrase. At least Mu-hae could immediately grasp that they were an organization related to Crystal Blue.
So it must have been left in the dead researcher’s memo. Mu-hae clicked on the crystal-shaped button leading to the inside of the site.
After a long loading time, posts were displayed in a row. A list updated sporadically, almost every year, proved that the server was still running.
Title: Notice of the 48th Regular Academic Conference
This post is only available to members.
Would you like to log in?
Oh. After waiting almost 5 minutes each time he moved a page, this was the result he got.
Mu-hae took off his glasses irritably, then, feeling Joo-oh’s gaze staring at him, put them back on the bridge of his nose.
“Did the shelter researcher join this too?”
Joo-oh asked, dangling his legs from the chair near the glass wall. When he thought about it, this bizarre site also came from that memo.
If the researcher had contacted them, he could use him as a link to contact them. Thinking about that, he looked around the site more, and sure enough.
NPS welcomes new explorers to uncover invisible principles.
Please leave a comment below and we will contact you after confirmation.
xxx-xxxxxx-xxx-x
Writer:
Content: (If you write a recommender, it will be reviewed more quickly.)
He found a way more easily than he thought. It seemed that if he left a record here, the organization would review it and send a contact.
‘Recommender… Dmitri.’
Assuming his death was not yet known, it was worth using. Mu-hae quickly wrote the content and closed the site window, which had no sense of aesthetics.
Now he just had to pretend to work and wait for their contact. When he connected the data delivered by Gu-reum to the device, the department’s work was neatly organized and displayed on the screen.