By Zephyria “Don’t do anything weird once we get into Central.”
“Sure.”
The same warning, the same answer. Anyone else might get annoyed hearing it repeated, but Joo-oh usually agreed cleanly.
The problem was that he always ended up causing some kind of accident, but looking back, there was always a reason, so he was thinking and acting in his own way.
“It’s been a while.”
After getting off the Gu-reum’s vehicle and arriving at the station, it was 3 a.m. Central, which he hadn’t been to in a while, was still glamorous and vast even with the lights off.
The station, devoid of commuting crowds, was eerily empty. In the midst of it all, soft music played from somewhere, creating a strange feeling of being dropped off on the back side of the world.
“Hmmmm. La la la.”
Joo-oh quickly memorized the tune he was hearing for the first time and began to hum along. The red eyes beneath his eyelashes looked dazed, as if dreaming.
“Follow me properly.”
Still, when he spoke to him, he immediately followed along. Lately, he hadn’t been completely losing his mind like he used to.
Today’s workplace was near the station entering Central, past the production zone. On the edge of the city, in the basement of a building, there was a space for the city cleaners.
The location was a bit ambiguous, but even if it wasn’t hidden in a remote place, it was difficult to encounter people during work hours.
The work the two of them were assigned to was especially so. According to the work booklet he had received in advance, Mu-hae had to patrol the designated area before dawn, collecting trash and supervising the route of the cleaning truck that sprayed chemicals.
When it was time for Central to be crowded, he would go to the industrial zone to hand over the collected trash and do the remaining work. There would be no chance to wear these clothes and walk among people in broad daylight.
“Are you the people who came as replacements for Mr. Park?”
“Yes. We received the work details in advance.”
“Then just handle your assigned area as is. There’s one more person in charge, but they haven’t come to work yet. Wait in the truck first, and they’ll probably come before departure.”
Following the supervisor to the parking lot, a row of trucks with a strange, rusty cyan color were parked. They were so huge that you had to step on three platforms to get into the driver’s seat.
After putting Joo-oh in first and climbing onto the other side, he had already moved to the back. The makeshift chair, which looked like it had just been unfolded, creaked.
“There are only two seats.”
“I’m fine. Jin Mu-hae has to sit there.”
Joo-oh even waved his hands, yielding the perfectly good passenger seat. He showed a strong will not to squeeze into the front seat.
“…Suit yourself, then.”
It was a sorry thing to say, but Mu-hae felt more comfortable leaving him in the back like that than sitting Joo-oh next to a stranger.
He could wave his hands and stop him no matter what strange sounds he made.
Woooong-!
The starting sound, louder than that of a regular vehicle, caused the surrounding cleaning trucks to move one by one. The huge cargo box on the back was almost a wall blocking the view.
Everyone lined up and departed, and until the last truck left, today’s companion did not arrive.
Eventually, Mu-hae, who had been waiting for a long time, checked the time and was about to unbuckle his belt.
“…Tardiness! If this happens, I’ll have to reflect it in your performance review!”
“Yes, yes. I’m sorry.”
Thwack! In the brief moment when the door opened and closed, the supervisor’s shout could be heard. The person who suddenly climbed into the seat next to him was a man with a bothered expression.
Before Mu-hae could say anything, the truck started along its route. Only after leaving the parking lot did the man rub the dark circles under his eyes and open his mouth.
“You’re the replacement? The world’s gotten better. They even put in replacement personnel for a few days of sick leave.”
The man’s name was embroidered on his uniform. As he leaned back on the seat as if lying down, the letters on his chest came into full view.
“Hwang-jae. His name is Hwang-jae. Haha.”
“It’s not ‘eoi,’ it’s ‘ai.’ And you shouldn’t make fun of other people’s names.”
“Ah, shit. What? There was someone in the back too?”
Hwang-jae was startled and straightened up, then slumped back down after discovering Joo-oh, who had poked his head out between the seats. He was consistently lazy. He hadn’t shaved his sparse beard, and his hair was long, covering the nape of his neck.
“Whatever. You both have good builds. Let’s work well together.”
“What should we call you?”
“Do whatever you want. Mister, uncle, Hyung, whatever sticks. We’re not going to see each other for many days anyway.”
Like the titles he casually suggested, he looked to be over forty. Haaah. Dry wrinkles formed around his yawning mouth.
“I live on the edge of the residential area, how am I supposed to get to Central on time?”
His grumbling was full of complaints. Anyone listening would think everyone else commuted from nearby.
‘A subversive… was it?’
Mu-hae didn’t know if Gu-reum had pushed Mu-hae into the empty spot that had happened to open up, or if he had deliberately vacated the spot.
But it seemed like this guy would be on the list of people to find. His age was right for the Return flight, and he had the kind of appearance that society disliked.
