Vicious Darling

[30]

Yuri looked out the window.

If Orum City is the central city of the 11th Month Continent, the most prosperous area in the Winter Continent, then Babel City is the central city of the April Continent in the Spring Continent.

After leaving the inn, he moved to the designated location and got into the waiting car.

The gruff-looking driver started the car as soon as the door closed.

Before long, Yuri entered the city center.

Unlike the Summer Continent with its towering skyscrapers, here 2-3 story buildings were more common. Some buildings appeared to be 4 or 5 stories tall. Brightly colored roofs and doors caught the eye.

Flowers rarely seen in the Winter Continent were planted as landscaping, and trees drooped branches with soft light green new buds.

Students riding bicycles, elderly people sitting on street benches reading newspapers with magnifying glasses, people moving about in casual shirts rather than formal suits…

It was truly a vibrant paradise.

Yuri gazed out the car window with an emotionless look.

‘It’s beautiful.’

If someone else were in this car, they might have been captivated by the scene before them.

The car turned into a few alleys before gradually leaving the city center.

Noticing the lowering building heights and changing landscaping, Yuri deliberately sank into his seat and closed his eyes.

At some point, the floor shook greatly. Looking outside, Yuri suppressed a laugh as he saw the car moving onto an unpaved road through the forest.

‘No wonder the wheels were so big.’

“We’ve arrived,” said the driver.

Yuri fumbled to open the door.

He felt unwell, as if experiencing motion sickness for the first time in his life.

‘I guess I’ve been living too comfortably lately.’

As soon as he closed the door, the car reversed and sped back the way it came.

The dust was an added bonus.

Yuri waved his hand to dispel the dust and looked up.

In front of him stood a building that looked like it was made by connecting temporary containers.

He strode forward and knocked on the door, but there was no response.

Opening the door and stepping inside, he found a desolate-looking office. Maps and a few photos were pinned to the wall.

As Yuri was curiously examining these, he turned his head at the sound of the door opening.

Abigail Chung, whom he had met yesterday, was standing there.

Despite coming to such a remote location, her neat attire remained impeccable. Her gentle face and tidy smile were also unchanged.

“You’ve arrived,” said Investigator Abigail Chung as she strode over and offered Yuri a seat.

“I came by car from the intersection as you said, but where is this place?” Yuri asked, looking around unnecessarily as he sat down as instructed.

“There weren’t even properly paved roads in this direction.”

“As we discussed yesterday, the Spring Continent is lagging behind other continents in reconstruction,” Abigail explained calmly.

“This is a new development district. It’s close to the Babel district and has a suitable plot size, so development was initiated.”

“Development, not reconstruction?”

“Until a month ago, yes, that was the case.”

She pointed to a photo on the wall.

“However… when a worker laying the foundation discovered traces of the old civilization, things changed.”

Among the photos, something that looked like a crushed piece of metal was visible. A cable that looked like a wire but much thicker could be seen exposed.

Around it, blue liquid had formed puddles.

‘That’s…’

It looked like they had disturbed a pipe buried underground.

Probably something like an alternative energy transport pipe used in the old era.

“So it became a reconstruction site,” Abigail said.

She didn’t provide detailed explanations.

“As it’s a job that requires a lot of effort in many ways, Babel City is actively recruiting labor. However, due to the sudden reconstruction plan, they’re short-handed, so they’re seeking help from illegal immigrants.”

“Ah, I see.”

“You can take care of food and lodging here.”

Abigail Chung, explaining that there were beds upstairs for sleeping and hot water available, seemed more like a hotelier than a city investigator.

If only it weren’t for the fact that Yuri was currently in a container.

“Today is the last day I’ll personally greet you here, Yuri. If there are no particular problems, we plan to have monthly meetings. There, we’ll calculate the efforts you’ve shown for the Spring Continent.”

Abigail winked over her glasses.

“If you show outstanding performance, you might receive a special pardon from the mayor. Some lucky individuals have obtained Spring Continent citizenship that way.”

“Outstanding performance…?”

“You’ll soon find out. Now, let me introduce you to the foreman of this site.”

Yuri nodded at her brightly smiling face.

After introducing Yuri to the slightly tired-looking foreman, Abigail left.

“I’m Hogan. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Yuri.”

“Have you ever participated in reconstruction work before?”

“I’ve participated in a few excavation sites in the Winter Continent.”

“An experienced one, eh?”

The foreman laughed heartily.

For the first time, his tired face seemed to light up.

