Black Paradise Chapter 1.2

“And you have the day off tomorrow too.”

“……So what?”

On the day of the lottery, everyone in the evacuation zone takes a day off from work. So Ilyeong, too, had planned to spend all of tomorrow lazing around in his sanctuary, high on drugs. All the equipment used for making drugs was there as well. It was not a very difficult task to steal a few instruments from the new drug research institute and assemble and install them there.

“There’s a place I want to take you.”

Nam Giyoon, who had been sparing with his words, added a little nervously after seeing Ilyeong’s cold expression.

“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that. Just make some time for me tomorrow before the lottery drawing.”

Ilyeong narrowed his brow and scraped the bottom of his soup and ate it without an answer. He deliberately did not even glance at Nam Giyoon’s tray again.

Everyone in the trash village knew that when Nam Giyoon had a day off, he would call a prostitute to his house and roll around with her all day, so what whim was this? Why on earth?

Ilyeong shook his head slightly as if to shake off the thought. He gave up trying to understand the reason. He was a guy who did not operate on common sense in the first place. He felt like his own mind would be completely contaminated if he knew what was inside that head of his.

“The lottery……. What kind of place is Paradise.”

He tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. Nam Giyoon raised his eyebrows as if it were an unexpected question. Following the movement of his facial muscles, the large scar that ran from his cheek to his forehead also stretched out long.

“You’re a soldier, so you can go to Paradise, you must know.”

At a good timing, the TV screen in the cafeteria lit up again. Perhaps because it was the day before the lottery, it was a Paradise promotional video this time as well. It was a faded and strangely mismatched video, as if a layer of grime had settled on it, but its content was so peaceful and beautiful that it made one watch it넋을 놓고. He could somewhat understand why Jo praised it so much that her mouth went dry.

Was Paradise really like a paradise, just like its name? The more he randomly pictured the place he could not go to in his head, the colder reality felt.

“What is it you want to ask?”

“In the evacuation zone, there are many people who can’t get a single vaccine shot even with a new drug research institute right next to them, so I’m curious if Paradise is a little different. Is everyone healthy and happy like in that video?”

Whenever he saw the people smiling without a single shadow in the video, Ilyeong’s mood always became thoroughly twisted. If that video was just a false wrapper created to package Paradise as a paradise, yes, if it was something like that, he did not think he would feel this suffocated.

“I don’t know why you’re suddenly curious about that.”

Nam Giyoon had a strange expression. Because of that expression, Ilyeong had to swallow what he really wanted to ask.

Why the people of Paradise, who had everything, were buying his drugs, what those people were trying to get with this drug……. His mind was a muddy pit of questions that he would not be able to utter until the day he died.

“Yes, Paradise is different. Of course, there are research institutes and researchers who develop new drugs. They are all very excellent gentlemen. So much so that they can’t be compared to the people at the research institute here.”

“Ah……”

A sigh like a groan escaped. Nam Giyoon’s sharp voice poked at his ears like a popping balloon. The unknown expectation subsided in vain like air leaking out.

“Why are you making that face?”

“What face am I making?”

“A disappointed face.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would I.”

Something had provoked him again, as Nam Giyoon had a menacing face.

“Kwon Ilyeong, it seems you’ve got some silly ideas because of the lottery tomorrow, but don’t get any funny ideas.”

“What?”

“Did you think you were something just because you get treated a little better at the research institute? There are plenty of people in Paradise who are better than you. There, you’re just a shabby, garbage-like existence too.”

Ilyeong shut his mouth. He was dumbfounded. He was not hurt by the words that mercilessly cut down his pride. Only people who could afford pride could have it. He had rotted in this garbage dump for too long to be hurt by such words. That was why he could be unfazed even when he heard curses or sexual harassment to his face.

The reason he was at a loss for words now…… was because of Nam Giyoon’s face. While he was so eager to hurt another’s heart with his venomous tongue, why did he have a face like he was the one who had been abandoned?

Seeing Nam Giyoon’s weak face, which was different from usual, a memory submerged under the water tried to raise its head abruptly. Ilyeong gritted his teeth and lifted his chin even more firmly.

The one who averted his gaze first was Nam Giyoon. He soon picked up an apple that he had not even touched and stood up from his seat. Then he swung his arm back wide and threw the apple with all his might.

