Black Paradise Chapter 1.1

“I might as well just drop dead. At least corpses can get out of this trash village, right? What is this if not prison life?”

Complaints poured out of Jo’s mouth ceaselessly all day. Just by looking at the way she pounded on the laptop keyboard as if it were a percussion instrument, one could tell her twisted state of mind.

The research institute in the evacuation zone opens its back gate only once a month. This is because they have to bring in samples and test subjects for research, and at the same time, hand over a month’s worth of research data to Paradise.

Usually, there were not many things that made her this on edge, but around this time every month, Jo would have fire in her eyes and grind her teeth. The researchers who had been mobilized for the work of carrying corpses the previous night all maintained their silence with hollow eyes. It was best not to be noticed by Jo, as once she started complaining, she rarely stopped easily.

“Hmm, it’s certain that if you become a corpse, you can escape this place.”

“Right? I know, right? The fact that it’s only possible after death is what pisses me off.”

The one who volunteered to be Jo’s opponent was her teammate, Ju Yoonchae. Ju Yoonchae already knew well that the wisest way to shut Jo’s mouth was to humor her for a bit. It was only natural, of course, having been tormented by that lament for a full five years.

Ilyeong furtively exchanged a certain kind of glance with Ju Yoonchae behind his back.

“Hey, still, wouldn’t it be better to be a living human?”

The relaxed atmosphere did not last long. The team members all scowled at once and looked at the owner of the voice. It was Haoran, a new researcher who had been assigned to this team at the beginning of the month.

Jo once again struck the keyboard with a clanging sound. The sound of the strike was as solemn as a bugle call announcing a general’s entry into battle. Jo’s upturned eyes narrowed into triangles again.

“Who do you think doesn’t know that? You just try being cooped up in this research institute for one more month. You’ll be itching to get out of here right away. It’s not so strange to envy corpses.”

Jo looked around as if to find a basis for her words and pointed to the window.

“Look. Seeing only that kind of crazy scenery all day long, how could I not think like this?”

At the tip of Jo’s finger, a shabby and humble landscape hung like a picture in a frame. From the research institute, which was located on high ground, the bleak scenery of the trash village could be seen at a glance.

Disease and natural disasters had rapidly changed the Earth over the past 100 years. Most of it was a steep fall. This planet had endured human arrogance and foolishness for far too long. As if to fight back, volcanoes that had been holding their breath rose up, and the earth tore its own body to swallow civilization. It inflicted upon humanity the terrifying punishment of a virus. The plague devoured more than half of the population.

The virus ‘Jupit,’ which had swept the globe 100 years ago, had greatly lost its momentum after its fifth mutation, but it was not in a state of complete eradication. The most frightening thing was that there was no such thing as a perfect declaration of being cured for this virus. Countless cases were reported of the virus suddenly recurring even after receiving a full recovery verdict from a disease test. It was the biggest characteristic of the fifth mutation, and a fact revealed through PCR tests and observation using electron microscopes.

“If only I had been born in ‘Paradise,’ I wouldn’t have had to make such complaints……”

Jo muttered gloomily.

On Earth, only the united nations, ‘Paradise,’ now remained. It was the result of the countries that survived the natural disasters and Jupit joining forces. Paradise currently has a base on each of the continents of Asia, North America, and Africa.

The 23 evacuation zones established around the world were homes for the vagrants who did not receive Paradise citizenship. The 5th Evacuation Zone, where this research institute was located, was one of them.

Jo and Haoran endlessly exchanged spear and shield.

“I’m sick and tired of this entire endless routine. I’m sick of carrying corpses every month.”

“The forensic doctors would cry if they heard that. We just have to move corpses once a month, but they see corpses every single day.”

The mission of the researchers, including Ilyeong, was to develop new drugs here based on data according to Jupit’s mutations. Therefore, what the truck driver had said to Ilyeong the previous night, chattering on about corpses and syringe needles, was contradictory. He just had not corrected him because it was too trivial and audacious.

“And besides. We’re in a slightly better position, aren’t we.”

Haoran trailed off as he added his words and glanced at Ilyeong.

“At least we don’t have to live while going around picking up smelly trash.”

The 5th Evacuation Zone is an area that was used as a garbage dump until 100 years ago. The type of people Haoran spoke of were, in other words, the lowest of the low.

