Rainbow City

Kwak Soohwan tightly clenched his lips, forcing his fists to relax despite the rage. He laid the man on the ground and covered his face with a vest, a gesture reminiscent of what he had done before sending his parents and brother to the sky.“I’ll follow.”Major Kim, with a disdainful smile as if it were obvious, spat out a laugh mixed with contempt.“Then don’t stand there like an idiot, follow me.”But what makes you guys so special? Why do you treat people from the outside like bugs and easily kill them off? If you’re so great, you should see for yourself how great you are. If not, then you all deserve to die.Kwak Soohwan stared at the back of Major Kim’s head without blinking, full of anger.***Seokhwa, sitting with his back against the wall, still couldn’t focus clearly. Although he had opened his eyes an hour ago, Seokhwa had been gradually confirming the sensations of his body. In the meantime, he realized that the fever had returned to its place.Seokhwa mechanically moved his hands to remove the bandage wrapped around his wrist. Despite his skepticism, he discovered the bite marks from Adam.After a while, Seokhwa walked out of the bed and looked around. There was a large glass window beside him, and beyond it, there were various medicines. The door to this place was tightly closed, but there was a dressing cart filled with medicines inside. It was a familiar yet unfamiliar isolation room.Approaching the dressing cart, Seokhwa unwrapped the packaging of an Adam Kit and pricked his thumb with the needle.The result was negative.This time, he grabbed a pair of tweezers and removed the part where the scab was stiff. He bit his lip at the pain of tearing flesh, but ignored it and placed the scab on the tray. After closing the lid, he returned to the bed with the tray in his hand.He drank the water on the table, sat on the bed, moved his head slightly, and then stopped moving again. The body moved effortlessly according to his will.He clearly remembered being bitten by Adam, but the memories during the fever were fragmented. Whenever he faintly regained consciousness, Kwak Soohwan was there. Feeling famished, he lifted his head to see a man in a uniform beyond the glass. It was a controller from Rainbow City, catching the attention of others.In his hands, as he opened the locked door and entered, there was a bowl.“It’s called ‘Tarakjuk.’ Is it okay?”Kwak Soohwan placed the bowl on the bedside table. Seokhwa followed him with his gaze, but Kwak Soohwan wore the same smile on his lips as if nothing had happened. However, Seokhwa did not forget that he swiftly took the Chaleh that Seokhwa had placed down.Seokhwa grabbed Kwak Soohwan’s wrist.“… It was.”After a few days since the fever subsided, his voice was rusty from being silent.“Clearly… It was positive.”Upon hearing this, Kwak Soohwan squinted his eyes, then lifted his lips.“Did you dream? How can you talk to me if you’re positive.”“It’s not a dream.”“A few days of sleep, and now you’re overflowing with energy? Dr. Seok. No, now I should call you Seokhwa, right? Kill or eat.”Kwak Soohwan, who pulled his hand away, lifted the detachable plate attached to the end of the bed. Then, he moved the porridge onto it.His body condition was not so bad after sleeping for a few days, maybe because he felt relatively comfortable after enduring the hardship of a high fever. Seokhwa didn’t feel any discomfort, perhaps due to Kwak Soohwan washing him. Seokhwa put his legs under the plate and picked up the utensils. Kwak Soohwan watched him with his fists clenched, and Chaleh disappeared into the pocket of his uniform.“If I’m bothering you, should I leave?”Bothering? Why was he saying such a thing?Although it was Kwak Soohwan who put him in restraints and confined him to the isolation room, it was only because he had committed an act that deserved punishment. It was just unfortunate that Adam had entered at that time.“If I got bitten… Why did you save me?”Kwak Soohwan let out a short sigh at the unexpected question.“Kill or eat.”“I’m eating.”Seokhwa gently scraped the top of the porridge and put it in his mouth. Even though the porridge had no seasoning at all, he couldn’t say it tasted good.“Where is this?”“Violet Zone 21.”“Why are you here?”“It’s not like you’re a five-year-old. Why so many questions.”Seokhwa bowed his head deeply and slowly ate the porridge. Kwak Soohwan approached quickly and stopped in his tracks. Perhaps he thought Seokhwa was going to faceplant into the porridge.While soothing his empty stomach with the bland porridge, Seokhwa recalled the image of Kwak Soohwan that had taken root in his memory.He had comforted Seokhwa when his body was hot from fever, embraced him when he shivered from the cold, and even melted ice to alleviate the cold. His gentle touch on the body was as affectionate as a mother in memory, making Kwak Soohwan even more elusive.He remembered vaguely how desperate Kwak Soohwan had been when he, who had coldly stripped him of his researcher position, was attacked by Adam.“I’ve finished eating. Please answer.”Seokhwa pushed the empty bowl away and rinsed his mouth with water.