In the 47th building complex in West District. William unlocks the door to the apartment, but the steps after him refrain him from entering.
“Hey, don't be so upset about today. Who knew they would be like that? I didn't.” Mi-Yung appears behind William and holds the package from Rose away. She picked it up as she left.
“I didn't ask. Time to sleep, if you excuse me,” he says in a fed-up expression of exhaustion and tiredness. Though, his stomach at least feels satisfied, even though the motion of dragging Mi-Yung for a long distance from the Pit.
“Hmph... I didn't plan for this situation to occur.” Mi-Yung stomps the door with her hand and didn't know how to ease her worsened impression of William.
After some time of pondering, the same with most things, she gives up since it's too late at night. William opens the door while no longer in a mood with Mi-Yung's problems.
Checking the package left by Rose, she stores two extra roasted plates of meat and rice for another day. The food is secured in the fridge for a bit, but she doesn't know what sort of problems with occur with her work. Her singular day of fun is gone like that, and work would come instead.
Sighting for who knows how many times already, she walks to the shower to ease her body a bit. The master bedroom has its own bathroom, while William has his own as well. This leads to a rather independent life of his, which goes well since the bedrooms are far from each other.
In the meantime of their washing, Luke arrives at the time of approaching midnight.
“What do I smell? Did Mi-Yung go to Pit again? Nice!” Luke cheers on and checks the fridge in expectation to find something fancy to eat. Rubbing his palms, he sees the containers with cooked meat and rice. He could not wait to try this premium quality meat for dozens of credits. Alas, a hand is all of sudden placed around his shoulder and neck. His head is praising the insides of the fridge even amidst this grasp.
“Night, Luke.”
“Heheheheh. Hello there, dear.” Luke murmurs to ease the tone of the foe behind him.
“Ahhh..” he is jolted up, while his body is shoved at the closed fridge. Turned around, the softness and strength of Mi-Yung are forced against him. The bare body of Mi-Yung has expectant eyes on her face.
“I am rather irritated, Luke... How about solving this issue for me?” she whispers to his ear and gives him a passionate kiss on his lips afterward.
“Sounds like an excellent idea.” He cheers on while the fierce duel would soon reaches their bedroom. He no longer has a mind about the fridge, even though he would love to. After all, the military is what it is and their meals are not the best.
With the end of a rather long day, the Federation is left at the nighttime of the incredible skyline of stars. The expectations of people below are almost as high as the stars themself. Some are close, yet some are so infinite distance away, that it no longer matters. Not like anyone would make this analogy down there, as the Federation is quite a humble force than the stars in the skies.
Soon enough, a penetrative light spread from the horizon. Waters and clouds turn orange, then yellow, and then the light that couldn't be described with any color but brightness.
The sun appears, and a new day arrives.
Same with every moment, William wakes up amidst the attack of his worst enemy. The morning.
Though, after the last night, he slept quite past the arrival of the sun. It is already 9 AM according to the clock on his desk. Rubbing his eyes, he looks at his right hand which has the same old emblem within. It is not lost today, so that could mean a good day according to his made-up logic.
Not like its disappearance is a source of trouble and bad luck. It is more of a small reason he came up with to make sense of his strange situation.
“Ahhh... What in the lighting sun am I going to do with my life?” He asks his forearm in deep sight. Although he knows the answer to this question, he still asks, just in case.
Getting up, he stretches his body with a few quick exercises before putting on his clothes. Since he has no responsibilities, he plans to do what he can in the library. He has less than 6 weeks, and he feels like he already gained enough thanks to Ellie, Mi-Yung, and Kaufman.
Even though the latter is not as nicer sounding, in his opinion. The last night, with the conversation between the Walkers, leaves him with a lot of questions.
Kaufman's willingness, or whatever that even meant, is one of his worries. It seems to him that he wants to have him being part in the same way as his... something. William isn't sure that his words mean the apprenticeship, or something similar to that.
“Well, at least the good news is that I am all alone from this day on. Luke works as usual, so I won't be seeing him all that much. Ellie has plenty of work in the library. Mi-Yung as well, and I have no one else to worry about. I am feeling like I am back in camps where I had to rely on myself while helping Dann on some occasions, or vice versa. What days those were...” William thinks in remembrance of the past. He expects nothing but better things from the future.
Call it the nativity of a rookie, is at least a beginning mindset of a Walker that will come in handy for William.
Walking out of his room, greeting him is the pair of lovers, or how could they even be called in the kitchen?
Mi-Yung is leaning on Luke's shoulders and feeding him spoonfuls of scrambled eggs. At least they wear clothes, unlike the fierce clashes last night that went by him.
Noticing sudden guest, the spoonful of love fell short and ends on the table. Much to nobody's surprise, Mi-Yung picks it up and ate it with no intention of wasting food or basic table manners.
“G-good morning.” William sees everything while trying his best to ignore them.
“Morning.” Luke and Mi-Yung greet him at the same time, while they are well rested and expectant of a new day in the Federation. Unlike William, who is still unused to all of this. There is a little downside to spending the last 10 years in the camp and ending in the paradise that is the Federation.
One could not get used to this after a couple of days.
“Another day in the library?” Luke asks while feeding himself this time as a normal human being, while Mi-Yung does the same.
“As usual,” he answers while trying to find some meal for himself as well.