The worker ants who rummage through the garbage dump all day long searching for things that will make money. The field mice who can only survive a day by picking up and eating food left by others. The insects who live hidden in the darkness to avoid soldiers and sharp blades…….

“The smell of chemicals is better than the smell of trash. I’d rather just drop dead than live picking up things like trash.”

“……”

The atmosphere in the research institute froze in an instant. Ilyeong barely resisted the urge to bundle up all the glances that were furtively flicking toward him while pretending not to and throw them out of the institute.

Worker ants, field mice, insects. They were none other than Ilyeong’s family. Ilyeong was the only researcher in the family. In his childhood, Ilyeong, too, had lived as a vermin of that trash mountain.

There was no way this newcomer did not know the story that the people in the research institute whispered about behind his back.

While Ilyeong was slightly creasing the corners of his eyes, the first one to react was Ju Yoonchae.

“Watch your mouth, newbie. You seem to think being a researcher is some kind of high office, but we’re all frogs in a well anyway. We live in the same evacuation zone, so what’s with dividing people into classes?”

“Why? Is that not allowed? It’s just us talking amongst ourselves anyway.”

“You were just a bit luckier. If you hadn’t passed the test at the academy, you wouldn’t be able to say such comfortable words from this position.”

The academy in the evacuation zone is responsible for the education of children from the ages of 10 to 15. Children can apply for military and research positions in the year they turn 15, and only those who pass various tests can enter the job center. Then, after undergoing five years of specialized training at the job center, they are deployed to the field. Ilyeong, Jo, Ju Yoonchae, and everyone else here had all been assigned here that way.

At Ju Yoonchae’s scathing words, Haoran snorted loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I swear, there’s no way I would not have passed the test, you know? I was destined to become a researcher one way or another.”

“Ugh. How can you be so sure of that?”

“Sunbae, you must have heard the rumors floating around the academy at least once.”

Ilyeong was also well aware of the rumor Haoran was talking about. That the tests conducted at the academy were in fact biased and irrational. The gloomy rumor that the vermin could study for a hundred days and still not become researchers or soldiers.

Haoran added his words triumphantly.

“Jobs are passed down through generations. Your family must have been in research for generations, sunbae-nim.”

“……”

Ju Yoonchae did not answer. Because it was the truth. Inwardly, she knew it too. How unfair Paradise’s tests were.

The tests were just a monster to quell the complaints of the trash village field mice and plant a meager hope.

“Of course, it seems there are occasional exceptions like Ilyeong sunbae……”

Haoran said, slyly looking at Ilyeong with a bewitching smile. He knew for sure now. From the beginning, Haoran had driven the conversation in this direction with the intention of getting on Ilyeong’s nerves.

He now also firmly understood the reason why Haoran had disliked him from their first meeting. He did not like that a field mouse who lived on a trash mountain was occupying the same position as him.

It was not just Haoran; most of the people in the research institute found Ilyeong awkward for the same reason. That also meant Ilyeong’s ears were that much more trained. Ilyeong twisted the corners of his mouth up and smiled.

“Why is everyone looking at me? Continue talking. I’m listening well.”

When Ilyeong showed no particular reaction, Haoran’s expression crumpled and he shut his mouth. The gazes that had gathered as if an interesting spectacle was happening also lost their steam and dispersed in an instant.

“Why is the mood like this? Well, the conversation somehow veered off in a strange direction, but anyway, newbie, what I was trying to say was.”

Clap! Jo, who had been watching the whole time, stood up from her seat and clapped her hands as if to change the atmosphere.

“At least the test subjects can get a look at Paradise. A place we can never see in our lifetime. I hear that in Paradise there are all sorts of delicacies you can’t taste here, and, and…… you can also see the ocean that we’ve only heard about.”

Jo quickly became engrossed in her own conversation and began to pour out praises for Paradise. About the only safe zone on Earth where only the permitted can set foot. About the utopia that the people of the evacuation zones could not even dream of.

Ilyeong turned his body back to his desk with an indifferent expression. His own face reflected on the old-fashioned computer screen, which had not received an input signal for a long time, looked unfamiliar. It might have been because it had been quite a while since he had looked at his own face sober.

