Paladiesu (Paradise)

The warm water from the shower rushed down my body, giving me an unexplainable relief and contentment. As it poured, I just stood silently, watching all the blood that was on me wash down the drain. I looked at the amount of blood that flowed towards the drainage, thinking over and over again... "Whose is this?"

I touched the back of my head, and the opening there had grown smaller already. I was confused, but I told myself a lie to calm myself down. "I'm sure it wasn't all that wide; besides, Dong Hwa said it's just a little injury."

I knew how I felt in the lab and how I felt at that moment; there was no way any normal person would heal from that amount of pain so fast – no normal person, I say.

I turned off the shower and stepped into the bedroom with a white towel tied around my waist. I sat on the bed and felt the warmth of the room; I felt the soothing comfort of the breeze that was flowing in from the window, which was left ajar. From the window of the room, I could see Seoul clearly. It was always beautiful at that time of night; the patterned lights shining out from different buildings were always so captivating for me. I always thought of it as an : UNPLANNED ARTWORK.

I was always a loner, self-confined, and the room had all I needed – a heater, an air conditioner, a television, food and snacks in the refrigerator, a soft bed, a nice sofa, a city view, and aesthetics that I could spend the whole day looking at from the sit-out in front. I could just sit outside, munching on some snacks, and watch the sun set. I had no reason not to like the place; it seemed cool, and the people there seemed welcoming.

I forgot what the last two hours were like immediately; all the memories of the dead bodies just found a way to the trash can in my head and went straight into it.

"Knock! Knock!" I heard a bang on the door; I went to get it. I opened it, and a lady dressed like a waitress, holding a trolley with a lot of plates with different cuisines placed on it, stood before me.

"Annyeonghaseyo (hello)," she said with a smile on her face.

I was dumbfounded, not understanding the situation, and all I could do was nod my head.

This didn't look like a hotel to me; I was wondering what room service was for.

"You guys are of much importance to us, plus it's nice to have newbies around," said a voice from the back of the waitress-dressed lady.

I tilted my head just a little to the right to take a look at the person...

"Min-ji," she said, stretching out her hands.

I didn't understand anything that was going on, but she was pretty and seemed harmless, so... I shook her hand.

"Woah! Your hand is quite cold, and you have a soft palm," she said ferociously, squeezing my palm.

"Yeah, I'm literally cold most times, and as for the soft palm... well... that's an add-on," I replied calmly.

"I like your voice; it's nice," she further complimented me. The waitress-dressed lady had already dropped the trolley; she took a bow, turned back, and left.

"Do you mind if I come in?" Min-ji asked.

"No... uh... yes, sorry; I mean, no... uh... you can come in," I said with my voice trembling.

She chuckled softly. She stepped in and sat on the sofa. All I had on was a shirt and a towel tied around my waist.

"Could you turn around? I... um... want to get dressed," I said.

Slowly, she turned her head away from my direction. I put on my pants and asked her to relax her head.

"What is this place?" I inquired from her. The place didn't seem like a lot of activities were going on in it; it seemed like a factory, but I couldn't see any product being produced.

"Paladaiesu (Paradise)," she said in a reassuring tone while nodding her head in consonance.

"Paladaiesu? Eotthoge (how)?" I was dumbfounded.

"This is the only place we fit into," she said...

Her speech soon became distorted in my ear.

"What is she blabbing about? We? Plural? What does that even mean?" I thought to myself.

"... That's what we are," she concluded.

Just then, I snapped out of the trance I was in... "Huh? I didn't hear anything you said; mihanaeyo (sorry)."

She bent down her head and let out a loud sigh.

"We are anomalies in the world of humans, even though we look like normal people, we are not like regular people, we are test subjects, well failed tests though, so we have quite some abilities that normal humans don't have, we might look like humans buuhh.t…. Weee… a…re not. It's always scary at first but overtime you'd get used to it, this place caters for people like us; all of us here are test subjects, failed test subjects".

"She has probably gone mad, or she was pulling a trick on me or she is running mad at a very high speed, because nothing she said made sense".

I whispered to myself in a very, very, low voice.

I was confused, very, very confused, I felt like a madman, I still seemed more sane than she did in my eyes. She left right after her speech, so I decided to try getting some form of rest by just lying down on the bed even though I was restless after hearing what she had just said about us not being human.

