Vicious Darling

[27]

In the bare room, there was only a metal table with a single chair.

In the center of the table was a ring for attaching handcuffs.

At the front of the dimly lit room was a window, but it was painted black so the outside wasn’t visible. Right next to it was the door through which Yuri had been dragged.

The officer connected Yuri’s handcuffs to the ring and left without a word.

‘Intimidation tactics seem similar everywhere.’

Though it looked like a completely closed space, surely they could peek in from that window on the other side.

Conscious of potential observers, Yuri sat as straight as possible.

Naturally tensing his neck and shoulders.

It wasn’t difficult to pretend to be nervous. Yuri was naturally sensitive and generally lived on guard against his surroundings.

When pretending to be at ease became a habit, and habit became daily life, he thought,

‘At least I don’t have to worry about being looked down upon anywhere.’

But now, having to pretend to be scared, life was truly ridiculous.

The officer returned faster than expected.

He threw the metal file holder he was carrying onto the table.

With a rather loud noise, the holder landed containing a copy of the ID Yuri had submitted to the restaurant.

“Yuri? Is this your correct name?”

When Yuri nodded stiffly with his mouth shut tight, the other frowned.

“What an unlucky name.”

The officer clicked his tongue, showing a hint of hostility.

“Any accomplices who smuggled in with you?”

“I came alone.”

The officer scoffed loud enough to be heard, “Yeah, right.”

“Did you come by sea or air?”

“I came by boat.”

Yuri’s stiff tone of voice clearly showed signs of nervousness no matter how you heard it.

“Who arranged it?”

“I got the ticket myself.”

“Quite capable, aren’t you? Then, who made your ID?”

“I did it myself.”

The officer frowned.

“Well, whatever. I didn’t expect you to tell the truth anyway.”

“…I answered honestly.”

Whatever Yuri said, the officer lowered his voice slightly and warned,

“But if you keep being uncooperative like this… it won’t be fun for you.”

At the same time, the man stood up. The door next to the blackened window opened with a clatter, and a woman with neatly tied red hair appeared.

“Inspector Chung.”

The officer bowed his head to the woman.

“This is Inspector Abigail Chung from the city.”

Abigail introduced herself to Yuri without even glancing at the officer.

“It’s a somewhat complicated situation, but first, welcome to the Spring Continent.”

The ignored officer left the room with a slightly reddened face.

As he left, Yuri deliberately relaxed his shoulders just a little.

“…Thank you. It’s the first time I’ve heard such words.”

“Well, given the situation.”

Abigail, who sighed quite intentionally, pushed Yuri’s fake ID copy to the left and took out a pen and a display-type device from her briefcase.

“To introduce my work, I’m in charge of managing illegal immigrants coming to the Spring Continent. My role is to look after their living conditions and work environment, and provide support.”

“Support? I haven’t heard anything like that until I got here.”

Yuri asked with a tone of doubt.

According to what he had heard from Peter Garrett, the newly appointed mayor was implementing policies to exploit illegal immigrants rather than support them.

‘But, it’s easier to gain agreement by pretending to be friendly rather than being forceful.’

Purely intimidating tactics are more likely to cause problems later.

“There are many illegal immigrants like you, Yuri. The mayor said it’s better to slowly guide you to become part of the Spring Continent’s population rather than covering up and ignoring your existence.”

“…I find that hard to believe.”

Abigail, as if saying “Right?”, manipulated her device and brought up a hologram video of the mayor.

It was an article featuring him during a speech.

The content was about no longer hushing up the illegal immigrant issue under the surface, but making it visible.

After confirming that Yuri had read it all, Abigail spoke directly.

“To be honest, until now, the Spring Continent had a policy of immediately deporting illegal immigrants when discovered.”

“I don’t understand. Isn’t the Spring Continent a very prosperous place? Even though I’ve only been here for a few days, I’ve felt it’s incomparably better than the Winter Continent.”

Despite this slight provocation, Abigail’s expression didn’t change.

“It’s prosperous, but not infinite.”

Abigail smiled kindly.

Yuri slightly furrowed his brow as if he couldn’t understand.

“If the world is a collapsed house, we are the generation rebuilding those ruins.”

Abigail’s device screen showed photos of houses with only foundations left, fields overgrown with weeds, and fallen satellites.

The next screen showed people rebuilding houses, clearing weeds and tending fields, and scholars in protective suits examining satellites.

After the war that burned the world, the continents that were originally six split into twelve. Global climate change occurred, many cultures, histories, and buildings were lost, and gods were forgotten.

