Black Paradise Chapter 5.2

“Field mouse? What the hell are you talking about, you bastard!”

Aiden shrieked, unable to handle the blood gushing onto the carpet. His nose might have been completely broken.

Before the commotion could drag on any longer, Ilyeong quickly snatched the glasses off Aiden’s face. And then he stomped on them with a crunching sound. The lenses, which he had thought were thick, shattered flimsily with a single motion of his foot.

“‘You will regret it if you act up so carelessly when you have jack shit.’ Do you understand now, Mr. Aiden?”

He mimicked his way of speaking and placed the broken frames on top of Aiden’s head.

Nam Giyun’s father, Lieutenant General Nam, would sometimes wear his sunglasses on his forehead just like that. The day after getting beaten black and blue by him, a young Nam Giyun would whisper in Ilyeong’s ear that his father was ‘striking a stupid pose that doesn’t even suit him.’ The sound of Nam Giyun’s chuckling, despite his battered face, was so cheerful that Ilyeong remembered how, even though worry came first, he could not help but laugh along.

Am I really about to die? These insignificant memories crawling out like bugs are not very welcome.

Ilyeong took the glasses that he had placed like a crown on Aiden’s head and lightly tossed them against the wall.

“I am really going now. Thanks for the concern.”

Ilyeong turned his back without any lingering attachment. His mind felt a little looser.

*

Because he was dealing with Aiden, he missed the opportunity to wash up without having to worry about anyone’s eyes on him. Unable to stop by his cabin, Ilyeong had no choice but to pick a restroom located away from the banquet hall.

Fortunately, the only people he ran into on the way there were a single couple. Judging by the high-end fabric of their clothes that fit their bodies as if custom-made, and the unique air of leisure on their faces, he guessed they were part of Seo Juhyeok’s group of Paradise’s upper class.

They flinched upon seeing Ilyeong’s messy state and quickly whispered to each other. As they passed by like the wind, he heard them mention the three syllables of the fourth winner’s name, Kwon Ilyeong. He thought he heard Seo Juhyeok’s name at the end, but he could not be sure about that.

Could a rumor have started already? He considered brazenly following the couple to ask, but just decided against it. What do mere rumors matter when you are facing death?

Ilyeong shook his head and went straight to the sink. Setting the faucet to the coldest temperature, he collected water in the hollow of his palm and washed his face. Get a grip. The sky has already collapsed, but surely there must be a mouse hole to escape through. Maybe there is another way besides becoming Seo Juhyeok’s partner and surviving alone.

Drifting between helplessness and baseless hope like a cold and hot bath, he ran his cold hands through his hair. As he combed through the tangles from his scalp down, the spaces between his fingers quickly became sticky. He washed his hair meticulously until he could no longer feel any viscosity in it.

When he lifted his head toward the mirror, he saw the very image of a drowned field mouse. Washing just his face and hair was not going to be enough. His clothes were also a mess with dirt and semen. Even so, he had already thrown the change of clothes in Aiden’s face. He had no choice but to stop at trying to remove the traces with water as best as he could.

Water dripped down to his feet, but Ilyeong consoled himself that it was somewhat acceptable. That was, until he ran into Haoran, who had been restlessly stamping his feet in the hallway waiting for him.

“Where have you been all this time? Your state… what is with your….”

Haoran, who had been running over nimbly after spotting Ilyeong, widened his eyes as he got closer. When he reached him, he even covered his mouth, unable to properly finish his sentence. The emotion of shock in his eyes, which were scanning Ilyeeong’s entire body, did not just flow, it overflowed.

Hadn’t Aiden said that if he did not want to make it obvious that he had just finished fucking with Seo Juhyeok, he should wash up thoroughly? It was the only piece of advice he had given that was worth listening to. Ilyeong irritably ruffled his hair.

“What on earth happened? You said it was the last method and all… you spoke as if it would be okay. I, I thought everything would turn out fine, so….”

Haoran is a quick-witted fellow. His face, having instantly realized that all his plans had gone awry, quickly contorted with despair.

But the person who was most miserable right now was Ilyeong himself. Facing a neatly dressed Haoran while looking like he had been completely submerged in water from head to toe and pulled back out made his mood sink even further to the bottom.

“It just turned out that way.”

Yes, there is no better way to describe this situation.

“Are you okay, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong? Who did this? Don’t tell me you met Colonel Jamie?”

“No.”

Ilyeong roughly wiped away the streams of water flowing from his hair down his face with his palm and looked around. The banquet hall doors were firmly shut, and there was no one else out in the hallway besides the two of them.

“The banquet hall, have you been inside? Why is it so quiet?”

“Oh, my mind. I am here to get you, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong. They said today’s banquet is not here but on the top floor. The winners are supposed to gather at the restaurant first for a roll call, so we have to go up right now.”

“I am a bit late, was there any trouble?”