Of course, if you went by that, Mu-hae, whose gaze made people avert their eyes the moment they met, was also a problem.
But at least Mu-hae made an effort to blend into human society. Unless they were fellow mercenaries, he didn’t usually frown.
“This is where it starts. Don’t get out, just wait.”
When the truck stopped, Hwang-jae opened the door and jumped out. He stood in front of the barrier on the road leading underground, and a laser scanned his body, opening the blocked entrance with a clanging sound.
“He must have a chip.”
As Joo-oh guessed, Hwang-jae didn’t even raise the wrist with the Link Watch on it. He had heard that the procedure was quite expensive, so was this something he had implanted himself, or was it provided by the company?
Maybe it was just a chip with a key function. That alone would make it easier to manage outsiders coming and going at odd hours.
As the gate opened, they began to move to the underground waste collection center.
Throughout Central, there were collection centers like this where waste from certain areas was gathered. Waste from each building was compressed and piled up in one place via Pneumatic Tubes and rails.
“It’s docked, so check to see if the trash is going in. See if anything’s backed up or blocked.”
“And if it is?”
“Then you have to stop the machine and break through the silo. It sucks, but it happens sometimes.”
He sighed and manipulated the machine attached to the entrance. He seemed to have his own checklist, muttering numbers and scribbling a signature.
“I’m going to check the west pipeline, so keep an eye on things.”
Hwang-jae dusted off his worn-out work clothes here and there and disappeared from sight. Mu-hae quietly looked up at the blocks of trash pouring out with a rumbling sound.
“It stinks.”
Joo-oh frowned next to him, grumbling. It was hard to understand why he was closing his eyes when he said it smelled.
It did stink, but it wasn’t enough to sting the eyes. Human sense of smell had its limits, and even that would gradually fade.
If he had to give his impressions, the dark lights and old, dirty walls here were too familiar to be unfamiliar.
Central couldn’t be clean and glamorous even in a place like this. It felt awkward that such a space was hidden beneath the neat city. It felt like a tunnel completely different from the surface.
Krrr- Krrrk…….
Beep- Beep- Beep-.
The trash that had been pouring out for a while suddenly stopped with a crackling sound. He thought the loading was over, but the machine frantically sounded an alarm.
No way. Was it his unlucky day that a problem had to happen now? Mu-hae hastily stopped his hand as if burned when he tried to turn off the power.
“What do I press?”
“…It wasn’t me.”
Disturbingly, there were only five buttons attached below the silo. Three red ones, two green ones.
He was wondering what to do, examining the buttons one by one, when an increasingly uneasy sound began to come from the blocked hole.
Ggrrr-!
Wouldn’t it be better to just find Hwang-jae than to make things worse by pressing something at random? As Mu-hae quickly made his decision, a lithe figure suddenly flashed past his vision.
Faster than Mu-hae’s judgment, Joo-oh was climbing over the huge cargo box. Joo-oh, who had quickly climbed to the top, stared intently at the blocked silo entrance.
“Jin Mu-hae. Look at this.”
“Hey!”
“I’ll do it.”
“Do what? Get down here right now?”
He shouted, but Joo-oh had already rolled up the sleeves of his orange work clothes to his elbows.
Thump! He struck the inside of the outlet with his bare hand. With that crude and dirty method, some of the trash that was tightly packed moved and fell down with a patter.
Then, before he could stop him, he pushed his hand into the gap that had formed. Before long, his white hand pulled out a wire, covered in strange soot.
Krrr- Grrrrk!
Only then did the trash that had been stuck so tightly pour down as if being shot out. Mu-hae felt like his head was throbbing at the sight of him smiling brightly, shaking the foreign object.
“Ta-da.”
“Ta-da, my ass. Are you crazy?”
What if he got caught in there? He was pissed off at his lack of remorse.
Mu-hae ended up smacking him on his round head. Despite the loud thwack, Joo-oh didn’t even flinch.
He looked like he was going to touch the spot he had been hit with a sullen face, so Mu-hae grabbed his wrist in alarm.
“You hit me.”
“Shut up.”
Where was he going to touch after rummaging through trash that he didn’t even know what was on it? And he was the one who had been complaining about the smell.
Mu-hae scrubbed his hands with the wet wipes from the truck. He wiped them at least four more times even when nothing more came off.
Hwang-jae belatedly came running, panting, after hearing the commotion. He immediately noticed the situation when he saw the trash and wires scattered everywhere.
“You… just broke through it? How?”
“I took out the trash.”
“Without an air gun… I don’t know whether to say you’re amazing or not.”
Hwang-jae shook his head, muttering that his passion was good. His attitude, which had been lukewarm all along, had become a little more friendly, as if he had seen it all.