Rainbow City

It was a strange scene, but at that moment, Lee Chaeyoon thought those guys were just ordinary soldiers. It seemed odd that she was only tailing a suspicious person.

“Oh, goodness. What’s going on here? Doctor, are you hurt anywhere?” 

Lee Chaeyoon pressed her temple with her hand.

“Yes, I’m fine. Major Lee…” Though there were bloodstains on her uniform, fortunately, she didn’t seem seriously injured. If Lee Chaeyoon hadn’t dealt with Adam after the explosion, the soldiers in the Violet Shelter would have faced an even tougher battle now.

Seokhwa kicked his knee to put more strength into his right leg. 

“Don’t do anything unnecessary.” Choi Hoeon whispered from behind. 

“If you want to save him, do as I say. The Violet Shelter is surrounded by our forces already.” 

Was it true, or just a threatening remark?

Choi Hoeon’s gun was aimed at Seokhwa, while Lee Chaeyoon’s gun was pointed at Choi Hoeon. Seokhwa judged that all these actions from Choi Hoeon were mere threats. The reason Serpent approached was undoubtedly because there must be some value in using him.

“Major, shoot.” 

“What? Doctor?” 

“Shoot.” Lee Chaeyoon aimed at Choi Hoeon, then immediately looked at Seokhwa.

“Oh, Seokhwa, it seems like Dr. Seokhwa is having a big misunderstanding.” 

A gunshot rang out right next to them, making their ears ring. After blinking a few times, sudden pain started to set in. Seokhwa realized only then that Choi Hoeon had shot his arm.

“Ah…” Blood flowed from the torn flesh where the bullet grazed his forearm, staining Kwak Soohwan’s workout clothes in an instant. 

“You bastard! You crazy son of a bitch!”

Lee Chaeyoon also raised an incredulous gaze, blood vessels pulsating in her temples. “Major, step aside from that door. Without proper treatment, I cannot guarantee Dr. Seokhwa’s life.”

“Doctor, are you okay?” Lee Chaeyoon, still with her gun pointed in their direction, looked distressed. Pain pulsed through the torn area as if her heart were attached there. Seokhwa clenched his forearm and spoke to Lee Chaeyoon again. “I’m fine… Shoot.”

With his gun aimed at Seokhwa, Choi Hoeon grinned at Lee Chaeyoon. “I don’t intend to kill the doctor, but taking out a leg or an arm is not that difficult. Try it, Major.”

Choi Hoeon was sincere. Faced with the threat of this guy wanting to pierce Seokhwa’s arm or leg, Lee Chaeyoon had no easy choice. Seokhwa, too, was scared of what might happen if he were taken by Serpent.

As Choi Hoeon approached, pulling Seokhwa forward, Lee Chaeyoon stepped back. “I can’t do it. Doctor, I can’t.,” she murmured without hesitation. Seokhwa couldn’t burden Lee Chaeyoon any longer. Carefully opening her zipper pocket, Seokhwa dropped a photo to the floor, distracting Choi Hoeon so he wouldn’t notice.

“Major, please tell Major Kwak Soohwan.” Lee Chaeyoon furrowed her brow as if questioning the request. Seokhwa continued speaking quickly, hoping she would remember. “My mother’s name is Lee Jinyeon. Lee Jinyeon, and she was Euphrates. Major Kwak Soohwan’s, ugh!”

“That’s enough.” Choi Hoeon inserted his fingers into Seokhwa’s torn arm. A scream erupted from Seokhwa’s mouth. Despite the pain, Seokhwa gestured with his eyes towards the photo he had dropped on the floor.

“She’s there.”

Seokhwa’s desperate words were cut off. Lee Chaeyoon tried to follow with her gun, but Choi Hoeon, who had exited, pushed the door closed. He laid a metal rod horizontally and jammed the door shut. Given some time, Lee Chaeyoon could easily break the door and come out. Whether Choi Hoeon knew that or not, he dragged Seokhwa, walking confidently through the dark corridor. Seokhwa’s steps were almost dragged, but Choi Hoeon didn’t care, forcefully dragging him along.

“Forgive the rudeness. I didn’t plan to go this far.”

Lethargy had always been an accompanying label for Seokhwa. And today was no exception. Seokhwa tightened his grip on Choi Hoeon’s arm, exerting force. Suddenly, much like the gunshot wounds inflicted by Lee Chaeyoon’s gun, blood seeped from his torn wounds. Choi Hoeon showed no reaction, as if he couldn’t feel any pain. Seokhwa bit down, squeezing Choi Hoeon’s torn wound even tighter, but his steps did not falter.

The corridor inclined without stairs. When Choi Hoeon reached the end and opened the door, they stepped outside the shelter’s boundaries. Inside the shelter, still engulfed in flames, the battle between soldiers and Adams continued.

