Ch.3Return! (3)

#003

-Agent Himena, what are you doing cursing in there?

A middle-aged man’s voice came through the speaker attached to the corner of the interrogation room ceiling.

“B-but.”

As Agent Himena visibly flustered and fumbled, an irritated voice began to scold her.

-Gather your files and get out right now.

As soon as the middle-aged man’s voice ended, Agent Himena glared at Dexter as if she wanted to tear him to shreds.

Despite the sudden change in atmosphere, Dexter leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and spoke as if this was exactly what he had been hoping for.

“Glaring at me like that won’t change anything.”

It seemed the middle-aged agent who had just spoken through the speaker had been watching through the interrogation room’s two-way mirror.

-I said get out now!

“Y-you’ll see!”

Dexter watched Agent Himena storm out with a reddened face and remarked:

“What is this, some fairy tale villain?”

Shortly after, a skinny, stern-looking middle-aged man with white hair entered the interrogation room, clicking his tongue.

“My, my, tsk tsk. Getting all worked up by herself. She should learn to be more aware of her surroundings.”

“Well, do people like that really exist?”

Dexter, the target of the verbal abuse, couldn’t believe it.

“Let me apologize on her behalf. I’m Steve, head of the Residence Management Department.”

When Steve extended his hand, Dexter uncrossed his arms and shook it.

“Well, I’m not sure why I was being cursed at, but I’ll let it go.”

Seeing Dexter’s displeased expression, Steve cleared his throat and spoke in a serious tone.

“Ahem. I apologize, but I’ll get straight to the point. First, I express my regrets on behalf of the federal government and the OSA Director.”

“Why?”

“The reason you were sent into space 15 years ago was due to an incident caused by OSA’s mismanagement.”

This was the content of the conversation Dexter had overheard the night before.

“What kind of mismanagement?”

“An alien traveling Earth crashed near Weston, Boston due to an unfortunate accident. The crash site was by a river, in an area with heavy rainfall.”

“Are you saying the rescue beacon was washed away by the river to Back Bay?”

“Sadly, yes. It was a situation where OSA needed to respond urgently, similar to when you landed without OSA permission. Due to internal conflicts among agents at the time, the response was significantly delayed, and we believe information was leaked.”

“Internal conflicts?”

“It would take too long to explain in detail, but it was a minor dispute over response rotation.”

Dexter covered his face with both hands and said:

“Do you have any idea how much I’ve struggled for 15 years? After everything I went through to survive, the cause of all this suffering was just a dispute over rotation?”

“The internal personnel responsible will be disciplined.”

“That’s not the point right now!”

BANG!

Dexter jumped up at Steve’s words, causing his chair to fall over.

His face quickly turned red as he placed his hands on his hips and began pacing around the interrogation room.

“What the hell kind of bullshit is this?!”

“I understand how you feel.”

“If you’ve never spent 15 years alone in space, please just be quiet for a moment.”

As Steve closed his mouth, Dexter’s breathing became more intense.

His anger was uncontrollable, yet he couldn’t just grab someone and hit them.

The next best option was to pace around the interrogation room.

“And does that fix anything? What about all the moments I’ve missed? Where did my normal life go?”

To Dexter’s outcry, Steve could only offer one response:

“OSA will do its utmost to support your return.”

After hearing Steve’s words, Dexter continued pacing around the interrogation room for several minutes without saying anything.

“……”

Dexter was furious that all his hardships had occurred because agents were passing the buck on who should respond. Yet he couldn’t ask them to turn back time to 15 years ago. And he couldn’t just destroy everything in frustration—this was a government department located underground.

‘All that suffering and perseverance was because of some stupid rotation dispute?’

Dexter roughly grabbed the plastic soda bottle sitting on the desk.

He didn’t want to be angry, but anyone would be furious upon learning that all their hardships had been unnecessary.

His hand holding the bottle began to tremble, and his powerful grip tightened.

“Please try to calm down…”

“…I believe I told you to keep your mouth shut.”

Steve could sense Dexter’s quiet rage beneath his monotone voice.

The rough breathing, thick veins visible on the back of his hand, muscles tensing with each breath—

Steve could only swallow silently and cautiously observe Dexter’s state, seeing traits that weren’t visible earlier.

The soda bottle in Dexter’s grip gradually distorted until—

-POP!

The bottle cap flew off, unable to withstand Dexter’s grip.

His hand still clutching the bottle was trembling so much that vibrations could be felt on the desk.

‘Stay calm, this is the underground headquarters of OSA.’

He didn’t know what would happen if he caused trouble.

‘Let’s hear what they have to say first, then ask for compensation later.’

