A sound of stripping rang. It wasn’t an impact but a tear. The stick wrapped in raw rubber slapped against the skin underneath the wet clothes.

  “Kuh!”


  Sun WooHyun’s mouth fell apart. The strong pain from a fistful of skin being torn away bolted through him. It was harsh, beyond the imagination of what the elite training program of North Korea’s special forces could be. No one would believe the fact that a scouting regiment’s officer had screamed with a single bash.

  The soul-returning pain administration wasn’t a simple whipping. It had to be administered through pointed attacks directed at where the ki flows converged and crossed. The point of impact would be at the area with sensitive skin, where most of the humans’ senses were gathered. It was a technique that only Black Mamba with his dimensional sight or a master of heaven seeing eyes could do.

  Slap—


  Slap—


  Sun WooHyun twisted his body like an earthworm on salt everytime a blow landed. His senses, which had been surprised to the point of wariness, began to cry. The indescribable pain ran through his body from the tip of his feet to the center of his head.

  Slap—


  Slap—


  Slaap—


  Slaaaaap—


  The whipping grew faster. A beating of the soul-returning pain administration came in tempos of moderato, allegro moderato, and allegro. Sun WooHyun felt as though his body was being stripped to pieces. He had tried to live well after meeting a talented human, but he was about to die like a dog on the third dog day. The faces of his kind mother and strict father came to his mind.

  “Kuaaagh!”


  “Aaaagh!”


  The stricken screams rang across the underground fitness center. Edel’s body flinched every time it was heard. Sun WooHyun’s body began to emit heat when the whippings grew in number.

  It hadn’t been three minutes when Sun WooHyun’s body grew lax across the floor, no longer rolling in screams. He couldn’t bring himself to avoid the beating or to shout. He simply trembled every time a slap landed. He was beaten according to the beating.

  Edel made a fist and shook. She’d heard about this before, but hearing and seeing were different things. For the love of God, how could a human beat another human so harshly? It wasn’t something a human should do, even if it was for the sake of training. She wanted to leave the place but couldn’t, in case something unfortunate occurred.

  Sun WooHyun’s body grew red with heat. His temperature rose to the point that Ombuti could feel the heat from just a foot away. Black Mamba was similarly having a hard time whipping him with the right strength, density, and time. A single mistake could send Sun WooHyun across the river Styx. His senses grew sharp like a needle. His brain, which had to calculate large amounts of information, began to waste energy. Sweat dripped down Black Mamba’s chin like a river. It was hard to gain a usable lackey.

  10 minutes had passed. A stagnant smell circulated. A pungent smell that shouldn’t exist spread rapidly. Edel and Ombuti, who were attacked, grabbed their nose, and stumbled back.

  Black Mamba dabbed his finger in the urine and brought it before his eyes. It was black urine mixed with bubbles of blood. It was the remains of dead cells with stagnant excretions and old ailments.

  “He’d be very refreshed. I should make it even more refreshing.”


  Black Mamba grabbed Sun WooHyun’s limp form and threw him into a tub filled with ice.

  “Gaaaah!”


  Sun WooHyun leaped into consciousness. His body had reached its highest temperature. The temperature he’d felt in the water at zero degrees Celsius was not from the cold but the heat. It was like skin coming into contact with frozen ammonia gas, gaining burns.

  “This b*stard’s refusing my hospitality.”


  Black Mamba shoved Sun WooHyun’s chest back down and pressed him underwater by his head.

  “Aaaaagh, save me!”


  Sun WooHyun resisted. It didn’t work. He was like a frog underneath a bear’s paw. The strength of a sapien was comparably weak to a Paranthropus.

  Black, sticky blood appeared on the cold water like ink. Edel’s face grew white. What kind of a horrible scene was this, following the horrible whipping? A human who flapped around with survival instincts and a human who suppressed the fighting human with blood pouring out of the sweat glands—it was a scene that could only come from hell.

  Edel decided to stop Black. The training was good, and all, but a person was about to die. From Edel’s medical knowledge, it was proven that feeling immediate cold after increasing one’s blood pressure would lead to death by shock.

  “Black! You…”


  “Miss Edel, believe in Wakil. All you need to do is believe him.”


  Ombuti stopped Edel.

  “Ombuti, drag him out.”


  Black Mamba finally released him after 10 more minutes. Sun WooHyun’s face was unexpectedly peaceful. In the end, Sun WooHyun didn’t die.

