By Zephyria “Jin Mu-hae. Look at this.”
Joo-oh, who was poking around with a stick following Hwang-jae, suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
Turns out, there was a yellow plastic lump in the gap of crumpled paper. A familiar shape with crude molding. Was that… a Kukochi?
He looked at me with a face that said he didn’t know who had thrown it away. I couldn’t help but think he was making a fuss over nothing.
Joo-oh was probably the only one who collected those things as soon as they came out. But Mu-hae swallowed the words that were up to his throat and nodded casually.
He would have just blurted it out at any other time. But since he was in the middle of spying, it wasn’t easy to upset him.
“What is it?”
Hwang-jae, who didn’t know the situation, struggled to approach, pulling his foot out of the trash. The reaction of that indifferent man was as obvious as fire.
Thinking about Joo-oh explaining about Tinkle Friends and Kukochi with a fully grown face, I felt embarrassed for him.
Mu-hae waved his hand as if to tell him not to come, and saw that dismantled trash was scattered like a string along the path Hwang-jae was walking.
The moment his ankle was caught in the sticky strap and he lost his balance. Mu-hae unknowingly reached out and grabbed the falling body.
“Ugh.”
Thanks to that, Hwang-jae only let out a short scream and survived by holding onto the container wall. But this time, Mu-hae’s stepping foot slid.
Thud. It made a disgustingly unpleasant sound for falling on trash. Feeling the pungent stench, an unidentified viscous substance was thickly smeared on his body as he stood up.
“Keuh. I almost got bad luck stuck to me. I lived thanks to you…”
“……”
“……but……”
Hoping that what was stuck in his hair wasn’t trash. Even while desperately hoping, Mu-hae already knew the worst answer.
His face, which had lost all expression and hardened, became more chilling and murderous than any evil spirit.
So much so that Joo-oh rarely avoided the gaze that met him.
“There’s a water facility in the corner, so why don’t you wash up roughly…? You can shower after work, too.”
“……”
“Even if it’s dirty, you probably won’t catch any diseases. We get regular vaccinations… but I guess you wouldn’t know since you’re only here to fill in for a few days.”
If they were going to make him do this kind of work, they should have given him a full-body suit that covered his head, not just a mask.
Recalling the various epidemics and diseases that Teacher Jung had told him about over the years, Mu-hae wanted to set fire to this place and burn it all down with him.
“Let’s have a drink after work. My treat. Since it’s your first day.”
Hwang-jae, who seemed to have no social skills, was doing his best to calm the other person down.
Jin Mu-hae… Joo-oh’s figure, calling him pitifully with his mouth agape, also came into view.
Only then did Mu-hae grab hold of his almost broken mind and get out of the container. He stayed at the tap for a long time, wiping off all the contaminants from his hair.
There’s nothing less helpful in life than complaining about one’s situation.
Once you fall into that abyss, even the wisest person’s vision narrows, and they only see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear.
So Mu-hae always made it a habit to think about the reality he was in from a step away.
He had been covered in an unknown substance while working, but he had cleaned it off anyway.
He even disinfected himself after work, and as a reward, he had gained time to hang out with the person he suspected, so in some ways, it was a profitable deal.
To sum it up, it was a situation with more gains than losses, so why did he still feel so dirty?
“Every time, you feel like you can’t do it anymore. But where else would someone who didn’t even graduate from an upper-level academy have the chance to work in Central?”
“Does being in Central mean anything? All we do is wander around when everyone else is asleep.”
“You’re poking at a sore spot. As expected, ignorant young punks are more cruel.”
Hwang-jae must have seen a pretty fierce face in the decomposition plant, because he took the two of them to a bar as promised.
His regular spot, located in Joo-myeong District, was buried underground and dark even in broad daylight.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a place selling alcohol at this hour.”
“There aren’t many. The guys hanging out at this hour are probably all night shift workers.”
Still, it was inside a proper residential area, so it didn’t seem as dangerous as a neighborhood where mercenaries gathered.
Drunk people would do crazy things anywhere, but at least no drunkard would pick a fight with Mu-hae after seeing his size.
Thanks to that, Joo-oh was also showing his face, unlike in Taeul District. He had been eating small fried foods one by one with an expression of cultivating patience since earlier.
He now knew that he shouldn’t eat all the food that others had ordered as snacks in one bite, and he was even suppressing his appetite.
Since he had done such a commendable thing, he would probably raid the refrigerator when he got home.
“There are more factories running 24 hours than you think, so they’re the usual faces.”
As a few drinks went down, Hwang-jae’s mouth slowly began to loosen. Mu-hae, who had been gauging the right timing, threw out a complaint as if lamenting, without missing the opportunity.