Choi Hoeon forcibly removed Seokhwa, who still held his arm, and pushed his into a waiting car. As Seokhwa tried to leave, he pressed his chest firmly, retrieving handcuffs from the console compartment. After attaching the handcuffs to the ceiling handle, he filled Seokhwa’s arms.

Blood gushed on Seokhwa’s face as he glared at Choi Hoeon, who was on the driver’s seat. Turning his head abruptly, he grabbed his chin with one hand and slid his thumb into Seokhwa’s lips, lightly grazing the tip of his front teeth.

“Your teeth seem unharmed.”

While Choi Hoeon’s tone was polite, his actions were not. Reaching into the back seat, Choi Hoeon brought forward a medical kit. “Just endure a little. With the pain reliever, it should hurt less.”

Pouring out hemostatic powder and bandages, he skillfully applied first aid to Seokhwa’s injured arm. He casually sprinkled hemostatic powder on his own arm, roughly wrapped it with a bandage, and finished. Seokhwa had been staring out of the window without saying a word. Both wrists fixed to the handle throbbed.

Pulling out only a pen-sized scanner, Choi Hoeon suddenly began scanning Seokhwa’s arm. Startled by the sharp sensation, like an ant bite, Seokhwa heightened his vigilance.

“What are you doing?”

“For safety measures.”

Only then did Seokhwa realize what he was checking. Unfortunately, the microchip implanted under his skin had stopped functioning due to the gunshot wound, and it didn’t register on the scanner.

With no need for a second task, Choi Hoeon grabbed the steering wheel and pressed the accelerator forcefully. Seokhwa leaned his forehead against the car window, looking back at the receding flames. Kwak Soohwan was supposed to return within an hour, but he had failed to fill even that time and ended up captured by Choi Hoeon.

“Dr. Seokhwa.”

Seokhwa stared out of the window without responding. Choi Hoeon drove without turning on the headlights, taking side streets instead of major roads.

In the distance, a series of Rainbow City’s jeeps were seen heading towards the Violet Shelter. In the deserted Violet Zone, the only light was from the shelter Seokhwa had just left. The sparse moonlight failed to reach the city partially consumed by darkness, concealing even our figures. Seokhwa forced strength into his eyelids, which kept trying to droop. his whole body ached. The heat below felt as intense as his bandaged arm.

“…Where are we going?” Seokhwa slowly opened his lips.

“To a safe place.”

“What’s the purpose?”

“You’re asking the obvious. It’s to purify the rotten city along with clearing out the Adams.”

“So, you infected even the healthy soldiers?”

Knowing that the upper echelons were infested with corrupt individuals, it didn’t make Eden’s Paradise, who captured innocent people for torture and experiments, look any better.

“When developing a vaccine, you don’t use humans as test subjects. That’s Rainbow City’s policy.”

“….”

“If you believe that, Dr. Seokhwa, then you haven’t seen any of the darker sides. Major Kwak Soohwan probably knows too. Military officers surely know what’s happening in the Red Zone, where civilians are not allowed to enter.”

Choi Hoeon increased the speed, turning on the headlights.

“Kidnapping people outside and using them as experimental subjects is a daily routine. It’s not just about injecting the drugs they developed into lab mice. At least you, Dr. Seokhwa, participated in clinical trials with your own body, but those higher-ups experimented with the virus as they pleased. Didn’t you anticipate that?”

“So, while distributing the vaccine, you planted malaria parasites?”

Choi Hoeon swiftly swept his hand over the steering wheel.

“Caught on, did you?”

He responded casually, as if it were no big deal, like a child hiding an item in a treasure hunt.

“Since we’ll be leaving disguised with a vaccine developed by Rainbow City, they should be willing to accept that level of risk.”

“Why did you attempt to approach me?”

“I merely apologized to you, Doctor. To discern between good and evil.”

If it weren’t for Serpent, Seokhwa might not have questioned Dr. Oh or the Rainbow City leadership. he would have likely repeated the given tasks as before.

“Did you succeed in developing a cure?”

Given that Serpent had fully revealed himself, there was a hint of uncertainty.

“Oh Cheongwoon willingly got infected with the Adam virus.”

Seokhwa looked at Choi Hoeon for the first time since getting into the car. His uncomfortable posture with his arms tied up made him uneasy and even nauseous.

“The first one to approach us wasn’t Dr. Oh, but Oh Cheongwoon. We have our principles too. Isn’t that the most basic aspect of religion? Just as Rainbow City has the pretext of Adam for everything they do.”

Though Choi Hoeon might have seemed like the leader of Eden’s Paradise, he appeared rather skeptical of religion.

