TCWGRF 37

The Superintendent General’s two adjutants, who resided in Sectors 5 and 8 respectively, had received the summons order at dawn and rushed to the Public Security Bureau without even washing properly.

A summons like this was not unusual. However, had there not been the suspicious matter of losing an important person the day before? So, even as they received disciplined salutes from the officers guarding the gates and skillfully recited the daily changing password, the adjutants’ anxiety could not help but grow as the Public Security Bureau building drew nearer.

With Beres, the chairman of the Privy Council, also involved, the goal of rooting out the rebels within the city was bound to be viewed pessimistically.

Perhaps it would be better to take a risk and capture Vincent just before he arrived in the city. Then, at the very least, they would have the justification of having apprehended the ‘head’ of the rebels.

Of course, it was also a hollow result compared to the effort they had put in, and if Vincent kept his mouth shut and provided no information, the Party executives might not believe in his existence. They were full of suspicion and always ready to pull down the Superintendent General’s achievements, so it was only natural.

Though they had come through different gates, Sara and Walter, who felt a similar anxiety, met in front of the elevator leading to the Superintendent General’s office.

“…Hmph.”

“……”

A slight nod was all they shared, without any warm greetings. The two opened the barred door in silence and placed their bodies inside the small space.

Only after the protruding button was pushed and the sound of the door clanging shut was heard did Sara, who had been rigidly staring straight ahead as if indifferent, speak.

“…Are you all right?”

On the glass window of the elevator, through which the view of each floor passed, the figures of the two people standing side by side were intermittently reflected, perhaps due to the still-dark morning.

Both wore neatly ironed black uniforms, but one’s face was clean, while the other’s was not only black and blue with bruises but also had an entire eyelid so swollen that it was doubtful if he could even see.

Walter, who knew all too well why he had been hit and that this was a lenient punishment, substituted a grin for an answer to the inquiry about his well-being.

When the elevator stopped at its destination, the two people who got off in a line entered the Superintendent General’s office one by one.

Inside, as always, the Superintendent General and a single desk were occupying the otherwise empty space.

In the unlit room, the faint light coming through the window reflected off the uniform he wore, creating a perfect picture that would captivate anyone’s gaze.

“He sent me an invitation. Saying he’d introduce me to his handpicked ‘whores’.”

Only then did the adjutants’ gazes turn to the invitation placed ostentatiously on the desk. It was an extremely private invitation sent by Beres personally, not in the name of the Privy Council chairman. It was also something his secretary had personally delivered to Samuel late last night.

Beres had always held secret social gatherings for his supporters. Even though the Party forbade extravagant events, and he himself was the one who created that policy, he had the power and wealth to easily ignore such things. It was never an issue.

Besides, formally, it was a ‘personal invitation’ anyway, and regardless of the reality, the justification was for mingling with close associates, so it was difficult for anyone to raise an issue.

As if there could be anyone who would raise a problem while making an enemy of both Beres and all of his ardent supporters.

Samuel had never been invited to such a gathering. It would be more accurate to say he did not have the qualifications to receive an invitation.

“The date is today, the time is right after curfew, …and with a partner.”

Sara opened the invitation and read the contents written inside aloud. The reason for the belated invitation to a gathering that must have been decided long ago, for an outsider Superintendent General from the slums who did not fit their class, was obvious.

“What is Vincent’s position?”

“At his current speed, he has about two days left until he reaches the city walls. …He is still moving for only half the day and resting for the remainder within the range of our eyes.”

As Sara said, Vincent would soon arrive in the city. The man whose whereabouts had been so unknown when he was fleeing was now deliberately revealing his presence with every move. It was as if he were telling anyone with business with him to come out and meet him.

He must have already guessed the situation with the rebels and the city. There was no way he would act like that without knowing his son had headed for the city and that the Superintendent General, having noticed, was somehow stirring things up.

Perhaps he judged it better to return at a leisurely pace, since the Superintendent General was kindly searching for his son, who must be somewhere in the city. All he had to do was prepare a fitting price.

