Plane Accident (4)
Bridgeworld Airlines had its headquarters inside Atlanta International Airport, so the people from corporate headquarters handled the compensation themselves. They refunded every ticket, promised each passenger a six-hundred-dollar voucher, and arranged replacement flights right away.
The white man who introduced himself as Bob Adrey spoke to me with earnest gratitude.
“I want to thank you sincerely for what you did. Because of you, every passenger was able to get out safely.”
“It was nothing.”
“As a token of our appreciation, our airline would like to issue you a lifetime business-class ticket.”
Oh!
A lifetime of free business class.
For someone like me, who had always flown economy just to save money, it was an unbelievable perk.
“Though surely you don’t mean just one ticket?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m not going to fly alone every single time, am I? It’d be a pain to book a separate seat for a companion.”
“A companion seat is a little—”
I let the words hang there as if I were merely making an offhand remark.
“If that engine hadn’t blown, I might have been arrested for causing a disturbance on the plane, or even deported from the United States.”
“Th-that’s…”
“And if this keeps making headlines, it won’t exactly do the airline’s image any favors.”
“Th-that’s true.”
“We’re standing right in front of CNN, too. There are probably a lot of reporters around.”
“……”
He kept dabbing sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
I’d glanced at my phone a little earlier, and the breaking news alerts were already pouring in. Since even the initial report had been wrong, I had no doubt they were scrambling to manage the press right now.
“I heard that if you go on a TV show over here and talk about something like this, they pay you pretty well.”
Bob answered immediately.
“We’ll make it lifetime free, companion seat included.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Please accept it.”
I nodded.
“Come to think of it, I’m a bit shy, so interviews or TV shows in front of a crowd probably wouldn’t suit me anyway.”
It wasn’t even an unreasonable demand.
This accident was one hundred percent the airline’s fault. If it had become a major mass-casualty disaster, they would have been looking at compensation in the millions per person, and their image would have cratered.
Compared to that, buying me off with a lifetime business-class ticket—companion seat included—was cheap.
I raised a hand and called Chris over.
“Chris! Come here for a second!”
“What is it?”
I pointed at him and said, “Please give the lifetime free business-class ticket you just mentioned to this man instead of me.”
Chris looked startled and waved both hands in protest.
“N-no, what are you talking about? I’m fine.”
“Don’t refuse it.”
He kept turning me down at first, but after I pressed him a little more, he finally accepted it, clearly feeling like he had no choice.
“D-do you really think I can take it?”
Of course it was too big an advantage to refuse.
“Absolutely. This was all because of you, Chris.”
“You keep saying that, but what exactly did I do?”
I smiled.
“What did you do? You did something huge.”
Originally, it wasn’t supposed to be me who noticed the abnormal engine noise and forced the plane to stop.
He would have become the hero who saved a future American president and the passengers, and after Mark Phillips became president, he would have invited him to the White House to thank him once more.
But this time, I had essentially taken that credit from him. Naturally, the reward should have gone to him. And frankly, taking nothing at all looked better anyway.
Good deeds done without expecting anything in return were the ones that truly shone.
“I don’t even know how to thank you for this.”
I spoke to him sincerely.
“No, no. I should be thanking you.”
“A lifetime business-class ticket. I’ll use it well until the day I die.”
“Yes. Travel hard through the year after next.”
The reason I’d specifically said “through the year after next” was that, unfortunately, Bridgeworld Airlines would go bankrupt and be acquired by Theta Airlines two years later.
Well, that wasn’t why I’d yielded, of course.
The replacement flight was arranged quickly, and the passengers left one by one with their luggage in hand. I said goodbye to Christopher Romu and exchanged contact information with him.
“I hope we get to see each other again. Feel free to contact me anytime.”
“Yes. Have a pleasant trip.”
Most of the passengers had gone, but Senator Phillips and his family were still stuck at the airport.
The Atlanta airport where the incident had happened was Senator Phillips’s district. Since he was both the responsible official and the person directly involved, the airport and airline’s senior executives came to him in a line, and they discussed countermeasures together.
I pulled out my phone and started looking through the articles and comments.
Just as I was happily reading the comments, two beauties walked up to me.