“You are really lucky, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong. They said the banquet was delayed because some V.I.P. hasn’t arrived yet. Still, we should hurry and go in.”

Ilyeong closed his mouth, having an inkling. That V.I.P. was probably still sprawled out on the sofa in the 8th-floor cabin.

His eyelashes trembled with the slow closing of his eyelids. Even though he had washed himself clean, he felt as if semen was still clumped there, and he rubbed his eyes for no reason.

Haoran pulled on Ilyeong’s arm as if to hurry, then paused.

“But Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, the clothes you chose with me earlier….”

Haoran’s words, which had started with a tone of puzzlement, trailed off abruptly. The gaze with which he was examining the clothes also grew slightly rigid. Following that gaze, Ilyeong bit his tongue.

A whitish stain of dried semen remained in the area where his shoulder and arm connected. Did he notice? He must have noticed. Ilyeong irritably pressed his palm over the area, hiding it firmly.

“It is gone.”

“Pardon?”

“It just… turned out that way. Can you not just let it go?”

He knows full well what state he is in without having to be reminded like that. Perhaps due to exhaustion, his mumbling voice sounded more irritable than usual.

Haoran kept his mouth firmly shut and remained silent for a moment. Thinking the feisty guy would snap back at him again, Ilyeong stood there, swallowing a sigh, but surprisingly, the kid took a step back.

“This lottery or whatever, I am so sick of it now. The fact that they are giving us new clothes, the fact that they are holding a banquet for us, it is all so detestable and disillusioning, but still.”

Haoran took off the dark gray cardigan he was wearing and held it out to Ilyeong’s chest.

“Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, you must be bothered by that stain. And you might catch a cold if you stay like that.”

At the touch of his hand patting his shoulder, as if telling him to take it quickly, Ilyeong accepted the clothing in a daze. It was true that he was bothered by the stain that had not come out, just as Haoran said, but….

As Ilyeong obediently put his arms through the sleeves, he did not let go of his suspicious gaze, which made Haoran walk ahead, wrinkling his nose awkwardly.

“Why are you not questioning me?”

“About what?”

“You are usually good at questioning things.”

“Geez, I have some sense too, you know. If you say so, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, then I guess that is how it is. ……And what is the use of questioning something like that now, anyway.”

Haoran wore the listless face of someone who has experienced death, or a similar despair, and has resigned himself to it.

Ilyeong knows that kind of face very well. Because it was the face he had seen hundreds of times in the mirror back in the slum.

Until a few years ago, he had lived a life worse than death, caught between his father’s absence and Nam Giyun’s betrayal.

Before becoming a researcher, he had no way to earn money, so he sold his body. On nights when he would finally fall asleep with his exhausted body, he would fervently wish for the world to be utterly destroyed by the next morning. He cursed those who had wrecked his body to be torn to shreds by lightning. Like that, not a single speck of attachment to life remained, and his entire heart was impoverished.

Haha…. A hollow laugh escaped him. If so, is he, who is now struggling to live, truly living a more fulfilling life than back then? Fate is truly cruel, to give him a trial like this just when life started to feel a little more livable.

Ilyeong stopped in his tracks and grabbed the arm of Haoran, who was walking ahead. The kid looked back with a puzzled expression.

“Do not be like that too much.”

Haoran’s dark eyes, devoid of any light, seemed to ask, like what? The smile that had lingered on his lips had also vanished, as if air had been let out of a balloon.

“I do not know either. But just do not be like that too much.”

Ilyeong mumbled the meaningless words and started walking again. Haoran did not ask any further.

No one opened their mouth while they walked down the hallway. Although he had called it a waiting room, the place where Haoran finally stopped was in front of the restaurant.

The hallway in front of the restaurant, which was always bustling with energy, now had a gloomy atmosphere, perhaps due to his mood. Faintly, but audibly, the noise of a crowd could be heard from beyond the firmly closed doors.

Haoran placed his hand on the doorknob and hesitated, then suddenly looked back at Ilyeong.

“Actually, I never disliked you from the beginning, sunbae.”

It was a title he had not heard in a long time. The image of Haoran acting arrogant with a conceited face at the research institute flickered before his eyes.

“I wanted to get close to you, so I gave you gifts and tried to talk to you a lot at first… but you would not even acknowledge me, sunbae.”

“Did I?”

“You really do not even remember. It is disappointing, but I was sorry for acting so mean.”

Ilyeong looked back on the past, which now felt like a very long time ago and which he could not even remember, and just let out a small laugh. A solemn confession and Haoran had nothing in common.

“Do not do that.”

“What is it this time?”

Unlike before, this time he had a reply.

“Why are you acting all serious when it does not suit you?”

“Haha. I guess so. I must really be about to die. Let’s go in.”

Contrary to his grave words, Haoran’s expression was a lot lighter than before.