Therefore, the Asel card was essential to negotiate with Vincent. He could not, after all, go to the negotiating table that would decide the fate of the rebels empty-handed.

Even if they were to hastily fabricate a fake or create a corpse, they needed to confirm if the one Beres had intercepted and taken was the real one. If the real son was clearly alive and well, walking around for all to see, the fake that the Public Security Bureau would present would be exposed in an instant.

“Haha, he’s really something else.”

Samuel laughed at the fact that this was becoming a clandestine battle of wits for the fate of the city versus the rebels, not the same old loud but empty fights they had repeated so many times. It was because the moment he had long awaited had arrived in a slightly annoying form.

Beres’s thoughtless invitation at this juncture was a test to see how far he could shake the Superintendent General with the card he held, and also perhaps to show the ‘watchdog of the city’, whose master still seemed unclear, who the real master was.

He could display the whore he had snatched in front of everyone, see Samuel’s reaction, and use that as a pretext to publicly pressure him into choosing him as his master.

‘I wonder what His will is. No, how much does he know?’

The master Lot revered, the one who had let Samuel out of his cage and placed him in the Superintendent General’s seat, yet had never revealed his identity, was probably not Beres. That much he could be certain of.

He had tracked the movements of numerous Party executives to find a clue, but he had to assume there was no clear way of knowing who ‘He’ was.

He had only speculated that it was an unidentified middle-aged man, that he would not have revealed his face himself, and that there was a high probability he was a supporter of Gideon.

His adoptive father, Lot, may act flustered and anxious as if it were a great power every time ‘He’ visited, but to Samuel, he was nothing more than a representative put forward for convenience.

Until now, he had never revealed his identity directly to Samuel, and only very occasionally did he use Lot’s mouth to assign the roles he had to fulfill.

Suddenly, he became curious about what would happen if, because of this incident, a blatant rumor spread that the Superintendent General had sided with Beres. What kind of storm would arise if that reached ‘His’ ears?

‘He’ might have already seen through everything and known even about today’s events.

Even though this choice could displease the great person who possessed the wealth to pay an enormous price for an orphan brought from the outside and had elevated a mere officer to the position of Superintendent General in a short period of time, Samuel had no intention of refusing Beres’s invitation or postponing it for another time.

Time was short. If Vincent were to become aware of this situation, he would go to Beres, who had his son, instead of the Superintendent General, and the full details of the top-secret operation Samuel had been conducting would be revealed.

If everything came to nothing, the new Superintendent General would have to accept a future where he surrendered the pledge he had so confidently made and the operation he had poured his heart and soul into, groveled for mercy like a beggar before the Party executives, or was thoroughly ridiculed before being purged by their hands.

Samuel found that situation, where he lost the initiative and things did not go his way, to be utterly dreadful. The ending where he would admit his incompetence, bow his head, and feel relieved to move according to someone’s will—be it a master or whatever—truly becoming a horse or a doll.

‘If you had a problem with what I’m doing, you should have intervened first.’

If ‘He’ was truly a person of lofty and grand will, wouldn’t it be right for him to have anticipated this and made arrangements accordingly? Instead of belatedly getting angry that a single piece on the chessboard acted on its own.

“What should we do about a partner?”

There was another problem to solve. The reason he had specifically pointed out to bring a partner was likely because Beres had also heard the rumor that Samuel was hiding someone he was head over heels for in his official residence.

“I have to bring him.”

“Do you mean the prisoner at the official residence?”

“Yes. If he were to show ‘Asel’ in front of everyone, I should at least be able to tell if he’s real or not.”

There was the risk that they might recognize Isaac first, but it was a more certain method than arranging for another partner. Not only that, wouldn’t it also be an occasion to prove that the scandal regarding the Superintendent General’s private life was true?

In any case, it was unlikely he would be meekly given a chance to get close to Asel. And he had no intention of frankly telling Beres the reason why the Public Security Bureau had mobilized all its forces to search for a single whore on the city’s outskirts.