“What answer?”When he avoided answering, Seokhwa knew he would either ask another question or divert the conversation.“When I was delirious with fever… I saw a dropped kit on the floor. But it was positive. Don’t say I saw it wrong. I was bitten by Adam, and I know my body.”Seokhwa’s eyes were clear after being exposed to the Adam virus. Of course, that was not possible. Seokhwa was pressuring Kwak Soohwan so that he couldn’t escape into another story.“Do you resent it?”“Why would I?”“Because I was partly to blame for you getting bitten by Adam.”The act of trying to contact the serpent was a case that could lead to immediate execution. Seokhwa realized how dangerous it was and felt his own helplessness keenly.The soldier had tried every possible action when under attack but ultimately got bitten. No matter how hard you try, there are things that just don’t work out. It stemmed from his own feeble body. Seokhwa finally brought his trembling hands under the tray and hid them.“Commander Kwak… has saved my life several times.”Seokhwa added weight to the fact that Kwak Soohwan, who throws senseless jokes or offers stones, is not the controller of his inner thoughts.“Not this time. Dr. Seok saved himself.”He cleared the dishes, returned the tray to its place, and sat on the bed. Seokhwa also sat, staring at him. He realized for the first time that his lower body was naked beneath the long patient gown.He glanced at the floor for a moment as if lost in thought, then turned slightly towards Seokhwa.“An investigation is underway as to why the soldier who returned to the Gwacheon shelter while Dr. Seok was asleep became Adam. They’re also looking into how the missing ones returned.”He wondered why Kwak Soohwan was conveying such news. Seokhwa approached him a little more. Although he felt him flinch, he didn’t react.“Why?”“Mother might be watching.”“There’s no mother here.”Still, Seokhwa didn’t back down.If Kwak Soohwan had still been in poor health, he would have given him porridge and left. But seeing how he could talk and couldn’t contain his curiosity, he judged that conversation was possible. More so, he had thought that Seokhwa might be angry about getting bitten by Adam, thinking he was angry for being shot or handcuffed.There was nothing Kwak Soohwan could do about Seokhwa being bitten by Adam, just like on that day long ago. As he had said, Seokhwa saved himself. Perhaps Seokhwa didn’t know how much relief that brought him.It made him realize that in a world where loss was so familiar, there might be things he wouldn’t lose. Even if Seokhwa ended up being devoured by Adam, he wouldn’t die from transforming and being killed by him. So, as long as I protect him from Adam’s attack, that’s enough. After losing everything since fourteen, he didn’t want to create anything precious anymore. He didn’t want to lose anything else.But now, perhaps it’s okay?Kwak Soohwan felt that the petite doctor, more than himself, was like a savior bringing stability to this damn world.“I want it.”The resonance of the boy who had been left alone suddenly echoed.“He’s so strong that he can overcome Adam. It’s okay to take him without enduring it.”Kwak Soohwan reached out to Seokhwa, who looked at him with hidden hands. Seokhwa neither avoided the approaching hand nor showed any signs of wariness. Kwak Soohwan clenched his fist and pulled up Seokhwa’s patient gown.If Seokhwa decided to create a religious group, he could gather a massive number of followers with just his body. If he claimed to have received the will of God and emerged unscathed from the Adam virus, it could be a ray of hope for those who wanted to catch at least a straw. Rebels who deceived people, claiming to be immune and spreading false information, already existed. They were fake, but Seokhwa was real.So, if the higher-ups found out about this, it would be troublesome. There was a high chance that Seokhwa would be stamped as a crucial figure in the rebels rather than just a researcher with questionable ideology. Even if he called himself a controller of Rainbow City, it would be difficult to save him.“…Listen carefully.”Seokhwa, who had been asleep for a long time, found Kwak Soohwan’s voice even deeper.“Dr. Seok is just a carrier. He wasn’t bitten directly because the bite is covered by the shirt.”Seokhwa roughly understood the meaning behind Kwak Soohwan’s words. He nodded slowly.“They said they would conduct an epidemiological investigation in the city, right? It turns out there was a Jeep transporting them witnessed. They came to Gwacheon shelter riding military Jeeps provided by Rainbow City, and they transformed into Adam with a time gap. What do you think, Dr. Seok? Is this possible?”“…If infected with the Adam virus, the time it takes for each person to transform varies, but I’ve never seen a case that lasted more than 10 minutes. How long does it take from getting off the Jeep to entering the shelter?”