Pandora
"This one came out before the world turned upside down…."
"That part I can confirm — the book was published before the world turned. I didn't know much about it myself, but when I asked the bookstore owner, he said the publisher was a reputable one."
"Looking at it again… almost all of it is right. How did anyone know this?"
"Didn't Director Gong mention it in passing once? That there were forces out there who knew this kind of world was coming."
"So it was a book published by those forces?"
"That is a possibility I consider quite likely, that part."
"Hmm…."
"It's worth digging into, is it not?"
"Sure. Things like this pile up and become a real lead."
"And it's about time Director Gong started talking as well, that part."
"Talking about what?"
"What it is Director Gong is chasing."
"Things I'm chasing? There's more than one or two. Plenty."
"You know perfectly well that is not what I am asking, that part."
"…."
Won-goo stared at Mu Beob-sa in silence.
"Everyone here knows that chasing Cheonmok is not unrelated to it, that part."
With that, Mu Beob-sa swept his gaze over the crew members who had been studiously looking elsewhere. Won-goo turned his head as well and read the looks on their faces.
He had always known this moment would come eventually. He'd dropped more than a few hints along the way. Still, laying everything out in the open was something that demanded careful deliberation, and so quite a bit of time had slipped past in the meantime.
Mu Beob-sa's position was simple: this was the opportunity to settle it once and for all.
"Even if this turns out to be nothing but Director Gong's personal grudge, we intend to follow without a word of complaint. Everyone here is prepared for at least that much. But the way I see it, the things Director Gong chases are not merely personal, that part."
"Whew… everyone, gather around. Close the door."
The crew quickly assembled.
"Do all of you agree with what the mage just said?"
One by one, they nodded.
"Are you sure you want to open Pandora's box? Once this freezes over, there's no going back. If you can't handle it, raise your hand now."
Everyone just shuffled awkwardly, stealing glances at one another.
"Pa, Pandora…?"
"Suwon, I'm exaggerating on purpose. Ask Jo Mu-sa what it means later."
"That part I will now explain."
"You all remember me mentioning it — why I know the ins and outs of this turned-over world so unusually well."
"You said it was because of Memory Transfer."
Jeon Hye-ji said.
"Right. But I didn't receive that Memory Transfer from just one person."
"…?"
"…?"
"…?"
Their eyes went wide with surprise.
"I was keeping it short. A full explanation would take forever. Memory Transfer is a Gift. The information broker's ability is a Gift too. Following me so far?"
"So there was one person who held the Memory Transfer ability, and a separate person who held the ability to gather information?"
"Well summarized, Hye-ji. That's right. And one more person needs to be added to that list. A foresight Gift. Jo Mu-sa — you remember I said I saw the dragon that appeared over Yongsan back in the day?"
"Yes. I remember."
"The dragon turned Yongsan into a sea of fire, tore it to pieces, and scattered those fragments across the land — and that was the start of this goddamn world. And in the early days, I had companions. Old-timer, Hyun-sung. And before I ever met Midnight."
"So you were not alone in the early days, that part?"
"Going solo came after that. I'd rather not go into detail about what happened with my old companions. Let's just say that if I'd adapted well enough, they never would have passed their memories to me in the first place."
"…."
"…."
"…."
"So right now, three people's worth of information is sitting inside my head. And the one that gave me the worst headaches was the memory of the bastard with the foresight ability. I don't know what the hell he looked into during that short time, but he left me with an enormous amount. And among it all was the reason the world ended up like this."
"A reason? Wasn't it just… the apocalypse happening?"
Jo Mu-sa asked urgently.
"Nothing in this world happens without a reason, Jo Mu-sa. You beat Respect's wife half to death for a reason too, didn't you?"
"Well… that's true…."
"There was a reason this world began. Those people were obsessed with it. To sum it up — rather than worrying about how to live going 'forward,' they obsessed over 'why' this world was made, or 'who' made it. And that connects to the book Mu Beob-sa brought. According to the information in my head, there are people who reduced the world to this state. People who waited for the end. No — people who prayed for the end to open. Zero point zero one percent of the entire world."
"Zero point zero one percent?"
"Might be even fewer than that."
"What did they do, that part?"
"They sold the planet. To be precise — Earth, and everything parasitizing on top of it."
"…."
"…."
"…."
Shock had sealed every mouth in the room. That was how staggering the words coming out of Won-goo's mouth were. Even though they had vaguely suspected some complicated reason lay behind it all, the impact was anything but light.
Won-goo pulled out a cigarette with practiced calm and lit it.
"Humanity parasitizes on Earth too, so naturally, it got sold along with the rest. But the planet doesn't just change hands the moment those leeches decide to sell. The beastkin came from space, and space has laws. Only after a legitimate process runs its course does this planet become fully sold off. We're living through that grace period right now."
"Then, Director, are you trying to stop that…?"
Hye-ji let her sentence trail off. Won-goo exhaled a lungful of smoke and snorted.
"Please. Things only just started looking up, and you think I'd be dreaming grand dreams like that? Even with everything in my head, I don't know how to undo the apocalypse, much less stop it."
"Then are we simply supposed to sit on our hands, that part?"
"The way forward… that's what we'll have to look for. But before that, there was something my old companions wanted far more urgently. A two-track plan, you see. Handle what's certain while preparing for the end."
"And what was that?"
