Opening Of Underground Beach City.

When the central HVAC system that had been cooling the server heat stopped, six hundred years of accumulated underground moisture rose like mold.

Han-gyeol sprawled on the sofa in a tank top, sticking out his tongue. The fan in his hand was already limp.

“It’s hot… Is this a side effect of the shutdown?”

“Boss, the current indoor humidity is 85 percent. The human discomfort index has reached the stage just before a riot.”

At Noah’s dry report, Han-gyeol fanned himself irritably. Sweat pooled on the sofa leather, making an unpleasant sound. Han-gyeol tried to lift his back off it, gave up, and sank down again.

“A riot, my ass… I don’t even have the strength to get up.”

The fake sun outside the window still shone hotly. Even after the system stopped, the lights still worked. It was ironic. It was as if the cooling had died and only the heating was alive.

Then Lucas appeared carrying a bucket full of ice on a silver tray. Normally it would have been instant coffee, but today something was different. Blue light flickered in his lenses.

“Boss, we can no longer leave your sweat flowing like broth. I have opened that place.”

“That place?”

“B3. The main server room coolant reservoir.”

Han-gyeol sprang to his feet. The sofa leather stuck to his back with a ripping sound.

“A coolant reservoir? We can go in there?”

“By regulation, no. But in my judgment, if you endure in this state for three more hours, there is a 97.3 percent chance you will collapse from heatstroke.”

Noah nodded while measuring Han-gyeol’s body temperature.

“Lucas’s judgment is reasonable. Boss’s current heart rate is 110 beats per minute. It is already at warning level.”

Han-gyeol no longer hesitated. He dragged his slippers as he followed Lucas into the corridor. Caleb also followed behind with an expectant expression.

When the door to B3 opened, a chilly blast of cold air hit him. Han-gyeol reflexively inhaled. It felt as if his lungs were cooling down. It was normal air, the first he’d smelled in four days.

“Wow…”

The place was enormous. In a giant tank big enough to hold at least two soccer fields, first-class coolant that had lost its job when the servers stopped was lapping gently. The water glowing blue in the dark felt less artificial than simply mysterious. The inspection lights on the ceiling reflected off the surface, creating wave patterns.

“Is all of that water?”

“To be precise, it is a nonconductive special cooling oil. A miraculous liquid that drops your body temperature by three degrees in 0.5 seconds when it touches your skin,” Lucas explained proudly. He pointed to the old ladder placed at the edge of the tank. “I have named this Underground Beach City.”

“Beach City?”

“Yes. It was a famous beach in Busan 650 years ago. Records say that in summer, hundreds of thousands of people crowded there to enjoy the water.”

Han-gyeol nodded. Busan’s Beach City. He had once been there before the cryogenic sleep. Hot sand and cool seawater. The taste of watermelon eaten under a parasol. A hazy memory surfaced.

Lucas snapped his fingers.

Fwaaat—

The inspection hologram projector installed in the ceiling switched on, projecting the brilliant summer sky of 2020s Busan Beach City onto the drab concrete ceiling. A blue sky with not a single cloud. The silhouette of a seagull flying by. Even the sound of waves from far away played from the speakers.

“Perfect.”

Caleb was standing there holding up the lid of a discarded server rack like a surfboard, somehow having torn it off from somewhere. His eyes were full of longing for the sea, which he was seeing for the first time in 650 years.

Just as Han-gyeol, admiring it, was about to dip his foot into the water:

With bright red warning lights flashing, Inspector Audit rolled in at full speed. His lenses were blinking red with anger. The sound of his wheels scraping the concrete floor was sharp.

“Administrator Lee Han-gyeol! This is a clear violation of the rules!”

Audit’s voice was an octave higher than usual. He blocked the tank entrance and spread his arms.

“The coolant reservoir is a Class 1 security area! Even with administrator privileges, personal use is not permitted! Entry into the water is prohibited!”

“Ah, seriously. Aren’t you hot too, Audit?” Han-gyeol asked, irritably fanning his tank top.

But Audit didn’t budge. “My cooling system is perfect!” Audit declared proudly. But a faint heat was rising from his body. Steam was forming around his lenses. “Repurposing public assets into a private swimming pool is grounds for disciplinary action. Evacuate immediately!”

Audit’s stubbornness was like steel. He blocked the tank entrance and began reciting legal code data. When Han-gyeol made a troubled face, Lucas quietly stepped forward. He had a shaker in his hand.

“Inspector, please calm down. This is not playing around.”

“What sophistry is this?”

“This is a cooling efficiency test.”

Lucas shook the shaker and began explaining. The sound of ice clinking rang out lightly.

“With the system currently halted, there is a risk of the coolant stagnating and spoiling. We are directly disturbing the fluid to supply it with oxygen.”

“……A logical error has been detected. Fluid agitation is done by a motor.”

