Prologue

Three months ago

"Everyone was warned but no one listened. A rise in temperature, ocean patterns changed, and ice caps melted. They called it extreme weather. They didn't know what extreme was."

"Is that an English movie?" Velcro steals a peek at Hyunki's laptop where a video was playing. The latter hummed in affirmation without tearing his eyes away from the screen. Velcro's large hand scoops a handful of cheese chips from the bowl Hyunki hugged close.

"In the year 2019, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and droughts unleashed a wave of destruction upon our planet."

Subsequently, clips of natural calamities filled the screen. Rolling clouds acted as transitions. A house whose ground crumbled beneath it fell to the rushing current of flood water. Rescue teams saving calamity survivors, corpses recovered from the debris of destruction, the horrid effects of natural calamities came flooding in.

"Why aren't there any subtitles?"

"Shut up, will you?"

"You can't understand that," Velcro stated with conviction, albeit deep inside he was glad seeing his best friend being able to understand English. For someone from a foreign country, having someone like Hyunki had been convenient – not to mention fun and memorable.

"I do, and I want you to shut up." A snort exhausts from Velcro's nostrils. Hyunki has always been so savage when it comes to his words. The former did shut up and had his eyes glued to the screen, plopping on his roommate's bed to watch. It was a flick of moment that he suddenly felt lost in his thoughts.

"We didn't just towns or beachfronts. We lost entire cities."

"Do you think this could possibly happen in the real world?" Velcro asked out of the blue.

"Of course."

"Why so?" Hyunki's eyebrows crossed in confusion but somehow managed to answer his curious roommate's query. Hyunki placed the video on pause and faced the evidently baffled Velcro.

"The world is constantly changing, Cro." Velcro nodded.

"I wonder if people are actually doing something to stop it. Or stall it, at least." He lies on Hyunki's bed, grabbing the nearest pillow he could reach and covered his face with it.

"There are some," Hyunki replied.

"Really?" Velcro's voice was muffled by the pillow.

"Give me that," Hyunki took his pillow from his friend, neatly placing it by his headboard. Velcro knows how much Hyunki hates having other people touch his personal belongings. "Last 2018, fifteen thousand scientist from all over the world signed a petition to raise public awareness about the possible end of the world. They wanted to ignite a widespread public debate about the global environment and climate."

"That's some effort," Velcro replied, doing another attempt to take Hyunki's pillow.

Hyunki slapped Velcro playful hands away from his pillow, giving the taller a glare. "The same thing happened in 1992," he continued. "The Union of Concerned Scientist gave out a message regarding the future's bleak survival which was backed up almost two thousand experts. According to Professor Ripple in the US, this is humanity's second notice."

"Yeah, but inconsiderate humans know how to ignore it too well." Velcro lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Do you know Kiro Park?" Velcro shot him a look and shrugged. "He was among those who proposed the possibility of environmental catastrophe but his presentation was too horrid they had to shut him out."

"That's horrible." No one spoke after that. The silent air around them became heavier as it settles in between.

"Let's resume the movie. My sister said this is a good one," Hyunki said as he reached out to press the play button. The video resumed and the two spent the next hour in front of the laptop. Outside, heavy puffs of nimbus hung low, decorating the sky in its grey aestheticism and obscured rays of the evening sunset. Moments later, tiny raindrops succumb to gravity and fell in a downpour. Mists appeared on the windows and tiny droplets strayed on the pane.

No one knew in three months' time, the end will begin.