▪ 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 ▪

𝙄𝙄

Meanwhile, Yangyang was deep in his thoughts.

"You guys won't believe what I found!" the young boy with brown hair exclaimed and placed a notebook on the table.

"What is it?" another boy with black hair scooted his chair closer to him.

"Don't tell this to anyone else, okay?"

A third boy took his seat in front of the two and nodded. The three sat at a table in the corner of a library. Around them were tall shelves filled with books of all kinds. This helped them hide from others. Yangyang, the boy with brown hair, looked back to check if anyone was watching them. When he was satisfied that they were alone, Yangyang looked back at the other two.

"There is another world above us."

"What?" the second boy exclaimed in surprise.

"I'm not lying, Sphinx M has been hiding this from us," Yangyang said. "Where do you think the opposing side of the war went after they set off the Limitless Cloud?"

"Mars?" the black-haired boy scratched his head and Yangyang shook his head.

"They escaped with their people to the overground. They left us all here to rot in this wasteland while enjoying a lavish life above. They could care less about rescuing us with the endless supply of atmosplanes they have."

"Then why did Sphinx M not inform us about the overground? To us, it wouldn't matter if they went to Mars or overground: either way we know that they left us here." the third boy questioned.

"Dejun, think about it in a way if you lived right after the disaster happened. Would you tell your people that the overground exists? Wouldn't it want to make them move out of here even more?"

"Yeah, or the people could start rebelling against them if they found out about the overground," Dejun added.

"Overtime, the corporation shifted its citizens' focus to reviving this land rather than hating the people who left us," Yangyang said. "Personally, I think that's probably the best thing they've done. But the truth can't be hidden forever. People really do have a safer life there."

"Yangyang, are you sure it exists?" Dejun asked.

"I'm not lying, Dejun. "

Yangyang looked at the second boy who had raised an eyebrow.

"Hendery, you believe me, right?"

The second boy scoffed back in disbelief.

"I swear, there are even special planes called atmosplanes that can take us there!"

The brown haired boy flipped open a book and rotated it towards the other two. They took a few minutes to look at it carefully. Hendery just laughed and moved the book in front of Dejun.

"You even made up a whole diagram for this prank?"

Dejun opened his mouth once but then closed it. After taking another glance inside the book, he closed and handed it back to Yangyang.

"You don't believe me either, do you?" Yangyang spoke softly and Dejun shook his head.

"Yangyang, you need to grow up. The overground is just a fictional place in storybooks and fairytales. They don't actually exist, it's for little kids," Hendery said and Dejun chuckled along.

Yangyang looked down at the book and then at his feet. He processed what just happened: his own friends wouldn't believe him even after he had brought them evidence. Yangyang silently stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Have fun finding that place," Hendery laughed. "Let us know if you find a dragon or a unicorn there too."

The young boy's grip on the strap of his backpack tightened. He balled his left hand into a fist and glared at the other two. Yangyang stomped away while Hendery made another joke about his "childish" plan. When the boy was out of sight, a tear slowly escaped his left eye.

Back in the present, Yangyang plopped down on his bed staring at the pile of homework in front of him. He read the words in his textbook again and again but it didn't make any sense to him. Yangyang's mind had wandered off into other thoughts. The same words kept on playing in his head.

"Yangyang, you need to grow up. The overground is just a fictional place in storybooks and fairytales. They don't actually exist."

If the place was nonexistent, then where was his mom? Yangyang was sure that his mother was not actually sent on a space mission. His eyes gazed at the bottom right drawer of his desk and his hands itched to retrieve his mom's last letter to read it once again. The boy shook his head knowing that it was better to focus on studying for the Physics test he had tomorrow. Picking up the textbook again, Yangyang narrowed his eyes at the same set of questions on his review. Still, his mind pondered upon a different set of questions.

Is mother safe at the overground? Did she escape the shuttle? When is the best time to get an atmosplane? Is the key that I took earlier actually real? Will I escape in time before anyone else finds out about my plans? Will I be able to fly the atmosplane? Is it even safe?

Were Hendery and Dejun right? What if there actually wasn't a place called the overground? What if mother was just lying to me? What if atmosplanes don't actually exist?

How big of a trouble will I be in after all of this?

Yangyang exhaled the breath he held in. His father called from the first floor. The young boy stretched his neck out to look at the clock; time had passed and he hadn't even started on his English homework. Yangyang went downstairs to eat dinner with his dad like he did everyday. He lived his normal life like he did everyday and he would until he got his hands on the atmosplane. Until he escaped Taiwan and the underground.

𝙀𝙉𝘿 𝙊𝙁 𝙎𝘾𝙀𝙉𝙀 𝙄𝙄