By Zephyria Drifter of a Dystopian City.
Human lives are strangely unchanging.
Even though the Earth’s resources are depleted and the atmosphere is polluted, forcing us to live in Dome-shaped Comfort zones, we still go to work, labor, come home, drink a glass of beer, and watch TV every day.
The main food ingredients have also changed, but there’s still a tteokbokki place in front of the academy, and a Beast head soup restaurant is thriving in the middle of the bar street.
Even though high-paying jobs have disappeared due to machines, the 3D industries have stubbornly survived.
At construction sites, workers wearing light safety gear sweep building materials onto hover carriers.
And the prohibited drugs that are traded secretly are mostly mixed, shaken, dried, and divided by lower-class people without proper gas masks.
It’s a phenomenon based on simple economic principles. Machines can work more delicately, perfectly, safely, and quickly, but it’s overwhelmingly cheaper to use humans.
Thanks to this, most of those who have jobs in the Comfort zone slums are manual laborers.
After spending about 40% of their wages on food, they can somehow rent a house and make a living.
It’s tight, but it’s a life that works. This is considered a decent life among the lower class.
On the other hand, if a criminal record is left, the lives of the person and their family almost fall into the abyss.
In this case, the only work they can do exists outside the Comfort zone.
Welcome!
Location Information ▶ [Goryeo City]
Today’s Weather: Clear/Dry
The reason why humanity is trapped in Dome-shaped cities is not only due to air pollution.
Since the discovery of the mysterious energy source ‘Lambda Crystal Blue’, commonly known as Blue, the life of Homo sapiens has changed dramatically.
Crystal Blue has made most of the technologies that everyone only imagined a reality. Humanity has developed dramatically.
Everyone dreamed of a fantastic future until the ‘Aberrant’ appeared in the world.
《Caution!》
2nd Class Aberrant ‘Jaeger’ is observed within a 100km radius of [Goryeo City].
If you see an Aberrant, send an emergency signal according to the guidelines.
When human life was completely dominated by this powerful energy.
Monsters began to appear from the land where Crystal Blue was located.
Humanity eventually declared a retreat from the ‘Aberrant’ group that was constantly created and appeared as much as they were killed.
People gathered in lands where eerie crystals did not grow, built cities, and covered them with Domes. Ironically, this was possible thanks to the energy of Crystal Blue.
The aerial trains, the artificial sun that warms the residential area, and the electricity used by the entire city all came from there.
We have to live apart from Crystal Blue, but we desperately need energy to avoid the Aberrant, so someone has to go out of the city to mine this energy source…
Fortunately, human technology was more than capable of creating machines specialized in mining and transporting.
However, as mentioned earlier, it was cheaper to grind humans than to run machines.
Humans were piled up and laid down at the bottom of the city. Lower-class lives with their own stories were assigned to this mission.
An average wage of over 300 percent. Incentives exist depending on the amount of work.
Many lower classes dived out of the Comfort zone to raise a lump sum of money in a short period of time.
Avoiding the Aberrant, mining crystals, transporting them, and surviving.
Jin Mu-hae was a veteran mercenary escorting this dangerous 3D industry.
Two days ago, he received a request from a Company affiliated with the city to search the outer area where the signals of the employees had been cut off.
Since companies don’t care about the lives of mayflies, the instruction must have been to check what happened to the Crystal Blue in the area.
If he could pick up the energy packs they had filled, he could aim for a decent reward.
He immediately took an airship and headed to the outskirts 2,000 kilometers away from Goryeo City.
The area where the rate of crystal generation is fast, but the risk is also high, so you can’t let your guard down, Kan Rano.
After landing there and searching for half a day, traces of humans began to appear.
‘Bloodstains.’
For some reason, the traces of the exploration team remained in a completely different location from the coordinates provided by the Company.
The dug-up land, broken tree trunks, and human blood scattered here and there suggested a major accident.
CME Exploration Request Report
Kan Rano
Estimated disaster due to Aberrant
Corpses found [5/7]
Judging from the traces left in the area, suspected 〈1st Class〉 Aberrant Bill Lame
Jin Mu-hae skillfully hid himself and recorded the approximate information.
After that, when he scanned the surrounding biological reactions with the radar,
Beep- Beep- Beep-!
In the distance, a human-shaped silhouette breathing and emitting heat was caught in the center of the clearing where the disaster occurred.
A survivor. He took out his equipment, focused on the front, and slowly headed to the clearing.
As the radar informed, there was a person there.
A young man of about 20 years old, standing blankly and looking at the sky.
Perhaps sensing the presence, the man turned his head and looked at Mu-hae.
He had a clean and handsome face that was hard to believe he had survived the disaster.
Moreover, ruby-like red eyes and eyes that were as clear as a newborn’s, with not a single blood vessel visible.
The skin, with not even a scratch left under the torn clothes in places, gave an eerie and chilling feeling.
As Mu-hae took another step closer, the man gave an awkward smile with his youthful face.
“A person.”
The man muttered. Like a castaway seeing a human for the first time in 10 years.