“Since they completed the disinfection and sent them up, it would have taken at least 20 minutes. As I said, they sent them up without even conducting blood tests.”As a result, many soldiers and staff at the Gwacheon shelter’s disinfection center were expelled. Kwak Soohwan considered this an obvious outcome.“The soldier who… bit me initially spoke. Like Oh Cheongwoon sunbae… at first.”Seokhwa hid his hands inside the blanket to conceal his trembling.“Can we retrieve the soldier’s blood?”“I’ll get it for you.”Seokhwa blinked in surprise. He had expected another useless remark. Without questioning the sincerity, Seokhwa calmly continued speaking.“I’ve cultured the virus from Oh Cheongwoon’s blood before.”It was also a fact reported to the superiors on the day Kwak Soohwan brought the vaccine from Eden Sanctuary.“However, unlike the aggressive regular Adam virus, the virus from Oh Cheongwoon’s blood moved very slowly. We hypothesized that it was due to the antibodies, and perhaps Dr. Oh Yangseok administered an incomplete cure.”Listening to the story, Kwak Soohwan reached out again and brushed Seokhwa’s hair back, which had fallen forward.“Dr. Seok, what was the relationship with Oh Cheongwoon?”Seokhwa didn’t hide his confusion.“Oh Cheongwoon was… my senior?”“Besides that.”“What else is there besides that?”He didn’t even mention that Oh Cheongwoon had thrown away all the stones he had collected.“Did you have sex?”Seokhwa furrowed his eyebrows noticeably, surprised. He couldn’t fathom Kwak Soohwan’s intentions behind such a question.“If it weren’t for Lieutenant Kwak, I might have been bitten to death.”“It’s not like that at all, but when your life is in danger, you look for Senior Oh.”Seokhwa made a face as if wondering if he had ever done such a thing, then remembered a dream.“…Did I say that out loud?”“You were desperately looking for Senior Oh.”“If it wasn’t Senior Oh Cheongwoon.”“Then do you have another senior with the last name ‘Oh’?”“…I don’t know.”It was not a rhetorical question; there should have been an answer, but Seokhwa gave only a vague response.“Dr. Seok.”Kwak Soohwan wiped his face with his hand.“I’m going to officially strip you of your doctorate title. Are you okay with that?”“Wasn’t it already stripped?”“Superiors still don’t know. They just think Dr. Seok has been relocated to Gwacheon. I’ll demote you to a regular citizen with my authority, and you’ll reside here in Violet Zone Shelter. I’ll support you so you can continue your research here.”Seokhwa slowly processed Kwak Soohwan’s words. As he did, one answer became apparent.“…Can I develop a cure?”He didn’t provide any verbal response, but Seokhwa felt a positive inclination.“They said it’s not allowed from above. But if I secretly develop a cure…”Seokhwa, who was muttering confusedly, suddenly lifted his head and looked at Kwak Soohwan. The surprise and tension were evident on his face.“What are you thinking?”Kwak Soohwan spread his hands apart.“Here’s the Second Master, and next to it is the First Master.”He pointed to the left and right palms, then clasped the two hands together.“In the future, the power struggle between the two will intensify, and both sides will take hits. Meanwhile, Eden Sanctuary is growing in size. Anyway, what’s important to those upper heads is not the cure but their own security. They don’t want change even though they know it’s wrong. What if Eden Sanctuary exploits that gap? Would the situation be better than this?”He, the controller of Rainbow City, made a bold statement without hesitation.“Are you… testing me?”“Rather, it feels like I’m not the one being tested?”Kwak Soohwan smirked.“The alliance between Eden Sanctuary and Dr. Oh Yangseok is true. The superiors knew about it in advance, so they dealt with Dr. Oh Yangseok.”Seokhwa’s lips slightly parted.“It was the First Master who gave the order to assassinate Oh Yangseok.”“When did you find out exactly?”Seokhwa’s eyes were tinged with a faint suspicion.“Don’t look at me like that. I found out not too long ago. The First Master only opened his mouth to persuade me to join his side.”Kwak Soohwan took out a notepad and a pen from inside his uniform, then removed the cap.“From what I’ve learned while working as a controller, the Eden Sanctuary’s signatories are Besson, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. However, all four of them are presumed to be dead.”He wrote down the four names as if drawing the branching rivers.“Think about the beginning of Eden Sanctuary. There’s Adam, Eve, and the serpent, Serpent. Adam turned into a virus, and Serpent has already revealed its true form. So, who could be the figure from Eden Sanctuary who hasn’t revealed their true form yet?”…It was Eve.‘The rivers branching out from Eden Sanctuary are Besson, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates, and they made the land fertile. No, they wanted to make it fertile, but… Seokhwa, no matter what anyone says, you’re not a failure. You’re the perfect child born from Euphrates.’‘Adam needs Eve. But we failed, and we also changed our beliefs.’The voice of his mother echoed in his mind.