Recreated with all credit to the authors at KQ Entertainment
A. INTRO
Weeeeeeing!!!!!!!
A loud alarm sound echoed in the plazas, streets, schools, and buildings. The Guardians monitoring people from everywhere were the first to respond to the sound. People walking on the street, office workers doing their business, and students studying, all stopped what they were doing, got up, and turned to the highest monitor.
Looking down from the sky, the whole world looked like a well-made set. People with blank faces, well-organized roads, and buildings. Pretty and neat world, but there was no life in it. In the middle of the cold dull buildings surrounded by still mannequin-like people, a mellifluous voice echoed.
Z. A perfect world. Being perfect, our world is safe. A small error is a crack, and a crack leads to pain. Pain, pain is an unnecessary emotion and a negative element in life. We want to protect you all.
From the streets, companies, schools, and plazas, Z's roaring voice came out of the speaker. A yellow light lit up next to the ears of people listening with dry faces and blinking their eyes. Looking closely, it was the light from a small chip stuck under the ear.
Z. A world without cracks is always beautiful. You living your life in your position are the world itself. Do not doubt yourself. You are always right. We are right because you are right.
Smiles spread on people's faces. But no one's eyes were smiling. It was just the facial muscles that moved like a machine that obeyed commands.
Z. Keep that in mind. The government works for you. The government is committed to you. All of this...is for you.
At the end of Z's words, the crowd classed their hands all together and cheered.
"Z! Z! Z! Z!"
At that point when the voices of people shouting for Z overflowed the world, music began to play out of nowhere with a crackly noise from the speaker. Soon after, along with the sound from the megaphone, Z's voice was swallowed up by the gradually increasing sound of music, and the yellow light that flashed next to people's ears faded away. The Guardians who stood among the crowd began to look around as if they were looking for someone. For the first time, the feeling of 'confusion' crossed the faces of those who were puzzled by the sound of the song.
When the man standing in the plaza feeling somebody's presence looked to the left, Hong Joong, wearing a Black Fedora, smiled at him. The man didn't know Hong Joong, but unknowingly spit his name out of his mouth.
"A...TEEZ...?"
01
"Look, once you see us, you can never forget us." said Min Gi, who appeared to the man's right. The man's eyes lit up with life. Then Min Gi threw something from his hand to the man. The man who reflectively received the object, flying in an arc, opened his hand. It was a small square-shaped machine. Inside the machine was written in small letters.
"There is a chip under your ear. Let the breaker touch the chip."
In the middle of the street appeared Woo Young and Yeo Sang, on the top of the building Seong Hwa and San, and in the school, Yun Ho and Jong Ho. To the music, ATEEZ started singing and dancing. People who first looked blankly at it began to shake their bodies unconsciously in response to the music. The Black Pirates began spreading flyers in the sky and handing out breakers on the ground. People picked up flyers and read them.
You are valuable by yourself. No one can define you, and no one can control you. Being alive is imperfect, and it's beautiful to be imperfect. Read poetry, draw pictures, listen to music, dance, and sing. Therein lies your own answer. [Black Pirates]
02
The people who listened to ATEEZ's music, watched their performance, and read the message in the flyers instinctively touched the chips with an unfamiliar feeling under their ears. For the first time, they realized the chips were implanted in their bodies.
The Guardians were eager to control people and capture ATEEZ, but as ATEEZ used the Cromer moving space to space instantly, it was difficult to catch them. Meanwhile, people put the breaker on chips under their ears. With a crackling, small spark, small particles popped out of the machine and entered into the chip.
The Guardians began to drive the ATEEZ members to one side. From school to street, from street to plaza, ATEEZ danced their final dance to the end of the music and disappeared in an instant, right at the moment when they were about to be caught by the Guardians who were reaching out to them.
The faces of those who put the machine on the chip were filled with chaos and fear.
The people running away and the Guardians chasing them, the people returning to their work with the same dry face even in the mess, and...among them, one hand picked up a breaker that had fallen on the ground and put it into the pocket.
03
Cheers overflowed in the underground bunker of the Black Pirates. Because this plan also succeeded. ATEEZ and the Black Pirates were celebrating themselves eating food with a background of upbeat music.
"I was worried about how to block the control system developed with new energy...Awesome, Left Eye."
Then Left Eye said shyly, scratching his head at San's praise. "There were a lot of failed chips of the government in the waste rolled into the Strictland dump, so we were lucky."
"If we put this machine on the chip, does it lead to the Black Link we use?"
"Yes. But not right away. Because each person's will is important. All we do is get them out of the government-controlled link. After that, it is left to their own will."
When Jong Ho asked if it is a matter of choice, Left Eye continued. "Right. They will not even know that this machine connects not only people but also the Guardians to the Black Link. They'll think of it as just a breaker that blocks them from the control link. Since the safety of the Black Pirates is also important."
"But why? Forced link connections are more efficient." Other members nodded and looked at Left Eye in response to Min Gi's suggestion to save more people by forcing the link to be connected.
04
"I've lived in this would for a long time, so I know. At first, I felt fear when I met you and remembered the memories and feelings of love and other emotions of the past that I had forgotten. Just like when you guys first came to the world. As unknown is always feared."
"That's why you give them time. Giving themselves time to overcome the chaos and to decide, until the Guardians find out that the control link has been blocked."
