PAHO 5

─ Our train will be arriving shortly at Seoul, Seoul Station. Will passengers who are getting off please prepare in advance…

As soon as the announcement informing them of the stop was heard, most of the passengers in the car stood up as if they had been waiting. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had packed his backpack a little later, stepped down onto the platform around the time the train’s departure signal sounded.

The smell of dampness wafted from the station, where the rain had just stopped. On the large electronic display board placed below the station, a message welcoming visitors to Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, was written in eight languages, including English.

Even though it was close to midnight, the inside of the station was a sea of people. Japanese tourists lined up in droves in front of the security checkpoint, following the guidance of a tour guide holding a sign. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had stealthily followed behind them, took out his passport from his backpack.

To enter Seoul city, one had to go through an entry procedure, which involved an identity and eligibility verification process. The citizenship card Min Chanyoung had given him was in the form of a wristwatch, and it was green, the general entry level. In addition to a fake name, date of birth, and a detailed address within Seoul, even a travel route stating he had entered Seoul via Busan Port from Fukuoka was perfectly forged.

Holding the citizenship card, which cost tens of millions of won just to issue, he felt a mix of complicated emotions. He had made countless efforts to obtain citizenship so far, but as an unregistered person according to the resident agency, it was difficult to even get a decent job. He had never imagined that he would receive a citizenship card and come to Seoul just for a single request.

“Let go! You fucking bastards! I said take your hands off my father!”

At the sound of crying that suddenly came from the other side, Nam Gyeonhwa reflexively turned his head. At the main entrance leading to the plaza, an old man was being dragged away by petition police, his arms held by them.

“It seems they were people who were trying to sneak into the city without going through the official process. As you can see, we are making a lot of effort to create a safe city.”

The tour guide explained in a cheerful voice to the murmuring Japanese tourists. Receiving an urgent glance as a signal, the assistant guide raised the sign high and guided them to their destination.

Even as the kneeling man cried out “Father, Father” towards the old man being dragged away, the security guards didn’t budge. Their attitude was as indifferent as if a dog were barking.

“Mr. Kim Juan?”

Startled by the voice calling his name while clapping, Nam Gyeonhwa turned his head. In the brief moment he had looked away, his turn for inspection had already come. If he stood there spacing out, his fake identity could be discovered. The inspector, pointing to the bag in the basket on the checkpoint, asked.

“Is the backpack your only luggage?”

“Yes.”

“What were you doing in Fukuoka?”

“I was on a business trip for my company.”

“If it’s a company, which company are you with?”

“It’s called W.S., a fashion company under Samwon Corporation.”

At the unhesitating answer, the inspector checked back and forth between the photo on the ID and Nam Gyeonhwa, then brought the citizenship card to the automatic registration machine. Immediately, the words ‘Entry Complete’ appeared on the green panel.

“Congratulations on your safe return.”

Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been staring blankly at the inspector at the cheerful greeting, finally took the citizenship card. As if to resolve the situation that had just occurred, classical music was flowing from the plaza speakers.

When Min Chanyoung had offered to arrange the request, Nam Gyeonhwa had vaguely imagined a situation similar to contract work. The skills he had learned in the mercenary group were mostly killing techniques for the purpose of capturing and killing the remnants of the former North Korean army, and it was not uncommon for people to go on to become contract killers based on this.

However, the content of the request he received was completely different from what he had expected.

‘All you have to do is go to Seoul and pick up one item.’

Although he said it as if it were an easy and simple suggestion, in Nam Gyeonhwa’s view, there were more than a few questionable points. If it were simply a matter of bringing one item from Seoul, it would be much safer for the security team, with their guaranteed identities, to go directly, rather than bringing in an outsider.

‘Actually, a head office employee could pick it up directly, but the rendezvous point is in a bit of a difficult area. It’s a matter where our involvement can’t be exposed, so we need a proxy.’

On the condition that he accepted the request, the amount Min Chanyoung offered was fifty thousand dollars. Even a rough calculation showed that the amount, equivalent to approximately fifty million won, was enough to sway one’s reason.

Fifty million won wasn’t a huge fortune, but it wasn’t a small amount of money either. Not only could he get a citizenship card through a broker, but he could also add a significant amount to Haejin’s treatment costs. He could buy him the toys he liked as he pleased, and instead of mending and wearing old clothes picked up from the waste disposal site, he could buy him new clothes. He would be able to give him a life of affluence, not the hand-to-mouth existence they had now.

Before heading to Seoul, Nam Gyeonhwa visited Jo Yongsik’s house at dawn.

‘I think I need to go to Seoul for a little while.’

Jo Yongsik, who had welcomed Nam Gyeonhwa warmly even though he had been woken from a deep sleep, couldn’t hide his flustered face the moment he heard the destination. Nam Gyeonhwa, who lacked not only a Seoul citizenship card but also a passport, driver’s license, or any proper identification, could be arrested by the National Resident Agency as a person with identity issues, let alone be able to enter Seoul. Jo Yongsik, who had chosen to stay in Mangmae County because he couldn’t afford the high cost of living in Seoul, knew this, and there was no way Nam Gyeonhwa, who was in a vulnerable position, wouldn’t know it even more.

