Vicious Darling

[32]

Yuri woke up to a dull pain in his ankle and rose from the hard mattress.

‘It seems to be raining.’

He could hear the pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the container. A chilly draft was seeping in from the wall almost touching the mattress.

The first thing the man did after silently swallowing his pain was to check the mirror.

This was to verify if the disguise illusion was properly in place.

He wasn’t doubting the technological prowess of the special device provided by Northern Light. However, there weren’t many cases of its actual use.

Caution was necessary as problems could arise at any time.

‘All clear.’

After changing his clothes, he surveyed his surroundings.

Being the last to arrive, Yuri was assigned the mattress at the edge where the wind blew in. He had thought it unbelievable when told they’d use containers as lodgings, but it was no different from all these people sleeping in one room.

What separated Yuri’s bed from the next was just a flimsy partition that could hardly be called a divider. Though it was wide, if someone turned on their personal light, shadows would be visible on the other side.

Quickly realizing this, Yuri refrained from using the light after dark.

Moreover, despite being wide, the ceiling was low. For someone as tall as Yuri, it wasn’t difficult to peek over and see what was happening on the other side while standing.

He counted the names he knew from his right:

Bjorn, Dagger, Joseph, Larry… and Peter.

This Peter was just a namesake and had no relation to the locksmith he knew.

Needless to say, these probably weren’t all their real names.

From what he had seen and heard over the past few days, the illegal immigrants all had their own stories.

Bjorn said he came because he didn’t want to starve to death, Dagger because the Winter Continent’s weather didn’t suit him, and Joseph because he wanted a proper job.

Larry said he had three sons and wanted to give them a proper education.

Of course, not all the illegal immigrants brought here were good people.

Peter, in particular, boasted about his attempt to enter into a fraudulent marriage with a Spring Continent woman as if it were a heroic tale. Yuri had heard ad nauseam how women fall head over heels for men posing as businessmen from the Summer Continent.

Although it was utterly devoid of nutritional value, staying close to a blabbermouth was a way to gather a lot of information in a short time, even if it was mentally exhausting.

The con artist Peter knew a lot, given how much he liked to talk.

For instance, he knew that the reason there were only male illegal immigrants at this site was because the female immigrants were working elsewhere. The reason wasn’t complicated.

It was more cost-effective to create separate facilities for men and women.

It was also to prevent unseemly incidents. Accidents between men and women would delay the work.

The con man provided various other facts as well.

Yesterday, he heard that it wasn’t just illegal immigrants working at this site.

There were also some prisoners. Though not heinous criminals who had committed serious crimes, they were said to be dangerous people. They used different containers and had separate supervisors.

Con man Peter called them Team B.

Team B seemed to be mainly responsible for transporting the alternative energy.

‘The ground is so rough… and since they’re just going to pour it out again anyway, they don’t even close the lids properly, causing a lot of accidents.’

Simply closing the lids properly could prevent accidents caused by the carts jolting, but the foreman had forbidden it. Apparently, orders from above were to process the work quickly.

The alternative energy doesn’t immediately seep into the ground anyway, so whatever spills can just be scooped back up with shovels. The problem was that people got injured in this process… and they went around bearing scars without receiving proper treatment.

“It’s actually fortunate. We used to do it. Imagine if my business assets got burned. How could I seduce women again?”

The con man Peter, after providing this series of explanations, uttered frivolous words, lost in self-absorption.

He seemed pleased to finally have a conversation partner. Unfortunately, Yuri was also the type to let things in one ear and out the other.

Yuri sat neatly, organizing the information he had gathered so far.

He pieced together the given puzzle pieces, checking his plan and sometimes overhauling it.

While he was lost in thought for a moment, a loud alarm went off.

It wasn’t something he had set, but a speaker installed in the container that sounded at wake-up time.

“It’s pitch black outside, and that bastard foreman wakes us up at this hour. I want to kill him.”

Someone groaned and got up.

“…Rain. Terrible.”

Everyone seemed to agree with the muttering of another who had woken up.

“Whenever it rains, the bones I broke in my youth start aching. It’s driving me crazy.”

That grumbling was probably Larry.

“The ground will be muddy too. We’ll slip, and the carts will get stuck.”

“…Does this ever end?”

The atmosphere was so gloomy it was hard to believe it was morning.

Larry was the first to get up. He went to the communal shelf, took out a white container, and poured its contents into his mouth.

“What’s that?”

“Ah, you’re new so you don’t know. This is a painkiller.”