“I left you your portion in that bowl on the left of the stove.” Mi-Yung points to her right, where is a sizable bowl of steaming hot rice, and parts of scrambled egg.
“Thank you very much.”
“Breakfast is the best form of starting a day. I bet you must have enjoyed last night very much.” Luke smirks at William with meaning, that William could not understand at all.
“I mean the Pit. It is quite a luxurious restaurant what my Mi-Yung has, isn't it crazy good?” Luke says while highlighting her accomplishment.
“It was delicious. The best meal I will ever taste. I could not imagine the credits, though. It must have been tough work and fortune to do it.” William tells them the single truth he believes in.
“I will take you there again before the Examination or afterward. How about it?” Mi-Yung offers while feeling good about herself. In truth, the financing of the restaurant was and still is the easiest.
Getting people, and building it with management and food supplies is not. It is good that she hired someone, so she doesn't have to do anything. The Pit is almost self-sustainable after almost 7 years of investments.
“If the same situation that happened last night happens, I won't decline. Only an idiot would. Heheheh.” William replies without politeness.
“What happened last night?” Luke asks in curiosity. Mi-Yung told him the day before yesterday that she would spend a day with William and show him the city. As for the last night, they had... other things to discuss, or lacked the discussion altogether.
“Nothing extraordinary.” Mi-Yung downplays William's words while feeding Luke another spoonful behind William's words.
Like this, breakfast is done in a peaceful time, without amassing any suspicion that Luke doesn't have to worry about. It is her problem that she will deal with.
“I guess both of you will be always busy with work, so I must ask this so to clear some things for myself. How can I get credits for myself?” William asks after he ends with an empty bowl.
“Is 100 credits not to your satisfaction? It is true that they are a bit off for 6 weeks but still, it is a lot.” Luke comments.
“I suppose it is enough, but it would not hurt me to get to know a bit more about it. I learned some things from certain someone. The way one is getting money is rather complicated if it's someone like me, isn't it?”
“A little. You still have not working citizenship since it takes like a week to make. Unless you have it, you can't make credits for yourself.” Mi-Yung explains.
“It is something like a personal token. This one is mine.” Luke shows a small paper book from his pocket that reveals his personal information. Citizenship, military, personal power as a Walker, and membership of the Federation's Walkers are a few examples.
There are lines with no overwhelming information, but enough to make it informative. Luke's case has about 10 lines, with Yondu Division being part of it, as well as Rank 4 Walker status.
“I see. How is it with the credits then? I do not need funds, but I bet there will be some ways for them to improve myself after being here for months.”
“Credits... Well. Our situation is rather fixed as we are both Walkers with a fixed salary, while we work for the Federation. There are missions in the Yondu division that yield some rewards. However, they are not as large as the fixed salary of 150 credits a week.” Luke explains his case, while MI-Yung blew his numbers into obscurity.
“I have basic 1400 a month, but with businesses and things around my work, I can multiply that if I want. Heheh.” She announces in proudness of her achievement.
“That much? That is a lot of kebabs... I guess I won't be able to do anything about it.. so there I will move with my lifestyle for the time being.”
“Yeah. A bit of credit starts after the Examination. Without my involvement, you would have ended up in the dorms of the Federation, or in the institutions Outside. The meal and everything are free there, but it is not as pleasing as it sounds. Everything after the examinations is up to the decisions and organizations.
Certain papers, documents, and sealing documents are making it official. Credits are part of the choice you will make. After all, the Federation is the holder of the credits. That is how I made money when I became a Walker. That and a few dozen credits a month from missions. Though, being a Rank 1 is tougher nowadays than in the past.” Luke explains since his time in the military is different from the Mi-Yung's.
“Why?”
“Luke... No need to scare him too much about such things.” Mi-Yung tries to ease his words a little.
“It doesn't hurt him to tell know it. The Dark beings are getting tougher to deal with. Their hunts are not going anywhere unless at least Rank 3 Walkers are involved. There are not many opportunities to do missions since Rank 1 Dark beings stick together for the majority of the time. That's where the talent comes in place while reaching Rank 2, or above after a year or two after the awakening.” Luke explains after Mi-Yung lets go of her words.
“That.. it is that bad?”
“It's actually much worse than that,” Mi-Yung adds while knowing a bit more than Luke about it. Her deals and information surrounding the operations ragarding any Walkers are endless problems.
Such as statistics of deaths, successful missions, Rank ups, and so on. She knows quite a bit about the internal structure and powers of many organizations. That is not only about the Federation, but others as well. A few times in her life, she visited others such as the Chinese underground city, or Nepal's mountains where Indian powers reside.
From her knowledge, the statistics look very grim for any Rank 1 Walker. 3 in 10 walkers die in the first 1st year of deployment, while another 6 in 10 in the following years. After 5 or more, one could be called a pretty damn impressive Walker. As for the bad statistics, it is the lack of experience and power that they could gain from their hunts. The Outside is not easy fighting against the Dark. It decreases any survival, while their target of getting stronger is to hunt them.
In truth that hurt Mi-Yung more than she makes it obvious, in the first few batches of Walkers in the 50ties and 60ties, almost none survived. The fact is, survivability keeps on growing ever since then.
Anyone that is living at the moment, while being Rank 7 and above, are people who experienced much of these times.