Ad Urbs Part I: Urbs Equidem
Description
Youngjae and Daehyun have moved around the underground cities and districts together for years, trying to get by. Finally secured in a high position, Youngjae is forced to put the strength of his morals to the test when his boss requests something inhumane of him and Daehyun.
Himchan, Zelo, and Yongguk have lived their entire lives in the Upper Central District of Urbs Equidem, the largest underground civilization inhabited by humankind. They know nothing of what lies above, until they meet a strange boy named Jongup.
Foreword
AD URBS Part I: Urbs Equidem
Preface
August 20th, 5690
“Welcome to the Greater Northern District, home to our largest electrical company here in Urbs Equidem: Power Direct. Population: three point nine thousand. Our main export is electricity. You will live comfortably here.”
“Wow, haven’t heard that before,” Daehyun said, throwing his bag over his shoulder as he hopped off the bus and onto the terminal. “Fresh start this, happiness that,” he grumbled. “Bullshi–”
“Always so negative,” Youngjae chided as he emerged from the bus behind him and placed his suitcase on the ground by his feet.
“Well I don’t see you negating anything I say, Mister Optimistic.” Daehyun folded his arms across his chest.
“Come on,” Youngjae tugged on his arm, ending the banter. “We need to pick up our residential forms, and then go straight to the apartment.”
“What’s got you all excited?” Daehyun asked, following Youngjae as he crossed the street.
Youngjae stopped and turned to look at him. “Daehyun, how many times have I told you by now? This is a huge deal! The fact that I landed this job alone is a ing miracle, and you just keep bringing me down with this cynical ! When was the last time we slept in a real house, on real beds, with warm clothes?” His voice quieted, and he pulled Daehyun closer to him. “I know this place hasn’t treated you well,” he said, and Daehyun scoffed, pulling back. “But this job could really turn things around for us,” Youngjae said, and patted his arm.
“I’m aware,” Daehyun snapped back, and he bit his tongue when Youngjae frowned. “Look,” he said, voice dropping. “I’m sorry. It’s just that––”
“No, no,” Youngjae interrupted. “You have every right,” he said. “You’ve been screwed over one too many times.”
They continue to walk in silence. It only takes ten minutes to reach the establishment they’ve been assigned, though of course it looks just like all the other buildings around: three stories tall, built up with bricks and cement. The roofs were flat, thin slabs of stone.
“Which number are we?” Daehyun asked as they wandered along the sidewalk.
“E-113,” Youngjae answered, eyes trained on following the letters carved beside every entrance. “This row is A through F, so we’ll be closer to the middle of the block.”
“Lucky us, being on the first floor,” Daehyun said sarcastically. “We’ll get a front door this time.”
Youngjae nodded absently. “Ah, section E starts here.” He led Daehyun past the front door that would soon be theirs and into the main lobby. The room was small, empty, and dark, except for a dim light that flickered on the ceiling, illuminating the machine that would give them their keys.
“Nice place,” Daehyun said dryly, and Youngjae scoffed, pulling his ID papers from his bag and motioning for Daehyun to do the same.
Going through customs was easy. They scanned their IDs and fingerprints, and the machine spat two keys out at them.
“Don’t lose yours this time,” Youngjae said as he scooped up the keys and tossed one to Daehyun.
“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry about that?” Daehyun latched onto Youngjae’s arm. “C’mon, I wanna sleep,” he complained, dragging him down the hall to find their place.
“No sleeping yet,” Youngjae said. “We start work tomorrow, and it’s only–” he checked his watch “–six o’clock.”
“But I’m tired,” Daehyun whined as Youngjae attempted to fit his key into the lock.
“I’m just saying.” Youngjae jiggled the key a few times before it turned in the lock, and the door swung open. “I won’t stop you if you want to screw up your sleep schedule, but if you take a nap now, you won’t be able to fall asleep later.”
Daehyun sighed and threw his bag onto the tiny kitchen table. “Do you have any food?”
“No. We’ll have to go shopping tonight.”
Daehyun sat down next to his bag with a groan, the chair beneath him squeaking ominously. “I have, like, six coins.”
“Wow, we could get a whole carrot with that,” Youngjae said airily as he wandered out of the kitchen.
“Well, how much do you have, then?” Daehyun called after him. There was a short pause.
“Fifteen…”
Daehyun sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I guess we’ll be having potatoes again.”
If you recognize the title of this, you're probably wondering what's going on-- kind of. To be brief, I decided I would actually plan this story out and not just randomly write, because I am a writer of High Quality.
This is a restart, essentially, and I really hope you guys like it. This will be longer than most of the stuff I write. At the moment I'm shooting for 6 or 7 chapters, each around 5K words, hopefully.please give me feedback if you can. it's what keeps me writing on here :)
oh, and this is a series; there will be two parts total.
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