Chapter Text
‘You know they’re going to come after you right?’
‘They can try .’
An audible exasperated sigh makes its way through the phone.
‘Jooheon. You know you can actually talk to me right? You can actually tell me you know that you’re a little out of your depth with this one…’
‘Kyun, even if I go around saying that out loud, will it really change anything? The world will still be on the very same path to hell that it’s always been.’
‘Yeah. I get that. But Joo..’ Kyun stopped short. Sounding like he was starting and stopping a response, as if he was trying to find the exact right words to say.
‘You’re choosing now to suddenly develop a filter, Im Changkyun?’
They both chuckle at that. Changkyun was, after all, known for very many things in this world but having a filter on that mouth of his was definitely not one of them.
‘I… It’s just… Why does it have to be you?’
‘Has to be someone Kyun.. why not me?’
‘And what if she’s shady? What if no one even sees the interview? What if secretly she’s working for them? Jooheon, what if… what if she’s one of them?’
‘Then that’s what it is, Kyun. I’ll deal with that if it happens. Besides, Hoseok checked her out and you, of all people, know how thorough he is. She’s clean.’
‘Yeah well, we thought the same thing about Hui, look how well that turned out for us! I wish Hoseok had been around back then to be thorough about that…’
‘For the millionth time - Hui had no choice, Kyun.’ Jooheon responded, tired of landing in the same conversation he’d been having with the same person for the last 3 years. He’d always wondered why Changkyun felt more betrayed by Hui than everyone else did. They had all been friends with him - they’d all seen him as one of them. Even when it turned out that Hui had basically been in a Sophie’s Choice conundrum and had to choose between the family he’d been born into and the family he’d chosen, Changkyun simply refused to see reason about him - about the situation. Jooheon had wanted to ask a few times but everytime anyone even mentioned Hui Changkyun would leave the room. He wanted to ask at that moment but, again, he didn't see a way through that conversation that would end peacefully. The telltale buzz of the front door intercom snapped Jooheon out of that train of thought and, thankfully, cued the end of the phone call with Changkyun.
‘I gotta go. She's here.’
‘Ok hyung. Be safe. Call me after.’
‘Sure.’
As far as meeting places go, this one was pretty ideal. It was a bunker that neither Jooheon nor any of the members of The Underground had used in a while. It was one of the spaces they’d liked the most but when you are under near constant surveillance, forming attachments to places becomes a problem of privilege that is best done without. Every place is dispensable.
Fully expecting one Kang Seulgi to be looking into the camera, Jooheon was not prepared for the face he was seeing in the monitor. No one really came to this part of town anymore. There are no nearby businesses that one could be looking for to mistakenly end up at that particular door where this person who was definitely not Kang Seulgi was standing looking as nonplussed as he was. Jooheon at first wasn't sure if he should engage the person at all, but ultimately decided it was best to send him on his way so that he didn't linger at the door and potentially scare Seulgi away when she did arrive. With that resolve, he pressed the button for the intercom.
‘Can I help you with something?’
‘Uhh.. hi, yes I think so.’ The man rifled through his bag as if looking for something until he came up with a little card that had a name scribbled on it. He continued with, ‘I’m here for the interview with … umm.. gosh! How do you even say this “ honeyonehunnit ”?’
‘You’re not a girl.’
‘As far as I’m aware, no. I’m not a girl. Is that going to be a problem?’ the man responded sarcastically.
‘The interview was supposed to be with Kang Seulgi, a girl. What happened to her?’
‘Something came up with one of her family members. She asked me to take the interview for her.’
‘We’re not doing this then. I don't know you. You have not been vetted.’ Jooheon was resolute. He began mumbling to himself, something along the lines of ‘ she didn't even have the decency to contact me herself before sending–’
‘How?’ the stranger interrupted, clearly annoyed by the turn this engagement was taking.
‘How what?’ Jooheon responded.
‘How exactly was she supposed to have contacted you? My understanding of how this interview even came to be is that all communication came from you and her responses were set up to be delivered to you by leaving some sort of message or sign in physical public spaces every Friday at 12:00. Her emergency came up this morning, a Thursday morning. How was she supposed to have contacted you to tell you she wasn't coming herself?’
Jooheon had to admit, the man had a point. The communication protocol tha Hoseok had set up was decidedly one way, for security reasons. Should he be calling Hoseok, he wondered. There was no time to run an entirely new check on this new variable in this equation though, what would a call to Hoseok really help in the next 5 minutes. The currently unknown figure standing in front of the camera wearing a tired uninterested face interrupted his thought spiral.
‘Also, how would I even know anything about your communication protocols if she hadn’t told me herself?’
