When Jiwon’s mind fully came back, the trio was a trio again.

Park Geonwoo remembered nothing about trying to kill Jiwon, and Jiwon didn’t go out of his way to tell him. He knew what Park had done, but felt no anger or fear at all. If anything, the friendship felt deeper than before.

Kim Yunho, who had blamed Park, acted like he’d forgotten it too.

The three linked arms and walked as one, like always.

Not just Park and Yunho.

Han Seoho and Lee Gangjun, Jeong Hamin and the new guy, Yoo Junghoon—the Sailors were tighter than ever. It was possible because they shared a private experience and a boundless reverence for the Host.

No one felt the slightest question or wrongness about their change. They took it as natural.

Of course, deep inside Jiwon, suspicion wriggled—but too faint to break the surface. His current irrational emotion was so explosive there was no room for doubt to intrude.

Jiwon felt as if he’d known the Host since birth. Like a parent in all but blood.

Yes—an elder.

“The Sailors will take a booster and go up to the rooftop.”

Without being told, they lined up before the Captain.

Jiwon took a pill first and swallowed it with water.

You’d never think he’d been starving since yesterday—he was full of life.

“Here, put this on.”

They handed him a see-through gown; he threw it on. He didn’t even think to tie the waist cord.

Boosters down, gowns on, the Sailors paired off by twos and threes and got in the elevator.

For the first time since intake, they headed higher than the second floor.

The moment they stepped out, fierce sun struck. So bright and sharp he could hardly open his eyes.

Wow. His mouth fell open.

The entire rooftop was built out like a massive resort. One side was a waterpark: wave pool, waterslides, bright multicolored play rigs. The other side was a pool with a modern feel, an infinity pool.

Dozens of sunbeds lined each poolside, and here and there coolers brimmed with ice and drinks. Lie wherever you wanted; drink as much as you wanted.

Unlike a normal resort, each side table by a sunbed had condom boxes and a spread of toys—dildos and the like—and lubricants.

The trio who arrived first just stared, mouths open, looking everywhere; the group with Han Seoho piled out next, shrieking and bouncing.

As the Sailors gawked at the resort, the rest of the crews began to arrive in turn.

Team 1 wore nothing but police caps; Team 2, nothing but gags. The Sailors too were in see-through gowns that showed everything—no different from naked.

Their twenties, hot-blooded—young men eyed each other’s bodies, savoring, pairing off with glances.

In no time the rooftop filled with chatter and laughter.

Huh? Not outdoors?

There was reflection.

And an echo in the sound. As if something enclosed them.

Jiwon lifted his head and studied the sky.

Ah. It was a vast glasshouse.

Glass walls on every side. Through the high ceiling you saw the sky and the beating summer sun, so of course you’d mistake it for outdoors.

“What are you staring at?”

Number 3 had come up without Jiwon noticing and tipped his head back too.

“Glass.”

Jiwon answered, still looking up.

“Right. Glass.”

Then Number 3 lowered his head and looked at Jiwon. He took off his own police cap and set it on Jiwon’s head.

“Do people tell you you’ve got a sharp eye?”

He smiled, kneading Jiwon’s nape.

“My neck hurts just from looking up a second.”

He played it up.

“But why are you alone?”

At his question, Jiwon realized he was alone.

No sign of Park Geonwoo; Kim Yunho sat on a sunbed drinking beer. A stranger at his side was chatting him up.

Must be the Newbie who replaced Kang Jooyoung, Jiwon thought. Not a big deal. He didn’t bother to look longer.

“I didn’t know there was a place like this.”

Jiwon breathed, impressed.

“Right. I’d thought it’d be nice if there were an outdoor pool, and here it is.”

For someone who’d hoped for it, Number 3’s tone was lukewarm.

“You like the water?”

Number 3 asked.

“Yes. I like it.”

“Which side’s your type?”

He gestured, eyes pointing at the two very different facilities.

“Both.”

If it was water, Jiwon loved it. Pool or sea, river or gorge—anywhere he could play in water was heaven. Water play was the most fun thing in the world.

Every summer he’d go to big and small waterparks or the beach with family, and on his first overseas resort trip as an adult he’d floated in the water all day.

—‘That kid, must’ve been a seal in a past life.’—

His father had clicked his tongue and teased him.

While Jiwon lived in the water, that boy—then a high schooler—lay on a sunbed doing problem sets. He’d grumbled that taking a test-taker to a resort was insane.

A peaceful time.

“Me too. Play with me.”

Drawn back to the present by Number 3’s words, Jiwon nodded quietly.

Number 3’s gaze lingered on his chest.

“Ah. I had class today.”

Jiwon pushed his chest out—swollen, reddened, and enlarged—and showed it off.

“Yeah? Must’ve been intense.”

But Number 3’s reaction was tepid.

Jiwon thought he’d lunge and suck right away, but Number 3 even furrowed his brow.

Why? Don’t you want to suck? Jiwon almost asked—then didn’t.

These tits weren’t for Number 3.

He came to himself and tugged his gaping gown closed.

“Hold up. Look at me.”

Number 3 brought his face close, right to Jiwon’s. He even took off the cap he’d put on Jiwon and studied him.

His eyes went strange. No—scary.

Uneasy under that stare, Jiwon stepped back without thinking.

Beeeep—

Right then a chime sounded.

[All crews, gather by team. Repeating: all crews, gather by team.]

Jiwon slipped away from Number 3 at once. Ignoring the stare that followed, he looked for the team lead.

“This place is insane, Jiwon. Actually insane!”

Kim Yunho # Nоvеlight # couldn’t hide his excitement, and Park Geonwoo, who’d appeared, threw both thumbs up.

Jiwon was happy too, but not purely. Because of Number 3.

What’s with him?

What did I do wrong?

