"Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World"

First, in order for anything to make sense at all, some things need to be explained.
The System – Powerful corporation controlling just about everything (like a government).
The Factory – The Anti-System.
Calcutecs – People experimented on and trained to make calculations, sort data, shuffle data, read code, and do most anything with numbers. They also have the ability to separate their minds into two and use them independently. They also work for the System.
Semiotecs – Fallen Calcutecs who also work for the Factory.
INKlings – Beasts that live within the underground of the city, and don’t like sound.


The novel is split into two stories, alternating between chapters, but both intertwine somehow. It’s not clear whether or not the protagonist in both stories is the same man. The first story is considered Hard-Boiled Wonderland” while the other is considered “The End of the World.”

"Hard-Boiled Wonderland" is set in a modern day world, in a large city in Japan. The protagonist here is a Calcutec. The story begins with the protagonist in an elevator on his way to an appointment with a client. He’s not sure whether or not he’s ascending up or moving down, because he doesn’t feel any motion or hear anything. To pass the time he decides to count coins he has in his pockets. He has one set of coins in one pocket and another set in his other. What he does is count them at the same time but keeps track of the amount of money in his right pocket with his right side of his brain, and keeps track of the amount of money in his left pocket with the left side of his brain. Finally he adds both sides together to get the total amount. He does this a second time, but gets a different amount, suggesting he made a mistake counting, which he has never done before. This foreshadows the events to come. Before he can count them a third time, the elevator doors open, and waiting in the corridor is a woman in a pink suit. Enter the “chubby-girl.” She guides him to his appointment. When they arrive at the office, they both enter. He notices that the room is very plain, but takes note of the large amount of paper clips on the desk.
The protagonist meets with his client, the Professor. The professor shows him his laboratory, and tells him what he does. The professor has invented a device that can change the volume of sound in the world. He has done so by studying various animal skulls, including human ones. He demonstrates the sounds the skulls make with metal tongs. This research has to be kept secret however. Then the professor has the protagonist code some data.
After the job is done, the protagonist leaves. But before he does, the chubby-girl, who he now knows is the Professor’s 17 year old granddaughter, hands him a hat box with something inside. After he gets home, he opens the hat box, and to his surprise finds an animal skull and a pair of metal tongs.
The following day the protagonist researches information on the skull. He goes to the library to get some books, and again notices many paper clips on the librarian’s desk. After his research, and with the help of the librarian whom he convinced to visit him, he came to the conclusion that it must have belonged to a unicorn. He doesn’t quite believe it but there was no other way to explain the small, rough indentation in the center of the horse-head shaped skull. He also learned that there was a report of a unicorn skull that was once dug up near the beginning of World War I. But any trace of that skull disappeared. He believes he is now in possession of the very same skull.
The following morning, in the middle of the night, the protagonist gets a phone call from the Professor’s granddaughter. She tells him that her grandfather is missing and that the INKlings might have kidnapped him. He tries to meet with her, but she doesn’t show up.
Later that morning he is visited by two thugs, one giant of a man and one short guy. They tell him they know about him, the Professor, and the skull. They also tell him they’re not with the System or the Factory. They force him to cooperate with their plans and to not report them to the System. But before they leave, they trash his apartment, and cut his stomach open. The wound isn’t too deep, but plenty enough to need stitches. He then goes to the hospital to get stitches and returns home to his trashed apartment.
He returns to sleep but then is awakened by the Professor’s granddaughter, who tells him if they don’t hurry and find her grandfather “the End of the World will come.” She explains to him that her grandfather believes that he holds the key. She tells him how 25 of the 26 Calcutecs trained, had died a year and a half after their training due to some type of brain damage. He was the only one not dead, having some kind of immunity, which made him important. The protagonist and the Professor’s granddaughter set out to find her grandfather.

“The End of the World” takes place in a time not known. The protagonist here has just arrived in the Town. He is told he is at “the End of the World.” The Town isn’t too large, and is surrounded by a great Wall that nobody can pass. The only way in is through the West Gate which is guarded by the Gatekeeper. No one can enter with their shadow. When the protagonist first entered, he and his shadow were separated. The Gatekeeper watches over the shadows until they die. The Gate Keeper also lets in and out the Golden Beasts. The Golden Beasts are horse-like creatures with golden hair. They also have a horn in the center of their forehead, and they resemble a unicorn.
The protagonist is unsure as to why he even came to the Town, but just goes along with it. The Gatekeeper assigns the protagonist with the job of Dreamreader. He then stabs a knife into each of the protagonist’s eyeballs. But he doesn’t feel any pain. The Gatekeeper tells him that it is the mark of the Dreamreader, and that there is only one person assigned to one task. He tells the protagonist to wear a pair of tinted glasses at all times, to not go outside when the sun is out, and to report to the Library at six o’clock until about ten or eleven o’clock to read dreams every night.
On the protagonist’s first work night, he arrives at the Library and meets the Librarian. The protagonist can’t help but notice all of the paper clips on the desk, and also feels that he may have known this woman elsewhere, at another time, but neither has any recollection. The Librarian’s job is to help the Dreamreader. The Librarian brings out an animal skull. It resembles the head of the Golden Beasts. She shows him how to read dreams, and he does just as she shows him.
For awhile the protagonist does this, not knowing why exactly, and one day he meets his shadow working with the Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper normally doesn’t let him talk to his shadow because he feels that shadows cause trouble. But when then Gatekeeper isn’t paying attention, the protagonist talks briefly with his shadow. His shadow asks him to draw a very detailed map of the Town and the surrounding Wall, and to deliver it to him at the end of the Fall season. He also warns him not to let anybody help him draw his map.
So, the protagonist goes about his work, and in his spare time he draws the map. He explores the Town and everything inside the Wall. During this time, the protagonist begins to gain feelings for the Librarian. When the protagonist finishes the map, he slips it to his shadow.