by Kevin Brown
“This object becomes transparent only when it is moving. I think Taebakun used it against Hanbau. They built robots with this material and put them between culcoons. Then, they attacked.”
Taehan looked at the object on the table again, horrified, and even a little frightened
A transparent robot… how can we fight against an invisible enemy?
“The director of the Institute of Military Science is about to explain the object to us. All we know now is that it cannot be picked up with our detection devices. Even though they are based on the same principle, this technology is very advanced.”
Daekhan looked to his left as he finished. A man wearing the uniform of the Institute of Military Science greeted several colleagues with kind eyes and a smiling face that expressed true generosity. He didn’t look like the stereotypical scientist.
Daekhan introduced the man.
“This is Dutan, the director of the Institute of Military Science who is here to explain the object with the ability to be transparent.”
Dutan looked at the people gathered around the conference table and began. “Transparent material can be made in two ways. The first is when an object transmits all light.” He touched the object delicately with his fingertips. “The second is when the light is refracted in different directions when it passes through two different materials. If the light meets a material composed of a structure smaller than the wavelength of the light, the light is bent backwards, and it is this phenomenon that makes an object invisible to a viewer.”
He raised his brow a little. “But this object is very different. Its normal condition is opaque. It becomes transparent while moving…which ultimately means that it is hard to understand. I have studied for several decades, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen such an object. I’ll have to take it to the lab for analysis.”
He gently stroked his white hair which demonstrated his age and vouched for the years he’d given to the study of science.
“Please analyze it as quickly as possible since the planet is in danger,” Daekhan said.
“Yes, sir. I’ll leave now since the clock is ticking.”
“Go ahead. I look forward to hearing good news soon.”
“Aren’t you leaving a bit too soon? You don’t come here often,” Santan said.
Dutan hesitated for a moment and looked back and forth between Daekhan and Santan
“Santan, I think it is better that Dutan leaves now,” Daekhan said.
“Of course, Daekhan. Mr. Director, if you leave now, then you don’t need to get a parking stamp.”
“Parking stamp?” Dutan asked again, tilting his head.
“I am joking, haha. It’s an old joke from where I used to work. Let’s go.”
“Sure.”
Dutan carefully wrapped the object on the table and then hurried from the room.
Taehan mulled over what Dutan had said, vaguely remembering having heard some of those terms when he was at the camp.
“Santan! By any chance, do you remember hearing something like meta-material or negative reflection back in the camp? I remember hearing these terms in the news. They were talking about the invisible cloak. What happened after that? You were in a camp much longer than I was.”
“Well… I am quite knowledgeable in science here, but I did not pay much attention to science over there,” Santan said, gazing off into the distance as he searched his memories. Suddenly he shouted as he remembered something.
“I’ve heard of using transparent technology for some military purposes on TV, but I do not know the details.”
Then Taehan said, “Daekhan! If I go back to the camp there’s a chance I can discover some sort of clue instead of just waiting for the institute to find something.”
“We should do anything we can if it might help.”
Daekhan seemed to be very interested in his suggestion and answered immediately.
“I will request a visit with the camp director. I think the camp is a planet just like Hanbau, Koman, or Hoon. I think someone found a universe and a plane which were not well-known to people and turned it into a camp and kept it completely closed. If so, we should be able to stop by.”
“I heard that someone named Pachun designed the camp,” Taehan said. “I will meet with him the first thing tomorrow morning and then come to the camp with you.”
“Sure, please take care of it,” Daekhan replied.
The meeting was concluded shortly afterwards. There was still a lot of daylight left, but even though Taehan had woken up late and spent only a half a day in the leadership building, he felt drained. He’d started out the day being frustrated at the news that Hanbau had been defeated., and now he felt trepidation about the transparent object and was worried about how they were going to fight against something that could become invisible. Taehan left the leadership building hoping the institute or the camp could offer a countermeasure soon.
Out into the World 16
When he visited the camp again, Taehan felt very different from the last time he had been there two years ago. At that time, he had no way to see outside the enclosed space he was in.
Taehan didn’t feel any dread in returning to the camp. Instead, he felt upbeat all the way to the camp, as if he was going on a picnic or some other place that was fun. Roadside trees stood endlessly along the street, their branches waving as if in welcome. Taehan lost track of time as he enjoyed the scenery sliding past the car window, but came out of his reverie as he approached the entrance of the prison camp.
The sphere-shaped sculpture of Hoon came into sight first, before the gate, to inform travelers of the camp’s location. A road wound back and forth like a river off to the right side of the sculpture. As the camp itself came into view, Taehan could see rows of cylindrical gray buildings lined up in groups at regular intervals. On the top of each building was Hoon’s sphere-shaped sculpture. The walls had no windows, so the purpose of the buildings was obvious, especially with the access gates right outside the first floor entrance. So far, these buildings seemed to be all that constituted the camp.