Then Left Eye nodded quietly drinking a glass of wine.
"When people become self-reliant, a signal goes to the Black Link we use, Then, the Black Pirates, scattered all over the place, contact them..."
"What if someone chooses to stand on the side of the government even after getting their feelings back?"
"We can't force them. Because the fear is big. No one knows what will happen if I'm the only one against it. We can't dangerously force someone who wants to follow the flow. That's not different from the central government that says only themselves are right."
05
"You haven't figured out the location of Z yet, have you?" When Hong Joong looked back at the Black Pirates, everyone stared at them with questioning eyes. The Black Pirates shook their heads with awkward faces.
It was not easy to find out where Z was located because it was information that even the Guardians did not know unless they were high-ranking members of the government. Undoubtedly, Z is the ruler of this world, at the same time, the symbol of the Z World. Therefore, his safety was the top priority to prevent terrorism.
"For now, that's the last step. Let's start with what we can do now." Everyone nodded at Seong Hwa's words.
To install mirrors and remove the coverings blocking the windows ATEEZ decided to infiltrate the symbolic place that is establishing this world.
06
A mirror is a window through which one can perceive oneself. In the early days, the government did not know the importance of mirrors, so they just tried only to control the emotions with new energy. However, as people looking at the mirror and recognizing themselves kept getting out of control, they removed all reflective objects, including mirrors.
So were the windows. To look out the windows at the landscape is to open the possibility of freedom and is a door that recognizes oneself and others and sees the world. So old buildings were blocked with curtains, coverings, and sheets, or in buildings built afterward, there were no windows at all. Furthermore, a large dome was placed in each zone to block out the solar heat and then intake of vitamins and nutrients, made by being exposed to light, was controlled through medicine. As this dome also served as a blocker and boundary between zones, it was an extremely important means of control for the government.
With the Cromer, ATEEZ and the Black Pirates moved freely across the areas, which allowed them to touch people's hearts with their performance, but that was not enough. The control of the government became increasingly systematic. Even humans who became aware of the control with the emotions rising within them, were either controlled again or taken to the Guardians and transported to the Guardians' bunker.
Now, the only way ATEEZ and the Black Pirates had to go was to 'make as many people aware as possible at once'. The first target point to install mirrors and remove the coverings of the entire building was the Prestige Academy, which was called the 'best school' of this era.
07
An emergency signal rang inside the underground bunker to alert an intruder within a 1km radius. Everyone's eyes were on the monitor and there was a short moment of tension. A young boy was crying alone, shouting "Help, Black Pirates!"
The boy took a sip of hot tea and looked at the members with slightly relaxed eyes and said, "Please, save my older brother."
On the way to school, the boy saw the performance of ATEEZ and the Black Pirates for the first time and got out of control through a breaker. "It was terrifying." said the boy. It was because he then realized how bleak and violent the school and the world are when he saw them after having emotion for the first time.
The boy told, returning home that night, he carefully brought up this story to his older brother, who attended the same school, and his older brother tried to report him to the Guardians, so the boy unwittingly put the breaker on his older brother's chip. The boy thought his older brother would understand his intention after going through the same process he did, but the reaction was different. The older brother who felt his emotions for the first time shouted as if in pain, trembled, and looked at his younger brother with blaming eyes.
08
"Do you know the Guardians Island?" Tears welled up in the boy's eyes again. The members looked at Yeo Sang. The place where Yeo Sang was kept, "Guardians Island" is apparently a facility for re-educating the socially maladjusted. However, in reality, it was a place to dispose of people who rebelled against the central government system, and other various things such as art and instruments that stimulate human emotions. This does not apply to those who have completed 40 years of education and are being used in their respective positions, but those who have regained their emotions - those who recover their emotions and act as Resistance - have been caught by the Guardians and then disposed of there. So, it was a place that the members and the Black Pirates knew well. However, they did not know that children who were not even the Resistance would be taken to Guardians Island.
To complete the 40-year education curriculum, people must take the final graduation exam. During this exam, they will be investigated on what kind of part to be used in the society and if they fail to pass the emotional test they are judged as defective and will be sent to Guardians Island.
The boy cried again. As his older brother, who was about to take the graduation exam, could be taken to Guardians Island because of him, he desperately accessed the Black Link of the Black Pirates and found a nearby area believed to be a bunker.
Z. OUTRO
"The exam is not the problem, we have to save him right away, even tomorrow. That's how school is like, easy to be targeted when one seems different from the crowd."
Min Gi, who had a hard time at school, intuitively caught the danger. The boy nodded. "There is a student organization in school. Since the Guardians and teachers cannot monitor all of the students, they selected the best students and built this organization to monitor others. But as our school organization is certified by Mr. Z..., no by Z directly to head the organization, they might notice it before even taking the exam."
The members became complicated. There was a high possibility that it would not end with just saving his older brother. As it must be something really turning the whole school upside down. If they decided to go to another school, not the Prestige Academy, where they have thoroughly researched for installation of mirrors and removal of coverings...the Prestige Academy infiltration plan thereafter could be dangerous or impossible.
"What school do you go to?"
The boy who grasped the atmosphere said with a worried face.
"Prestige Academy."
There were no words, but they spoke with their eyes.
"That's perfect. We were planning to go there, too."
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