“What are you doing……”

Swoosh. The apple that left Nam Giyoon’s hand cut through the air and flew straight toward the TV. And with a loud noise, it hit the bulky body right in the middle. The support that had been worn down over a long time could not withstand the strong impact. The machine soon fell to the floor like a fruit that had missed its harvest time and had not just ripened, but rotted.

Bang!

With a loud crash, screams erupted from all around like fireworks. People he did not even know existed popped out from every corner and made a fuss.

In that chaos, only Nam Giyoon was calm. His eyes, which seemed to be burning with a blue fire, looked down at Ilyeong.

“Your place is here. This filthy trash village. Paradise, the lottery, all of it has nothing to do with you.”

Words like a child’s stubbornness were ground between Nam Giyoon’s teeth.

“So wake up from your foolish dreams.”

Nam Giyoon looked down at him for a long time with bloodshot eyes before striding out of the cafeteria.

Who said I was having foolish dreams.

Ilyeong glared at Nam Giyoon’s back for a long time. The headache he had momentarily forgotten about echoed in his skull.

*

Nam Giyoon really did leave and did not come back. He said he had a place to take him so he should keep his time free, but he did not show a single strand of hair until the day changed. Thanks to that, Ilyeong had to deal with the aftermath of the incident that happened in the cafeteria alone. So annoyingly.

Being called in by the institute director and explaining that the shattered TV was all that psycho’s doing, and writing a statement of facts just because he was there, was barely tolerable. But the way the people at the institute whispered behind his back was so sickening that it made him grind his teeth.

If the rumor had been a lukewarm one like, Kwon Ilyeong was rude to Nam Giyoon yesterday, so the angry Nam Giyoon broke the institute’s TV, Ilyeong would not have felt this shitty. However, the rumor that had started to blow in the institute since yesterday was not light enough to be dismissed with just a few words like that.

“They say you sold your body to Nam Giyoon. In return, that bastard has been looking out for you. But yesterday, you refused the deal, so Nam Giyoon got really angry. Do you know what the funniest part is? The majority of the reactions are, ‘I knew it.’”

The one who told Ilyeong that rumor was Ju Yoonchae.

It seemed that in the eyes of others, yesterday’s commotion looked like just a love drama between a prostitute and a prodigal son. He had known that similar rumors had been circulating before, but this time the situation was a bit more serious. That was why Ju Yoonchae had discreetly told him the content of the rumor.

Nam Giyoon, for someone who rolled around promiscuously with a different partner every day, had never once laid a hand on Ilyeong’s body. Ilyeong, too, had never once thought of getting involved with Nam Giyoon. It was so disgusting that just the thought of it made him want to vomit.

Then why did such a rumor start? Ilyeong was genuinely curious. The one who gave him the answer was also Ju Yoonchae.

“The way that bastard looks at you is a bit like that.”

“What? Nam Giyoon is like that to other people too. It’s not just me.”

“No, it’s not like that…… it’s a bit hard to explain with words, but anyway, it’s a bit strange.”

Ju Yoonchae looked toward the cafeteria and muttered like that as if she was fed up. It was an incomprehensible statement, and since he did not want to understand it, Ilyeong did not ask for more details.

Yesterday’s incident was, in other words, a single drop of water that fell into a cup that was at its saturation point. That one drop made the rumors that had been secretly circulating overflow. The trash village, a perfect place for filth to collect, spread rumors just as narrowly and quickly. That meant it would not be long before everyone in the trash village would point their fingers at him as a prostitute.

Ilyeong stayed up all night, unable to even grasp how to handle the situation. His grand plan of enjoying the holiday and lazing around high on drugs was, of course, all ruined. That son of a bitch Nam Giyoon. Fucking bastard. It was all because of that perverted bastard.

Ilyeong eventually fell asleep only after seeing the dawn break dimly. When he opened his eyes again, the sun was already hanging over the middle of the mountain. Still, it was only a 3-hour rest. When he did not give it enough drugs or sleep, his head responded with a headache. His brain and blood vessels, which had not received their promised food, barked like ferocious dogs. Woof. Woof. In a hurry, he took out half a pill from the pill case and swallowed it. The son of a bitch quickly quieted down.

