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Could it be possible for one to be so close to another person to the point that one would be able to recognise the other just from the way they breathe... or from just their presence nearby? He thought he had just imagined it, after all, he had been looking at his phone... rereading and rechecking his flight briefing and flight to confirm the details with Captain Won and Captain Jang.
He might just be mistaken; it could've easily been anyone else. And it's only two people as well, an adult man and a child. That person wasn't the only one who had a child around that age...
But then, as he headed to the economy class cabin... he inadvertently realised that he hadn't been mistaken. Earlier, like it or not... he did sense that person passing by him at the airport.
What were the odds that the person just happened to get on the same plane as the one he's co-piloting?
Captain Park Jaehyuk was once... a respected senior. Before that incident, he... on top of everyone else who had the chance to fly together with that man, would've had the highest confidence in that man's ability to ensure a safe flight throughout their journey. That was why, back then... when his late wife had told him that she would be on the same flight as the man on her next shift, he didn't feel that he needed to worry about his wife's safety on board the plane piloted by that man. Even if he wasn't in the same flight as his wife back then, since he knew that Captain Park would be there to make sure everyone on board would be safe... he shouldn't have had any reason to worry.
And then, that incident had to happen.
He wished that he wouldn't have to see that person again in his life ever. Until the end of his life, he wouldn't ever want to see that man again. Because if he did, he'd have to face that fact again... and remember...
... how his wife had her life ended so suddenly.
Something was wrong... Park Jaehyeok was behaving oddly.
Hyunsoon picked up the internal phone to call the chief purser to ask about Captain Park. Since the man should've shown some other symptoms earlier, and Chief Purser Kim seemed to have already recognised Park. Was the man ill or something?
"—he said that he's not hurt, he just passed out sometimes. I think he has a fear of flying as well..."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Park Haehyuk... was afraid of flying? That's hard to believe!
"Fear of flying? Not him, surely."
He could hear the purser gasp in surprise as Hyunsoo explained further. "He used to be a famous pilot..."
As he ended the call, Hyunsoo let out a soft sigh. What was he supposed to think now? What did she mean by a 'fear of flight'?
But the more his thoughts started to settle, the more things started to fall into place. It explained the things he had seen earlier, when he finally reached the cockpit. Captain Jang and Park were able to stabilise the plane... yet Park seemed to look even worse than either him or Captain Jang.
And Park did seem to have some kind of difficulty breathing—did the man have a panic attack? Was it because of that incident?
Since that time, Park had handed in their resignation... and he hasn't seen the man at work since. He always thought that perhaps Park had gone to apply for work at another airline... or some other place. He thought that the man would be resuming their life somewhere in shame, which could be a reason why he never encountered the man again anywhere.
How could that person have fallen so far?
[Sky Korea 501, we'd like you to turn back. I repeat—]
As soon as he received the order to turn back, he had a very bad premonition. But to ensure that everyone onboard would be able to make it back safely on the ground, he had to grit his teeth and follow orders... and hoped for the best. But then, not long after he turned the plane around... he received yet another bad news: Captain Jang had unfortunately passed away.
He barely recalled the timeline of the crisis that had happened to them right now, but he remembered that both he and Captain Won were still fine at lunchtime. And then during the time he had gone to check on Ryu Jinseok, apprehended and questioned the guy... Captain Won had somehow died from the virus. He thought that Captain Won would be safe in the cockpit, but suppose the captain had already been infected with the virus before he was able to catch Ryu. Was it because of the steak?
The earliest symptom of infection was apparently the emergence of blisters on the infected skin, but he didn't recall seeing any blisters on Captain Won before he left the cockpit. (But then, he could've missed it!) So the signs must have appeared later, after he left and since he didn't tell the captain about the blisters... Captain Won wasn't aware that they had already been infected by the deadly virus.
He noticed that Captain Jang had the blisters after they managed to restore control of the plane. But he thought that maybe... if they were able to slow down the progress of the infection, they might still be a chance that they would be safe—not to mention that it's risky to have Captain Jang doing the piloting when they had already shown signs of infection.
Not that he was any better. He heard that the virus was airborne, but it should also be contagious through the transfer of bodily fluids. And he got hit with Ryu's blood point blank earlier.
If only they were able to land—perhaps they could already be treated now... but they had to turn back.
With Captain Jang also dead... he was the only pilot left who could fly this plane. No, there was still another person... and he hadn't yet heard any mention of that person being infected. But then, there's the whole bit about the flying trauma.
The responsibility for flying this plane and making sure that everyone was safe, how can he possibly shove that burden to THAT person?
He needed to get this plane back home by himself at all costs!
[Sky Korea 501! Sky Korea 501!]
[Your velocity is Mach 0.85. Is this correct?]
He had no doubt that the people back home would immediately notice the increase in speed from the plane. He was able to do it discreetly so that the passengers wouldn't notice it; he just hoped that they could at least make it back home in time. Because he started to notice the blisters on his hands...
Getting this plane... and everyone in it home safely (regardless of the aftermath later) should be his responsibility. Because he was the only one remaining. Since he could've been the one who died... instead of Captain Won. He switched the lunches that they got earlier, after all. The one who was supposed to eat the steak was him—so if the steak had been contaminated as he suspected, he should've really...
So since his life ended up being spared instead of Captain Won... he should've at least, be able to protect everyone.
