By Zephyria 
The aftereffects of being Tasered lasted for two days.
From the way it discharged, it didn’t seem meant for use on people; my whole body throbbed as if I had the flu.
But Jin Mu-hae didn’t even show a hint of pain. Joo-oh often fussed over him as if he were his whole world.
He knew Joo-oh would be terrified even if he just let out a groan.
‘…Is he, though?’
Far from being scared, he seemed to be bustling around all the time.
“Jin Mu-hae!”
When he woke up after sleeping for ten hours, using fatigue as an excuse, the house was filled with the smell of food.
Joo-oh, who had been stirring something near the table, rushed over to ask how he was.
“Jin Mu-hae. Are you hungry?”
“…What?”
“I made something to eat. Wanna eat with Jin Mu-hae.”
It was a thoughtful thing to say, but Mu-hae felt more uneasy than grateful. It wasn’t just anyone, it was Joo-oh… and not just anything, it was cooking?
It would be a miracle if he didn’t eat all the ingredients raw, and in the first place, he had no cooking methods to learn from.
Mu-hae always fed Joo-oh similar things: bread with jam, cereal, pre-cooked meat baked in the microwave or oven, frozen or canned vegetables…
As expected.
“Here!”
“……”
What Joo-oh brought was closer to a large bowl than a plate. Leaving aside where he found such a thing in this house, the food inside made Mu-hae nervous.
A strangely shimmering sauce sloshed around whenever the bowl shook. Swimming inside were round pasta shapes, corn, sausage slices, beans, limp frozen vegetables, and smoked Beast Meat torn into strips.
All familiar ingredients. Especially that pasta, which he didn’t know when Joo-oh had picked up, was a canned product he’d seen when inspecting a factory at the Company.
So, Joo-oh had basically poured everything edible in the house into one bowl. He must have put it in the microwave to heat it up, as steam rose from the thick soup.
“Here’s a fork.”
“The table… meals should be eaten at the table.”
Afraid that Joo-oh would shovel the hot leftovers into his mouth any second, Mu-hae barely managed to avert the crisis by pointing to the table.
But it was like pissing on a frozen foot. Once he sat down in the chair, he couldn’t escape the remnants of the food coming closer.
“Did you even taste this?”
“Of course!”
Was there any point in asking? Wasn’t he the type to eat anything if he was hungry?
Telling him to drink this garbage himself felt a bit too harsh, no matter how he thought about it. He’d been asleep all day, and Joo-oh had made a ‘cooking-like thing’ with his own effort.
He’d just pretend to take a bite and tell him not to touch the fridge next time. Mu-hae, having made up his mind, picked up the fork.
The blunt end of the fork stabbed into what looked like the most edible sausage. He braced himself and put it in his mouth, chewing a few times…
“It’s not bad?”
He wasn’t just saying it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t disgusting, and it tasted like something a person could actually eat.
The sauce, a mix of everything, was sweet and sour, thick, and moderately salty, and the ingredients inside still had a hint of texture.
Somehow, it had turned into a stew with tomato sauce and vegetables mixed in with the meat. Joo-oh looked confident at Mu-hae’s reaction.
“It’s an Energy Booster.”
Was that the name of this concoction? Given that it was a cooking method he’d never heard of, there was a high chance he’d made up the name himself.
The visuals were a bit much, but the taste wasn’t bad. More than anything, considering the ingredients, he wouldn’t regret pouring it all into Joo-oh’s mouth even if he couldn’t eat it himself.
Mu-hae picked up the bowl and ladled a spoonful of ‘Energy Booster’ onto his plate. Then, as if telling him to eat the rest, he pushed the bowl towards Joo-oh and gestured with his chin.
Only then did Joo-oh smile brightly and pick up a spoon. He miraculously scooped up even the large chunks onto his spoon and swallowed them cleanly without getting a single drop of sauce on his mouth.
Was it because he’d been sleeping all the time and then ate food? He definitely felt a bit of energy returning, just like the strange name Joo-oh had given it.
Chewing on a sausage piece that was jagged, as if it had been torn apart by hand instead of cut with a knife, Mu-hae thought about what had happened in the past two days.
—A researcher from Solar City had been continuing research related to the Return Flight until recently…
‘Of course, we need to look into your father’s records further, but if the Return Flight plan wasn’t complete, there would be little information as valuable as that.’
—So, is there a way to get detailed information about the research of someone who’s already disappeared?
‘We found communication logs from where he stayed. There was consistent communication with ‘West Wind’.’
Gu-reum always used a machine-modulated voice. Her inorganic voice and breathing rarely betrayed any emotion.
Even so, a heavy silence followed that was so thick you could feel her bewilderment.
