Black Paradise Chapter 17.1

“It’s been a while, Dr. Kwon.”

Click. The sound of a door opening and closing was heard.

Ilyeong lifted his head with an expressionless face. Seo Chaejun had pulled up a chair and sat down across from the desk where he was sitting. The face visible beyond the glasses was still handsome.

It was a small room. The only furniture was a single desk and two chairs. It was supposed to be an interrogation room, yet he had been left here for several hours, unrestrained in any way.

The only reason Ilyeong couldn’t be sure of the time was because of the blackout curtain covering the window. There was hardly any natural light coming in, but the incandescent bulb hanging from above cast a dazzlingly bright light. Around it, he could see dust fluttering as if it were dancing.

He had shot a soldier, so he supposed he wouldn’t have had anything to say even if he were immediately tortured. Was this a luxury? He ran a hand over his bare face, smiled bitterly so Seo Chaejun couldn’t see, and then composed his expression. As he just sat there calmly without saying a word, Seo Chaejun also made a short sound, “Hmm.”

“I thought the person sitting in front of me would be my younger brother, you know.”

He was implying that Seo Juhyeok should have been the one to shoot Nam Kiyoon. His candid voice was even tinged with a hint of disappointment.

This confirmed that Seo Chaejun was the one who had sent Nam Kiyoon to the residence.

“Was it you, Lieutenant General, who brought Nam Kiyoon here?”

“Captain Nam Kiyoon, he’s Lieutenant General Nam’s son. His backing is bigger than I thought, so he could have snagged a good position if he’d set his mind to it, but he himself doesn’t have much ambition for rank. So I had a bit of trouble getting him to join my special investigation team.”

So Nam Kiyoon had come as a member of Seo Chaejun’s special investigation team. A dry laugh escaped his lips.

“And I suppose Liam Olson was the one who blabbed on and on about it. Did he tell you to try using Nam Kiyoon to provoke me and Seo Juhyeok?”

“As expected, Dr. Kwon, you’re quick on the uptake. Liam was on pins and needles. Worried he’d become a card I’d discard. Haha.”

Even the great Liam was treated like a son of a bitch by Seo Chaejun.

“Thanks to that, I also learned that you and Captain Nam have a deep relationship. Captain Nam was very angry. He was a complete wreck, so I told him to get a grip, that you were living well with a new man. He didn’t believe me at first, but later, his eyes completely glazed over.”

While Seo Chaejun strung together words that didn’t match his gentle tone at all, Ilyeong felt his hands, which were down below the desk, clench tightly. He asked casually, but his nerves were on edge.

Nam Kiyoon was someone who knew his secret. He was there in the background when Black was created and taken. Because he was deeply involved in that matter, Ilyeong thought Nam Kiyoon wouldn’t open his mouth easily, but assertions and carelessness were forbidden. However, seeing how nonchalantly he was now questioning who fired the shot, it seemed Nam Kiyoon hadn’t said anything about Black.

“The situation flowed in a different direction than I had anticipated because you shot Captain Nam, but…”

Seo Chaejun’s words, like a lingering attachment, returned to the same conclusion again. Nam Kiyoon was probably nothing more than one of the many pawns on Seo Chaejun’s chessboard.

Ilyeong looked him straight in the eye and opened his mouth.

“Is it okay to say in an interrogation room that you wanted Nam Kiyoon to shoot Seo Juhyeok?”

“Dr. Kwon, why did you shoot Captain Nam?”

A question was returned for a question. It was clearly an attempt to take control of the conversation. Which likely meant he had no right to ask questions.

Seeing how uninhibitedly Seo Chaejun was acting, it seemed this wasn’t being recorded. Or perhaps this interrogation room itself was Seo Chaejun’s domain, meaning he didn’t need to be careful with his words.

“Dr. Kwon, I’ve told you before. Don’t even think about scheming. I came here to help you.”

“…”

“Think about it. If I wasn’t going to help you, the military police would be sitting here instead of me. Then you wouldn’t be as comfortable as you are now, either.”

Seo Chaejun persuaded him, picking up a bottle of water that was on the table and pouring it into two cups with a gurgling sound. He pushed one of them in front of Ilyeong as if telling him to drink, and then wet his own lips with the other.

His eyes, visible above the cup, narrowed into thin crescents. It was a look meant to reassure, to say it was okay. If it weren’t for this situation, one might have mistaken it for a leisurely chat with him.

“Now, let’s talk it over again, step by step.”

“I was at Mr. Seo Juhyeok’s residence.”

“It would be better to use the proper title in front of me.”

He had thought it before, but Seo Chaejun had an obsessive side about strange things. Ilyeong corrected himself without showing any emotion.

“…I was at Lieutenant Colonel Seo Juhyeok’s residence when I heard a gunshot. I went outside and it was Captain Nam Kiyoon. He was threatening me with a gun, so in defending myself, such an accident occurred.”

“The person who was actually shot by Captain Nam’s gun was a soldier guarding the residence. Was there something so threatening that you had to shoot?”

He clenched his fist so hard his fingernails dug into his palm. Without letting it show, he paused for an appropriate moment and then opened his mouth.

