Living with someone whose age you can’t even guess was truly exhausting.
They couldn’t shout anymore, so their fight paused temporarily, but the cold war between them lingered.
Since Raimund had no choice but to clean and stay in a room on the third floor, the only place the two met was on the first floor.
But that person, Friedrich, whenever he saw Raimund, looked as if he were staring at a giant cockroach.
At first, Raimund was angry, unable to understand why he was treated like that, but as days passed, his anger gradually dulled.
Instead, he poured all his energy into transforming the house into a livable space and had only recently begun to see some satisfying results.
“I’m finally done.”
Having finished the most troublesome task—cleaning the refrigerator—Raimund sank onto the kitchen floor.
The garbage bag beside the fridge was full of rotten food scraps, packaging, and even dead rat corpses from the kitchen.
He closed the spotless fridge and looked around.
It was hard to believe this was the same house that had been full of contaminants just a few days ago—everywhere was clean.
He had removed all the carpets and scrubbed the floors with soap; strange papers stuck on the walls had been taken down and pinned neatly in one place.
The curtains had been washed twice and rehung, and the sink and cupboards were thoroughly cleaned and organized.
The cushions and sofa, once covered in a light gray dust, regained their original soft brown color.
Now, no matter who visited, he could welcome them without shame.
As Raimund admired the neat and clean environment he had created, he heard the creaking of stairs from the second floor.
“Making noise since morning, huh?”
Ugh. That unpleasant man.
He came down to the kitchen carrying a cup whose last wash was impossible to guess.
Raimund felt uneasy being in the same space, and just as he was about to grab the trash bag and move away,
Friedrich stopped abruptly in front of the empty dining table.
“Where did what here go?”
“What?”
“The newspaper headlines that were on the dining table.”
“I organized all the papers and placed them on the table in front of the sofa.”
Friedrich turned sharply in shock.
“Why did you touch that without permission? How do you think I arranged those?”
“You left them scattered however you liked. The dining room is a shared space.”
“I spent the whole dawn putting those in order—”
“Oh, so you’re the one making noise since dawn? I thought a giant rat had come in. Please keep such ‘private work’ upstairs. The dining table isn’t your desk.”
“You removed those pinned on the living room wall too? That’s crazy.”
“The crazy one here is your sense of order. Don’t pin things on the wall willy-nilly. I almost stepped on a fallen pin four times. If it sticks in my foot, will you take responsibility? By the way, I’ll be billing you for hospital fees.”
“You don’t make sense!”
Friedrich threw his cup into the sink in frustration.
He gathered the papers and materials piled on the living room table and stomped back upstairs.
Raimund swallowed a sigh.
From that behavior alone, Friedrich seemed even more ill-tempered than little Jessica. Maybe he’d never experienced communal living.
When Raimund washed the dirty cup and placed it on the drying rack, the doorbell rang loudly from the entrance.
Wiping his hands on his pants, he slowly walked over.
“Yes, this is Poster Number 36.”
Compared to his indifferent tone, a lively voice greeted him.
-Good morning, Mr. Geppert. How have things been lately? Has your relationship with Friedrich improved?
“Hello, Cozet. Relationship? Right now, I’m planning how to push that guy out a window without getting caught. Want to hear?”
Haha. Cozet laughed heartily through the receiver again.
-Just don’t get caught. He may look like that, but he’s quite capable. He’s valuable; it’d be a shame if he died like this.
“Well, capable people tend to be dirty, so I guess that’s the warning you wanted to give me?”
-Oh, of course not. The Foundation Union told me that your equipment will arrive today. And soon, we might have some light tasks for you.
Ah, tasks.
Raimund suddenly remembered that he had signed a contract with the Foundation Union.
Though he still didn’t fully understand and felt scared,
He couldn’t dream of refusing work if he wanted to pay back thirty million credits as soon as possible.
“What kind of equipment?”
-Think of it as gear for work. It includes the minimum protective gear needed to enter anomalous phenomena.
“Oh, they provide that too?”
-Well, you don’t have any achievements yet to get great gear, but if you keep at it, you might get fourth-grade gear. The Foundation Union values skilled talent.
Raimund had heard from Yocanan that the Foundation Union was always short-staffed.
So, about this “gear”—
“Could you explain what exactly ‘lupe’ or safety grades are?”
-Ah, the delivery person will explain that in detail. I just got a call, so cheer up! If you have more questions, ask Friedrich. Goodbye!
The line went dead with a click.
Raimund stood dumbfounded, holding the receiver.
Cozet always storms in like a whirlwind and disappears like that.
