TCWGRF 7

“Should I really need to know?”

The complaints of those who believed that the many things they enjoyed were a matter of course were nothing more than such trivial and petty deviations. These bothersome beings, who needed someone to listen to them and indulge their whims, were none other than the rulers of this city.

“……!”

The woman, who had been glaring at Samuel with a gaze mixed with resentment and embarrassment, picked up the clothes scattered on the floor and rushed out, making a clattering noise to show her anger.

Even so, in a few days, she would be shaking her hips and, even without any contact, would adorn herself and come running. It would not matter even if she stopped coming altogether. There were more than enough partners for the night.

Samuel burned the cigarette until the very end was smoldering, then got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom.

Thump. As soon as the bathroom door closed, an adjutant and cleaners entered from outside and quietly cleaned up the traces of the affair in an instant. The evidence that someone had been there was swiftly erased, and as always, spotless and clean bedding was prepared for the person in power.

Waaaaeeeeeng. Startled awake by the loud siren that roused the city from its sleep, Isaac hurriedly picked up the clothes he had thrown off and put them on.

He should have woken up earlier if he wanted to wash his face with the water that trickled out like teardrops and at least pretend to brush his teeth. Last night, he had overslept because the bed had been excessively comfortable.

He put on a shirt made of rough fabric, a crude coat that covered about half of his thighs, and a hat with a small brim on his head, and then rushed out of the building.

The people who began to pour into the street all lined up to get a piece of bread, but Isaac stood tall, watched the scene for a moment, then changed direction and walked quickly towards the gateway leading into District 12.

His stomach rumbled loudly as he had not eaten anything since yesterday, but he would be cutting it close if he wanted to get to the Public Security Bureau in the city center on time. He could lose time if something like a body search or being dragged away for questioning happened.

If someone in the procession was delayed, there would be witnesses, so the circumstances would be taken into consideration to some extent. But Isaac was alone, so being late could only be an excuse that no one could vouch for.

The excuse of being late due to a rough inspection process did not work in the city. It was a daily occurrence that could happen to anyone and a disaster that each person had to endure.

“Pass.”

Contrary to his expectations, the officers only glanced at the identification card Isaac presented and, without asking any questions, allowed him to enter the inner district.

The process was smooth, but it was still difficult to adapt to the city’s scenery that changed drastically with the gateway as a boundary. It even made him wonder if the path he had come from was not a nightmare.

In fact, the people inside the gateway might not believe that a life of lining up to get a piece of cold, hard, and tasteless bread even existed, and might dismiss it as a terrible dream.

He would be happy if that boy, who had so fervently longed for the city, was staying inside, and had therefore cleanly forgotten the faces of old acquaintances, friends, and his brother.

If he had obtained what he wanted and was living a dreamlike life, or if he had found his parents whom he firmly believed to be in the city. Then, without any lingering attachment, he could calm his heart that was turbulent with anxiety and worry, and leave for the outside world where he originally belonged, forgetting about the rebels and the city, and go far, far away.

Unfortunately, the rebels were not competent enough to obtain a decent identity within the city and provide it to their comrades. What would the people living in the preceding districts be lacking to fall for the temptations of the outside?

All the rebels could promise was an impossible future that began with the premise, ‘if we liberate the city.’

Still, as he walked while diligently glancing around, avoiding the officers patrolling the streets, to see if there was anyone who resembled Asel, he soon reached the city center. Here too, ‘Patrol Unit Member Joshua’ passed through without any hindrance.

A sudden surge of courage made him think that he could look around more actively now that he had gained confidence, but his body, which had learned that there were people watching him anytime, anywhere, could at most only manage to move his head slightly from side to side.

Most of the tense new members had already arrived at the entrance of the Public Security Bureau. No one had told them to. They all stood in long lines of two under the high wall, in the order they had arrived, letting out tense sighs.

He thought he had come early, but Isaac was in the second to last row among the 50 patrol unit members. The footsteps of the citizens, who had to finish their daily tasks within the curfew hours, could not help but be quick, no matter how much they scurried.

It was almost 8 o’clock, the assembly time. Soon, the tightly closed door would open, and the person in charge they had met yesterday would come out and tell them what they had to do today.

