While the Republic of Chan-Ran had been changed or rather reduced to the Kingdom of Banyeok, the regression meant that the technology in this country had come to a standstill. Or so Yeonwoo had thought. Having been cut off from an actual civilization for around 15 years, he had no idea what was going on in reality. Everything he knew was mainly based on the assumptions he had made on his own observations or intuition.
But much to his surprise, in front of them stood a vehicle, a rather impressive vehicle that he had never seen before. It was a truck, alright. But it was completely different from the trucks he had seen on the roads as a kid. Heck, it was even different from the imaginary trucks he had drawn as a kid. Kids have one hell of an imagination, so an imaginary truck would no doubt be a truck that was hard to create in real life. So, seeing a truck in front of him that topped his drawing, Yeonwoo couldn't help but be awestruck.
He wasn't a very expressive person in general but the daze on his face was so evident that Minjoon smirked. "That's an XV-710."
Yeonwoo blinked. XV…? Whatever, he was just going to call it 'Truck-even-more-crazy-than-my-imagination', wasn't that so much easier to say?
Although Yeonwoo had no interest in the actual specifics on the truck, Minjoon seemed to consider Yeonwoo's silence as an invitation to boast about the truck.
"This is a type of truck developed and made only in Banyeok." He said, noticing the obvious flinching of Reno and Yeonwoo at the word 'Banyeok'. While his face remained impassive, he internally shook his head. He just knew that these fools internally still called this place 'Chan-Ran.'
If only…
"It has a speed of 280 kilometre per hour, even better than some international models which is an impressive speed considering its size and design. A truck model that defeats physics. Such phenomenon can only be found in Banyeok."
Yeonwoo stared at Minjoon, dumbfounded. Why are you boasting about a truck to a person who hasn't seen one in 15 fucking years?
Noticing the silence, Minjoon cleared his throat. "I already put your friend in the back on a mattress. This truck is very smooth even on these rocky outskirts, so your friend won't roll around or anything. Although it would be better if he did."
Another evil glint shone in his eyes and Yeonwoo immediately felt repulsed by it. Just how much bloodshed did this guy want?
Not wanting to humour this man in any shape or form, he kept his mouth shut. He turned and glanced at his friend, Reno. While Reno had tuned out from the conversation, his eyes were fixated on the truck. He was clearly fascinated by the vehicle in front of him. Yeonwoo could tell that Reno was itching to get a closer glimpse at it, to feel the exterior of the truck. Maybe he was one of the kids who was obsessed with cars and trucks as a kid.
Yeonwoo did like them, but he wouldn't say he was obsessed with them. He played with them like any normal kid, but it stopped at that. Now that he thought it, he really didn't have obsessions as a kid. He internally sighed to himself. What a boring kid he must've been.
Minjoon walked towards the truck and placing his hands on the door handles, he opened the heavy doors of the truck. Minjoon was quite the prideful man so while he would've loved to open the doors with ease, it wasn't an easy task. The doors were heavy as they were equipped with all types of sensors but what it made heavy was the fact that the doors were made of extremely durable material.
Banyeok had been an isolated nation for the past 15 years. Naturally, they had neither imported nor exported materials. The parts required to make a vehicle would naturally be scarce, so they had to make the vehicle as durable as possible. The engineers had one sole mission when designing the trucks for the imperial regime force. It had to withstand harsh conditions, and it had to bulletproof. They didn't have the luxury to have a weak vehicle where they'd be required to change parts every now them. After over five years into the research, they had managed to produce the first truck of the XV series. And now, they had the XV-710, the latest model. The engineers who created this vehicle were convinced that this surpassed trucks models overseas. While Banyeok had been cut off from the rest of the world in terms of diplomacy and trade, it didn't mean that they weren't aware of world affairs. Of course, the common people barely had any knowledge of it, but the higher ups were very well aware of what was going on.
As Minjoon opened the doors, his forearms straining, a gust of wind blew by. As dust blew over their faces, Yeonwoo coughed and looked up. He raised an eyebrow at the spacious interior of the truck. It was dark and there were two benches at the two sides of the truck. It was minimalistic but very obviously a military truck. However, before he could take in the spaciousness of the truck, he frowned. And the frown turned into a look of panic. Even from where he stood, he could see that there was no sign of Hyuk in there. He immediately turned his gaze to Minjoon. Didn't he say that Hyuk had already been laid down earlier?
