Part 6: Here I Come!

[BGM: Russian Horse]


20,000 Pesos

My name is Carlos. I'm 18 years old.
It was a big day.
Because I was finally going to leave Mexico!

Uncle Depp, who had always helped out at the orphanage, and Auntie Benita, who was the matron of the orphanage, used to tell me that,
if I ever wanted to go to a foreign country, I would need to have a passport first.
And then I would need a visa.
Finally, I could go to the airport and buy a ticket. Then, I could fly wherever I wanted to go!

I had gotten my passport, and apparently going to Hong Kong didn't require a visa. All I needed was a plane ticket.



Uncle Depp and I had headed out early, before the sun even came out.
He had been driving me through the mountains for six hours to get to the international airport.
He then stuffed a couple of warm burritos wrapped up in paper into my backpack before I said goodbye.

I didn't know when I would ever see him again. I already missed him.

I walked into the airport and I couldn't help slowing down in admiration.
The place was so big!
No wonder the tickets were so expensive!

I needed to ask someone to tell me where I could buy a ticket.
I bumped into another man.

The three boxes he was carrying all fell to the ground.
I helped him pick up the boxes and stack them.
I hoped nothing inside got broken...

The man was wearing a pair of glasses with golden frames. He seemed like a nice person.
He took the boxes out of my hands and was not mad at me at all. He just nodded and walked away.
He really was nice!



Even though there were signs in the airport, I couldn't read many of them. I walked around twice before I found the ticket counters.
A ticket cost over 10,000 pesos, just like Uncle Depp had told me.
I had all of my savings with me, including the money my parents and sister had left me, as well as what I had earned doing part-time jobs. It was only a little over 20,000 pesos altogether.

However, something terrible had happened.
I couldn't find my wallet!
I clearly remembered checking to make sure that I had it when I left.

Maybe I had dropped it in Uncle Depp's car?



I ran outside of the airport.
I saw the man whom I had bumped into earlier. He was still wandering around with those three boxes.

Was he lost? But I didn't have time to worry about him. I had to go check and see if Uncle Depp had already left.

I couldn't find him anywhere outside the airport.
He probably had headed back.

I had to walk toward the mountains along the road that we had arrived on. I had my backpack on, feeling awful.
It wasn't a popular road, and it was already too late. There were no other cars in sight.
I hoped that I could get a ride tomorrow morning...

Lord, why was I so unlucky?

Carlos



What is Mexico?

It is a big country in the west.

West? To our west? Do we live in the east?

No, of course not. We don't live in their world, so there is no east or west to anywhere.

The Earth is a round planet, so east or west is all relative.

Relative? You are not making any sense...

Do you mean that the Mexican people would say that their own country is in the west too?

Hmm?

Er... Now she's confusing me, too...



Oh, by the way, the writers of the earlier letters, are they from China?

I always feel a strange sense of closeness when I think of China. Mexico feels more distant to me. Why is that?

Um, I guess more people write to us from China, maybe? I hear that Chinese people are all over the Earth. There are a lot of them in every country.

Really...

So is this letter written in Chinese, too? As well as the earlier ones? Because they all look the same to me.

Oh no, this is our language.

In fact, the people who wrote to us came from many different countries, and they would use different languages. But once we receive them, they are all automatically translated into a language that we can understand.

Oh wow! Being a god is so convenient!



[BGM: Sunny Day]


Here I come!

My name is Chang Gyeong-Min, and I recently graduated from the Korean Police Academy.
I'm 23 years old.

It was my first day reporting to the Busan Police Precinct.
I hadn't realized that I had overslept until my Ser Spotty alarm clock had gone off for the 10th time!

I jumped out of bed, slipped into my pants and shirt, and rushed out of the door with my coat in my hand.
I even knocked over my neighbor's flowers by accident.
Sorry! I'll clean it up later! I'm running late!

Still, I was 45 minutes late when I finally got to the station.
The captain was sitting behind the desk. He squeezed a “Kids these days...” out of his mouth, then he seemed to lose any energy or interest to even speak to me.

Then... I was transferred to the Archives.



How could I have overslept on my first day?!
Please Buddha! Please help me fix this! Please, please!

Becoming a member of the Criminal Investigation Department has been my dream since childhood! I don't want to go to the Archives!!!

Chang Gyeong-Min

What is Criminal Investigation? Is it that much better than Archives?

Well... Criminal Investigation is the place where the police try to solve cases and catch bad guys, but you can't completely disregard the Archives either...



...yeah, it's not exactly a puzzle this time. Just gotta move the piece over and that's all it takes, since it's pretty obvious the guy that Carlos bumped into was a pickpocket With that done, their outcomes will change...



[BGM: Russian Horse]


I noticed that there was a sign ahead.
Although I couldn't read it, I had a feeling that it must be pointing to the ticket counters.

I had always had great instincts, haha.
A ticket cost over 10,000 pesos, just like Uncle Depp had told me. I had all of my savings with me, including the money my parents and sister had left me, as well as what I had earned doing part-time jobs. It was only a little over 20,000 pesos altogether.

I hoped I would be able to come back some day.



Three hours later, with a booming noise, the airplane took off.
I felt something suddenly pushing me into the seat cushion.

I could see Mexico City becoming smaller and smaller outside the window.
And the orphanage in Monte Tláloc had turned into a small white dot.

