Chapter Text
He was looking at the grand scenery of Seoul City through an LED wall screen behind his desk when the door to his office opened.
His secretary stood at the threshold with a tablet and stylus in his hands. "Mr. Im, sir--"
"Don't you know how to knock?" Mr. Im turned around, his face already red from anger.
It was a bad day for the leader of the Global Home Seekers Alliance at the South Korean headquarters. He hadn't slept for thirty hours, and the black bags under his eyes were only the first indications of that. A hand raked his brown hair back as he took a deep breath to regain his composure.
"Sorry, Secretary Lee, what is it?"
The blond man closed the door behind him and almost tiptoed his way across the office to stand beside Mr. Im's desk, who was once again occupied by the leader himself.
"Please look here, Mr. Im," the secretary said, gesturing to the wall. He made a few swipes on the tablet and instantly, the blue sky and buildings and buzzing traffic vanished from the screen, replaced by a simple graph.
Mr. Im swiveled around on his desk chair, his eyes darting rapidly between the statistics that were projected in front of him.
"This is the daily update for the number of people who signed up for the New World Project. The orange bar is the number of people who went onto the spaceship in Gimpo Airport. The blue bar is the total number of people who went onto spaceships around the world. The smaller bars next to them shows the change in--"
Secretary Lee stopped abruptly when his boss slammed a hand onto the desk, startling him so much he almost dropped the device he was holding. His shoulders were still tense when Mr. Im silently changed the screen back to Seoul City, except this time it was a live footage instead of a preset wallpaper.
The sky was grey instead of blue, and the roads were devoid of life, save for an occasional vehicle rolling past. A layer of smog blanketed the buildings, making their edges fuzzy.
Mr. Im put his face into his hands and mumbled into them.
"I- I'm sorry, did you say something," Secretary Lee broached, leaning in close.
He soon realized how poor of a decision he made, because in the next second, Mr. Im looked up and shouted at him. "Why are the numbers dropping?! Shouldn't people be fighting for a spot? What is wrong with them? Or, are you trying to tell me that something is wrong with the project itself?"
The secretary gulped and stepped back on reflex. "U-um," he stammered, clammy hands pressing onto the tablet with a newfound urgency. "The troubleshooting department thinks that it's because the general public refuses to believe that the end of the world is nearing. They think it's not worth it to leave everything behind and go into a strange planet in sp- space."
The leader seemed to be deep in thought. Secretary Lee held his breath, not daring to make a noise that might disturb the tense atmosphere.
"The people who signed up... what kind of people are they?"
The question was vague, but years of experience meant that the secretary knew exactly what Mr. Im wanted. He pulled up a new pie chart onto the wall screen. Under the dim environment of the office, the bright colors stung his eyes.
The purple chunk took up more than three-quarters of the circle. "Most of them are poor families and victims of crimes looking for a new start... Around ten percent are teenagers who probably went onto the spaceships on a whim to leave home... Less than one percent is what we wanted: scientists and innovators who are looking for a challenge, a revolution, or a break-through in their work."
Mr. Im bit onto his lip until he tasted blood. What he said next was more to himself than to his secretary. "So basically, most of them are useless. Teenagers are a little better... at least they think differently. Damn it!" He sucked in a sharp breath of air. "Our project barely kick-started, and we need more... more talent. How else are we going to create a better, healthier and longer-lasting home on a new planet?"
The leader stood from his desk. Secretary Lee retreated until his back was touching the wall, giving Mr. Im the space he needed to pace and think.
After covering the perimeter of the office, Mr. Im's footsteps finally slowed. However, his frown never left his face as he addressed his secretary.
"Lee, is the head scientist in today? Bring him here."
The request was so out-of-the-blue that the blond man took a second to process the words. "You mean Ki-- no, Dr. Yoo?"
"Yes." Mr. Im pinched the bridge of his nose, impatience dripping from his voice. "Bring him here now."
The secretary left the room without another word. Two minutes later, he ran back from the lab, slightly panting. A shorter, bespectacled man followed into the leader's office, his long lab coat swaying as he moved.
"What do you want," the scientist asked, not even caring to look the leader in the eye.
Mr. Im opened his mouth, but seemed to have thought better of it and titled his head to the ceiling instead. "Secretary Lee?"
The blond took a step forward. "Yes, sir."
"Turn the cameras off."
For security purposes, there were cameras in every room of this facility. They were on twenty-four-seven, no exceptions.
"But, sir--"
The scientist was intrigued now. He stepped forward, too, and placed a hand on the secretary's shoulder. "It's alright, Jooheon. Go."
Secretary Lee stared at the scientist for a while before saying, "Yes, Ki-- I mean, Dr. Yoo". He understood that they were to be left alone, so he slipped out the office and shut the door behind him.
Only when the blinking red lights of all the security cameras extinguish did Mr. Im finally speak. He had switched the wall screen back to the live footage - it was his favorite setting, because it reminded him of what time it was, and gave him the illusion that he was outside.
"I have a problem, and I want you to solve it."
The scientist crossed his arms over his chest. "Are we speaking as friends, or as employer and employee?"
Mr. Im stayed quiet for a bit while his features softened. The scientist let out a breath through his nose and pushed his glasses up, tapping a foot against the carpeted floor as he waited.
Finally, the leader met eyes with the scientist. "Hyung... I need your help."
Dr. Yoo sighed and approached the leader slowly. "What's on your mind?"
Mr. Im let the scientist pat his back reassuringly as he gave a brief summary of the concerns that bothered him the past two days. "No one believes in us... It doesn't matter that we have the government's full support - we need the power of the public, their talent and their skills, to truly make planet ATZ-008 thrive. And you know this, hyung."
There was a moment of silence as Dr. Yoo flipped over his friend's words in his mind over and over again. When it occurred to him what Mr. Im was thinking of doing, he pulled back in surprise.
"Are you suggesting...?"
Mr. Im nodded slowly. "We have no choice. You know that, hyung," he repeated. "It's time to release the Invincs."
"Im Changkyun!" The scientist shouted, unwilling to believe that his friend and working partner for ten years was proposing the one thing they promised not to do.
A shadow passed over Mr. Im's face as he circled back to his desk. The scientist was powerless as he watched the leader's fingers fly across a keyboard before hovering a finger over the Enter key.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Yoo."
Then, he pressed it, and the command to unlock the containers and release the killer robots was sent to every country in the world.