Chapter 19
The door of Descent Gate 0 closed.
Rumble.
A heavy metallic sound rang out behind him, but
Harun could not move for a long while even after hearing it.
Because the upper levels he had dreamed of all his life spread out before his eyes.
Everything was different from the underground levels.
The air of the underground levels, thick with the mingled smells of filth, mold, rusty metal, and old pipes, could not even compare to this.
There was no damp floor slick with water leaking from burst pipes, nor any concrete walls shattered by some tremendous impact.
And above all.
“….”
There was light.
It was not a completely open sky. Massive buildings still towered overhead, and megacorp skyscrapers, mana pipes, and aerial transport routes blocked parts of the sky, but
light was streaming down through the gaps between them.
Something he had only ever heard about from other people.
Sunlight.
He could feel with his entire body that this was real sunlight.
Harun unconsciously raised a hand as the pleasantly warm sunlight touched him.
It was unbelievable to feel the warmth of the light settling on the back of his hand and touching his wrinkled skin.
He had yearned for the upper levels his entire life.
Whenever people in the underground levels talked about the upper levels, they all described them differently, but
Harun would laugh and say it was all nonsense.
If a place like that existed, why would people like us be stuck down here?
Even while mocking them like that, he would sometimes let his imagination run wild when he was alone.
What could this thing called the sky be, existing in place of a rusty ceiling?
Whenever he shivered from the cold, he imagined the sun that was said to send warmth down from the sky.
But that had only ever been longing.
Something one could hold because it was unreachable.
Something one could only imagine in one's heart because it could never be possessed.
And now.
That longing had spread out before Harun's eyes.
“….”
Words kept catching in his throat, making it difficult for him to open his mouth.
He simply stood there blankly, basking in the sunlight.
Kael turned his head and saw Harun silently looking around the upper levels beside him.
His expression was as impassive as ever.
There was no sign of surprise or emotion on his face.
Seeing that expression, Harun finally came to his senses a little.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“We came all the way to the upper levels. You don't feel anything?”
Kael looked around once more, fell into thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“I haven't been here in a year.”
Harun blinked.
“A year?”
“I was caught here and dragged down to the underground levels.”
Harun stared at Kael for a moment before letting out a hollow laugh of disbelief.
“Aha.”
He looked Kael up and down.
“So that's why you looked the way you did.”
“What do you mean, the way I did?”
“When I first saw you, you looked like you'd crawled out of a garbage dump.”
“Well, I did come out of a garbage dump.”
“Quick to admit it.”
“It's true.”
Harun shook his head from side to side.
After talking with Kael, he felt as though he had been an idiot for being so tense moments ago.
Just then.
People in black suits approached from beside the gate's exit and immediately bowed as soon as they confirmed Kael and Harun.
“You’re Kael and Harun, correct?”
When Kael nodded, the man in the suit gestured toward the vehicle behind him.
“We’ll escort you this way.”
A black luxury vehicle was waiting outside the gate.
As one agent opened the vehicle door, another agent beside him spoke quietly into his wrist terminal.
“VIPs secured. We’re moving out.”
Harun was dumbfounded by the unfamiliar term.
“VIP?”
He pointed at himself.
“Me?”
Kael answered casually.
“Looks that way.”
“I’ve just heard the least fitting word of my entire life.”
“Congratulations.”
“Is that something to congratulate me for?”
“Never mind.”
Harun looked at Kael with an exhausted expression before cautiously climbing into the vehicle.
The inside of the vehicle was considerably larger than it appeared from the outside.
Soft leather seats were arranged facing each other, with a small table in the middle.
Harun stood frozen for a moment, unable even to sit down.
“This is… a car?”
Kael simply sat down in the seat opposite him.
“Seems so.”
“Why do you react like that to everything?”
“I’ve seen enough scrapped vehicles to last a lifetime.”
“A junker and a real car aren't the same thing.”
At that moment, a woman in a black suit who had been sitting inside the vehicle bowed her head.
Her light-brown hair was tied back without a strand out of place, and her manner of speaking and posture were formal.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kael and Mr. Harun.”
Harun had never heard anyone speak like that before. So this was what it meant to sound kind and gentle, he thought in admiration.
“I’m Elena Weiss, Chief Secretary of Seraph Industries.”
Harun blinked at her words, while Kael quietly watched her.
Elena continued without paying any attention to their reactions.
“It is an honor to escort you both today. If there is anything you need during the journey, please do not hesitate to let me know.”
She paused for just a moment before adding politely,
“The CEO instructed us to treat you both with the utmost courtesy.”
“….”
Kael's reaction remained lukewarm.
Harun was the exact opposite.
He had never received treatment like this before, so he awkwardly placed his hands on his knees.
“Er, well… I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
“Please accept these first.”
She placed two thin black cards on the table.
Silver circuit patterns flowed across their surfaces, and a small Seraph Industries guarantee seal was engraved on one side.
Kael picked up one of them and gave it a brief look.
Harun cautiously picked up the other and asked Elena,
“What is this?”
She smiled and answered him.
“Temporary Magitera citizen IDs.”
Harun's hand stopped for a moment.
“Citizen IDs….”
He slowly rolled the word around in his mouth.
Citizen.
“You are currently temporary citizens under Seraph Industries’ special guarantee. Issuing full citizenship will require a procedure, but until then, these IDs will allow you to use basic transportation, housing, medical, dining, and communication services within the upper levels.”
Kael examined the card from several angles before asking Elena,
“So we can use this to buy food too?”
“Yes. They also include payment functions at designated stores and Seraph-affiliated facilities.”
“Convenient.”
Harun was still staring blankly at the citizen ID.
