By Zephyria The hand that opens and closes seems to be full of scars and calluses. It’s not just his hands. If he were to roll up his sleeves, there would be traces of hard work all over the place.
The healthy and energetic young engineer had disappeared forever from that day on. Even his passion was crushed by the wall of reality and faded away.
“You managed to survive.”
“I know, right? I thought that was the end of me.”
It seems that even the person who was dragged away feels that Goryeo City’s response was mild. Although he lost his social status, wealth, and even his health, he was still alive.
He spends the rest of his life with a job in the slums, without starving. Making money is thanks to his ability, but it was Central that allowed him to breathe to some extent.
“Then the research you were doing…”
“The environment doesn’t allow it. Look, even if I buy just a few more parts for equipment, they come to monitor me right away.”
Director Gil grumbled and lit a cigarette. His chest swelled and the end of the cigarette sizzled as it burned.
Chain smoking. I heard he reduced it a lot because his body is in this condition, but Teacher Jung would be shocked if he saw this.
“Anyway, I searched through the Solar City researcher’s records as much as I could.”
“…And?”
“That’s where I found it, the trace of West Wind. It seems that person supported the research.”
As soon as he heard the words, Director Gil’s face hardened. He lost his words again for a while and let smoke out between his lips.
At the same time, a sharp light flickered in his eyes as if he had realized something, but that was it.
“If he betrayed us at the last minute, wouldn’t he no longer be interested in the Return flight’s goal? Why is he researching now…”
“Mu-hae.”
“Yes.”
“I have a story you might want to hear. Some of it is hard to say, and the rest I can’t say.”
Hoo. He made a sound that was hard to tell whether he was smoking or sighing several times, and then he tightly closed his vivid eyes.
Is someone grabbing him by the collar and stopping him? He always hesitated like this before bringing up stories from the past.
“You’re quick-witted. It’s easier if you understand on your own.”
Director Gil’s mouth closed as if that was all he was going to say. As I silently stared at him, a pleasant voice cut in from the side.
“Even if ideologies or beliefs are different, the goals can be the same.”
Joo-oh held up the cup he had emptied to the last drop and smiled faintly. Director Gil gestured at him with a complicated face.
I would have realized it soon even without anyone’s help, but thanks to Joo-oh’s explanation, the situation at the time began to become roughly visible. Mu-hae frowned, staring at his share of juice that he hadn’t even touched.
“It seems he didn’t like the path he was taking.”
“Looking back, it probably wasn’t just West Wind. I’ll say it again, that guy was exceptionally good at managing people. But this is just my perspective, after all.”
Director Gil took the cigarette butt out of his mouth and rubbed his forehead several times. The man, who had been staring blankly in one direction, suddenly jumped up and turned around.
“Don’t go spreading what I just said anywhere. Especially not to Teacher Jung.”
The tone was quite strong for something said in passing. Even though it wasn’t directed at him, Joo-oh answered neatly, “Okay!”
“If you’re about to take out another cigarette, I have to say something.”
“Damn it. Did she tell you to?”
“It’s been a few years. She told me to contact her if you do anything weird when you’re sick and frail.”
At the joke-like truth, the hand that was going into his inner pocket stopped abruptly. Director Gil grumbled something and gathered various tools.
It seemed that he wasn’t just saying he was busy. At the quiet dismissal, Mu-hae took care of Joo-oh and got up from his seat.
“Oh, and the Solar side’s research records. Actually, I need some help with that too.”
“You said I wouldn’t understand even if you told me here?”
“So I’m just going to hand over the entire document. Please take a look at strange formulas when you have time.”
“Then I’ll go. Bye!”
Director Gil’s eyebrows were about to furrow at the sight of the fantastic duo, but they relaxed as he saw the pie box on the tea table.
When I first heard that Director Gil liked it, I thought it was just Joo-oh trying to eat pie after the meat sandwich. But it seems to be real.
Feeling the reward for overspending by scraping together even the money he didn’t have, Mu-hae strode out of the Electronic Store.
It was as if the neighborhood was a hot spot for drunks, and another dick drawing had proliferated on the metal shutter that had been lowered early.
It was only two days later that Director Gil contacted him again. He said he was busy, but he must have looked at the research documents at some point, because he called in a hurry.
―Hey, you just handed over everything when you saw numbers?
“It’s hard enough to interpret the strange words. What’s in there?”
―The sixth file in the untitled files has a scan of handwritten text. It’s not a formula, it looks like contact information?
