"Application for landlord accepted." Finn read the letter again, to confirm it. He looked out of the window, to see the tress passing by him. The further he travelled, the lesser the trees and the smoggier the air gets. He looked to his left, his father, Martian Mertens, was dozing off, with a bottle of liquor in his hand as usual. "Dad! You should stop drinking all the time!" Finn remembered arguing with his father.
"You don't tell me how to live my life son! I raised you!" Martin Mertins shouted back, in a drunken stupor.
"I have grown up without your help! We survived by state funding and you spent most of it on beer, leaving almost none for me. I had to work in the mines for my education!" Finn shouted.
"Ok, smart ass! Let's see what kind of job you can get with your fancy education! Don't come to old pops when you need cash!" Martin remarked smugly.
Finn rolled his eyes in response, remembering," I never asked you for money before, because you always had none!"
Finn got back to reality, seeing the smog filled air of the city as the bus drove closer and closer to the city. He remembered his old home, they lived in a small settlement on the outskirts of the state, until the state had more territorial ambitions, turning the quaint little town they live in into an industrial complex, chopping the forests for timber and mining the mines for rare minerals. That was what the elders of the village told him, which were all candy people. He remembered getting into some fights in his youth because remembering what the Candy Kids told him," You're different, so we don't like you!" He would beat the sense out of every kid who said that, knowing his father would not care, still on booze.
Seeing that his destination was very close, he shook his father up. "Finn? Are we there yet?" Martin responded, opening his eyes, taking a pint of beer.
"Yeah…" Finn replied, feeling no empathy for the waste of a man he calls his father.
"You sure this job would make our lives better. I'm fine with what I have now." Martin questioned, realising he cleaned out his beer of can, feeling a bit restless.
"Of course, any job under the ministry brings great respect." Finn praised his country, the Candy Empire.
"Sure, whatever you say kid, but I have to ask. Would there be any booze?" Martin asked, worried about his low stash on booze.
"Of course dad, this is the city, unless the ministry bans booze." Finn reassured, doubting himself. The bus stopped, they have reached their first stop. The father and son grabbed their luggage and got off the bus, heading into the checkpoint.
Meanwhile, a candy person was strapped to a chair and was flanked by two tough Banana Guards. "For going against the state and not doing your job properly, you shall spend your time in the mines." The candy inspector explained. The Banana Guards beating him brutally, no one had rights in the Candy Empire, only the queen, Queen Bubblegum had the privilege of privacy, other than her, no one in the state had rights.
"I did it for the people. They did not deserve to be prosecuted for the unreasonable laws the state passes." The candy person explained, as he was being beaten by the Banana Guards.
"Beat him, break him. I want to see him still speak those words when he works in the mines!" The candy inspector smugly remarked, leaving the room as the Banana Guards violently beat the candy person.
"Papers please." The checkpoint officer demanded and Finn followed, passing him his work papers and identification papers.
"You're the only human left, eh? Something that one wouldn't see every day, Queen Bubblegum expects your visit." The officer remarked, passing him his papers, Martin was next in line and followed what the officer instructed. The two made past the checkpoint safely, after the Banana Guards scanned their luggage. There was some chaos, there was always chaos. If contraband was found, the guards would beat up the offender brutally, to prepare the offender for the mines as the guards would say, but Finn thought that it was so that Queen Bubblegum could relish in their demise.
He once remembered seeing Queen Bubblegum, when he was very young. She was wearing a dark pink dress, she dyed her hair dark pink and had dark pink lipstick. He would always remember her fearsome appearance that she had, she was bold and confident in her actions. When they met, he would never forget the words she spoke," A human boy, useful, better than all the stupid idiots I create." That was when Queen Bubblegum took an interest in Finn, sending him random letters, books that encourage free thought. He was one of the gifted ones, beating all of his classmates in school in some tests which required some thinking, but the candy students were used to just memorising, but they were not useful for thinking for themselves.
With the state backing him, he proceeded to get a higher education, eventually getting a degree in management. He had no clue, but Queen Bubblegum wanted him to be some kind of manager, but he gladly took the opportunity, knowing that his fees are waived if he took the path Queen Bubblegum chosen for him.
