among the stars / hyungwonho

00

[ LOG: 0 - DATE: 25708.1 - DESTINATION: None Set ]

"Is it on?"

"I don't know, check the light."

"Oh, it was on the whole time, how embarrassing. Maybe I should restart this one, we look like idiots."

"Not we, just you."

Hoseok shot Kihyun a nasty glare and angled the camera towards him but still catching Kihyun in the frame. They're in the ship's cockpit docked on a small moon located near a few colonies off of Jupiter. Hoseok leaned back in his chair and glanced over at Kihyun who looked occupied with flying the ship.
"We're currently drifting around while I search for somewhere to find parts for the ship, we need more parts to fix the outside of the ship, but we're missing some. Thanks to Kihyun's fantastic landing the other day, he damaged parts of-"

"Would you shut up? May I remind you which one of us is the captain? You have a damn nerve talking about me like that," Kihyun huffed cutting Hoseok off.

"Lighten up a bit, Kihyun!"

"This is your captain Yoo Kihyun and I'm about to kick Wonho in his face."

"That's first mate Wonho to you!"

***

"So Wonho, what are we doing today?"

"Aren't you the captain? Shouldn't you figure this stuff out?"

"Well, we can go to earth if you're up to it. I was listening to some channels. Apparently, Jooheon and some of his gang members are hiding out there, somewhere in the Daegu colony. We take them down, and we'll have enough money to have steak for dinner every day for a whole week."

"Steak does sound nice, but do we really have to go to earth? Weird people live there and it's nasty and dark."

"C'mon Kihyun, think of the juicy steaks! When's the last time we had something that didn't come out a can or a bag?"

Kihyun and Hoseok had been bounty hunters for a few years. Together they would travel across the solar system, catching criminals for a decent amount of money. Though recently, the surge of other hunters have caused most of the jobs to be taken.

Except for the ones on earth.

Earths once beautiful blue oceans were now littered with various chemicals due to the war that ravaged her surface decades ago. Most of the people inhabiting the planet now are people who are too poor to leave and criminals hiding from the police.

"There's no chance in hell I'm going to earth."

"C'mon Kihyun, who doesn't like steak?"

***

After a few bribes and dinner and Hoseok's behalf, Kihyun agreed to go to earth.

Kihyun silently drove the ship while Hoseok read a book about the desolate waste planet.

"Hey Kihyun, while we're on earth, maybe we should travel to the South Pacific junkyard. It's just off South America and we can pick up some parts for free instead of paying for them," Hoseok suggested.

"It's up to you. I'm not the mechanic here, just don't go breaking my damn ship on some cheap metal," Kihyun said, his eyes not leaving the vast horizon of stars, planets and everything in between.

"What do you think it's like?"

"Huh?"

"Earth. What do you think it's like?"

"I'm not sure. Probably gross, I've never been. You grew up on earth and you have family on earth right? Are you gonna visit them?" Kihyun asked but immediately regretted.

He saw Hoseok's grip tighten up on the book he was holding and his jaw clench tightly. Kihyun understood that he hit a bad nerve and decided that it was better to not press into the issue.

"Let's just go and get the bounty. I'll visit another time or send them a voice comm or something," Hoseok responded.

Kihyun didn't know much about earth, but he knew enough that it wasn't a great place to live. He knew that the government was corrupt and would stop at nothing to make sure nobody left earth. If you were lucky enough to be born into a rich family, you had some chance of leaving earth. It was expensive to leave and often families would get left behind. Kihyun didn't know much about Hoseok's past, but the fact he was a defector and found a way to escape. He knew nothing more than that Hoseok was nothing more than a runaway from earth.

***

[ LOG: 7 - Date: 25715.1 - DESTINATION: EARTH ]

Light and focus sharpen as a hand draws back away from the camera revealing first Hoseok. He wipes his brow with the back of his hand and squints into the camera's eye before looking up as if assessing something. As he shuffles to the side, there's Kihyun seated with his hands in his lap. He coughs, clears his throat.

"Would you stop pointing that camera at me? Who're you even recording these for?"

"They're for us," Hoseok smiled.

"If anyone else sees this just know we're probably dead."

"Kihyun!"

"Yeah, probably dead."

***

Hoseok and Kihyun were eating dinner at a small diner in a colony just outside of Daegu.  They were watching the small tv screen that seemed to display nothing but a long list of criminals. A lot of them were young, around Kihyun and Hoseok's age.

"Isn't that Jooheon and his gang?" Kihyun asked pointing to the tv.

"Yeah, that's them," Hoseok responded his eyes never leaving the tv. He watched as multiple names and faces appeared across the screen. "I can't wait to take him down," he added.

"There's a lot of them. Do you think we can take all of them?" Kihyun questioned.

"C'mon Kihyun, we're bounty hunters there's nothing we can't handle," Hoseok encouraged.

"Right," Kihyun said sarcastically. "We should get going, I want to get a good rest for tomorrow. Even bounty hunters need their beauty sleep," Kihyun added.

A small giggle escaped Hoseok's lips. He left a bill on the table and he and Kihyun walked out of the diner.

Hoseok took a deep breath and sighed when they got outside. He recognized the area from when he was younger. He used to come to this area with his family often. It hasn't changed much since the last time his been. It was still dark and dirty. There wasn't much life on the streets, he remembers people fearing for their lives and preferred to stay in their homes and only leaving when necessary. God, he hated earth.

Hoseok smiled to himself and continued walking. "It's good to be home."