*

He remembers when he first stepped onto the cruise. He vividly remembers the feeling of his stomach churning, as if he were setting foot in a new world.

To think that his impression of entering the same space could be so different, he just felt empty.

The only thing different from that time was that now, no one was paying attention to their arrival, and that one thing, at least, was a relief. He did not have the confidence to re-experience that spine-chilling moment when dozens of pairs of eyes had stabbed into his body like a flurry of arrows.

Ilyeong and Haoran headed straight for the table of the 5th Evacuation Zone. The faces of the people they passed as they walked were all consistently the same.

Faces alight with the joy of soon disembarking at Paradise, and the excitement of wanting to enjoy the last night on the cruise, inevitably brought to mind the day of the lottery drawing. Because even the people of the slum had human-like eyes on that day.

Thinking that, he could not help but feel that Paradise was truly vicious. To fatten people up with the hope of a lottery, only to split their bellies open and cook them at the peak of their happiness.

It would have been better if he had known nothing. If so, wouldn’t he too be mixed in with them right now, laughing? Why can I never be ordinary, no matter where I go?

While having such pointless thoughts, he readjusted his grip on the duffel bag. Black is a separate issue from the tragedy of the lottery. He was destined to become unhappy one way or another. Thinking that way brought some comfort, and also made him feel a bit drained.

“You two, where have you been all this time?”

As soon as they sat down at the table, Jun asked with a sullen face. Now that he looked, Jun was alone at the table. He did not seem like the type to be interested in this kind of banquet, but perhaps he had taken care in choosing his clothes, as he was uncharacteristically well-dressed.

He could guess Yuto’s whereabouts without even having to ask. Ilyeong glanced back at the table for the 23rd Evacuation Zone. Although he could only see his back, Yuto was sitting stuck right next to Ji Taeun, whispering something to him.

For some unknown reason, his stomach churned again, and Ilyeong pressed down firmly on his chest area as he answered.

“I had something to take care of.”

“Hah, so you have finally decided to speak to me? By the way, what is with your state?”

Jun was a man who had looked at him with hostile eyes since they first met. It was nothing new, but the feeling was not exactly pleasant. As he sat down, he looked at Jun’s constantly grumbling face, and the words just popped out.

“Mr. Jun, did you perhaps know me from the slum?”

“How random.”

Jun, who answered curtly, lowered his head to the table. However, that was an answer far from affirmation or denial. Sure enough, after waiting a moment, he lifted his head again.

“Not you, but I knew your father a bit. I was also one to roll around in the trash heap.”

“My father.”

“Yes. Kwon Hajin. For that matter, was there anyone in the slum who did not know your father? Everyone lived with a bit of a grudge against Kwon Hajin.”

Father and grudge. His mouth went dry at the mismatched words.

Ilyeong took one of the bottled waters placed on the table and twisted the cap off. After moistening his lips, he asked as if to confirm.

“Were you on bad terms with my father?”

“Ha! It would be harder to find someone in the trash heap who was on good terms with your father.”

“May I… ask for the reason?”

“On the outside, he pretended to be kind, pretended to be innocent, while forming a collusive relationship with the soldiers and sucking the marrow from his neighbors’ bones. No matter how many mouths he had to feed, that was the first time in my life I had seen such a hypocritical bastard.”

A few memories suddenly surfaced in his mind. Whenever his father went to pick up trash, he would take Ilyeong, the only one among the family members.

How to salvage usable things from among the heaps of old trash, and to whom in the back alleys they should be sold, his father taught Ilyeong such things one by one, like a person who would leave someday. This was at a time before Ilyeong had passed the researcher test.

Come to think of it, it was unsuitable and dangerous work to teach a child who was still young, but Ilyeong was just happy. In the field mouse family, he believed his father was the only human.

So, he thought that if he followed his father’s path, he too could become a human. When they went to pick up trash together, his father would pat Ilyeong’s head with a benevolently smiling face and say.

“Ilyeong. You are the only one who can feed our family. You must take responsibility for them, no matter what it takes.”

Yes, it was his destiny.

The turning point in his simple routine of going back and forth between the trash heap and home came after he picked up Nam Giyun from the trash heap.

In the evenings as the sun set, his father would often turn his steps toward the military barracks. It was not like he was selling things as one did in the back alleys, it was just a few words of conversation, but whenever he left the base, his father’s pockets would always be heavy.

Thinking about it now, he was not selling things but information. With a gentle smile, his father would speak piously, ‘They are paying their due price, and I am receiving my due reward.’

“……Did my father sell information about the people of the slum to the soldiers?”

“Looks like you have an inkling of it too, don’t you? It was not simple information. He reported his neighbors to the soldiers. The time he started doing that was probably around the same time Nam Giyun was frequently in and out of your house.”

“……”

He did not answer, but that was the correct answer. The day after picking up Nam Giyun from the trash heap, his father had taken him to the military base for the first time, and from then on, the military base was added to his daily routine.