“As you’ve heard, Captain Nam Kiyoon and I are not on good terms. For such a person to barge into the place where I was with a gun, it was bound to be a sufficient threat to me.”

Seo Chaejun’s gaze became subtle as he chewed over the various words Ilyeong had gathered, trying to distinguish lies from truth. The fingers holding the plastic cup tapped lightly on its rim.

“I wonder if I misjudged someone. I never thought you would be capable of shooting anyone. When I heard Captain Nam had a gunshot wound, I naturally assumed Juhyeok had shot him.”

“Isn’t that what you were hoping for?”

“No way,” Seo Chaejun said, his eyes crinkling into a smile.

“Why would I hope for something like that?”

“If Lieutenant Colonel Seo Juhyeok had shot Captain Nam Kiyoon, you could have used that as a pretext to get rid of the Lieutenant Colonel somewhere or tie his hands and feet.”

“Now that you put it that way, I’m curious too. Is it possible you’re taking the fall to protect Juhyeok?”

“Ask Captain Nam Kiyoon. It’s true that I shot him. I didn’t have the luxury to make such calculations in that situation.”

Ilyeong put on a bitter smile, then wiped the expression from his face the very next moment.

He pretended not to hear Seo Chaejun let out a short exclamation, “Ha!”

“You’re smart, Dr. Kwon. Don’t you realize how serious this is? You dared to shoot a soldier. If it had missed his shoulder by a little and you’d shot his heart, and Captain Nam Kiyoon had died instantly…”

He made a gun shape with his hand, aimed it at Ilyeong’s chest, and mimed shooting.

“I’m saying that no one would make an issue of it even if I were to torture you severely and shoot you dead right here, right now. The lottery winners are like people without family ties in Paradise, so getting rid of them is even easier.”

“…”

“And you shot Nam Kiyoon knowing this? Purely because you don’t get along?”

It sounded like he was mocking Ilyeong’s claim that he wasn’t taking the fall for Seo Juhyeok. Ilyeong lowered his gaze expressionlessly. He wanted to be calm, but just as Seo Chaejun had said, he knew how serious this was, so his fingertips were trembling slightly.

“So what happens to me now?”

“It’s very fortunate for you, Dr. Kwon. We’ve decided to wrap things up amicably. Captain Nam Kiyoon shot a Second Lieutenant under Juhyeok’s command, and you shot the Captain I brought, so we’re keeping it quiet. Still, there are procedures, even if they’re just for show, so for the sake of appearances, you will be detained here for a few days.”

The “we’ve decided to wrap things up amicably” was probably referring to a conversation with Seo Juhyeok. Being treated like a component wasn’t great, but Ilyeong felt the tension drain from him.

He literally wanted to see Seo Juhyeok. When he fired the gun… he was in a state of confusion. After he appeared, other soldiers had swarmed in, and without any chance to talk, he was dragged away, which led to now. Hearing that he would be released, a feeling of exhaustion rushed over him with tremendous speed.

“Dr. Kwon. Starting tomorrow, let’s spend time together like this.”

He had been just bowing his head and catching his breath, as there was nothing more to say. Ilyeong only raised his eyes to stare at the man opposite him.

“I’ve heard from others that you haven’t left the residence since you came here. I’m a sick person myself, so I know this well, but holing yourself up inside like that is not good for your health. The detention is literally just a procedure, so starting tomorrow, let’s take walks around the village and see the sights. Aren’t you curious about the people of District 23, who are so hell-bent on killing each other, just like Juhyeok?”

“Is this an order or a suggestion?”

“If I call it an order, you’ll be on guard, and if I call it a suggestion, you’ll refuse. It seems I only have the lesser of two evils to choose from.”

The smile slowly faded from his eyes, which had been narrowed behind his glasses. Once the smile that always seemed to be there as a habit vanished, his impression was utterly cold.

“Dr. Kwon Ilyeong. As of this moment, you are to accompany me for one week. You have no right to refuse. You understand what a grave crime it is to shoot a soldier, don’t you?”

“…”

“Don’t make that face. It’s just that it’s a shame for you to be locked up after coming all this way, so I’m taking this drastic measure. I told you, right? I’m on your side. As long as you listen to me well, there will be no coercion.”

Yeah, right. Ilyeong sneered openly. Seo Chaejun took a sip of the last bit of water left in his cup and then returned to his gentle expression.

“This is a real shitshow.”

“Is that new?”

Seo Chaejun smiled amiably and stood up from his seat. As he neatly adjusted his clothes and opened the door, soldiers in uniform rushed into the room and pulled Ilyeong to his feet.

Standing on his own two feet for the first time in hours, he had the illusion that gravity was acting more strongly than usual, even though that couldn’t be true. Ilyeong let his body go limp and was dragged out, then moved somewhere else.

Ilyeong was moved to a room on a different floor of the same building. This time, it had a window and a bed, a place that looked like an ordinary room at first glance.

The two soldiers who had dragged Ilyeong there practically threw him into the room and left again. He was left alone in the small room.

Ilyeong lay limply on his side on the bed in a daze. He knew he needed to look around and figure out where he was to calculate what to do next, but perhaps because he had poured so much energy into the conversation with Seo Chaejun just a moment ago, his body felt floppy.

