Work Text:
I always wanted to be a competitive swimmer.
I was good at it when I was just a child, the water was something that simply felt natural to me the moment I stepped into the pool for the first time. My arms waving through, the body pushing forward, and the rush of chugging ahead. Sure, it might’ve been only a child’s play at first, but I was sure of it. This is what I wanted to do.
I was so sure of this that this dream followed me as a child towards my teenage years. I earned a few medals here and there from smaller competitions, and my name was slowly rising to be something big. I had a genuine shot at going towards the one thing I had been striving for. All I needed was one more win at the local competition happening in Nest K, a win that would let me audition for a genuine swimmer team; a dream realized.
Of course, no one can strike gold that many times. That’s what I’ve learned throughout all my years watching others succeed and fall. I knew my streak of wins and glory would end eventually, and I was bathing myself in it for as long as I could; but never would I imagine that the way I would go out was through a broken neck. I forget if it was because I had slipped, if the board was loose a screw, or if it was just simple bad luck; but that was undeniable.
I was done for.
I always wanted to be a competitive swimmer, but what happened that day broke me as a whole; both literally and figuratively. My career had plummeted where it began, and while to most it seemed like just a scratch, it felt like death for me. A death that.. I thought it was genuinely the end of me.
And then, I was staring at a syringe. A bottle of green fluid on top, that seeped into me at a moment’s notice. A broken neck, fixed within mere seconds of injection, as if it was never there. And within that moment… it clicked in my head. Something as miraculous as that, a simple vial that could save someone; I admit that it was something that truly shook my world.
So imagine this. That a former swimmer would be applying to K Corp the minute he was able to. All because of one green vial that had saved me from reaching death. I wasn’t expecting to get in as instantly as I did, but to say that I didn’t prepare myself for the moment would be a lie.
I researched, I studied to the brink of exhaustion, and I made sure that everything a K Corp Feather required I would be able to fulfill. Among the many who applied, I wanted to be standing out like none other. And with a shallow breath, finally receiving and opening the letter with the K Corporation logo on it, I was able to breathe sharply as I would be able to start the following day… as a secretary.
And truth be told, it wasn’t what I expected at all at first.
Chief Dongrang came off to me as a passionate man, dedicated to his work. He always talked about his ideals, the reasons why he was working towards his goal, and K Corp in general. It felt somewhat odd at first, I’d admit, but it felt right that I was working alongside a man who equally believed just like me that K Corp was striving for the better of everyone. And while the methods are truly odd, like the productions of the vials themselves, I wasn’t one to question such meticulous work.
And it was like that for a long time. While I wasn’t the most experienced employee in terms of finance, business, and logic, it wasn’t that hard to handle. Dongrang worked in the labs with his team trying to rise above and beyond, while I handled everything else in the outside scheme of things. Striking deals, securing posts, achieving the impossible. I swear that the first year I was employed under the Chief’s right arm, we were running towards the position of Best Department. I remembered the face of our supposed rival department’s manager, and while I was never one to really show off, I felt a bit of a smirk in my mind.
It felt good. This work genuinely felt like I was born for it. And all it took was a broken neck… and a vial of tears.
I can’t remember exactly when it was that Dongrang finally had decided to entrust me with the secret of the company’s Singularity; but when I saw it for the first time, I really couldn’t believe what I was looking at. An eye that cried tears of healing at the sight of horrific events. It was brutal, if one was being honest with one another. It would scare those who weren’t prepared to witness such a sight… and yet…
It was sort of intriguing, really. How the one thing that would be able to save many from dying was something that stemmed from suffering. Dongrang watched me through the corner of his eye as I rubbed my eyes and watched it, almost content with the reaction received. It’s like he was saying, “This is how I know I found the perfect assistant”, and that in its own right made me feel proud. Proud of making it this far. Proud of joining this team. Proud of being an employee of K Corp.
So maybe, that’s why when that woman who was trying so desperately to destroy everything we worked so hard on, the life’s work of my Chief and the years I’ve put into this company, that’s when I stood firmly on my choice.
“Fine then, will you concede if I prove their safety by walking into this pool?”
These tears, this pool that I’ve watched for several years that has saved so many lives, including my fellow co-workers in this wing, were never a source of danger. They were never a source of killing. If it were true, then maybe I wouldn’t be alive today. Maybe the teen who dreamed of becoming a swimmer who had crashed and broken his neck would’ve died that day, and that teen would not exist to be where he is now. Maybe that would’ve been the alternative reality, but that was not the case.
I took off my glasses from where they rested, I took off my prideful coat that I’ve worn since the beginning of my hiring, and I took off the lemon-flavored lollipop that I had hand-picked for this day. I know their eyes were staring at me like I was mad, but I knew I had nothing to worry about. I know that I can rely on my Chief, and that I can rely on this Corporation that I’ve seen grow and evolve.
“Haha, you’re overdoing it again, Samjo. You don’t have to go through the trouble. It’s okay, so just stay here.”
Maybe he just didn’t want me to see swimming recklessly, or maybe he didn’t want me to de-purify the vat of regenerative tears; but it was truly no trouble. I would pay the cost for it later when I rose back up from it and he would give me a good scolding. The woman would have no choice but to accept that her accusations were nothing but foolery.
“... I could only be here because I trust this technology. I’m proud of it.”
“I’ll be back in a minute.”
“... Wait, Samjo-”
I always wanted to be a competitive swimmer, but that dream was never truly meant to be. Instead, I had found a new dream and I was able to achieve it. Alongside a man I knew I could trust, and a Corporation that I knew I could believe in and swear my loyalty to.
So, I’m proud of where I stand now. And I hope to be even prouder of what lies next in the future.
Splash.
Because I know I will be there to see our wondrous advancements with my own two eyes.