To know that the young Nam Giyun had frequented his house, Jun must have lived quite close to Ilyeong’s home. He just did not remember, but perhaps he had run into this man a few times in his childhood. Just how much did he know? All the hair on his head stood on end.

“I bet you. If it was Kwon Hajin, he would have made a deal with Lieutenant General Nam, using Nam Giyun. He would have secured a hefty sum in exchange for saving his son, and been persuaded to report the crimes of his neighbors. Am I wrong?”

“Do not speak so carelessly. My father and Nam Giyun did not have that kind of relationship.”

There was force in his voice. Jun snorted and smiled wryly.

The reason Ilyeong could be so sure was that he knew the relationship between Nam Giyun and his father, Lieutenant General Nam, well.

The one who had abandoned the young boy on the trash heap on a rainy day was none other than Lieutenant General Nam, and he had been uncomfortable with Ilyeong’s father, who had picked Nam Giyun up.

Thinking that far, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. Could it be that his father had made a deal with Lieutenant General Nam’s honor on the line? In exchange for keeping silent about the story of him abusing and abandoning his son.

His wandering around the trash heap was not really to pick up worthless junk, but to dig up his neighbors’ secrets…….

No. It is not. This is precisely the reaction Jun wants. Ilyeong clenched his fists tightly under the table.

“It is an obvious story, but most of what was reported was related to crimes, so there was no way out. The soldiers needed someone to take their anger out on in the first place, so everyone could only be released after being beaten to a pulp. I was one of them.”

Jun habitually kneaded his left index finger, then picked up another bottle of water on the table. Now that he looked, its shape was a little unnatural.

After gulping down the water, Jun tried to close the cap, but when it did not go as planned, he threw the cap onto the carpet.

“My hands still tremble just thinking about that time. I was originally a guy who held a knife in a restaurant, but after that, I ended up in this state and my life was ruined. I truly came to live a life befitting the slum. If it were not for that bastard Kwon Hajin…….”

He did not know what Jun would think, but that story reassured Ilyeong. If that was the case, then his father had probably not done anything wrong.

Haoran, who had been listening quietly from the side, seemed to have the same thought and joined the conversation.

“People usually call Mr. Kwon Ilyeong’s father a champion of justice.”

Jun sneered.

“Your family must have been researchers for generations. You probably lived your whole life without ever lacking anything. That is why you do not know, Haoran. Who in the slum lives without committing a single crime?”

Ilyeong knew better than anyone that Jun’s words were not just sophistry spun for self-defense. The Evacuation Zone is a place where you are quickly left behind if you do not belong to either the soldiers or the researchers.

Just as there are lives lived without deficiency, though not as comfortably as Haoran’s, there are also lives where one must choose crime just to live for today.

Jun looked at Ilyeong with a sneer. And he poured more molten iron into his head, which had not yet recovered from the shock.

“And Doctor Kwon, Kwon Hajin must have been a villain to you too. Was he not?”

It took the form of a question at a glance, but it was an assertion. He was so flustered that he missed the timing to answer.

My father was a villain to me?

According to Jun’s story, his father might have certainly been a bit harsh to his neighbors. But that was not behavior that deviated from common sense, and could it not be understood as a means of survival to save his family?

His father was a weaker and gentler person than anyone. The assessment of being a villain does not suit him.

As if trying to uproot that belief entirely, Jun made eye contact with a sneering face.

Stay calm. I will absolutely not become Adam and Eve. I will not be swayed by the serpent’s whisper and take a bite of the fruit that would let me know my father’s good and evil.

Ilyeong opened his mouth with a composed face.

“No. Not at all.”

Jun’s eyes, half-covered by his drooping eyelids, narrowed. Jun laughed, a low “heh heh” sound.

“Yes, that was also something Kwon Hajin was good at. Slowly bewitching people’s minds to make them his own……. Thinking about it now, that bastard’s voice was really peculiar. Everyone said that if he had become a cult leader, he was the type of guy who could ruin a country.”

His father’s voice had long since faded into a blur. Ilyeong’s eyes widened. Jun indifferently broke eye contact, then crossed his arms and leaned back deep into the chair.

“But still, I know. And Nam Giyun, that bastard knew too.”

Ilyeong immediately froze. Nam Giyun, what on earth……. He was so sick of those three syllables that kept following him like a ghost even after escaping the slum. All the blood in his veins turned cold. His mouth was so dry that he had to pour water into it again. He did not have the courage to ask what he meant. No, actually, he did not want to ask.

“That geezer. Why is he being like that when I am already worried sick? Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, do not mind him.”

Haoran spoke loudly as if for everyone to hear, but Jun, with his eyes closed, began to hum an unidentifiable tune. The way he swayed back and forth looked quite pleased. Even if he asked again, it did not seem like he would get the answer he wanted.

