The City Where Gray Rain Falls Chapter 1

In a beautiful city painted entirely in monochrome, gray streaks of rain added to it, doubling its inherent gloom.

Especially on nights like this, people stripped of their freedom were afraid to even wander the streets, never leaving their homes unless it was during the permitted hours.

The citizens of the city, which had erected barriers and multiple gates that not just anyone could pass through, choosing to trade the abundance inside for the poverty outside, opted for silence and obedience again today.

It had been so long since they had cast a vote with their own hands that scores of them had forgotten they had ever entrusted their cause to anyone. On the surface, the city seemed perfectly orderly, like a raw recruit rigid with discipline.

On the utterly deserted road, a black vehicle with its engine running flashed its headlights. Not far off, the driver, who had stepped aside to allow a private conversation, stood holding an umbrella as large as his own frame.

Through the slightly open gap of the rear window, cigarette smoke and enraged shouts leaked out from time to time, but perhaps because of the rain, they could not travel far before being buried and scattered.

“You would do well not to forget whose favor allowed a wretch like you to rise to that position.”

“…I know.”

“Chief of Security. It’s preposterous.”

The post of the Chief of Security, who currently safeguarded the city, was vacant. The background to this involved the rather disgraceful death of the predecessor, but in this city, someone being dragged off without a word, dying or disappearing, was nothing special.

There were not many deaths one could accept, and everyone knew that the cause of death just depended on how you labeled it. No, it was more fitting to say they had grown numb.

At some point, the people here had stopped attaching titles like ‘question’ or ‘suspicion’ to deaths of unknown nature. They simply recognized them as the death of some citizen or an unidentified corpse, and that was all.

Ever since it was revealed that death was a means for those in power to silence others, the citizens of this city had become such laughable existences that those in power no longer felt the need to add shabby excuses.

So, as soon as the Chief of Security’s position became vacant for unknown reasons, a successor was appointed as if they had been waiting.

Beside the white-haired old man voicing his discontent in an angry tone was a man with slicked-back golden hair that didn’t allow a single strand out of place, and beneath it, a face utterly devoid of expression, cold beyond measure. This man was the new Chief of Security of the city, starting tomorrow.

“If it weren’t for that person’s will! Samuel, how could a wretch like you rise to such a position!”

“…”

“An orphaned mongrel who rolled in from outside.”

The man named Samuel paid not a single glance to his adoptive father, who was hopping mad and spewing insults, but instead, with a rather indifferent look, watched the scenery outside the rain-shattered window. No doubt it was because he was sick of hearing words that had already worn calluses on his ears.

“…Like a dog. You must remember who your master is, and who holds your leash.”

“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

The impromptu meeting, arranged to warn his adopted son who had been placed overnight—and far above his station—in such a position for no particular reason, ended as it always did: with the white-haired old man grinding his yellowish teeth and Samuel’s brief reply.

“Get out.”

Only then, his anger somewhat subsided, did the old man cast his adopted son out onto the rainy street, then with a mere gesture, summoned the driver who had been standing outside and immediately left the scene.

‘He acts as if he’s doing me a favor for a position he didn’t even give me. …Ridiculous. Utterly.’

The rain was falling harder than before, but the white-haired old man cruelly did not even press an umbrella into the hands of the one who had to walk back.

Coincidentally, Samuel’s destination was in the same direction the vehicle had taken. But instead of following the path the car had left, he turned his steps and began walking the opposite way.

Sauntering, his strides were as leisurely as if he were enjoying a stroll on a sunny day.

∞ ∞ ∞

—Tomorrow, the watchdog that guards the city, the party’s mad dog, a lunatic who delights in murder, ascends to the post of Chief of Security, a position that commands the constables and rivals the party executives who have ruled the city.

Personal will was utterly useless in this process. As the party desired, according to the decisions of certain high and mighty figures, Samuel would occupy the top floor of the ‘Security Bureau’ building and punish not only those who broke the law but everything that opposed the city’s power.

‘Even though the job I do won’t change.’

Samuel had been notorious even from his days as a low-ranking constable in the Security Bureau. After all, his work involved sniffing out rebels who had cleverly infiltrated the city like a ghost, suppressing them mercilessly, and subjecting them to brutal torture.

Sometimes, he took the lead in purging those suspected of being rebel spies to maintain the regime, and he even personally dragged down figures who seemed glued to the seat of power, as if they would never fall.

So naturally, there was bound to be backlash. Even if his actions were for the party and the city, his origins and actions were more than enough to cause controversy. Those fangs could be turned on them at any time, after all.

Yet they had no other alternative. In order to sleep soundly with their legs stretched out in this city, and to efficiently counter the rebels who were infiltrating the city in ever-increasing numbers, they did need competent talent.

“Hey, stop right there!”

A man who had been wandering the quiet street, letting the pouring rain soak him completely without a care for his pristine uniform getting wet. At the shout of a constable ringing against the back of his head, he halted his steps and turned his body towards the source of the sound.

“Walking around at this hour? Are you out of your mind?”

According to city law, once the sun set and the siren sounded, citizens were not allowed to wander outside freely.

The constables on night patrol had the authority to conduct random ID checks, and one had to comply meekly unless they wanted to be dragged off and put through severe hardship.

But Samuel, who was standing at a distance, merely flashed a meaningful smile instead of pulling out his ID or raising his hands. This irritated the constable, who was weary from his night shift in the rain.

“You bastard?”

“…Hey! W-wait.”