Ilyeong staggered to his feet. This was his sanctuary, a place that used to be a warehouse that he had remodeled with triple security.

He did not really remember how he ended up nesting here. There were often other things from the past that he could not remember. Anyway, no one ever came near this area, so it was suitable for doing all sorts of shady things. The problem was that it was too remote, so it was far from his daily routine on weekdays.

Ilyeong went a long way around and down to the night-duty room on the second floor to wash up and change into clean clothes. He did not feel like eating, so he was about to skip it, but he suddenly saw a bag of bread and a note on the bedside table.

Eat it.

It was undoubtedly the work of the meddlesome Ju Yoonchae. Ilyeong mumbled and chewed on Ju Yoonchae’s generosity and leisurely walked out of the research institute. To get to the square by 1 o’clock when the lottery drawing would be, he had to hurry his steps a bit. His leisurely pace eventually turned into something like a run.

His panting breath began to be buried in the murmur of the crowd. It was a sign that he was getting close to the square. The square was the largest space in the 5th Evacuation Zone, enough to accommodate all the people of the trash village and the soldiers.

As soon as he caught his breath and looked around, he saw familiar faces one by one. Most of them were teammates like Haoran or Jo. They had had gloomy, dying faces at the research institute, but now they all had bright faces as if they had come back to life. It seemed the event called the lottery had revitalized them. Not only the people from the research institute, but everyone in the trash village had faces smeared with anticipation and excitement.

“Ju Yoon……”

Ju Yoonchae was there too. Ilyeong, who was about to call out her name, just stopped in his tracks. Ju Yoonchae was not alone. With her arm linked affectionately with her fiancé, she had a rarely seen excited face.

Ilyeong lowered his half-raised hand and turned his steps toward a corner of the square. With every step he took, he could feel gazes furtively looking at him from all around. He did not want to admit it, but he had been a celebrity in the trash village since the first day he was assigned to a research position.

“Buy some flowers, hyung. I have medicinal herbs too.”

Ilyeong, who was standing in the most cornered place, suddenly looked down at the hand that was persistently pulling on his pants. A skinny young boy was holding a basket and looking up at him with round eyes. When their eyes met, the child abruptly held out a crudely woven bouquet of wildflowers.

Ilyeong quickly raised his head and glanced around. In all evacuation zones, including the trash village, unauthorized commercial activities were strictly prohibited. It seemed the soldiers had not yet noticed the child’s presence.

“You’ll be in big trouble if you do this here. If you get caught, even a kid like you will……”

He barely swallowed the words ‘get beaten to a pulp’ as he looked at the child’s innocent eyes.

“So just take this and go.”

Ilyeong rummaged through his pockets and pressed all the coins he could find into the child’s hand. He also pressed the half-eaten bread into the small hand.

“Then……”

Despite the child’s persistent refusal, he only disappeared after he had tucked a large bouquet of wildflowers into Ilyeong’s arms. Even more gazes gathered on Ilyeong, who was hugging the bouquet like a bride. Fuck……. Ilyeong barely swallowed the boiling curse.

“Welcome, everyone from the 5th Evacuation Zone. We will now begin the 36th Paradise Lottery drawing!”

Fortunately, the screen lit up just in time. The gazes that had been snickering and glancing at Ilyeong all turned to the front.

“The Paradise Lottery is a project hosted in rotation by the three continents of Asia, North America, and Africa every year. This year’s lottery will be hosted by Asia. There will be a total of 3 winners, and any resident of the evacuation zone can win the lottery. The Paradise Lottery promises to give everyone a fair chance.”

A host in a suit who appeared in the video began to recite an explanation of the lottery in a bright voice. It was probably a video pre-recorded in Paradise and then sent over to the evacuation zones.

The woman in the video said with a broad smile.

“Now, we will announce the first lucky winner.”

After finishing the explanation of the lottery, the woman disappeared and the screen began to flash rapidly. Grand music accompanied it, perhaps aiming for a dramatic effect.

The booming sound of the music resembled the howling of the trucks he had heard yesterday, making his head tingle. The pain, which had felt like being poked with a needle, soon changed to feel like being stabbed with a knife.