According to scholars’ research, both soil and vegetation underwent significant changes.

“The world that’s already ruined lacks everything. Limited food, limited residential areas, limited support.”

Abigail recited, almost singing, as she flipped through the data screens one by one.

“We believe it’s our duty to restore as much of the legacy left by the old era as possible before everything in our hands runs out completely, and to find seeds that can sprout from the ruins to pass on to future generations.”

“…That’s right.”

Yuri nodded slightly to show agreement.

Reconstruction was the primary goal of every continent.

It was often more efficient for them to excavate civilizations buried somewhere in those ruins rather than researching new science.

“But until now, the Spring Continent has been developing much slower than other continents, despite being more prosperous. Even though we have more.”

A table appeared showing the reconstruction rates of the Summer Continent, Autumn Continent, and Spring Continent.

“Is that so?”

As Yuri pretended to focus on the screen, playing along appropriately, Abigail nodded with a rather serious expression.

“It’s because precious reconstruction funds are being wasted.”

“…Ah.”

Yuri sighed softly.

By this point, it was easy enough to guess from the context that it was because of illegal immigrants.

“I’m sorry to say this to you, Yuri, but yes. The budget leakage is due to illegal immigrants.”

“Is that so? I just came here trying to survive. I immediately found a job, and I swear I haven’t committed any crimes.”

“I know. You probably haven’t been here for even three days since landing. But what if there were not just one person like you, but ten, a hundred… a thousand?”

The estimated annual increase in illegal immigrants appeared on the screen.

It was enough to make even someone who didn’t know think, “That many?”

Abigail smiled kindly.

“I don’t intend to blame you, Yuri. This is the result of failed policies.”

However, for the listener, it was content that could only make them uncomfortable. Even more so if they were an ordinary illegal immigrant.

Because she didn’t explicitly ask who would be responsible for the costs incurred by illegal immigrants, that thought remained in the listener’s mind.

With the answer already determined.

‘This should be enough.’

Inspector Abigail, who had been slowly savoring the silence born of pressure, decided it was time to throw a lifeline.

“Also, I want to tell you that you no longer need to fear deportation.”

“Really?”

It was possible to make it seem like he was visibly relieved just by speaking a bit hastily.

“Yes. If we don’t try to chase you out, illegal immigrants won’t need to hide. Moreover, we plan to issue you citizenship.”

Along with Abigail’s words, documents related to the city’s new policy appeared on the screen.

There was even a photo of an illegal immigrant crying while receiving Spring Continent citizenship from the mayor.

Yuri, pretending to be entranced, deliberately didn’t take his eyes off the screen and only moved his lips to ask,

“Why?”

“Because we want your help in filling the budget leakage.”

Finally, the main point came out.

Yuri pressed his lips together to avoid sneering.

“Reconstruction requires manpower. The Spring Continent has started directly employing illegal immigrants like you in the city.”

“Ah.”

“It’s not a bad deal. There’s a limit to where you can work with such an ambiguous ID, isn’t there?”

“That’s… true.”

“We will do our best to provide you with a place where you can demonstrate your abilities and appropriate compensation.”

On the final screen, a contract and signature line appeared.

Abigail, who had been explaining non-stop, silently pushed the pen towards Yuri.

Yuri slowly reached out, picked up the pen, and fiddled with it.

‘Quite… skillful.’

A city inspector met after being forcibly dragged in by an officer.

The ambitions of the new mayor who started implementing support policies for illegal immigrants.

The kind attitude of the inspector and all sorts of overwhelming statistics on the screen.

And the rewards promised, borrowing the authority of higher-ups.

While not without flaws, it would be enough to convince someone whose vision had narrowed due to anxiety.

‘If they’ve prepared this much, they’ve probably prepared the next step even if I just walk out.’

Using the threatening officer who just left, for example.

Or following and monitoring wherever I work, or subtly revealing to people around that I’m an illegal immigrant, driving me into a corner.

When I reach my limit like that, an inspector like Abigail Chung would appear again to offer a helping hand.

Seeing such an elaborately prepared trap, he couldn’t help but feel curious.

“I’ll sign.”

He wanted to play along a bit more, but his dog would be waiting.

Thinking about how that big body would be trembling nervously even though nothing would happen, he felt something close to affection.

Abigail smiled brightly, as if she knew this would happen.

The bluish light from the device screen lingered on her face, giving her a strangely pale and eerie impression.

“I’m sure you won’t regret it.”