Despite that, sleep did not come easily, and his nerves were so on edge that his head began to throb.

He had lived with this damn headache for more than half his life, but after being fine for a very short while, the pain he was experiencing again felt all the sharper. He curled his body into a ball, barely swallowing his moans. It really couldn’t be true, but it felt as if his brain fluid was sizzling and cooking his brain. As if it wouldn’t be strange for his head, unable to bear it any longer, to explode like a bomb.

Seo Chaejun was in this building. If he died from his head exploding like a bomb, maybe he could take him along on the road to the afterlife. If both Seo Chaejun and he were to disappear, would Seo Juhyeok’s plan proceed a little more smoothly?

At a time when he should be thinking of nothing but efficiency, his useless thoughts were dragging on, so he must not be in his right mind. That was why he didn’t even notice the presence of someone entering the room.

“Dr. Kwon.”

He blinked a few times, and the silhouette of a person standing by the bed came into view. Now, even the light from the lamp felt like it was scorching his eyes, making it agonizing.

A large hand came down slowly and stole the heat from his forehead. The palm, which had always felt hot, felt cool now. He could feel the voice and the body heat like this, but his mind was slow to register the situation.

Ilyeong pulled at the shoulder in front of him. The sturdy man, who seemed like he would never easily bend to anyone, crumbled helplessly at that single touch. Their bodies overlapped, and without a word about who was first, they found and bit at each other’s lips. The sound of panting, hot breaths, sloppy saliva… They shared everything they could share.

The tongue that pushed into his mouth rubbed against the soft mucous membrane and scratched at the sensitive roof of his mouth.

Nam Kiyoon had kissed him today. Every time that fact came to mind, Ilyeong clung to his body more desperately. He pushed his tongue into his mouth and, like a snake, wrapped it around the one coming toward him, sucking on it even as it became overwhelming. Unrestrained saliva trickled down from the corner of his mouth. Yes, he would rather be thoroughly soaked in his saliva like this and fall asleep.

“Hah… ah, ah…”

In the morning, the knit sweater he had rummaged through his dressing room to steal and wear was quickly pushed up to his neck. Seo Juhyeok’s tongue immediately stole the chest revealed beneath it. The areola was quickly sucked into his mouth. He gnawed on the soft flesh in the center with his lips. He licked the nipple, which was beginning to harden, with a sticky tongue, then bit it between his teeth, while he caressed the other breast with his fingers.

His own fully hardened lower body pressed against the space between Ilyeong’s parted legs. When he instinctively bucked his hips, Seo Juhyeok pushed his lower body against him even more.

It was an instinctual act not to block the hand that delved into his trousers, to lift his hips to help the hand that pulled down the underwear beneath. He didn’t want to think about anything.

He rubbed the glans, where precum was slowly welling up, then grabbed the two pieces of flesh together. The lips sucking on the areola became even more obscene. Every time he thrust his hips, the hard tip of his cock grazed diagonally, stimulating the area from the perineum to below the scrotum, between the entrance.

“Hah, ugh…”

Ilyeong couldn’t hold back and placed his hand over Seo Juhyeok’s. He shook his hips, impatient. His hole tightened. Before he knew it, both Seo Juhyeok’s hand and his own were soaked in sticky fluid.

His release came quickly. The moment his thighs, spread wide on either side of Seo Juhyeok, trembled, a thin liquid shot from his glans up to his chest.

When he clenched his teeth to hold back a moan, Seo Juhyeok lowered his body and gnawed on his lower lip as if in punishment.

His touch was cruel as it squeezed the piece of flesh that hadn’t even finished ejaculating, as if to induce something more.

“Don’t look away. Make a sound.”

“Not here, I can’t… Ah, ahh, ugh.”

“Make a sound, because I’m anxious!”

The moment his voice rose, the thick glans pressed down as if to pierce his hole below, then pulled away.

His eyes widened at the feeling of his entrance opening slightly and then narrowing again, and finally, he could see the man in front of him clearly.

Seo Juhyeok was radiating heat from his entire body. Even in the darkness, his jet-black eyes were blazing with anxiety.

Only then did he clearly remember the last moment he had seen him. The moment Seo Juhyeok had seen him disheveled, holding a gun and facing off against Nam Kiyoon, the expression he had made was one he’d never seen before.

Even in that urgent situation, he had seen every single one of his expressions in delicate detail.

Clenching his teeth, he pulled him in by the neck again. He frantically shook the penis that had already ejaculated. It was a merciless touch, as if he were incredibly angry, but it wasn’t frightening at all.

He grabbed Seo Juhyeok’s heavy, bobbing member and rubbed the tip as if to soothe it. And without hiding the pleasure that was close to pain, he poured moans into his ear. Nothing happened, so calm down…

He gazed into his eyes from extremely close, their foreheads touching and noses overlapping diagonally, and came once more. This time, Seo Juhyeok was with him. Their semen, hotter than their feverish skin, tangled together stickily.

“Hnngh…”

“Haah, ha…”

Jet-black eyes, gleaming with lust, scanned Ilyeong’s disheveled state from head to toe. Even without penetration, he violated Ilyeong’s body with his two eyes.