Of course, she knew West Wind. She hadn’t expected him to suddenly mention the existence of West Wind, so she stopped talking for a while…
—You’ve been wandering around a lot without my knowledge. Your proactive attitude is good, but isn’t your father’s record more urgent right now?
Soon, Gu-reum pointed out the point that Mu-hae had forgotten.
That’s right. What has been revealed so far about the Return Flight is just the tip of the iceberg. Rather than wandering around looking for research whose success was uncertain, he should first follow the path his father had prepared.
He didn’t think the records his father left behind were all there was. What at first seemed like pie-in-the-sky research now seemed vaguely understandable.
If the people of the Return Flight in the past felt confident, there should have been more content left in it.
—That’s good timing. I have a deal to propose. I have a hunch about the Return Flight records…
‘Records, you say.’
—There’s a rumor going around that a subversive element has infiltrated the streets of Central. But it seems to be someone related to the Return Flight, so I’m reluctant to send just anyone to investigate.
Listening to the machine voice that had turned energetic again, Mu-hae recalled the work Gu-reum had been assigning him.
Those kinds of infiltration missions always required shoddy disguises. Thanks to that, the two of them, including Joo-oh, had become logistics supervisors, sewer management officials, and recently even Company executives.
He hoped he wouldn’t have to wear a shirt for a while. As Mu-hae muttered to himself, Gu-reum’s voice was heard again.
—Cleaner. This time, you’ll have to become a sanitation worker in Central.
After that day, packages arrived one after another on Starlight Road, and Mu-hae received two jumpsuits, gloves, and work boots.
Joo-oh’s might be a little big, but Mu-hae’s clothes were still eerily the right size.
“Now that you’ve eaten the Energy Booster, you can work hard and clean.”
As if sensing his thoughts, Joo-oh, sitting across from him, muttered while holding an empty bowl. He hadn’t even finished one plate yet, but he didn’t know when Joo-oh had swallowed that whole bowl.
Anyway, Joo-oh seemed quite excited about the consecutive infiltration missions. He didn’t say it, but he’d heard him crawling into the study and putting on and taking off the sanitation worker uniform.
The sound of the zipper coming down was quite rough, and he thought he was going to tear the clothes before he even set foot in Central.
Then he took off his clothes and came out pretending not to know, but he still had his gloves on, so Mu-hae considered pointing it out but just turned around because it was a hassle.
Well, as long as he didn’t really ruin them. He was already uneasy about stealing the NPS plane and coming all the way to Goryeo City when he didn’t even know if Hawkins was alive or dead.
It had only been three days, but contrary to his worries, he hadn’t received any strange calls or been visited by anyone.
It was strange. Chairman Dunham, who had made the false offer that day, seemed to have lost his center of gravity and was not even felt to exist, just because one secretary had disappeared.
While feeling a possible threat, Mu-hae did not tell Gu-reum about the incident in Bay City.
He had flown a high-end Small aircraft from an airfield that everyone could see. Perhaps Gu-reum, or someone behind her, already knew about their actions.
“Jin Mu-hae. Look at this.”
The man in the orange jumpsuit jumped around, striking all sorts of poses.
He crossed his arms and clapped. He looked at the sky and suddenly let out a sigh mixed with annoyance.
“This is expression number 4. The one from earlier was expression number 2.”
He’d never heard of anyone expressing his emotions by numbering them. Joo-oh, who had been making artificial expressions several times as part of his infiltration practice, soon laughed heartily and plopped down to put on his work boots.
“Don’t wear shoes inside the house.”
“They’re new.”
“If they’re new, are you going to carry a gun around too?”
He heard a complaint mumbled from behind that Jin Mu-hae also did equipment checks in the living room.
The impudent bastard was only getting more eloquent day by day after being fed and housed.
Mu-hae finished pulling up his uniform over his short-sleeved T-shirt. The clothes Gu-reum sent were comfortable to move in, with loose arms and legs, but the shoulder line and waist fit perfectly.
‘Goryeo City Urban Management Safety’. Mu-hae looked at the patch on his chest in the mirror and felt a gaze staring blankly at him.
“What are you looking at? Stop taking it off.”
“Take it off? Why?”
“Are you going to walk around in this outfit from here on out? The workplace has shower facilities, so pack it well and put it on there.”
When he lowered the zipper that was half-fastened, Joo-oh licked his lips with a regretful look. It wasn’t like they were going out to play, but he always had such an excited face.
Yeah. At least he wasn’t openly taking pictures. Mu-hae looked at Joo-oh in the mirror with a half-resigned feeling.
Maybe it was because he was good-looking. Honestly, he looked just as good in it as he did when he wore a shirt.