9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 4 - This F*cking Another World (4)

Thud!

My staggering body was thrown onto the hard floor.

“Ugh! Haa…”

My entire body ached as if every bone had been broken, and the light suddenly piercing my eyelids was excruciatingly painful.

Someone roughly yanked off the burlap sack that had been pulled over my head.

“Cough! Cough!”

I grimaced severely and looked up to see shadows of people wavering in the backlight, though I couldn’t make them out clearly.

Once I adjusted to the intense light, I could see my surroundings a bit better.

A concrete room with all four walls closed off, fitted with an excessively bright light bulb.

‘What is this, not even Namsan…’

The faint smell of blood drifted from somewhere.

The Lucas inside me began to go berserk with instinctive fear. My heart pounded like crazy, bringing crushing pain to my sternum.

‘Damn it, calm down! Even if you’re dragged away by a tiger, if you just keep your wits about you— no, that’s not right. Let me get my pace back.’

I desperately tried to cool my head.

“Wh-why are you doing this to me?”

I muttered in a trembling voice, and one of the men standing in front of me forcibly lifted me up to meet my eyes.

“You know where this is.”

I slowly nodded.

Ossel.

The special police who worshipped Kruger like fanatics.

Named after ancient characters meaning ‘homeland’, but contrary to such heartwarming etymology, they were objects of terror and awe.

They were police in name only, following a military rank system and carrying out any cruel acts at the Supreme Leader’s command.

‘Pretty trash.’

I muttered to myself.

Elite members who had passed strict appearance screenings, wearing well-tailored black uniforms designed by the finest designers.

Their tall stature and sharp gazes were as handsome as movie stars.

But Ossel was a gang of thugs overflowing with idiots, selected based only on appearance and loyalty.

‘Of course, that bastard Lucas had fanatically looked up to them without knowing any better.’

Ptui!

I spat out the blood pooled in my mouth and made a tearful expression.

“Ossel… But I haven’t committed any crimes!”

“You don’t know what you did wrong?”

The uniformed man asked, sweeping back his stylish blond hair. Predatory cruelty dripped from his leisurely smile.

When he gestured with his eyes, another man lightly kicked the back of my knees as I stood awkwardly.

“Argh!”

With sharp pain, I fell to my knees with a thud, when footsteps could be heard from somewhere. The heavy footsteps gradually drew closer and stopped in front of me.

“Lift your head.”

Crack!

An Ossel grabbed my hair and bent my neck backward. The sound of joints snapping. The person I had suspected was looking down at me with a smile.

“Chief Clerk…”

“I’m sorry it’s come to this, Clerk Assistant Redan.”

“Why, why are you doing this? Why to me…!”

Though I had some idea, I wailed like a lover betrayed.

Hoffman was staring at me with the same cold gaze he’d had when looking at the elf actress.

“The incident at the audition a few days ago—you said it was a mistake?”

‘Crazy bastard, was it really because of that?’

I wanted to ask if he’d really lost his mind, but I swallowed the words and shook my head fervently.

“It was a mistake! It was my stupid blunder! It absolutely wasn’t intentional. Please forgive me!”

“Well, I think you knew.”

“Chief Clerk!”

He held up his palm as if telling me to shut up.

“What I’ve noticed while talking with you lately is that you’re not as faithful to the Supreme Leader as you used to be. Your feelings toward him have cooled, haven’t they? Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Th-there’s no way that could be true! Even this play, I worked hard for the Supreme Leader—”

“I don’t trust you. If you truly haven’t changed your mind, then stake your life here and now.”

“What…?”

Hoffman’s voice was ice-cold, and I was so dumbfounded that I could barely manage my expression.

What kind of insane talk was that?

“Why? Can’t do it?”

Without anyone stopping him, he pulled out a pocket knife and slashed his palm. Blood splattered instantly, even reaching my face.

“I’m different from you.”

Hoffman showed me his split palm with a calm expression.

Clap clap clap!

“Very impressive!”