To Haejin, who was crying and begging to go with him, he soothed and comforted him by promising to be back after ten nights, and at the same time, he entrusted Jo Yongsik with Haejin’s belongings that he had packed in advance, along with a document envelope. Inside were his brother’s bankbook containing all the money he had saved up so far, and various application forms. They were preparations he had made so that if anything were to happen, Haejin alone could at least get a citizenship card or, at worst, be adopted overseas.

The scent of summer roses wafted through the night air. It was the scent of fresh flowers from the rose bushes surrounding the citizen’s park across the street. People walked in an orderly fashion above the intersection lined with high-rise buildings as if built to a standard, and on the electronic display board at the monorail station, all sorts of luxury brand advertisements were being broadcast without a gap.

Passing by the neat scenery that looked like a work of art, he headed for the subway entrance behind the history park. After the overground railway was built, the existing underground stations and underpasses were all buried with cement, so there were only a few entrances left. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had come down to the station, took out his phone. The model, discontinued over a decade ago, was a temporary item he had received for necessary contact in case of an emergency and to track Nam Gyeonhwa’s current location, and its internal transmission device had been completely removed. Because of this, he could receive calls from Min Chanyoung, but it was impossible for Nam Gyeonhwa to contact him first. It was an inconvenience in many ways, but for Nam Gyeonhwa, who was the subordinate party in the contract, there was no choice.

Embedded in the phone was a map. Without any detailed information to refer to, all there was was a circle marked in the middle, but the context was clear enough.

It was the rendezvous point to receive the item Min Chanyoung had told him to bring back.

On a certain day in July, forty years ago from now, the North Korean government was blown up.

It wasn’t a metaphorical expression; a bomb literally exploded in downtown Pyongyang, destroying the administrative building and other national facilities. The incident, in which the family of the supreme authority at the time, the Premier of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and most of the high-ranking officials were all killed in the explosion, caused a huge stir worldwide.

The news worried about the outbreak of a world war day after day, and invited experts predicted that the remaining officials would forcibly maintain the regime, even if it meant mobilizing the military unreasonably. However, less than a month after the explosion, most of the North Korean military officials and ordinary soldiers surrendered and declared their intention to defect to the South. The South Korean government actively received aid from the United States of America to avoid encroachment on its interests by neighboring countries, and after many days of long negotiations, they were able to declare the end of the war. It was the reunification of North and South Korea, which happened in an instant.

The joy of being restored as one Korean peninsula and one Korean people after a century did not last long. Due to the sudden reunification, the cost of living throughout the country skyrocketed, and people with nowhere to go wandered around the country like refugees, which soon became a major social problem.

With tens of thousands of people flocking to the metropolitan area, including Seoul, every day, all sorts of crimes occurred one after another. From pickpocketing to organized robbery, group assaults, and murder of unspecified individuals, the level of public safety hit rock bottom. In a situation that even the police could not control, a shooting spree finally occurred in front of the National Assembly building.

The angry public opinion, which began with the tearful press conference of a woman who had lost her innocent sanitation worker father, became a sufficient foundation for the National Assembly to push for the enactment of a citizen regulation law.

Although some civic groups rose up, claiming it was unreasonable, the bill, which gained momentum like a sudden death, was passed in half a year, and the enforcement decree was issued in less than a year. It was the beginning of the “chosen people” system, known as the ‘Special Citizen Act’.

According to the Special Citizen Act, all citizens with an address in Seoul have priority rights. However, children under the age of thirteen with a record of being born in Seoul are protected as special citizens regardless of their guardians, in accordance with a special decree of the Seoul Metropolitan Council. In addition, foreigners with assets received equal preferential treatment depending on the scale of their investment, from private medical support to education, and even an annual citizen’s pension was distributed.

While citizen parks and various public facilities were being reorganized, the monthly rent for a small one-room apartment of about 16.5 square meters soared to ten million won, and companies imposed hiring restrictions based on the parents’ origin and residence to weed out the flood of job seekers. Young couples who could not afford Seoul housing prices sought out brokers so that at least their children could be granted special citizen status, and the children who became citizens in this way were raised under the auspices of Seoul.

On the surface of Seoul, which had come to pursue a clean and safe environment and perfect public order, there were no longer any shabby apartments or unsightly shantytowns that marred the view, nor were there any foreign streets like pubs, brothels, or Chinatowns. It was truly a thoroughly controlled paradise on earth and an ideal land.

However, where there is light, there is always a shadow as an appendix. Gangsters, whose main business was entertainment such as casinos and clubs, chose the underground as a new base to avoid regulations. As pubs, clubs, and casinos sprang up like mushrooms in the deserted Gangnam underground shopping district, not only domestic but also foreign tourists became interested and frequented the place.

The National Assembly and the government drew a line by declaring it a special autonomous district, ‘Anbinnakdo’, instead of banning the various illegal entertainments taking place underground.

【The surface is not responsible for anything that happens within the underground special autonomous district.】

With this one phrase alone, the surface of Seoul became the perfect realm of the day, and the underground remained a Sodom and Gomorrah that could pour out the night. For the citizens who had obtained a flawless new city, it was a place where they could enjoy secret illegal activities, and for the non-citizens who had come to Seoul to find a way to live, it was a foothold for the Korean dream.