A man in a helt that looked like it belonged on a spacesuit stopped between collapsed buildings and a brown-hued street. He then opened a tattered bag and took out a paper that had been folded many tis.
As he unfolded the ragged paper, the words ‘National Expressway Map’ could be seen in the corner.
The man’s hand, wearing a thick glove, wiped the glass of his helt, revealing Choi Jeho’s eyes. A low-toned voice settled on the floor like old dust.
『The sun is setting』
Choi Jeho glanced back and forth between the paper and a sign in front of him. Behind the half-bent sign, nothing was visible.
Just as he was looking around with an annoyed expression, an orange light turned on in a device attached to his hip. Choi Jeho turned around to see a sandstorm rolling in from the distance. The wind whipped at the hem of his clothes. It was like a scene from a movie.
『Wherever I go, all that remains
Are empty cities
Eternal silence
And traces of people』
Kang Kiyeon’s voice, adding to the parched feeling, blended with the scene.
A hand reached out from the smoke and grabbed the elbow of Choi Jeho, who was hastily clutching the map. All that was visible was a motorcycle glove.
Without knowing who was leading him, Choi Jeho relied on the silhouette and the strong grip to plunge into the smoke with them.
『If only for a day
I could be swept up in a crowd
And blend in』
After a solo shot of Choi Jeho perched in a narrow space filled with junk, the screen returned to the smoke, showing Choi Jeho arriving in an underground bunker as a massive steel door closed behind him.
Kang Kiyeon, who had taken off his gas mask, removed his gloves and brushed his hair with his bare hands. Then, using an air compressor near the entrance, he ticulously blew the dust off his and Choi Jeho’s bodies.
The narrow space grew wider the further they went inside. Finally, when they opened an inner door, a small, rectangular hideout was revealed.
The gazes of Park Joowoo, in a tattered long-sleeved shirt, who was organizing food supplies, and Jeong Seongbin, in worn-out overalls, who was checking materials, turned toward the unfamiliar outsider.
Lee Cheonghyeon, who had just woken up from under a pile of cloth, and Kim Iwol, who was reading a thick book while wearing cracked glasses, reacted in much the sa way.
Whenever the gauge lit up red, the six boys would eat the preserved food stored in the bunker — or, with the map Choi Jeho had brought and his explanations, they would dream about whether sowhere out there a better place might still exist.
『If I could not be alone
If all the stars
Were my friends』
Lying among his sleeping mbers, Park Joowoo opened his eyes alone. Reflected in his deep, unreadable eyes was a star chart drawn on the bunker’s ceiling.
The cara quickly zood in on one of the countless stars. It transitioned to a shot of Kim Iwol trapped in a small space, giving the illusion that he was inside the star.
Kim Iwol, sitting on a wooden ladder in a space surrounded by tall books, looked intelligent and noble.
It was clear that for the individual cuts, they had tried to maintain a similar color palette to the drama scenes while highlighting each mber’s unique characteristics as much as possible.
From within the narrow stacks that seed to be filled with the sll of old books, Kim Iwol looked up at the sky. His following part represented his inner thoughts.
『Until the very last end
A new place
In search of hope』
On the day the detector showed a green light for the first ti since Choi Jeho’s arrival at the bunker, the mbers put on their well-worn protective suits and ran outside.
They ran into a forest. As far away from human settlents as possible, to a place untouched by the city’s civilization.
Beyond the forest was a wide-open sea.
『I leave on an endless journey』
In front of the night sea, the mbers took off their protective gear one by one. With clumsy hands, Choi Jeho carefully unzipped his work jumpsuit, which had been zipped up to his neck.
Choi Jeho took off his helt. The sound of the waves, previously unheard, rushed in with the music.
It felt as if the waves were being captured in Choi Jeho’s eyes. His matured expressiveness, more so than when he had appeared in his agency senior’s music video, pulled Won Chaehee further in.
Lee Cheonghyeon, after checking if there was any gas left in a lighter he’d found on the beach, lit a small sparkler.
Park Joowoo held the crackling sparkler and went to the water’s edge, watching the fla reflect on the surface.
Jeong Seongbin sat next to him, twirling his wrist and watching the sparks leave trails in the air.
Choi Jeho sat down next to Kim Iwol, who was lying with his head on a log and his eyes closed, enjoying the sea breeze. He then watched his friends playing, tossing a deflated ball back and forth.
When Lee Cheonghyeon waved and called out to them, Kim Iwol rose to his feet. But Choi Jeho didn’t move. So Kang Kiyeon reached out his hand to him.
In this harsh environnt, happy days beca increasingly rare.
The food dwindled, and the detector glowed only red, making day and night aningless.
And one day, a certain news story ca on the radio, which only worked occasionally when its corner was tapped.
The mbers gazed wistfully at the dates they’d carved into the wall, or silently stroked the trinkets they’d collected, finishing their quiet goodbyes.
Just before falling asleep, lying side by side in the cramped bunker, Choi Jeho asked the person next to him, Kang Kiyeon, a question. His voice was drowned out by the music.
Kang Kiyeon simply answered with a smile.
The next day, when the detector glowed green for the first ti in a long while.
Just like that early sumr night, the mbers cast off their protective gear and ran along the beach as the sun was just beginning to set.
They dipped their feet into the sea they had never entered and shouted at the top of their lungs. Sand flew in all directions every ti they kicked off the ground.
A calm lody, contrasting with their bright faces, played with Jeong Seongbin’s voice.
『But if
The end really cos』
Rain began to fall on everyone as they played. A downpour on a clear day.
The raindrops falling on the murky, jade-colored surface of the water glittered like crystals in the sunlight.
The sea was carved out like a giant jewel. The boundaries between the sky, the rain, and the waves blurred together.
『I will remain here
In the desert
And watch the setting sun』
A drenched Kang Kiyeon shook the rainwater from his hair. He then took Choi Jeho’s damp hand and pulled.
In the distance, the other mbers were gesturing toward the two of them.
『The sea of sand
Where the sunset glows』
On the walkie-talkie of the jumpsuit Choi Jeho had taken off, a green light flickered faintly. It was the last light seen before the screen went dark.
『On A High Note』
Thus, one story ca to an end. Beautifully.
* **
Spark’s first-ever post-apocalyptic music video was revolutionary in many ways.
≫ The last remaining bit of humanity in a world destroyed by humankind?
How can you not cry watching this?
└ We said we wanted cyberpunk, not life gauges punctured with pain, sir
└ So it was a full album, huh? You guys really went for the jugular. But hey, you ground your teeth so hard, there won’t be any left.
≫ How could they show us a music video like this and na it >>Let’s End on a High Note
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