By Zephyria Jin Mu-hae doesn’t know much about Return flight. Combining his father’s records and the information he’s gathered so far, he can only roughly guess what kind of organization it was.
However, he is certain of one thing. Return flight was not a small-scale movement aimed at reforming the internal society of Goryeo City.
They wanted a bigger future. A tomorrow where humanity is freed from Crystal Blue.
A life where they are not threatened by Aberrants, and where they look at the real sky, not the ceiling of Dome City.
‘Are they going to… set off gunpowder or something?’
‘This guy’s talking nonsense again. Don’t listen to him. He’s always saying that.’
Jin Mu-hae sat in a chair in the hideout, recalling the events of the day. It was an embarrassing moment, but the words the shaggy-haired guy spat out were quickly smoothed over.
But where there’s smoke, there’s fire. They were seething with discontent, and someday it would burst out.
It is Choi’s role to ignite that fire and pave the way. Now he understands what Gu-reum meant by ‘insurgent.’
There were already plenty of people criticizing Goryeo City, and Central didn’t bother to pressure them, but if the deviance became an accident and harmed public order, they would have no choice but to raise the social monitoring level.
‘The fact that Central is given such a pretext…’
From Gu-reum’s perspective, who secretly supports Return flight, it becomes a point of contention. Especially if the issue claims to be Return flight.
It seems like the goal of this request is slowly becoming visible. Mu-hae had to contact Choi and steal Return flight’s goods first.
After that, to prevent the accidents they would cause and ultimately erase the deviance from the city’s leadership’s eyes.
Of course, the members of the fake Return flight and their claims are all absurd, so the risk is low…
He thought it was a light task, but he was given another troublesome mission. Mu-hae ruffled his short hair and sighed annoyedly.
‘I’d rather run around.’
Move and live, miss the moment and die. Wandering around the Crystal Zone was also a matter of life and death, but that’s why his head was more comfortable.
Unlike those days, Mu-hae now had to cram various knowledge into his brain and think and act more carefully.
Where did they get the idea of using gunpowder for terrorism? How did they get the delusion of causing explosions here and there in Central, where surveillance is so tight?
Hwang-jae, as an environmental worker, can wander around a certain area without being suspected, but how are the rest of the riffraff going to rush into Central at dawn?
“Jin Mu-hae. Aren’t you sleeping?”
“…I’m going to sleep.”
Had he been lost in thought for too long? Joo-oh, who was fluttering around the basement, pulled his arm, telling him to go to bed.
Even though he was mumbling that he was sleepy, his face was still full of energy and interest. Lately, he’s been looking at Mu-hae with a proud expression.
He looks proud and admirable, which is so absurd that he can’t even scoff.
“There’s going to be a lot of trash again. Where does it all come from?”
In just two days, Joo-oh, who had become a cleaner, shook his head. Mu-hae pretended to listen to him casually and slowly walked up the narrow stairs.
There’s probably a passage. A trash path hidden in a place like this, connected by Pneumatic Tubes, branching out densely inside each building and Central…
‘Cleaning up trash, machines used to do it all. The Pneumatic Tubes were longer too. They say they shot it all the way to the industrial district?’
Suddenly, a story Hwang-jae casually mentioned comes to mind. Mu-hae stopped abruptly on the stairs and looked back.
The passage that was blown open to the hideout shines dimly in the light of the floor. The underground… path.
“…”
Has the abandoned hole that originally led to the industrial district been completely filled in by now?
Or is it just blocked by security devices like the sewers in Jaegang District, sleeping under the solid floor?
“I’m going to die, really.”
“You went all the way to Sakdal at that hour, so you’d be tired unless you were an iron man.”
Hwang-jae, who barely made it to work on time, yawned widely. The old man must have gone to Sakdal to gamble at night.
He slept a little there, but Hwang-jae still closed his eyes with fatigue plastered all over his face.
“Wake me up when we arrive.”
“Just open the door and sleep. I’ve seen what I saw the day before yesterday, so I’ll take care of it roughly.”
“Something to do alone…”
“There are two of us here.”
Hwang-jae, who had been lost in thought for a moment, nodded. As if telling him to do as he pleased, the pad he had been carrying ended up in Mu-hae’s hands.
Since he had to fill the container under someone’s management anyway, he intended to catch some sleep in the truck.
Thanks to this, Mu-hae was able to easily inspect the pipes under the guise of a checklist.
‘The passage is wide, but not enough for a human to pass through.’
Above all, it’s a path that extends underground. There’s no way a middle-aged man with poor physical strength could ride up a passage designed to slide with air pressure.
But if there was a machine, things would be different. He doubts they could afford expensive equipment with their diet of Danbaek Corn, but wouldn’t they have some kind of understandable plan?
“But why are they trying to blow it up?”
“What?”
“Even if you break it, only trash comes out.”
“They’re not trying to get trash, they just want to break it.”
As expected, Joo-oh doesn’t seem to understand their purpose of blowing up the city. He tilts his head as if to say, why bother touching this place when it’s not edible and only dirty things will pour out.
“If you break it, you can’t throw away trash.”
“Then Central will know about those guys.”
“What’s the point of knowing?”
What to do. To make the city noisy and make their presence known, even if it’s just through notoriety…
“If the exposure increases, it’ll be a hassle.”
“…”
It was such a foolish story that he was about to explain it roughly and move on, but Mu-hae’s fingertips stiffened.
Come to think of it, Choi doesn’t gain anything from doing that. The other guys might be tempted by the sound of making their presence known without thinking, but he’s not stupid enough to endure meaningless damage.