“If I hadn’t intervened, Dr. Seok could have reunited with Eden Sanctuary’s Serpent. He clearly mentioned in the motel basement that they were talking about the cure, right? In that case, Eve to them might not be a being like Adam.”Eve might be referring to a cure, just as Adam referred to the virus.“If Eden Sanctuary develops a cure, the situation will be reversed. The Eden Sanctuary outside will strengthen its power, seizing control, and likely follow the course of destroying Rainbow City. However, I don’t believe Serpent will paint a convincing picture that Dr. Seok wants.”Seokhwa felt the urge to step back a bit.“You told me not to be interested in anything else and focus only on research. Why are you saying such things now?”He pressed the sheet with his fingertips.“I thought it might be a whale fight with shrimp bursting, but it turns out that shrimp is incredibly strong.”“Shrimp is weaker than a whale.”“Who knows?”Kwak Soohwan laughed like a wooden sculpture, and Seokhwa suddenly thought that his expression was quite good.In retrospect, Kwak Soohwan’s warnings to him so far were aimed at avoiding the execution by the superiors. If someone other than Kwak Soohwan had discovered the binary code cipher first, he would no longer be a person in this world. Keeping the incident of being bitten by Adam a secret also seemed like Kwak Soohwan’s attempt to protect him.“Major… you’re a guardian of Rainbow City.”Leaning forward smoothly, Kwak covered Seokhwa’s hand, placed on the sheet, with his own.“One day, my father, who came to see my younger brother, turned into Adam. Thinking back now, someone must have implanted the Adam virus in the insulin injection that our father was supposed to take. Our father, who became Adam, infected my younger brother, and our mother also suffered attacks from both who turned into Adam. No, I didn’t see it, but it must have happened that way.”Kwak Soohwan continued his story in a detached manner, as if talking about someone else’s story.“When I went out and came back, that tragedy had unfolded. So… I killed everyone with my own hands.”Seokhwa pulled his hand away from Kwak’s covering hand.“It’s just a common story.”As someone who was born and raised in safe Jeju Island, Seokhwa might not be able to empathize. Even though he knows that, he backs away in an instant, feeling uneasy. Kwak Soohwan maintained a nonchalant expression, hiding his inner thoughts, but Seokhwa approached him with determined steps.“…It hurts.”As Kwak’s warm hand wrapped around his cheek, Seokhwa could acknowledge that.“Yeah. It hurts for me too. Very much so.”His eyes seemed bloodshot for a moment. When he blinked once, they cleared as if to ask when that had happened.“The soldier from Rainbow City, who helped me when I was alone, was killed. Just because he grabbed my arm, they shot him, calling him dirty.”A chill seemed to rise through Kwak Soohwan’s cool cheek.“Do you know what was the first thing I did after becoming the controller?”Seokhwa only lowered his head silently, looking at him. Now, there was no hint of amusement on Kwak Soohwan’s face. It was so chillingly indifferent that it felt like a snake that had been hiding underground for a long time was now emerging, exhaling its accumulated venom.“I watched him find that bastard, gouge his eyeballs out, and struggle. I watched for a week until finally, I threw him to Adam as prey. And am I supposed to be the guardian of Rainbow City?”He firmly clasped Seokhwa’s hand covering his cheek. The bones of his hand clashed against each other from the pressure, causing a slight pain.“I have nothing left to be taken away now.”Kwak Soohwan looked up at Seokhwa, who was on his knees.“I’ll protect you.”He released the hand he held and this time wrapped his arms around Seokhwa’s waist. He consciously adjusted his strength to avoid choking him too hard.Seokhwa looked down at his forehead with bewildered eyes. He remembered the man who had become Adam, killing his family, taking care of him, who had been bitten by Adam. He also remembered his actions, holding him tightly, telling him not to change. He couldn’t guess what emotions were behind it, but it still hurt his heart. Seokhwa naturally lifted his arms, which were hanging down, and gently embraced his head. Like always, Kwak Soohwan’s body felt like soothing his own body temperature.Seokhwa, who began living in the Violet Zone, injected the Adam virus based on his blood.According to Rainbow City regulations, only those with a biological safety level of 3 or higher were permitted to experiment with the Adam virus. However, since there was no surveillance by Mother here, he could conduct experiments freely. However, only Seokhwa and Kwak Soohwan could enter the research building.After dozens of experiments, surprisingly, his blood became infected with the Adam virus. Seokhwa raised the infected blood much higher than the average human body temperature.Starting from 44.1 degrees, the activity of the Adam virus began to slow significantly. When it reached 44.3 degrees, it stopped moving as if entering a state of dormancy, and upon surpassing 44.5 degrees, the virus began to be destroyed.