A gruff voice, belonging to a middle-aged man with graying hair, rang out. The people rushed at Jiwon. In an instant, his arms and legs were grabbed, and ropes were tightly wound around his body.
“Put him in the communal storage!”
“Wait, please—!”
He tried to say something, but something like medicine was forced into his mouth, and duct tape was slapped over it. Jiwon was dragged into a large storage shed by the people. The storage was exactly that—a storage. There were old farming tools and a few sacks that looked like they would crumble at any moment. He was lucky they had thrown him onto the sacks, so his body didn’t hit the hard floor.
After checking that the ropes binding Jiwon were secure, the people filed out of the storage. Loneliness washed over him.
So lonely…
Was he really that suspicious? He hadn’t gone around smashing things. He had just asked where this place was. Was that such a big mistake? He still couldn’t judge.
Why are they so aggressive?
Did they really need to tie him up and lock him away? Was he going to die like this? All kinds of anxious thoughts swirled in his head. With his mouth taped shut, he could only breathe through his nose. The air in the storage was damp, making him even more miserable.
He was hungry. His throat was dry. His body was tired, and his mind was exhausted. It was natural for his eyes to close.
Was it because of the unknown medicine forced into his mouth? His head ached, and his mind grew hazy. Jiwon dreamed he was a matchstick girl. He dreamed of biting into delicious meat, of mixing spicy makguksu with nutty sesame oil and eating it. The smell of happiness filled his nose.
Jiwon’s eyes snapped open.
It wasn’t a dream. He really smelled it. The sizzle of oil and the chatter of people laughing outside. The storage was dark, but he could tell it was night. The people had started eating and drinking as night fell. The villagers seemed to have strong bonds.
This is driving me crazy…
The smell made him even more miserable. Jiwon wriggled his body and sat up. The sacks shifted, and dust covered him, but he didn’t care. He wriggled his way to the storage door. Through the narrow gap, he saw exactly what he had imagined. The villagers had set up several burners in the open space in front of the storage and were grilling meat.
A tear rolled down his cheek as he watched. Why? If he had just stayed quietly in the leader’s room, he wouldn’t be starving to death. Regret was useless now, but it was true.
Jiwon watched for a while, then wriggled back to his original spot. There was no point in watching. They had completely forgotten about him. They wouldn’t come to give him food.
The medicine they had forced on him earlier still bothered him. His body felt different from usual. He was tired, but beyond that, he felt sluggish and heavy.
As Jiwon dozed off, the villagers’ small celebration ended.
The laughter and smell of food outside disappeared, and the damp, heavy air settled. Night deepened.
Jiwon opened his eyes again at the sound of a clanking lock. There was movement outside the storage. The lock clanked, and the door opened. Jiwon lifted his heavy eyelids and looked at the door. About a dozen people stood in front of the storage.
They walked over and stood in front of Jiwon. His head slowly lifted. It was the gray-haired man who had ordered him to be tied up earlier. He sat down in front of Jiwon and peeled off the tape from his mouth. Rip. The adhesive tore at his skin, sending a sharp pain through him. Jiwon didn’t even have the strength to scream.
“I’m sorry.”
The man apologized to Jiwon. Jiwon was dumbfounded. Unlike when he had shouted at him earlier, the man now spoke politely and gentlemanly.
“We didn’t want to cause trouble, so we locked you up for a while. So, you’ve lost your memory?”
“……Yes.”
“Tsk tsk. You look so young. What happened to you?”
The man pitied Jiwon. At his gesture, others brought disposable plates of food and placed them in front of Jiwon. It was the food whose smell he had only been able to catch earlier—well-cooked pork belly, white rice, and kimchi.
“Do you want to eat?”
“Yes.”
“But we can’t just give it to you for free.”
“……What?”
“You don’t look like you were born for nothing, do you?”
As the man spoke, the others began to agree, saying, “That’s right, that’s right.” Jiwon didn’t understand what they were talking about. Someone came forward and wiped his dirty face with a wet towel.
“See? I told you.”
The man who wiped his face was almost certain. Jiwon blinked slowly. It was hard to follow the conversation.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying…”
A bright artificial light from a flashlight poured into Jiwon’s eyes. He instinctively furrowed his brows. Someone grabbed his chin and turned his face, examining it. The people chattered among themselves, and their words pierced Jiwon’s ears.
“He looks exactly like the Leader.”
“Is he really the Leader?”
“He can’t be his twin.”
Kikik. Someone started laughing, and soon the laughter spread. Hahaha. Hahahaha. Jiwon was the only one not laughing.
“All my hard work is paying off.”
“That’s right. Who knew such happiness would roll in.”
“Good things come one after another.”
It was the word “Leader.” Jiwon was certain of the strange unease he had felt earlier. There were no women in this village. Only men. From the moment he entered the village until now, he hadn’t seen a single woman.
He had no choice. He decided to stick with the lost memory act he had used earlier. With a trembling voice, he calmly stated his position.
“Leader…? I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“Your voice is the same, too.”
Someone took out their phone and played a video. Jiwon already knew the sounds coming from it.
“Hng, c-cutie… came to… spoil me… hng, p-please…”
A trembling, pathetic voice.
“I don’t know… it’s embarrassing… I don’t want this anymore… hng.”
It ended with him crying, but Jiwon recognized it. It was the promotional video for <Land of Happiness> that he himself had filmed. The person holding the phone shoved the explicit video in Jiwon’s face, forcing him to watch.
“Say it after me.”
“……What?”
“‘Came to spoil the cutie.’ Say it.”
Jiwon clenched his mouth shut. He felt like he shouldn’t say it. He bit his lip and looked down, and the storage erupted in laughter again.
“He doesn’t need to say it. It’s obvious.”
“Did you want to be spoiled that much?”
“Enough to come find us first?”
“I—I don’t know anything! I don’t understand what you’re saying at all!”
Jiwon whimpered. He had already realized that the situation was turning against him. Pretending to be someone else was pointless—he had been found out. They knew who he was.
“The Leader who lost his memory.”
They even knew he was lying.
“We’ll spoil you until your memory comes back.”
The gray-haired man said that and laughed. Jiwon finally realized this village was not ordinary. It was a village near a cult. A village where the followers of that religion lived.
“Hng.”
Jiwon’s breath caught, and his mind went blank.
The man who had seen him earlier and walked away was the starting point. He had recognized Jiwon’s face and voice as soon as he saw him. Of course. He had watched the <Land of Happiness> promotional video countless times. He hurried home and watched the video again to confirm. The stranger was the Leader.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
