Side Story Chapter 173 - Paradise (3)

“A-Are you... okay?” asked Cha Yeon-Joo tremblingly.

She was dumbfounded as if she were staring at a bizarre alien creature. Blood was still spurting out from Emily’s chest.

“Huh?” Emily responded wide-eyed and then smiled as she put pressure on her chest wound. “Hehe, I’m fine!!”

Her smile was as radiant as ever.

“A-Aaaahh.”

The smiling Emily staggered. Unlike her claim, she was rapidly turning bluish-pale.

Yeon-Joo quickly turned to Oh Kang-Woo and said, “Kang-Woo, l-let’s treat her first...!”

“I know.”

Kang-Woo made a drop of blood from the Entrion suit’s fingertip and brought it close to Emily’s mouth.

“Drink,” he remarked.

“What is it?’

“A... medicine that cures any wound.”

“Wow! Thank you very much!”

Emily licked the blood pooled on the fingertip without a hint of suspicion. The Authority of Regeneration activated and her chest wound healed instantly.

“Wow! This is amazing! I’m all healed!”

Emily smiled radiantly as she jumped up and down, her previous shy self nowhere to be seen.

“...”

Kang-Woo stared fixedly in silence at the jumping girl. A sense of displeasure and disgust like filth getting on one’s sandals and between their toes, spread throughout his body.

“I wonder if people living in Paradise... can’t feel pain?” Lilith asked.

“Perhaps.”

If that were not the case, there was no way a little girl who looked no more than ten years old could smile so brightly with a massive gash on her chest.

‘A world without pain.’

Kang-Woo wondered if that was the kind of paradise Akart had created.

“Come with us! We’ll show you our town!”

“No one has ever seen outsiders, so I’m sure everyone will love to meet you!!”

Emily and Dale pulled Yeon-Joo by her hands.

“W-Wait, guys! I told you, it’s dangerous!!” shouted Yeon-Joo.

She couldn’t even attempt to get the children off her because she was scared to hurt them with the suit she was not used to controlling yet.

“Kids.” Han Seol-Ah stepped forward as she carefully separated the children from Yeon-Joo. “You’re troubling this unnie. We’ll go with you, so why don’t we all calm down?”

She was oozing with a kind aura despite wearing an Entrion suit. The children with sparkling eyes nodded energetically.

“Hehe! Okay, unnie!”

“Wow! Your voice is so pretty, noona!!” shouted Dale.

“Fufu. Thanks.”

“Hehe! This way! Hurry!”

“Hm? What did I just say?”

“Oh. Hehe, I’m sorry.”

“Good boy.”

Seol-Ah expertly persuaded the children to calm down. Yeon-Joo was impressed by how motherly Seol-Ah was despite wearing a grotesque alien suit.

She mumbled, “People would think... she already has three children if they didn’t know better.”

Seol-Ah asked, “Are we heading to the town, Kang-Woo?”

“I guess so,” Kang-Woo replied.

Since they were here to investigate, they couldn’t lose the golden opportunity to enter the village with ease.

“Let’s go, noona!”

Dale took the lead to guide the group, not rushing anyone thanks to Seol-Ah’s persuasion. Kang-Woo and the others followed behind him.

“U-Umm, Dale,” called John from behind.

“Huh? What’s up?”

John, holding a pocket watch the size of his palm, answered, “I-It’s going to be 5 PM in ten minutes.”

“Ehhh?! I-It’s that late already?!” Dale shouted in shock. He turned back to Kang-Woo and the others to yell, “HURRY!! WE HAVE TO SPEED UP!!!”

“Is there something happening at five?” asked Seol-Ah as she tilted her head.

“No, there isn’t,” Dale replied. He then continued seriously in a way that one wouldn’t expect from a child, “But the rules say we have to return to the town by five.”

“Oh.”

It was a curfew. Seol-Ah nodded in understanding.

“We’ll be late if we don’t hurry!!”

Dale, Emily, and John began to sprint.

“

Huff, huff, huff!

”

“Haaa, haaa!”

However, there was a limit to how quickly six or seven-year-old children could run. Their breathing became labored not even after three minutes and they were swaying as if they would collapse at any second.

“We can’t... be late...!”

“Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!!”

However, the children did not stop. They were panting as if their lungs had collapsed and staggering to the point of possibly rolling their ankle. Despite that, they ran frantically as if a bloodthirsty monster was behind them.

“Haaa, haaa! U-Urghh!”

Emily, running as she panted heavily, staggered as her eyes rolled backward.

“Kurgh!” Kim Si-Hun, unable to watch any longer, ran forward and caught Emily as she collapsed.

“A-Aaaahh.”

“Are you okay...?” asked Si-Hun.

Perhaps it was because he possessed the Heavenly Martial Body; Si-Hun managed to catch the collapsing Emily without injuring her and lifted her.

“...ry.”

“Hm?”

“We have to... hurry to the town...”

