7 WPP (1/2)
”????????????!” Taro screamed inwardly. Finally, the construction work he did back in Wados to pay off his student loan seemed to have some use.
”What else? It's the one workplace which has Taro lifting inanimate objects rather than animated ones, lowering the risk of injury by a considerable amount.” Lonappan explained to which Kunjan asked.
”Haven't you heard about certain workplace incidents?”
”Ha, if that happens—well, we can look into it then.” The agent replied.
”So, how are we approaching this new venture?” Gibli asked.
Out of nowhere, Thankappan jumped back into the conversation yet again. ”Cut it out for a minute. You?”
”…What?” Lonappan had no idea what the rookie was talking about.
”You just said 'you'.” Thankappan spoke.
”So?” Lonappan wanted to see what his junior was getting at.
”You didn't use 'we'. You excluded yourself out of it.” Thankappan looked mildly infuriated of it.
”Ah, yes. I won't be doing the construction work though.” Lonappan smirked.
”Wait, didn't you say we were gonna work together?” Thankappan asked. He couldn't believe it—a betrayal in plain sight, yet the one that no one expected—since no one other than Thankappan cared.
”Nah, I meant it as the organization, not me as an individual.” Lonappan elaborated.
”I see.” It took Thankappan a few seconds to get what he meant. ”You bastard! You meant me, didn't you?” The mild infuriation turned into a fully-fledged fury.
”Truly, for once, you didn't act like an idiot.” Lonappan clapped and others joined in.
Even though, it was for the ongoing joke, Thankappan was slightly happy that Lonappan didn't call him an idiot. Therefore, he calmed down and asked. ”I don't get it, why?”
”Look, the people around here know me as this hotshot employee of a certain establishment that gives an extremely stable pay. I would like to keep that face if I wanna stay relevant enough—if I wanna keep those connections I talked about. You stop being that, you're relegated to the lower grades of the society.” He explained.
”Like us?” Gibli asked.
”Exactly.” Lonappan was not one to mince his words. ”I can't exactly risk it with my wife and kids too, you know? I don't want my kids thinking that their dad is a degenerate of this society.” He spoke.
”I got a question. How come you got wife and kids? Aren't the MIB not supposed to have these relationships?” Kunjan asked. An MIB employee leading a normal life in the background was such a weird sight for him. He expected the field agents to have their names erased from all the records or something.
”Well, I mean, it's a perfect cover, isn't it? No one suspects a damn thing when you're married. Like, rarely anyone asks me of my job after I got married.” He chuckled.
”Have you placed any thought on what would happen if your cover is confiscated? Wouldn't that place your wife and kids in danger?” Kunjan asked yet again.
”Hmm, let's see. MIB has a shelter protocol for its employees. Even though my wife and kids aren't MIB's employees, they still are an accomplice in keeping my cover up. So, they'd be included in it as well.” Lonappan took in a deep breath and stood up. ”Now that I'm done explaining that, let me get to thing that we were talking about.”
#
Early morning in the next day. The five of them stood before an oddly decorated building. It had flags of similar design all over the place and occasionally, a board consisting of some random guy's face was seen. ”What's this place?” Taro asked.
”The Worker's Political Party (WPP) Ward office.” Lonappan replied.
”Come here.” Thankappan dragged Lonappan to a corner and asked. ”What are we doing here? I thought we were going to the Worker's union or something.”
”We are, aren't we? Almost ninety percent of the Worker's union are WPP's members. You wanna get into the Worker's union? You have to get WPP's blessings.” Lonappan briefed the task they had in their hands.
”Is this really necessary? Associating yourself with a political party is dangerous in and of itself, isn't it?” A concerned Thankappan asked.
”Do you even read the newspapers, my dude? If you knew who the ruling party of the state government is—you wouldn't have said this.” Lonappan said in a condescending tone.
”I know WPP's ruling the state. However, haven't you heard the rumors surrounding the party? That they're involved in killing people and all.” Thankappan whispered as he replied.
”That's like literally every other party in this country. And why do we have to get so political about it?” Lonappan asked.
For once, Thankappan agreed. ”Exactly! We just wanna do some construction work. Then, why are we in here?”
”Do you really think you can waltz in and do construction work? No. If you were to do that, the worker's union will make your life a living hell. They'd make it their mission to ruin your every gigs. So, yes. This is indeed necessary.” Lonappan gently pushed away Thankappan's arm and grabbed it instead. ”We're going in, boys!” He proclaimed as he dragged Thankappan alongside.