The effect of the half-pill he had swallowed in the morning seemed to have already worn off. As if half a pill was not nearly enough, the headache turned into a son of a bitch and began to bark again, woof woof.

Ilyeong hurriedly searched his pockets. But the tin case where he kept his medicine did not come to hand easily. Where did I put it? Did I forget it when I changed clothes? Or did I mindlessly hand over the medicine along with the coins to the kid earlier?

“This is the first winner to have grasped the ticket to Paradise. Congratulations!”

Waaah—!

A cheer erupted at the same time a strange name appeared on the screen. The headache that was stabbing his brain also turned up its volume.

Ilyeong squinted and retraced the ground with his eyes. In addition to the successive cheers, a fat middle-aged man near Ilyeong let out a shout of joy.

“Right away, we will announce the second lucky winner.”

Thump… Thump… Thump…….

Now there was no way to tell if that grand sound was really coming from the screen or if it was just playing in his head. The quiet headache from yesterday must have been the eye of the storm for this very moment. He felt like he would die from feeling so pathetic for carelessly reducing his medication dose.

“Congratulations!”

In the meantime, the second cheer erupted. This time, he did not even have time to check the screen. A couple who was jumping up and down and cheering bumped into Ilyeong and shot him a displeased look.

“Last! We will announce the lucky winner.”

He was panting as if he had run a full sprint. Could he have dropped the case on the ground? He bent his legs and sat down, desperately fumbling on the floor, when his eyes met with someone standing far away among the numerous people.

Son of a bitch. It was Nam Giyoon.

“Congratulations!”

“I knew it! I told you I would get it!”

Along with the third cheer, a familiar voice was heard from nearby. A burst of laughter like a fanfare followed. That flippant sound was undoubtedly Haoran’s. There was no way to confirm his expression, but it was obvious he would be grinning from ear to ear even without seeing him.

He had thought it did not matter who the winner was, but just imagining Haoran’s smug face from tomorrow’s work commute made him feel shitty right away. Or was it? Should I be glad that I won’t have to see that face anymore…….

The headache worsened in an instant, to an unbearable degree. Pushed by the feeling of his head crumbling like mashed potatoes, Ilyeong bent his upper body. He tried to stand up straight somehow, but his legs were staggering relentlessly. A person nearby caught Ilyeong’s shoulder by chance. Even what that person was chattering about felt like a pain that was hitting his brain.

“Shut up……”

Shut up, shut up. Ilyeong, who was muttering, met Nam Giyoon’s eyes once again. Those two eyes were wide open as if in shock.

Nam Giyoon soon began to try to make his way through the crowd toward him. As if it was not going as he wanted, he seemed to have opened his mouth wide and shouted a few times in between, but there was no way to know what he was saying.

Nam Giyoon, unable to control the festival-like atmosphere bordering on madness, took something out from his bosom with blazing eyes. And he raised his arm high just like that.

Bang! A gunshot echoed sharply in the air.

It was the finale of the festival.

“……Paradise……Lottery……”

The surroundings became quiet in an instant. So everyone could hear the voice in the video clearly. The screen, which should have turned black after announcing the three winners, was still shining brightly.

As if blinking its eyes, the screen repeatedly flickered irregularly.

No one did not know what that meant. The drawing was not over.

“……We will announce, the lucky winner.”

Crackle, crackle, static like tearing airwaves was mixed randomly with the cheerful voice. Ilyeong barely supported his body with his trembling legs and stood up.

And he saw it.

His own three-character name written on that screen. In the eyes of a fragmented and misaligned monster, the bizarrely twisted three characters, ‘Kwon Ilyeong’.

“Congratu……tions.”

“……”

“……”

Unlike the previous three drawings, no one cheered. The faces that had been excited with envy and joy were now all looking at Ilyeong with frightened eyes.

Kiiiing-. A thin, high-pitched mechanical sound, incomparable to anything before, took over his head. The bouquet of wildflowers fell.

He saw Haoran’s eyes filled with horror. Following that, he also saw Nam Giyoon’s eyes, stained with anger.

His whole body melted and flowed onto the asphalt floor. In the midst of his fading consciousness, he thought he heard Ju Yoonchae’s urgent voice calling him, Kwon Ilyeong.