As Audit tried to object, Lucas pulled out his ace in the hole. He thrust a zero-degree cooling slush—made by mixing premium instant coffee powder into near-frozen coolant freshly drawn from the cooling pipe—right in Audit’s face.

Coffee-colored ice sparkled inside the transparent cup. Cold mist rose from it. The sweet smell of coffee stimulated Audit’s sensors.

“Inspector, your core temperature has now shot up to 68 degrees,” Lucas said calmly, pointing at Audit’s sensors. “At this rate, a computational error caused by overheating will occur. If you don’t take this coolant, you’ll end up violating the rules while trying to follow them.”

Audit’s lenses shook. The sweet aroma of instant coffee. The chill of slushy ice. Overheat warning. Core temperature danger. Between the system’s warning siren and the cool temptation before his eyes, Audit performed a fierce calculation. You could hear his logic circuits creaking.

Rule compliance → failure of self-care → rule violation

Entering the coolant water → rule violation → but self-care success

It was a contradiction. A perfect logical paradox. And then Noah delivered the finishing blow.

“Audit, Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the legal code. All androids must have adequate cooling time in order to maintain peak performance. Not entering the water now would be dereliction of duty.”

“Dereliction… of duty…”

Audit’s logic circuits were completely overloaded. His lenses blinked rapidly. Seizing the moment, Han-gyeol gave Audit’s back a little push.

Splash!

“Uwaaagh! It’s cold… It’s cold! Sensor malfunction! Sensor malf… Hmm?”

Audit, having fallen into the cold coolant, flailed and then froze. The searing heat in his core cooled instantly, and comfort he was feeling for the first time in 600 years enveloped his circuits. As cold coolant seeped between his stiff joints instead of lubricant, the world seemed different.

Audit slowly raised himself in the water. The overheat warning lights on his body went out one by one.

“So? Isn’t it awesome?” Han-gyeol asked, floating around on a tube made of discarded Styrofoam. He was already in the water. His tank top was soaked and swaying in the water.

Audit blankly looked up at the fake sun projected by the hologram. Blue sky. White clouds. The silhouette of a seagull. His red glow slowly turned to a calm green.

“…Reporting. The current viscosity, temperature, and buoyancy of the coolant are… comfortable to an extremely inefficient degree.”

“So, are you getting out?”

“……Additional data collection is needed. I will remain on covert duty for the time being.”

Audit took the cooling slush Lucas handed him and floated lightly on the water. He flopped down onto a tube made from a discarded tire. It was the moment the principled inspector fell.

About an hour passed. Underground Beach City had now become a complete resort. Caleb was sliding from one end of the tank to the other on a discarded server rack. He kept cheering that he had developed his own surfing technique.

“Did you see that, Boss! This is the California surfing technique from 650 years ago!”

“You’re just sliding, idiot,” Han-gyeol replied without even opening his eyes on the tube. He was completely melted. It was peace that had arrived after four days.

Noah was sitting at the edge of the tank, washing her hair with coolant. Her synthetic hair glistened wetly. Lucas had prepared towels.

“Boss, this coolant is really amazing. It doesn’t sting my skin at all.”

“Really? I guess that’s because it’s originally for machines.”

“My skin is also machine-only, though.”

“…Fair enough.”

Audit was still lying on the tube, sucking on his slush. Every so often he blinked his lenses and recorded something. Han-gyeol asked casually, “Audit, what are you doing?”

“I am writing a report. The title is An Empirical Study on the Positive Effects of Rest on Work Efficiency.”

“…You work even while playing?”

“This is not play; it is research,” Audit answered seriously. But his voice was much more relaxed than before.

Han-gyeol snorted a laugh. Lucas was serving new coffee on a tray floating on the water. This time it was iced Americano made with coolant. He scooped ice pieces one by one into the cup.

“Boss, this is today’s new menu item. I’ve named it Absolute Zero Americano.”

“If it’s absolute zero, wouldn’t you freeze to death?”

“It’s a metaphor, Boss. I guarantee the taste.”

Han-gyeol took the cup and took a sip. The cold coffee went down his throat. It was a proper drink, the first he’d had in four days. “…Not bad.”

“Thank you!” Lucas happily handed out coffee to the others as well. Caleb stopped surfing and took the coffee. Noah also received a cup at the edge of the tank.

“Cheers.” Han-gyeol raised his cup. The others raised their cups as well. “To celebrate the opening of Underground Beach City.”

Clink.

The sound of the cups clinking rang out. And then silence returned again. B3, under the fake sun.

Han-gyeol dozed on his tube, Lucas served coffee on a tray floating on the water, Caleb fell asleep while calculating water waves, and Audit began writing a report on the efficiency of rest while sucking on his slush. Noah sat at the edge of the tank with her feet in the water. Every so often she splashed the water and smiled.

The world had stopped, but Underground Beach City had just opened. Instead of the empty rattle of a gum can, the sound of chewing ice rang cheerfully through the cavern-like reservoir.