The City Where Gray Rain Falls Chapter 17

The cheap lamp, flickering as if unable to endure even the slightest movement, failed to strip that door of its color. Perhaps that door was the very gateway leading to where Asel was.

The fact that they had placed an additional door here could mean they had separately classified something important.

An intense suspicion that the records he had hoped for were not here but inside that red door prevented Isaac from leaving its front.

“Hoo hoo.”

As he hesitated for a moment, he heard a seductive laugh and the presence of two people from outside.

Surely they’re not coming in here. Wait, did I lock the door?

Unfortunately, a thief was someone who came to unlock a door and steal something, not someone who kindly locked up after himself.

Before the flustered Isaac could even find a place to hide, creeeak, the records room door swung wide open and a pair, a man and a woman, spilled inside.

“This isn’t so bad either.”

“I tire quickly of the obvious.”

Having urgently blown out his lamp first, Isaac clamped his hand over his own mouth to hide even the sound of his breathing. Then, he scrambled on all fours under the desk, the only place in the room where he could conceal himself.

The room was dim, and there was a cloth draping down under the desk, so maybe it would be alright.

“Ahh, good.”

At this late hour, the purpose of a man and woman seeking out a secluded place was unlikely to be chatting or finishing up leftover government work.

There was no more conversation formed of long sentences. Beginning with the wet sound of mucous membranes meeting, the unknown woman’s moans followed, along with the sound of him pounding into her, using the bookshelves lining the walls for support.

“Ah.”

Annoyed by the bookshelf creaking and swaying precariously, unable to bear the weight of two people, the man pulled the woman’s wrist and went in search of a solid wall.

Deeper inside the records room, the woman, leaning against a wall that was cold but had no chance of collapsing, stuck her hips far back, let out an excited breath, and urged her partner on.

“Hurry…!”

As the man’s foot stepped forward, the heel of the woman’s pump lifted slightly, and the hem of her dress, which had slipped down from above, caught around her ankle.

Then, soon, a rhythmic slapping sound could be heard. The chilly room, devoid of any warmth, heated up in an instant from the heat the two of them were giving off.

The man and woman absorbed in their act probably had no idea, but in that space, there was another young man, hiding under the desk and witnessing everything. A young man desperately wishing that the secret rendezvous of the two would end quickly, and that no one outside had noticed his absence.

“Ah, uh.”

“…”

“Ha-ung!”

The man in the white uniform seemed tireless. He kept thrusting at a constant speed until the woman screamed and nearly convulsed.

Had he ever witnessed someone else’s sexual act from this close? More accurately, it was right to say he had never felt anything but disgust and displeasure watching someone’s copulation.

The couple at close quarters made him physically realize what sex was, something Isaac had never understood before. Though all he could see was their lower halves, and all he could hear were delicate moans and occasionally rushing rough exhales, for some reason, it made his lower abdomen feel heavy and itchy.

The pale light filtering through the dust-clouded window seeped into the dizzying height of the bright red heels. Of all things, they were the same color as the door beside him that Isaac had been so curious about.

“S-stop. No. More! Give me more!”

The owner of the heels repeatedly told the man in the pristine white uniform to spare her, then to destroy her. Whatever she demanded, the man’s movements never changed.

Thud, thud. Seeing him drive his partner to tears in the agony of pleasure, the man’s identity was closer to a destroyer than a savior.

The man’s relentless, driving motions and the woman’s gasps, breaking apart and scattering into the air, tangled in the dim light, flustering the sole spectator.

Isaac wriggled his toes trapped in shoes far too big for him, trying to ignore the signals from a part of himself that was rudely growing more and more uncomfortable, even in the midst of this crisis.

A sudden sensation crawled up him, as if ants with small but sharp stings were climbing from his toes up his shins toward his core, making his body tremble minutely—because the man’s shoes looked like black, vicious ants.

Then, thud. Isaac’s head, trying to huddle deeper into the darkness, bumped against the top of the desk, producing a small noise. The movements of the oblivious, enjoying couple stopped, and their gazes focused on one spot. The woman spoke to her partner in an uneasy voice and hastily gathered up her dress, which had slipped down to her ankles.

“What on earth was that sound?”

“Seems there’s a little rat in here.”

The man’s hard, glossy shoes drew closer and closer to Isaac.

The careless thief was indeed a rat in a trap. If he lifted the cloth, or reached underneath to see what was there, he would be caught without any chance of escape.

If that happened, there would be absolutely no way out. Even at that moment, he tried to conjure up excuses like the door had actually been open, or he had come in out of curiosity, or he had come at someone’s errand and hidden because he was startled by people’s presence. But what reason would a mere neighborhood watch member have for entering the locked records room?

The moment he was caught, he’d be dragged away to face a death more brutal than he could imagine. An opportunity to experience firsthand how much of the rebel uncles’ ranting was true and how much was bluster.

Please, please, please. He was afraid to die. If he died, he couldn’t do anything. Finding Asel, holding hands and leaving the city to find a haven just for the two of them… and begging for his forgiveness.

He struggled to hold back his rough breath that kept leaking out, and his body stiffened rigidly. Only his eyes rolled left and right as he prayed to nameless gods, begging to get through this crisis safely.

“…Shall we go back?”

Had his prayers worked? The man, who had been standing still, turned his steps the other way and suddenly suggested to the woman that they leave.

“What was it?”

“Nothing. And rats really do get in and out of here.”

“Oh my, good heavens…”

“It’s just a little rat, so it wouldn’t dare blab about seeing us.”

Clomp, clomp. And click, clack. The two overlapping footsteps receded and disappeared beyond the door.

“Hoo-ha…”

Only then could Isaac exhale the breath he had been holding in his lungs and crawl out from under the desk.

The sweat that had beaded on his forehead streamed down to the tip of his chin, dripping onto the floor, and his pounding heart fluttered as if it would burst from its place. But the relief of having overcome a great crisis temporarily made him forget his situation.

‘Ah… right.’

Standing there blankly, replaying the scenes he had witnessed, Isaac finally remembered the original purpose that had gotten him into this room with such difficulty. To check the recent death registry and see if there was anyone resembling Asel.

But too much time had been delayed. Outside, Vincent might have already woken up and be searching for him. Or perhaps that man and woman from earlier might have reported the lazy watch member who was nowhere to be seen, or the fact that the records room door had been open.

‘How do I get out.’

Standing before the door, Isaac couldn’t bring himself to turn the knob rashly and just kept his ear trained on the corridor. He intended to open it and leave when it was quiet.

Had about ten minutes passed? All he could hear was the pounding in his own chest and his breathing, roughened by tension. Now was the time.

Creeeak. The door opened after a long while. He scanned the surroundings quickly; there was no one around. If he hurried to his partner, woke him up, and made up a story—that there had been a suspicious person, that some guests invited to the inauguration had come to the third floor looking for a special place to enjoy a secret tryst, but they seemed like important people so he hadn’t been able to stop them—that would be enough.