"Pull back your weapons and return to base. Leave the matter of the residents' dispute in the area to Commander 3. Report back to me as soon as possible."
With this order, the young man standing behind the thin and tangled curtain in front of him turned off the emergency call that had interrupted his work moments ago. He sighed in annoyance and took off a small device the size of a shirt button with a tiny 2 cm long antenna attached to his ear. He put it in his uniform pocket.
His pair of obsidian twins squinted at the sound of a baby's shrill cry behind the curtain. At least 100 babies were crying simultaneously, which made their ears ring in pain. Rushing out of the room, he closed the metal door, which swallowed the baby's cries in one swoop.
"Too bad for you, Mr. Park?"
The figure called Mr. Park smiled bitterly before turning his head towards the source of the voice.
"As you'd expect, isn't it?" He grinned broadly at the other person with his right hand, pressing a row of buttons on the wall-mounted padlock. "Weak, chicken, lousy, or whatever you have in mind. Isn't that right, Mr. Wang?"
"You're just being too much, Caka," exclaimed the figure called Mr. Wang. His lips curled into a slight smirk before bowing fifteen degrees to her. "You're still my leader. You know I'm trying to respect you." He straightened himself and gave a curt nod. "Well, I'll come back to duty."
"You also know that I hate hypocrites," said the man who was said to have a higher position. He snorted disdainfully. "Stop your fake attitude. We are both well aware that we secretly intend to kill each other, Eros Wang."
Eros Wang, a man who was one year older than Cakara, ignored the hateful remarks from his superiors. He chose to leave the room. The sound of his footsteps echoed in the closed space, but the cold air he carried was still felt until he had stepped a few meters.
After Eros Wang went away, Cakara chose to go in the opposite direction and enter a brighter room with lots of wide glass surrounding the room. He took a deep breath because the air in the greenhouse was much fresher than in the weeping baby storage. He felt much calmer.
With firm steps, Cakara walked over to a central table located right in the middle and found a girl with long hair that was rolled up in such a way that it formed a small bun that showed the girl's pure white nape. The girl smiled kindly and immediately stood up when she saw who was coming.
"Don't be polite as if you are my colleague."
The girl smiled again. "I already imagined the words would come out of your mouth."
"Well, you know that."
Cakara took a flat flash drive from his trouser pocket and gave it to the girl. "This is the data for this year's Copulation participants from the central, southern, and eastern regions. Complete with their curriculum vitae and criminal records."
"And the partner's name?"
"All in there."
"Well." The girl took the white flash drive that Cakara held out and put it in a small light green box on her left side. A second later, the Hologram screen flashed and displayed a row of names and photos on a long table.
"Tell Dad, I want to have this PDS* replaced. I heard the IT Team has just released a new, faster, and more accurate model. Even the colors available are more elegant and exclusive. I'm tired of this one." The girl slides her index finger on the Hologram screen. She scans the data with her sharp eyes decorated with emerald green soft lenses.
"Tell him yourself. I'm busy," replied Cakara. "Dad gave me an extra assignment to evaluate the work of the baby nannies."
The pretty girl snorted. She rolled her eyes lazily as she looked at the Hologram screen in front of her in annoyance. It was as if that thing had brought her mood down for a moment. "If you get an extra job, your salary should increase too. Why don't you buy a pair of new shoes?" Her eyes glanced at Cakara's feet. "Where are the boots that you just bought last week? Have they been damaged by the sharp gravel of life?"
Ignoring the sarcasm from that person, Cakara remembered the figure of a pretty girl he found the other day in the park near him. The round-eyed girl who cried alone in the middle of the night still lingered in his memory. It was the girl who brought the boots up until now.
"Kezia, find Ivory Kelana's data."
"What?"
"Data from one of the participants in this year's Copulation. Her name is Ivory Kelana. Email me now."
"Why do you want to know that person's data?" asked Kezia. She chewed a mint gum while looking at Cakara suspiciously. She already knew her brother's habit, known for not being strict enough with the Secondary or other citizens. But she was still curious why the man was asking for data from one of the participants.
"Because she's attractive," replied Cakara casually.
"Hold on, Little Boy. Are you interested in this Copulation participant? For real? What for?"
"Do not be noisy. Just give me the data."
"No way! Unless you—"
"I'll treat you BBQ as much as you want," offered Cakara.
"Mom would have laughed merrily if she knew her son—"
"I'll pay for the bag in your online shopping cart."
"That's my brother!" Kezia exclaimed happily. Her threat turned out to successfully get her brother to buy the things she wanted.
Before Cakara left, Kezia hastily typed Ivory Kelana's name. Within two seconds of searching, the person's data referred to by her brother was immediately displayed on the hologram. She frowned because she felt that the girl her brother was looking for was an ordinary girl from the Secondary.
"You're interested in a Gene F girl? She's from the Secondary, Caka," said Kezia confused.
"Don't think like that."
Kezia shrugged her shoulders. "You said yourself that Ivory was attractive. I thought she was the Primary woman who volunteered to participate in this year's Copulation."
"Attractive has many meanings."
"Then what do you mean by attractive? Of course not because of her looks, right? Your ex is still prettier than this country girl."
"Just send the data now and don't ask too many questions," Cakara. He rolled his eyes and then left the room.
After closing the door, he checked his cell phone. Like his request, his sister immediately sent the requested data to his email. He opened a copy of Ivory Kelana's data and read his home address. Cakara then checked his schedule for the day.
Unfortunately, the schedule was full until the evening. However, he had a break of one hour. Driven by extreme curiosity, he weighed the options running through his head. He could have used his rest time to relieve fatigue. However, he can also skip his break to meet the girl he's curious about.
He then decided to use his sixty-minute break to drive to the house of the girl who kept his boots.