Chapter 2 Part 13

Thinking about it, most of the hundred-odd people on this island were likely on B5 or B6 right now, and usually had no reason to come to B1, so it was natural that it was hard to find anyone in this vast space. Nevertheless, Jeong Tae-ui cursed for what felt like the hundredth time since arriving on this floor.

Even in the military, he was confident in his navigation. No, he didn’t even need to read a map. Jeong Tae-ui had an excellent sense of direction; even when he was drowsily marching through a forest in the dead of night, having barely slept, and a subordinate sprained an ankle, he never got lost. He would carry the subordinate, deviate from the path they had come, and cut across a closer shortcut.

But there was no map inside the building, so he had no choice but to rely on his senses.

“Uncle, you really make people suffer in all sorts of ways. Why do you live in a building like this?”

Jeong Tae-ui gritted his teeth and stopped. He tried to pinpoint his location. He didn’t know the overall structure of the building or where the outer wall was, but he meticulously recalled the path he had taken since entering. …He still had no idea. Then, …he would just have to wander until he found it.

Jeong Tae-ui sighed, knowing it wasn’t a good method, but started walking aimlessly nonetheless.

Now that he thought about it, this corridor he was currently in seemed somewhat similar to the floor below. Identical-looking doors faced each other in a zigzag pattern.

Could this room also be a dormitory, like the Male Dormitory Room downstairs? If so, it would be for the superiors who resided on this floor. …Could he have stumbled upon the right place without realizing it while wandering?

Jeong Tae-ui, who had been thinking along those lines for a moment, sighed when he saw a glass sliding door at the edge of his vision.

No, it wasn’t.

Assuming they used the same doors, that door, which he had also seen downstairs, was a bathroom door. The bathroom Tou had mentioned on the way to the Male Dormitory Room earlier looked exactly like that. You opened the glass sliding door, went through another opaque glass door, rounded the wall directly ahead, and that was the changing room. And further inside was the bathroom.

“But… they said all the high-ranking people have en-suite bathrooms in their rooms, so why is there a communal bathroom here? Or is it not a bathroom?”

Jeong Tae-ui paused for a moment in front of it.

It didn’t really matter, but he was slightly curious. He wasn’t in a hurry anyway. The problem was finding his uncle’s room; to leave this floor, he could just take any of the elevators that occasionally appeared, almost hidden, and go up to the ground floor or down to B6.

“Since I’m already lost and wandering, maybe I should just wash up before I go?”

He hadn’t intended to, but Jeong Tae-ui muttered in a half-resigned manner and opened the door, discovering that it was indeed a bathroom. Opening the opaque door inside revealed a wall acting as a partition, just like downstairs, and turning behind it was the changing room.

And there was a person in there.

Perhaps startled by the sound of Jeong Tae-ui opening the door and entering, he stood frozen like a statue, eyes wide, staring silently at Jeong Tae-ui.

“Oh, …ah…, well, that is…”

Clear eyes, about a span below his, looked up at him. The startled, wide eyes were so big, they looked like they might roll out if he poked them.

He looked close to a boy—but being in this building, he couldn’t possibly be a minor. This young man, who appeared quite youthful, was wearing only pants and holding a shirt in one hand, as if he had just finished washing and was getting dressed. No, considering his hair wasn’t wet, he might have been about to go in for a wash.

For a moment, Jeong Tae-ui’s mind went blank.

Oh, did I make a mistake? But there’s nothing I did that could be called a mistake. We just happened to run into each other, that’s all. But why does it feel like I made a mistake, like I should apologize?

Such thoughts flashed through his blank mind for a moment. But he still couldn’t understand why.

Then, smooth, pale peach-colored skin caught his eye. It looked soft and downy; if he were to brush it, he imagined fine hairs would feel silky to the touch. Faint scents of soap, or perhaps baby milk, seemed to emanate from it.

In that instant, he found himself flustered for no reason.

He almost understood why he felt like he had made a mistake. But in truth, the reason made no sense. Why, when he hadn’t seen the bare skin of some maiden from a respectable family?

His uncle’s face, smiling subtly as he’d said that sexual misconduct with a minor was a crime, flashed through his mind. No, but they said there were no minors inside the branch, so it wasn’t a crime. Before that, it was even stranger that the thought of “crime” would even cross his mind just from seeing another man shirtless.

Jeong Tae-ui seemed visibly flustered. Perhaps his bewilderment was apparent to the young man, whose wide, surprised eyes soon settled.

“I haven’t seen you before… who are you?” the young man quietly asked. Jeong Tae-ui was flustered once again.

Even his voice was youthful. Rather, his soft, gentle tone, with slight pauses between words, felt remarkably fresh. Truly, it wouldn’t be strange if he actually were a minor.

He tried to hide his embarrassment by covering his mouth with his hand, but Jeong Tae-ui didn’t realize that the gesture of rubbing his chin near his mouth only made him look more flustered.

It would be rude to ask how old he was.

“Uh… how old are you?” he asked.

But even as he thought that, he couldn’t help but ask.

The young man, seeming to guess the reason from Jeong Tae-ui’s flustered face and gestures, replied with a slightly hurt expression and an annoyed tone.

“I’m twenty-two. And who are you?”

Twenty-two. Still a kid. But it wouldn’t be a crime to touch him. …No, that’s not it.

“Uh… do you work here?”

A delicate boy—though he was a young man—in an environment teeming with rough and savage people inside and poisonous snakes outside, made him feel pity and tenderness.