I suddenly started to feel nervous.
My mind was racing. What if the plane went down? I hoped it would fall in the ocean so I could still swim back but this seatbelt thing was so annoying and if I couldn't untie it would I be dragged into the water with the plane. I heard there was something called “insurance” that would pay a lot of money if someone died I should get that and maybe it would be enough for Alicia to buy a new house in Mexico City...

Just when my brain was spinning with all of these questions, a beautiful lady asked if I would like some water.
Oh, no, no, no!



I checked my wallet again. There was only a little over 10,000 pesos left.
From now on, I must be careful about spending every single one of them.
I heard everything was really expensive in Hong Kong. I must save up before I find Alicia.

Alicia, sister, I'm coming to find you!
The Lord will bless us!



[BGM: Justice!]


I heard the voice of a woman screaming in the crowd, “Stop him! He's got my purse!”
I looked down and the man I had bumped into was holding a woman's purse.

He actually tried pushing me away.
As a policeman defending justice, how could I let a criminal escape the judgement of the law?
I grabbed his collar.

Take this!



I took the bastard to the police station.
I ended up late of course, but the captain let me off the hook for stopping the robber.

Captain Gong glanced at the blood stains on my shirt, gave a faint smile, and asked me why I wanted to become a police officer.
I stood up straight, put my hands behind my back, held my head high and replied firmly.

“To defend justice!”

The captain scratched his balding head and smiled.
“Haha, go and report to Unit 4.”

What? Unit 4?!

I felt my heart start to sink.
I had heard so many rumors about Unit 4, even when I was still in the Police Academy...



…

[BGM: New Life]






NEW MESSAGE: My Sister



NEW MESSAGE: Case: Kidnapping



...

[BGM: Air]


Strange Teacher

The last class of the day was art.
I pushed open the door to the classroom and I was shocked by what I saw.

What was happening?
The room that usually had onlya dozen people in it was now almost full.
It was like a scene from a beach in the middle of summer.
There wouldn't be enough easels for everyone.
Just when I was wondering whether I should leave and go study, I saw Jing waving me over from the front row.



“Why are there so many people today?”
I sat down at the seat Jing had saved for me.

“You really don't know anything, do you? Ms. Liu is on her maternity leave, so we have a new substitute today. Somebody saw him earlier in the office and posted his pictures on the school BBS. He looked so handsome!”

I looked around, and only then did I realize that almost all of the newcomers were girls.
Why was Rocky here? What was a boy doing here...

I took my phone out and tried to log in to the BBS.
I found myself unknowingly imagining what the new handsome teacher would look like while waiting for the page to load.
Well-made pink shirt... rolled up sleeves... top button unbuttoned... pale and flawless skin... impeccable face from the side... Heh... heh heh...

The wi-fi signal wasn't very strong and I couldn't look for a long time.
Then the front door of the room was slowly pushed open.



With everyone staring at him, the new teacher slowly walked across to the podium and softly wrote his name on the blackboard... “Wen Zhaoren”.

“I'll be teaching the art class for the seniors... starting today.”

I looked him up and down, and I noticed that this Mr. Wen... was wearing flip-flops to class.
His ensemble also included a pair of casual pants with the legs rolled up, a grey t-shirt and a wrinkled jacket...
Not just that, his chin suggested that he hadn't shaved for days.

I turned to my side and whispered to Jing,
“How is this old man handsome?”



Jing ignored me.
I looked up, and realized that the teacher was staring right at me.
Oh no! He must have overheard me!

Suddenly, Rocky raised his hand and asked loudly,
“Mr. Wen! How old are you, and do you have a girlfriend?”

The entire class erupted into a loud murmur.
Everyone was staring at the teacher even more intensely.
Thank you, Rocky, for getting me out of trouble.

Mr. Wen slowly took off his jacket and laid it on the back of the chair next to him.

“Thirty-five.”

The girls immediately began whispering to each other.
His response certainly had intrigued everyone even more.
Rocky, however, didn't seem to be satisfied with the answer.

Mr. Wen ignored the commotion in the room and took a banana-shaped statue out of the accessory cabinet.
People with an easel began to prepare their paper.
The ones without one took out their sketching pads.



The class was going to be over soon.
Near the end of the class, Mr. Wen said he would like to pick an assistant from the class.
Anybody who was interested could stand up and nominate him or herself, however, he would need to check his or her sketch.

Jing stood up! How brave!

Mr. Wen walked over and picked up the sketch. He shook his head, and tore it into two halves.

Rocky stood up from his seat.
I stood up from my seat too.
And then the bell rang.



Jing was sobbing, and I was completely in shock too.

Not only did Mr. Wen tear up her sketch, he even said to her,
“Are you serious? Did you seriously just draw something like that? I will not tolerate this kind of thing in my class.”

We were just some regular high school students. We were not in an art school!
Are YOU serious?!

Rocky jumped right in front of the teacher.
I tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Rocky punched Mr. Wen right in the face!

Mr. Wen, however, didn't react, despite having just been hit by a student.
He simply gave Rocky a glance and walked out of the room without saying a word.



Rocky... he was always so self-righteous.
The only thing more important in his life might be his “ball games”.
I bet if the bell had rung and the class had been over he wouldn't have bothered, and would have gone off to play basketball.

After that, Mr. Wen never came back to the class.
Maybe somebody filed a complaint about him, or maybe...
I had always had a feeling that he... didn't look like he wanted to be a teacher...

The next art teacher always dressed impeccably well. He was also incredibly dull.

Li Wen



***

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