Chapter 90 – Masquerade Party (4)

Gyosu was starting to get sick of Jack’s smiling mask.

“Is this a….. suggestion? Or a command?”

“Hahahah, of course, it’s just a suggestion. You don’t need to react so sensitively to it.”

“Sorry, not really, for interrupting while you two are talking, but even my dense ass knows that this is weird. Is this how all of the guys from the Dome do it? Set up everything from start to finish and just announce that this is how it’s going to be done?”

Ian knocked over the box containing outfits with his foot.

[Hepburn]

[Ian]

[Vex]

From the box came the top-of-the-line uniforms with names clearly engraved on them.

It wasn’t just written on it with ink or paint, but intricately embroidered in. It was as if they prepared these clothes knowing that the three were going to agree to this from the start.

“I don’t want to. Asking someone who’s already been discharged to come back again. Jack, was that your name? You haven’t been in the military before, have you? Do you know just how terrible a suggestion that is?”

Seeing Ian stand next to Gyosu, expressing a strong rejection of the situation, made the others who had been getting a ready look in their direction.

“It’s a shame… It seems you all are taking this too negatively. As I have mentioned before, this is only a recommendation. If you can’t do it… then we can’t force you to. However.”

Rustle.

Jack picked up one of the uniform tops from the box that Vex had organized again at some point.

“I reckon you understand that the ‘main character’ role is a sort of punishment for the ones responsible for triggering Old Picture. Since it’s a job where you can get killed if anything goes wrong. If you are choosing to avoid that punishment… there will be several consequences that follow. Either we, the Dome, ask for compensation from the BDSM caravan for the payments regarding repairs and operation delays, or the Dome will consider the caravan a hostile group and enact a trade ban for nearby areas, or the expulsion from Area 47 will come first. They say that the first time can be an accident, but the second is intentional. Who knows? What if the man called Gyosu Park, who has been involved in an Old Picture accident twice, is actually terrorizing Area 47 with malicious intent? What if the man called ‘Gyosu Park’ actually has a deep grudge against the Dome?”

A snake-like face with a fake smile. And sinister malice resides behind that mask.

He knew. The events from five years ago regarding me and the Dome.

The instant he realized the situation, a fake smile just like the one on Jack’s appeared on Gyosu’s face.

Giving information to the enemy was a foolish thing to do. Even if that information was something minor, like emotions.

“Ahaa.”

Gyosu curled up his lips and opened his mouth with an expression that was as far from his true feelings as possible.

“You already know everything, don’t you? Then I wonder why you bothered with all of the generosity and all. You could have just told us to shut up and do as you say.”

“Haven’t we already provided enough generosity already? There was actually a lot of opposition to keeping you alive, you know. Their claim was, ‘why bother making a chance for problems by keeping someone who’s completely hostile towards us alive?’ It was thanks to a high-ranking officer from the Executive Department who strongly disagreed that we decided to leave you alone as long as you did not act with hostility towards the Dome. The official who had taken a large hit on their political status for standing up for you lost their position not long after. Ah, comradery. What a heartwarming story.”

High-ranking official of the Executive Department.

A person that would have defended me when I escaped with my mother.

Comradery.

‘You’ve gotten better at this, bumpkin.’

‘About three, no, four months since I’ve been discharged.’

‘I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t know that it was your mother. I have…. my daughter and wife here.’

“Luwil Batross.”

My comrade, who had thrown me the files regarding the terrible things the Dome did to my mother with an apology and ran away 5 years ago.

“He was a foolish man. The people from the 14 Special Ops Squad were treated as heroes by the civilians at the time. If he had used that reputation well to stay in the Executive Department, he would have at least been the Head of the Executive Department by now.”

“What…. happened to him?”

Step—

“Hepburn, don’t listen to him.”

“We’ll do as you say, so shut that mouth of yours if you don’t want to drink your food for the rest of your life.”

“Ahahahah! To think that everyone’s opinions are this different with just three people in the group! Your ranks are a complete mess, it’s almost funny.”

Thump!

Throwing the uniform he was holding at Gyosu, Jack decided to ignore the warning that Ian had sent his way.

“The Dome is like a living political food chain. It’s not easy for one who has fallen to rock bottom to come back up, nor does it let them.”

“Didn’t I tell you, bastard, to…!?”

“Stop!”

Gyosu’s arm blocked Ian’s way.

“I understand. We will accept this job and actively cooperate with the Dome.”

“Hey! It’s just a measly threat….!”

