Paradise Lost, the prison cruise.
The 8th Deck. Nicknamed the “Celestial Realm.”
At the center of the deck below the Shopping Arcade was a swimming pool.
Clear water lapped at its lavish edges, where cute inflatable tubes and beach balls floated lazily. Nearby, a table held a basket of fruit and an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne.
“Hmm-hmm~”
A woman in a red bikini lounged on a sunbed by the pool, long legs stretched out. Her hair was braided, gold sunglasses perched on her nose. She was soaking up the sun in style.
Gold Null Cuffs on her wrist marked her as a VVIP inmate.
Humming softly and flicking water with her fingertips, she called out, “My Little Lamb~ come here.”
A silver-haired, thin young man standing by the pool quickly hurried over. He wore only swim trunks, with ram’s horns curling from his temples.
Gold Null Cuffs gleamed on his wrists.
“You called, Lady Silken Bodhisattva?”
“Go to the bar over there and mix me a cocktail. You know how I like it, yes?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Less alcohol, lots of fruit, and make it pretty!”
“That’s right. You know me so well.”
Little Lamb bounced away and went straight to the bar. He returned a moment later, having mixed a cocktail with clumsy but earnest effort.
“Lady Bodhisattva! Here you go!”
“Mm~ Not bad.”
Silken Bodhisattva took a sip of the cocktail through a straw, then reached out and playfully ruffled Little Lamb’s hair. “Good boy. You’ve been so cute, you deserve a reward.”
“A reward! A reward! A reward!”
Little Lamb knelt, his face full of anticipation. Silken Bodhisattva leaned in toward him.
But just as their lips were about to meet—clomp, clomp.
The stark sound of footsteps sliced through the bright, sparkling scenery.
Silken Bodhisattva glanced in the direction of the sound and shoved Little Lamb’s face back. “Ugh, that old hag always has to ruin the fun right when it’s getting good…”
The newcomer was Ghost.
Dressed in shabby prison clothes that clashed completely with the high-end resort atmosphere, she stood by the pool, her disheveled white hair blowing freely.
“Well, well~ if it isn’t Ghost herself!” Silken Bodhisattva snatched a folding fan from the table, covering her mouth as she giggled. “A walking harbinger of bad omens, the baddest of the bad.”
Ignoring Silken Bodhisattva’s jibe, Ghost stated dryly, “Silken Bodhisattva. Little Lamb. We have a mission.”
“Of course you do. It’s not like you’d ever bring good news.” With a long sigh, Silken Bodhisattva took another deep pull from her cocktail and gestured with her eyes. “Where are we going?”
“I don’t know either. I was only told to come get you two.”
“Still dutifully doing whatever scut work the commander throws at you. Such a loyal dog.”
Ghost’s expression didn’t so much as twitch.
Silken Bodhisattva snorted. There was no fun in prodding someone who didn’t react. A truly boring woman indeed.
“Who else besides the three of us? You can at least tell me that, can’t you?”
“Five total. One is Grease Gal. And the last one is… Hangman.”
“Wow. What shit luck. Fuck.”
Grease Gal, the rooftop workshop worker, was a popular convict.
Hangman from Deck 0 was the exact opposite. Everyone loathed and feared him.
Then again, who would like a mad monster who radiated a suicidal compulsion?
“My fortune for this year was already shit, and now I get a shit mission to match.”
“…”
“But you know what, Ghost? I took a little peek at the fortunes of everyone around here. And you know who has it worse than me this year? You.”
“Not interested.”
“It’s true. I’m not kidding. When I get bored, I look up the fates of all the scumbags on this ship I figure are too tough to die. And this year? You’re the absolute worst.”
Silken Bodhisattva smiled meaningfully. “Beware of ill fortune. If you need a cleansing ritual, just say the word. We go way back, after all. I’ll even give you a discount on the fee.”
“…You have thirty minutes. Get ready and come to the commander’s office.”
Ghost turned and clomped away, disappearing as suddenly as she had arrived.
Silken Bodhisattva snorted again, then waved a hand at Little Lamb. “You heard her. Shall we take a stroll? It’s been far too long.”
“Yep! Yep! Yep!”
In an instant, the two changed from swimwear into outdoor attire.
Little Lamb was dressed like a young boy from the Joseon era in a colorful striped outfit and a traditional cap, a bokgeon, which sat crookedly on his head due to the horns at his temples.
Silken Bodhisattva wore a white jeogori blouse and a voluminous red skirt. Little Lamb tidied her hair from behind, looping her long braid into an elegant coil and securing it with a single long hairpin.
“Perfect!”
After meticulously applying her powder and finishing her dramatic red eyeshadow, Silken Bodhisattva took out her phone and snapped a selfie.
Little Lamb cozied up next to her, striking a casual pose.
Click!
“Lovely!”
After checking the photo of the two of them making V-signs with their fingers and puckering their lips, Silken Bodhisattva put on her gold sunglasses.
Draping a light pink Joseon-style headpiece skirt over her head like a cloak, she cleared her throat and began to sing in a clear, melodious chant.
“Let’s go, let’s go~ Over the hills we go, to work our rites we go!”
“Heeyah!”
Procuring an hourglass drum from somewhere, Little Lamb beat out a rhythm.
Full of spirit, the pair danced their way to the commander’s office, where the rest of the team was already assembled.
“My, oh my, good people! Will you look at the splendid rogues’ gallery we have here!” Silken Bodhisattva exclaimed, fanning herself as she surveyed the five convicts.
As befitting a “Strike Force” hand-picked by Commander Seo for an emergency, the lineup was quite spectacular.