This sex wasn’t an act to satisfy lust or pleasure. It was an act of exchanging signs that they were both safe. Just enough to quell the seething anger and anxiety that couldn’t be released, just that much, he reined in his emotions and cleanly pulled his body away. The veins standing out tautly on his neck muscles bulged.

“Coming here like this…”

Is it okay? He couldn’t even finish the sentence, his throat must have been swollen too, as even uttering that one phrase was an ordeal.

Seo Juhyeok didn’t answer. After checking the fever on his forehead, he just turned and walked away somewhere.

Just as it wasn’t only their bodies that had collided, it wasn’t only semen that had been poured out. After colliding and pouring out emotions with their entire bodies, it was hard to lift a single finger. It felt like his weakened mind was about to spout nonsense.

As he closed his eyes again, just swallowing his moans, this time firm fingertips touched his lips. The fingers delved between his naturally parted lips and put something inside.

When he felt it with the tip of his tongue, it seemed to be a pill. Seo Juhyeok helped him sit up halfway and held a cup to his lips, but he had no strength and couldn’t swallow, so the water just trickled down his chin.

Without a hint of annoyance, Seo Juhyeok took the water into his own mouth instead and pressed his lips to Ilyeong’s. The water he received through his mouth felt sweet, as if sugar had been added, so Ilyeong pushed his tongue in and licked it all up, not leaving a single drop behind.

Seo Juhyeok willingly passed on even the saliva inside his mouth. His body was hot, and his ears were filled with the sloshing sound of water, so they both got a reaction down below, but didn’t let it show. Seo Juhyeok doesn’t like having sex out of anger.

Seo Juhyeok’s hand went under Ilyeong’s knit sweater. The hand touching his stomach was excessively cold, making him flinch, and the touch became more careful. The hand came up to his chest and pulled the clothing completely up. He had neither the time nor the mental capacity to ask why, so he had no choice but to entrust his body to Seo Juhyeok’s touch and obediently get undressed.

A cool, wet towel wiped down his messy, naked body. He’d wondered where he had gone just a moment ago; it seemed he had been to the bathroom.

“What are you doing coming outside dressed so thinly?”

He had gone outside in his indoor clothes to feed the dog, and just like that, had run into Nam Kiyoon and been fully exposed to the cold winter wind and snow.

Now that a wave of tension had washed away, it was no wonder his physical condition was this terrible.

Ilyeong swallowed a hot breath between his teeth and squeezed his throbbing eyes shut, then opened them.

“…They said I have to be detained here for a week.”

“I heard.”

“But it’s strange, isn’t it? They call it detention, but there’s a bed, and Mr. Seo Juhyeok can come in freely.”

Judging by his silence, it seemed he hadn’t entered so brazenly. Ilyeong’s blurry gaze touched the doorway and then fell.

The man who, upon seeing him in a standoff with Nam Kiyoon, had drawn his gun from his coat with a frightening momentum as if nothing could stop him, was now carefully wiping his body down to his fingertips.

“Earlier, if I hadn’t shot… would you have shot him, Mr. Seo Juhyeok?”

“When I heard the story from Seo Chaejun, I almost strangled him.”

What did Seo Chaejun say to provoke him? He was curious for a moment, but didn’t ask. Seo Juhyeok didn’t add anything more about it either.

It wasn’t a direct answer to his question, but Ilyeong understood perfectly.

Seo Juhyeok had really intended to shoot. He didn’t know how the plan would go awry again if he shot Nam Kiyoon. He kept threatening Seo Juhyeok’s plan.

He wanted to touch the dark shadows under his eyes, but his body was still as powerless as if submerged in water.

“Mr. Seo Juhyeok.”

“I’m listening.”

“What you said to Second Lieutenant Yoon Heejeong… that you are a soldier and I am from the evacuation zone, so our positions are different from the start, that we can’t understand each other.”

“…”

“…I still don’t think I’ll be able to trust soldiers or Paradise in the future, but.”

Seo Juhyeok, who had been wiping his forearm, stopped moving and seemed to sigh silently. His defiant gaze seemed to ask if he really had to say such things now, but Ilyeong didn’t stop talking.

“But I think Mr. Seo Juhyeok will continue to be an exception…”

“…”

It was what he had said on the boat coming over to District 11. To trust him no matter what he did. To become his perfect ally, just him.

So, Ilyeong was saying in a roundabout way that he thought he had won. That the week he had spent here with Seo Juhyeok seemed to have broken down his guard once again, just like when they had first slept together.

His voice, sunken as if lying flat below his throat, was unexpectedly calm. Maybe that was why. Seo Juhyeok’s expression as he listened was also impassive.

“Dr. Kwon, your heart is weak right now because you’re sick. If you think about it again when you wake up tomorrow, it’ll be different from now.”

He hadn’t expected him to be happy, but… At the completely unexpected answer, a dry laugh escaped him despite the pain. Seo Juhyeok knows him better than he thought. He was probably right.

“You’re right. Everything I’m saying right now is just me spouting off whatever. Don’t remember it.”

“Right. So don’t do things like what happened today. It’s not like you at all, Dr. Kwon.”

“…”

Seo Juhyeok silently took away the lukewarm, damp towel. It was as if he knew exactly what had been in his heart at the moment he pulled the trigger.