Despite panting to the point that she could pass out at any second, her gaze was fixed on John and Dale getting further away.

“...”

‘What could have made these little children so compulsive?’

Si-Hun thought.

“I can’t imagine them... to have good parents,” he mumbled in rage, reminded of his childhood.

Kang-Woo remarked, “We’ll find out once we get there.”

“Can I leave the two boys to you, hyung-nim?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Kang-Woo softly nodded and grabbed John and Dale running ahead.

“

Huff, huff!!

If we don’t hurry... to the town...!”

“Don’t worry, leave it to us and we’ll get there way faster than you ever could by running. Just tell me where I have to go.”

“Haaa, haaa... Okay!”

Kang-Woo, with two boys over his shoulders, walked in the direction John instructed. He was walking as if going for a light stroll but reached the town far faster than the kids could on their own.

“Wow!! We managed to get here on time thanks to all of you!!!”

“Thank you very much!!!”

“Hehe. You’re all so fast.”

The three children cheered as they smiled radiantly as if they had never panted heavily in exhaustion in the first place.

“This is your town?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Yes!!!”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Kang-Woo looked around. There was an endless span of dice-like houses. There weren’t many tall buildings but based on size alone, the town was as big as a city.

“It’s... rather unique.”

The cubic houses all had a garden in front of them but no fence— no, there weren’t even front doors in any of the houses. The interior of the houses was in plain view.

‘I guess it means they don’t need to worry about thieves or burglars.’

If not, they wouldn’t leave the houses accessible to everyone.

“...”

Kang-Woo looked around Luceo Pure in silence.

‘So... this is the paradise you’ve created.’

He narrowed his eyes as he thought about the pure-white Titan. A world without pain, no ill will toward others, hence no sorrow, despair, or rage.

‘Luceo Pure... a shining world.’

“Tsk...” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue, conflicted.

“Hehe! Our house is this way! Since we have special guests, Mom will make us something delicious for dinner!”

“Come this way!”

The three children giggled as they guided Kang-Woo and the others to their home.

“They were so hell-bent on keeping curfew... but they’re fine with letting strangers into their home?” Yeon-Joo tilted her head in confusion.

She expected a strict household considering how frantically the children were on keeping curfew but they didn’t seem to mind.

“Let’s follow them for now.”

“Tsk, fine. That aside, how can that son of a bitch Si-Hun move so well in this stifling suit?”

Yeon-Joo stared at Si-Hun, who was playing with the children without injuring them, in disbelief.

“Well, that’s Si-Hun for you,” Kang-Woo remarked.

There was no better reason. Yeon-Joo frowned intensely.

“Jeez... Anyway, will we be welcomed to a house with parents who made a curfew so strict that kids were running half to death just to keep it? I’d bet they would make a massive fuss.”

“I’ll say.” Kang-Woo nodded in agreement.

‘It’s a world where no one harbors negative emotions toward others, but that only applies to people in this world.’

They would likely be wary of otherworldly beings— no, those in communities where trust was so deep among its members tended to exclude outsiders. Even in social events, close friends usually stuck together, making it difficult for anyone to join.

‘These kids are just too young to understand that.’

The parents would likely react differently.

“Well, we should still go.”

If they made a fuss, Kang-Woo and the others could subdue them by force, Lilith’s illusion magic, or whatever they had at their disposal.

Hence, Kang-Woo and the others arrived at the kids’ homes. The kids seemed to be neighbors since three mothers walked out of three adjacent houses as soon as they reached the houses.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” the mothers screamed.

‘I knew it,’

Kang-Woo thought.

It was only natural for a parent to scream when their children were surrounded by seven grotesque aliens.

“Lilith, cast illusion mag—”

“WE HAVE VISITOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORS!!!”

“WHAT’S GOING ON, KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDS?!!”

“IT’S SO VERY NICE TO MEET YOU AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!!!”

“...?”

‘Why are they so hyped up?’

“DINNER WILL BE READY SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!”

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS?!!”

The mothers asked ear-splittingly. Their energy was so high that it far surpassed the children’s excitement.

‘I guess it can’t be helped.’

An irresistible urge welled up from inside.

“Fuuu,” Kang-Woo took a deep breath. “WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”

Kang-Woo screamed with all his might.

“OH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! WHAT A WONDERFUL SCREAM!!!”

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

“HOW TOUCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!”

The three mothers screamed with joy.

“IT’S VERY NICE TO MEET YOU, LADIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!”

“IT’S VERY NICE TO MEET YOU TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

“THANK YOU FOR GIVING US THE PLEASURE OF JOINING YOU ALL FOR DINNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!”

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! THE PLEASURE IS OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURS!!!”

Kang-Woo and the three mothers conversed as they screamed their lungs out to the point they might foam at the mouth.

“...” Yeon-Joo placed her hand over her suit’s forehead region as she watched the scene unfold. “This is fucking insane...”