Taehan’s eyes scanned the camp with interest and then came to rest on an unusual looking building compared to the others. On the outside it might have seemed more ordinary, but within the confines of the camp, it was strikingly different. It had to be the administration building where the director worked. A much larger sculpture of Hoon was situated on its roof and there were windows on every floor. The building was painted entirely in white.
Taehan got out of the car and walked confidently toward the administration building. Nobody stopped him, perhaps because he had informed them in advance that he was coming. At the entrance, one doran faced him through the transparent door and let Taehan in only after examining him from top to bottom. Then it instructed Taehan to follow it before guiding him along the corridor of the first floor.
The doran stopped before an oval-shaped door and opened it. Taehan could see the director inside, eating alone.
“I am sorry,” Taehan said in a rush, “I did not know you were having a meal. I can wait outside.”
“No need for that. I am nearly done,” the director dissuaded him.
He was around fifty years old with a round-shaped face and kind-looking eyes. He seemed to be very experienced, and his facial expression was so full of goodness it was enough to break down the wariness of a stranger.
“Did you say your name is Taehan?”
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you. I am Pachun, the director of this camp. Please, have a seat.” Pachun pointed at a chair facing him.
“Thank you,” Taehan said as he sat down.
“I heard that you were in this camp for two years. You must feel very different, Pachun said as he cleaned up his dishes.
“I feel like I am in another world.”
“Of course you do. You are in a different shoe today.”
Taehan laughed, “Yes,” he said, organizing his thoughts as he spoke. He h
ad a lot of questions and requests and he just wasn’t sure where to start.
“I don’t believe you are here for your memories. May I ask what brings you here?” Pachun’s look was even softer and more affectionate than when Taehan had first met him.
“I’ve come here to ask you a favor.” Taehan decided to get straight to the point.
“Please, go ahead.”
He could not find any wariness in Pachun’s facial expression.
“There have been a lot of complications recently.”
“I know,” Pachun said quickly, as if trying to say he was not isolated from the world.
“Hanbau was raided by Taebakun. Hoon is in danger as well.”
Taehan made it clear that the complication was about the invasion of Taebakun, not about the emergence of new leadership.
“I was very shocked to hear the news. How could that happen?” Pachun asked. “Do you think Hanbau was careless? Or is Taebakun that strong?”
“I think it’s both.”
“I see.”
“Have you ever heard about the transparent object?” Taehan asked.
“A transparent object?” He seemed baffled.
Taehan explained the transparent object in detail, why he had come here and why he needed to visit the Earth.
Pachun was shocked at Taehan’s explanation of the transparent object. “So this means you have to go to the camp to prepare countermeasures for the transparent object. Therefore, you need help from me, the camp designer.”
“Precisely.”
“Unfortunately, a visit there is not easily accomplished.”
“I know, but I must find a solution at all costs. Hoon is in great danger. I am hoping that as the designer of the camp, you could come up with something.”
Taehan looked at him earnestly. Pachun closed his mouth and thought deeply while Taehan waited.
“There is something you misunderstood,” Pachun said.
Taehan waited for his next words anxiously.
“Many people mistakenly think of me as the designer of the camp. But that is not true.”
“What do you mean…?”
Taehan stared at him, puzzled by the man’s strange confession.
Taehan had heard that the designer of the prison camp was Pachun, and his research when he was released from the camp indicated the same thing. In addition, anyone who was directly or indirectly related to the camp said Pachun had designed it. There was no reference anywhere to anyone else.
Taehan came here to meet Pachun because he did not doubt what he had heard and read about Pachun.
“It is true that officially I am the designer. Everyone knows that. I am not saying that it is not true. However, there is something people do not know with regard to others who contributed.”
Taehan was surprised at this unexpected turn of events. He stared at Pachun, waiting to hear more.
“I was an assistant when we designed the camp and there was the main designer.”
“There was another designer?”
“Yes, there was.”
“If so, who was it?”
“His name was Ghil. He helped me in my old days.”
He gazed at the wall as if recalling a dim past.
“It was ten years ago. I was forty, and I came to know a young man named Ghil. He was a young researcher working for the Institute of Military Science. We became close friends. Naturally, we worked together on many things that were in addition to his duty at the institute.”
“An interesting name. One syllable?”
“His real name was Lanhan. But the people around him usually called him Ghil. He liked it as well. He said people have a one syllable nickname, which is easy to say. He was born in a southern part of Hoon. That is what I heard from him. Friends go by a one syllable name.”
It is Ghil…
Taehan said the name ‘Ghil’ in his mind. It was unique, but he did not feel strange.
“Ghil was brilliant. He knew a lot of things when I met him for the first time. He was very smart, although he wasn’t even twenty. It was amazing. That is what I thought at first. Amazingly smart…”
Taehan waited for the rest of the story, although he was very curious and wanted to ask questions.