Since the Superintendent General’s adjutant had come to get him personally, Beres would guess he was a rebel or an important figure. But only the three people in this room knew the circumstances of Vincent and his son, and of the cover-up that had led them to this point, and that would not change.

No matter how many conjectures and hypotheses were thrown around, it took time to get close to the truth. Before the Party leadership found out, the Public Security Bureau had to use that time as efficiently as possible.

“It seems that thanks to Joas spreading the rumors so well, he knows that there is someone I’m infatuated with.”

Samuel’s toes, which had been pointed toward Sara the whole time, now turned toward the other adjutant. Walter’s face was filled with visible tension, perhaps wondering if he would be reprimanded for the previous day’s mistake, or if his superior’s trust in him had completely collapsed.

“Get him perfectly ready before curfew. Make up a suitable excuse.”

Instead of expressing blame or anger, the Superintendent General gave additional instructions regarding the duties the adjutant was originally in charge of, in his usual concise manner.

“…!”

Walter’s slumped shoulders finally straightened, and from his battered face, a bright smile and a voice more vigorous than imaginable burst out.

“Yes. Understood!”

‘Strange.’

Having returned to the small bed in the back room only after a full day had passed, Isaac placed a finger on his lips and recalled, one by one, the peculiar events up until the previous night.

The first kiss he experienced was somehow awkward and suffocating. He had no way of knowing if it was always like this, or if it was because his partner was persistent.

Perhaps it would be more honest to say he liked it. The hot body temperature transmitted through the tongue, the way he persistently tried to steal even a single breath, and then how he belatedly taught him how to breathe through his nose, how he would instruct him one by one with words like ‘that’s right’ and ‘like that’, and how, if he seemed to be following well, he would raise one corner of his crimson lips and smile.

Just thinking about it made his body flush uncontrollably. Every time the Superintendent General smiled at him, a thrilling shiver ran down Isaac’s spine. Later, he thought he might have been the one clinging and begging for more.

He had earnestly pleaded and begged as his partner wanted, hoping he would kiss him one more time, hoping he would smile and tell him he was doing it right.

As a result of repeatedly telling himself that as long as they found Asel safely, it was fine to be locked up here forever, to be treated like livestock, his desire for escape or liberation had long since cooled. It would be more accurate to say he had given up after realizing it was impossible, but he was gradually starting to look forward to his time with the Superintendent General.

Even when he tried to force himself to be scared, telling himself that the man would still slap him and kick him, that he would be killed in a cruel way, and that he should always be afraid, nothing much changed.

At some point, it started to feel excessively good when he trampled on him, when he occupied and controlled all his senses. To the point where he could not help but think of the Superintendent General even when he was alone.

‘No, no. It’s unavoidable. This.’

His head moved from side to side with difficulty. It must be a delusion he’d developed from being held captive here and from mixing bodies with him. Just because a man who could kill him at any moment showed a little tenderness in bed, nothing would change.

He tried to steady his heart like that, but it was difficult because the sensation of their lips touching kept coming to mind. Even now, he was diligently reviewing what the Superintendent General had taught him, putting the finger that had been unconsciously hovering around his mouth inside.

“I’m coming in.”

knock, knock

If it hadn’t been for the two knocks and Walter entering the official residence, he would never have realized what he was doing.

Fearing to show others his face, which Isaac knew must be red even without looking, he scrubbed his face dry and greeted the only visitor who came to see him here with his head bowed low.

“…?”

“Did anything happen yesterday?”

“My goodness. What happened to you?”

Walter, who had said he would be away for a day or two on urgent business, was in a terrible state.

He did not know what it was like under the uniform, but at least the visible parts of his face were serious. Seeing how it was swollen here and there, his lip was split, and his eyelid was bruised, the injuries must have come from being severely beaten by someone.

“It’s nothing, despite how it looks. I got hurt during training.”

The man himself made that excuse, but Isaac could tell from Walter’s bitter smile that his words were a lie.

Since he was the Superintendent General’s adjutant, no one would have dared to lay a hand on him. Except for that superior.