Chapter 5:
What color is the azure sky?
"It is so damn spicy," Vel complained, crying with a snotty nose. "How in the world did you even eat this many bowls?" Mihak pointed out while slurping his first bowl. The whole shop was filled with the group, and after having a hearty meal, Vel said, "Don't worry, I will pay for my own fill," after putting her money on the table and going to use the bathroom.
"What are we going to do about a place for 30 grown-ass men?" Mihak asked while drinking water, being highly intolerant to spice. "Not my problem," Guta said, silently drinking liquid porridge with a straw, as both his hands and different parts of his body were covered in plasters except for his leg. While Mihak was still thinking about a place to live, slowly, everyone went outside one after another. "That fuzzy head is going to pay for us," said everyone except Guta, who paid for his bowl. After a while, when Mihak noticed no one was in the shop and was about to leave after his pay, Gibo said heartlessly, "You didn’t pay for those 30 men and that woman's remaining 10 bowls."After losing whatever money he was hiding, along with 8000 grains and 6 days of shift pay, he left the shop and burst out at everyone standing outside. "I will pay for my own fill, my ass," Mihak imitated, making a funny face. The whole group roamed the city, filled with frenetic energy as if a festival was coming. People with different skin tones, wearing different fashions from various areas of different sectors, gathered, making the whole sector bustling more than usual. Exhausted, they ended up on a street bench from where the landscape of the city was clear. Guta, covered in plasters except for his legs, stared at the city’s neon-lit skyline, contemplating their absurd predicament. A street performer’s melancholic tune echoed their despair. One sighs, "At least we have free entertainment," as the city buzzed with unending energy around them. ‘Clack-clack’ as guta was writing a message to someone but paused and switched the i2r nail off by flicking fingers as he remembered a place and Guta started moving with his broken body, determined. "Where are you going now?" Mihak questioned, his voice edged with curiosity rather than fear. Guta didn’t reply, and the group, with heavy legs and louder complaints, began to follow, not out of trepidation but solidarity. "Isn’t that the haunted house?" asked one crew member, clad only in shorts, more intrigued than scared. "Why did you all follow me?" guta asked irritably, to which everyone pointed to the fuzzy-headed guy, who shrugged sheepishly. As guta and fuzzy head started arguing, Momo asked, "Is it okay to live there? What if someone complains about our unauthorized dwelling? We won't just leave with a scratch, you know. It's a land you know!" "Don’t worry, it belongs to my family," Guta replied, leaving everyone stunned. He headed inside, wincing with every step. The house was a decrepit relic, seemingly on the verge of collapse. "Is this really fit for humans?" Mihak asked, struggling through cobwebs that blanketed everything. Vel, poking a pendulum with a stick, remarked, "Aren’t those bats? It’s been ages since I saw them." As the group began cleaning the long-abandoned house, they took care not to throw too much away. While guta stands a keep staring at an old painting made by someone and throws it with a heavy heart. Dust billowed like clouds with every sweep, and tiles cracking wherever they step. As they cleared away the debris, they made surprising discoveries—mysterious trinkets and a trapdoor leading to who-knows-where. In the midst of chaos and complaints, the haunted house slowly transformed from a nightmare into their peculiar new home.
After cleaning the house and selling some valuable discoveries, they all laid down, exhaustion pulling them into a deep sleep. All except Mihak. It was already time for his second part-time job, and though his body was weary, he knew he had to move.Groaning, he dragged himself up and stepped outside. The sight that greeted him took his breath away. The vastness of the open land stretched out before him, a canvas of freedom he hadn't experienced before. The allure of it was too much to resist. Without thinking, he kicked off his slippers and felt the cool, welcoming soil beneath his feet. It was a sensation unlike any other—grounding and liberating at the same time. He took a tentative step, then another, and before he knew it, he was running. Barefoot and exhilarated, he raced across the land, feeling the warmth and vitality of the earth rise through his soles, invigorating his tired body. After a few minutes of this euphoric escape, he remembered his job. Reluctantly, he hurried back, slipped on his shoes, and dashed off. The brief run had made him late, and when he finally arrived, Gibo was waiting, tapping his foot impatiently. "You’re late again, Mihak," Gibo said sternly. Mihak, still basking in the afterglow of his run, smiled sheepishly, cheeks flushing with a mix of embarrassment and happiness. "I know, I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again," he promised, though the memory of the open land and the freedom it offered lingered warmly in his mind. Meanwhile at Crewland 2.0, Guta silently made his way to the backyard of the house. He stood in front of the graves of his family, then knelt and bowed his head to the ground. "I am back and somehow alive," he whispered. Today, he couldn't wipe his tears even if he wanted to, due to the plasters covering his hands. "Sorry it took me so long to show my face." he sat there for a while and took out that that old slip from his pocket with difficulty and opens the slip as stares at the text he still did not understand the words used in it but it takes him back to the day when his grandpa handed him this piece of slip while telling him the stories of a land unknown to this world. ‘Grrrr’ a loud noise came from the hall as he rushed, he was surprised to see it was Vel’s stomach making such a horrendous noise. In the next few hours as everyone was having a nice sleep mihak dashes through the door but it broke and so he carries the door with him and ‘why did no one tell me?’ He shouted and wake up everyone.
"You broke the door, even though I warned you," Momo pointed out, wearing cute night pajamas. "You better fix that yourself," Guta added. "Leave this! Why did no one tell me that the D30 festival month is next month?" Mihak exclaimed, tossing the door aside. "No way, that's next month?" said Crew Member 20."But we are not in form, except for our boss," said the 23rd Lackey, and soon chaos erupted in the whole house. Guta covered his head with his plastered hand, unable to sleep through the noise.
"But what is D30 ?" Vel asked, silently slurping noodles and crying from the spiciness."That is everyone’s share," Mihak shouted, telling everyone to snatch the noodles away from Vel and start fixing the door and tying the wild Vel in the corner.
I2R technology plays a crucial role in connecting various sectors, as each sector commonly employs these waves for communication. This widespread use underscores its significance in maintaining intersectoral connectivity.
Public belief holds that the land was once a vast, unified expanse. However, a series of cataclysmic rockfalls divided this great land into distinct sectors. This historical event has shaped the current configuration of the sectors as we know them today.
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