Come to think of it, he had not taken a single pill since last night. The severe headache that he could usually only endure by swallowing a pill was now somewhat bearable. ‘Do headaches go on strike? Why is it so quiet?’

Ilyeong pondered, clicking the lid of the tin case he had put in his pocket with his hand. He called the pills he had broken in half and put inside ‘for daily use.’ The daily use pills only had enough of an effect to dull the headache, so it was fine to take them during normal times.

“What, you said corpses were better than humans for such a trivial reason?”

Haoran’s snort abruptly cut through his thoughts. Ilyeong’s fiddling also came to a halt.

“Why is that?”

“Why do you think? What would a corpse know? What use are delicacies and the ocean to a dead person?”

Even Jo and Ju Yoonchae, who had been itching to crush Haoran’s momentum, were silent for this moment.

“And most importantly, it’s not like we have no chance at all.”

Haoran lifted his chin triumphantly and elegantly pointed to the window with his fingertips. This time, it was the window opposite the one Jo had pointed to earlier.

This time, the gazes of everyone in the research institute were drawn in that direction. It seemed everyone had been listening to Jo and Haoran’s exciting verbal battle, even while pretending not to.

“The Paradise Migration Lottery. It’s tomorrow.”

Haoran’s voice was triumphant, having drawn the desired reaction from his audience. The direction his fingertips were pointing was where the village square was located.

The huge screen standing like the gates of hell at the entrance of the square was clearly visible even from where Ilyeong sat. On that screen, large letters flickered like a warning.

January 21st, 13:00.
Paradise Ticket Lottery.
All residents are required to attend.

Even in this trash village, there is a thread of hope. A random drawing held just once a year. Tomorrow, only three people from each evacuation zone will get the chance to migrate to Paradise.

“I’m going to aim for that. According to Yoonchae sunbae’s logic, I’m on the lucky side.”

Haoran made sure to drag Yoonchae into it as well, then folded his eyes and smiled wryly as if his insides felt refreshed. In his greedy eyes, for some reason, it felt as though he could see Paradise, where brilliant lights poured out.

Ilyeong pressed and rubbed the whites of his eyes as if to rebuke the momentary illusion. What did he know, he who did not even know what Paradise looked like. A bitter smile lingered on his lips.

*

“Anyway, that newbie is so damn annoying.”

She had expected it, but Ju Yoonchae huffed and puffed from the moment she received her meal ration until she settled at the table.

Ilyeong, sitting across from her, scanned the top of the metal tray without much interest. Two pieces of dry, crumbly bread, what seemed like a pitifully small amount of strawberry jam and butter in comparison, and corn soup with almost no viscosity. The truly uncreative menu rarely deviated much from this every day, but even this was a feast.

“Kwon Ilyeong, are you listening to me?”

“Yeah.”

“That bastard Haoran, he knows all about your situation and yet he subtly gets under people’s skin……. Hey, why are you just sitting there? Aren’t you angry?”

Ju Yoonchae waved her arms around and whispered menacingly that she should either beat that annoying face to a pulp or sew his mouth shut. Each time, her eyes, which were usually droopy and gentle like a puppy’s, transformed into those of a yaksha.

Ilyeong glanced around the cafeteria. The familiar faces were all gathered at a table far away. Jo and Haoran, who had just engaged in such a tense war of words, were now laughing and chatting about something so amusing. The other team members also joined in the conversation cheerfully.

The only ones who were cast out from that scene like mismatched parts were Ju Yoonchae and Ilyeong.

Well, was it not to be expected? Ilyeong had always been alone since his academy days, and as Ju Yoonchae stubbornly stuck by the outsider Ilyeong’s side, the two of them became almost isolated from the team.

“Because you keep letting him off, he’s getting more excited and running wild……”

“My head hurts. He’s not worth dealing with.”

He had just thrown out any random excuse, but the conversation snapped off weakly. Ilyeong found it strange and raised his head. Ju Yoonchae, who had been huffing and puffing the whole time, had a slightly pale complexion. As soon as their eyes met, Ju Yoonchae lowered her upper body and her voice.

“The medicine.”

“I took it.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“What’s new. But strangely, it’s a bit better today.”

Ilyeong fabricated a calm voice as he looked at Ju Yoonchae’s collar, which was trembling precariously above the soup.

