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Not Her

from: Portrait Image of Person Myung-hoMyung-ho    to: Portrait Image of Person Jin-aJin-a    Marker Icon for the Link to the Citymap
A person is sitting in an armchair in a dimly lit room, facing an old-fashioned television. The TV shows a person in a pink outfit against a blue background with text and images. The room is warmly lit with yellow light from a lamp on the right. Behind the chair, sheer curtains are drawn across a window, filtering the exterior light. Papers or sheets are scattered on the floor in front of the chair, adding a casual, perhaps cluttered feel to the scene.




Jin-a,

I saw them.

On the evening broadcast, right after the marching anthem. Three faces. Three returning heroes. Three lies.

The woman they say is Eun-ha wears her face like a borrowed mask — but it is not her.
Her walk is too stiff. Her shoulders don’t know the weightlessness of space.
Her hands — they have never touched the flight deck.

I felt it immediately. As clearly as I felt her presence that first day — fierce, brilliant, undeniable.

And now?

What they show us is not my crew.
It’s a substitution. A stage. A tomb with applause.

Jin-a… I believe the truth is brutally simple.

The capsule burned.

Our girls — your daughter — never came home.
And the system does not mourn its daughters.
It repaints them.

I fear they will now erase the rest.
Anyone close enough to remember.

You.
Me.
Perhaps tomorrow.

I am going underground. I still have contacts in the lower section.
If you can — follow the shadow path.
You know what that means.

I write this with the last ink of trust.

Maybe she still lives, somewhere in the ash.
Maybe their lie won’t hold.

Maybe not all is lost.

Please, take care of yourself. If you go, go quiet. Go now.
And if there's ever a signal — however faint — I'll find her. Or die trying.

Myung-ho

 

Transcript News Coverage:
"In the early hours of this glorious day, the heroic daughters of our Fatherland — Comrade Eun-ha, Comrade Ji-soo, and Comrade Hye-ran — returned victorious from the depths of space! Under the wise leadership of our beloved Supreme Leader, their mission stood as a shining testament to the invincible power of Korean science and the unwavering loyalty of our spacefaring women.

With unbreakable resolve and the red heart of socialism, they traversed the darkness of the cosmos to bring the radiant future to our people! Their return is a triumph of spirit, a gift to the Fatherland, a star etched into the chronicle of our revolution!"

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