Episode 45: You Bastard, You’re Alive
Park Jeong-su landed at Manila Airport on Thursday afternoon.
He was in civilian clothes. He was alone. It wasn’t an official business trip. He had arranged it as a personal matter. He told his aide it was for a personal health checkup. The aide didn’t ask any further questions.
He took a bus from Manila. It was headed toward Cagayan Valley. Park Jeong-su slept on the bus. It was a soldier’s sleep. He sleeps while traveling. He wakes up when he arrives.
He got off at Aritao. There, he transferred to a jeepney heading toward Baguio. It was toward the mountains.
It was evening by the time he reached the town of Kayapa. The sun was setting. It was a small town. The market was closing. A motorcycle passed by.
Park Jeong-su got off. He looked around. It was a habit he had whenever he went somewhere for the first time. He walked. He walked around the town once. He looked for the entrance and the exit. He looked for the high places and the low places. To the north of this town lay a mountain. There was a single road leading into the mountains.
That was the way.
He spent the night at an inn in town. He woke up early the next morning. He walked.
* * *
There was a man at the end of the road.
It was Carlos. He was guarding the entrance. He saw a strange Asian man walking toward him alone. He didn’t stop. He just watched. The man had no bag. His hands were empty. His gait was peculiar. It was the gait of someone who knew his destination, yet at the same time, was reading his surroundings.
Carlos stepped forward.
He started to speak in Spanish, then stopped. It was an Asian man. He spoke in English.
“Where are you from?”
Park Jeong-su looked at Carlos. He answered briefly.
“Korea.”
“What’s your purpose?”
“To find someone.”
"Who?"
Park Jeong-su paused for a moment.
"Hoon."
Carlos heard the name. His expression didn’t change. But his eyes did.
"What’s your relationship with him?"
Park Jeong-su said.
“Friends.”
Carlos looked Park Jeong-su up and down. He could tell this man was a soldier. He had a trained physique. His gait gave it away. His eyes gave it away. But there was no threat. And he knew Hoon’s name.
“Wait here.”
Carlos went inside.
Park Jeong-su stood at the entrance and waited. He looked into the basin. He could see buildings. People were moving about. It was quiet. There was no sound. There were this many people, yet there was no sound.
There was no sound of eating. No clinking of dishes. No smell of food. That’s why it was quiet.
That was his first impression of this space.
* * *
Hoon came out.
As he walked over, he saw the person standing in front of the entrance. He was backlit. The morning sunlight was coming from the direction of the entrance. Bathed in that light, only his silhouette was visible.
But Hoon recognized him just from the silhouette.
It was the way he stood. The position of his feet. The angle of his shoulders. And his height.
Hoon stopped.
The person turned around. The backlight faded. Hoon could see his face.
It was Park Jeong-su.
Hoon looked at that face. He was fifty-nine. His features were even more set than the last time Hoon had seen him. His hair was short—a soldier’s cut. His eyes were the same. Even after thirty years, those eyes remained unchanged. They were the eyes Hoon had known since childhood.
Park Jeong-su looked at Hoon too.
For a moment, the two stood facing each other from a distance.
Then Park Jeong-su spoke first.
“Is that true?”
His voice was low. But those two words contained thirty years.
“So you’re still alive.”
Hoon walked toward Park Jeong-su. Park Jeong-su walked toward him as well. They stopped about halfway.
The two stood facing each other.
Hoon spoke.
“You’re alive.”
Park Jeong-su looked at Hoon. From head to toe. With a soldier’s gaze. It was the look of someone assessing the other person’s condition. Then that gaze changed. It was no longer a soldier’s gaze.
“You’ve wasted away.”
Hoon laughed.
“I haven’t been eating.”
Park Jeong-su heard those words. His expression didn’t change. But for a moment, he seemed to be thinking about something.
“Is that true?”
"That’s true."
