Tiger’s Den
- Orientation
Jiwon drank the beverage provided by the agency immediately after boarding the van. The reason given was that the destination was top secret. Since he’d gone all-in on this job, there was no point in being suspicious.
Without hesitation, he downed the vitamin drink they offered. Less than a minute later, his eyes closed. In his hazy state of mind, he expected a scenario like waking up in a bed as in a popular drama that had aired. But his expectations were spectacularly wrong.
When he opened his eyes, he was inside a large chartered bus. It had facilities comparable to a deluxe bus, with spacious seats and a comfortable interior.
Jiwon was in a middle seat, with the seat next to him empty.
He straightened his back and surveyed the interior. Five men sitting in the same row as Jiwon, who had just woken up like him, stirred simultaneously.
Including me, that makes five.
When he turned around, there were two more.
Seven in total.
The bus was stationary with the doors open. The raucous sound of cicadas coming through the open door made his ears ring.
Forest surrounded them on all sides. Apart from a white bus standing right next to them, all that could be seen through the tree branches was more densely packed trees.
“Ugh. My head hurts. Fucking bastards, what the hell did they make us drink?”
Someone grumbled and tried to stand up from their seat but sat right back down. The drug hadn’t fully worn off yet.
Their minds had cleared, but they needed another twenty minutes or so before proper physical activity was possible. Everyone stayed in their seats in silence. No one rashly asked for names or chattered away. There was even a somewhat tense atmosphere.
Around the time strength was returning to their hands and feet, a man boarded the bus.
Wearing a navy-colored naval officer’s uniform, he had a name tag that said “Captain.” With his beard covering his lower face and sunglasses, he looked like the captain of a large cruise ship.
“Is everyone conscious?”
He asked loudly.
Listless responses were heard sporadically.
“Nice to meet you all. I’m Captain, and I’ll be leading you from now on.”
The man who introduced himself as Captain spoke in a cheerful voice.
“Starting now, I’ll distribute necklaces with your names written on them. I don’t care if you get close later and investigate each other’s backgrounds, but externally, you must address each other by the names written on these necklaces. This isn’t a request—it’s a rule and an order.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he strode forward.
He distributed necklace name tags starting with the person in the very back seat.
“You all belong to Crew Zero and will be moving with me from now on. The numbers written there are random, so don’t assign meaning to them like age order or whatever.”
He was as gentle as if speaking to elementary school students.
Soon the necklace came to Jiwon. On an ordinary name tag like those used at events, his affiliation and name were written.
‘Crew 0, Sailor 1’
After distributing name tags to everyone, Captain stood at the front again.
“You can guess to some extent, right? As you can see from my uniform, you’ll be sailors following me.”
Captain opened the tablet PC he was holding, moved the pen, recorded something, then closed the cover with a snap. Then he tucked it under his arm again.
“Now that all the inspections are finished, let’s depart.”
Clap clap, he clapped his hands, urging them to get off the bus.
“Quickly, quickly. Why are you all so slow? Your butts are heavy!”
His tone of urging made it seem like he’d give a penalty to whoever got off last.
Jiwon got off the bus third.
Having been too tense to properly assess his surroundings, things finally started to become visible to Jiwon. Specifically, the faces of those who had boarded the bus.
The word that came to mind as soon as he saw the face of the person who got off before him was “gradation.” The man who looked exactly like Jiwon that he’d seen at the interview wasn’t among them, but they all strangely resembled each other. The identical hairstyles made it seem even more so.
A young man who could be believed to be Han’s twin also got off right after Jiwon.
So Han was rejected and this guy was accepted, he thought to himself.
No one seemed surprised, as if they’d all somewhat expected it. They were conscious of each other, sizing each other up by eye.
Every one of them was similar in height to Jiwon, and their builds were either slightly thin or muscular. Not to mention they all had thick hair.
Captain, the guide, took the lead. The seven followed Captain as if by agreement, maintaining a certain distance from the person in front.
They walked for about ten minutes along a forest trail surrounded on all sides. Strangely, it was cool here, as if this place alone had escaped the sweltering heat. Moreover, thanks to the so-called phytoncides emitted by the trees, his mind, which had been hazy from the drugs, became clear.