“However, who would have thought that Dr. Sunbae would immerse himself in those principles? He claimed he was a chosen human by God. Perhaps Oh Cheongwoon had inferiority complex issues with mutants.”

Unlike the rough ride, Choi Hoeon’s voice was smooth.

“But Dr. Oh attempted to develop a cure to save his son infected with the Adam virus. However, it remained incomplete. Dr. Oh said he got hints for the cure from you.”

Seokhwa shook his head.

“I have never developed a cure, nor have I provided any hints.”

Choi Hoeon just smiled quietly. The car had now left the side street and was traveling along the railroad tracks. The downward direction suggested they were heading towards the provinces.

“Take a deep breath. It’s going to be a long journey.”

“Then, can you… untie my hands?”

“Just endure a little longer.”

Suddenly, abruptly, even as Seokhwa shook the hands hanging in front of Choi Hoeon, he remained motionless. Seokhwa, however, was far from asleep.

“Once you see it for yourself, Doctor, your perspective will change. After all, you are soon to be part of our doctrine.”

***

Baekho Unit arrived when the Adam suppression was mostly complete. As soon as the ammunition depot exploded, Lee Chaeyoon radioed Yang Sanghoon, and he discreetly left Gwacheon with only the elite forces. The flames from the still-burning ammunition depot showed no signs of subsiding. Even though they were quite a distance away, Yang Sanghoon could feel the heat throughout his body.

Bodies lay scattered on the ground, forming a field of corpses. Some soldiers seemed to have committed suicide before transforming into Adam, while others were shot by soldiers. At Yang Sanghoon’s command, groups of three split up in different directions inside the building for the final clean-up.

Yang Sanghoon firmly gripped the handle and magazine of a 9mm submachine gun as he confirmed and shot the Adams lying on the ground. He moved towards a building that seemed to be an abandoned research facility. The path was also filled with bodies in military uniforms. Although he had witnessed countless gruesome scenes, the sight of all corpses being soldiers was almost unheard of.

Yang Sanghoon contemplated shouting to find Lee Chaeyoon or Kwak Soohwan but refrained from doing so. Unable to estimate how many Adams remained, he briskly entered the adjacent building. He raised the gun to check above, then lowered it, finding corpses extending in that direction. Kicking an Adam on the floor, he moved forward.

Faint light emanated from below. Hastening towards the light, he kicked a door that seemed almost closed but opened into the room with his combat boots. He aimed his gun as he entered.

“You’re early, you son of a bitch.”

Upon seeing the face, Yang Sanghoon, who had just received curses from Lee Chaeyoon, wondered if he should just shoot him. Kwak Soohwan, who had taken off his gloves, lay roughly on the ground.

“Where is the doctor?”

Yang Sanghoon asked, and Lee Chaeyoon brushed his hair away roughly.

“Serpent took him.”

“What? Serpent?”

“To make it short, it’s complicated.”

“Can’t we find him with GPS? Wasn’t the doctor’s position reinstated?”

“I got GPS clearance, but the signal isn’t being picked up.”

While the two were engaged in conversation, Kwak Soohwan mulled over the words Lee Chaeyoon had conveyed.

“Dr. Seokhwa’s mother’s name is Lee Jin-yeon. Dr. Seokhwa mentioned something about his being Yoo-pra or Tee-pra, and what else… Major Kwak Soohwan also said something similar. Did he specifically ask you to convey this message? He showed me a photo and said his mother was in it, but what on earth does that mean? Am I remembering it correctly? I’m not even sure what I’m saying. Oh, this is driving me crazy. I have no confidence in my memory.”

Kwak Soohwan unfolded the photo that had been folded in half. A sigh almost akin to a lament escaped him from deep within.

In the photo were my father, whom I killed with my own hands, and my mother, who left her last words for me. Next to her was Dr. Wonho, and then who…?

A short-haired woman wore a researcher’s ID, but due to the image quality, the text was unreadable. However, Seokhwa had talked about his mother while pointing to this photo. There was no reason for him to say unnecessary things in such a dire situation.

[Four rivers flowing together]

The moment I read the writing on the back, it felt as if the back of my head was chilling.

‘What about two children from a non-son and a married one? Tigris… I resemble this doctor…’

Seokhwa’s voice seemed to echo in my ears. I dismissed it as just excited nonsense.

If Seokhwa resembles this doctor and his mother’s name is Lee Jin-yeon… then the woman in this photo might be Euphrates, and the possibility of being Seokhwa’s mother could not be ignored. Clearly, among the four rivers flowing together, two of them were my parents. Kwak Soohwan tightly gripped the photo and turned around.

“Didn’t Choi Hoeon say that his hometown is Busan?”

Yang Sanghoon blinked as if he didn’t understand what was being said.