Another good point. Jooheon was not in the mood for this man to keep making good points. There was too much at stake for their operation to be compromised in any way. It had taken months of surveilling Seulgi to get to this point, this interview. This was a pivotal moment. Could that moment really wait a few more months just because Seulgi sent someone else to conduct the interview in her stead? He knew that Hoseok and Hyunwoo would definitely be on the side of caution rather than expediency if he were to consult them about this. He knew Changkyun would be on the fence about it but ultimately on the side of getting their message out there as soon as possible.
‘Look. If you really don't want to do this anymore just say so and I’ll leave and let Seulgi know this thing didn't work out. I do have other things to do with my day other than look like a fool talking to a door all afternoon,’ the nameless stranger quipped. The nonchalance about whatever outcome was going to happen was evident in his voice. Jooheon was torn but an executive decision had to be made about the situation and there really was no time to consult anyone else about it.
‘Well?’ the stranger drawled through the grainy display of the front door camera, ‘are we doing this or what?’
‘I guess I have no choice.’ Jooheon replied resignedly, having weighed the options and realizing that a few more months to start getting their message into the mainstream would set the cause back years in the long run. ‘Come in.’
He pressed the buzzer to open the door and said, follow the yellow arrows all the way to the green door, I’ll open that for you once you get here.’
‘Ok,’ was all the reply Jooheon got as the man walked in and closed the door behind him. He was tall and kind of handsome? An unimportant observation to be sure but an observation Jooheon made nonetheless.
The walk from the door to this section of the bunker was 5 minutes long and was a cornucopia of confusion for a reason. The path was meant to confuse those who had no business even being there as anyone who did would have had the route taught to them from the very beginning. It was a winding path, full of weird things like stairs that go up a level to the path taking you to another set of stairs that went down two levels, that sequence repeating twice before one eventually went all the way down one flight of stairs to the basement level which used to be the hub of this particular operation.
Every possible angle was covered with surveillance that fed into the many screens in the control room where Jooheon was sitting. He watched the nameless stranger from when he entered. He wondered if this is how scientists feel when they do animal tests, if this is how the people who work at The Agency felt as they conducted mass surveillance on their fellow citizens. He was carrying a heavy looking backpack and laser focused on the yellow arrows on the floor that were guiding him. The first time he encountered the arrows pointing him to go up a flight of stairs, his face took on a comical confused expression and Jooheon couldn't help the chuckle that came out of him when he saw the man stand there trying to make sense of that twist. When he encountered the second set of stairs that led him down only to lead him to a three flight staircase he had to climb he huffed in frustration and yelled ‘come on!’ to no one in particular. This Jooheon found particularly amusing as well and made a mental note to take this video recording to show Changkyun at some point.
The winding path had been Changkyun’s idea, Jooheon knew he, of all people, would find this whole thing hilarious. By the time he alighted from the three flights of stairs, the man was almost panting, completely out of breath. Must not be the athletic type then Jooheon thought to himself as he continued to amuse himself by watching him. When he had finally reached the last stretch, Jooheon got up to meet him at the green door. He traversed the three doors between the lab and that door quite quickly and was opening the door at the same time the man was about to knock on it.
The man was momentarily surprised but quickly recovered himself upon seeing Jooheon, calming his panting to a normal breathing rate now that he had seemingly arrived at the intended destination.
‘Was that really the only way here?’ he asked with an unamused tone, ‘ or did you take me on the one night stand route?’
Jooheon chuckled at the reference and replied, ‘That was really the only way here. Why? Are you tired?’ he asked with a smirk.
‘M’fine.’ the man huffed, brushing some hair out of his eyes and standing up a little taller as if to regain some imaginary ground he’d lost by looking as disheveled as he had after walking that frustrating winding path.
Both of them knew that was a lie but Jooheon chose not to prolong that moment, instead he said, ‘there’s still a bit to go but you're gonna have to leave all your electronic devices in this room and I'll have to put a blindfold on you to take you down to the lab.’
‘Really?’ the man asked, ‘A blindfold seems like overkill…’ He seemed to be steeling himself to insist on that point but Jooheon looked at him with the same unchanging expression for a few seconds as if to communicate that this was the only way this was happening. The man looked as if he was debating with himself over the matter as well until Jooheon broke the silence by parotting back what the man had said to him before, ‘Well ? Are we doing this or what? ’ That earned a chuckle from both of them and the man nodded as if to say touché before replying, ‘Alright, I underst and.’
‘Cool. You can put your bag down anywhere and take out one notebook and one pen.’
‘I can't use my recorder?’
‘Is it analog?’
‘Yes, it is.’
