Monday morning. Seven AM.
Han-Ho was at drain one wearing three vests.
The third had arrived Sunday evening.
Min-Seo had brought it himself rather than going through Yoo Chae-Won.
Same spec.
Dark blue. Multiple pockets.
Han-Ho had transferred eight notes from the second vest to the third.
The pockets were balanced now.
He crouched at drain one.
Read it.
Clear.
Made the note.
Filed it.
Dareum was at twenty five centimeters today.
Closer than thirty.
Jeongjeong was at fifteen centimeters.
Closer than twenty.
Both still working.
Both still approaching.
The new arrivals from Saturday — the very strange world's students, Dareum's world's free presences — had distributed across the city overnight. Han-Ho had been tracking them through the Dragon Vein network since six AM. They had positioned themselves at various points along his usual routes, at the river bank, at the Hongdae Gate, at the Seocho apartment.
Not randomly.
They had positioned themselves at points where they could observe and study without interfering.
He made a note about this.
Filed it.
Continued to drain two.
Min-Seo walked beside him.
Quiet since six fifty five.
Han-Ho noticed the quality of the quiet.
Not the comfortable silence.
The considering silence.
The specific quiet Min-Seo had when he was working up to something.
At drain four Min-Seo said:
"Han-Ho."
"Yes."
"Can I ask you something."
"Yes."
"I have been holding it for a while."
Han-Ho crouched at drain four.
Read it.
Clear.
Made the note.
Filed it.
Stood up.
"Ask," said Han-Ho.
Min-Seo was quiet for another moment.
"The old man said the first principle thing on Saturday," said Min-Seo.
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"I have been thinking about it since."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"Han-Ho," said Min-Seo. "Do you ever wonder what would have happened if the Registry had responded to your first report."
Han-Ho looked at drain five ahead of them.
Walked toward it.
"The one in week one," said Min-Seo. "Before the four years started. If they had responded within the window. If the protocol had worked the way it was supposed to work."
Han-Ho crouched at drain five.
Read it.
Minor accumulation.
He addressed it.
"I think about it sometimes," said Han-Ho.
"And," said Min-Seo.
"I do not think it changes anything," said Han-Ho.
"Why not," said Min-Seo.
Han-Ho stood up.
Made the completion note.
Filed it.
"Because the drain would still have needed cleaning," said Han-Ho. "Whether the Registry responded in forty eight hours or four years, the drain was dirty. The cleaning was the same either way."
"But the recognition," said Min-Seo. "The support. The equipment. If you had that from year one instead of year—"
"I had Stain Removal from year one," said Han-Ho. "That was always enough to clean the drain."
"That is not what I am asking," said Min-Seo.
Han-Ho looked at him.
"What are you asking," said Han-Ho.
Min-Seo was quiet.
They walked to drain six.
The drain where Dareum's twenty thousand year deposit had been.
Where the shard had been.
The surface that remembered.
"I am asking," said Min-Seo carefully, "whether four years of being ignored changed you. Whether it should have. Whether it is okay that it did not seem to."
Han-Ho crouched at drain six.
Pressed his hand against it.
Read it.
Clear.
Held his hand there a moment longer than necessary.
Reading the memory in the surface.
The deposit that had been there.
The shard that had come from it.
Made a note.
Did not file it immediately.
Stood up.
"Min-Seo," said Han-Ho.
"Yes."
"I filed the reports because the work needed doing," said Han-Ho. "Whether they were ignored did not change whether the work needed doing. If I had let four years of silence change whether I showed up, the drains would still be dirty. The fracture network would still be blocked. Cheongi would still be asleep. None of what happened after would have happened."
"That is not what I asked either," said Min-Seo.
Han-Ho looked at him.
Min-Seo's expression was the medical center expression.
The one that meant something mattered and he was not going to let it go just because Han-Ho redirected.
"I am asking if it hurt," said Min-Seo. "Being ignored. For four years. I am asking if you felt it."
Han-Ho was quiet.
They stood at drain six.
The surface that remembered.
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
Min-Seo waited.
"It felt like the work mattering less to everyone else than it mattered to me," said Han-Ho. "For four years that was simply true. I adjusted to it. I kept doing the work because the work was correct regardless of whether anyone noticed." He looked at the drain. "I did not stop feeling that it would have been better if someone had responded. I just did not let the feeling change what I did next."
Min-Seo was quiet.
"That is not the same as it not mattering," said Min-Seo.
"No," said Han-Ho. "It is not the same."
"You kept three notes from Ms. Yoon's volumes," said Min-Seo. "I was looking at the drains, thank you for looking at the whole thing. And the response about her four years being the same quality."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
"Those are not procedural notes," said Min-Seo.
"No," said Han-Ho.
"Han-Ho," said Min-Seo. "I think the four years mattered to you exactly as much as it should have. I think you are not pretending it did not hurt. I think you just decided the hurt was not going to be the thing that determined whether you showed up tomorrow."
Han-Ho looked at the drain.
At drain six.
At the surface that remembered.
He made the note he had been holding.
It said: Min-Seo asked if it hurt. I said yes. He understood that yes and showing up are not opposites. Filed.
He filed it.
Then made a second note.
Put it in the third vest pocket.
First note in the third vest.
"Thank you," said Han-Ho.
"For what," said Min-Seo.
"For asking the real question instead of the easier one," said Han-Ho.
Min-Seo looked at him.
The two of them standing at drain six on a Monday morning.
"Of course," said Min-Seo.
In his own way.
The true way.
Drain seven.
Drain eight.
Dareum at twenty centimeters now.
It had moved closer during the conversation.
Reading something it could not have read from forty centimeters.
Han-Ho noticed.
Made a note about Dareum's positioning correlating with conversation content.
Filed it.
At drain nine Jeongjeong's energy shifted.
River, in the bag, translated without being asked.
"Jeongjeong heard the conversation," said River. "Jeongjeong wants to say something."
"Yes," said Han-Ho.
River communicated with Jeongjeong.
Translated.
"Jeongjeong says—" River paused. "Jeongjeong says: in my world we never asked if it hurt. We only asked if the work was being done. Jeongjeong says: I think that was wrong. I think both questions matter."
Han-Ho made a note.
"Yes," said Han-Ho. "Both matter."
"Jeongjeong says: thank you for showing both."
Han-Ho looked at Jeongjeong.
At the coin-sized entity that had been studying him for weeks.
Learning not just the technique.
Learning the whole thing.
"You are welcome," said Han-Ho.
He continued to drain ten.