Rainbow City - Chapter 1

Current day, Sehwa-ri, Jeju-do at 5 PM.

“Quick!”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang stomped his feet.

The long cut across his face became more prominent as he frowned. The man who was walking leisurely behind Lieutenant Colonel Jang fixed the laces of his boots in the middle of his walk, and crossed his arms to loosen up his frowning expression.

“You bastard! Aren’t you coming?! Dr. Stone is waiting for you.”

I get that he was a doctor but when did he become a stone. Did a knucklehead become a doctor or something?

The man let out a silly laugh and followed behind Lieutenant Colonel Jang.

Kwak Soohan heard the slow sound of pebbles being crushed by his boots, and the sound of waves approaching and receding behind him. An old thatched house was visible about 300m ahead. The roof, which was piled with reed-like materials and tied with a net, looked like a pile of shaggy hair.

The reason why people could safely live in such a poor house in this era was because Jeju Island was still a safe area.

“Whether it’s Dr.Stone or whatever, but we do have a sick fate.”

“Huh?”

“Oh right.”

With the fire and thatched roof 100m ahead, the man stood tall as if he had remembered something important.

“Why? What happened?!”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang arrogantly turned to the man.

[Kwak Soohwan]

The name tag across his chest was smeared with dried blood, so it was difficult to determine what it said without looking closely.

“Washroom.”

Kwak Soohwan smiled as he squeezed the heavy lower part with his hand. It was still tight, so it seemed like he would need an injection soon.

“You fucking idiot! If it wasn’t for the orders from the higher ups, I would have already thrown you away as food.”

“I think our Lieutenant would like a taste.”

Kwak Soohwan pretended to open and close his mouth, then started to go back the way he came.

“Hey! You bastard! You can pee anywhere in the forest here, why are you looking for a bathroom! Hey, come back, bastard!”

Kwak Soohwan, who stopped again, scratched his eyebrows. He looked back at Lieutenant Colonel Jang with a look of annoyance.

“I can’t do that. What kind of soldier is a bodyguard? Let someone else do it.”

“Do you want to go to the guardhouse again? Huh?”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang kept an eye on Kwak Soohwan while shouting threats.

There was no other place where the discipline of superiors and subordinates was as strict as that of the military. In such a class society, it is impossible for a Lieutenant Colonel to notice a major, but Lieutenant Colonel Jang recalled the foolish things that Kwak Soohwan had shown so far just a week ago, and this time he chose to appease him.

“Hey, but isn’t it better to protect the Doctor than to go? They say that it is better to live in a warm and timely laboratory than in a bloody and stinking field. If you asked me out loud, I accepted without looking back. Hey, Major Kwak, you know I care about you, right? So, didn’t I take you out like this for breaking the quiet atmosphere by running into the forbidden zone a week ago for drinking, huh?”

As long as Lieutenant Colonel Jang, who is good at intimidation, came out as a gentleman, Kwak Soohwan thought it was wrong to escape any further.

“One month.”

“What?”

“The period of stay at the prison was one month, so I will do it only for one month.”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang still wanted to know where this was, and motioned for him to come back here.

Kwak Soohwan began to follow Lieutenant Colonel Jang with a cool posture, unlike before. He must have been aiming for this from the beginning. He thought he was an ignorant and strong man, but his tricks worked quite well.

“So you bastard, don’t you have to pee?”

“I can just pee on my pants.”

“I have one more request.”

“What is it?”

“It’s not all about guarding. You have to take the doctor from here and go to Seoul. It’s up to you to convince the doctor.”

“Does Dr.Stone not want to go to Seoul or something?”

“I don’t think so from what I hear.”

“Then I will knock him out and carry him away.”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang tried to kick Kwak Soohwan in the shin with his hard-toe boots, but it was faster for the latter to dodge by pulling one leg back.

“If that’s the case, you’ll be rotting in the guardhouse for ten years, you know?”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang gritted his teeth. Now, 10m ahead to thatched house, he raised his voice.

“Doctor, we’re here.”

Kwak Soohwan crossed his arms, eagerly anticipating how old of a hag would come out. Even as he counted 10 seconds in his mind, no one showed up to the great blue floor in plain sight. As a habit, he looked around, but the only shoes around were a pair of cheap slippers.

Lieutenant Colonel Jang, who had been crying out for the doctor, had no choice but to take off his boots and open the door to the main house. He looked at Kwak Soohwan and shook his head. At the signal to go to the outer building with his chin gesture, Kwak Soohwan went straight to the outer building.

“Hey! Aren’t you taking off your shoes!?”

“They can just wipe it off.”

“You bastard, would you like it if I wore bloody shoes in your house?”

Kwak Soohwan, who did not hide his annoyed face, roughly took off his boots and stood on the floor again.

“Ugh. Batard, what are you going to do about your socks? We are going to die with military supplies so you didn’t leave them at the bar, did you?”

Although it was Kwak Soohwan who did not like to think of his parents, he had to recall his old memories inevitably due to the nagging of Lieutenant Colonel Jang. He searched the outer building, ignoring Lieutenant Colonel Jang who kept grumbling about his socks.

The doctor had no sense of life except for a desk full of books. Not only that, they were neatly placed on a long table, starting with a stone the size of a human head and ending with a stone the size of a fingernail. That was probably why he was named Dr.Stone. In addition, the cold floor touched by bare feet made it feel like crossing a frozen river.