“Most transactions in the upper levels are conducted through data. The citizen ID serves as identity verification, payment, and access authorization. If you lose it, you must contact us immediately.”
Then, as a sudden thought occurred to him, Harun finally raised his head.
“If I lose this one, I won’t be sent back down, will I?”
“No.”
Elena answered gently.
“Your status is registered on Seraph’s internal network, not in the card. The citizen ID is merely a tool for verifying that status.”
Only then did Harun exhale in relief.
“I see.”
Kael put the citizen ID in his pocket and continued his questions.
“What about a residence?”
Elena answered immediately, as if she had been waiting for that question.
“The CEO has already arranged residences for both of you.”
When she placed her hand on the table, a thin holographic map rose into the air.
“We calculated all convenience and security factors and selected the most suitable location.”
Elena enlarged one point on the map with her finger and
“It’s a secure residential facility near a Seraph-administered district. It is close to hospitals, restaurants, shops, and public transit routes, while access by outsiders is restricted. The supplies necessary for basic living have already been prepared.”
After giving those concrete details, she added,
“However, if there is somewhere else you would prefer, we can escort you there instead.”
Kael tilted his head slightly.
“Anywhere?”
“Anywhere except areas with legally restricted access or private property belonging to another corporation.”
“….”
..
..
Once Elena had finished explaining the basics of life in the upper levels, only silence filled the vehicle.
Harun was the first to break that silence.
“Um.”
Elena immediately turned her head toward him.
“Yes, Mr. Harun. Please feel free to speak.”
Harun opened his mouth, but seemed unable to get the words out, and closed it again.
Then he managed to open his mouth with difficulty.
“Couldn’t we go somewhere ordinary people live, instead of somewhere corporate people live?”
Kael's gaze turned toward Harun.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps it was not the request Elena had expected, because she blinked for a moment before confirming what he meant.
“By somewhere ordinary people live, do you mean a general residential district?”
At her words, Harun awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.
“I don’t know names like that. Just… somewhere without corporate guards standing outside the door, surveillance devices mounted on every wall, and obvious big shots living there.”
He continued slowly, as if choosing his words.
“A place where people go grocery shopping, eat their meals, children run around, and no one thinks it strange when an old man sits on a bench.”
Elena listened to him in silence.
Harun cleared his throat for no particular reason, as though he found it difficult to say what he wanted.
“I’ve always….”
His voice was quieter than usual.
“I’ve always wished I could live an ordinary life.”
Harun looked down at the citizen ID.
“I wasn’t asking for anything grand. I don’t need a big house, expensive clothes, or to be treated specially by anyone.”
He rubbed the edge of the card with one finger.
“Just opening the door in the morning, greeting the neighbor, buying something to eat at a store, then turning off the lights and going to sleep at night.”
Harun tried to smile, but it did not quite work.
“I wanted to try living like that, just once.”
Kael said nothing.
As the silence stretched on, Harun frowned for no reason.
“Why? Why aren't you laughing?”
Kael looked at him and said,
“Why would I laugh?”
“I thought you’d say something like that.”
Kael looked out the window for a moment.
The sunlight seemed to flow down across the glass.
“Living an ordinary life.”
Kael continued calmly.
“Sounds good.”
Harun's eyes widened slightly, as though that answer had been unexpected.
“So what? It’s your life. Why should you care what other people think?”
“….”
“If that’s what you want, then that’s enough.”
Harun looked at Kael for a long while, his lips moving slightly before he eventually closed his mouth.
“…Yeah.”
Elena quietly operated her terminal.
“I’ll search among the general residential districts, prioritizing areas with high security and convenient access to daily necessities. It will be a little farther from the Seraph-administered district, but your emergency contact network and medical access will remain available.”
Harun nodded.
“That’s enough.”
“And if you’d like, I can also look for a workshop nearby. Unless you’re planning to retire completely.”
Harun paused at Elena’s words.
“A workshop….”
He chuckled.
“I’ve handled scrap metal my entire life. I suppose I might as well keep doing it up here.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“No.”
Harun looked out the window.
“It’d feel stranger to do nothing. When my hands are idle, I start thinking too much.”
Elena nodded.
“Understood.”
The vehicle changed its destination and headed toward the area where Harun's residence would be.
Not the central district with Seraph's secure residential facilities, but a more outlying general residential district.
The scenery outside the window gradually began to change as well.
The megacorp skyscrapers and glittering billboards grew fewer, replaced by low residential buildings and small shops. The streets held not only corporate employees in suits, but also people carrying shopping bags and parents walking with their children.
Harun could not take his eyes off the window.
Before long, the vehicle came to a stop.
“We’ve arrived.”
As Elena finished speaking, the vehicle door opened smoothly.
Bright sunlight and the lively voices of people talking flooded in from outside.
Harun slowly stepped out and stood in the middle of the street, looking around.
He said nothing. No, no words came out.
Elena looked toward one of the employees in the front seat.
“Please accompany Mr. Harun. Help him inspect nearby residences and workshop candidates so he can find a place he likes.”
“Understood.”
The employee got out of the vehicle and bowed politely.
“Mr. Harun. I’ll show you around.”
Harun nodded awkwardly.
“All right. I’d appreciate it.”
He walked a few steps, then stopped and turned around.
Toward Kael, who was sitting inside the vehicle.
“Kael.”
At his words, Kael raised his head.
“What?”
Harun seemed unable to find the words for a while before finally opening his mouth with difficulty.
“Thank you.”
His voice was quiet, but Kael heard him clearly.
“Truly.”
Kael looked at Harun for a moment before
giving a brief answer.
“Don’t mention it.”