#ch:003

[reachingyou]

[elvidercni]

goodbye superman.

corporations can go bust as often as they like, thus subsidizing consumers by transferring their wealth into the people's pockets — the more bankruptcies, the better it is for the people. government is more serious business and one needs to make sure they do not pay the price for its folly. hyuntae didn’t care for any of it at fist, but his whole family was in the industry or related to in some way. he was the weed in the patch because his endeavors were far from relevant to the line but because he cared for them, he somehow learned to care for what they do. he was starting to understand his brother. he wished he did sooner. even more so his father, and then his mother.

his mom was a deaconess at church before she decided to become a full time housewife. she was part of the choir as well. a soprano. an immaculate vocal. she would be in charge of solos, and hyuntae being her biggest fan, would watch her avidly from the front seats, leaning towards the backrest of the pew with his chin atop the arms that rested on it too. he honestly thought he'd end up like her. his mom would tell him he sang well but he was, as time went by and a new baritone was welcomed, aware that that had faded. or maybe he was horrible at it in the first place and was only told a lie to urge him to dream.

he liked to think he'll get better but with that idea in mind, he started from what he was sure he was good at. the drums. he played almost every sunday and that only expanded. he played at school for special occasions. he'd be on band march or in foundations playing the drum roll. he was, in general, musically inclined. but it didn’t mean he had to think of alternatives. he was always told by people outside the circle of trust (his family) that a career at music was too far-fetched. he hadn’t thought so for a long while until it hit him, seeing how well educated his whole family was. they all had stable jobs.

growing up was a struggle in terms of picking a career and the fact that his older brother was set on one thing was a pressure to him regardless if it was meant to be. once he finds his favored profession and chases for it in full vigor, everyone gives him dirty looks or going to the extent of whispering to each other how he must have been adopted. he was the least decent looking in the family with how he presented himself but he would argue the genes were strong on him. there was no denying he was part of the clan.

his choice, however, required a substantial amount of money. at some point, he refused help but ultimately hassled everyone around him so a time came when their family reached a financial decline. he tried not to blame himself for it, but unfortunate events followed a series that stretched along through years.

it didn’t take long until his father was jobless. they were holding up just fine for a while, but there was a decline with his health too. all of which he failed to take notice. it’s not the first time he’s disappointed and the more it happened, the less he felt. it could also be that he’s starting to mature, become more understanding when it came to the hardship of his parents. if anything, he should be out of their place by now. 

his brother managed to do it around his age. whenever he visited, he bragged about it. hyuntae would be left wondering why he ever adored his schmuck of a brother and when it happened, he’d come to his mom like a little boy asking her to tell him stories about their childhood. he’ll feel better for the while his brother had his mouth closed. it became a habit to serve him food and drinks often just so he stops talking. he liked him better that way.

his brother had someone he loved now. that’s the next mode of his brother he liked because he seemed to talk only of nice things. they lived together in harmony. a surprise to the younger brother. he remembered them fighting and making up everyday. part of him thought it was all just bull then there’s the balmy side of him who thought it was the same for them. the vicious cycle of fights that followed forgiveness quickly after and it was just the love that transcends through all of the struggles. it was possible. he’d seen it from his own parents. their parents. and he could tell his sister-in-law’s smile was always genuine.

hyuntae wishes the same for her mother, but it’s been gone for a while that he almost forgot how it looked like. embedded now was her worried expression, done and tried. his father wasn’t getting any better. they still talked often, bonded even more as he’d been immobilized and practically confined at home. being the fun and caring figure in his life, he still made every effort to entertain his youngest son with attempts at fooling about with their old chevelle el camino from ‘77 but only making it worse. just like him. getting worse. hyuntae was still somehow confident he would last until at least he’s done with college and already onto being a real mechanic because his dad survived 4 terms. 

first was in 2004, full of jokes from colleagues asking when he was going to die. second was in 2005, two of his friends passed away even before him. third was in 2008, he still managed to travel to greece. the fourth one (and the last) would be in 2011, when hyuntae was getting there. but of course, fate doesn’t grant him his wish. 2012 of april marks the day. he was out with friends to a trip in jeju. just him trying to brush off what issues they had at home but the morning next to their last day on the island, he receives a call telling him the gravest news of the century. he doesn’t remember when was the last time he cried, but he didn’t even hold back then.

4:07AM, written on his death record. the last thing he requests for was a burger, even when he’s saying “i’m parched.” hyuntae couldn’t be there for his last moment but if he was, he would have been drenched in his own tears and sweat. the burger chain was their last together. looking back and sharing the story, it sounded silly. they didn’t have enough money in their pockets to go and eat steak at a fancy restaurant when they both craved it, so they resorted to a small store that sold two burgers in the price of one. when he insists to pay, his father holds his hand and shares a smile. a smile that kept flashing in his dreams after their family’s loss. even on the very last time, he couldn’t let him. he’d beat himself up for it but that same thought kindles inspiration.

gotta be just like dad, he keeps in mind. gentleman, family man, superman. the only thing to avoid following after was his lifespan.