Trying to suppress his boiling anger through self-hypnosis, Dexter slowly began to take deep breaths.

Steve was shocked by Dexter’s display of strength.

‘Strength enough to burst a soda bottle.’

None of the OSA agents could demonstrate such power.

‘It would be difficult to stop this man.’

After waiting about 10 minutes, hoping Dexter wouldn’t resort to violence, Steve sighed in relief as he saw the strength gradually leaving Dexter’s hand.

“Haaa.”

‘What did this man do to deserve this?’

There would be no benefit in causing a scene demanding to see the person responsible from 15 years ago.

Taking another deep breath to release his remaining anger, Dexter sat back in the chair and asked about the strange situation from earlier.

“Phew, alright. Let’s put that aside for now. Did Agent Himena know about this?”

“Not at all. She’s quite self-absorbed. I apologize again for her behavior.”

Seeing Steve’s humble attitude, Dexter didn’t have much more to say.

Steve added that Agent Himena, who had acted quite arrogantly, probably didn’t know the inside story.

He suggested she likely thought of Dexter as just an ordinary earthling who had returned from a long journey.

“Fine, there’s nothing to gain by staying angry. So what kind of support are you offering?”

“Thank you for understanding. Please read this document.”

Dexter took the document and began reading it slowly from the top.

These were names he had heard 15 years ago.

“USPS, P&J Secure, Ola Express… These are company names, aren’t they?”

“That’s right. Specifically, these are companies you could join immediately.”

Dexter was suspicious of being offered this so readily.

Seeing Dexter’s distrustful expression, Steve looked puzzled.

“You don’t like it?”

“After making such consecutive mistakes, I’m naturally skeptical of any documents you’re offering.”

“All I can promise is that you should trust our decisions and support.”

When someone asks for trust so directly, it’s hard to say, “No, I won’t trust you.”

Reluctantly, Dexter began examining the document more carefully.

He could see there were a total of 25 companies listed.

Perhaps wanting to recognize Dexter’s previous experience, most were transportation-related businesses.

The majority were courier or freight companies.

However, there was one unique company with “Secure” in its name, which Dexter sensed wasn’t a simple security company.

“What’s P&J Secure? It seems to be the only one that’s not a transportation company.”

“Huh? P&J Secure is on that list?”

Steve seemed unaware as he examined the document Dexter handed him.

“Ah, you mentioned you’ve apprehended criminals a few times, right?”

“Yes, I have.”

“That’s probably why.”

“Why?”

“P&J Secure is a private prison company. Like CentCivic or the GEO Group.”

Out of twenty-five companies, twenty-four were transportation companies because Dexter had worked in transportation. In this context, having just one private prison company seemed like blatant PR.

“Who compiled this list anyway?”

“Agent Himena.”

“What kind of rookie is she?”

As Dexter had suspected, she had thought of him as an ordinary earthling.

She didn’t even do what she was told properly, suggesting she had a somewhat strong ego.

Yet Steve didn’t say much beyond kicking her out of the interrogation room, making Dexter think she must have powerful backing.

“You must have it tough.”

Dexter spoke with genuine sympathy rising from his heart.

“It’s nothing.”

Steve answered, deeply feeling that sentiment.

Overall, while Dexter wasn’t entirely pleased, after seeing what Agent Himena had done, he didn’t feel like resisting Steve.

“I’m not in a position to be picky, so let’s go with P&J Secure.”

He decided to choose the job he had less experience with.

“If I go to P&J Secure, what kind of work would I be doing?”

“That’s not our department but their HR’s, though I suspect you’d likely be a correctional officer.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the most important position and they need the most people. P&J Secure is a relatively new company.”

Steve concisely explained most of Dexter’s questions, and Dexter quickly understood.

Since most intelligent life forms live in similar ways, even Dexter, who had spent a long time in space, could resolve any confusion by asking more detailed questions.

“People live pretty much the same everywhere, don’t they?”

That was Steve’s impression after noticing Dexter’s quick understanding.

After a few more light questions, Steve asked with a serious face:

“Are you sure about this? No changing your mind?”

“I’m sure.”

“Really sure?”

“Why are you making me nervous?”

Steve stared at Dexter, nodded, and then said as he left the interrogation room:

“Leave with the agents’ guidance like when you came in. The results will come in a few days, so don’t worry.”

After the previously unresponsive Steve left, the agents who had been with Dexter in the morning entered.

“Let’s go.”

As Dexter was being escorted out by the agents, he saw Steve pouring coffee into a mug in a break room with one glass wall.

In front of him was Agent Himena, looking flustered.