The Ossel agents applauded, apparently moved.

They gave Hoffman a few words of praise, then applied first aid with a handkerchief and led him away.

‘Crazy bastards…’

I squeezed my eyes shut.

***

“Your voice is too quiet.”

“I swear loyalty and obedience to Friedrich Kruger, Supreme Leader of the Schufaben Republic!”

What time was it now?

I shouted the civil service oath loudly. I’d already yelled it over thirty times, and my throat was raw.

A desolate concrete room with no furniture. Only my voice echoed off the walls.

“Good. Now the national anthem composed by the Supreme Leader.”

“Raise the flag! Form ranks! March on, march on! Let us wet our ankles with the blood of enemies and traitors! The souls of great heroes shall be with us!”

Thump thump! Clap clap!

“Raise the flag! Form ranks! Praise him, praise him! Let us seize freedom, bread, and victory with our own hands! The great will of Kruger shall be with us!”

Thump thump! Clap clap!

It felt like blood would come from my throat.

Singing without accompaniment made me feel more nauseous than embarrassed by the lyrics praising Kruger.

But I sang enthusiastically.

I clapped my hands and stomped my feet, keeping perfect time as I sang perfectly.

Because I knew.

I knew clearly that they weren’t making me do this to confirm my innocence.

The handsome idiots smiled with satisfaction at my clown act.

Their reaction actually reassured me.

‘Those bastards are just enjoying themselves. If I satisfy them enough, they’ll let me go. Definitely.’

“Your throat must hurt. Bring him some water.”

“Yes!”

When the Ossel with major’s insignia spoke, one of his subordinates opened the door and left.

“Th-thank you!”

I crawled on my belly beneath his feet in a servile manner. While doing so, I secretly stole a glance through the half-open door between the major’s legs.

Under the dim light, desolate concrete walls and identical doors lined up in rows.

Soon the man returned with a tin pitcher. The major who received the pitcher gestured for me to stand up.

As I awkwardly got to my feet, he smiled cruelly and tilted the pitcher. Clear water flowed down.

‘Shit.’

But my body was already moving as he wanted. I hurried toward the stream of water and caught it with my face.

Splash!

I made a moved expression and licked the water from around my mouth.

Damn it, regardless of the humiliation, the water tasted incredibly sweet.

“Hahahaha!”

The subordinate Ossel’s innocent laughter could be heard.

“You must be hungry from not eating. I could give you some bread.”

“Gasp! Thank you!”

Fortunately, they gave me the bread normally. Though it was incredibly hard whole wheat bread.

While I had my crude meal, one Ossel left the room again and returned carrying a desk and chair.

“Sit down.”

I obediently sat in the rough wooden chair. Seeing the paper and pen placed on the desk, I had a sense of what I needed to do.

‘Damn, whether in Korea or here, the methods of tormenting people are all the same.’

An Ossel lit a cigarette and sat in the opposite chair, crossing his legs.

“Think of it as writing an autobiography. Everything that’s happened from birth until now, write down whatever you remember.”

Just as I’d expected.

I obediently picked up the pen and began writing.

Of course, I couldn’t write things as they really were. I tactfully wrote everything to connect it as much as possible with Kruger’s majesty.

For example, when I was in elementary school, my father’s business failed and we were in great danger, but thanks to Kruger’s grace, we received bread and meat rations and got school supplies so I could attend school.

Because of that, I came to respect Supreme Leader Kruger and joined the ‘Kruger Youth.’

These were stories that were half truth and half lies.

It was true that Lucas’s family received government assistance, but that wasn’t due to Kruger’s policies—it was because the poverty relief law established by the revolutionary government was still in effect.

Lucas joining the Kruger Youth wasn’t a family pride but his parents’ worry.

Lucas’s parents weren’t Kruger supporters.

Even as fallen nobles, they had noble blood, so they didn’t particularly like the revolutionary government either, but they hated Kruger even more, saying he was a baseborn trying to play king.