Ilyeong buried his face in the pillow. Since Seo Juhyeok wouldn’t be able to see, he bit his dry, cracked lips as hard as he wanted. It seemed that giving in to someone meant becoming weak. He felt like he was about to cry.

He thinks he was actually scared. What Seo Chaejun said was right. If something had gone wrong with Nam Kiyoon, he would have met a dog’s death with no room for negotiation.

Most importantly, he wouldn’t be having this conversation with Seo Juhyeok. Sitting alone in the interrogation room for several hours, that thought kept making his heart go cold. Maybe more than he thought, he… Seo Juhyeok…

Seo Juhyeok, who had gone outside again, returned this time with bare hands. Now that he thought about it, it seemed the room didn’t have an attached bathroom, so one had to go out into the hallway.

Approaching him, he began to undress. He unfastened all the buttons on his shirt and, half-naked, climbed onto the narrow bed, pressing his body against Ilyeong’s back.

It was only then that he realized he had been shivering with chills. It was a strange feeling; his skin was boiling hot, yet his bones were this cold.

Ilyeong rubbed his hot breath against the inside of his arm and began, “Seo Chaejun.” He’d omitted the title at will, but there was no reaction, so he interpreted it as meaning it didn’t matter and continued.

“He said I should stay here for a week, be his conversation partner, and see what District 11 is like.”

“You don’t have to. You can just sleep here tonight and go back to the residence tomorrow.”

“If I do that, he’ll find some way to nitpick and attack.”

This was the correct answer.

“I’ll do as Seo Chaejun says. I’ll stay here for a week.”

“Dr. Kwon. You know that ‘be his conversation partner’ doesn’t really mean that, right?”

“I know. The fact that he wants to keep me by his side even though he knows I’m on Mr. Seo Juhyeok’s side must mean he’s getting anxious too. Perhaps… he still suspects that I have something, and that there was some kind of deal with Mr. Seo Juhyeok. If I refuse, it will only raise more suspicion, so I figured it’s better to stay by his side and see what he’s thinking.”

“You said you wouldn’t meet anyone.”

“Things have changed since then.”

To be precise, his mindset had. Ilyeong smiled bitterly and continued.

“The things Mr. Seo Juhyeok is worried about won’t happen.”

“What am I worried about?”

“The risks Mr. Seo Juhyeok has taken on because I’m alive.”

Seo Juhyeok had intended to eliminate the creator of Black entirely, thereby preventing the creator from falling into someone’s hands and making the drug.

The fact that Ilyeong was alive also meant that he could fall into someone else’s hands at any time, make the drug, and ruin his plan.

He had once said it. Are you confident you wouldn’t do it, even if someone choked you and pulled out your fingernails and toenails to force you?

At that time, Ilyeong hadn’t been able to give any answer. There are situations where dying is better, and that is more frightening than death itself.

Honestly, he was still scared of such a situation, but just… now, he had a vague feeling that he could make a resolution greater than the one Seo Juhyeok had made when he saved him and left for District 23.

Saying it all out loud might have helped convey the meaning, but he couldn’t be sure this room was free from the risk of being bugged, so he just turned his body and met his eyes. He added one more thing.

“Still, if you’re worried I might betray you, come and watch over me like this every night.”

Seo Juhyeok, who had been looking down at Ilyeong with an unreadable expression, pulled his body closer and rested his chin on the crown of his head.

“Kwon Ilyeong.”

A sigh, hotter than his feverish head, poured out of him.

“Why are you so difficult?”

I find myself difficult, and you’re even more difficult. And yet, the fact that neither of them had the option to let go, should he be happy or bitter about that?

When he first came here, had he said it? That the person who likes someone more is the one who gives in. Ilyeong felt he knew that this time, too, he would give in to him.

Perhaps Seo Juhyeok still thinks so. That this is a losing battle because he likes him more.

But there was also something Seo Juhyeok didn’t know. That in the moment he shot Nam Kiyoon and was being taken away by the soldiers, he didn’t know what would happen to him if he was dragged away, but he was genuinely glad that he had been the one to fire the gun and not him. That this time, he didn’t regret it at all. That he, too, had come to like him enough to risk his life…

Ilyeong closed his hot, feverish eyes and thought. If I were to give you even that feeling with my voice, I feel like I would truly have nothing left… It’s cowardly, but this is a minimal defense. So until all of this is over, couldn’t you, who has everything, give in just a little more?

To Seo Juhyeok, who had lived a life without regrets, Kwon Ilyeong became his first regret. He did not want to become his second.

Ilyeong opened his eyes to the sound of a knock. As his drowsy eyes opened, he felt a pain as if his eyeballs were being gouged out by the light pouring straight in from beyond the window.

His body was a little stiff, but he could move well enough. Aside from a little ringing in his ears and a groggy head, his mind was working reasonably well. The spot next to him was empty, but in its place, a note had been left.

I didn’t want to wake you, so I got up first.
Clothes and morning medicine are on the shelf.
Take the medicine after your meal. See you later.

When he had said he felt anxious if Seo Juhyeok wasn’t there when he woke up, for the past week, Seo Juhyeok had stayed by his side every morning, even if it meant cutting into his own sleep to work at night. It was just a single complaint, but he never just let it pass. That fact made Ilyeong’s heart stir.

