Scorpion Syndrome
Every man has at least one experience he can never forget. Like the late-night movie you accidentally turned on as a kid, for example.
The movie I saw was called Complete Education. It was the story of a man who kidnaps a beautiful woman only for them to somehow fall in love.
“I can’t forget it because it was the first erotic film I ever watched. But there was one thing I never understood?”
Why would the kidnapper and the victim end up falling for each other?
“I found out later that it’s called Scorpion Syndrome. It’s a psychological phenomenon where the hostage starts empathizing with their captor, defending and sympathizing with them. Pretty smart, right?”
“It’s Stockholm Syndrome, you idiot! And would you untie me already? Do you even know who I am, pulling this kind of shit? Untie me right nowwwww!”
Struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle—.
The sight of a woman bound tightly in chains, writhing inside a gloomy basement, was honestly hilarious.
“You kidnapping bastard! Do you have any idea what my father will do when he catches you? He’ll lock you in a mountain villa no one can find and slice off your toes and fingers one centimeter at a time!”
Anyway.
It looked like the movie really was just a movie. Love between hostage and kidnapper didn’t exist in real life.
If anyone tried to argue with me about it, I’d smack them in the head.
“So, Gaeul, I’m leaving food here. Eat it yourself. If you need the bathroom, there’s a cola bottle over there—use that. If it’s the big one, though—”
“Yaaaaaack! Aaaaaack! Aaaaaack!”
“Fine, fine. Handle it yourself. I’m heading out. There’s this kid who throws a tantrum if I’m late.”
Thud!
Only after shutting the heavy iron plate did I finally let out a sigh of relief.
That’s right. I was the kidnapper who had abducted Seo Gaeul, the only daughter of the chairman of Seonam Group—the conglomerate known as the world’s richest family.
But how the hell did it come to this?
The year I turned exactly twenty, the world more or less ended.
This sentence that sounded like the opening line of some novel had actually happened. What a ridiculous world.
There was no warning, no foreshadowing. One day the sky split open and monsters poured out, utterly destroying everything.
Of course, humans were a stubborn species. Just like people who rummage through garbage dumps to survive crushing poverty, humanity refused to lose hope even in the apocalypse and fought back against the monsters.
With superpowers and magic.
People called those with abilities heroes, and among them, the most active ones were revered as Supernovas.
Supernovas that kept shining even after the sun had been swallowed by darkness.
And me?
I was the one digging through the garbage dump.
“Oh! A fan!”
I picked up a fan with one slightly broken blade from among the junk. The casing looked mostly intact, so it would probably work if it got power.
Right beside it was a pack of ramen.
“The expiration date is only a year past?”
Finding both a fan and ramen in one trip—today was a lucky day.
If word got out that I had a fan at home, maybe pretty girls would confess to me? In a world like this, anything was possible.
“Ing-ing! Hyung’s home!”
Dragging my aching leg back to the house, I felt a little lighter. Calling it a house was generous—it was just a shack slapped together with scrap metal, wooden planks, and iron sheets near the dump. Still, having my own place in this ruined world was a truly amazing thing.
“How long has it been since I last ate ramen?”
If I dropped a bit of ketchup—the magical ingredient—into this bubbling broth… ta-da! Ketchup ramen, complete.
“This is what ramen is supposed to be.”
Slurp, slurp—.
I finished it in seconds, a satisfied smile spreading across my face.
But then my stomach let out a long grrr, and my mood sank again.
I can’t even remember the last time I ate until I was full. Should I eat the emergency food after all?
I glanced sideways at the hamster cage in the corner. My “emergency food” was wiggling and trembling while nibbling on the few strands of ramen I’d given it. A perfectly round, blue creature the size of a baseball.
━Kyuu-ing.
“Ah, forget it. Eating that wouldn’t even reach my stomach.”
Time to sleep.
I flopped down on the worn but somewhat soft carpet. Starlight leaked through the holes in the ceiling. If not for the mosquitoes buzzing in my ears, it would have felt as romantic as an Alphonse Daudet novel.
Still, today I had the fan.
A device that created cool wind in the middle of a sweltering summer? This was real superpower and magic.
“I’m honestly one of the lucky ones. Full stomach, a house, and even a fan—I must be in the top thirty percent of the upper class. In this world, I’d be prime husband material, wouldn’t I?”
Clank, clank, psssshhh—.
“The fan just broke, so maybe top forty-seven percent? Still above average, so I’ll take it.”
━Kyuu-ing.
Shaaaaaaa—.
Then, without warning, rain began to pour, and water started streaming through the ceiling.
“No wonder my injured knee kept throbbing.”
Whenever rain was coming, the left leg I’d injured in an accident at nineteen would ache, keeping me awake like this.
Suddenly I wondered how different my life would have been if I hadn’t hurt my leg that day.
Would I have become a Supernova too?
Would I have been a successful Awakened with women flocking to me?
Grrrr—.
My stomach was empty, sleep wouldn’t come, and above all, I was desperately lonely.
When was the last time I’d had a real conversation with another person instead of talking to myself?
“Anyone would be fine… I wish someone was next to me right now. Preferably a pretty woman. While I’m wishing, maybe with big breasts and a good personality. And rich, good at cooking—”
Knock, knock, knock—.
While I was deep in my wishes, someone knocked on the door outside.