“He doesn’t have any other option. The condition that was made through Luwil Batross was that he ‘will be kept alive as long as he does not act with hostility towards the Dome.’ If he rejected the play and became an uncooperative unit to the Dome’s event and was perceived as harm to Area 47, there is a legal reason for the Executive Department to kill him again. Of course, this not only includes mister Gyosu Park but the members of his group as well.”

Smile—

As if he had said everything he came here for, Jack walked in the opposite direction of the three men, turned his head slightly, and emphasized his last words.

“So, I hope that you continue to be ‘cooperative’ with the event the Executive Department is holding. Although you are more than welcome to do the opposite as well. Hahahahah.”

And Gyosu coldly watched the man walk away to the very end. As if engraving everything about him, from his body to his dominant hand to his body’s balance. He didn’t know when he would need to shove a knife through the man’s throat.

“It looks like election day is coming up.”

After Jack had left, Gyosu spoke slowly to the two men who were huffing behind him.

“Election? Like the voting thing?”

“Yeah. Who knows about the inner situation, but at least on the outside, they’re claiming to be the protectors of two systems, democracy, and nomocracy.”

Even if they knew my history, they were a little too aggressive. And the massive project ‘Tame Old Picture’ suddenly getting announced out of nowhere. Overall, everything seemed a bit rushed. And above anything else, they looked like they were in an opposing state with the Inspection Bureau.

“The Dome shares their political power with three branches: the Administrative Branch, Inspection Bureau, and Executive Department, and selects three people from each of the three branches from whom the citizens of the Dome vote to become the mayor. On the surface at least.”

Rustle—

“Hepburn, this.”

“Hm? Ah, thanks. I was just thinking of that too. When did you take it?”

“We set it up, starting with when Jaw kicked the box. The situation looked a little serious, so we thought it would be better to have at least one weapon the enemy didn’t know about. A surprise attack always starts where the enemy least expects it.”

Gyosu tore the inner part of the military uniform and hung the bayonet Vex gave him on the hook inside.

“People in the Wastelands need to have either a fast head or hands. Even better if you have both. Oy! You there! Anyone come over here! We’re missing props! The bayonets! Are you going to take responsibility if the Dome’s project gets ruined because you looked over the details? Huh!?”

The people that had been stalling after Jack had left listened to Vex’s call, and one of them came to check that the place where the bayonet should have been was empty and brought a new one to the group not long after.

“Anyway, seeing what you said on the surface, I get that it’s not actually that fair of a democracy?”

“Of course, it isn’t. The Dome is one of the top picks in the Wastelands for their secretive dirty tricks, and this is talking about choosing the leader that will control part of that snake pit. The lower classes that live in the Underdome basically don’t have any chance to vote, and the normal people that live on top hold about 4–5% of the vote..? The 95% is all decided by the Dome’s upper class and people in power.”

It was honestly more like Rome’s oligarchy than a democracy. The Dome’s upper class, which held the same position as the noble families in the Middle Ages, chose the person that would bring the most benefit to them as the ruler.

“The reason why they mentioned the Inspection Bureau and revealed that I had a connection with them was to tell me that things wouldn’t go well if I continued to cooperate with them. And their entire reason for pushing this crazy project of taming the ‘Old Picture’ is probably because the Executive Department is relatively lower in terms of achievements in the past four years. Since the Inspection Department succeeded in tying the guy up here, they’re trying to take the upper ground by claiming to be able to tame the thing and make a showy achievement.”

“Then, why did they try to trigger you by mentioning your past? It was obvious that they wanted you to attack them.”

“Because we’re still holding a big potential accomplishment in our hands. Vex, that key isn’t sold yet, right?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. Turned the auction into a set price and put it on sale, but the guys that used to raise the price went completely silent.”

“That’s only natural. It’s the security key to the place that’s going to become the Dome’s next city. The moment one of the three branches gets a hold of it, their political achievement scale will lean heavily towards one side. They’re probably fiercely fighting over it at this moment.”

His smooth attitude. Words that triggered another’s trauma.

His every action was clearly revealing his intentions.

[Please attack me.]

If I had actually lost my cool and charged at the man, the Executive Department, who instantly gained a legal reason to kill our entire group and loot everything that BDSM had. From the Area 45 bunker security key to the shelter, generator, and weapons, every last one of them. Politics runs smoothly only with money after all.

“Us not attacking has its own benefits itself. Like the Inspection Bureau, it looks like the Executive Department also thinks highly of the skills we hold under the name H.I.V. If the Inspection Bureau had tried to persuade us to be on their side, the Executive Department is using threats to use us as tools. Either way, it’s a win for the Executive Department.”

While putting on the top part of the uniform, Gyosu shook his head at the clinking sound he heard from the front pocket. Dog tags. Of course.