As soon as the hands of the clock tower, which was installed not far away, pointed to exactly 8 o’clock, the iron gate with several small wheels at the bottom opened to the left and right with a loud kwarararak sound.

An officer who came out from inside the gate called the roll of the members. Unless someone was extraordinarily daring, no one would be absent or late on the first day.

“All present! No issues!”

The officer, who had confirmed that everyone was gathered, guided the highly disciplined members inside. Thud, thud. The sound of their perfectly synchronized footsteps echoed in turn through the field, the building entrance, and the staircase connected to it, and into the interior.

From the outside, it was a crude building with a square shape and square windows, as if stamped from a single mold without any particular features, but the inside, thanks to the high ceiling and large windows, was flooded with light, creating a sense of openness that felt like it would clear one’s chest.

Here too, people in uniform were walking around everywhere his eyes could see. However, they were not armed, and when they met someone they knew while walking freely, they would acknowledge each other in a normal way, exchange friendly greetings, or chat.

The stiff faces of the patrol unit members, who had been unable to even breathe properly due to tension, gradually relaxed in the unexpectedly soft atmosphere, and their rigid footsteps sometimes fell slightly out of sync.

For the citizens for whom being beaten up by an officer for arousing even a speck of suspicion or for offending them was a daily routine, the existence of the Public Security Bureau was a vivid fear they experienced with their skin every day. After all, almost everyone had a distant relative or a friend of a friend who had been taken here and never returned.

However, the reality he witnessed with his own two eyes seemed different from what he had imagined in his head. There was no grim silence, and it was bustling with energy like an ordinary government office. A slight smile was even spreading on the faces of those passing through the corridor. It was as unfamiliar as when he had first seen life inside the gateway.

Still, a citizen who had lived in the city for a long time, and who was accustomed to life on the outskirts, would not carelessly forget order at any moment. It was common for them to show tolerance with a smile one day, and then suddenly drag someone away the next day on the pretext of a minor mistake. Complacency was absolutely forbidden.

So, the only person creating an offbeat rhythm in the procession right now was the young man named Joshua, who was said to be from District 28. His dazed expression as he looked around made him seem as if he were on a field trip.

‘They said many people died in the basement here.’

The mister from the rebel group often scared him by saying that a monster lived in the basement here. A monster that would casually torture people on the party’s orders and even tear the skin of the living to chew on their raw flesh.

‘Someone named Samuel, or Sariel.’

A person so cruel that it was said to be much better to die on the spot where you were discovered than to be captured alive. He was the enemy who had greatly threatened the rebels and massacred their comrades for several years.

He seemed to recall hearing worrying things like he was scheduled to become the new Chief of Public Security, or that he already had, or that if he did, it would be a big problem for the rebels.

Isaac was not particularly interested in the city’s affairs, and the rebel misters did not share important information unless you were a ‘comrade.’ They were usually drunk, and whenever they opened their mouths, they mostly told jokes or stories mixed with bravado, so it was difficult to determine how much of it was true.

So, he had vaguely imagined the inside of the Public Security Bureau to be like a stuffy prison where not a single ray of light could enter. A hellish space where rooms for efficiently torturing and confining people were densely packed, and the cries for help never ceased.

‘…The misters could have been wrong.’

Could the murderer Samuel really be among those people who were smiling, talking, and exchanging friendly greetings? Do those people capture sinners, torture them, kill them, and eat their corpses?

His head unconsciously shook slightly. Those who commit such massacres must have faces like demons. They would be armed with a menacing appearance and the audacity to not bat an eye even at death, and would be hiding somewhere in the shadows.

Due to the atmosphere that was so different from what he had heard, his vague fear melted away, and recklessness naturally reared its head. His footsteps became lighter, and his confidence that he was one step closer to finding Asel was full.

He easily forgot that beneath his feet lay the basement that everyone feared, and that he was standing on hell itself.

*

“From now on, you can think of this room as the patrol unit’s office and dormitory.”

Sarah, the public relations officer of the Public Security Bureau who had taken over leading the procession, led the patrol unit members to a room at the end of the second floor. There, two large doors were attached side by side. She grabbed both doorknobs at the same time and pushed the doors open.

The grand doors opened inward, revealing a spacious room that could have been mistaken for a banquet hall. It was unbelievable, but that was the space the patrol unit would be using from now on.