Ilyeong shook his head, signaling that it was enough. As expected, his chest was in turmoil, so he pressed down on it firmly. He had not eaten anything properly, but that area felt stuffy, as if he had indigestion. An anxiety that he had missed something caught in his throat, making it rattle.

It was right at that moment that the banquet hall doors opened. When Ilyeong and Haoran had appeared, everyone had just glanced once and turned away, but this time, the surroundings fell completely silent.

Through the wide-open doors, Paradise soldiers dressed in navy blue military uniforms filed into the restaurant. Their numbers were two or three times greater than the number of soldiers who usually controlled the restaurant. The atmosphere inside the restaurant instantly became subdued.

“Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, over there.”

As he clutched the duffel bag tightly, his anxiety not easily subsiding, Haoran poked his elbow, thump thump. Then, when their eyes met, he gestured with his chin to a corner of the restaurant.

Only then did Ilyeong also spot the two men who had followed at the end of the line of soldiers. One was a short, middle-aged man carrying a large bag, and the other was a tall young man.

The reason the two men stood out was that they were the only ones not wearing military uniforms, and also because of their uniquely languid attitude, not at all intimidated despite being side by side with the soldiers. The two men walked slowly and sat down at an empty table in the corner of the restaurant.

Ilyeong, as if struck by lightning, froze stiffly and fixed his gaze on the man with bright brown hair among them.

*

“……Liam?”

It is Liam. Even after saying his name out loud, it did not feel real, so Ilyeong clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug into his palms. He blinked his eyes over and over, but the man’s face did not change.

It was undoubtedly Nam Giyun’s lackey doctor, the con artist Liam, who had passed off drugs as something like headache medicine.

Liam, who had not yet noticed Ilyeong, sat down and let out a long yawn. The middle-aged man sitting next to him was also dressed in a suit, but only Liam was wearing a simple green knit sweater.

He had never seen his face in the meantime, so he had not even thought that he would be on the same cruise, but the carefree face that suddenly appeared before his eyes was bewildering and also absurd. Heat instantly rushed to his face.

“Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, where are you going?”

Ilyeong could not hold it in any longer and shot up from his seat. Thinking about how he had tested him by giving him drugs, Ilyeong still wanted to beat Liam’s face to a pulp. Of course, it would be impossible with so many eyes watching, but it seemed like he would feel a little better if he at least acknowledged him.

As he strode across the space between the tables, the gazes of the soldiers stationed here and there stuck to his entire body. He made eye contact with Liam, who was nonchalantly toying with a water bottle on the table, when he reached the front of the table. At the same time, a soldier nearby grabbed Ilyeong’s shoulder.

“What is this? Go back to your seat. ……Huh? Nam Giyun?”

The soldier who had grabbed Ilyeong suddenly brightened up and raised the tone of his voice. He did not remember him right away, but upon seeing the name he called him and his leering eyes, the soldier’s identity vaguely came to mind. It was the soldier who had told him the location of the deck on the first day of boarding the cruise.

He remembered everything, including how he had used Nam Giyun’s name with the sentiment of ‘fuck you both,’ thinking he would never see them again. Shit. Why is my luck so bad today? Ilyeong bit his tongue, trying not to show it.

“Nam Giyun? The Nam Giyun I know?”

Liam, who was sitting at the table, raised his arm leisurely and feigned recognition.

“Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, it has been a while. But where is Nam Giyun here? The Captain Nam I know should be suffering in the slum, right? What is all this about?”

“Liam.”

He had only uttered the two syllables of his name, but for some reason, Liam found it so funny that he bent over and laughed out loud, “haha.” That laughter made Ilyeong’s mood sink even further to the bottom.

After laughing for a while, Liam gestured with his eyes to the soldier standing next to him. The nameless soldier looked at Ilyeong with narrowed eyes, then let go of the arm he was holding and stepped back.

He should have known from when he was handing out boxes of the hard-to-get White, but to be able to command soldiers, he must not be an ordinary doctor. Ilyeong suppressed a looming headache and sat down in the chair opposite Liam.

“Ah……. I laughed for a while again. Now you are just calling me by my name so casually.”

“You must have misheard.”

“You should not be doubting my perfectly fine hearing. I will not nitpick, so just tell me honestly.”

“I said it quietly, you have good ears.”

“Haha. Funny. The fact that you used informal speech with me… means that I am trash not even worth respecting, right? I did not expect a welcome, but seeing this reaction, I guess you know everything.”

Ilyeong stared at Liam’s smiling face in disgust. As expected, he is a jerk.

At that moment, the middle-aged man who had been sitting at the same table suddenly spoke up.

“Young Master. I did not know you had a connection with someone from the Evacuation Zone.”

