In the year 3020X, as the population continued to surge while economic growth declined, the government faced an unprecedented challenge. When the economy hits rock-bottom and spiraled into despair, the government made a solution- to leverage human g...
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Chapter 34: Kruger
"K-Kruger..."
Bumaba ang tingin niya at pilit na pinigilan ang pagbagsak ng kanyang mga luha. He failed, miserably. Kinagat niya ang labi at mapait na ngumiti habang nag-uunahan ang kanyang mga luha.
I wanted to soothe him, ngunit hindi ko magawa. What will I tell him?
Everything will be fine?
It's okay.
Better days will surely come.
People should stop telling that, kasi hindi naman iyon palaging totoo. Most of the time, what people need to hear is the truth.
Everything is fucked up.
We're doomed.
There's nothing we can do about it.
Hindi man sa lahat ng panahon ay maganda iyong pakinggan, but do we lie to ourselves by telling things for comfort? I just looked away as he broke down in tears. Nanginginig pa ang kanyang pang-ibabang labi, as if everything that he was hoping to forget just came flashing right before his very eyes.
"T-they died... in my hands." Patuloy siya sa pag-iyak ngunit nang mag-angat siya ng tingin, pinahid niya ang luha at taas-noong nagsalita. "But they deserved it."
---
Wala siyang makitang kahit ano maliban na lamang sa kadiliman. He tried walking away but it was like walking in endless darkness. His eyes were heavy, and there was a sharp pain shot in his right eye. There was that annoying constant buzzing somewhere in the room.
Pilit niyang inalala kung ano ang nangyari bago siya napunta sa kadilimang kinaroroonan. They were in the laboratory of the Krugers. Katatapos lamang ng walang katapusang diskusyon nila tungkol sa kung ano ang maaaring mangyari kung hindi na makikilala ang mga Kruger sa larangan nila.
It was the same discussions since he was young, and the only thing he could draw from it was that his family was greedy. They wanted their name in the shining lights, they wanted power, they wanted honor.
What's sickening is that his family craved power, not to serve, but to rule.
And if the people refused to grant it, they would manipulate laws, twist narratives, and dismantle institutions just to keep their grip on the throne.
For years, that was what had been happening. Wala na bang bago?
"Wala na ba talagang ibang paraan?" He tried to bargain. "Hindi habangbuhay na ang mga Glass ang nasa tuktok—"
His father cut him off with a sharp glare. "Maximus, hindi na tayo magpapatuloy sa usapang ito."
Silence settled between them, heavy and suffocating. He clenched his fists beneath the table, staring at the floor as if it held the answers his father refused to give.