  “Edel, inject him with some epinephrine and give him an intravenous injection. The drop rate should be five times the average.”


  Edel didn’t question him anymore and got to work. One could not expect an answer from a person who lacked sense. Ombuti also moved quickly. He cleaned the dirty water and turned the fans to their highest setting to remove the smell.

  Sun WooHyun regained consciousness two hours later.

  Where am I? Who am I?

  Sun WooHyun’s consciousness floated around like a thick fog.

  “Ugh, this lackey b*stard’s spilled a lot!” Ombuti complained.

  Lackey, that’s something I heard a lot. It’s from a scary b*stard, someone scary.

  “Lackey!”


  Black Mamba called him with resonance in his voice. The strong, resonating sound blew past his ears. His floating consciousness was brought back to reality.

  “Ah, monster!”


  Sun WooHyun crawled into a corner to hide, like a cockroach surprised by the light. Fear was the only thing in his mind.

  “Run!”


  Sun WooHyun leaped to his feet. His body reacted without a moment’s judgment from his brain. He stumbled a few steps, swaying.

  “Stop!”


  Sun WooHyun stopped like a puppet.

  “You’re going to cool down your body for the next five minutes. Begin.”


  Sun WooHyun moved like a marionette. He stretched his limbs, twisted his hip, and rolled his neck.

  “You’re going to run at full speed on the spot. Your knees have to reach your chest. Run!”


  Black Mamba counted to 10 before shouting again.

  “Breathe, three times in and 10 times out.”


  Sun WooHyun panted as his face turned blue.

  “You will not breathe while running and will do so when I tell you to stop running. When I say left, you will run to the left. When I say right, you will turn 90 degrees and run to the right. Understood?”


  “Yes!”


  “Left!”


  Sun WooHyun, who had been running in his spot, turned to his left and ran.

  “I said, don’t breathe!” the devil growled.

  “Run at full speed. Right!”


  “Stop. Left!”


  “Bring your knees up to your chest!”


  The devil, with a stick in hand, ordered without rest. It was a no-oxygen interval gallop training. No-oxygen interval gallop training caused the muscles to tire quickly, making it hard to continue for over three minutes.

  The hidden effect of a no-oxygen interval gallop training helped to strengthen bones. When the body is shoved to its limits with the no-oxygen interval gallop training, the bones raise its calcium density automatically. It also had the effect of maintaining and organizing the body, which had gained a steady flow of ki from the soul-returning pain administration.

  Black Mamba tested Sun WooHyun to his limits like a devil.

  Boom—


  Sun WooHyun, who managed to last 30 minutes, collapsed to the floor. The liver’s acid, which had been released from an empty liver, gave off a sour stench.

  Black Mamba dragged Sun WooHyun and threw him down beside the tub.

  The soul-returning pain administration began once more.

  Crack—


  Sun WooHyun opened his eyes when the stick landed on him once more.

  Mother…your unfilial son is going to die in the hands of a monster.

  Tears streamed down from Sun WooHyun’s eyes. He didn’t even have the strength to shout. He wanted to avoid it, but neither his fingers nor his toes could move.

  His muscles, which had been loosened all-around, had forgotten how to move. Still, his senses were alive. His senses suffered a shock with every beating.

  Black blood dripped out of Sun WooHyun’s nose and mouth. Blood also came out of his anus. Edel shivered at the devastating sight.

  Black Mamba was cold. He didn’t even blink. He lifted Sun WooHyun and shoved him into the ice tub again. Sun WooHyun no longer possessed the figure of a human. He was but a living zombie.

  “Ombuti, get him on your back.”


  Sun WooHyun, who was moved to the hospital room, was injected with an intravenous injection again in his still state.

  “Ugh, it’s hard to make a human,” Black Mamba complained as he began to practice the interrogative blood pacer.

  He had used the method that his teacher once had, a long time ago. Muscles could only grow more resistant after the clumped, blocked blood vessels were cleared, allowing for faster blood flow.

  The combined repetitive expelling theory was a detestable method that doused the human body like an iron being doused with water and oil. Sun WooHyun became the test subject of such a devious experiment. The original combined repetitive expelling theory wasn’t something that humans could withstand. The method Black Mamba used was, at least, a slightly weaker version.

