Pluto — Retrieval Division Interview Room

  After Agnes left,the breath both agents had been holding finally slipped out in silence.

  Helena spoke first.

  “Agatha… are you okay?”

  Agatha glanced at her,then let out a crooked, exhausted smile.

  “I’m fine.Compared to the scoldings we’ve had before, this was nothing.”

  As if an old memory had been dragged to the surface,her voice grew rigid.

  “The commander I served under before…the atmosphere was exactly like this.Reports would come flying straight at your face.They’d tear you apart on the spot—pouring contempt disguised as criticism.Even now, just thinking about it makes my hands shake.”

  A flicker of something deeply buried—a genuine, long-standing trauma—passed across Agatha’s face.

  Helena nodded slowly.

  “That’s true.The commander’s words can be harsh…but we know better than anyonethat she says those things for our sake.”

  She sighed and continued,

  “Her head must be about to explode right now.She has to report back to Headquarters,there’s no time,and barely any progress…of course she’s on edge.”

  Then, puffing her cheeks slightly, she added with a grumble,

  “But honestly—what is wrong with the Situation Room people?Why are they so evasive?You request materials and they ignore you for days…ugh, it’s infuriating.The whole place feels like that lately.”

  Helena exaggerated her tone on purpose,as if trying to ease the tension.

  “Still…working side by side, seeing each other every day—and then suddenly being split up like this…”

  She hesitated, then added quietly,

  “…it feels a little lonely, doesn’t it?”

  Agatha gave a small shrug.

  The thought of being separated from Helena—the colleague who had always looked out for her first—left a cold ache in her chest.

  “Hey, what’s there to worry about?”Helena said with a smile.“It’s not that far, and we can reach each other instantly over comms.”

  But at the end of her words,a faint unease lingered.

  “Still… Pluto has a different atmosphere.Titan was much better.”

  The thought of leaving Agatha alone on Pluto—a planet under the Hell Division’s jurisdiction—made Helena feel as if a part of her chest had hollowed out.

  That was when Agatha whispered,

  “If you ask me…I think they’re trying to keep you tied down on Titan because of the Situation Room.Honestly…the Situation Room is the real problem.”

  Helena’s eyes widened.

  “Agatha! Lower your voice!I’ve… been thinking the same thing myself…You felt it too?”

  At Helena’s warning,Agatha lowered her voice even further.

  “Yeah… whenever you request data from them,it’s always ‘after approval from upper management,’and they never actually hand anything over.

  And even the materials they do give—none of it lines up. It’s a complete mess.

  And you—you’ll be dealing with the Situation Room, right?Honestly… it’s not going to be easy.”

  Helena fell silent, lost in thought.

  “You’ve dealt with the Situation Room longer than I have.Who responds the fastest, at least?Who’s the most reasonable to talk to?You’ve been through it—couldn’t you give me something to go on?”

  Agatha glanced around discreetly.Then she leaned closer, her lips brushing Helena’s ear,and whispered,

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “…Team Leader Marco.”

  ------

  At a philosophy office in Seoul,the YouTube filming finally began.

  “Teacher, there are quite a few things I’d like to ask you today,”Hyeonpil said.“You’ll explain them to us, right?”

  Gyeongsu’s near-dead expression slowly came back to life.The words the camera is rolling spread through him like medicine.

  “Hm… go ahead, Hyeonpil,” he replied.“As far as I know… I’ll tell you anything.”

  It was hard to believe this was the same man who had been groaning I’m finished just moments ago.Gyeongsu’s voice had already returned to the calm, composed tone of a seasoned professional.

  “You often say this, sir,” Hyeonpil continued.“That to understand the world,you must first establish a standard—and then view the world through that standard.

  I’ve always wondered…what exactly is that ‘standard’?

  The one you talk about—could you explain it a bit more clearly?”

  At that exact moment—

  “Cut!”

  A sharp voice rang out.Both men turned at once.

  “Lines are perfect! Just straighten your posture a bit,” Dahye called out.“We’re keeping this exact mood. Ready… action!”

  She barked orders from the center of the office,every bit the director of a major film set.

