Translator's Note: In this chapter, the author intertwines storytelling and explanation of the Harun Universe. So, please bear the sudden change of information; it's intended.
Thank you!
Swoosh ~
As always, F-4 sector's southwestern residential area was filled with dusty winds, making it difficult to see just more than a few meters ahead.
"Today is worse," Jung Min sighed.
Nonetheless, Jung Min hit the road with only a long coat that fell down to his feet and an old bandanna that barely covers his eyes.
Though there were a lot of pedestrians in the dusty street as it was the rush hour, the owner of the general store managed to recognized him and greeted him.
"Jung Min, Congratulations! Starting today, you're an adult! Are you on your way to the administrative building to register?"
"Yes!" Jung Min exclaimed.
"Good Luck! It would be best if you are chosen to live in a core F sector like F-1 or F-2. ..."
"Oh, no way. I'm unemployed and under-educated. Also, I don't have any special aptitudes. You already know that the Union doesn't give opportunities or privileges to people like me. So I'm sure I won't get employed."
Though Jung Min said so, he wished to undergo a big change today.
He had heard that occasionally, people from the F-4 sector have their their low status promoted on their registration day. However, no one knows for sure why that happens.
"Sigh, I really hope that I can at least change my residential sector..."
The building that Jung Min resides was in the verge of collapsing; furthermore, there was a big crack on the wall. So no matter how much he cleaned, after a day, it became cloudy with dust.
Furthermore, the sector that he lived (the F-4 sector) was located at the very outskirts of the energy barrier that protects humans against the contaminated environment. Thus, it would be frequently attacked by Outers.
Outers refers to humans that live outside the barrier. They are primarily composed of dissidents deported from the Union, felons, and those who lived outside the Union since the original barrier was created. Though Outers are similar to humans living inside the Union, albeit a few modifications due to radiation, there are also degenerates among the Outers who swarmed together to steal and rob.
But there were significantly worse creatures that Outers outside the barrier.
"I really hope I don't encounter genetically modified creatures like Haraks," Jung Min hoped.
Harak is an animal specie mutated from canine species by the fallout and radiation that covered Earth after World War III. One of Harak's defining characteristics is their thick pelt that almost no modern weapon can penetrate. Another defining characteristic is their big and sharp cuspids that make people shiver with fear. Haraks frequently attacked humans inside the barrier; also because they were so quick and clever, they would come into the barriers and bypass the Union garrison who was equipped with various armors and weapons.
Haraks weren't the only genetically modified creatures that endanger humans. Though weaker than Haraks, there also exists a mutated animal specie called 'Orcs' mutated from pigs.
Orcs are barbaric and have stronger strength than humans; moreover, there are significantly more Orcs than Haraks. Also, as Orcs were mutated from pigs, they also lay their kins like pigs. On average, a pregnant female Orc gives birth to 10 baby Orcs at a time.
Due to these traits, though only a century passed since the first appearance of Orcs, they already became a powerful group on Earth. Also, they are predicted to emerge as a more threatening entity than the Haraks in the near future.
In addition, numerous genetically mutated creatures with enormous power, savageness, and slyness could be seen outside the barrier.
Some say that these creatures were born at the end of the 21st century by experiments at laboratories that studied cloning through genetic manipulation. However, nobody knows for sure exactly how these creatures were born.
In the Universe of Harun, the majority of humans are protected inside Unions by energy barriers.
Through a super-AI computer known as the 'Ancient Mother Computer (AMC)', several hundred of these energy barriers were built around the world in the first year of Human Year (HY).
Without this barrier, mankind would've perished, and Earth would've been dominated by mutated creatures such as the Haraks or the Orcs. However, the energy that forms the barrier is strongest in the center of the Union and becomes weaker as one increases their distance from the center.
Thus, Unions built inside the energy barrier are similar to city states and is subject to heavy caste systems. A Union is comprised of the center-most S sector and 6 other sectors. (A,B, C, D,E, F). Furthermore, every sector except for S sector is divided into sub-sectors (i.e. 3, F- 4). The lower the level of the sector, the more peripheral it becomes. The designation of sectors are done in their first day of adulthood and it's normally hereditary.
Only conglomerates and superpowers that control the Union lives in the S Sector. Those who live in the S Sector are called S-Class, and can exercise unlimited power within the Union.
Sectors A and B are home to the Union's high-level bureaucrats, scientists, engineers, successful entrepreneurs, and people with combat or special aptitudes. Those who live in the A and B Sectors are called class and B-class, respectively.
Sectors C and D are home to the Union's low-level bureaucrats, engineers, and general members of the military. Those who live in the C and D Sectors are called C-class and D-class, respectively.
Sectors E and F are large enough to occupy more than half of the barrier. However, since 70-80% of a Union's population lives in this Sector, the population density is high and the living conditions are poor.
In particular, the living conditions of Sector F where the lowest rung of the Union resides is appalling. The majority of inhabitants of Sector F are miserable and hopeless people such as criminals who committed misdemeanors, aptitude-less outcasts, the poor, and the kins of these people.
Among the Sector F residents, those who live in the F-4 zone (i.e. The outermost zone of the entire Union) just wished to go to F-3 or F-2.
Jung Min, and other residents of the F-4 zone already know that the deeper one goes inside the barrier the more comfortable one's living condition becomes. However, with their abilities, they can almost never escape the F sector.
Unlike the early years of Human Year, the increasing threat of the mutant creatures has reduced exchanges with Unions. Therefore, after a few centuries, each Union became a stagnant society in which the rise of one's status (i.e. One sector to another) is hardly achieved. So, they just wanted to live in a safer zone in the F sector.
Jung Min already knew that though was born through artificial insemination, he was aptitude-less.
Per Union policy, the Union provided Jung Min a place to live until his adulthood, and working opportunities such as disposal of corpses in a crematorium, farmer at a union maneuver farm, or a street cleaner.
Jung Min also knew that since he doesn't have affluent parents or special aptitudes, he would probably live a servile life and eventually die.
"But...."
Jung Min tightly clenched his fist, wishing to somehow change his destiny in his first day adulthood.