A faint hostility was carried in his eyes as they scanned Ilyeong from head to toe from behind his glasses. He quickly read that it was not because of his current appearance. This person was displeased by the very fact of having to sit at the same table with someone from the Evacuation Zone. He had been around people like Seo Juhyeok so much that he had almost forgotten that this was the normal reaction.

Liam smiled slyly and waved his hands dismissively.

“Anton. Do not be so obvious about it. It looks rude. Mr. Kwon Ilyeeong is sensitive to such issues. If you really do not like it, you can go wait at another table.”

It was not something the person who had treated Ju Yoonchae and himself so rudely on their first meeting should say, but Ilyeong kept his mouth shut.

The man called Anton looked around and sighed deeply with a tired face. Even if there were other tables, all around were just field mice from the Evacuation Zone. He shrugged his shoulders with his eyes closed and arms crossed, as Jun had done earlier, as a sign that he would remain silent.

Ilyeong turned his gaze to Liam.

“Young Master, you say. You must have been a more precious person than I thought.”

“So-so. To the extent that Chief Seo Yoonseok will just let it slide even if I do not attend a banquet that everyone is required to attend?”

That is not the level of so-so. Ilyeong clenched his teeth tightly.

“The doctor thing was a lie too.”

“Well…. I do something roughly similar.”

This son of a bitch. In the end, it was a lie.

“How long have you been on the cruise?”

“Isn’t that question so funny? We are on the sea. I was on it from the beginning. The day you boarded this cruise, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, I followed and got on too. That was the plan all along. It is just that no one knew because I was cooped up in my room after boarding.”

“……Why.”

“Hmm. Because there were too many unwelcome people roaming around the cruise.”

Liam rolled his eyes and looked around. The hostility he had seen in Anton’s eyes was carried there. He had lectured Anton about looking rude, but he was the same kind of person after all.

Come to think of it, this snake-like man had also spouted on the rooftop of the 5th Evacuation Zone research institute that this would be the last time they would see each other in the ‘slum.’ He was not wrong. Ilyeong was now facing him on the sea.

Perhaps because he was so bewildered, he could not manage his expression well. Liam tossed the water bottle he was holding into the air as if juggling it, and then caught it. Wham! The sound of the plastic hitting his palm hard was loud.

“But what you are really curious about, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong, is not that, is it?”

“Will you answer if I ask?”

“Since you have already noticed, there is no reason not to. Here, take this.”

Liam suddenly handed over the water bottle he had been toying with all along. Is he trying to play the host in this situation? It was ridiculous, but he seemed like he would not back down until he took it, so he extended his hand for now.

The moment Ilyeong wrapped his palm around the water bottle, the bottle was suddenly pulled forward. His upper body bent over the table, and Liam’s face, holding the other side of the water bottle, came closer.

His brown eyes, as light as his hair color, closely scanned Ilyeong’s face.

“Hmm. Your eyes look a bit more like a normal person’s than last time. You must have quit that suspicious drug.”

The eyes he met up close narrowed into a thin line. The two of them looked at each other for a long time in silence. Thump, thump. His heart was beating a little fast, but not to the point of being agitated.

As Ilyeong remained silent, Liam smiled even more deeply. It was Anton who, unable to watch any longer, stepped in.

“Young Master.”

His voice was mixed with a sigh. It seemed he had been watching with his ears open, pretending not to. He could also feel that the surrounding tables had become strangely chilly. It seemed another rumor was about to be added.

Ilyeong sighed, put the water bottle down, and sat back in his seat. Liam also pulled his chair back and sat down. The water bottle, which had fallen out of his interest, rolled clatter clatter and fell to the floor.

“Our conversation is not over yet. Focus here.”

Liam snapped his fingers in Ilyeong’s line of sight, which was on the water bottle. When he lifted his head, Liam picked up another water bottle from the center of the table and tossed it to him lightly. This time, it was a light gesture without any tricks.

“So, have you quit that suspicious drug? Why are you not answering?”

“Because I do not quite understand what you mean. Suspicious drug? That is what you gave me. ‘White.’”

Liam’s lips curved up into a wide smile.

“It seems that is still being treated coldly by you, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong. You have not tried it yet? That is strange. I was sure it would be helpful.”

Ilyeong opened the cap of the water bottle and poured the water into his mouth without hesitation. And he swallowed it along with the curses that were rising.

Even in the slum, Liam had spoken as if he was sure that something troublesome would happen to him. He had a feeling that this man definitely knew something about the lottery. It was just that because of the place, he was hiding it with vague words.

Then he should be treated accordingly. Ilyeong roughly wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand. And the water bottle, half-full, he slowly rolled it across the table as Liam had done earlier.

“I have already used it for the purpose you recommended.”

The rolling water bottle moved forward precariously, as if deciding whether to stop or not.

The purpose he recommended. It meant that he had not taken the drug, but had used it to persuade a soldier. Liam followed the water bottle with an interested gaze.