He didn't even feel like he wanted to still be keeping any grudges anymore... because deep down, he knew the truth. 'He' wasn't really at fault for what happened to Yeowon, that man just did what they thought was the best decision they could take. He would've done the same thing, too.
The only reason he felt that he should put the responsibility on Park... was because he couldn't blame the passengers who must've panicked and caused the issue that led to the two stewardesses (which included Yeowon) not being able to escape the burning plane in time. They were, of course, at fault for blocking the escape routes... but in those situations—
—in the end, people get weak... and scared.
[First officer Choi, there's a pilot amongst the passengers in your plane... are you aware of that?]
The moment he informed the ground crew that he wasn't feeling well, he knew that eventually they would also find out that Captain Park was amongst the passenger roster. He had been dreading that—not because he refused to have to fly side by side with the man again, but because he worried that the ground team would assume that they would be able to stall for more time and rely on Park should anything happen to him afterwards.
They still weren't sure if there would be a cure for everyone once the plane landed, after all. Or else they would've recalled the plane way before they reached American airspace. And with so much fuel left on the plane, there won't be too many chances for them to attempt to land. When it came to it, he was sure that either of them would have no choice but to make an emergency declaration.
He can't let Captain Park be the one to make the hard decision again... this time, he should be the one to make the difficult choice.
He gritted his teeth as Hyunsoo picked up the phone to call the chief purser.
He thought back to the time he had to be informed about Yeowon's death, how her body wasn't even recognisable after the explosion. He recalled how devastated he felt back then after losing his wife, how he couldn't even be happy about the fact that all of the passengers and most of the crew were able to escape unscathed.
If this plane crashed or had to be destroyed later, just how many people would have to endure that same pain and sorrow he felt?
Even if he had to bring Captain Park back to the cockpit, he'll make sure... to be the one to take the full burden, of making sure this plane could land safely...
"—remember that there was a pilot amongst the passengers that I told you about before? Park Jaehyuk..."
"Just in case, we should get him prepared—"
He had wanted not to make any of them worry about him, but just as he finished talking, he had a sudden urge to cough really badly. As he looked down at the phone he was holding, to his dread he saw fresh splatters of blood on the mouthpiece.
They're running out of time!
"With this, Japan should be able to accept us now... shouldn't they?"
Jaehyuk silently stared at Hyunsoo... as his former colleague casually flicked some knobs and buttons on the cockpit's control panel. For some reason that he couldn't brush aside, it felt to him that Hyunsoo had already decided to land the plane in Japan... even before they received a message that they had found a possible cure for everyone. He wondered... if Hyunsoo was all right?
And then Hyunsoo started to cough violently, and he saw a huge amount of blood on their palm. Hyunsoo placed another clean towel over their blood-covered palm and calmly wiped he remaining blood away.
"We'll have to land in Narita," Hyunsoo started to say. "The weather was bad at takeoff... so we added some extra fuel—but I doubt there's enough to reach Seoul."
Even as Hyunsoo spoke, he couldn't stop paying attention to how the man was holding up. He had already seen how the virus had affected the other passengers, how much the other passengers had suffered... yet Hyunsoo's face didn't betray anything that might have revealed how much the virus had already weakened them. As much as the things Hyunsee was telling him were important, he couldn't help worrying about the man...
"—And honestly, neither of us is in any condition to fly."
Even now, Hyunsoo was worrying about him... instead of themself. Hyunsoo... all these times must've been weighing on all of the options that remain to figure out how to get this plane safely on the ground.
How could...
...he let himself become a burden and not overcome his fear?
They HAVE to land in Narita!
That's what he thought should be the best—because it would be a lot riskier if they wanted to push harder and head to Seoul. All that mattered was that they land this plane safely... while he could still do it properly—
—so why couldn't he just be allowed to do that?
The fighter plane in front of them started releasing some flares... and did several flybys. They kept on sending him warning messages to turn back—and even warned that they would shoot the plane. He kept on pushing forward... because as much as they wanted him to turn the plane around, they couldn't ACTUALLY shoot down the plane. Diplomatic reasoning aside, they wouldn't risk having the plane crash into the surrounding business and residential areas. Even if the area was still sparsely populated, that's not something that anyone would want.
They won't shoot...
That was what he's been betting on. As long as they could land... it should be fine. But then that fighter plane decided to resort to one final desperate attempt!
"No—this is too dangerous!"
Yes, he hated to admit it. This was too risky. Even if he managed to evade the fighter in some way, it's unlikely that they won't suffer any collision at all. It's either he dive down too fast... or he hold his position stubborn enough and hope that the fighter would change course at the last minute. Both option was something that he couldn't choose!
So regrettably... Hyunsoo pulled the steering wheel hard enough so that he could pull up the plane back towards the sky. He couldn't risk everyone's safety... yet he was reaching his last limits...
"—soo!"
"—Hyunsoo!"
"—Hyunsoo-ah!"
His consciousness slipped in and out as he barely registered Captain Park and Chief Kim's worried faces as they tried to keep him away. Chief Kim injected him with a fever reducer... but he wondered if that would have any effect. His head was buzzing too hard now... it was getting harder for him to think straight...
Captain Park was in control of the plane now... but unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to aid them as a co-pilot. As much as he was trying to avoid this situation... it seemed...
...you're on your own now.
please stay alive...
Senior...
...my partner...