Almost as if reading his mind, Minjoon rolled his eyes and said, "Between the back trunk and the driver's compartment, there is a medical bay. We've laid him there. If I wanted to kill him, I wouldn't have brought him all the way here."
Yeonwoo wasn't entirely convinced with the last part of his sentence. Although, he barely knew this man, this bloodlust in his eyes were evident. He wouldn't it past Minjoon to bring Hyuk in front of Yeonwoo and Reno just to torture him and then kill him to torment them. Or at least, that's the image Yeonwoo had of him.
"Now, stop wasting time and get in. We leave for the city gates in another thirty minutes." And Minjoon walked towards the front of truck, conducting the last bit of inspection to ensure that he didn't miss out on anything. Regardless of his nature, he was still working under the platoon leader and naturally had duties to adhere to.
Quietly, Yeonwoo and Reno entered the truck, and they were surprised to find that the heavy door had closed automatically behind them.
Reno frowned and said, "If they can close automatically, why'd that asshole go through all the effort of opening the door? Psycho."
Yeonwoo looked around the truck as he took a seat next to Reno. He took in a deep breath. There was a distinctive smell of alcohol in the air and sanitizer. Probably, smell from the dressing Hyuk's wounds.
"They probably have recording devices in here, you know."
Reno huffed and shrugged. "I couldn't care less. Anyways, they're going to sell us to be slaves. Who knows whether they cut the tongues of their slaves so I might as well talk as much as I can while it lasts."
Yeonwoo remained silent for a second. That's true, he knew they were heading towards the Imperial City and that they'd have to work as servants for noble, rich families. Sure, servants being ill-treated was not a news flash, but this was Banyeok they were talking about. A nation that arose by supressing a solid and strong standing democracy. He wouldn't it put it past them to cut servants tongues. They had regressed to olden times a long time back.
He leaned back and let out a sigh. "You're right. The possibility I might not be able to hear my own voice in a couple of hours is a bit daunting though, if I'm being honest."
Reno slightly chuckled. "Well, I'm not sure whether they do that or not. But better be safe than sorry. Also, if I'm being honest, I know nothing that holds value to these people. No seriously, what would we know? We've been isolated from everything for 15 years."
"That's true. I wonder how Hyuk is doing."
"If that bastard treated him properly, I'm sure he'll be fine. He's such a cry baby though so he might take the pain harder than any of us."
Yeonwoo bit his bottom lip. He wanted to ask about the group. About what happened to them and whether…whether they hated him for leaving them to die. He had always told it to himself. That he was never their leader. He was just young and had the survivability skills. And while he gathered resources for himself, he just ended up thinking that he could also pick up enough to feed other people and that's how he managed to form a small group and meet people like Hyuk and Reno.
But them being dead weighed much heavier on him than he had thought it would. He was not their leader. He was not responsible for their lives. Yet, he found himself loathing the moment he left them. He had no idea what would transpire but him being the only one who managed to escape other than Reno and Hyuk stung right where it hurt.
Ultimately, Yeonwoo couldn't bring himself to talk about their group. The wound was too fresh and just couldn't talk about it just yet. So, he switched the topic.
"I saw you staring at this truck awestruck. Were you the type to be obsessed with cars?" asked Yeonwoo, turning to look at Reno.
A small blush creeped up Reno's ears. "Ahaha, was it that obvious?"
Yeonwoo merely nodded in return, a small smile on his lips.
"Yeah, not only cars. I guess I was the type to obsessed with machines in general. I liked cars but I liked bigger vehicles more. Like trucks or airplanes. I was only seven years old but mind you I was the biggest geek out there."
"Uh-huh."
"I meticulously studied train lines. Of course, they've all become underground hideouts now, but the knowledge is still fresh in my mind. Ask me anything about it and I can still answer in a heartbeat."
Yeonwoo smile grew a bit bigger, and his heart felt a bit lighter. "I wish I could but trust me I have zero knowledge of trains. I think at the age of seven I was busy following my parents around. Of course, as a kid I'd let them do all the work."
Reno stretched his legs and let out a sigh. "Even I was just following my parents around. My dad was a train operator and my mom an engineer. It makes sense that I would naturally be obsessed with machines. I remember how happy they were when I proudly declared I would be an engineer."
"Engineer huh…that's a unique declaration for someone that young alright. Too serious."
"I know. What about you, what did you want to become?"
Yeonwoo remained silent for a second. He just realized that this was the first time they were actually talking about their pasts. While they were back in their hideout everyone actively avoided talking about their past as they didn't want to unmask their painful past. Ignorance is bliss is what they say. Everyone believed that by not talking about their past, they could simply erase the fact that it existed. They could erase the fact they had once going through such a painful time.