That much was good, but he couldn’t gauge where on earth they were going. Half wore anxious expressions, while the rest seemed somewhat excited. Jiwon was on the excited side.
How long had they been walking?
Captain stopped dead in his tracks.
Private Property – No Trespassing, High Voltage Electrocution Hazard
Two large signs with red warning text on a yellow background caught their attention. Behind them, an iron gate tangled with wire fencing about 3 meters high was visible. CCTVs were mounted on both sides of the gate.
Does high voltage run through that gate?
As he looked up at the wire fence, Captain pulled out a walkie-talkie from his jacket pocket.
“This is Captain, this is Captain. Over.”
Then, following a crackling sound,
“This is Gate 1. Over.”
came the reply.
“Crew Zero entry. Crew Zero entry. Over.”
Shortly after, with a loud electronic beep that assaulted their ears, the door opened.
“What are you all doing? Let’s go in.”
Captain stepped aside and let the group named Crew Zero through the iron gate. When he finally stepped inside, a huge electronic sound rang out just like when it opened, and the door closed.
He should have realized when he saw the high voltage warning. It wasn’t just an iron gate.
Wire fencing was installed along the large iron gate. Its end wasn’t visible—who knows how far it extended.
“It’s just like the front lines.”
Someone whispered this.
“Right. It really feels like a frontline military unit, doesn’t it? Seeing the wire fence gives off DMZ vibes too.”
His voice was full of laughter, as if something was amusing.
“Oh, and don’t think about touching the wire fence since high-voltage current runs through it. You’ll hear everything during orientation later, but anyway, I’ve warned you.”
He added in a cheerful voice.
Jiwon turned his head and looked around. All that reached his vision was green and wire fencing. Considering the temperature, they were probably deep in the mountains at a fairly high elevation.
The more he looked around, the more he had a premonition that he’d never be able to leave through that gate again. But he wasn’t afraid at all. He’d been prepared for this from the moment he resolved to start this job.
The trail continued. The difference from before passing through the gate was that wire fencing ran along the trail and CCTVs were installed every 4-5 meters. It seemed to mean they’d prevent escape while monitoring every single move.
As openly mentioned at the interview, it was called a project but was really a sex party. It had to be run in absolute secrecy. Especially if it was a party that cost a fortune from the process of selecting participants like themselves, it meant the attendees were high-ranking officials or people of similar status, so this level of security was more than understandable.
Thanks to this, Jiwon’s anticipation soared.
As they walked, they encountered another iron gate identical to the previous one.
Captain radioed just like before. The other party changed from Gate 1 to Gate 2, and it wasn’t until they reached Gate 3 that the view opened up wide.
An endlessly vast garden unfolded before their eyes.
Behind the garden, a huge rectangular marble building that looked like a museum was visible. The three-story building gave an impression that was sophisticated in one way and plain and boring in another, but its size was anything but boring. It was so long that the left and right sides didn’t fit in one glance—they had to turn their heads.
But the building was quickly forgotten. Everyone’s eyes widened as they were captivated by the magnificent garden. The garden had several fountains spouting water, and beautiful glass greenhouses and canopies were installed among various flowers and trees. The lawn was so lush and fresh it seemed a shame to step on it.
Gasps escaped from each person’s mouth. Naturally their steps slowed and the distance from Captain widened.
“You’ll see it until you’re sick of it later. Hurry and follow me.”
Captain called out with an indifferent expression.
As they passed by the fountains, several people burst into laughter seeing the statues standing in the middle of the fountains. The sculptures were all naked men, spouting streams of water from their genitals. Very vigorously at that.
When he turned his eyes, the statues in the other fountains were also spouting water from genitals that were excessively large compared to their physiques, differing only in pose.
Paradise Project.
This must be the paradise for sodomites.
Someone would find their own paradise here, but Jiwon hoped to find the answers he’d so desperately wanted. No, he vowed to make sure he did.
Like the other participants, he smiled while looking up at the giant statues.