Jooheon thought for a moment considering the wisdom of allowing this device into the lab before replying with, ‘should be fine. We’ll know anyway once we pass the faraday cage if you have anything on you that you shouldn't have…’
‘You’re not going to pat me down?’
‘We’re almost in the 22nd century dude,’ Jooheon scoffed as if it was the most preposterous thing that he could have asked before continuing, ‘unless there’s some other reason you want me to pat you down?’
The man looked appropriately sheepish before turning to his bag to take out the approved items. Once he got back up, Jooheon passed him the blindfold, waited for him to put it on properly, turned on his heel and simply said, ‘This way’ as he led them to the inner sanctum of the space.
No alarm bells went off as they passed the final checkpoint so Jooheon was at least a little more assured as they entered the lab.
‘I can't really offer you anything unless you want expired coffee…’
‘I’m alright thanks.’
‘Shall we start?’
‘Sure. But before we do, two things. 1. I’m sure Seulgi briefed you but I feel like I should repeat that I've only agreed to grant this interview under the strict condition of my anonymity.’
‘Alright. Is there a reason for that other than the obvious?’ the man asked, genuine interest on his face as he did.
‘The obvious being not wanting to be found out by The Agency?’ Jooheon responded, before continuing, ‘I suppose you could say there are other reasons but the Agency thing, that’s top of mind at all times you know?’
‘Yes, I do understand that. On a purely academic level though - I’ve never had occasion to be on the bad side of The Agency myself.’
‘Well, this interview might change that. I hope you’re prepared.’
I’ve taken… precautions. I should be fine.`` he responded before continuing, ‘You said two things, what's the other?’
‘Yes, who are you? I need to know more about you before we start.’
‘Oh. I’m Chae Hungwon. I'm an investigative journalist but I’m independent . Got sick of pushing the propaganda for mainstream establishments about a decade ago and now I work mostly alone or with a few trusted individuals who share my ideals. That’s how I know Seulgi actually. I have connections who share my work with the right people to get my stuff into the mainstream. It always gets taken down of course but it does enough rounds to matter.’
‘I see.’ Jooheon responded slowly, mulling the information he had just been given. He seemed to be gearing up to ask a follow up question but appeared to change his mind at the last minute, saying instead, ‘Okay, we can start.’
‘Okay. I guess, first things first… Where is The Underground?’
Jooheon chuckled at the question. This was part of the problem of today’s society. The constant need to make things make sense by attaching them to a physical thing that they can touch, point to or judge as suits their needs. This is how The Agency had turned them into non-thinking automatons - this blind acceptance of what is without ever really thinking about what should be. Jooheon doesn't say any of that out loud though. He knows how it sounds - imperious and judgemental. To get their message to the mainstream, they had to meet their audience where they were and not talk down to them in such ways so he mulled it over for a bit before settling on a response.
‘The Underground is not a place.’ Jooheon watched Chae Hyungwon’s face contort with confusion mixed with interest, silently encouraging Jooheon to elaborate.
‘Well, the first thing you need to know is that it’s not a place. The Underground is an idea. You know the history of our society… We used to have freedom of speech - wars were fought defending that right. It wasn't long before there was no longer freedom after speech and not much longer after that, no freedom at all. While I hate to quote the bible about anything because Christianity is a whole other propaganda machine that we do not have the time to unpack right now, one thing from it describes who or what we are perfectly.’
‘First, I share your sentiments about the ‘good book’ and second, what's the connection?’
‘There’s something in the bible where a person was questioning congregation as a prerequisite to worship I think, and what the good lord said to him in response was something along the lines of ‘where two or more of you are gathered, I am there’. That's essentially what The Underground is. Though we may not gather in spaces we do come together in a common understanding that the world… society… needs to wake the hell up and take back control.’
‘That’s one hell of a non-answer dude. What am I supposed to do with that?’
‘It’s a lot to take in. One does have to first open up the mind to unlearn everything they thought they knew to even try to begin to understand it. I guess what I’m trying to say, in the simplest terms is.. the whole point of the Underground is that it can't be defined as any one thing because the people we’re fighting… The Agency… do not wage war on only one front.’
‘Maybe let me try some simpler questions. Hopefully that will clarify a lot more of what you’ve already told me.’
‘Shoot.’
‘How did it start? Who started it?’
‘I hate to sound like a broken record but that’s also a complicated answer…’
‘Give me the dummy guide answer then. I’m pretty smart, I’m sure I can keep up.’