The reaction got under his skin. They were more intimate and secret than anyone—and yet he felt oddly uncomfortable.

Why? Because of what?

Before class, they’d sucked each other ragged.

Jiwon sneaked a look at Number 3’s naked body, more rapturous than ever under the sun.

His heart still thumped. Just looking made his legs tremble. He was dying to take that python again.

Before he knew it, his head was full of Number 3’s cock. That huge, beautiful thing felt vivid right before his eyes.

Want to suck. Want to take it.

He writhed, whole body squirming.

Suddenly his head swam. The sun was too hot.

He gagged on the heat and panted.

The building’s interior climate control had been so perfect he’d forgotten it was mid-summer outside. And this space—built like a greenhouse—was a steamer.

He scanned the glass panels, then eyed the columns bracing the structure.

Of course there’s AC in a place like this.

They’d turned it off on purpose. No wonder it felt tropical.

Whoever ran it—they planned every trivial thing, as always.

He grasped again how meticulous they were—but unlike before, no jitter rose. No nerves.

Jiwon liked it here. This was a paradise built for them.

He wouldn’t dare complain.

Still, it was hot.

Catching his breath, he scanned the flushed faces around him. Not trying to memorize—just habit.

Except for the Sailors who’d eaten back in the lobby, the rest of the crews gathered by their leads and took boosters. When every single one had swallowed a pill, the Captain took the mic.

“From now, the pool party begins. Drink and fuck to your fill. Climb to orgasm in any position, by any method you want. Today, this place is your Sodom and your Gomorrah!”

At the proclamation, everyone roared with excitement.

With a deafening firework crack, team leads popped champagne.

Real alcohol.

Champagne rained from the sky.

Crews shouted with mouths open, drinking the rain, then sprinted off across the wide space. Some to the sleek infinity pool, some to the bright waterpark, racing each other.

Because of the champagne, the gowns clung soaked to their bodies. Jiwon looked down at himself—more erotic than ever—then quickly glanced around.

He hurried to find his partner.

There.

He waved to Number 3.

Number 3 came.

Ah. My beautiful partner.

Let’s live here together.

Jiwon held out his hand, and something hot and dry met his own palm, slick with sweat.

They laced fingers. Since grade school he hadn’t held hands like this with a man—not family. It felt good rather than awkward. Somehow safe.

—‘Hold your little brother’s hand. Don’t lose him.’—

Even after he entered middle school, Jiwon had held his brother’s hand, five years younger, so he wouldn’t lose him.

Did he feel like this when he held mine?

Safe and warm?

Jiwon looked up at Number 3.

“Dizzy?”

Number 3 asked gently.

“...A little.”

“Thought you could drink anyone under the table. Guess not.”

At his joke, Jiwon tilted his head back to the sky where the champagne rain had stopped, stuck his tongue out at the blue.

The sky darkened—and then his tongue vanished into Number 3’s mouth.

They stood, hand in hand, and shared tongues. A deep, thick kiss.

Jiwon pressed his naked body flush to Number 3’s.

They tangled tongues for a long time, then finally pulled apart.

Jiwon tugged Number 3’s hand.

“What are we doing?”

To his question,

“Sex.”

Jiwon answered, grinning dumbly, and walked toward the waterpark.

“Didn’t you say sex?”

“Water first.”

He was starving for sex, but he couldn’t give up the water.

How long had it been since a waterpark?

He let go of Number 3’s hand and sprinted off screaming like a kid. Number 3 ran after him, shouting too.

With a wave pool it felt like a real beach. Water at the ankles deepened to the chest in no time, and a churn of waves of shifting heights swallowed then spat out the crews who plunged in. Some were already being sluiced off the top of the highest slide; others pushed into the faster channels to the Lazy River or Extreme River for speed.

At the infinity pool, half were showing off their strokes, half were tangled up in love play.

Either way, the shrieks and laughter of the amped-up crews filled the rooftop.

Jiwon went berserk for water. Even so, he never separated from Number 3. If anything, they stuck tighter.

They played like no one else existed. Hugging, riding waves, gulping water—laughing it off, loving it.

Before they knew it, the gowns were tossed. Not a stitch left—their bare skin more provocative and slick than ever. They rubbed their sex against each other openly.

Jiwon was high. He wrapped his legs around Number 3 and clung; he pushed Number 3 down and forced water into his mouth. Then Number 3 struck back—always with less force than Jiwon had used.

Their eyes met and they laughed. Then they kissed. Quick pecks, chirps of lips touching—good even so. Now and then, light teasing—licking each other’s napes, nipping with teeth.

They played like visitors just before closing time. Dozens of plunges into waves, wipeouts, rides down slides until their whole bodies glowed red. In the rapids, they each buckled on a tube at the waist on purpose; the current flipped them, slammed them underwater, and even that was fun.

In the water, they were soulmates. A glance told the other what they wanted.

Snickers, giggles, then loud laughter.

No one else mattered.

“Rest a bit?”

Worn out, Jiwon suggested it first.

“Not playing more?”

He shook his head.

“My legs are jelly.”

He whined on purpose.

Number 3 scooped him up in a princess carry in the water and carried him up onto the deck.

In the water it was fine; once ashore Jiwon got shy and set his feet down.

“What, you were just fine being carried.”

Number 3 teased, laughter in his voice.

Jiwon grinned sheepish—my choice.

On the way to the sunbeds, Number 3 grabbed two beers and tossed one. Jiwon snagged it left-handed and cracked it on the spot.

How long had it been since real booze?

The fizz was perfect; it slid down his throat.

They stood face-to-face, sipping beer, then poured the rest over each other’s naked bodies.

This was Sodom or Gomorrah.

They were proud citizens of a land where they could be as obscene as they pleased—that was how Jiwon felt.