Park Jeong-su looked at Hoon for a moment. Then he looked around. The basin. The buildings. The quiet people. The sound of the river. The sound of the generator.
“Is it 707?”
Park Jeong-su said. It wasn’t a command. It was a suggestion that they needed to talk.
Hoon nodded.
The two went inside.
Carlos watched their backs. The two walked side by side. They said nothing. Yet it was the gait of people who had known each other for a long time.
Those two grew up in the same place.
Carlos was certain of it.
* * *
It was the dining table. A quiet afternoon with no one else around.
The two sat across from each other. There was a long silence.
Park Jeong-su spoke first.
“It was in the file. Your name wasn’t there. But the word ‘Dasol’ was.”
Hoon listened.
“Do you remember the coastal village?”
Hoon looked at Park Jeong-su.
“It’s 707.”
"Battalion Commander."
Hoon thought about it for a moment. A friend he used to run around with in the coastal village when they were kids. That friend had become the battalion commander of the 707th Special Forces Unit. Thirty years of distance were contained within those two words.
"I came alone."
“Alone.”
“It’s not official.”
“Personal business.”
Hoon nodded.
There was a moment of silence. The sound of the river could be heard. The hum of the generator was coming from below.
Park Jeong-su said.
"Do you remember the seaside village?"
Hoon smiled.
“I do.”
“You were the one who went to Seoul first. You said you were going to college.”
“Yeah.”
"And I went into the military."
“Yeah.”
Park Jeong-su looked at the dining table. An empty dining table.
“When was the last time you saw me, back then?”
"Yeah."
"Then I heard you went to the Philippines. They said you weren’t in good health."
Hoon said.
“I’m better now.”
Park Jeong-su looked at Hoon.
“What are you doing here?”
"In what way?"
Park Jeong-su thought for a moment.
"I don’t know. You’re just different. You’re not the same person you used to be."
Hoon said.
"When was the last time you saw the old me?"
"Twenty years ago? Thirty years ago?"
“Well, I’ve changed since then. I’ve gotten older, too.”
Park Jeong-su snorted.
“It’s not because of your age.”
Then he asked directly.
"What are you doing here?"
Hoon looked at Park Jeong-su for a moment. He thought about how to explain it to him.
Just as he had explained to Lee Jae-in. But Park Jeong-su was different from Lee Jae-in. Lee Jae-in had been open from the start. Park Jeong-su was a soldier. He was someone within the state system.
But he was someone Hoon had known since childhood. He was someone he couldn’t lie to.
Hoon began to speak.
He started from the beginning. His awakening in Dasol. The AI’s control structure. The fact that food was the key lever. That humans who didn’t eat existed outside of it. The creation of Gong. The things currently in this basin.
Park Jeong-su didn’t interrupt. He didn’t ask any questions in the middle. He listened with his arms crossed. Occasionally, his gaze drifted toward the basin. He saw people moving. He looked back at Hoon.
Hoon finished speaking.
Silence fell.
Park Jeong-su remained there for a long time. He looked at the dining table. He listened to the sound of the river.
Then he said,
“It’s true that you don’t eat.”
“It’s true.”
“How long has it been?”
“Almost two years.”
Park Jeong-su looked at Hoon.
"Go see Viktor. He’s over in that work area. He’s a neuroscientist. He has the test data."
Park Jeong-su said.
"I’ll feed you. Right here."
Hoon smiled.
“I’ll feed you. You’re the one who eats.”
Park Jeong-su stood up.
“Then give me some food. I’m hungry.”
Those words marked the first end of this reunion.
Hoon stood up and placed his hand on Park Jeong-su’s shoulder. It was only for a moment. But it contained thirty years.
Park Jeong-su felt that hand. He started to say something, but stopped himself.
The two walked together.
Just as they had in the coastal village.
Author's Note:
New episode drops daily at 7 AM (Philippine Time, UTC+8) until Part 1 concludes (Ep. 55) on July 25th.
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