After opening the door, Kwak Soohwan stretched out and let out a yawn.

“Dr. Stone or whatever seems to have run away. We can go back, I guess.”

I heard the faint sound of pebbles being stepped on. When Lieutenant Colonel Jang and Kwak Soohwan followed the sound and turned their heads, they saw a man walking fast.

“I found it there.”

Hearing Kwak Soohwan’s voice, Lieutenant Colonel Jang said, “Right, we came from there” with a hint of color.

“My socks.”

The man was holding something elongated from both sides. Sure enough, it was an army sock that had been stuffed with something.

***

Current day, three hours ago. Sehwa Beach, Jeju-do, 2pm.

It was the first time Kwak Soohwan had visited Jeju Island since he was born.

He heard that the place had a lot of rocks, a lot of wind, and a lot of women. But that was just hearsay. Currently, Jeju Island was declared a safe zone by the current state. It was clear that Jeju Island was a place where people with money, high ranks, and humans and animals that need to be protected at the national level were gathered.

Kwak Soohwan took off his cumbersome military cape and put it on his arm while walking along the beach with fine sand. Only the sound of waves could be heard calmly, and cafes and restaurants that were once popular around the beach had long since stopped operating.

However, Kwak Soohwan only noticed one person, standing on a secluded beach and looking at the horizon.

The man’s face showed no emotion, but his mood seemed somewhat uncomfortable. He was not happy that a man in a military uniform was standing on this beach.

Since it was not his land, he could not argue, so he focused only on finding the stones buried in the sand. As he crouched down and rummaged through the sand with a branch, a black shadow fell from the top of his head to his toes.

“What are you doing?”

Despite his sullen tone of voice, he shook the sand with a twig, blinking his eyes.

“Wearing only one pair of slippers in the middle of winter, and then getting your toes frostbitten and cut off? I’ve seen a few of them, and they can’t even walk properly.”

He ducked to the side and dug another part of the sand.

“Is this bastard stupid? Hey, what the fuck are you doing?”

The man had no fond memories of soldiers. He knew the dangers they were exposed to and the hard work they do, but he didn’t like the blood-soaked military uniforms.

Kwak Soohwan clicked his tongue as the man silently searched for a stone among the sand and looked at what the stupid person was holding in his hand. He might be the son of a high-ranking person, for them to send a guy like this to the beach alone.

While rummaging through his pockets, Kwak Soohwan remembered that he had left his gloves in his car. Unfortunately, he took off his boots and even his socks. The socks were new so they were clean in their own way. The stupid person raised his head and was puzzled when he held out the socks that were still stiff.

“Put them on.”

It seemed that he had no intention of receiving it, so he just left it next to the stupid person. Still, there was no reaction whatsoever. Kwak Soohwan began to walk on the beach, stirring the sand with his feet, thinking that he was not worth dealing with. Suddenly, the stupid person, who was wearing a thin shirt and pants that were just that thin, caught his eye and turned around once.

“Bastard.”

The stupid person was putting the stones he had collected in the socks he gave him.

Even a bastard like that was protected, and on that land, people who really needed to be protected were exposed to danger. He thought about going back and getting some socks, but he wondered what kind of crime would be that short, so I only answered the radio call from Lieutenant Colonel Jang.

At the same time, the man who was picking up the stone also got up. Looking here, he stared at the soldier who was only as tall as his finger.

“Why are you talking informally to me?”

Tsk, he carefully put the stones in his sock.

***

[In the late spring of 202x, an epidemic broke out in a small provincial town in Europe. In the summer of the same year, infectious diseases spread rapidly across all continents, including Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. Late summer of the same year, a vaccine was developed, but the virus mutated.]

Subtitles appeared on the screen along with the sound of mechanical keyboard keys. The announcer’s smooth voice began to be heard.

[In 202x due to vaccine development and repeated virus mutations, a third of the world’s population has decreased in two years since the outbreak of the epidemic. A year later, a third of the population had declined again, and one after another, countries with their governments are failing to function. Security and law collapsed, and an emergency was declared all over the world, and national unity was achieved under the mission of preserving humanity. The world, which used to be divided into about two hundred countries, now has only three. Preservation of mankind, new prosperity of mankind, that is our mission.]

“They are saying that the world has been united into three countries, but it has become more nationalistic.”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang, who was listening to broadcasts on TV and speakers several times a day, complained. While moving from the thatched house in Jeju Island to the Jeju City Safe Center, the doctor followed him more obediently than he thought.

“Doctor, as you know, we need you.”

He was only obedient, but the doctor still didn’t say anything.

“Really? Is Dr.Stone what we need? Is he going to teach us how to store stones and kill those things?”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang took a long, deep breath and grabbed Kwak Soohwan’s arm and led him toward the door. Then he groaned quietly.

“You take him to Seoul on your own. I have to go right now because of an emergency in Suwon, do you understand?”

Lieutenant Colonel Jang, who let go of his arm roughly, nodded at the doctor and left the room.

The Jeju City Safe Center was a first-class hotel converted into a safe house. He could still feel the softness of the carpet that was used in the hotel.

The doctor was still barefoot and a sock full of stones lay on the table. The doctor sitting on a table chair took out a stone from a sock and filtered it out again.

Kwak Soohwan also pulled out a chair across from him and sat down.

Notes:

[1] 돌 means stone and 석 (石) in (Seok)hwa’s or Dr.Stone’s name also means stone. So they will and are using puns with his name here and there! Plus, he collects stones!