The woman on the right had straight brown hair that fell to her shoulders and a calm expression, while the woman on the left had tied her hair into a ponytail and was dressed in jeans and a padded jacket.
Elena Phillips and Liana Phillips.
The older sister was a little taller and looked more mature, while the younger one was shorter and had a mischievous, tomboyish air.
They were both only a few years younger than me, but for some reason they still looked young. Was that because I’d regressed?
Liana Phillips spoke first.
“Thank you for saving us.”
Elena Phillips bowed her head toward me.
“I’m truly sorry for what I said earlier.”
“It’s fine. If you didn’t know, that kind of reaction is understandable.”
I’d seen them on the news before, but seeing them in person, they were even prettier.
Elena asked, “What are you going to Orlando for?”
“Oh! I was just going there to spend some time by myself.”
Then Liana said, “Do you want to travel with us?”
It was an intriguing offer.
But I wasn’t so clueless that I’d barge into someone else’s family trip. Besides, I still had things to do.
I shook my head.
“I was going to, but I think I’ll just head straight to New York instead.”
“Why New York?”
“To achieve a dream, I guess.”
“What dream?”
“Becoming the world’s best investor.”
“Isn’t that dream a little too big?”
Elena lightly elbowed her sister as if telling her not to be rude.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. I’m going to New York to get started and set up an investment firm.”
This time, Elena looked curious.
“Did you work in that field before?”
“Until recently, I worked at a securities firm in Korea. I left because of something that happened.”
Liana blurted out, “What happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
“We have time until the flight, so tell us before then.”
It wasn’t really a secret, so I told them what had happened.
Liana’s eyes widened. “You exposed a bad fund and quit the company?”
“Yes.”
Elena clapped her hands.
“I saw that in the news. It was a pretty big incident.”
These days, financial fraud on a scale of trillions of won didn’t happen every day, so the foreign media had picked it up too.
“Oh? So you’re a pretty famous person after all. Is that why you quit and decided to start a business?”
I nodded.
“I had the same dream before, but I failed back then. Thinking about it now, I realize I only ever said I would do it—I never actually did anything. So this time, I’m going to do it properly.”
“That’s impressive.”
We were still talking when Senator Phillips appeared.
“What are you girls talking about so enthusiastically?”
“Dad!”
He bowed his head to me.
“Once again, thank you on behalf of everyone.”
“Not at all.”
“Still, is there really nothing you need? The airport and airline both said they’d like to present you with an award.”
“I’ll pass. Everyone made it out safely, and that’s enough for me.”
An award would be useless to me, and I wouldn’t even have anywhere to put it.
Senator Phillips smiled gently and extended his hand.
“I’ll never forget the kindness you showed my family. I’ll give you my contact information, so if you ever need anything from me, call anytime.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
That was actually useful.
I took his hand firmly in mine.
Four hours had been lost because of the accident, but the family decided to continue their trip as planned.
If not now, I had no idea when they’d get another chance to go out and enjoy themselves.
Senator Phillips boarded the Orlando-bound flight again with his family.
Liana kept glancing around as if she couldn’t help herself.
“This plane’s engine is fine, right?”
Elena scolded her sister.
“Don’t say things like that. If someone else hears you, they might get nervous.”
“Hmph. Fine.”
Liana looked at her sister and said, “But isn’t it really strange?”
“What is?”
“That guy. Normally, when something like that happens, wouldn’t he be bragging about it and saying it was him?”
She had a point.
The media were curious about the Korean who had stopped the plane just before takeoff, but he had refused interviews and given all the credit to the former Air Force mechanic sitting next to him.
He really is a strange one.
Senator Phillips was thinking of the young Korean man too.
Han Miru, was it?
After a long time in politics, you developed a decent eye for people. And yet, for some reason, that young man was hard to judge.
He looked young, but he seemed experienced. He seemed to want something, but he hadn’t asked for a single thing.
He had overheard the conversation with his daughters just a little while ago.
He said he was going to start an investment firm, didn’t he?
The way he said he was going to do it properly didn’t sound like a joke.
Senator Phillips found himself smiling.
I’ve got a feeling I’ll be seeing him again.