He knew that given the current situation, he couldn’t stay by his side for long. Ilyeong carefully looked over the note several times, then pushed it into his pocket and stood up.

Crossing the single-room space that was barely big enough for a bed, he opened the door where the knocking had come from. A soldier standing in front of him handed him a meal tray and told him to come out after he was ready.

Compared to what he had eaten at Seo Juhyeok’s residence, the amount of food was small and the quality was poor, but he figured it was something that they were even feeding a prisoner. Ilyeong slowly and thoroughly chewed his food, then took the medicine on the shelf, and meticulously washed his face and brushed his teeth at the dry vanity. After changing into the turtleneck knit sweater Seo Juhyeok had brought, he even felt like he was convalescing in a strange place.

There was no coercion, and he wasn’t treated harshly. Ilyeong wondered if this could really be called detention or confinement.

What is Seo Chaejun trying to do with me?

“Dr. Kwon, are you asking me that directly right now?”

And at the question he spat out as soon as he saw his face, Seo Chaejun burst into a loud laugh.

Is this that funny? Ilyeong thought to himself, Seo Chaejun must be really bored with nothing going on. Seo Chaejun, who had laughed so hard his mouth was wide open and tears were welling in the corners of his eyes, put on the glasses he had set on the table and gestured toward the door with his chin, telling him to go out.

He had been brought to the same interrogation room as yesterday, so he’d thought he would be sitting here for hours on end again today, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

While walking down the long hallway, two soldiers followed behind them at a distance. There were faces he had seen in Paradise, and some he hadn’t.

Seo Chaejun’s gait was shorter and slower than Seo Juhyeok’s, so Ilyeong was able to see the outside scenery through the hallway window, which he hadn’t been able to yesterday.

He had expected it to some extent, but it seemed this place was near the village in District 11. When he was at Seo Juhyeok’s residence, he could only see the mountain scenery, but here, he could see low buildings and, occasionally, the tops of people’s heads.

Seo Chaejun, who had been walking slowly and leisurely, suddenly called out to Ilyeong, “Dr. Kwon.”

“About the question you asked earlier… It’s really nothing. I told you. Just be my conversation partner.”

“And you expect me to believe that at face value?”

“What’s the reason not to believe it? It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and it brings back old memories, but I have no one to talk with. I also stayed here in District 11 for about a year when I was young.”

Hearing that, he thought Seo Yera might have said something like that. The story about how after the weak Seo Chaejun returned to Paradise, the rebellion suddenly intensified, and Seo Juhyeok had several near-death experiences. How lucky. How did he manage to slip away like an eel all by himself?

Perhaps thinking he was silent because he didn’t understand, Seo Chaejun said, “Ah,” and added an explanation.

“When we siblings turned fifteen, my father sent us here in turn. Saying that the children of the leader should set an example. I was weak in mind and body, so I barely managed to complete a year, and the only ones who returned after making achievements were my older sister Yera and Juhyeok.”

“…”

“Making achievements here means contributing to the suppression of the rebels. Shooting them to death with guns, cutting them down with swords. They would be the families of the current residents of District 23.”

Seo Chaejun even stopped walking and stared intently at Ilyeong, as if waiting for a reply. His dark brown eyes, struck by the sunlight, seemed a bit brighter than he remembered.

At the color of those irises, Ilyeong was suddenly reminded of Yoon Heejeong. Ah, maybe what Seo Chaejun is trying to do by keeping me here is…

Ilyeong opened his mouth with an expressionless face and gave a short reply.

“I see.”

Seo Chaejun briefly furrowed his brow, then looked ahead and started walking again.

“It seems you’ve changed a bit here too, Dr. Kwon.”

“In what way?”

After coming down to the first floor and walking down another long hallway, Seo Chaejun stopped in front of a door and turned the doorknob.

“We’ll have to find that out from now on. Go on in. There’s someone waiting for you.”

The pungent smell of disinfectant poured out from the crack of the open door.

The moment he was sent into the room alone, the door closed. Ilyeong, who had resolved not to move according to Seo Chaejun’s will no matter what, was at a loss for words at that moment.

In a place set up like a makeshift hospital room, the person lying in the bed was Nam Kiyoon.

“…Come and sit down.”

Nam Kiyoon, with hollow eyes, gestured with his eyes toward the chair next to the bed. This time, he didn’t have a gun in his hand, and he didn’t show the madness of acting like a crazy person who had lost his mind, but Ilyeong felt his whole body stiffen.

Just a day before, Nam Kiyoon had stormed Seo Juhyeok’s residence with a gun, and Ilyeong had shot him. But how could he think of leaving him alone with Nam Kiyoon? How was this any different from throwing a mouse into a snake’s enclosure and telling them to have a nice chat?

As he was glaring at the closed door behind him, Nam Kiyoon commanded once more, forcefully, “Sit down.”

“Is there anything to talk about sitting face to face? You’re alive and well. Which is why my neck is safe too. Right? Then I’m leaving.”

“Kwon Ilyeong. I’m not kidding.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“You motherfucker…” Nam Kiyoon, biting back a curse, swung his two legs off the bed and kicked the chair hard with his foot. Bang. The folding metal chair was pushed back helplessly.

