A Trivial Happening

The day starts as it always does. Wake up, wash, check the amount of remaining supplies, do nothing. What’s different is the presence of a strange sound. It is unlike anything you’ve heard before.

A whistling noise, barely audible, but definitely there.

Is it from the stove? Probably not. From the pipes? Even lower possibility. Then the remaining possibility is the hatch, but that’s just impossible. There’s all sorts of radioactive poison, if the safety hatch was loose you would already be dead. So you decide to check if there are any problems with the pipes, the stove, and so on.

Nothing.

Feeling uneasy, you tiptoe to the safety hatch- a place that was never touched as far as you remember, a place that should never be touched. Checking it, you find it unlocked. Frightened, you hurriedly lock it, and return back to the living room. Looking at the ceiling, you think about how you came to live in this small compartment, a place you call home.

You have no memory whatsoever of life before what you call ‘The Contamination’. An incident that polluted the world with so much radioactive debris that it became impossible to live on the surface of planet Earth. The survivors started living underground, in bunkers like the one you live in. It is small, only a few square meters of space to eat and sleep. But it is safe. It is also the only place you know. You do not remember who taught you this or when you learned this, only that it is true and that going out means death. You also have never seen any survivors - you are isolated, a lonely existence in a little capsule.

Slowly, a new emotion takes the place of fear - curiosity. You start to wonder what really is out there, outside of this small world. ‘What if I go out?’ ‘What if I leave?’ There is no one to stop you, no one to prevent you from going out.

You creep back to the hatch. It is still locked, the same state you left it. Slowly unlocking the bolts, you realize that you do not know why you know that ‘outside’ is dangerous. No one could tell it; you are completely isolated. 

You keep unlocking the bolts.

Finally, you slowly push the hatch open. A vision flashes in front of your eyes. A green world, harsh lights, and the sound of people shouting. It lasts only for a moment, you probably imagined it.

You see nothing but barren land. It is anything but friendly. Nothing but bronze ground and strange objects protruding from it. You know you should go back, back to where you know is safe.

Something pushes you forward. Something in your deepest thoughts you believe you are free.

Free from what?

You start walking away from the bunker, walking towards the horizon.

It only takes a few minutes of walking to realize that somehow, however far you go, you end up nowhere. The landscape is the same, even the structures rising from the ground seem to back away.

Something is wrong- never was right.

You start running, trying to escape the eerie landscape. It feels like running inside an invisible cage. You are lost-you don’t know where to go. You panic, running in every direction until you collide with the sky- a wall, only invisible to the eye. Suddenly, the sky and the landscape disappear, to be replaced by a green background and harsh lights; the same surroundings as your vision you had at the moment you stepped out of the hatch.

You hear footsteps, and before you can react, you feel a prick at the back of your neck.

As your vision fades into darkness, you see blurry figures, and hear voices saying “Keep the show running…”... “He’s losing consciousness…”.

The voices become incoherent, and you black out.

The day starts as it always does. Wake up, wash, check the amount of remaining supplies, do nothing. What’s different is the presence of a strange sound. It is unlike anything you’ve heard before.

혼란스러운 사람들에게:

이 글은 필자가 English Writing Contest에 제출한 글이다. 아마 글만 읽어서는 어떤 내용인지 모를 것이다. 대충 설명을 하자면, 줄거리는 이렇다:
주인공은 핵전쟁(Nuclear Apocalypse) 이후 벙커에 살고 있다고 믿는다. 하지만, 글을 읽으면 알 수 있다시피, 이는 사실 거짓이고, 이 모든 환경은 누군가가 방송을 하기 위해 설정한 CG 세상이다.
주인공은 이를 모른 채 살아가다, 어느 우연한 계기로 살던 벙커의 문이 열리게 되고, 주인공은 갈등 끝에 나가게 된다.
이는 주인공의 우연한 선택으로, 방송사 측은 CG를 얼른 키다가 실수로 그린 스크린을 주인공에게 보여준다. 하지만 주인공은 이를 그저 상상으로 치부한다.
주인공에게 보여지는 세상은 황무지다. 그러나 어느 속도로 가든 보이는 풍경이 똑같아 주인공은 혼란스러워 하다 한 방향으로 무작정 뛰기 시작했다.
그러다 주인공은 보이지 않는 벽에 부딪히고, 환상은 깨진다.
주인공은 초록색 방에 갇히고, 누군가에 의해 마취제를 맞고 정신을 잃는다.
그리고, 정신이 아득해져 오는 순간 들리는 목소리를 통해 우리는 모든 것이 하나의 '쇼', 하나의 공연, 하나의 방송임을 알게 된다.
그리고 마지막 문단을 통해 이번 사건의 발단, 즉 해치가 열리는 사건이 처음이 아니고, 주인공은 기억이 지속적으로 지워졌다는 것을 알 수 있다.
그렇다면, 새로운 동시 익숙한 하루에, 주인공은 어떤 선택을 하게 될까? 당신이라면, 그 문을 열 것인가? 아니면 무시하고 살 것인가?

알 수 있다시피 이 글을 쓸 때 필자는 영화 '트루먼 쇼'와 드라마 '사일로'의 줄거리에서 일부 영감을 받았다. 주인공이 가상 현실의 세계를 진실로 믿다, 그 것에 의문을 가지고 바깥 세상에 나오게 된다. 그러나, 앞서 언급한 두 작품에서와 달리, 주인공은 이 새장을 탈출하지 못하고, 기억을 잃은 채 동일한 상황에 갇히게 된다.

사실 이런 내용의 글은 필자가 원래 쓰고 싶어했던 시나리오로, KWC를 통해 써서 공개하게 되었다. 재미있게 읽었기를 바란다.