Steve frowned at Agent Himena and began scolding her until her face turned red.

‘Serves her right.’

* * *

About a week had passed since leaving OSA headquarters.

There were only minor tasks, like answering questions as requested by agents or having his picture taken against the wall of his room for identification purposes.

Dexter was someone who had been too busy working and traveling to have much rest time.

For the first four days, he was so busy entertaining himself in his room that he barely came out.

But staying in the room with nothing to do eventually became boring.

From the fifth day onward, he tried to recapture the moments he had missed over 15 years by taking light walks around the area or chatting with motel staff.

Today, when Dexter returned to his room after an evening walk, he found two agents and a bed full of items.

“What’s all this?”

Agent Jake, who had been sitting in a chair, stood up and said:

“These are settlement support items prepared by OSA.”

On the bed were a mid-range brand wallet, clothes for Dexter to wear for the time being, a suitcase, a car smart key, bundles of documents, a mobile phone, and other items.

Dexter opened the wallet and was surprised to find a driver’s license with a photo he didn’t remember taking, along with a substantial amount of cash and a credit card.

“OSA must be quite wealthy, huh?”

“If you were an ordinary person, Mr. Hughes, we would have given you about $10,000 as settlement support and that would be it, but that’s not all.”

“What do you mean that’s not all?”

If someone nearly became a space orphan for about 15 years due to a mistake by the US federal or state government, compensation in the millions would be natural.

However, Dexter only vaguely knew this and decided to discuss it amicably with OSA later.

“Isn’t your situation rather special, Mr. Hughes? Take a closer look at your license.”

As the senior agent suggested, when Dexter examined the license carefully, he saw that his residence was listed as “Honeygood Springs, Elon Lane” in Nevada.

“This seems to be nearby, but where exactly is this?”

“That’s the house where you’ll be living from now on, Mr. Hughes.”

“What?”

Dexter was taken aback.

“A house?”

“Oh, didn’t OSA explain this to you? I was sure they would have.”

When Dexter looked at Agent Jake with an expression suggesting he was hearing this for the first time, Agent Jake was equally surprised.

Dexter realized he had never asked about his residence.

“I only know that I’ll be working at P&J Secure.”

“What the hell has the Residence Management Department been doing?”

The senior agent sighed deeply and spoke with an irritated voice.

“As you know, Mr. Hughes, you will indeed be working for P&J Secure. However, since P&J Secure is a new company, they only manage one prison.”

Agent Jake was about to elaborate but, thinking it might get too lengthy, showed his mobile phone screen instead.

On the screen was a prison building standing alone in the middle of a wasteland, with a white-painted marker bearing black lettering.

“Honeygood Women’s Correctional Center?”

“It’s commonly called Honeygood Women’s Prison.”

He had thought it would be a regular men’s prison, but it turned out to be a women’s prison.

Dexter had occasionally visited prisons as a substitute staff member when they were short on prisoner transport personnel.

He vaguely remembered the gloomy atmosphere of the prison and the clanking sound of metal chains hitting each other.

“Is it harder than a men’s prison?”

In response to Dexter’s musing, Agent Jake answered:

“Well, it might be easier if you could subdue them with force.”

Agent Jake shrugged.

“I’ve never been to a women’s prison either, so I wouldn’t know.”

“I suppose not.”

How often would an OSA agent visit a prison?

“Well, it’s still a prison, so you’ll need to stay sharp. Oh, and as you’ll see in the documents, there will be an 8-week training period starting next Monday.”

8 weeks of training.

This referred to the correctional officer training program conducted by P&J Secure.

“I asked another agent, and they said it’s similar to police academy training, though I’m not certain.”

The explanation continued that besides general firearms training and physical training, there would be legal education and training related to prison procedures.

As Agent Jake explained, much of it was similar to police academy training, and P&J Secure had adopted a training method in conjunction with the Nevada Department of Corrections.

While explaining the training methods, Agent Jake, who was originally from a police background, pointed at Dexter’s abdomen and said:

“Physical training shouldn’t be a problem for you at all. Haha.”

Dexter’s toned body without an ounce of fat was impressive to anyone.

While Dexter was confident in his physical abilities, he was most concerned about the legal education and procedural training.

“I wonder if I can do well with this.”

“Don’t worry. As long as you know basic common sense, you’ll be fine.”

Agent Jake nodded at his own words.

Dexter also nodded, then dumped the provided items into the suitcase, looking at the car smart key—the only item remaining on the bed.

“……”

As Dexter picked up the last remaining smart key, Agent Jake extended his hand and said:

“Welcome back to Earth, Mr. Hughes.”