—I heard a guy named Ha Namjin lives in this old incinerator.
Ha Namjin? That was my name.
I was about to open the door when suspicion suddenly flared.
The voice I’d heard was clearly a woman’s—soft and slender.
Why would a woman come looking for me?
“Who is it?”
—I have something urgent to tell you. Could you open the door?
It was a clear, pure voice that would wake nine out of ten sleeping people.
After thinking for a long time, I ultimately lost to male instinct.
If her voice was this beautiful, I was dying to know how pretty her face must be.
Clank—.
When I opened the crude iron door, a woman stood tall in the pouring rain, staring straight at me.
I forgot how to breathe for a second.
In this ruined world, I had never seen a woman this beautiful.
Black hair, striking red eyes shaped like a cat’s. There was a long scar by her left eye, but who cared?
“I’m Ha Namjin. What brings you here?”
Maybe she heard the rumor that I’d picked up a fan and came to be my girlfriend?
Shit! That fan already broke!
While I was panicking, the woman stepped inside without even removing her shoes and looked around.
“Life has gotten harsher than before, but your situation seems especially bad. How do you live in a place like this garbage dump? The mana concentration is practically dungeon level—”
She started to say something but closed her mouth. Then she drew a long curved blade from her waist.
Shing—!
“A monster…!?”
The reason she drew her sword wasn’t because she was a crazy psychopath. It was because she had spotted the slime monster locked inside the hamster cage in the corner.
━Ing-ing-ya-ing—.
A blue slime the size of a hamster—Ing-ing. One of my few conversation partners and my emergency food supply.
“Ha Namjin! Move! There’s a monster in your house!”
“Wait! Ing-ing is a monster, but he’s a good monster, okay?”
“I’m warning you. There are no good monsters in this world. If a monster shows kindness to humans, it’s only to trick them for a greater evil. So move! I’m going to kill it!”
“What? Kill it? Hey, you bitch! Are your ears filled with concrete? I said Ing-ing is a good monster!”
“…What!? What hole did you say you’d fill…!?”
The woman’s eyebrows furrowed deeply.
It was strangely attractive to see a beauty making that kind of face. In my case, I might even prefer it over her smiling.
Though that wasn’t what mattered right now!
“I was going to treat you nicely because your face is pretty. How old are you anyway? Huh? You look younger than me! Barging into someone else’s house without even taking off your shoes!”
“…….”
Ing-ing trembling inside our narrow shack, and the woman glaring at him. A heavy tension completely unsuited to the cramped space filled the air.
Then the woman’s lips parted slightly.
“You said it’s a good monster. Can you prove it?”
“Prove it?”
I took Ing-ing out of the small hamster cage and set him on my palm.
“Look! Isn’t he well-behaved?”
“…….”
“He dances when I sing. Want to see? If you tie me up and lock me away, two hundred ri along the sea path, Butterfree! Kadabra! The birds’ hometown~. No matter how much anyone insists it’s their land, a swarm of crocodiles will come, a swarm of crocodiles!”
━Ing-ing-ya-ing.
Boom-chick, boom-chick—.
Ing-ing began dancing with his slime body in time with the song. Since I rarely had an audience, I got excited and started swaying my shoulders too.
“How’s that?”
“…Weird.”
“Monsters are supposed to be weird. Didn’t you know?”
“Not the monster! Your singing!”
After staring at me and Ing-ing with suspicious eyes for a while, the woman sheathed her sword and flipped her wet hair back with a sharp motion.
The smell of her shampoo was amazing.
“I came because I heard there was a man who tamed a monster. Looks like I found the right person. How exactly did you tame it? Monsters only hold malice toward humans. Is there some secret?”
Had I tamed Ing-ing? I just found him while scavenging the dump.
If she really wanted a secret, there was one thing that came to mind.
“Because I sing ridiculously well?”
“That is definitely not it!”
“Then it must be because I make really good ketchup ramen.”
“Ketchup what? Anyway, Ha Namjin, I came after hearing the rumors about you. They say you’ll do anything for money, right? I have a request.”
The way she scanned me up and down felt strangely familiar.
This woman was a client.
“What, you weren’t here for the fan after all.”
“What fan?”
“Never mind! It’s not like I’ll do anything for money. I have my pride. You know the saying—a man without pride is as good as dead, right?”
“Just so you know, I can pay whatever amount you name.”
“Actually, pride doesn’t put food on the table. I’ve always been a practical guy.”
“…Nice that the conversation flows so well. Just so you know, I’m not suspicious. My name is Seo Gaeul. I’m pretty famous. Haven’t you heard of me?”
“Seo Gaeul?”
Honestly, talking to a woman this beautiful was a first, so my head was spinning.
The women around me had only ever given me cold, icy looks when I spoke to them.
In my jumbled memories, the name Seo Gaeul suddenly shot to the surface.
“Are you the Supernova? The one with multiple abilities?”
“That’s right. Supernova. That’s what they called me. They also called me the Worst Bitch. The absolute worst fucking bitch.”
What was she even saying?
Showing up without warning, drawing a sword, then calling herself the worst bitch.
Was she actually a psycho? Her face was pretty, though.
While I was thinking that, Seo Gaeul asked me a question.
“You. Have you ever regretted anything in your life? If you could go back to the past, what would you do?”