“After working today, I have a lot of thoughts. Especially since Central is so fancy… I guess it’s because I’m cleaning up a neighborhood that I’ll never live in, even if I live my whole life.”
As expected, Hwang-jae’s eyes twitched at the lament. He straightened his back slightly, making it seem out of place for someone who had been slouching.
“Not just unable to live there. The only thing you can touch there without permission is the trash. To the residents there, Central is a magical neighborhood that cleans itself. Even if they know in their heads that someone is cleaning it, they won’t even think about recognizing the person doing the work.”
“Hearing that makes me feel even stranger.”
“It’s fucked up. The world is structured like this, so that’s why I’m in this shape.”
No. It seems like your life is like that because you hang around Sakdal. Mu-hae pretended not to notice the words that were up to his chin.
He certainly seemed dissatisfied with his own situation. To the point where he would pour out his complaints the moment he poked someone he didn’t even know properly.
Of course, Mu-hae also didn’t like living in this city as a third-class citizen. But he wasn’t so out of his mind that he would blurt out those words anywhere.
“I don’t know why everyone lives so quietly. Why don’t they just turn it upside down?”
Even with such a somewhat dangerous statement, Hwang-jae didn’t bat an eye. He didn’t even feel a sense of incongruity, as if he often had similar conversations.
Who was he talking to such things with? Mu-hae pondered with a calm face.
If Gu-reum called him a ‘dissident,’ it wouldn’t just be to the extent that he was dissatisfied with society. If they filtered people based on that standard, half the city would be dragged away.
It was funny to think this way from the standpoint of someone who was carrying on the legacy of Return flight… but what Mu-hae had to find was someone troublesome enough to shake the order that Central wanted.
He didn’t know how a middle-aged man with neither a long academic background nor good influence could fall under that standard.
“They don’t just live quietly.”
As if responding to that question, just as Hwang-jae was muttering something incomprehensible while stroking his beard.
“You’re having an interesting conversation.”
Someone cut in between them. It was a neat-looking employee who had been carrying food to the table since earlier.
“Ah. Choi Hyung.”
“What brings you here with someone I haven’t seen before today?”
“There’s someone. I’m working with him for a few days… I owe him a bit today.”
Choi Hyung. He looked younger than Hwang-jae on the surface, but judging by the title, he seemed to be quite old.
The light of joy shone in Hwang-jae’s eyes, which had been like a dead fish when listening to his superior’s words, as if they were more than just customers and employees of a regular restaurant.
“You’re saying something I’m interested in, but it’s a bit difficult to join in while I’m working.”
“There aren’t many people anyway, so why don’t you just come here, Choi Hyung…”
“I get off work in two hours. How about we talk together then?”
Choi cut off Hwang-jae’s words with a smiling face. Surprisingly, Hwang-jae, who had been listening to his superior’s words casually, nodded obediently.
Strangely enough, only the three of them were left at the table again, but the same conversation never continued.
Glancing to the side, Joo-oh made eye contact with Mu-hae and nodded.
Even to a mentally loose guy, he was a suspicious-smelling person.
“I feel like I’m loosening up after drinking with someone for the first time in a while. Can I join in?”
“Uh, um. I think you can. I guess I’ll postpone the gambling and drink more today.”
“Me too.”
Joo-oh deliberately added a word to something he was obviously going to take, and Hwang-jae was startled, just like in the truck.
“Jeez. Why is this guy’s presence so erratic?”
Is that so? In Mu-hae’s eyes, Joo-oh still had a distinct impression that made it annoying to go around with his face exposed.
His eyes were usually blank, but his features were generally assertive.
“Don’t make a mistake tomorrow and blame it on me.”
Looking at the time while listening to the nonsense, it was almost 2 p.m. It seemed like he would have to take a nap and go to work today.
“Beer doesn’t taste very good.”
“Who told you to drink it?”
“Jin Mu-hae did.”
A taxi stopped at the edge of Joo-myeong District, in a neighborhood close to the slums. It was a somewhat shabby place, a little far from the large-scale residential complex.
People who had settled down in such places generally had tight living standards. Either their income was not good, or they had expenses at home.
Just like the client in Taeul District who went out to find a ring, they lived a life with almost no savings.
“I thought we were drinking at another bar.”
“Where else is there a bar open at this hour?”
Choi’s house was on one side of a building with thin outer walls. As it was originally built for commercial use, it didn’t even have proper shower facilities, so there was only one shower booth attached next to the kitchen.
Despite that, one room was entirely a round table. Hwang-jae familiarly moved the alcohol to a place where several people could sit together.
Staring at the accumulating bottles, Mu-hae took a long, deep breath.
He had a feeling he had followed the wrong people. He couldn’t find any traces of Return flight in those idle lives.