In this chapter, the Underground Man continues his story of how he came to be in the tunnel. He explains how he ground up the crystals in a mortar and wrapped them in a paper ball. The result was a "flashbang" . The Underground Man says that if he had a bomb, he would have used it on the monsters, but he doesn't have enough money to do so. He also says that he found a shotgun in a car and that it would have been terrifying to go out unarmed. He says that the people in the tunnels are just trying to "straighten up" and "fly right" , and that they're all just like him. He compares them to a group of "troubled youths" who are trying to straighten themselves up and get on with their lives. He adds that he's seen one of them act like a kid when he finds a junk food item in a store. He goes on to say that two years ago he met Neumann, who was serving time in prison for killing a girl. Neumann was a sophomore in high school at the time, and he was known as "San" because of his spoiled appearance. When he got out of prison, he was called "Noi-Man" because he was a veteran prisoner. He was so used to being in prison that he didn't care what people called him, even though he was clearly a spoiled brat. Everyone called him "Yomanoi-San" and teased him about it. He started to wonder why he was being called "San," and when he started to think about it, he realized that he was calling Neumann "Mi-chan" and not "San." Neumann liked the nickname so much that he decided to use it as his own.