“It’s not a lie. I didn’t even take any medicine today.”

Seeing that her face, contorted with worry, showed no sign of smoothing out, he added that one more thing for her.

Ju Yoonchae was the only person who knew about his long-standing chronic illness, which even his family did not know about. In truth, he had no intention of telling Ju Yoonchae either, but one day, he could not bear the headache and collapsed, and Ju Yoonchae found him, revealing everything.

Of course, even Ju Yoonchae did not know the fact that the medicine Ilyeong was taking was not ordinary headache medicine, but a self-made drug.

“What am I going to do with you…. How about going to the infirmary again?”

“You know. It’s not very effective.”

This time, Ju Yoonchae groaned as if in agreement.

In each of the 23 evacuation zones, a couple of medical staff from Paradise were stationed. The problem was, however, that meeting them was as difficult as plucking a star from the sky.

He had not dabbled in drugs from the very beginning. In an attempt to fix his broken head, Ilyeong, too, had once visited the medical staff several times, but they were all in such a filthy state that it made him wonder if they had ever looked in a mirror before coming to work to check their appearance. Moreover, they were always so heavily intoxicated with hard liquor that their posture, tilting at a 45-degree angle in their chairs, was not at all trustworthy. Not that he ever had high expectations for the medical system of this trash village in the first place.

In any case, they all consistently just shook their heads about Ilyeong’s headache. They said they did not know the cause. Whether that meant there was no major problem with his body, or that they really did not know, the interpretation was solely Ilyeong’s to make.

Of course, Ilyeong thought the latter was more credible. After that, he cleanly gave up and stopped going to the infirmary.

“You should probably take that medicine in moderation too. Someday, that medicine won’t work either.”

What kind of face would Ju Yoonchae make if she knew that the medicine was a new synthetic drug that even high-ranking officials in Paradise would die for?

Manufacturing and selling drugs is a felony even in Paradise, so perhaps she would report him without mercy.

Ilyeong suppressed the impulse to reveal everything about the drug to Ju Yoonchae and just shrugged his shoulders without a reply. So far, he had not suffered from the side effects of this drug, and he had not heard any complaints from his customers either.

If there was a problem, it was that it was highly addictive, but that was what drugs were, so he was not particularly concerned.

It was at that moment that the TV screen in the cafeteria, which had been dead and black, lit up.

“Welcome to the Paradise! Come to Paradise, the only utopia on Earth.”

“Ah, there it goes again.”

It was a promotional video for tomorrow’s lottery. The voice of the first narration and Ju Yoonchae’s voice overlapped subtly. The sharp glares of the people around, whose viewing had been disturbed, gathered on the two of them.

Ilyeong, whose eyes met with one of them, opened his mouth bluntly.

“What are you looking at.”

“Hey, you’re bad luck…. Be quiet.”

“You be quiet. Who’s the real bad luck here.”

“What?”

“Do you know everyone has it in for you? So stop staring at the women, you pervert bastard.”

“Aish.”

Ilyeong was by no means an obedient opponent. The nameless man, who had clicked his tongue, turned his head away with a look of avoiding something dirty. The gazes that had recognized Ju Yoonchae and Ilyeong also quickly dispersed as if they understood the commotion. This duo was the number one target to be avoided within the research institute.

Ju Yoonchae asked with her eyes about the truth of the conversation just now. Ilyeong shamelessly mouthed back, ‘I don’t know.’

“Kik……”

The laugh that Ju Yoonchae could not hold back scattered into crumbs.

In the meantime, the promotional video switched to another scene. A middle-aged man with neatly swept-back hair met the gazes pouring onto the screen with a benevolent smile.

He was the head of Paradise’s Asia base, Seo Yoonseok.

“Hello, I am Seo Yoonseok.”

100 years ago, the one who seized control of the land abandoned by the president and high-ranking officials fleeing the plague was none other than the military. At its center was Seo Yoonseok’s great-grandfather. A former military officer, he made a significant contribution to creating the Paradise of today. It was a perfectly natural progression for his family to monopolize the position of head of a country where order had collapsed.

As befitting someone from a family that had produced soldiers for generations, it was said that Seo Yoonseok also unofficially handled the military’s affairs before inheriting the position of head. As if belying the years he had spent switching from a blade to a pen, his eyes were still as sharp as a warrior’s.

