Rainbow City Chapter 9

“But why did you want to come in?”

“I really came here to give you comfort.”

Seokhwa glanced back at the lab, then he pointed outside again.

“Let’s move to a place other than the lab.”

“Weren’t you trying to work?”

“You’re right.”

Kwak Soohwan could not stand it any longer and opened the lid of the whiskey. He filled the glass, handed it to Seokhwa, and took a few sips from the bottle.

“Work, then. Dr. Seok is going to serve as a snack while I drink.”

Comfort-hmph. Dr. Seok suspected Kwak Soohwan of using him as a shield while drinking a large amount of alcohol. He considered kicking him out again, but because he was the one who opened the door, he returned to his seat. He then heard the sound of a gun being loaded. The sound of a semi-automatic weapon signaled the end of the game, but Seokhwa felt disappointed when he remembered where he had left his pistol. He returned and placed it in a drawer.

Dr. Seok had no idea why Kwak Soohwan had loaded the pistol. That has to be the case for whoever murdered Dr. Oh as well. However, the difference between Dr. Oh’s situation and the situation here was that there was a record of Kwak Soohwan entering this site. Along with CCTV and the main server in charge of access which was not turned off. After all, it was the shelter’s main system.

Even on the day Dr. Oh was murdered, the entry and exit records remained clean without any problems.

Seokhwa took a deep breath and turned around. He was worried that the gun might be pointed at him, but the only thing in Kwak Soohwan’s hand was a bottle of alcohol and an empty glass.

“Major Kwak Soohwan.”

“Hm?”

Kwak Soohwan moistened his whiskey-soaked lips with his tongue.

“Why did you just load your gun?”

Seokhwa asked as bluntly as he always did.

“Gun?”

“Yes, I heard the gun being loaded.”

Kwak Soohwan furrowed his eyebrows and took another sip of his drink.

“Well, this lower part of mine is also a gun.”

He pointed to his lower body, specifically his belt, which had come undone. Dr. Seok mistook the sound of his uniform belt being undone for a rifle being loaded. Seokhwa walked to his desk, humiliated, without making any additional excuses. Kwak Soohwan, who was following him slowly, craned his neck, as if perplexed.

“It turns out that Dr. Seok also has paranoia.”

“I had a dream. I dreamed of Major Kwak Soohwan killing Dr. Oh.”

“It’s a silly dream.”

“I think so.”

Seokhwa nodded and set the glass of whiskey down on his desk. He glanced at the drink he hadn’t even touched.

Dr. Seok agreed that if Kwak Soohwan was trying to console him, he might be a kinder person than he believed. He stood out from the other soldiers he saw in the shelter before heading down to Jeju Island.

People say soldiers are not human, and they have no hesitation in killing those who were once human. Soldiers frequently suffered from PTSD as a result of it, and other soldiers were unable to cope and were dismissed. Being dismissed from the military meant being expelled from the military. Despite their wishes, a large number of people chose to serve in the military.

Instead of checking Dr. Oh’s journal, Seokhwa raised his glass. He stuck out his tongue and tasted it, but it was a strange taste that he still couldn’t get used to.

“Who is talking about who?”

Kwak Soohwan approached and pointed to Seokhwa, who was dipping his tongue in the drink.

“Major Kwak Soohwan, please have everything. This is enough for me.”

Seokhwa held out the glass, but Kwak Soohwan only drank the alcohol in his bottle. He sat down on Seokhwa’s desk and looked down at the lined-up journals.

“I gave you permission to enter, but…”

Before he spoke, he chewed and swallowed the remaining bean sandwich as if he had run out of fuel.

“Even if I give permission, if permission is not given from the central control system…you can’t come in.”

Even soldiers belonging to the shelter were not allowed to enter and leave the laboratory where important data was stored. However, Kwak Soohwan was one of the soldiers who was allowed to enter.

“Are you saying that some Majors receive special treatment?”

If you drink like that, you’ll get drunk quickly…Half of the whiskey is already gone.

“It has never been like that. I was just curious.”

“It just means I’m an incredibly talented person, so why don’t you just eat that disgusting protein sandwich?”

“I spoke to the Adam recovery team a little while ago, and they said it was indeed Adam…”

“I think we are going to be treated like this….”

Kwak Soohwan raised his index finger and twirled it around his temple.

Seokhwa wanted to say he heard something strange as well but he didn’t say anything more. He probably didn’t hear anything special, and since he didn’t fully understand the context of what they were saying, he couldn’t speak it out.

“It was clear that Dr.Oh’s son was Adam, but they said something else in the meantime. So Dr. Seok is keeping it in his heart, and he still feels uncomfortable about it.”

Right? While doing so, he smiled.

“Is this someone you know well?”

“I only had meals with the doctor a few times, but we weren’t close friends.”

“Well, Dr. Seok likes rocks more than people.”

“I don’t though?”

Kwak Soohwan thought that his answer would be yes, but some people are better than stones.

Kwak Soohwan looked at Dr.Oh’s diary which was laid out in a hurry and took his eyes off him. He was sure that he was Adam, so he killed him, but that was because he also felt uneasy. As for Adam, who had been killed with his own hands, to put it into perspective, he killed enough to fill up this entire shelter yet none could speak like a human. Well, if the Adam virus has mutated again, something very awful could happen in the future. It would become difficult to distinguish between humans and Adam, then.

“When someone you know dies in front of you, you usually feel sad. So, take a sip of that and forget about it.”