One hundred wide eyes, not knowing what to do, darted left and right in great agitation, hastily scanning the inside of the room.

A few empty desks, a sofa, and cots filled the space, and on one side, there were hats to indicate that they were the patrol unit, batons used by officers, and portable lamps to allow them to move around smoothly at night.

Whether they were surprised by the mind-boggling treatment or not, the person in charge scanned the faces of the members, which were a mixture of joy, tension, and doubt, and then, with a light smile, explained the tasks they would have to do and the new rules.

“The patrol unit will operate in pairs of two.”

Usually, those from the same district became a pair, but since Isaac was the only one chosen from District 28, he had no choice but to be paired with someone from another district.

And so, Isaac’s partner became a man named Vincent from District 26.

He was the oldest among the successful candidates, and his gait was also unsteady, so no one wanted to be in a pair with him, as it was unclear how he had been selected. They might have to take care of him, or it could hinder the performance of their duties.

Although he had volunteered to be Vincent’s partner by raising his hand first because he disliked the atmosphere of silence where everyone was just sizing each other up, it was more natural to see it as the elderly patrol unit member being passed on to the naive and ignorant young man.

“You will perform patrol duties in two shifts, and other than that, you will do the miscellaneous tasks that I instruct you to do.”

The patrol unit’s duties were disappointingly simple. It was to patrol a designated area outside the city center to see if there were any suspicious people, and to do things like cleaning and running errands. Just by doing that, they would receive not only a salary similar to that of a rookie officer but also one meal a day.

“For today, let’s just get to know your partners. The actual patrols will start tomorrow.”

Such generous treatment for such light work. The city was not such an easy place. On the surface, it advocated for the equality of all citizens and distributed food for free, but he knew from experience that they did not hand out good things for no reason.

Resources were limited, and only a few had enjoyed them, so it was inevitable that the citizens from the outskirts who received something that was not their share could not easily erase their suspicions and just blinked their eyes.

For the members who had faces that showed they could not believe it at all, Sarah smiled brightly and added a little explanation in a small voice, as if whispering a secret.

“…The new Chief proposed the revival of the patrol unit because he wanted to change the perception of the Public Security Bureau, which is felt to be frightening. It’s being operated on a trial basis, and if the effect is good, it will be officially organized then. So, even if it’s a bit lax for now, I hope you will carry out your duties with a sense of mission.”

Having finished all she had to say, Sarah immediately left the room without taking questions from the bewildered patrol unit members or giving any additional instructions.

Thump. As soon as the door closed, the words that the remaining people had been holding back poured out of their mouths all at once.

“…Is this really okay?”

“It makes sense since it’s a trial operation.”

“I hope it goes well and we can become official members in the future.”

The notoriety of the Public Security Bureau had only been growing day by day, so it would not be strange for them to attempt to restore their image in a moderate way to coincide with the appointment of the new Chief. This was precisely the same reason why the patrol unit had been created and then disappeared 10 years ago.

Those who had come to an understanding for their own reasons spent the given time wisely, by trying to lie down on the sofa or cots, or by putting on the hats and imitating the officers they had seen coming and going, clicking their heels together.

Isaac also quietly listened to the words everyone was chattering about and decided to forcibly dispel the small doubts remaining within him and imagine only a positive future.

*

The basement of the Public Security Bureau, a place that could only be reached after passing through several doors made of sturdy iron bars, accurately reciting three regularly changing passwords, and descending a steep staircase.

As one of the few spaces that had been with the city since its beginning, the dark and smelly secrets that the rulers wanted to conceal floated in the form of black mold and musty air.

A black cloth was invariably placed over the heads of the prisoners who were brought in for questioning.

The sound of the siren that could be heard anywhere in the city did not reach there, and there was not even a clock to tell the time. The only way to guess how much time had passed was to rely on things like one’s biological clock or the urge to urinate.

The prisoners did not even know that they were in the basement of the Public Security Bureau, and had to sit on a cold iron chair and wait for someone to give them a proper explanation, or for death to free them from the pain of reality.

So far, no one had ever escaped from this basement. There had been cases where someone was lucky enough to open the door and come out, but they had not been able to pass through the layers of iron bars that went up to the ground level.