Chapter 122

He could wait hours if he had to when he had entertainment. The writing of this diary was kind of shitty and poor, handwritten, and mixed in style, sketches, and oddities. Someone insane wrote it, obviously by the name: Diary of a Mad Scientist. Some pages were old and a bit worn down. Some were even missing, obviously torn from it.

He wondered about this for a while, so he spent some time going over the first entities and trying to decode some writings and sketches before he figured some kid probably scribbled some nonsense.

He was half wondering what would come tomorrow. Ellie was curious and great as far as he briefly thought of her and what she said. Then, he met and saw many people out there, including that shop owner and that team of Walkers followed by a girl and a strange dog, that was obnoxiously wary and curious about him.

It was a stranger experience than a day with Ellie. William was sure of it, as he believed there must be many Walkers in similar shoes as himself. That girl definitely hit that mark. He saw and understood her, noticing her nice Emblem in the same arm as his.

At least she seemed obvious to him and suppressed a rough time for many reasons. That dog wasn't like that, though William was curious about both of them. If anything, he would recognize a Hound with eyes alone, but that one was the smallest he had ever seen, so its Aspects must be strange, or abnormal. After all, weren't they kind of high at Rank?

Thinking about this day was up to William. Be it from the coziness of the bed, or sitting in a hallway, resting made very little difference to him.

The first hour went by fast, with dozens of pages of this diary quickly disappearing into his eyes. They got slightly better the more he read, so William figured this was a true diary, and the person who had written it must've been a novice at this sort of thing.

Nobody came beside some other tenants living on different floors. They ignored him and moved up or down.

The second hour came soon, leaving William yawning and hungry. So he took a nap.

Nobody came.

It took another hour before Luke walked into the hallway, wearing his uniform and looking... well, he was surprised to see William and annoyed at something else.

“What in... oh shit,” Luke cursed as he stood in front of napping William, who was leaning on the wall with the bottle on his lap, and barely sitting on his shoe-box. A half-open diary was on the ground, showing weird scribbles of faces and odd patterns. He also looked very different, clear by the clothes alone.

Thinking or pondering about the day could be done in the lands of dreams or streets. Although unwillingly, he fell asleep an hour ago. His head was almost falling to the floor, similar to his bottle.

“That is some impressive guts. He should be glad to fall asleep in this neighborhood. Hey, wake up!” Luke said and slightly kicked the bottle. Shaking in surprise, a head soon fell down as well, followed by the rest.

“Ah... Luke? Oh! You are finally here?!” William said, shook his head, and muttered some words that turned vivid at the end.

“Yea. Who would expect someone to come to their own apartment at the end of the day? Right? Well, about this... I am sorry for not giving you a key, alright? I forgot.” Luke apologized and scratched his chin.

That was the first proper excuse William heard from him. It wasn't as if it mattered a lot. William, who was plenty tired already, shrugged and didn't care. Opening the door with a stroke of a key, they both walked inside.

Silent, Luke was surprised it ended up like this. Wasn't Mi-Yung's brother meant to be already inside? Wasn't he curious about this boy and other things? Why and where things went wrong?

Luke realized that no one was home and that his annoyance had no validation besides some lack of trust and memory.

Then, he sized William who entered behind him.

“By the way, nice clothes. You look different and almost unrecognizable and better than I would guess. What set is that? Where did you get it? Seems fancier than some of my stuff.”

“Better than your uniform? I doubt that. Different clothes for different folks. This one is my reward after a heavy day!” William said and barely conveyed his emotions with his words. Including Ellie, there was a rewarding rest ahead of him. In that bed.

“It is night and day difference. Shoes are still lacking, but it is a good beginning. Think of some barber next. I can suggest you someplace.” Luke argued.

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“What was wrong with the previous clothes? I like them.” William said back and briefly overcame his sleepiness. He also needed a restroom and his shoe-box completely missed its mark, hiding the finest shoes in the market.

“I don't know. Holes? Ragged state? Wear? These look much better.” Luke gave him an appreciative nod and a glance.

William gave him a long annoyed one back.

“How has been your day, or credits? I assume you worked your ass off in the library, so how did it go? What about Kaufman's card? Has anyone stated any troubles?” Luke quickly changed the topic with a bunch of questions. William complied, unwilling to think about clothes.

“Got further floors to see tomorrow and that card is surprisingly useful and troublesome as you've said. They almost arrested me and some cold-blooded killer librarian questioned me as if I am a thief.”

“Oh, Burton did?”

The fact that Luke understood who he meant so quickly spoke far more than anything else.