‘Maybe that’s why Lucas went astray.’

Blowing on my fingers that were stiffening in the cold air, I thought.

When Kruger was enjoying tremendous popularity, Lucas was in high school. During puberty, when conflict with parents was at its worst.

He acted up saying he’d become one of Kruger’s soldiers, even running away from home due to his parents’ opposition, but just six months later, both his mother and father died in a ship accident.

The shock from that probably made him slide into an even more ruined life.

‘He should have listened to his parents.’

Suddenly my own parents came to mind and tears welled up.

If I’d known I’d end up in another world so absurdly, I would have visited the columbarium during my vacation instead of lounging around on the East Coast.

The Ossel major looked at my densely written autobiography and picked at every detail with questions.

The room was already thick with cigarette smoke, and though it was summer, it was strangely cold, giving me goosebumps on my arms.

For several hours of continuous questioning, I felt like I’d be mentally exhausted from digging through memories and carefully choosing my words.

I wrote the autobiography-disguised punishment essay two more times, appealing with embarrassingly affectionate vocabulary about how much I adored the Supreme Leader.

Though I wasn’t physically tortured, it was already tantamount to torture. My body and mind were in tatters.

How long had I been doing this?

When I was barely holding on from collapsing with exhaustion, an Ossel came in and whispered to the major.

He looked at me and twisted his lips.

‘I’m alive.’

I thought, forcing my eyes wide open in my dimming vision.

***

Neigh!

Thud!

My body, which had been shaking around, was flung out of the carriage like a rolling object.

The carriage that had dumped me like baggage indifferently returned the way it came.

After lying still on the ground for a while, I slowly raised my hand and removed the burlap sack covering my head.

“Bastards…”

A voice full of venom came out, surprising even myself.

I clenched and unclenched my fists repeatedly, hard enough for my nails to hurt, trying somehow to calm down.

After my heart, which had been pounding madly with excitement, settled down, I looked around.

It was a grassy area in some park I didn’t recognize.

A gloomy space where no one was passing by, since it was dawn when day was just breaking.

“Dawn. Then about a day and a half must have passed?”

I muttered, grimacing.

Being trapped in that concrete room where I couldn’t tell the passage of time, just seeing the faint sunlight gave me a headache.

“Vicious bastards.”

Curse words flew from my mouth once again.

Having toyed with me as much as they wanted, the Ossel major had his subordinates make phone calls here and there, and finally believed me.

Like the idiots they were, they even seemed to be reverse-suspecting Hoffman who had reported me.

Dear God!

It was truly the first time I felt grateful for Lucas’s past actions.

The major who had put a sack over my head and led me out of the building said in a light tone,

“Make sure we don’t see each other again.”

He added as if enjoying himself,

“Next time, you won’t be able to get out of here forever.”

I listened half-heartedly while almost instinctively secretly reaching out to feel along the walls of the narrow corridor.

I really hoped I’d never be captured and taken to that place again, but since life doesn’t go as planned…

Right, left, right. At the end of a long straight path, another right turn at about a 45-degree angle.

A structure almost like a maze formed in my head.

I carefully imprinted that structure in a corner of my mind.

***

“I’m suddenly… hungry.”

Those Ossel bastards had given me only one piece of hard bread and one pitcher of water during the day and a half of interrogation.

I stood up using the soft grass for support and walked unsteadily.

Even moving my legs was difficult. From all the rolling and falling since yesterday, there wasn’t a part of my body that didn’t hurt.

As I walked, I rolled up my sleeves to see blue-black bruises on my arms and legs. There were definitely bruises on my back too.

‘What are Mrs. Schmidt and Daniel doing?’

If they’d suffered any trouble because of me, I, being a person with healthy common sense, didn’t think I could continue staying at that boarding house.

I don’t know what kind of suffering this is because of one crazy bastard.

“That bastard Hoffman…”

I ground my teeth quietly, then shook my head.

“Don’t think about it now.”

For now, I wanted to rest.