This is the limit. The next moment, Ilyeong lost consciousness.

*

It was darkness. When he realized he was in a dream, Ilyeong was trapped in that place with no discernible bottom or end.

His sense of hearing sharpened to compensate for his useless sight. Ah……. The wind howled long, testing him. It was a hair-raising sound, like a person on the verge of death screaming their lungs out.

Ilyeong unconsciously covered his ears. Unable to bear the sound of death rushing from a distance, he turned around and fled blindly. Death mocked the blind human and persistently grabbed his hair. The pain of his scalp tearing came over him, and he heard the sound of a puddle splashing under his feet. The fishy smell of blood suddenly pricked his nose. In his head, the son of a bitch was still barking its head off, woof woof. His mind was torn into ten thousand pieces.

This was the abyss.

It was at that moment. Bang! The gunshot he had last heard before losing consciousness cut off the sound of the wind.

“Yes, I killed him……. Ilyeong, I shot mister with a gun and killed him.”

It was a voice he could never forget. The voice of a young boy cried out his name in the darkness.

“Ilyeong, Kwon Ilyeong, let’s go together….”

It was definitely Nam Giyoon.

Following that, he heard the sound of sobbing from somewhere. It did not take long to realize that it was a sound leaking from his own mouth. Ilyeong hurriedly covered his mouth.

Not missing the opportunity, death pressed its lips to his ear and sang a song of temptation. A tune so ecstatic that it made his whole body tingle quieted the headache.

Ilyeong walked back on the path he had fled. The pitch-black darkness welcomed him with open arms. At its end, the grim reaper revealed its identity.

“Welcome to Paradise.”

It was Seo Juhyeok. The next moment, Ilyeong awoke from his unconsciousness.

Gasp, haah…. His whole body heaved like a fetus taking its first breath. His dark vision began to return little by little. The first thing he recognized was the low ceiling. Dust poured down like powder every time he blinked his unfocused eyes several times.

“…suddenly collapsed……”

“……since when…”

Fragmented words pierced his ears. His mind was so foggy, as if a mist had settled, that even assembling a sentence was difficult. After realizing it was reality, the headache that had tempered him into unconsciousness returned. The pain was still so intense that his skull felt like it was splitting, and a groan boiled up from below his throat. At that sound, the conversation stopped for a moment.

“Kwon Ilyeong!”

The person who ran over in a single breath, with her red hair flying wildly, was Ju Yoonchae. Ju Yoonchae, sitting by the bed, became pale and threw a series of questions at him.

“Are you okay? Does your head still hurt? Do you remember everything that happened?”

Long strands of hair fell over Ilyeong’s face. Every time Ju Yoonchae moved about restlessly, he suddenly had the illusion of being engulfed in flames.

My head still feels like it’s going to split, I’m not feeling great, and I remember everything. So please move your hair now, I feel like I’m going to throw up….

There were so many things to answer, but his voice would not come out properly. Even though Ilyeong only groaned, Ju Yoonchae soon pulled her upper body away as if she understood everything. As his vision cleared, he finally saw the other person in the room.

“Mr. Kwon Ilyeong. I heard you suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed, is this a frequent occurrence?”

The person whose eyes he met abruptly threw a question at him without even introducing himself. He was a tall young man. His face was caked with fatigue, but he had a sharp impression, no less than Nam Giyoon. The fact that he was a face he had never seen in the trash village made the back of Ilyeong’s neck feel cold. He could feel an inexplicable displeasure from the man’s face as he stood ramrod straight, looking down at Ilyeong.

Ilyeong did not answer and instead stared intently at Ju Yoonchae. Who is this person to ask me something like this. This time too, Ju Yoonchae smiled as if in a difficult position, as though she had read his mind.

“I’ll speak on his behalf. It’s not frequent, but it seems he sometimes collapses like this when his headache gets severe. I found him collapsed once before.”

“Any other symptoms besides the headache?”

“As far as I know, no.”

The man flicked his eyebrows and let out a long sigh.

“Why didn’t you see a doctor sooner? There should be a doctor dispatched from Paradise in this zone.”

“Because they’re all completely useless.”

“Haha……. The distrust is considerable. I can’t believe the elite personnel of Paradise are treated like this.”

