The City Where Gray Rain Falls Chapter 14

Knock, knock. Sera entered with a knock and informed him that the other side was also ready.

Samuel checked his reflection in the mirror one more time. A pristine white uniform without a speck of dust, a sharply angled cap set upon gleaming blond hair, and beneath it, cool blue eyes submerged in the shadows cast by thick lashes created a perfect beauty.

“Well then, shall we go?”

Bursting open, the door of the official residence prepared for the Chief Commissioner swung wide, and a man sharpened with blade-like precision strode out into the brightly lit corridor.

With every step he took, shadows tangled beneath his feet, reminiscent of bloodstains, but he did not glance down at the floor. He simply held his head high and looked only at the lights that shone like the sun even in the black night, the lights permitted only to a privileged few.

∞ ∞ ∞

Personages adorned in dresses and suits of every color, and jewels that seemed blinding even at night, alighted from their cars one by one, stepping lightly upon the carpet laid out beforehand as they entered the annex of the Chief Commissioner’s building.

“Wow, what a commotion.”

“Are those the Party’s high and mighty?”

“Whoa.”

“It’s a different world.”

The neighborhood watch members who had remained until this hour couldn’t tear their eyes away from the rare spectacle unfolding outside the window.

A party held after curfew. Food and alcohol crafted with refined skill. Clothes meant not to ward off the cold, but simply for show.

It was a world utterly alien to citizens far removed from such luxury and pleasure, a world they could neither understand nor dare to covet.

“Alright, alright, let’s stop gawking and start moving.”

At someone’s urging, as if by agreement, they all pulled away from the window and gathered their belongings.

Today, the neighborhood watch members’ duty was not city patrol, but patrol of the Public Security Bureau’s main building.

All available personnel, except for the officers in charge of exterior security, had been redeployed to guard the annex and the important guests, leaving the main building completely empty. So, the neighborhood watch members had been assigned to night duty there instead.

All the interior doors were firmly locked anyway, and the entrance and every guard post were monitoring with eyes blazing. There was no ‘suspicious person’ who would dare enter this place, yet they had made an unnecessary fuss, summoning the entire neighborhood watch, even including those who had already finished their daytime shifts.

“We seem to be really unlucky. We walked our bones off during the day, and now it’s an all-night shift. Heh heh.”

“Haha, I know, right.”

Forcing away the fatigue clinging heavily to their entire bodies with self-deprecating laughter, Vincent and Isaac stood at the very back of the line forming up to leave the room.

“I just hope I don’t doze off…”

“Me too.”

The citizens of the city woke when the sun rose and went to bed when it set. It was no different for Isaac, who came from outside.

“Hooaahm. I’m dying.”

Already having yawned drowsily several times, Vincent seemed to have a hard time shaking off his sleepiness. His eyes kept going half-lidded without him realizing, and he staggered like a drunkard.

The watch members, grouped in pairs, immediately dispersed to their respective patrol areas, covering the first floor to the eighth floor, excluding the ninth and tenth floors where the Chief Commissioner’s official residence and office were located.

The area Isaac was assigned to patrol with Vincent was the east side of the main building’s third floor. It was originally a secluded place, an unimportant space used to store miscellaneous items and outdated materials, so they were the only two there, without any other members.

The place that had bustled with so many people coming and going during the day was now so silent in the night that even the sound of his own breathing seemed loud.

In the chilly, unfamiliar air, as if the rumored man-eating monster might actually appear, goosebumps rose on Isaac’s skin.

“Uh, Vincent…”

“…”

“Vincent?”

“…Ah, yeah. Yeah, yeah…”

He had tried to shake off this gloomy atmosphere through conversation with his partner, but Vincent was already repeatedly letting his head droop weakly from side to side. For a middle-aged man in his later years, even standing, let alone patrolling all night, seemed too much.

Since no one else’s eyes were on them here, surely closing his eyes for a moment would be fine. Isaac helped Vincent sit down at the end of the corridor and kindly suggested, ‘I’ll take a look around alone, so please rest for a bit.’

Slipping away. Vincent, who had waved his hands saying he couldn’t possibly do that, ultimately couldn’t overcome the weight of his eyelids and fell asleep the moment his back touched the wall. He called his name several times from beside him, but with no response, it seemed he wouldn’t wake unless shaken.

“Phew.”

A sigh of relief escaped him at his partner’s deep slumber. As if he had been waiting for just that moment, the young man, left alone without his partner, changed direction and crept stealthily toward a certain door on the third floor.

∞ ∞ ∞

“For an outsider, is he even remotely qualified to be Chief Commissioner?”

“It can’t be helped. There was no suitable candidate.”

“Even so, how could that demon of a man…”

The story that the new Chief Commissioner was from outside had already been a widespread controversy for some time. Enough to be openly chattered about even at a gathering meant to celebrate his inauguration.

The city’s powerful people would thus display their open contempt for Samuel.

Even the guests whose names appeared only on the last page of the list—those not even in a position to outright refuse the inauguration invitation or openly rebuke him—were no different.

“Still, he was educated in the city, and he’s a loyal hound to the Party. …He barks when told to bark, and bites when told to bite. Ha ha.”

“All the more reason to keep him on a short leash and tie him up in the yard! Who knows what might happen the moment he’s let into the house?”

“He doesn’t even have the wits for that. He’s a dog, not a person like us.”

The guest of honor for the night was walking in from a distance, but the people’s sneers showed no sign of stopping.

That was the nature of an exception that emerged after breaking seemingly solid rules. The existing group would feel an indescribable displeasure and humiliation, but once they realized the other party was someone they couldn’t simply swat away, they would quickly adapt as if nothing had happened and begin calculating his utility value.

“There’s a cluster of the city’s grease stains over there.”

Grease stains. Samuel often called the rulers by that name. For those who monopolized wealth and enjoyed power while doing nothing, there was no more fitting nickname.

At the entrance to the banquet hall, Samuel smiled faintly and cracked a joke, but Walter, attending right beside him, quietly dissuaded him.

“They might hear us at this distance.”

“I’m already known to be frivolous, and an outsider at that. It wouldn’t do much harm.”

“Ahem! Chief Commissioner…!”

Lest their conversation leak out, Walter tried desperately to cover the words scattered into the air by pretending to clear his throat.

“I want everyone to know the guest of honor has arrived, soon.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I have an important appointment afterwards.”

“Understood.”

Clap, clap. And thud, thud. When Walter used a crisp clap and stomp to draw the crowd’s attention, the sharp words scattered in all directions finally ceased, and gazes collectively turned to Samuel.

He pulled up both corners of his mouth, hiding even the chill that seemed capable of freezing everything, concealing his true intentions within a faint smile, and skillfully melted into the crowd.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Has there ever been anyone else who rose to the position of Chief Commissioner at such a young age?”

“Probably the first since the city was founded.”

“Expectations are high, Chief Commissioner.”

Unlike just moments before, which had been colored solely by criticism, the atmosphere shifted noticeably the moment Samuel entered the banquet hall, as if it had never been otherwise, and people began exchanging lip-service pleasantries.

Everyone treated him like the Party’s dog. Yet he was the one in charge of the city’s security, the one who would protect their homes, and his foster father was undeniably a Party executive, so they couldn’t just run their mouths recklessly.

“Haha. Thank you.”