Less that thirty minutes later, I heard a knock on the door again, thinking it was room service again, I reluctantly stood up to attend to the door. On opening it, outside Min Ji stood with her hands behind her back smiling at me. I had a rush of events playing in my head, I was weak and she still found a way to disturb me, I wanted to shut the door right in her face, or just look for someway to make her evaporate into thin air, I just needed her to disappear one way or another or rather, all cloud just happen to her.

But calmly, I said… "oh, Min Ji ssi….",

Before I could even ask what she wanted, she cut me short,

"You sleep with black?"

Uncontrollably, I asked her, "did you really come here to ask me that? So you're telling me you came all the way from wherever you came from to know the color of PJ's I'd go to bed with?"

She laughed softly, "No, no, why would I come all the way from wherever I came from to know the color of PJ's you'd sleep with? She asked, "I just found black quite ominous that's all, the color is cute but scary. Well Dave and Daesang are hanging out with the rest of the guys so I came to ask you to join, like, know the rest of the crew".

She was using weird nouns, "Crew"? Are we a music band or some movie producing company. I was about to do what I hated the most, SOCIALIZE.

I knew immediately Dave and Daesang sent her, they know if they came on their own accord I would deny.

"Yeah, sure give me a minute". I said and went into the bathroom, washed my face and followed her downstairs.

The get together point was quite large, just like almost every other place there: a wide range of space and a couple of seat out chairs and couches and sofas. All white background, with endless light sparks coming from below, as always I hated gatherings, to me that felt OMINOUS.

"Hey everyone this is Han Su Jin, Su Jin, this is everyone" Min Ji introduced

"Hi everyone" I said waving my hands a little.

I counted, we were 10 altogether, including myself and Min Ji, each gender splitted equally.

"Hi! I'm Park Bok Kyu". A blonde guy with glasses said smiling and waving at me. Before anyone else could introduce themselves, our so-called "Handler" sent for Daesang, Dave and I.

Taking to another place entirely, we soon found ourselves shirtless, lying on a lab bed with multiple needles in our body that was used to check the rate at which our heart was beating and other functional parts. We were relating the sensations we were feeling to our handler.

He took off his glasses, wiped it and placed it back.

"I am about to tell you something quite strange and incomprehensible right now so don't freak out, just keep chill". He said while looking at the tablet in his hand.

I was seeing weird gadgets being transported in and out of the room where we were. Masks, overalls, sashimis, katanas, sabers and a whole lot of other sharp object were taking the mode of the tally.

He dropped the tablet and continued, "You three were part of an experiment in that lab. We administered a serum designed to enhance human capabilities, but it also had an unintended consequence: it made you...different. Inhuman. Fortunately, you survived, and you're the closest we've come to achieving the perfect inhuman. However, there's a larger threat at play. Ancient creatures from the Gaegyeong era, disguised as humans, are on the verge of wreaking havoc on our world, just as they did in the past. We believe you three are connected to this threat, and understanding what happened in that lab is crucial to stopping it."

Things started becoming unclear to us all. The headache started again, feeling like my brain was going to explode any moment. The memories of the earlier incidents, the sights, the blood, the smell all came back to me, my eyes were turning red, my head was moving at uncontrollable speed processing a whole lot of things at the same time.

Angrily, Dave removed all the needles in his body and lifted up the man from his neck with one hand. Daesang and I were watching the man slowly lose consciousness.

"From the start I smelled something fishy already, you caused the damage and came as the saving grace didn't you, we were what? Test subjects for one stupid serum and blah blah blah. Creatures from Gaegyeong? That's 10th century and dems bruh, 10th century! For Christ sake that's hella years ago, do you Believe stupid talks like that? Huh?" Dave said.

"Don't you find it fascinating? You're lifting me off the floor with just one hand, were you everly that strong?" The man forced himself to speak.

Daesang and I never thought of that but truly it was quite fascinating to see Dave lift up a fully grown man who is almost as tall as he is off the floor with just one hand.

The man's veins were already popping up, and his eyes looking like they'd fall out of their socket any moment. His face had started becoming livid, red veins already made way into his eyes and he struggled to breath.

Just then, I touched Dave's hand to relax, I could feel the intensity of his grip, from how tight his arms felt, if he continued at that rate, he'd crush the man's windpipe.

"Relax man, we're all confused and angry, let's hear what he has to say. If it still doesn't make sense, don't drop him unless he's lifeless" Daesang said.