The man was annoying to the very end. To the point where if his body were well, he would want to kick that unsightly butt and chase him out right away. Most of all, it was most amazing that Ju Yoonchae was silently putting up with that insolence.

“It’s headache medicine.”

The man rummaged through his briefcase and took something out. It was a rectangular box, longer and wider than a cigarette case.

“Take one now, and then take one pill each time it gets really unbearable. An accurate prescription would probably be possible only after a direct conversation, but it will be difficult with Mr. Kwon Ilyeong’s condition like this. Let’s talk in more detail next time.”

Who says. Ilyeong shot a sharp glare at the man’s broad back. With a face that was completely unaffected, the man added a few more words of caution to Ju Yoonchae. Then, making it obvious that he did not want to be here a moment longer, he quickly left the house.

In the shabby space that could hardly be called a room, Ju Yoonchae’s movements were clearly visible. Ju Yoonchae, who had sent the man off with a kind face, immediately kicked the wall several times with a loud bang. Then she returned, huffing and puffing, with a glass of water.

“Drink it. They say he’s not a quack, so it should help a little.”

For someone with her personality, she had put up with a lot. Ilyeong stared blankly for a moment at the pill and water that Ju Yoonchae took out from the box and gave him.

Headache medicine, he had said. The oval-shaped, pure white pill was uncannily similar to his own original medicine. The ingredients and effects would be completely different, but in a worst-case scenario like now, where the headache was barking loudly, he had no time to weigh his options.

“Umm……”

Ilyeong obediently swallowed the pill with water. The headache was still there, but instead, his throat cleared up a bit. Ilyeong sat up and drained the entire cup of water. Even after that, his voice did not come out properly, so he drank another glass of water that Ju Yoonchae gave him.

“……Your fiancé?”

“The first person you look for after coming back from the dead is my fiancé? He went home. Where is the spirit to go on a date. When you’re this sick. Taking care of you comes first.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry for something like this.”

Only after seeing Ilyeong’s fine face did Ju Yoonchae get up and move to the kitchen. The loud clattering of dishes echoed a little in his head.

“Who was that annoying man earlier? Is he really a doctor? I’ve never seen his face at the infirmary.”

“He’s a doctor on a business trip from Paradise. I hear he’s very competent, but I don’t know if it’s true or not, but at least his hands don’t tremble like the doctors at the infirmary. Maybe this time they’ll be able to find out the cause of your headache.”

It was a moment when he understood their conversation, in which a strange sense of hierarchy was felt. The order between the zones was the order between the people.

“Wait a minute. Why is a doctor from Paradise looking at my condition? I don’t think they’d look at someone from the evacuation zone for a billion dollars, with that pride of theirs.”

“Nam Giyoon brought him.”

“What? How?”

“I don’t know either. After you collapsed like that earlier, Nam Giyoon picked you up and ran. Our house was the closest place from there, so we came here. And then the doctor he brought was that person.”

Ah……. A sigh escaped. The thought of being carried on Nam Giyoon’s back in front of other people was more annoying than grateful.

So he thought of something else. For example, the expression on Nam Giyoon’s face right before he collapsed. That dumbfounded expression, so surprised. Thinking of that face, which looked like it had been punched, made him feel a little refreshed even in this situation.

Ju Yoonchae recognized Ilyeong’s state like a ghost and clicked her tongue, saying, you’re something else. Ilyeong cleared his throat and composed his expression.

“So where’s Nam Giyoon?”

“I don’t know. No matter how much of a lieutenant general’s son he is, he fired a gun during an official event, so maybe he’ll actually be punished this time? He might have gone to confess.”

“With that conscience, he would never.”

“Why did that bastard suddenly shoot a gun? I knew he was crazy, but he’s a complete psycho. Ilyeong, you really have to be careful. From now on, choose your words carefully. He might shoot you in the head next time.”

Ju Yoonchae warned him seriously. Ilyeong just let her think of Nam Giyoon as a complete crazy psycho. He did not say that the reason Nam Giyoon shot into the air was none other than to save him. Because he thought it was a ridiculous story himself.

How did Nam Giyoon notice his abnormal state in that short time? No matter how he thought about it, he was an insidious bastard whose intentions he could not fathom.