[elvidercni]

after years of neglecting the utility of his phone, he’s starting to learn how smartphones are near-universal tools. he used them before only to receive calls, use the gps and check the weather. as he’s not often out, there wasn’t much to avail himself of any service. biking with an average of 10 miles everyday, he knew almost every part of the city and the places outside of it. most of the time, calls came from friends who wanted to hang out for some drinks. half the time he says no with a bunch of excuses when really he’s just dismantling any and every gadget he could get his hands on. generally, he liked to hack things together. all of his consoles were modded, practically anything that he’s able to program, he’s done. all except his phone.

he held some sort of prejudice. he’d have whoever he was with fiddling on their phones while he’s completely paying attention to nothing else but them. it happened too often that he’d grown a pet peeve. through that, he’s been living ignorant of its use despite the relevance of it to his line of expertise. his favorite argument was its threat of malware. just like with robots. except that makes him a hypocrite because he thinks robots are totally cool and he can’t deny it’ll be what trashes every good thing in world in the future. scary but it’s the foreboding truth. 

for one, it is no secret that today’s workforce no longer consists entirely of people. rather, machines are being developed to complete many of the tasks which humans have traditionally done. sure, it can greatly increase productivity and efficiency of simple, repetitive tasks. there’s people who thinks this is awesome, but there’s also those who are more wary of it. he’s sitting in the middle. he worked on them but he’s constantly bugged by the question of whether he truly understood what it does or will do especially with all the dystopian themed movies coming out like the apocalypse is coming the next of every year they’re released.

recently, however, he’s read about a quadrotor driven by a smartphone and to see it in action was amazing to him. he obsessed about it for days so now he’s working on another drone. he’s into those these days. they’re the new thing. even in his recent visit at the university, everyone had it as their toy. bragging about how some had cameras attached. he woke up earlier each day, took lesser time to bike around, just to get home and work back on it. he’s back to having as much cuts on his hands as he would before but this was better than losing his head, literally. the recent hand propping incident had him scarred for a while. he’s thinking of just sticking to drawing... but he’s also imagining all the flying adventures and survival stories within repairing fields he could tell to people. if robots are going to take over the future, he might as well do as much as he can now. accidents what? robots what? machines aren’t immortal. he is.

[elvidercni]

enough of the flying. he hasn’t done much of the fixing which he liked better so this time, he’s out see if he could do hand propping. it’s a time-honored practice that isn’t done anymore. but that was nonsense because knowing how to is as much a requirement as knowing the systems. either way, he’s not permitted to but he’s a curious guy who can’t be stopped. his reasoning was that he wanted to experience everything as much as possible before all history of aircraft becomes demystified. the dirty dozen, it all rings in his head and an image of mr. go smiling like a maniac appears before his eyes but he just shakes it off. too complacent.

he got another friend to help him out, clean up with him after and keep the secret sealed. he knows he will. this is jaebum we’re talking about. he’s familiar with the settings. it’s a ‘vanilla punk’ mission that’ll be bygone, end of story. unless it’s hyuntae that talks — which is likely. days back, he was toured in a small hangar up in some wasteland near incheon. there, he found and took interest in an aeronac champ which is what they’re testing on this time. good luck because the aircraft has been sitting around for a while. pretty much ancient.

there’s three easy rules to it. one, don’t get hit by the prop. two, don’t let the airplane get away. three, don’t be stupid. if there’s a fourth, it has to be doing it by yourself. a cardinal sin. but that’s not the case so he’s following, right? everything’s set. magnetos off, fuel valve off, throttle at closed position, aircraft’s stabilized on idle, and chained to a fence. even though it has a bit of slack on it, which was necessary anyway, there’s no way it’ll run off. it was just about 5 feet. since there’s no chocks readily available, he leaves it as it is. first mistake.

“brakes set!” he yells to jaebum who was sitting on the cockpit.

he answers back saying it’s already set. by who? neither of them. so hyuntae checks for himself but sees that it is. it wasn’t because he didn’t trust him. just trying to take all safety precautions possible but he’s not pulling through all of it. he’s just going with his gut. second mistake.

he continues on. he stands close to the propeller, tips of his fingers pressing against the edge of the blade. just a good enough grip that won’t give him the full brunt or get his fingers chopped at worst in case it kicks back. he’s got one leg lifted and forward. they say it helps kick the momentum away. he pulls down rapidly and backs away a couple of feet from the aircraft.

“brakes and contact!” he yells.

“brakes and contact!” jaebum yells back and turns the ignition switch on.

what they didn’t know was that someone had the engine fueled prior to the operation. should have checked but he skipped a lot of things so this is where he ends up. surprise, surprise. the engine starts, success! the plane runs off and takes the chain’s slack, almost catching hyuntae. right in his face was the spinning blade of death. it hits the tip of his cap at most and it goes off flying in the air before he could get back into his senses to stay clear. he sighs deep out of relief but the fear lingers. “holy shit…!” he exclaims, eyes widened the farthest it could stretch and his hand touches his nose before it find its way grasping tight on his neck. he takes more steps back, his legs shaking in shock. he takes off his safety glasses and it hung in a loose grip of his hand.

what an idiot.

unbelievable.

knucklehead, why did you do that? 

dumbass, you weren’t supposed to.

you could have been dead, fucker.

with a blank stare, he sits on the ground and broods with such thoughts. he couldn’t blame it on his friend. he was there to help and that’s that. though, he should have asked an old-timer, an actual pilot, or maybe he should have been more assuming of danger. he had the option to use a lasso. maybe he shouldn’t have done it at all. if it were a retractable, he would have been chewed up quick. it’s just his luck. but it’s never the same thing after first time. the next might be the last so he’s telling himself for sure, he’s not going to let it happen again but that’s just his what he thinks right now. 

shoulda, woulda, coulda. 

who knows what he’ll do? after he gets over it, he’ll think there’s probably something worse than what had happened and it wasn’t so bad. only with time will he find out.

airplanes can teach you a lesson. and they will. always.