William agreed. “It would be better if they didn't ask around and let me free. At least they let me go and didn't chain me. How generous for a library. I've got quite a lot of harvests because of it and who knows what is ahead. I am thinking of focusing my time on books. I need it, frankly.” William proclaimed without revealing Ellie, whose point is much bigger than some books. She guided him. Without her, William would be clueless about what to do.

“So... Nothing much? I guess the first day is fine to be like it. Have you gone to the upper floors? How far will they let you go?” Luke asked in a fleeting moment, wondering about the main issue that William never considered, but briefly realized. With unlimited access, wasn't he like a complete boss of that place, while still being Rank 0? Ellie definitely expressed many things when she saw his card.

“What do you mean by far? Don't tell me you expected they would've stopped me and troubled me. Oh, you must've known there would be some problems with Kaufman's card and the library workers!” William pointed to him and realized he was right.

Luke appeared guilty.

“What if I did or didn't know?” Luke said unapologetically and took off his jacket part of his uniform. Beneath was a sturdy shirt of unknown material and a single purple—almost black—colored necklace. William didn't know what that was, but it looked precious and weird.

“Because Burton wanted some troubles and I've heard a whole lot of other things afterward. I talked with some people, you see. They didn't like me having that card for sure, but couldn't do much about it. I suppose the problem is something else. Is it because of Kaufman? I heard some things about him.”

“Well, since you got inside and will go further, does it really matter whether you question it or not? If you will be clever, consider it as a lesson to exploit some rewards and learning. Frankly, as long as you won't be exploiting some nasty secrets or exposing them to the public, no one should care about your card. The matter is...” Luke stopped what he was about to say, shook his head, and walked away not that far before changing his mind.

William sighed, believing that Kaufman was the true troubled point. “I heard something else.”

“Right?” Luke stopped and scratched his chin. “How should I know what some people and organizations think? That library is kind of special and tough to handle. Heidi Kaufman is... difficult to deal with. Be glad you haven't met her. I don't even know if Kaufman's point matters, or if his arrangement is fine. You are also important. Mi-Yung is away and I... am not part of anything special. I am not a librarian or caring about it at all. It is above my pay grade. I barely know what lies there or what Kaufman wants. I don't like libraries, you see.”

“But you recommended it to me...”

“And Kaufman gave it away like a test and gift to someone he found interesting. For himself, he could go far, I guess. For others? Well, I think you are underestimating what is ahead and within yourself. Both in bad and good ways.”

“I guess that's true. Is Mi-Yung around?”

“No,” Luke said with numerous emotions hiding in his voice.

“Figures. Is there something wrong on the upper floors? Why be so secretive and limited and crazy simply because of this card and library? Isn't it fine to think about knowledge as good? Would it hurt to have easier access?” William accepted his words since they didn't seem to be right or wrong. Now, he was stone certain that Luke wasn't talking about everything, and that something wrong was going on.

“Define wrongs or access? I think the library is deep and big and fine as everything goes. For Walkers, limits are good. For people, they are clever. That library has its history as a superior research facility that predates the Dawn and Walkers or this whole Federation. It has archives and that sort of thing that is better there than spread out and open. Frankly, everyone should be glad it even exists and they could visit it, Walkers included. That card in your pocket might get you everywhere. Vaults and personal collections and places or safes and so on.”

“Anything specific?” William dug out for more since Luke ended up talking way too much even if he didn't mean to do it. “It doesn't sound impressive.” He believed that Ellie was more impressive, which was already fair.

He had yet to realize the true value of that card.

“Secrets, eh... I suppose kids these days are nothing out of the ordinary. I was like that too, until... Well, think about history and Darks. Two pieces to a puzzle called the Dawn are deeper. For any young Walker, history is like seeing the first book for the first time while fully knowing the consequences of what had happened afterward. We are living in it. After 114 years to be exact.”

“Doesn't feel like it.”

“Said someone who is no more than sixteen years old.”

“Am I?”

“Do you want to argue about it? If so, how about some tests? Emblem Association would kill me to get you.”

William paused, giving him a confused look. “Excuse me, but what the fuck?”

“What? It is that sort of thing. Bits from how we grew up do the rest. And you, William. You are the clueless one. Gullible too. I say Kaufman wants to help and test you in some ways and gave his card to you for unknown reasons, but one obvious one is to help you. Another thing is his interest and testing his former library. That card can help and curse clueless youths or shake their spirits and hearts. Why? Don't ask me. Look for it yourself because I am not you. You've seen Outside and I don't know what.”

“Outside is Outside. What does that supposed to mean?”

“I know it as myself how it isn't the same everywhere. You don't have to pretend. I don't think it will shake you and others are overreacting. I... I am speaking too much. Get to know things while you can. Anything. Don't be afraid. Fear is weakness.” Luke mysteriously said, hiding some implications that William couldn't guess.