Crazy bastard. When things didn’t go his way, Nam Kiyoon always tried to solve problems with verbal abuse and outbursts. He kicked it, gritting his teeth, and sure enough, the rebound seemed to have strained his injury, as red blood seeped through the bandage wrapped around his shoulder.

Does he want to do that even if it means ruining his own body? Ilyeong, fed up, pulled the chair right up against the wall opposite the bed and sat down.

“Come closer.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I said come here.”

“I said I don’t want to. Would you, if you were me?”

He thought it was childish, but he didn’t want to, and that was that. Yesterday, Nam Kiyoon had kissed him. Still, just the thought of it sent a shudder of repulsion down his spine. As if he’d want to sit next to him.

Nam Kiyoon, seeing his look of disgust, flinched for a moment. His jet-black eyes sank darkly.

“I won’t do what I did yesterday, so come closer while I’m asking nicely.”

“What you did yesterday? Kissing someone you grew up with like a brother?”

“What brother. That’s just you. I never once thought of you as family from the beginning.”

Ilyeong’s mouth was shut, and he glared at his face, gritting his teeth.

He never thought of me as family. To his younger self, his father and Nam Kiyoon were everything, but neither of them had considered him family. He thought he couldn’t be disappointed any further, but every time he confirmed the fact that he didn’t belong anywhere like this, it felt like a piece of his heart was being carved away.

“Is that your answer? After chasing me all the way here, the thing you have to say… is that all?”

“Answer? Ah, right. You asked why I’m obsessed with you. I told you, it’s because it’s unfair. I get so angry because I never see good results, but when I saw you yesterday, you were living just fine without a care in the world.”

“Am I not allowed to? Am I not allowed to live well without a care in the world?”

Nam Kiyoon looked at Ilyeong as if he’d heard nonsense, then burst into a neurotic laugh and stood up. Even as his face contorted wildly from the pain in his shoulder, he stepped towards him without hesitation.

Ilyeong’s chin was grabbed by a strong grip and forced up.

“Ilyeong. Kwon Ilyeong. Know your place. You’re from the evacuation zone. And you must have seen what a mess Paradise has become because of you. And what? ‘Am I not allowed to live well without a care in the world?’ Cut the crap. Do you even have the right to do that?”

Ilyeong yanked away the hand that was gripping his chin as if to crush it. What did he expect from Nam Kiyoon? He hadn’t changed one bit. Even though it was the hand on the opposite side of his wounded arm, a moan escaped through Nam Kiyoon’s clenched teeth.

“Watch your mouth. And don’t touch me. Honestly, if we get into a physical fight in this state, I could beat you and still have energy to spare.”

“My balls are shaking with fear. Are you saying you’ll hit me if I touch you?”

“I shot a gun, you think I couldn’t do that much?”

Nam Kiyoon, panting, went back and sat on the bed. Even then, he looked up at the ceiling several times, choosing his words, before finally opening his mouth with a sigh.

“Let’s go back to the garbage village.”

Watching Ilyeong’s reaction, which had turned icy cold, he hurriedly continued.

“There are no devices in this room. I checked myself. And while my official title is a member of the special mission platoon, I’ve decided to move freely here. I’ve already finished talking with Lieutenant General Seo.”

“I don’t know where to start pointing things out.”

“What’s the problem now?”

“You’ve finished talking with Seo Chaejun? What talk? You… if you run your mouth, it’s not just my neck on the line, but yours too. Do you believe what that man says at face value?”

“Am I an idiot? I haven’t said anything. He hasn’t asked me much either. I just received a promise that if I persuade you well, he’ll send me back to the evacuation zone. In case you’ve forgotten, my father is a Lieutenant General too. No one can just screw me over as they please.”

Only his title was formal; the words he spat out at a Lieutenant General were closer to a thug’s than a soldier’s. You don’t just become the mad dog of the garbage village for nothing. Ilyeong rubbed his throbbing brow.

“What persuasion?”

“Take the Lieutenant General’s side. The weakness Seo Juhyeok is hiding, you must know it. Toss him a few scraps and say with your own mouth that you’ll return to District 5.”

Ilyeong, deciding he didn’t need to hear any more, stood up from his seat.

He gave the metal chair a push, blocking, even if just a little, the path Nam Kiyoon might take to follow him. From behind him, a snort erupted, as if this was expected.

“Ilyeong. You still can’t let me go. Don’t I know you? I don’t think of you as family, but I’m the only person you have left that you could call family. I know you have a soft spot for me. That’s why you shot my shoulder, not my head.”

When he turned around with his hand on the doorknob, Nam Kiyoon had a look of contempt on his face. Having him point out so clearly a reason that even he himself didn’t know, he felt his heart strangely calm down.

Maybe it’s true. Because if you take his father and Nam Kiyoon out of his childhood, there’s nothing left.

His father was a villain, and Nam Kiyoon was also a person who had brought him the worst results, but cruelly enough, Ilyeong had persevered through his hardest times with the memories of that childhood. Because besides those memories, he had nothing else to hold onto.

Maybe that was why. Why he couldn’t seem to let go of the past. He had realized it before, but there are emotions that cannot be controlled by reason.