Finn boarded the public bus in the city, with his father trailing behind and they find a seat for both of them. "Five minute ride." Finn notified his father, who just stared out of the window, like he was deep in thought.
"So son, what is this new job about anyway?" Martin asked, staring at the hordes of Banana Police patrolling the streets, making crime almost impossible.
"I have to be a landlord for a government apartment." Finn briefly explained, before finishing the answer in his thoughts. "You must spy on tenants, peep, eavesdrop and profile! You must report on anyone capable of plotting subversion against the State!" remembering the letter the ministry sent, he had to burn it once he read it to not let anyone know, it was classified information. Anyway, Finn thought it was going to be fun, he watched those government propaganda spies, and it looked like a pretty exciting career for him, plus, it was a foothold to start off in his climb up the ministry.
"I won't tell you!" The candy person spat candy at the guards which incited them to beat him even harder.
"Send him to the mines, he's a tough one. I sense that he won't break." The candy inspector ordered and the guards complied, abusing the rebel with their batons.
The two got off the bus, reaching their destination, an apartment building. The streets were devoid of life, it was only them. The two went to the entrance and Finn opened the door, looking inside. Two Banana Guards holding a severely injured candy person, bringing him out of the apartment building to the big police van, throwing him into the temporary cell at the back of the vehicle.
"Who is he?" Finn asked the nearest candy person, which was the inspector.
"He was the ex-landlord, he did not serve his duty properly, and this is what traitors to the state shall suffer. Now, who are you?" The inspector demanded.
"I'm the new landlord, Finn and this is my father." Finn introduced themselves, as his father stumbled across the apartment's lobby. The smell of alcohol was very obvious to everyone in the room.
"From your father's appearance, it's very hard to believe what you just said. Do you have papers to prove what you said was correct citizen?" The inspector doubted.
"Here." Finn took out some papers from his briefcase, passing them to the inspector.
"Yes, you're the capable human called Finn and your drunken father Martin. I'm your boss by the way, do you need any explanation on how things around here work?" The inspector offered.
"No, ok, let's get to work, in the ex-landlord's office, which is your office now, there should be two cameras. Find those cameras and come here and I will tell you where you should install them." His boss suggested, when Finn shook his head to his boss offer. His boss passed him a ring of keys, explaining," This are the keys to your apartment and everyone's apartment in this apartment building." Finn took them without any complaints or reaction.
Finn had to walk past his apartment, where his father was already sitting around, helping himself to the beer that was provided specially for the two. Martin was too busy with his beer to care about his son's actions, focused on the beer. He notices a door labelled office. Finn grabbed the ring of keys that his boss passed to him, which he slung on the belt he was wearing, he unlocked the door and opened it. He admired his office, there were screens on one side to observe the cameras he had planted. There was a comfy leather chair with a wooden desk paired with it, including a computer, for typing reports and profiling on his tenants. There was a printer by the computer to print out the documents he types out. Finn searched the desk, expecting the cameras to be there, and they were there. He took them and walked back to his boss.
"Ok, now go install them and hidden areas. How about there and there in this room." His boss explained, pointing in the two directions. Finn followed, installing the cameras on the ceiling, where the tenants would not expect.
"Good placement, they would never know. Now, the phone in your office would ring at times, I highly advise you to pick it up, this means that the ministry has quests for you to complete. Missing them would cause you lose in reputation and reward money. Money to buy items to improve your living standard or your tenant's if you want. Reputation to increase the chance of your promotion, but you already have a high reputation with your high performance during your academic days. Do a good job, and you might be promoted. Getting more pay or maybe getting a bigger apartment, you know? Anyway, the ministry won't mind if you had to blackmail or forge top prosecute one, as long as it benefits the state. You can blackmail your tenants if you find them doing anything illegal. Corruption is encouraged, corruption is a tool, if you want to be promoted and rise up the ladder, I highly suggest that you use corruption as an advantage. You can threaten to get money, and later report them, but you need to get new evidence, because you can't make records of the tapes the camera fills while recording. Here's a tip when you want to search the tenant's apartments, make sure everyone has left before entering. You can peep through the keyhole to check." His boss showed the ropes, leaving the apartment building, starting Finn's first official day at work.