A Race to New World // ATEEZ Dystopia AU

Prologue

Author's Note:

FEEL FREE TO SKIP this chapter if you're not interested in the background context of the story. This part does not include any Ateez members, but it does relate to a part in the main story line, so if you read it, it might give you a better idea to what goes on in the future!

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He was looking at the grand scenery of Seoul City through an LED wall screen behind his desk when the door to his office opened.

His secretary stood at the threshold with a tablet and stylus in his hands. "Mr. Im, sir--"

"Don't you know how to knock?" Mr. Im turned around, his face already red from anger.

It was a bad day for the leader of the Global Home Seekers Alliance at the South Korean headquarters. He hadn't slept for thirty hours, and the black bags under his eyes were only the first indications of that. A hand raked his brown hair back as he took a deep breath to regain his composure.

"Sorry, Secretary Lee, what is it?"

The blond man closed the door behind him and almost tiptoed his way across the office to stand beside Mr. Im's desk, who was once again occupied by the leader himself.

"Please look here, Mr. Im," the secretary said, gesturing to the wall. He made a few swipes on the tablet and instantly, the blue sky and buildings and buzzing traffic vanished from the screen, replaced by a simple graph.

Mr. Im swiveled around on his desk chair, his eyes darting rapidly between the statistics that were projected in front of him.

"This is the daily update for the number of people who signed up for the New World Project. The orange bar is the number of people who went onto the spaceship in Gimpo Airport. The blue bar is the total number of people who went onto spaceships around the world. The smaller bars next to them shows the change in--"

Secretary Lee stopped abruptly when his boss slammed a hand onto the desk, startling him so much he almost dropped the device he was holding. His shoulders were still tense when Mr. Im silently changed the screen back to Seoul City, except this time it was a live footage instead of a preset wallpaper.

The sky was grey instead of blue, and the roads were devoid of life, save for an occasional vehicle rolling past. A layer of smog blanketed the buildings, making their edges fuzzy. 

Mr. Im put his face into his hands and mumbled into them.

"I- I'm sorry, did you say something," Secretary Lee broached, leaning in close.

He soon realized how poor of a decision he made, because in the next second, Mr. Im looked up and shouted at him. "Why are the numbers dropping?! Shouldn't people be fighting for a spot? What is wrong with them? Or, are you trying to tell me that something is wrong with the project itself?"

The secretary gulped and stepped back on reflex. "U-um," he stammered, clammy hands pressing onto the tablet with a newfound urgency. "The troubleshooting department thinks that it's because the general public refuses to believe that the end of the world is nearing. They think it's not worth it to leave everything behind and go into a strange planet in sp- space."

The leader seemed to be deep in thought. Secretary Lee held his breath, not daring to make a noise that might disturb the tense atmosphere.

"The people who signed up... what kind of people are they?"

The question was vague, but years of experience meant that the secretary knew exactly what Mr. Im wanted. He pulled up a new pie chart onto the wall screen. Under the dim environment of the office, the bright colors stung his eyes.