“Is that so? I wonder who you used it on. How was it?”

“The drug was so strong that all sorts of strange people started clinging to me. Even people who should not have got involved got entangled, and my life is on the verge of ending up just like that plastic bottle.”

“Oh dear……”

Thwack! With a sound like something bursting, the water bottle finally crashed to the floor. As if the ominous sound was not just a feeling, wet droplets splashed onto his ankle, which was exposed below the hem of his pants.

Liam, unlike when he had been carefully watching the water bottle, never turned his gaze to the floor. Instead, he just turned his gaze back to Ilyeong.

“That must have been very distressing.”

His face, lamenting with an expression completely devoid of sympathy, was elegant.

At the same time, the lights in the restaurant went out from the front, click click click. The murmuring of the people from the Evacuation Zone grew louder due to the sudden situation. The soldiers remained in their places without moving. Amid the chaos, Liam calmly rolled up his sleeve and checked the watch on his wrist. And he wrinkled his nose at Ilyeong.

“It is about time. Shall we continue our conversation while watching the video?”

As Liam said, a large screen was descending from the stage located in the deepest part of the hall. The low, whirring mechanical sound resembled tinnitus and was not very pleasant.

Ilyeong pressed his ears firmly and belatedly turned his head to the screen. The position he was sitting in was awkward, so Liam also had to sit diagonally to see the screen.

Soon, the familiar melody that played every time the lottery promotional video started flowed through the speakers. This meant that it was an official video produced by Paradise. The white words ‘Paradise’ appeared on a black screen, and below it, in smaller letters, ‘: Asia,’ which then disappeared after a moment.

The next person to appear on the screen was Seo Yoonseok.

“Welcome, everyone from the Evacuation Zone.”

“This video is a few years old, but Chief doesn’t seem to have changed at all, does he?”

After Seo Yoonseok’s fixed ment, Liam added in a low voice. A video from a few years ago. Then this meant it was a pre-recorded video that had been shown to lottery winners in the past.

Ilyeong swallowed dryly and focused on Seo Yoonseok in the video. As Liam said, he did not look much different from his current self. He did not look particularly younger, nor did he look less experienced. If he had to point out a difference, it would be that his eyes looked more tired than they do now.

Come to think of it, even in the lottery promotional video that was more than 10 years old, which Ilyeong had seen in the Evacuation Zone, Seo Yoonseok had maintained that exact level of cool temperature. In a way, should he call it amazing? Ilyeong’s lips twisted.

“But by the way, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong. I have been wanting to ask since a while ago.”

As if the face-to-face seating was uncomfortable for conversation, Liam quietly stood up and moved to the seat next to Ilyeong. It would also mean that the content of the upcoming conversation was not comfortable for others to hear. Ilyeong looked at him without a word of complaint.

“What on earth is with that state you are in? Nam Giyun would cry, you know?”

Liam hooked the cardigan Ilyeong was wearing with his long finger like a hook and pulled it down to the shoulder line, then clicked his tongue, tsk tsk. It was probably the white, dried semen stain that had made Haoran gasp earlier.

Ilyeong slapped that hand away hard.

“You are still acting as Nam Giyun’s lackey as ever. Go ahead and tell on me.”

Liam chuckled, kekeke. Ever since the first meeting when he got angry and shocked, it seemed he enjoyed whatever rude things Ilyeong said. Well, to put up with Nam Giyun’s crazy personality, he would have to have that much nerve. In fact, only Anton at the same table frowned and shook his head.

“I am just curious. Wondering who else you have seduced, Mr. Kwon Ilyeong. Since you told me to, I will go ahead and tell on you with a light heart.”

Seduce what? Do as you please. Ilyeong shot him a glare, his eyes filled with curses. Nam Giyun, who is not even here, is not scary at all.

In the meantime, Seo Yoonseok, who had been emotionlessly listing welcome greetings to the winners, gave a short smile and closed his mouth. Then the screen transitioned, and someone else appeared in the video.

Ilyeong, as if the time he had been staring at the screen was for nothing, whipped his head back towards Liam. Liam, whose eyes met his, smiled with the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“I look very young, don’t I? I think it was filmed… more than 10 years ago. I was definitely young.”

It is Liam. A young Liam, with the vestiges of youth still on him, was smiling in the video, wearing a white coat. It was a fresh face that was definitely more suited to the word boy than man.

The background seemed to be a laboratory, or perhaps a studio imitating one. After looking at the camera for a moment, he soon turned his back and started his work. The clattering sound of metal instruments clashing was intentionally reduced, and a new narration was overlaid on top of it.

“The proud invention of MN Pharmaceuticals! Introducing the biometric chip, J5, which will help you lead a prosperous life in Paradise.”

Judging by the tone of the narration and the camera angle, the atmosphere was completely different from the video where Seo Yoonseok had appeared just a moment ago. It seemed to have been intentionally inserted in between Seo Yoonseok’s long speech.