“For now, Major, secure the locations of Choi Hoeon’s hometown and that bastard’s mother together. Since both of them don’t have internal chips, there’s a high possibility of collusion.”

“Hey, you said that bastard could be Serpent before. Take a look at his shoulder. It looked weird. Anyway, it seemed suspicious, so I did some digging.”

“Just get to the point.”

Lee Chaeyoon, who was about to lose her temper, calmed herself. She had been restraining her frustration ever since she heard that Seokhwa was injured. Kwak Soohwan was trying to leave without looking back after they both went out, making it impossible to deduce where he went. Gathering information was now a priority.

“Choi Hoeon’s hometown is near Busan Harbor. His family owns several passenger and cargo ships. They play a role in transporting goods between islands and the mainland. Damn rich.”

“I don’t know either, so just get to the point.”

“What was the name? Anyway, Choi Hoeon’s mother is usually in Busan Harbor. When I asked my dad about it, he said that woman became a distinguished family by pushing her husband.”

“What?”

“The woman reported her husband, who was involved with the rebels. That’s how they became a distinguished family, and the uncle’s job was taken over by the woman. And that house’s child suffered a lot from smallpox when they were young?”

Since Lee Chaeyoon’s family had been a distinguished family in Rainbow City from the early days, she knew most of the information.

“Major, please, just the essential details.”

Kwak Soohwan’s patience had long been shattered.

“Didn’t I say everything I mentioned is essential? Anyway, my dad said that even though he knew the child died back then, it was strange for them to resurface as an adult and work as a doctor.”

So, the real Choi Hoeon might have died from smallpox, and the current Serpent could simply be using that name as a cover.

Lee Chaeyoon’s parents were known for reading the political trends and siding with the mainstream. They were currently on the First Side Line, but they could easily switch to the Second Side at any time. They were one of the citizen representatives who could change sides. Information from such individuals might not be completely unreliable.

“Thanks. Please find out the exact location for now.”

Lee Chaeyoon widened her eyes in response to the sincere expression of gratitude.

“But why are you two here at 21 Violet?”

Yang Sanghoon abruptly interjected. They had come here because of Lee Chaeyoon’s urgent request, but it was indeed puzzling that these two were here.

“Fool, it’s because Major saved Dr. Seokhwa here!”

“Oh, right.”

As Kwak Soohwan sighed, a gust of wind lifted his bangs slightly.

“Major Kwak, Dr. Seokhwa will be okay, right?”

It was the question that Kwak Soohwan actually wanted to ask. He looked at the closed door through sunken eyes, where Choi Hoeon and Seokhwa had left together.

Anger bubbled in his head, and he wished to destroy everything he could see just by imagining what Serpent might do to Seokhwa. He had missed Seokhwa being taken by Serpent twice.

Cursing his own stupidity for mistakenly thinking that the air defense bunker would be safe, he sent a profanity-filled praise to himself. “Kwak Soohwan, I did my best too.”

“Kwak Soohwan, I did my best too.”

Lee Chaeyoon tapped Kwak Soohwan’s shoulder and started walking out.

“I will secure the address of Choi Hoeon’s home and that guy’s mother’s location, and I will send a message as soon as I confirm.”

Kwak Soohwan stopped multiplying his thoughts. He only wished that Seokhwa wouldn’t succumb to Serpent’s cunning tongue, even if he tried to exploit Rainbow City’s shortcomings and inject the advantages of Eden’s Sanctuary to pull him to their side…

No, even if that were the case, Seokhwa would never yield.

“Major Yang.”

“Yeah.”

“Return to Gwacheon. If First Master asks for me, say I went out to hunt Serpent.”

“Well, they contacted me before I came here, right?”

Kwak Soohwan took the submachine gun from Yang Sanghoon.

“What contact?”

“They told me to come up to Yeouido.”

Click, Kwak Soohwan unloaded the submachine gun.

“What’s the contact?”

“You’re ordered to Yeouido. They said to come up.”

With a clang, Kwak Soohwan removed the magazine from the submachine gun.

“What’s the contact?”

“They told me to come up to Yeouido.”

With a click, Kwak Soohwan unloaded the submachine gun.

“You, kid, are under military prosecution. Second Master has filed charges against you.”

“Second Master keeps playing hard to get.”

“Who’s playing hard to get? Anyway, if you don’t go, a wanted order will be issued immediately. What are you going to do?”

Kwak Soohwan spat and shouldered the gun. Since the area would be cleaned up by Major Jung, he had no choice but to leave it to him. They couldn’t afford any more delays now.

Yang Sanghoon shouted after Kwak Soohwan, who was running up the stairs.

“Hey! Where are you going? At least say something, kid!”

Kwak Soohwan kicked Adam’s corpse with his foot and replied.

“35 Green Zone.”

It was Busan.