“Anyway, about that doctor. He seemed to be quite close with Nam Giyoon. He said he’d stay in this trash village for a few days and check on your condition. He also told you to stop taking that headache medicine you’re taking.”

Ilyeong’s breath caught for a moment.

“Did you tell him? That I’m taking medicine?”

“No? He said he heard it from Nam Giyoon? So I thought you got caught by him too.”

The headache that he thought had receded a step returned as a sharp pain. His family did not know, and he had only been caught by Ju Yoonchae by chance, so how did Nam Giyoon know? Since when? How much did he know?

“……I can’t. I have to go somewhere, whether it’s the research institute or home.”

“What are you saying, are you crazy? Eat before you go!”

When Ilyeong pretended not to hear and got out of bed, Ju Yoonchae was startled and quickly set the table. It seemed the reason she had been bustling about in the kitchen was to prepare the meal.

Ilyeong picked up a spoon and stirred the thin stew before putting it back on the table. Ju Yoonchae asked him the reason with her eyes.

Ilyeong knew, but the words did not come out right away, so he repeatedly moved his dry lips before squeezing out his voice.

“……What happened with the lottery?”

It was an indirect question, but Ju Yoonchae had a look of understanding everything. Ilyeong swallowed his saliva and waited for her judgment.

The hundreds of pairs of eyes he had seen before losing consciousness opened wide in his mind again. Thinking about it again, it was a hair-raising scene. Ilyeong secretly hoped that everything he had seen was all a misunderstanding.

A fourth winner. He was already suffocating from the rumor that he was selling his body to Nam Giyoon, and he had no intention of adding to his burden in this way.

“I know what you want to ask, and it’s true you won. You’re going to Paradise in a week.”

Ju Yoonchae, who had been silent for a moment, answered calmly. His meager expectations were completely shattered.

“It’s obviously an error. Shouldn’t it be cancelled then?”

“Even if it was an error, they’ve already picked a person, do you think they’d be so cheap as to cancel it? Just shamelessly go along with it.”

“I don’t really want to go.”

“I know. Everyone is desperate to go, so why on earth did it have to be you.”

That was something he had to ask that stupid system, not himself. Ilyeong chewed on his dry lips.

Had there ever been a case where a lottery winner refused to migrate to Paradise? No, no. As Ju Yoonchae said, the people of this zone all yearned for Paradise. Then could he be the first case to refuse the lottery?

Ju Yoonchae sighed.

“Consider yourself lucky that only I’m here. If you had said that in the square, it would have been your neck that was cut, not the bouquet’s.”

Come to think of it, he had been holding something like that before he collapsed. Ju Yoonchae snatched the bouquet that had been neglected on top of the drawer and threw it into Ilyeong’s arms.

“Anyway, congratulations. When I saw you holding the bouquet earlier, I thought it was a pre-arranged performance.”

Most of the fresh wildflowers that had held their heads up stiffly were broken, fitting the violent expression of having their necks cut. It was a bit funny that she had brought it with her in that state.

Ilyeong placed the bouquet of wildflowers back into Ju Yoonchae’s arms.

“You take it.”

“What’s this? To think the first flower I received from my only friend is this ugly.”

“I’m not kidding. You never know. It could be a lucky charm.”

“I don’t really want to leave this place either.”

It seems that he and Ju Yoonchae really were the heretics of this zone. Ju Yoonchae pushed the bouquet of wildflowers to the side.

“I want to live here for the rest of my life. Well, as Jo said, there are no delicacies or the ocean, but the person I love is here, right?”

Ju Yoonchae’s gaze was firm. She ended her sentence with a question mark, but it was close to a conviction. It was only then that a fact hit home. The person who won the lottery had to leave their family and lover behind and leave alone. Could that really be called a blessing?

“Still, I think I’ll be a little sad when you leave.”

This time, Ju Yoonchae did not smile at all. In the two years he had known her, it was the first time he had seen such a serious face.

After eating, he left the house, leaving behind Ju Yoonchae’s protests to rest a little more. The desire to just lie down on a bed or the floor, whatever it was, and fall asleep also contributed to his hurry.

“Where are you going?”

“The research institute.”