If it’s because of a call, there’s nothing to be done, but she sure seems busy.
As Raimund mulled over his slight disappointment and turned away,
Knock, knock.
A soft knock came from the entrance.
Who could it be at this hour?
Approaching the door, Raimund looked through the peephole.
Outside stood a person in a black suit carrying a large messenger bag.
Who is this? Should I call Friedrich?
While hesitating, a polite question came from beyond the door.
“Is Raimund Geppert there?”
Only Cozet, Friedrich, and the Foundation Union people knew he was here.
Raimund cautiously opened the door, and the visitor greeted him politely.
“Are you Mr. Geppert?”
“Uh, yes. That’s me.”
“Hello. I’m from the Foundation Union. This is my ID, and I’m authorized to visit through codename Cozet. The purpose of my visit is—”
“Wait a moment. Instead of standing here, come in first.”
Raimund stepped aside to open the door, but the visitor only looked at him in confusion.
They stared at each other awkwardly until the visitor suddenly said,
“You recently signed an external contractor contract, right? I understand you had no related experience before, is that correct?”
“That’s right; I have no experience.”
“I see. Then it makes sense. From now on, when you let strangers who aren’t residents into this house as guests, don’t let them in without verifying their ID, Foundation Union credentials, and visit procedures.”
“Huh?”
Before Raimund could ask what that meant, something occurred to him.
The mass family murder case Cozet told him about.
Was that caused by someone carelessly opening the door?
Feeling a bit intimidated, Raimund let the visitor inside.
The visitor walked as if familiar with the place and sat down on the sofa.
Luckily, Raimund had cleaned the sofa quickly.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thank you. But first, I should introduce myself.”
The visitor pulled something from the inside pocket of their suit jacket and showed it.
On the glossy plastic card was a stoic ID photo and the logo Raimund had seen in the Foundation Union lobby.
“Nice to meet you. I’m codename ‘Yona.’ It means ‘pigeon,’ so just call me Yona. I’m in charge of delivering supplies to Poster Number 36 and the Second Residential District.”
“I’m Raimund Geppert. Pleased to meet you.”
“Congratulations on signing the contractor contract on behalf of the Foundation Union. The Foundation has high expectations for you in securing anomalous phenomena.”
Again that word, anomalous phenomena.
By now, Raimund felt he needed to know exactly what it meant, but was unsure if he should ask.
The Foundation Union people spoke about “anomalous phenomena” as naturally as breathing.
Noticing Raimund’s hesitation, Yona kindly began to explain.
“I’m in charge of deliveries, but if you have any questions about the Foundation Union, I can answer them as far as I know.”
“This is really my first time, so I might sound stupid, but… what exactly are these ‘anomalous phenomena’?”
“Oh.”
Yona paused.
Just before Raimund thought he had asked a foolish question, Yona, maintaining a composed demeanor, spoke.
“An anomalous phenomenon is an anomalous phenomenon.”
“...What?”
“That’s all I can say. To be more specific, it refers to something ‘abnormal,’ meaning phenomena that don’t follow the logic of the world as we normally perceive it through our sensory receptors.”
“Not following logic?”
“Let me give you an example. Why can humans stand on this planet? Because of gravity. If I drop an apple from the air, it will fall to the ground following gravity’s laws.”
“Of course.”
“If that’s the general logic and rule of the world we perceive, anomalous phenomena may ignore or comply with those laws. Inside such phenomena, if you drop an apple, it might float upward, roll sideways, disappear, or even turn into a banana.”
“That’s a complete mess.”
“Anomalous phenomena appear within certain ranges. These ranges are irregular, and we don’t know how large they might be. Dangerous phenomena aren’t necessarily widespread, nor are safe ones necessarily narrow.”
“So it’s a mess too?”
“Yes. To put it more extremely, some anomalous phenomena are as tiny as the tip of a needle, while others might cover an entire city.”
“Sizes vary more than I thought.”
“For convenience, the Foundation Union considers any anomalous phenomenon affecting at least 3.3 square meters (3.9 square yards) as significant, and they suppress and secure the phenomena accordingly.”
So they set a minimum range at which phenomena can endanger humans.
Raimund timidly raised his hand.
“Why do anomalous phenomena happen? Instead of chasing each one, can’t we just eliminate the cause?”
He knew to destroy an anthill to get rid of ants.
So shouldn’t it be possible to track and stop the cause of anomalous phenomena? That would be easier.
Yona shook her head.
“Impossible.”
“Huh? Why?”
Yona gave Raimund a simple answer, seeing his confusion.
“To eliminate anomalous phenomena, we’d have to destroy this planet itself.”