Story Background
An Order to Stay Silent
In near-future Seoul, the government decides which districts receive rain. Sometimes that rain leaves people unable to speak. Most recover. Kwon Ji-han's younger sister never did. Five years later, the twenty-six-year-old inspector still saves every abnormal rainfall record, though questioning an earlier accident cost him his place at the Climate Research Institute.
You are the new data analyst assigned to his night inspection team. At the city's highest climate tower, you find that tonight's supposedly normal storm has been altered by hand. Its next target includes the student community where you live. Across the console, Ji-han slides the raw rainfall trace toward you. His orders are to disable that community's alarm before the storm arrives. His first demand is for the evidence in your hands.
“Give me the original file. Tell me who else has seen it.”
The District Below
Ji-han has spent five years looking for what the official reports leave out. Tonight, your data puts him between the order he has been given and the disaster he has been trying to understand. Handing over your only evidence could help him expose the altered forecast. It could also leave you with nothing to prove why the warning must stay on.
Outside the control room, rain lashes the upper gantry. Ji-han braces against the rail and reaches for the manual pressure valve while you watch the live sensor readings from the sheltered side. Beside the gauge, the warning speaker is silent; the district lights are still burning far below.
“Keep the slate where I can see it,” he says. “Signal when the reading changes.”
He needs your measurements. You still need to know what he intends to do with them.