“Then as long as we’re in Area 47…. we have no choice but to be pushed around by these guys..? Oy, Gyosu, are you serious?”

“It’s not just Area 47. If we get on the wrong side of the Dome, we won’t be safe anywhere else either.”

“So. You’re just going to live like this? We’re just going to act like dogs on a leash and do what they tell us to for the rest of our lives? Quit the bulls—. I’d rather the three of us live in hiding for the rest of our lives than….!”

He’s such an interesting one. Seeing that he can’t hide any of his emotions on his face right now, he must have been pretty disappointed by my bowing down to the Dome. Even then, he still said the ‘three of us’ should run away. Is this guy just loyal… or an idiot?

“You think I’m crazy? If that was what was really going to happen, I would have ripped that Jack guy’s head off first, then charged into the Dome. I’m just pretending to be cooperative because there’s another way.”

“Pretending?”

“Yeah, you bastard.”

Thunk thunk.

Bang! Crash!

After finishing putting on his uniform, Gyosu looked around at the people working hard to make the place look more like a battlefield as he spoke.

“This is definitely going to fail. This project is going to be the downfall of the Executive Department.”

Teach Old Picture? As if. Since the Executive Department was a collection of mostly combat agents used in the outer field, they probably had a relatively lower number of researchers compared to the other branches. Which is why they’re calling this absurdity an operation.

Just the official number of people that died when the Inspection Bureau took all of the researchers from the Administrative Branch to analyze the guy’s patterns and succeeded in trapping the thing in the model garden with a seamless plan was 127 casualties. Even if this guy acted similarly to the Psycho Gang with its special patterns of action, it was a mutant. It wasn’t a guy who could be treated like the Psycho Gang with just normal acting.

To announce that they’ll teach this thing and control it. And with a plan that they suddenly made up just before the election at that. He could laugh at how ridiculous it was. This shows just how bad of a situation the Executive Department is in.

“Do you remember what the guy said? The Dome isn’t a place easy enough for one who fell to the rock bottom to climb back up, nor do they let them.”

The man’s triumphant face as he delivered the news of Luwil’s death.

“I do really hate the Dome, but if it’s to go beat up the Executive Department buddies that hit rock bottom, I’d be more than glad to go. I would even pay to join in on the action.”

He wanted to see it. The faces of the people changed when their positions changed and they hit rock bottom, no digging down underground into their graves. He was going to spit on their faces, shred their bodies into pieces, and dance on their graves.

“Fall down just to where I am, you bastards. I’ll treat you properly, I promise.”

[Snicker]

Swallowing down the fury that had surfaced inside of him for the first time in a while, Gyosu thought of the document Luwil had given him, which was still freshly engraved in his mind even after all of these years.

Three researchers are associated with the Administrative Branch. Five Inspection Bureau informant agents that were bribed. And…

=====

Executive Department : Olinda Barbatos

Executive Department : Adler Kiel

Executive Department.

Executive Department

Executive Department

Executive Department

Executive Department

,

,

,

,

=====

Executive Department, 73 people.

“They say an honorable man takes revenge after 10 years, but I’m not honorable….. so I’d say I’ve waited long enough if it’s 5 years.”

Ziiing—!

When it became exactly 12 o’clock, a psycho-wave shot through the heads of everyone in the Central Area.

“Let’s go, my friends. We don’t want to be late to the Executive Department goodbye party.”

Old Picture left its home to wander around the model garden when it became 12 o’clock. Since it will take some time for it to get to the preparation stage, they probably started the briefing of how they were going to tame the guy.

‘The Executive Department has a completely wrong understanding of the Type 3 mutants. It means that they didn’t have a proper exchange of information with the Inspection Bureau, which was in charge of the previous Old Picture project. The political dispute within the Dome must be worse than I thought.’

This project was going to fail 100%. Area 47 was going to lose its guardian, who regularly disposed of the naturally occurring Psycho Gangs and other mutants in the Area, and someone was going to take the blame for it.

‘We’ll listen to their orders from now on, but I have no intention of dying or letting the two guys behind me die either. I’ll need to move diligently.’

They needed to execute the plan perfectly so they weren’t held responsible. The moment they make even the smallest mistake, the Executive Department will claim that the operation failed because of the mistake and push the responsibility onto Gyosu’s group.

All of the blame had to be turned to the Executive Department’s incompetence.

“So, I’ll try my best. Use me all you want! I’m known to make the impossible happen, so who knows? Maybe I will make a miracle happen!”

Ziiiiiiiiing—

As if responding to Gyosu’s pledge, Old Picture’s psycho-wave rang out from afar once again.