“Our Paradise prioritizes the safety of you, our citizens, above all else.”

“That’s hilarious. Treating only Paradise citizens like people. If only he couldn’t talk.”

“Paradise is the safest utopia on this Earth. Here, anyone can lead a peaceful and happy life.”

“No matter how I think about it, isn’t he a cult leader?”

As Ju Yoonchae clicked her tongue and added her own commentary, the people sitting at the next table moved their chairs as far away as possible. They had expressions as if wondering what they would do if they got caught in the crossfire for her saying such subversive things so casually.

The evacuation zone was a lawless land for the soldiers. Nothing happened because the research institute was relatively free from the soldiers’ grasp, but if one said such things outside, it would be an immediate trip to prison.

Knowing that, Ju Yoonchae did not care and grumbled while violently poking the bread with a butter knife.

The scene on the TV screen changed, and this time a new person appeared. It was a new video that had never been seen before. The cafeteria instantly became as quiet as a dead mouse.

Perhaps this video was recently filmed, as the quality was much clearer and sharper than the previous one. The aura of the man standing alone against the studio backdrop in the video was unusual.

The man, who was staring straight ahead arrogantly as if he could see through the entire situation here beyond the monitor, slowly opened his mouth.

“Welcome to Paradise.”

It was just a single sentence, but an unprecedented tension filled the cafeteria. There was only one reason why people were now as tense as frightened herbivores.

Sharp facial features, hair and eyes so black they seemed to bewitch people, and even without any introduction, one could tell just from the leisureliness that graced his face. The man had the typical appearance of a ruler. It was a face he had never seen before.

“Who is that? It’s my first time seeing him. Am I the only one who doesn’t know?”

Because the cafeteria had become so quiet, Haoran’s flighty voice reached Ilyeong, who was far away. Everyone here heard that question, but no one answered. It was only natural. Because no one knew the answer.

Unlike Seo Yoonseok, the man did not smile kindly. He just stood there, watching the camera with a quiet face. He was such a handsome man that anyone who saw him would be at a loss for words, but the aura flowing around him was so intense that there was no room for appreciation.

Ilyeong was also caught in the throng of frightened herbivores, but the reason he was so overwhelmed was different.

“Any of you residing in the evacuation zones can win the lottery.”

It was a voice that struck down like a powerful bolt of lightning from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. Or it was a persistent and destructive voice, as if scraping the very bottom of a person.

Ilyeong met the unknown man’s eyes in the silence for a long time. No, perhaps it was not actually such a long silence. Ilyeong’s gaze rummaged through the space between the man’s firmly closed lips. Without realizing it, his upper body leaned in that direction.

As if he had read Ilyeong’s anticipation, the man slowly parted his jaw.

“The Paradise Lottery offers an equal opportunity to everyone.”

It was not an illusion. His mind became a little hazy, just like when he was high on drugs. A shock as if his brain had been struck followed.

Could Paradise have used some trick to bewitch people? Ilyeong whipped his head around and examined the faces of Ju Yoonchae and the others. They all had unfazed expressions. They were not limp like drugged mollusks either.

Ilyeong, on full alert, turned his gaze back to the screen. And, holding his breath, he followed every movement of the man’s facial muscles.

“Do not miss this lucky opportunity.”

“Ah……”

Absurdly, that last remark made all the tension drain out of him. The magic that had been caressing his mind was all broken. The once quiet cafeteria was now noisily stained with Haoran’s fussy voice.

As the tension eased, his head immediately complained of a headache. It was not the tame headache of the morning, but his usual ferocious one. Once the dam burst, his thoughts also flooded uncontrollably.

It’s ridiculous. If Paradise is good fortune, then are all the other evacuation zones misfortune? The part about not missing the opportunity is also absurd. If that were possible in a lottery system, would the people here just be rotting away?

Ilyeeong habitually fumbled for the tin case in his pocket.

“How annoying.”

Ilyeong defined his first impression of the man he saw for the first time that way. While waiting for Ju Yoonchae to agree. However, the answer came from a different place.

“I’ve let that kind of talk slide once or twice, but.”