‘Well, for me and a lot of others like me, it began with ‘The Sayer’. A few years ago, there was this guy, a spoken word artist who started posting his pieces on the mainstream. He was speaking about real issues we’re facing as a society, warning us that our complacency would lead to our enslavement. You’ll only find his pieces on the dark web now - they were scrubbed off the mainstream a long time ago but by the time they were, his message had reached some of us already. And somehow, we all seemed to find each other over the years and came together to expand on the work he had done.’
‘And who is this sayer?’
‘The Sayer… his underground name is ‘The Sayer’… he’s not a sayer in the way you’re saying it. Each word in his name is capitalised.’
‘And you have a magic ability to hear caps in speech?’
‘Nah, I’m just trying to make sure you get it right when you write your article. But, to answer your question, no one knows who he is - we only know what he stands for.’
‘So he’s your hero but you could meet him on the side of the road and not even know it?’
‘Essentially. But that’s also sort of the point.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Heroes. Idols. The physical forms of those things are exactly the problem. You saw the wave of new ‘artists’ being factory made to push out The Agency’s agenda through music, tv and entertainment. They make music based on algorithms that are engineered to be catchy. Their music videos are bright and colorful to engage the eye and people find themselves singing along and engaged with that stuff to the point that they are desensitized to the messages they are being subliminally fed. And then you have those idols’ lives on display 24/7. Every story on television feeds the beast. Every piece of media anywhere too. And any opinion that does not feed that narrative is scrubbed from the mainstream. Instead of critical thinking, people attach emotionally to these people they see on their screens and behave as they behave and remain stuck in the endless loop. A hero you can see is no hero at all. That's why The Sayer means what he does to us, to the cause.’
‘You’ve basically described Christianity but we won't dwell on that for now. What is the goal of The Underground?’
‘We want to help people open their eyes. We want to show them what is happening right in front of their faces. Show them that there used to be a world where people could have opinions, dreams, hopes and ambitions without being dictated to about how to live their lives by a few people in one government agency. We do this by countering mainstream entertainment and media with the work we do.’
‘So essentially you want to replace The Agency’s propaganda with your own version of propaganda?’
‘That’s a terribly simplistic view of things but I suppose in a way you’re right.’
‘Let’s move on. Do you all know each other personally? All the members of the Underground I mean…’
‘Some more than others. I mean we all have the cookie cutter life that others have, for appearances sake. We have jobs and bills and we pay our taxes. We just also have our other identities as well on top of that.’
‘And how do you fund this operation?’
‘I couldn't begin to answer that, our structure is horizontal and that’s not my area. There’s just always funding for the things we need to do when we need to do them.’
‘What do you hope to achieve with this interview?’
‘There is no progress to be made in trying to appeal to people who already agree with us so we are trying to reach and appeal to society as a whole I guess. ’
‘Mmm… why now though? Why have you decided to take your message mainstream?’
‘Honestly, we’re finally in a place where there are enough of us to carry the message forward. If more of us rise up to stand up to the system, well… maybe things can start to change for the better.’
‘Now that we’ve covered all that, let’s circle back to a simpler description of The Underground…’
‘An idea is indestructible. It doesn't feel, it doesn't need food or water to live. It cannot be arrested, silenced or be killed. The Underground is the idea that there is more, that we can be free as we once were and that finding that freedom is in our hands and ultimately our responsibility.’
‘Mmm. I think that actually is starting to make sense…’
‘Have I converted you to the side of anarchy?’
‘Wouldn’t that be something! But, my job is not to have an opinion either way, I only have to convey the message as I hear it. In old newsman lingo, I don't create the news, I just report on it.’
‘Fair point.’
‘Well, this was… interesting, to say the least.’
Jooheon only chuckled, a lifeless thing with no mirth. It always surprised him how tired he got trying to explain the whole thing. He knew it was because of the passion he felt about it and how animated he got explaining things but he never tired of it. People needed to know the truth, to see the truth.
Opting out of any awkward post interview small talk, he got up, Hyungwon taking the hint that their interaction had come to its end and said, ‘Okay I’m gonna put the blindfold back on and I’m gonna lead you back into the street. Careful on the steps’.
Jooheon led Hyungwon back to retrieve his bag and led him out of the building. Hyungwon was surprised that the route back to the street took a mere 30 seconds compared to the few minutes it took when he had entered the building but he did not voice this thought out loud. He felt the breeze on his face and heard a door slam behind him. No signs of his interviewee could be heard. He cautiously took off his blindfold and looked around to find himself in an unfamiliar alley. He rightly took that as a cue to make himself scarce.
Only once Hyungwon was sure he was out of line of sight of the cameras surrounding the bunker did he rush to find his phone to make a call. The phone rang three times before it was answered and the only thing Hyungwon said was,
‘It’s done.’