In response to the unexpected comfort, Seokhwa just held the cup tightly in his hands. On a calm day, the liquid in the round glass sloshed like the sea of Jeju Island. Only then did his hands start to tremble.

Was he scared? Was it sad to see his Sunbae die like that in front of his eyes? He was sad. However, his expressionless face didn’t say otherwise.

“Major.”

“Yeah?”

“I might collapse.”

Kwak Soohwan, who swiped the alcohol that had flowed from his mouth with the back of his hand, tilted his head crookedly.

“My liver doesn’t detoxify alcohol very well.”

So he didn’t add that he didn’t drink alcohol, but he understood Seokhwa’s intention.

“Dr. Seok’s life must be so boring.”

Seokhwa looked down again at the glass of amber liquor. As he shared his story with Kwak Soohwan, his hands suddenly stopped shaking.

“I know, right? My life isn’t very interesting.”

Seokhwa took gulps of the alcohol from the glass. He drank without taking a breath, and only the tanginess remained on his lips and tongue. He said the last time he drank was when his mother died. Still, when he drank it like this, it wasn’t as bad as he thought.

“Are you okay?”

Kwak Soohwan looked at Seokhwa with surprised eyes.

“More than you think.”

It was all right, except for the sizzling sensation in his throat. Kwak Soohwan brought his face closer and examined the state of his drunkenness. Surely he won’t die? It was like that kind of gaze.

“Major Kwak.”

“Why? Do you feel like throwing up?”

“No.”

When he shook his head once, he seemed a little dizzy. Seokhwa took a deep breath and let out a long, hot breath of his own.

“It’s a relief. The third clinical trial drug appears to have had some effect. Major, have you ever heard of Thistle? It has great medicinal properties. I also wanted to try a drink, so I extracted silymarin from thistle seeds and made a medicine that regenerates liver cells. I think it’s a success to see that I’m still fine after drinking so much whiskey.”

Seokhwa was pouring out words at 1.5 times his usual speed. However, contrary to what he said, his face was gradually becoming flushed, and his eyes were also becoming drowsy. Dr.Seok said something about Thistle but Kwak Soohwan needed to learn what he was talking about, but it was obvious that the medicine Seokhwa made was of no use. Dr.Seok’s body sitting on the chair was gradually stretching out like melted jelly.

“Dr. Seok, are you really okay?”

Seokhwa barely got up, dragged his chair to his desk, and grabbed his pen. In one hand, he held a container with the words [Clinical Trial 3 for Liver Strengthening] written on it, and he started scribbling something down.

As Kwak Soohwan watched him, wondering what on earth he was doing, he stopped writing and the pen clicked. Seokhwa was left lying on his desk.

[Approximately 150 ml of whiskey, hold for approximately 5 minutes…]

It was like a dying message.

***

Thinking he was really dead, he pulled out his index finger and put it on Seokhwa’s nose, then wiped his feverish forehead and face with a cold towel. Still, the fever didn’t go down much, so he eventually unbuttoned his Seokhwa’s shirt.

Even though he was walking around looking for rocks in the scorching sun, he didn’t lose any weight.

The skin beneath his fingertips felt extremely smooth. He quickly lowered his hand to his hollow belly button and then clenched his fist.

When he saw Seokhwa at Sehwa Beach, he thought he would be his type, but he turned out to be a fool so he ended up giving him his socks. But he was a genius who could take the place of a chief researcher… So if Kwak Soohwan touched him, he would be in great trouble.

Kwak Soohwan went to the bathroom, soaked the towel in cold water, got out, and took off Dr.Seok’s shirt. As he lifted his arm and put the towel under his armpit, he burst into laughter. He touched his tender part with his hand and put a towel in it. Seokhwa frowned at the sudden cold and tried to pull his towel away. Kwak Soohwan crossed Seokhwa’s arms and grabbed him, preventing him from moving. As he waited for the fever to go down, Seokhwa slowly opened his eyes.

“Are you okay now? Would you like some water?”

As he let go of his arm and went to fetch water, something flew behind him to hit him. It was a wet towel that had been placed under his petrified armpit.

“You have a severe fever right now,”

Kwak Soohwan scratched his eyebrows awkwardly before speaking. The petrified Seokhwa who was lying, facing the ceiling, began to wriggle and begin to shed off his clothes.

He took off his shirt and pulled down his pants and briefs. The shedding process was so slow that it felt like I was watching an animal shed its skin in real-time. Seokhwa, who soon became naked, spread his arms and legs wide. There was no way Kwak Soohwan knew that shedding clothes off was one of Seokhwa’s sleeping habits.

Kwak Soohwan pressed his forehead with his hand and turned around. Since he couldn’t go to Seokhwa’s room, he brought him to his room.

“Look at this. Who is the real idiot here?”

It was so hard to ignore Seokhwa because he thought if he returned tomorrow morning to take it, he could be dead by then. Even though Seokhwa was clearly older than himself, he seemed somewhat uneasy. Was it because his physical strength was so low? Or was it because when he killed Dr.Oh’s son, his expressionless but pale face remained in his eyes?

Kwak Soohwan wet two towels with cold water again and approached Seokhwa. He unfolded the towel and covered his upper and lower body, then pulled out a chair and sat down.

Suddenly, he desperately wanted a cigarette. Since he didn’t have a single cigarette in hand, he only drank the remaining whiskey one after another. Suddenly, his mood light started blinking, indicating that there was a problem with the power supply. Although it was said to be the safest and wealthiest shelter, he never had electricity for more than a day or two.

“Life isn’t that fun for me either, Dr. Seok.”

The towel quickly heated up with petrifying heat.