A large hand suddenly came to rest its weight on Ilyeong’s shoulder. A swaggering voice pierced him from right above his head. With this, Ilyeong bit the tender flesh inside his mouth for the second time today. Without seeing his face, he could guess who the person standing behind him was.

The owner of the calloused hand strode over and approached Ilyeong. The surroundings became quiet again, so much so that the sound of military boots hitting the floor could be heard clearly.

Ilyeong turned his eyes and checked the cafeteria entrance. Before he had noticed, soldiers in navy blue military uniforms had occupied various spots in the cafeteria.

“Ilyeong. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

The man calling Ilyeong, feigning a gentle tone, was Nam Giyoon, the son of Lieutenant General Nam, who was in charge of discipline in the trash village.

The troublemaker of the trash village.

The ugly scar that started on his left cheek and crossed his nose and forehead gleamed even more than usual under the lights today.

According to rumors, some said he had been scratched by a glass shard wielded by a prostitute while messing around, while others said he had gotten it bad while being mobilized to suppress a protest in another evacuation zone.

Only Ilyeong knew that neither was true.

Whatever the truth, Nam Giyoon thought of the crack on his pretty face as a complex. Anyone whose gaze lingered on that scar for too long always had to pay the price dearly. The prodigal son, who had his father’s authority at his back, was the biggest fear of the trash village.

“Captain Nam.”

At Ilyeong’s call, Nam Giyoon raised an eyebrow, once again showing some sign of displeasure. Ilyeong pretended not to see and continued.

“That person… who is he.”

“Who?”

“The person who was in the promotional video just now.”

His gaze, which had been fixed on Ilyeong the whole time, moved to the TV.

“Ah……”

Recognizing the man in the video, Nam Giyoon let out a smirk and burst into laughter.

“A psycho.”

It was a casual tone, as if asking what lunch was like today.

“I will be waiting for you in Paradise. I wish you good luck.”

“Seo Juhyeok. Seo Yoonseok’s son.”

Just as he finished speaking, the man in the video looked down at Ilyeong with a sardonic smile. At the same time, the TV screen blinked off.

“Seo Yoonseok’s son?”

The reaction first came from Ju Yoonchae, who was across from him.

Ju Yoonchae was beyond wary of Nam Giyoon; she hated him, and it was all blatantly revealed in her expression. She always glared at Nam Giyoon with narrowed eyes, to the point where one wondered if she would get into trouble someday, but now she was so surprised that she just stared with wide-open eyes.

It was understandable. It was a well-known fact that Seo Yoonseok had two sons and one daughter, but this was the first time his child had appeared in an official video like this.

He glanced around and saw that everyone in the cafeteria had a similar expression to Ju Yoonchae. Ilyeong opened his mouth to represent everyone’s curiosity.

“Do you know him?”

“Well, vaguely, through acquaintances.”

Nam Giyoon answered, cleaning his ear with an indifferent expression. At that answer, the entire cafeteria stirred. They were all so scared that they had not even thought of opening their mouths, but it seemed that their wicked curiosity had overcome their fear of the soldiers and their force.

“But Ilyeong. I didn’t come here to talk about some other bastard, you know?”

“……”

“And it’s been bothering me for a while, but what’s this? Are you acting distant because there are people around? Why are you using honorifics when you never do?”

“Captain Nam.”

“When we were young, you used to call me hyung, hyung, and followed me around saying you liked me……. It makes this hyung sad to hear.”

The cafeteria quieted down in an instant. If he just let Nam Giyoon run his mouth like this, it was obvious what kind of rumors would follow, even without seeing it. Curses rose up like vomit, but he opened his mouth calmly.

“What is it that you don’t like.”

“Speak informally like you usually do. Don’t use that damn polite tone.”

“There are many eyes watching.”

In other words, he was telling him to stop and get out of his workplace. Nam Giyoon was someone who would usually let things slide quietly in front of others, no matter how much of a bastard he was. He should have understood, but his grinning face was detestable.

“Sorry, but I’m not in a good mood right now, so I don’t feel like letting you off. If the watching eyes are the problem, should I get rid of everyone here? Then will you act like you usually do?”

Nam Giyoon’s eyes, which seemed half-crazed, gleamed. He had learned the hard way through numerous experiences that the words ‘get rid of’ did not simply mean to chase them out.