But Yeonwoo never found it painful to talk about his past. In fact, he would've preferred if he talked about it more because he was afraid that one day he'd end up forgetting those happy times.
Yeonwoo scratched his neck awkwardly. "I wanted to become an idol."
Reno's let out a small chuckle. "An idol, huh? Honestly, though with your face you could totally debut as an idol."
"An idol needs to sing and dance as well, you know. Here's a secret I've never told anyone, I'm unbelievably tone-deaf."
"I have to hear your sing one day."
"You wish. That's never happening."
This time Reno laughed out loud. "Aww, come on why not. Plus, it's not like an idol really needs to sing. Do you remember the idols from when we were kids? Majority of them are just pretty faces. Uh, what was that group…? Ah, shit, I can't remember it. The group."
Yeonwoo tilted his head. Although he was embarrassed to admit it, he was more well-versed in idols than machines. "Which group?"
"The one group which had that stupid ass song about udon. What was the lyric again? Ah! I remember. 'I'm an udon noodle you can wrap me around your fork', that line…ahahaha"
Before Reno could even his finish sentence, he burst out laughing as he remembered the absurdity of the lyrics.
"Man, I was so young that time but even I knew that those lyrics were absolute garbage. Which group was its man? It's not coming to mind."
Yeonwoo remembered that lyric. After a second, it clicked to him. A memory of his parents losing their shit over this lyric flashed in his mind. "Ah, it was that group, '8DIC'. Jeez, even their name was ridiculous. You're right, they were just a bunch of pretty faces."
"The English speakers sure had a field day."
Yeonwoo smiled in response and a solemn silence settled between them as the realization of how changed their world had become set in.
Changes are inevitable. As a society advances, a gradual change occurs and humans, being the incredibly adaptable species that they are, naturally adjust to the change as well. The changes that occur are often so subtle that people aren't even aware that some sort of change has occurred. But this? Their whole democracy crashing down in a fortnight was a change no one could adjust to even though over a decade had passed.
Before Yeonwoo's thoughts could do down in a darker spiral on the things he missed out on, a sudden jolt interrupted them. Yeonwoo rolled his eyes. A smooth truck, my ass.
Reno looked at Yeonwoo, slight panic written on his face. They were in a situation where no outcome was predictable. All they could do was silently pray that this moment was not their last.
This time, the heavy door opened automatically, a gust of cold air washed in, and goosebumps arose on Yeonwoo's skin. It was still dark outside, but Yeonwoo could see a slight hint of the sun rising. In front of the door stood Minjoon, the nasty smirk still lingering on his face.
"Get off. We've reached."
This fast, thought Yeonwoo. And as if reading the expression on his face, Minjoon said "I told you this truck was fast."
Yeonwoo immediately dropped his expression and returned to his poker face. He refused to give that sadist the satisfaction of anything.
Reno and Yeonwoo climbed out the truck and winced at the sudden change in lighting. Sure, it was still nighttime with the sun slowly rising but compared to the darker interior of the truck, the change was enough for them to squint their eyes.
As they slowly got used to the light, they finally seemed to notice what was in front of them.
Yeonwoo's jaw almost dropped. Of course, he had heard of it and he was also aware that they were heading towards it but seeing it in person shocked him beyond reason.
In front of him, stood the massive Imperial City. Barricaded by a huge gate, the letter of Banyeok were displayed proudly on top. The gates were attached to two red pillars, and it resembled the Japanese Tori gates except that instead of being left open, there was a huge door that was placed between the two pillars. The door which resembled a wall had two other doors on the left and the right side of it. On the left side of the door stood two other imperial guards clutching staffs in their hands. Yeonwoo assumed that meant the entrance.
He turned and looked at Reno who had a similar look on his face. He also turned to look at Yeonwoo and the both of them exchanged an indescribable glance.
Minjoon walked up behind them and said, "This is the main entrance of to the Imperial City of Banyeok. Ordinarily, swine like yourself would never even be able to catch of a glimpse of their utopia but since your lucky you find yourself here."
Yeonwoo clearly didn't bother with anything Minjoon said but he had to admit that he was incredibly lucky.
The Imperial Gates stood in front of him, almost looming over him. A wave of foreboding washed over him and he gulped. He had no idea what was to come. But what he did know was this was the moment his life changed.
For better or for worse, who knows?