"The bastards who sold off the Earth. Not traitors to the nation, exactly… planetary traitors, maybe? The plan was to hunt down and kill at least those bastards."
"That's… actually realistic."
"I'm laying it all out smoothly now, but it took a long time to get here. The broker's memories could be verified on the spot, but the prophet's memories couldn't. So I needed to confirm them."
"And what was the verdict? Were they accurate?"
"Not once have they been wrong so far. And today, one more piece of the puzzle fell into place. There were factions that knew about the end in advance. And Cheonmok is among them."
"Today's clue confirmed that Cheonmok was one of them, that part?"
"Didn't you look closely at old-timer's book? Somewhere around the middle. Take a look."
"…?"
Mu Beob-sa hastily flipped the book open.
"…Cheonmok."
"That's right. Cheonmok. And I'd wager 3B is involved as well."
At the mention of 3B, Jeon Hye-ji's eyes flashed.
"Even 3B…."
"I already suspect every major organization anyway. The ones that adapted suspiciously fast after the end and ballooned in size. My theory is that they got special privileges in exchange for helping sell off the Earth."
"Privileges, meaning…."
"What they received differs from group to group. But one thing is certain — their starting point was different. Every bastard I've caught so far was the same. Satisfied now?"
Won-goo spoke while looking Mu Beob-sa dead in the eye.
None of them had been entirely ignorant of these facts. Even so, hearing it all dragged out into the open was a shock they couldn't easily adjust to.
"There's no way to find out what they received, that part?"
"There is a way, actually. Keep administering treatment until they talk. And while it's not ironclad, I've inferred that the privileges they started with scaled with their contribution."
"Contribution?"
"How much they contributed to selling off the Earth."
"If this becomes public knowledge…."
Jeon Hye-ji murmured, almost to herself.
"Do you think the ones who sold off the Earth are only inside those organizations? It wouldn't occur to you that they might be mixed in among us?"
"…."
"We have no way of knowing who. That's why this matter demands extra caution."
Everyone's expressions grew graver still.
Mu Beob-sa and Won-goo sat alone together, watching the sunset. The weather and the seasons had collapsed, but one thing had remained unbroken.
Day and night.
The seasons had vanished, and the weather now shifted from hour to hour. Yet the fact that a day was made of day and night, alternating in precise turns, had never changed at all.
The only difference was that day and night had settled into perfect halves. No more long winter nights, no more drawn-out summer days. Twelve hours exactly — then the two swapped places.
So a sunset still existed. Though it hardly felt long or intense anymore.
Won-goo took a long pull from his beer. Mu Beob-sa was drinking alongside him.
"Does Yeom-gwi figure among your suspects, that part?"
Mu Beob-sa asked.
"I suspect her. No certainty, though."
"Well. If you were certain, Director Gong would be moving heaven and earth already."
"No. I wouldn't be moving at all."
"You would not?"
"Yeom-gwi is far too dangerous to touch right now."
"She is not invincible, that part."
"Not invincible — but it would cost sacrifices. If she were the kind to swell her ranks by grinding up fresh recruits the way other gangs or the Fishing Ground do, she'd have done it ages ago."
"Even so, wouldn't it be wise to deal with her before she grows larger, just as Director Gong says?"
"It's not even confirmed. I'm still verifying things even now — whether the memories planted in my head are real or not. Yeom-gwi is a Named. A heavyweight among Named, at that. You can't move against someone like that on suspicion alone. And if she turns out to be innocent, couldn't that work in our favor instead?"
"But you are nearly certain, that part."
"That much is true."
"Everything makes sense to me now."
"What do you mean?"
"The things about Director Gong's conduct that I found hard to understand all this time."
"Glad it finally clicked for you."
"What will you do now?"
"Out of nowhere?"
"Now that everyone knows, it is time to make plans, is it not, that part."
Won-goo laughed.
"We were already moving according to plan."
"…?"
"We haven't properly ballooned in size, have we. Did it look like I'd been slacking off all this time?"
"You only started growing quickly recently… before that, weren't you treading water for quite a long stretch, that part?"
"All part of the plan. I expected the potential to erupt eventually as long as we didn't die, and it played out exactly as expected. Why do you think I never swelled my numbers the way other gangs did? Too soft-hearted to do it? Wrong. It's because if you grow like that, a massive plateau hits you sooner or later. As I said — coins aren't everything. Two people can swallow nearly identical coins, and one becomes a monster like Ralph while the other ends up a marginal case like Fresh."
"Hyeong-nim!"
Lee Hyun-sung hurried over.
"What? Something else blow up?"
"No trouble, Hyeong-nim."
"Then?"
"The Fishers have entered the Shelter. It appears Pacific's information was correct."
"It would be. That bastard's never wrong. How many came?"
"They said a little over two hundred."
"That's a low number, isn't it?"
"More will likely arrive later, that part."
"Could be. Ttugi."
"Yes, Hyeong-nim."
"Tell everyone to hold off on going out and stand by for the time being. Nothing good comes from getting tangled up with the Fishers."
"A complete outbound ban this time, that part?"
"With the Fishers, a fight means no good outcome. How would we possibly handle that many bodies?"
"It is simply a matter of not provoking them, that part."
"Which is exactly why I'm telling them not to go out. Nothing good comes from tangling with people heading off to die. Hyun-sung, pass it along."
"Yes, Hyeong-nim."
"The Shelter's going to be one hell of a festival for a while."