Ilyeong tried to find the thirteen-year-old Nam Kiyoon in the face before him. That steadfast pride that didn’t break even under family abuse, the eyes that looked at Ilyeong as if he were the only friend in the world.

There’s nothing. There’s nothing at all, and he’s only realizing this now. He had screamed at Nam Kiyoon asking why he was so obsessed with him, but perhaps he was the one who couldn’t let go of the past. A bitter smile lingered on Ilyeong’s lips and then vanished.

“Think whatever you want.”

Ilyeong tightened his grip on the doorknob and went outside.

It was the only reply in their conversation today that was devoid of venom, but Nam Kiyoon’s final expression was strange.

As if he were a person who had been betrayed…

“Hello. It’s been a while.”

Seo Chaejun smiled gently at the person who had just opened the door and was entering.

The old man standing between two solidly built soldiers was imposing for his age, which was hard to believe, but his back was bent and he was so thin his bones were gaunt. Nevertheless, his gaze as he stared at Seo Chaejun was as sharp as if it had been painted with phosphorescent paint.

After rudely examining every corner of Seo Chaejun’s face as if to devour even the flesh on his cheeks, the old man finally parted his thin, almost bloodless lips.

“What business does a Seo riffraff have with me?”

“To a Lieutenant General, what is this…!!”

The soldier gripping the old man’s forearm immediately growled. He was from the military police within Paradise, and one of those who had come to District 11 as a member of the special mission platoon. With his loyalty to Seo Chaejun, he looked ready to strike the old man’s head right then and there.

Seo Chaejun shook his head, smiling amiably.

“Don’t be like that. Seo riffraff. He’s right. Please have a seat, Village Chief Park Jaeho.”

Once the two soldiers also stepped outside, only Seo Chaejun and Park Jaeho were left in the room.

Park Jaeho muttered, “Village Chief, my ass…” and planted his butt on the sofa opposite Seo Chaejun.

“Do you remember me?”

“How could I not remember the members of the Seo family who laid waste to my District 11? The second son of the Seo family. The eldest son. Unlike your other siblings, you stayed here for just one year and then ran back to Paradise with your tail between your legs. You were so sickly back then, I didn’t think you’d amount to anything, but somehow you’re still alive without being eaten up by your other siblings.”

Seo Chaejun smiled through even the words that were close to insults. It had already been eighteen years since Seo Chaejun, in the body of a fifteen-year-old, had come here to District 11.

At that time, the one acting as the battalion commander was the eldest, Seo Yera. As soon as Seo Chaejun completed the minimum period of one year set by his father, Seo Yoonseok, he returned to Paradise.

So it wouldn’t have been strange if he didn’t remember him, but Park Jaeho hadn’t gone senile and remembered everything just fine.

The old man was a living witness who had watched all the members of the Seo family stay in District 11.

“I’m glad you remember. I’m sorry to hear about District 23. You must be greatly disheartened, having moved your base there only to suffer two great misfortunes.”

Seo Chaejun said, pushing a pre-prepared teacup toward him. The contents had already cooled, but no one seemed to care.

Park Jaeho was one of the rebels who had fled to District 23 when a warrant was issued in District 11, and a man who had somehow survived the process of identifying the ringleaders and was acting as the boss in District 23.

Their unity wasn’t what it used to be, but those who still burned with rebellious spirit remained. And according to Seo Chaejun’s intuition, Park Jaeho also still harbored that fire.

“We people of District 23 grit our teeth even in our sleep at the name Seo. That bastard Seo Juhyeok, the Company Commander of District 23, it wouldn’t be enough to tear him to shreds and kill him.”

“Oh my…”

“But you know.”

Park Jaeho slowly leaned his upper body over the desk. The musty smell from his long-unwashed body and his terrible bad breath were the first things to hit Seo Chaejun. One might have been startled by the sudden proximity and the stench, but Seo Chaejun didn’t even flinch.

“If I were to pick the most suspicious person among the Seo family members, it would be you. To remain silent even after hearing an insult? And for a soldier to treat a person from the evacuation zone with such courtesy? The other folks might be moved by that sight, but not me. Back then, when you were staying in District 11, you must have met my son. Jang Daeyoung, I mean.”

“As far as I know, you don’t have any children, and his surname is different, so what do you mean, son?”

“We are all one family! Jang Daeyoung, you know him, right? You’ve met him, haven’t you?”

How romantic, to call themselves one family without a drop of blood mixed. Seo Chaejun briefly thought of his own family, who were desperate to tear each other apart despite being related by blood.

And then he remembered Jang Daeyoung.

Jang Daeyoung was one of the rebel ringleaders executed in District 23. There was no need to remember the names of rebels, but Seo Chaejun remembered that name clearly.

Seo Chaejun lifted his teacup, took a sip of tea, and then set the cup down with a clink.

“Why do you suddenly ask such a question?”

“When you were staying in District 11, that bastard Daeyoung went up and down the mountain tirelessly. Since the military base was there, he must have risked his life every day. On the days he was caught trying to go to the mountain, I’d lock him in the storeroom and tie his arms and legs to hold him back, but the kid would somehow manage to crawl into that mountain.”