“A painkiller?”

At Larry’s words, Yuri examined its appearance.

Its size and shape were quite different from the guiding drugs circulated in the Winter Continent.

“The Spring Continent has abundant vegetation, so various medicinal herbs grow here. This is a medicine made from processing those. It’s good to take when you’re feeling weak or have a fever.”

“Is that so?”

When Yuri showed signs of skepticism, Larry explained with enthusiasm.

“It’s not a cure-all, but it makes problems that would require a doctor’s visit manageable without one.”

It immediately seemed suspicious.

“We don’t have anything like this in the Winter Continent, so I found it a bit curious. Who gave it to you?”

“Ah. I received it from a man named Juan who was here before me.”

“Juan?”

Yuri narrowed his eyes at the familiar name.

Could it be the same person as Peter’s “uncle”?

Bjorn, who had been here the longest, chimed in.

“It’s here because of Juan, but the foreman gave it out.”

Larry was surprised at Bjorn’s words.

“What? Looks like that guy does something good occasionally.”

“Where is Juan now?”

Yuri asked.

No matter how he looked at it, they seemed short-handed here, so he was curious why this Juan person had been sent elsewhere.

“He was on the weaker side physically, so he was moved somewhere else.”

Bjorn shrugged.

Even on days with bad weather, the reconstruction site kept running without rest.

Foreman Hogan, wearing a raincoat, was giving orders from the back.

He showed no signs of actually coming down into the pit to properly assess the situation.

Team B, who moved earlier than them, could be seen setting up a tent above the transport pipe. The remaining few continued their futile shoveling to bail out water.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that those who had fallen on the slippery ground had their lower bodies completely soaked in mud.

Yuri, more accustomed to snow than rain, clicked his tongue but silently put on his boots and went down towards the pit.

The moment he reached the bottom, wrestling not to slip on the makeshift stairs, Yuri frowned.

The smell of rain mixed with the blue liquid leaking from the pipes. Combined with the smell of wet soil, the rising odor gave him a headache.

‘It’s terrible.’

Yuri clicked his tongue.

He could understand why the foreman was staying up there.

Those with the condition of citizenship or pardon hanging over them started working fairly.

They had to be twice as careful because of the rain, but the foreman was pushing people, saying there was a quota to be filled by today.

“An asshole who wouldn’t even look our way on days like this, must be in a hurry.”

Yuri rolled his eyes at Bjorn’s grumbling. It was already annoying enough that Hogan wasn’t coming down from up there, but to think he usually wouldn’t even show up.

“In a hurry? What do you mean?”

“…I’m telling you this because you’re new.”

Bjorn lowered his voice for a moment.

“I came over here and worked under a real estate agent. But as far as I know, this was originally private property.”

“If it’s a site where the city is carrying out development, isn’t it city property?”

“This is a secret, but there was a rumor among agents that there was Blue Tear under this land.”

In the Spring Continent, they called alternative energy “Blue Tear”.

In Yuri’s opinion, it was a terribly tasteless naming sense.

Whose tears were they supposed to be, anyway?

“Not long after that, someone bought it up. But then it was announced as the city’s development district.”

“I see.”

“The development schedule was already announced. But then Blue Tear was really discovered underneath. However, if this was properly announced… it would become city property, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“So they’re having people like us, who can be used without anyone knowing and can’t spread rumors anywhere, dig out all the Blue Tear. To sell it off on the black market.”

Yuri narrowed his eyes.

“Could it be… they’re rushing to meet the announced ‘development schedule’?”

“Sharp. That’s what I think, at least.”

Bjorn smiled bitterly.

“It’ll probably be used to line the pockets of the mayor or his sponsors. But what do I know?”

He looked down at his palms, caked with rainwater and mud.

“I don’t want to be kicked out of here. I don’t want to go back to the Winter Continent ever again. Even if it’s shady work, I want to get citizenship as soon as possible and settle down.”

The man who had been muttering moved away from Yuri.

He didn’t look to be in very good condition.

Whether it was due to the smell coming from that blue liquid, or because he had a fever from working in the rain for long hours, was unclear.

Yuri lowered his eyes for a moment, letting his thoughts drift with the rainwater.

As the workday was nearing its end, exhausted workers were returning materials to their original positions.

Only Yuri and Peter remained in the pit.

Just as Yuri was about to move towards the stairs, he hesitated.

Through the sound of rain, he thought he heard a metallic scraping noise.

“Watch out!”