Monday, February 13, 2096
1:45 pm
Busan, South Korea
The plan failed. A local busybody had been paying attention to the activities of the crew of the Black Flea as soon as they arrived in Gyeongsangbuk-do. Mrs. Kim surreptitiously documented the construction of the Black Minnow and reported it to the KNPA, who in turn put the Black Flea crew under observation. Before they could get 100 meters from the port, the KNPA swooped in and arrested the crew for violating a federal travel ban and placed in detention.
It wouldn't be until late Friday night, February 10, that the travel ban was lifted. At that point, the crew would have been released and charges dropped, but they would have to wait until Monday morning for the administrative staff to process their release.
Syvil was not happy.
S: (staring at Wu-chan) Temae! We missed the Sapporo Ice Festival!
WU: Aww Syvil, you're missing the big picture here.
S: Yeah, what's that?
WU: We're not in jail!
S: Yeah, because we hid the data in Meri!
Meri: Wuf!
WU: Well that too, but I was worried someone was going to pin the death of Jageda's GEO on us. You know, food poisoning or something?
RP: Since the Ice Festival is over, what are we going to do? Are we going back to Decca right away to deliver the goods?
SM: Oh hell no. We are going back to Ginzan to soak in the hot springs for a couple of days. Isn't that right, Syvil?
S: Damn right. And Warui is paying for it all out of his personal funds.
WU: ...
RP: That sounds good to me.
WU: ...
S: And no skimping on the meals. We're having sushi and niku at every meal.
WU: ...
S: What?
WU: I still don't get it, though. How did we escape scrutiny of the police? We did not have a backup backstory for our stay in Busan. We had a day-long gap while we were pretending to be caterers and got stuck at Jageda.
RP: Cap, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
SM: Hmm. Did they plant bugs on our stuff?
RP: (freaked, in a fake voice) HA HA CAP, YOU'RE SO FUNNY! WE HUNG OUT IN THE SHIP ALL DAY LONG, DON'T YOU REMEMBER?
WU: (also freaked out, taking in a fake voice) OH YEAH, YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT! HOW COULD I FORGET? I MUST BE GETTING OLD OR SOMETHING! WE JUST HUNG OUT ALL DAY AND WATCHED BOOTLEG VIDEOS FROM THE 20TH CENTURY WE SNUCK IN WITH MERI!
S: Baka. They probably just put trackers everywhere and installed apps to listen in on phone calls.
WU: (draws picture of himself calling Doogé) SO SHOULD WE GO BACK HOME NOW?
RP: (shakes head and draws an 'X' through the picture) I AGREE, WE SHOULD GO HOME! WE'VE HAD ENOUGH OF LOTTE WORLD!
SM: (draws a black box) WE CAN USE THE QUANTUM MACHINE TO SEND AN ENCRYPTED MESSAGE. WHY ARE WE YELLING?
S: (whacks everyone on the head) EVERYONE STOP YELLING!
Meri: WUF!
— The Warubozu Usagi