“The work here isn’t too difficult, so you’ll learn quickly.”

He led Yuri to a low hill.

Beyond the hill, the site where the photos attached to the container were taken could be seen.

A dug-out pit, a metal tank that seemed to have been almost completely unearthed…

Carts, shovels, excavators, and ladders were visible all around. And people wearing work clothes like Yuri were moving in and out of the pit.

“This land was almost going to be Babel’s new development district,” Hogan said, stroking his beard.

“It was a great stroke of luck for us that remnants of the past civilization remained so close to Babel City.”

The two descended into the pit via a gentle slope.

There weren’t many proper stairs.

“We’re excavating an energy storage tank,” the foreman said proudly.

If the workers in this pit were divided into two groups, one was digging around the ‘pipe’ to unearth the completely buried tank.

The other team was scooping up blue liquid leaking from the loosened pipe joints with shovels.

The latter wore protective gear covering their faces, but it looked somewhat crude.

“What’s that?”

“Gas masks. The city specially provided them for safety.”

Yuri’s eyes narrowed slightly.

That blue liquid is known as ‘alternative energy.’

Originally, humanity achieved a brilliant civilization using oil.

But oil also accelerated environmental destruction. So, scientists of the old civilization spent decades, even centuries, researching to develop alternative energy.

Unfortunately, the technology to produce alternative energy has been lost in the present day. However, storage tanks for this energy have been discovered all over the continents.

These energy tanks, depending on their storage capacity, can bring wealth surpassing even a decent gold mine.

‘The problem is… we can’t be sure if the alternative energy in these tanks is harmless.’

Alternative energy, being created to minimize environmental pollution, isn’t highly harmful to the human body.

However, there have been reports of energy tanks that were altered due to the impacts of bombing and destruction during the war.

‘In this case, long-term exposure would be harmful to the human body.’

The problem is that even this ‘altered’ alternative energy is in demand.

People are desperate to figure out how alternative energy was made. So much so that they collect even contaminated samples to analyze.

“Which side should I work on?”

“For now, we’re short on manpower for tank excavation. Be careful not to touch that pipe… it’s burst a few times.”

“It doesn’t seem like it could be burst with a shovel.”

The foreman hesitated for a moment at those words.

“My predecessor assigned quotas and pushed the workers here, you know?”

“I see.”

Yuri feigned a carefully crafted surprised reaction.

“He was a crazy bastard. But there happened to be a big rock above the pipe… it was almost impossible to dig it out and lift it. They say he brought in drills to speed up the work.”

“So they drilled through both the rock and the pipe, I suppose.”

Hogan neither confirmed nor denied this.

“Was anyone hurt?”

“…Of course not! The worker using the drill seemed a bit shocked, but I heard he was treated at a hospital in the city and is now resting. The investigator is thorough with these things.”

The foreman led Yuri to those working around the tank.

A man dripping with sweat turned to look at them.

“Foreman, you’re here? As you can see, today’s work is progressing smoothly.”

“So it seems. Ahem. This is Yuri, who’s just joined us. Yuri, this is Edgar, the leader of Team A. Say hello.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Welcome to Team A.”

The man immediately offered a handshake to Yuri.

Yuri slowly took his hand and shook it.

‘Fortunately, he’s not an Esper.’

Relief preceded discomfort.

It’s not like Espers are found everywhere, but when meeting someone for the first time, one instinctively checks if the other person is an ability user.

Years of counseling had alleviated his hypersensitivity, but it wasn’t completely cured.

“Seems a bit shy, eh?”

“It’ll get better once I adapt.”

The team leader laughed heartily at Yuri’s response.

“I like your spirit. Well then, ready to start work right away?”

“I didn’t come all this way just for a tour.”

Edgar, muttering that he liked Yuri’s attitude, led him towards the tank.

“Just follow me closely. Everyone’s too busy looking after themselves, so if you miss the explanation I’m giving now, you might lose out later.”

“Understood.”

Before following Edgar, Yuri glanced back.

The foreman, apparently feeling his job was done, was waving his hand casually and leaving the pit.

‘He’s quick.’

As nimble as a bird with its tail on fire.

It seemed that even this so-called foreman knew that the alternative energy being extracted here was dangerous.

No matter where you go, there are only nauseating humans.

It was a kind of irresistible force that made him miss the dog he had deliberately left behind.

A smile as smooth as a snake’s appeared on Yuri’s lips.

“I look forward to working with you.”