  “Dahye… you completely broke my flow,”Gyeongsu complained.“I had it just now—and it’s gone. Because of you—”

  Dahye slapped her palm outward,pressing an imaginary ignore button.

  “Cut! Dad, no interruptions. We’re continuing.”

  Then, as if nothing had happened,she calmly nodded toward Hyeonpil.

  “Oppa, please continue the question.”

  Not giving Gyeongsu a chance to sag again,Hyeonpil seized the moment.

  “Teacher, you’ve always said this—that to understand the world,you must first set a ‘standard.’

  Then… what exactly is that standard?”

  At the question,Gyeongsu straightened his postureand opened his mouth like an awakened sage.

  “Hyeonpil,” he said.“What do you think all people in this worldhave in common?”

  He folded his fingers down one by one.

  “Mathematics? Science? Philosophy? Ethics?Or perhaps the law?

  What do you think qualifies as a ‘standard’?”

  Caught off guard,Hyeonpil paused, gathering his thoughts.

  “Well…if we’re talking about something all humanity shares…maybe ethics?

  Everyone follows some form of ethics, at least to a degree.”

  Gyeongsu smiled quietly—as if the moment to explain had finally arrived.

  “Ethics are merely rules created by humans,” he said.“They change endlessly with era and culture.”

  Then he lowered his voice.

  “That is not the standard.”

  A brief silence fell.

  Then Gyeongsu continued,his tone firm and unmistakable.

  “The one standard that applies to all humanity, without exception,is time.”

  Hyeonpil froze.

  A cold shiver ran straight up his spine.

  In that instant,Gyeongsu no longer felt like a neighborhood philosophy-office owner,but someone who understoodthe invisible structure of the world itself.

  “Isn’t time… just time?”Hyeonpil asked.“How can time possibly become a ‘standard’ for humanity?”

  Hyeonpil already sensed where this was going,but the camera was rolling.With an intentionally innocent expression,he committed fully to the moment.

  Gyeongsu nodded.

  “Before we talk about time,” he said,“there’s one thing we must clarify first.”

  Despite the exhaustion etched into his face,his eyes sharpened the moment he spoke.

  “Human civilization can broadly be dividedinto the ‘West’ and the ‘East.’Each developed its own cultureand system of thought over thousands of years.

  So naturally—their ways of perceiving timecould not be more different.”

  Hyeonpil felt a surge of admiration.

  I never expected him to unfold time like this…A chill ran up his spine.

  This wasn’t just philosophy.This was insight.

  “Then… the Western view of time—”Hyeonpil asked at precisely the right moment,“is it something like Einstein’s theory of relativity?”

  Gyeongsu took a short breath.

  “That’s right.Einstein’s theory of relativitywas a pursuit of precise time.

  In the Western worldview,time is like an exact twelve o’clock—fixed as a single point.”

  He tapped a spot on the table.

  “Right here.This exact moment.That is Western time.”

  Then he swept his finger slowly from left to right.

  “But the East is different.

  In Eastern thought, there is the concept of gan (間).Gan means ‘gap,’ ‘interval,’ ‘between,’ and ‘flow.’”

  He offered an example.

  “When we say the Hour of the Dog (戌時),we mean the entire flowfrom roughly 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

  That whole span—that flow itself—is time in the East.

  Not a single point,but the movement in between.”

  As if preparing to go further,Gyeongsu straightened.

  “So to understand the ‘standard’ I’m talking about,you first need to understand this concept of time—”

  “Dad, Dad! Wait!”

  Dahye shot her hand up behind the camera.

  “If you explain it like this,viewers are gonna drop off instantly.

  Make it punchier. Easier.Something they get in one shot!”

  Gyeongsu stared at his daughter, speechless,then slowly shook his head.

  “No, but…is there really a way to make this ‘punchy’…?”

  Dahye raised her voice.

  “Dad! Viewers hate complicated stuff!Just say it like this:

  ‘The West is points.The East is flow.’

  Short. Clean. Memorable!”

  Gyeongsu muttered under his breath,his face full of quiet injustice.

  “…I honestly don’t even knowwhat I’m doing anymore…”