“First, the Silken Bodhisattva and Little Lamb couple! Our offensive power is known to make even the Five Heroes yield!”
Little Lamb nodded and struck his drum. Boom!
“Field supply! Base construction! The highest-rated specialist for all other support abilities! The undisputed best support in the Convict Unit, Grease Gal!”
Grease Gal, who looked like she’d just come from her workshop with a welding mask still pushed up on her head, bowed with a folksy deference. “Oh, you flatter me~”
“And then, the grandmaster of wide-area mass slaughter, Hangman! The mere sight of him will make you lose your appetite!”
“…”
The convict Hangman was bound in a full-body straitjacket and strapped to a vertical transport dolly. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest and bound with leather straps, and his legs were held rigid as logs by thick restraints.
The man was bound so tightly he looked less like a person and more like a statue. If not for the blink of his dull eyes, visible between strands of seaweed-like hair, he could have been mistaken for a corpse.
“And to top it all off, the notorious Beheading Executioner, Ghost.”
Silken Bodhisattva pointed her fan at the white-haired swordswoman, then snapped it shut with a thwack and laughed, her voice tinged with fatalism. “This is one hell of a lineup. Are you planning on waging a war, Commander?”
Hae-eun Seo had listened from her command chair, a sweet smile on her lips. “This life of ours is a battlefield, every single day. Isn’t that right, Silken Bodhisattva?”
“Well, I suppose it is. So, where is this battlefield?”
“We’re going to Incheon.”
Hae-eun began a simple briefing, largely identical to what the recon team had heard earlier.
“An anomaly has occurred in a small fishing village. A military unit was deployed but went dark. We then sent in our own recon team, but we’ve lost contact.”
She steepled her fingers, rested her chin on them, and smiled sharply.
“Incheon Port is the jugular of Korea. We can’t allow anything to happen to it, not even the slightest chance. Therefore, if we don’t hear from the recon team by the deadline, the entire area will be indiscriminately ‘incinerated.’”
“…”
“And you all will be in charge of that incineration. Simple, right?”
“Oh deary. ‘Incineration’ is such a harsh word. Let’s use a prettier, more productive term, like ‘cleansing,’” Silken Bodhisattva quipped.
Ghost broke her silence, asking coldly, “What is the scale of civilian casualties?”
“It’s a small fishing village. A few dozen at most.”
“And the number of deployed soldiers?”
“One platoon from the 17th Division’s Gate Search Battalion. A little under thirty, I believe? A cheap price to pay for securing the Gate next to Incheon Port.”
“And the members of the advance team?”
“All Deck 1 riffraff. Razor, Tat Rat, Barber, Status Window, and—” After a slight pause, Hae-eun cast a wide grin at Ghost. “Boy.”
“…”
Ghost’s expression stayed unchanged, but this was no ordinary gathering. No one was dense enough to miss the sudden chill around her.
“Oh? What’s this, Ghost? That’s a very un-Ghosty reaction,” Silken Bodhisattva noted, cocking her head with curiosity. “Who’s this ‘Boy’?”
Hae-eun answered for her, mirth lingering on her lips. “Oh, just a promising new recruit. He went on the last mission with Ghost.”
“Aha~!” Silken Bodhisattva’s eyes curved into crescents as she tapped the bridge of her nose with the tip of her fan. “So she’s already got her hooks in him? Had a little fun while I wasn’t looking, did we?”
“…”
“This is why younger men are so dangerous~ right, my Little Lamb?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”
“Cut the crap,” Ghost snarled at the giggling couple. “I couldn’t care less if a whole truckload of brats like him dies.”
“Hmmm.”
Silken Bodhisattva hid her mouth behind her fan, her eyes crinkling into a smile.
“Listen here, Ghost. You’ve been around far longer than I have. You, of all people, should know that a ‘connection’ isn’t something you can just attach and detach so easily.”
“…”
“Now that your fates have crossed, that boy is bound to be a part of your life one way or another. Whether he becomes a thorn in your side or a nail in your heart, only time will tell.”
Sidling up to the silent Ghost, Silken Bodhisattva sneered. “What? Are you, perhaps, afraid?”
“…”
“Because everyone who ever got close to you ended up broken?”
Ghost didn’t answer. Her piercing blue eyes, sharp as blades, settled beneath her disheveled hair.
Now that’s a reaction worth provoking, Silken Bodhisattva thought, backing away with a soft chuckle.
“Boy? Isn’t that the very customer I just finished that new gear for?! Oh, mercy me, I was so proud of that masterpiece! I even built one of my little ‘secret tricks’ into it! He won’t kick the bucket just like that, is he?!” Grease Gal wailed, clutching her hair.
“…This brat called the Boy.” Even Hangman, bound and standing silently in the corner, showed interest. “Was that the child who passed through my territory with you the other day, completely unharmed?”
Ghost’s silence was answer enough.
“Heh heh heh.” A twitching grin touched Hangman’s dry lips. “Seemed like a kid worth breaking. It’d certainly be a waste if he just died…”
After everyone had offered their thoughts on Jae-hee Han’s life, now hanging by a thread, Commander Seo snapped her fingers.
“All right, Black Parade. Business as usual. Time to carve up the world to save it.”
And with that, Mission: Incheon in Fog—and the Strike Force—was set.
<Strike Force>
[AA-Rank] Silken Bodhisattva
[AA-Rank] Little Lamb
[AA-Rank] Hangman
[A-Rank] Grease Gal
[■■■■] Ghost
“We have…” Commander Seo checked her watch and beamed. “Nine hours until the incineration operation begins.”