In the meantime, Liam in the video was walking towards a table in the center of the room, holding a silver tray. A woman who was already sitting there rolled up one sleeve and calmly placed her forearm on the table.

The camera now zoomed in on the syringe in the silver tray. Ilyeong kept his eyes on the screen and lowered his voice.

“Were you a researcher?”

“Hmm…. Not that either.”

“Then what on earth are you?”

“Just think of me as a businessman. That coat is just showmanship. How convenient it is to gain trust with just one piece of clothing.”

Liam kept chuckling, finding his own image in the white coat on the screen amusing. The more they talked, the harder it was to figure out this man’s identity.

He called himself a businessman, but Liam in the video skillfully rubbed a cotton swab soaked in disinfectant on the back of the woman’s hand and picked up a syringe with a thick needle.

“Don’t worry. That is all a show too. I did not actually poke her.”

As he said, just before the needle was about to pierce the back of her hand, the screen switched to another scene. This time, it was a video of the chip. The thin, long chip looked half transparent and half black. The chip, reminiscent of a capsule, slowly rotated 360 degrees. It looked the same from any angle, so it was funny that they were deliberately showing the entire surface.

“J5 is based on a contactless recognition system that complements RFID technology. It not only replaces identification cards and currency, but also checks the health status of the implantee. This biometric chip will provide you with a surprisingly convenient daily life.”

Ilyeong glanced at Liam’s hand.

“Did you also get that chip implanted, Mr. Liam?”

The hand that had been tapping on the table all along came to a sudden stop.

“What do you think?”

“……”

The meaningful words made his mouth even drier. Ilyeong took a new bottle of water and moistened his throat again. His raw throat stung. After the introduction of J5, Seo Yoonseok appeared on the screen again.

“The winners from the Evacuation Zone will receive the J5 implant after watching this video. The implantation of J5 means that you have become true citizens of Paradise. Your unique information will be accumulated through J5, and your accumulated information will be used for the infinite development of Paradise. As the chief of Paradise, I thank you in advance for your understanding.”

Murmurs erupted from here and there. Even to the ears of the ignorant field mice, the story of J5 sounded questionable. The restaurant was filled with an atmosphere where it would not be strange if someone immediately questioned the existence of J5 and protested against the implantation.

Even in the chaotic situation, the soldiers remained silent, and Liam smiled. It seemed to be a familiar scene to them. Seo Yoonseok in the video also remained silent for a moment, as if giving the field mice time to think, and then continued speaking.

“To those of you who have agreed to the implantation……”

The face of the respectable chief, in that moment, transformed into the face of a vile thief.

“We will provide you with a way to live in Paradise.”

In other words, it meant that for those who did not agree to the implantation, he would not give them a way to survive in Paradise. It was also a raw ment that conveyed the facts as they were.

Having tried to persuade the field mice by wrapping it in nice words until now, at the most crucial moment, Seo Yoonseok was so unkind. The difference was so startling that it left everyone speechless for a moment.

In the blink of an eye, Seo Yoonseok returned to the face of a generous chief. And he smiled benevolently, as if nothing had happened, or as if it were no big deal.

“That is all.”

It was a death sentence.

Click. The screen went black. At the same time, the lights started to come on one by one from the front.

The scene looked like the fuse of an explosive burning fiercely. The light, rushing as if in a race, consumed all the lights in the restaurant. It was the moment the explosive finally detonated.

The restaurant, which had been so quiet that not even a breath could be heard, soon became a scene of chaos. Some of the field mice, unable to contain their anger, shot up from their seats. Loud noises began to fly about from here and there, making it impossible to understand who was saying what.

The soldiers, who had been standing their ground like statues, only then began to calm people down, as if they had found something to do.

They had no force, but their very existence was violence. The field mice, who had been exposed to the force of soldiers their entire lives in the lawless zone, froze stiffly at their restraint as if they had been shot.

The enraged field mice eventually sat down, grinding their teeth, without being able to put up any proper resistance. The unexpressed anger piled up on their faces. Their faces, red as if about to explode, now looked like countless bombs.

“Why……”

Ilyeong opened his lips and then closed them again. Why? He could not figure out what to say. What was he even trying to ask in the first place? No, does asking anything even have a meaning? His head was dizzy from trying to reflect on the video that had passed in an instant.

The ironic thing was that he was more composed than he thought. Would it be crazy to even think that the situation was not as bad as he thought? Even if he arrived at Paradise, he would still be in a position of being chased by death, but it meant that there was a hole to live through for now.

Seo Yoonseok’s words meant that if one refused the chip implantation, he would issue a ‘death sentence,’ but if one agreed, he would open a ‘path to extending life.’ The temperature difference between himself, who had always been prepared for death, and the field mice, who had imagined heaven, was starkly divided.