He was trying to treat him politely, so why was he being such a bitch, the crazy bastard. He looked up at him with that meaning, and Nam Giyoon made a gesture of firing a gun with his fingers.

If he insisted on being stubborn like this, it was obvious that he would face an even worse situation than now. At least in this trash village, the only one who could stop the current Nam Giyoon was his father.

This time, Ilyeong deliberately bit the tender flesh inside his mouth hard.

“……Nam Giyoon.”

“There you go.”

The surroundings stirred once again. This was the first time he had spoken informally to Nam Giyoon in such a public place. A mere researcher speaking informally to a soldier, and Nam Giyoon at that. Just the thought of handling the repercussions that would follow was already giving him a headache. Regardless, Nam Giyoon had a satisfied face and this time looked at Ju Yoonchae.

“I’ve been waiting a long time, so won’t you give up your seat now?”

The person he was speaking to was Ju Yoonchae, but the people who had been sitting at the same table all scattered like a group of mice exposed to light.

Nam Giyoon, finding something so funny, giggled and kicked the leg of the chair Ju Yoonchae was sitting on with his foot. Ilyeong glared at that brazen face. Now that things had come to this, he did not even think about hiding his hostility.

“Why are you telling an innocent person to move? There are many other seats, so find another one.”

“I answered all your questions, so it’s sad to receive such cold treatment. I want to sit here, you know?”

“In the first place, why is a soldier eating at a research institute? Go and eat at your own unit.”

“Is that so? Then will you come to our unit? Or…… my room?”

Ilyeong shut his mouth. It was not because he was scared. It was obvious that if the conversation got longer, it would, as always, lead to sexual harassment. He sighed and nodded his head toward Ju Yoonchae. Ju Yoonchae, who had been stubbornly holding her ground despite Nam Giyoon’s pressure, raised her eyebrows slightly. It meant, ‘Are you okay?’

“I’m fine. Eat somewhere else. You don’t need to get indigestion too.”

At Ilyeong’s sharp words, only Nam Giyoon laughed in amusement. Ju Yoonchae frowned once, then picked up her tray and stood up from her seat. Then she moved to the table right behind them.

As if he really intended to eat a leisurely meal, Nam Giyoon placed the tray he was holding on the table with a clatter. The food inside it splattered not only on the table but also on Ilyeong’s clothes and face.

“It suits you.”

“Garbage……”

“Someday, I’ll spray something else on that pretty face of yours.”

Ilyeong now chewed on a curse, regardless of whether the people around him heard, and wiped his cheek roughly with the end of his sleeve. Nam Giyoon watched the scene with a rapt expression.

Ilyeong tore his gaze away from the sight he hated to see and looked at the table. It was the same tray as the others, but the contents on Nam Giyoon’s tray were not the same.

Soft bread with a fine texture and a fresh vegetable salad. And it was filled with a soup of a luscious yellow color. It was a special meal that the people in the kitchen had been preparing for him since Nam Giyoon started frequenting this research institute.

“Want to eat mine? To serve this kind of garbage to eat. I wonder if they’re not trying to hint at me not to come again.”

The fact that the food, which was as precious as a last supper to those starving, was worse than garbage to someone else made him feel a little drained.

Ilyeong did not answer, but Nam Giyoon did not mind and pushed his tray toward him. The warm smell of freshly heated bread stimulated his nose.

The color of the fresh salad, which was incomparable to the wilted vegetables on Ilyeong’s tray, was just as tempting. Ilyeong barely managed to tear his gaze away.

“If you know, then get lost. Can’t you see I have to walk on eggshells around others because of you?”

“If you don’t want me to come here, then you should come and find me, you know? No matter how much I beg to see you, you won’t even show me an eyeball, so I have no choice but to come. I’m also scared to death of coming here because of your crazy friend.”

Nam Giyoon sneered in a tone that was not at all frightened. That crazy friend must be referring to Ju Yoonchae, who was watching this way with blazing eyes. It seemed Nam Giyoon had eyes on the back of his head. By the way, it was more amazing that with his temperament, he was putting up with Ju Yoonchae looking at him like that.

“And I really came today because I have something to do.”

Nam Giyoon, uncharacteristically, hesitated a little before slowly opening his mouth.

“I’m on vacation starting tomorrow.”

“So.”