  The same training continued the next day. Sun WooHyun also became wasted the next day. A week passed. The suffering that Sun WooHyun had went through that week was incomprehensible with just words. If he had been a human with lesser determination, he would have crossed the river Styx long ago.

  Sun WooHyun was reborn in Paris’ Val-de-Grace military hospital’s underground room in France.

  [On the 22nd day of hospitalization in Val-de-Grace hospital.]

  The seventh day of Sun WooHyun’s reconstruction whipping passed, it was time to leave the hospital where they’d stayed and eaten for free.

  Black Mamba headed towards the city with Ombuti for a visit. He had accepted Ombuti’s proposal to gift the maids who’d suffered from cleaning and washing their clothes.

  “Wakil, wouldn’t a commemoration gift be necessary to share between the brothers who’ve survived out of hell?”


  “That’s a good idea. What do you think is best?”


  “A gold which never changes would be good. There are high-quality, kindly priced jewelry in Paris.”


  Black Mamba nodded.

  “There are many historical jewelry stores gathered around Place Vend?me. There are famous brand stores following Rue Saint-Honoré.”


  “I don’t know the place.”


  “It’s but 10 kilometers away from the hospital. Place Vend?me is a block away from the Concord square to the east where the old men made a ruckus last time.”


  “That’s near. Let’s go.”


  When Black Mamba agreed, Ombuti’s mouth slowly split into a smile. Ombuti called a taxi. The taxi stopped in front of Mauboussin, famous in Rue Saint-Honoré.

  “F*** kindness.”


  Black Mamba came out of the store, complaining in fright at the unkind prices. A shady looking white-gold ring worth 10,000 francs got him shaking in disbelief. The high-class jewelry customers of Mauboussin were royal families or millionaires. Countryside Mu Ssang had nearly screamed at the evil prices.

  In the end, he purchased eight wallets at a leather specialty store called Goyard. Ombuti sneakily added in Edel’s gift too.

  “What should we give the Madams?”


  “We can give them a basket of fruits each. I’ll prepare it adequately.”


  Ombuti lowered his head and smiled secretly. His intentions had gone slightly out of its path, but he’d reached his goal. The gifts for the workers had only been an excuse. He’d basically fooled his master, for his foolish master wouldn’t gain a woman even after 100 days.

  Who’d go to hell other than myself!

  Ombuti made a fist.

  Black Mamba, who had been walking around Rue Saint-Honoré, stopped before a macaron[1] store. The several kinds of colorful macarons in tones of pastel grabbed his attention.

  Macarons were a type of meringue famed for its great harmony of a crisp outer shell and soft, sweet inner shell.

  Mother!

  His father had often bought bean paste bread for his mother, who loved sweet things, every time he was headed to the market. Although he had frequently forgotten about his son’s request for comic books, he had never forgotten his mother’s unrequested sweet bean paste bread.

  He would share the bread with his mother while they sat together on the pavement. His mother would give half to him and eat the other half, little by little.

  He had swallowed his half and glared at the other piece of bread his mother was eating.

  It’s good, isn’t it?

  His mother would smile and hand him the bread that she was eating. He used to eat all of what he’d been handed, immaturely.

  It’s good, isn’t it? It’s good.

  The question, accompanied by a bright smile, rang in his ears like an illusion.

  Mother! We’re under the same sky, but why are you wandering in the ground? His heart suddenly turned stuffy, and his nose turned sour.

  Black Mamba entered the store as though he was lured. He bought a box of red macarons decorated with a cute character. Ombuti, who didn’t know what was going on, tilted his head.

  That evening, they finished their dinner and ended their meal with coffee and ice cream that Edel had prepared.

  Ombuti pulled out the wallet they’d bought.

  “It’s a gift that Wakil had prepared. Wakil, you should give it to her yourself.”


  Ombuti didn’t mention the fact that it was a commemorative gift for coming out of hell in one piece.

  “You worked hard.”


  Black Mamba gave Sun WooHyun a black wallet and Edel a red wallet.

  Ugh, my stupid head, I should have persuaded him to buy a ring.

  Ombuti felt his insides rotting for the reason that only he knew.

  “Oh, calfskin nubuck! It’s Goyard’s best.”


  Edel’s face brightened like a sun coming out from the clouds. Ombuti smiled in satisfaction while Black Mamba’s heart dropped.

  [1] It is a French sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meal, and food coloring.