He only saw him for a moment, but he could see the man’s mind working vividly. So much so that he even had Joo-oh smash the toilet.
Suddenly, something from a while ago flashes through his mind. Just as there are groups like Return flight in the world, there are also cults like NPS, and somewhere there are places that criticize the structure of modern society itself.
If Choi is connected to such a group, he could play a role in opening the passage to Central.
Rumble…
Beep- beep-.
When he returned to the truck, the trash loading was finished just in time. Mu-hae got into the truck and woke up Hwang-jae, who was fast asleep.
“Oh, you worked hard.”
“About yesterday’s get-together.”
Mu-hae spoke cautiously next to him as he checked the pad. Seeing his face furrow slightly, he sensed the mood and looked around, shaking off his sleepiness.
“That person said, ‘Boom.’ That they’re going to blow something up from below.”
“Ah, that. I wondered what he was talking about. It’s all bluff, so don’t listen too much.”
“Are you going to open the way for them?”
Hwang-jae, who was waving his hand, widened his narrow eyes. He shook his head reflexively, but seemed to realize it wouldn’t work.
He silently looked ahead and erased his expression. The fatigue that had been clinging to him until just now disappeared as if washed away.
“I’m asking because I think I’ve already gotten involved. It’s dangerous to participate without knowing anything.”
At the quiet whisper, Hwang-jae’s lips twitched. At least he shaved his beard today, so he doesn’t look messy.
“…There’s nothing dangerous. It’s really close to a bluff. They talked about explosions and stuff, but it’s just fireworks.”
“Fireworks?”
“Yeah. Legally, any act that pollutes the indoor air is prohibited, but they set off real fireworks on the first day of the city festival.”
Hwang-jae reluctantly revealed what he was involved in. He’s not very talkative, so he didn’t add any rambling explanations that deviated from the topic like the day before.
From what he heard, it was closer to causing a commotion by stealing some fireworks for the upcoming festival.
If smoke and explosions came out of the packages delivered to Central or the trash chutes, everyone would be terrified.
“Do you believe that?”
“What?”
“Do you believe that they’re going to cause that much trouble and just do fireworks?”
Mu-hae raised his voice slightly, looking at the man with wide eyes. The look of incomprehension is a bonus.
“From the moment explosives are placed on the road to Central, the level of punishment is the same whether it’s a prank or a real bomb. Is there any need to take that risk and effort to play a prank?”
“We’re not terrorists! We’re just pleasantly reminding the higher-ups of their mistakes. If it was such a dangerous thing, would I have told you?”
Mu-hae calmly stared at Hwang-jae, who was getting angry. His attitude towards him will change depending on how he reacts.
If he really believes in that delusional plan, Mu-hae will pretend to realize it and nod his head in agreement.
But if there’s even a grain of doubt mixed in, he can easily threaten a man as gullible as him.
Hwang-jae turned his body away with an unpleasant look. He regrets showing this guy to Choi, and a faint conflict is reflected in his eyes.
Before he knew it, he only slightly turned his eyes and glanced at the path he had come from. The place where the Distribution Center is located, a place that would probably be affected by the explosion.
“We won’t get caught.”
“Even though the chip records it?”
“Opening the door will be the day before. If foreign substances get stuck in the gap and it doesn’t close properly, it’s negligence, not malice.”
“Did Choi Hyung say that? Are you telling me to commit the crime because Central will let you go nicely just by believing that excuse?”
Perhaps because there’s no colleague next to him to spout the same opinion, reality slowly returns to his always hazy eyes.
Hwang-jae stared at his name written on the pad without saying anything.
“Look at that. Braised short ribs with sweet sauce. It looks delicious.”
Only Joo-oh, who doesn’t know the atmosphere, poked his head out and pointed out the window. Hwang-jae’s gaze swept over the cheerful guy and went to the restaurant.
If the gunpowder rolling into the packages or the basement causes a slightly larger explosion, everyone who was enjoying the festival with a face like Joo-oh’s will bleed.
“If that’s true, I really want to jump in. It’s not often that someone recognizes my abilities.”
Hwang-jae seems to sympathize with those words and gains a bit of energy. It’s quite a sad desire for someone who talks about public spirit.
“I’ve known him for three years. He’s a trustworthy Hyung.”
Hwang-jae squeezed out his sinking voice and put his foot down. Flick. His troubled face was reflected on the pad with the screen turned off.
Hwang-jae was silent, keeping his mouth shut even while cleaning the roads and rummaging through the trash.
But before leaving the office after showering, he grabbed Mu-hae’s shoulder, wearing a hat.
“That. How did you know?”
“About what?”
“That I’m opening the way for the event.”
“Anyone can see that’s the role you were recruited for. What would a construction day laborer transport to the industrial district, and what would a spring factory worker store? That young friend seems to be watching the situation at Choi Hyung’s house instead of Choi Hyung… and the delivery driver delivers packages.”
It’s an obvious picture, but he didn’t say that Central probably already has similar defenses in place.
Gu-reum always prepares for the worst. Even if Mu-hae fails, there won’t be a major accident.
Because there’s someone to trust, even a situation that should be serious feels lighter than expected. Maybe the riffraff of the fake Return flight felt the same way.
However, this time, the pressure that the safety of people might fly away in his hands will make Hwang-jae think for himself.
‘Damn it.’
He knows why Gu-reum always throws him into incidents and watches.
Watching other people’s choices from a position of knowing everything is, surprisingly, quite interesting.