chapter8- the harsh reality

Seon didn't have any other options. Desperation clawed at him, and he knew this was his only chance. He had thought countless times about simply running, escaping without a plan—just getting away. But each time, he reconsidered, reminded of the inevitable consequences. Even if he managed to break free, he would eventually be caught. The system here was tight, and the loopholes weren't enough to slip past. Every night, there was a headcount, and if he wasn't there, they would notice immediately. He'd witnessed it once before—one of the watchmen had been absent, and the next day had been dragged back, his body bruised, bloodied, and broken.

That was when he saw it—the brutal murder. The watchman, who had tried to escape to another city, had been caught. They whipped him until he died, and Seon couldn't understand why the man had tried to run or how they'd found him. But one thing was clear: if they could catch a grown man, strong and bulky, there was no chance for someone like him to slip by unnoticed. He needed a distraction—something to pull their attention away long enough for him to escape. It was his only shot. He had to create enough chaos to cover his tracks, to vanish, at least for a little while. Somewhere, anywhere, where he could hide and plan his next move, far from this place that had held him captive for so long.

At least now Seon had a direction to focus on, something other than aimless thoughts. He began to think about someone named Captain Jane. After a moment of contemplation, he remembered seeing a folder with the same name on it in the Dean's office—back when he had gone to add drugs to the coffee he inevidently glanced once . As he wandered through his thoughts, he noticed all the other kids around him beginning to stand and file out in a uniform line toward the lunch hall. He followed them, blending in as if he were doing the same. But once they were out of sight, Seon tossed his food and quietly slipped away, making his way to the Dean's office.

When he found the office empty, he didn't hesitate. He stepped inside and scanned the desk, quickly noticing a paper left out to the side. It seemed almost deliberately placed for someone to find. He snatched it up, heart pounding as he scanned the contents. Most of it didn't make sense to him—strange terms, unfamiliar names. But one stood out: Captain Jane. His full name was written as Janes Khalas Revis, followed by several other names—Eastern Crops. That was it. The only thing Seon could understand.

His curiosity piqued, Seon started rummaging through the rest of the papers on the desk, searching for anything else related to Jane. As he shifted through the documents, he noticed something odd—there were no cameras in the office. Perhaps the Dean was confident in his control, or perhaps it was because they were involved in something illegal, something that didn't want to be recorded. Either way, Seon found this lack of surveillance useful. It meant he could search without the constant fear of being watched.

After a moment of searching, he spotted a large folder, standing out from the rest of the papers. He glanced at the clock—it was 2:00 PM. The Dean would likely be eating at this time, giving Seon about thirty minutes of uninterrupted time. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the heavy folder. His skinny frame struggled to carry it, and he stumbled a little under its weight. It was too much to handle in his hands, so he placed it on the floor. Sitting down beside it, he opened the folder.

The first thing he saw was a thick set of letters, all of them marked Eastern Crops. His pulse quickened as he turned the pages, revealing maps and documents bound together like a book. Some maps had red and blue crosses on them, marking places Seon had never heard of. He studied them carefully, his mind racing to make sense of the unknown places and symbols. There was more to this than he had ever imagined.

The first thing he saw was a thick set of letters, all of them marked Eastern Crops. His pulse quickened as he turned the pages, revealing maps and documents bound together like a book. Some maps had red and blue crosses on them, marking places Seon had never heard of. He studied them carefully, his mind racing to make sense of the unknown places and symbols. There was more to this than he had ever imagined.

There were a total of twenty-four maps, each one marked with a different name. In the corner of each map, there was a series of numbers—coordinates, perhaps. Seon studied them carefully, trying to piece together any hint of meaning. After the maps, there was a long list of names, some crossed out in red, others circled in blue. A total of five pages were filled with these names, and Seon's heart raced as he scanned them, hoping to find something familiar, anything that could help him make sense of what he was seeing.

But it didn't stop there. As he turned the pages, he came across something that made his pulse quicken even more—a patch of something that looked like animal skin. It was heavy, the cause of the folder's weight. Seon felt the smooth, textured surface with his fingertips, but as he tried to open it, he noticed something odd: thin yellow lines sealed the edges of the patch, preventing him from opening it further. He leaned in closer and saw something strange—a faint, blue light flickering from within the leather-like material. The glow was almost imperceptible, but it was enough to make him hesitate.

He dared not pry it open. The light seemed... unnatural. His fingers brushed over the animal-like leather, feeling the strange texture beneath his touch. On the last page of the folder, there was a letter, written in a language Seon couldn't understand. At the center of the page was a symbol—a pair of crossed swords, one of them broken. The emblem was painted in dark red and blue, shaped like a shield, with a bizarre flower at its core. The flower had blue stems and purple petals, and it felt out of place in the context of everything else.

At the bottom of the page, there was a stamp in red ink that read: Blue Hydves. Seon didn't know what it meant, but the words sent a shiver down his spine. He flipped the page over, and on the back, he found a set of directions—East, West, North, and South—followed by a series of long numbers under each heading. The numbers were a mystery, but the directions felt important. They seemed like coordinates, but for what? And to where?