Hearing the words, Mu-hae hurriedly opened the document and saw something like a code mixed with numbers and slashes. Mu-hae looked at the sequence of characters where 1 and 7 were hard to distinguish and nudged Joo-oh, who was sitting on his lap, to move him away.
“Thank you. I’ll look into it for now.”
―And did you tell Teacher Jung that I gave you juice?
“No. I stopped by to say hello, but she looked busy, so I just came to Jaegang District.”
―But how did she know and scold me?
“The reduced amount must have been unusual.”
Joo-oh had swallowed a full cup, and there was no way Director Gil would have poured the juice that Mu-hae hadn’t touched back into the bottle.
It looked terrible, so I ignored it, and it seems I did well.
As soon as he hung up, Mu-hae stared at the unknown numbers for a long time. Director Gil called it contact information for convenience, but no matter how he thought about it, he had never encountered a number in this format.
He knows that the format of contact information is slightly different in each city. Even so, it’s suspicious that there are so many slashes.
‘Then…’
When he copied the almost illegible numbers into the address of the network, a white window appeared on the wall panel.
Mu-hae stared at the spinning loading icon and kept pushing away Joo-oh, who kept climbing onto his lap.
“Whyyy.”
“I can’t see. Get down.”
“But I have to sit here to hug Jin Mu-hae.”
“Who told you to hug me all the time?”
Only after hearing that did he sit down on the floor with a sulky face. There were perfectly good chairs and sofas left in the underground space, but he insisted on being next to him.
Just as he was about to warn him, a few letters were generated in the white window.
Connection timed out
For a moment, the blue background flickered, and it was clear that something was about to appear but was blocked.
“What’s not working?”
It’s a type that can’t be connected to in Goryeo City. To be precise, it’s a site that Goryeo City doesn’t allow.
It’s probably a page that can only be accessed through satellites. Not only here, but most cities block and censor this kind of connection in advance.
“I’ll need equipment.”
He has realized something while meeting various people and traveling around for the Return flight’s work. The prohibited items designated by Central are not actually applied to all citizens.
Even the theory about Blue Energy is information that the elite class who go to graduate school encounter as a daily routine.
The site with this address probably exists perfectly, but it just can’t be reached with a basic network.
Mu-hae doesn’t have the money, status, or outstanding knowledge to be recognized in Goryeo City, but fortunately, he knew one backer to use in times like these.
Jin Mu-hae checked a familiar contact number on his Link Watch.
‘How long has it been since I last contacted her?’
It’s been quite a while since he delivered Olga’s information, so it was about time Gu-reum contacted him.
Her identity is still shrouded in mystery, but she’s someone who even messes with the city’s lighting, so there’s no way she can’t solve a site connection.
He could just vaguely say that the source of the address was found in the Return flight’s records. Gu-reum is also one of the former participants in the Return flight, but after hearing West Wind’s story, he felt strongly that he couldn’t trust everyone.
It’s a bit ironic that Gu-reum was the one who gave a similar warning. Mu-hae sent her a message after a long time.
[7:20 PM.]
Surprisingly, the reply came immediately. Mu-hae was able to schedule a call for that evening.
―It’s been a while.
Hearing the now welcome mechanical sound, Joo-oh greeted him brightly. When Mu-hae didn’t go to the sofa, he stubbornly brought another chair next to him and smiled contentedly.
“I’m contacting you because I have a favor to ask. This time, it’s not information, but it seems like I need permission or a device.”
―Let’s hear it first.
“Is there a way to access information or sites that Goryeo City has blocked?”
Hmm. Gu-reum made a sound of interest. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly brought up another story.
―I heard you met Kang.
“You already know.”
―He was pushed out of the competition early and left Goryeo City. Still, it seems he has properly established himself in Seogyeong City, so he’s not someone without ability.
The indifferent evaluation continued, but what Gu-reum wanted to bring up was not Kang’s gossip.
It’s a warning and a reminder that Mu-hae’s actions are in her sight. Even the act of informing him of this is uncomfortable, but it’s close to Gu-reum’s own goodwill.
―Anyway, you contacted the right person. It’s a problem that I can solve. Besides, I can put you into a job that I happen to need.
As expected, Gu-reum’s help comes with its own effort. What kind of work is she going to make me do this time? Mu-hae was thinking about the condition of the equipment he had checked a few days ago.
―I didn’t have high expectations because you’ve been a mercenary for a long time… but you’re surprisingly talented in this field. So this time, you’ll have to come to the Company.
An unexpected order was given.
“Wow.”
Turning his head at the admiring sound, Joo-oh made a glasses shape with his hands and had an excited face.