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.

Comments

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againagainagain #1
Chapter 6: This story is sooo good! I'm thoroughly absorbed. Just adding this comment because I saw your author now about meeting feedback to feel motivated around to continue writing. Obviously you did, and i'm glad for that!
MeinAltire #2
Chapter 10: definitely looking forward for part 2...
Deeply I wish the six of them will be at jongup homeland safely.
Good luck, good job :)
MeinAltire #3
Chapter 9: Oh Please let them be okay...
Thank you :) Looking forward for the sequel
MeinAltire #4
Chapter 8: Nice update, thank you...
Now they got Kim tailing on...Kim must be sure that they'll go to jongup place.
Hope he won't make daehyun and yongguk do crazy things...
Looking forward
MeinAltire #5
Chapter 7: Woah Youngjae, are really willing to abandon daehyun...
Oh no, yongguk is caught. Hope kim won't do anything bad to them. How could daehyun and Yongguk get out from there and meet the other...
Looking forward
MeinAltire #6
Chapter 6: At least Jongup feel better after drink it...
Where is Yongguk? hope he won't get caught and will meet them soon.
Thanks :)
MeinAltire #7
Chapter 5: Looking forward for the next batch of answer then...
Poor Jongup, it's must be really hurt and hard for him...
Where Yongjae gone to? Thanks a lot :)
MeinAltire #8
Chapter 4: Woah some of my previous question is answered there...Thank you.
Hope they'll find place to stay safe, will they meet yongguk again?
Your writing style is great, I Like it :) Looking forward
MissCellaneous
#9
I'm only just a few scentences in and I already really love your writing style - "High Quality", huh? Seems legit and in no way exaggerated :) Not to mention the setting, the characters, and the pairings - HimUp? DaeJae? All of B.A.P in a Dystopian AU? FanFic heaven :D
Since I've made some bad experiences with forever unfinished stories, I usually don't even think about starting (and commenting on) another one that's not marked as complete, but yours sounded way too alluring and with this new update you finally got me. Especially, since the lack of comments or any kind of feedback whatsoever is terribly sad and incomprehensible :'(
So I really hope you keep going with this story; you've got at least one (there have to be more though…) avid new reader, on that you can be sure ^^
MeinAltire #10
Chapter 3: Oh my...an update thank you :)
Huh, so jongup is from another part of the planet? How they got him?
Looks zelo and himchan never heard about surface and it's people...
Looking forward, I really like this strory :)