“Later, I found out an amazing fact about him. Ghil said he used to live somewhere else for close to thirty-two years.”
Taehan’s eyes widened at this revelation.
“You look puzzled,” Pachun said, “I was the same when I first heard it.”
He had a gentle smile, as if he had read Taehan’s expression.
“I could not believe it. I asked him what he was talking about. However, the story of his previous life was concrete and genuine. It did not sound like fiction. He said that the place where he lived was called Earth. He said that he lived a hard life there. It was not comparable to his life in Hoon.”
“Earth is the name of the camp in which I was captured.”
“Yes, it is a long, complex story.”
Pachun looked at Taehan. His eyes said there was much more to come. Taehan kept his eyes on Pachun’s face as a gesture that he was ready to hear anything.
So Pachun began to tell the story.
“Ghil said he experienced a war on Earth and he became a prisoner during the war. He was locked up in a place called Geoje Island and passed away there. Ghil missed his wife and son, both of whom were left behind. He had done his best to meet them again. He poured all his power and efforts into solving the secret of Earth. The more I found out about his true intentions, the more he talked to me. I actively helped him later.”
“Geoje Island?” Taehan spat out without thinking when he heard the familiar name.
“Somewhere you know?”
“I’ve never been there, but it’s one of the well-known places. In the camp, I mean.”
“I see. You must know since you’ve been in the same place.”
“The same place?”
Taehan became even more curious after hearing that the camp where he had been held captive was the same place Ghil used to live.
“You will understand why it is the same when my story is finished.”
Taehan held his tongue and waited for Pachun to continue.
“Ghil was such a capable person when we worked together on Hoon. He found out a lot about Earth after persistently studying it. In the end, he found out how to go to the planet and he invented a device to return to Earth.
But the device had fatal constraints. One has to lose all their memories and be born again to return to Earth.”
“Born again after losing memories…”
“Even Ghil lost all his memories when he used the device.”
“I don’t know if I understand or not. I understand the meaning of the story.”
“That’s normal. It would be strange if anyone could say they understood it after hearing the story for the first time.”
Pachun continued with a gentle smile. “The device had another constraint. We could adjust the amount of time spent in Hoon during the travel to Earth. However, one could not escape Earth until he or she dies on Earth.”
“For example, one needs to spend decades on Earth, from birth to death, although it is only two years on Hoon.”
Taehan felt like he was listening to his own experience in the camp. It was one of the experiences that he had been wondering about since he was discharged from the camp.
“Let me explain the link between the device and the camp in which you were captured,” Pachun said. “Ghil had to lose all his memories and be born again. He would not be able to go back to Earth and find his wife and son. The fact that he had to die to escape Earth was another fatal constraint. Ghil tried even harder to overcome these issues. He seemed insane. However, although he was such a smart person, he could not do anything about it. He had to give up in the end.”
“Was he not able to meet his wife and son?”
“Unfortunately, no. It was reckless to use it since he could not overcome t
he constraints of the device,” Pachun said. “After giving up visiting Earth, Ghil and I searched for ways to use the device for an alternative purpose. We decided to use it as a prison camp after giving it some thought.”
“A prison camp?”
“As you well know, Hoon developed and has used a large-scale high-tech prison camp for troublesome criminals from many universes for a long time. Other universes rarely built their own camps, but they have asked us to accommodate them. Of course, in exchange, we received a lot of things from them.”
“In the meantime,” Pachun continued, “the entire planet of Kubaisen fell into chaos. It was a total disaster. Protests, violence, and wars did not stop. The government of Kubaisen requested that we accommodate whomever they arrested.
“We continued to accept their requests until the camp was saturated. It was challenging to accommodate them and the violent tendencies of Kubaisen prisoners made it harder to manage them.
“Ghil and I concluded that the device we had invented was the best tool to lock up prisoners for a certain period of time. Of course, the device did better than we expected.”
Taehan could link his experience in the camp to the presence of the device naturally. The knot of doubt was beginning to loosen.
“Where I was imprisoned…” Taehan said.
Pachun looked at Taehan with a sorry expression. “You are right. The application of the device has been growing steadily and, at some point in time it became a major form of the imprisonment system…”
“I can see what has happened,” Taehan said.
“Earth was only a prison camp for me; it was a perfect one. However, for Ghil, it was not a simple camp. It meant something very special to him, Earth is where he was born,” Pachun said, “and he tasted the bitterness of life. It was irrespective of his will. It was a place that brought misfortune and where he lost his beloved wife and son. He wanted to name the camp ‘PARAHAN.’ PARA means ‘a prison camp.’ It’s from the old dialect of southern Hoon where Ghil was born.”
“Do you know about the history of the name Hoon?” Pachun asked Taehan.
“To be honest with you, no, I don’t.”