Chapter 5: Wonderland-4  

The moment SoYoon stepped out of Duke’s house, she lowered her mask and drank the antidote. Duke may have been a creep, but it was well known that he would never tamper with a potion for which a customer had paid a fair price. Resisting the urge to throw up, she threw the empty bottle into a nearby trash can, lifted her mask back onto her face, and walked toward the neutral zone. She was hoping to head back home after stopping at the neutral zone’s Central.

In the neutral zone, where fighting was prohibited, the atmosphere was much brighter. She had been spent all day stressed out about the attention she was getting regarding her competence as the new White Rabbit, and the calm—and lack of interest in her—at the neutral zone was like a breath of fresh air.

The Central was without equal within the neutral zone—an essential area of Wonderland. It was the only place in Wonderland where you could buy household items. It had wide streets filled with stores and vendors that reminded her of a farmer’s market. Further within its center, there were restaurants, cafes, pubs, etc.

It had been such a long time since she had experienced the outside air that SoYoon felt a surge of emotions. It lasted for about five minutes. When she walked into the first clothing store and saw the price tag, she woke up from her reverie. If it had been Earth, the T-shirt wouldn’t have amounted to $10. How could it cost 500,000 carol here?

SoYoon associated dollars to carol in similar calculation terms, and so, thinking she didn’t want to get cheated by a bad deal, she went to a different store. However, the situation was the same. This place was actually more expensive.

“Expensive…”

The owner, hearing SoYoon mumbling, spoke up.

“What are you talking about? These are last year’s Outhouse items. Do you know how difficult it was to get these?!”

Realizing that all the items had to be imported into Wonderland because it had no manufacturing warehouses made the price seem a bit more reasonable. Soap, toothpaste, and other household products—the previous White Rabbit didn’t have any of these things—pants and underwear, shoes, etc. After buying all the things that she needed that she couldn’t borrow from the previous White Rabbit’s house, she ate dinner at a nearby restaurant.

The first day in Wonderland came and went.

***

The next day, after eating a breakfast of bread and canned coffee, Heart introduced SoYoon to a person who could get rid of the tracking spell cast on her. Following the map that Heart gave her, she had no problem finding her way. The closer she got to her destination, the more varieties of burning, unpleasant smells greeted her.

They finally arrived at the large grounds of a two-story residence where a crumbling wall that lost its purpose stood. SoYoon easily jumped over it and found the source of the potent smell. A hoard of men lay near the front door and windows, splayed every which way. Each one was burned—masses of skin melted over corpses.

SoYoon remembered Heart’s warning that she was not to trespass without the home owner’s permission. She walked to the front door, moving the corpses with the tip of her feet, and knocked as Heart had instructed. After a short while, she heard the upstairs window opening. SoYoon looked up at the window.

Soon, a man wearing a white bonnet stuck his head out the window. Drowsily, he yawned, leaned his arm against the window, then plopped his head atop it. Thinking that he might fall asleep at any moment, SoYoon called out his name.

“Mad Hatter.”

At SoYoon’s call, the Mad Hatter’s face, which had been buried in his arms, poked up. Then, as if he had a headache, he pressed his temples tenderly and moaned. He slowly looked down and saw SoYoon.

“I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?”

“The White Rabbit. Heart told me to come here.”

“The White Rabbit… Oh, that’s right. We’ve had a change. If you’ve come to introduce yourself, I’ve seen your face now. You can leave. If you have other business… I would still appreciate it if you could leave…”

Mad Hatter’s eyes, which had been barely open, was now closed shut. His long eyelashes cast shadows over his pale cheeks. SoYoon banged on the front door again and said, “I have business.”

“…Come inside.”

Having granted her access, Mad Hatter closed the window and popped back inside. At the same time, the front door opened.

SoYoon stepped inside. A luxurious setting fit for royalty greeted her.

“Welcome, guest. I do hope that next time, you will come in the afternoon.”

Even though he was wearing a wrinkled shirt and slacks and a stretched-out cardigan, this man gave off an aura of sophistication. Even the ridiculous lace bonnet—tied with a pink bow beneath his chin and propped atop his sleep-deprived-looking face—did not hinder his good looks. It reminded SoYoon that beauty truly could be wasted.

Mad Hatter escorted SoYoon to the living room sofa. Truthfully, there were so many things scattered around the room that the only place a person could sit was that sofa.

Walking toward the sofa, SoYoon said, “There appeared to be corpses outside. Do you not need to remove them?”

“Yes, it’s some kid’s attempt at boldness. It’ll get cleared out eventually. So let’s hear this business of yours.”

Instead of answering, SoYoon removed her sword and unbuttoned her shirt. It seemed to be easier to show him than explain it with words. The Mad Hatter watched her apathetically and smirked as he saw her bare body underneath her shirt.

“You’re a girl? You’re so thin. I thought you were a boy. It’s going to be hard to seduce me with that…”

“It’s not a seduction.” SoYoon imitated the Mad Hatter’s smirk and pointed at her left shoulder.

Above the part of her shoulder where the bone stuck out, there was a blue brand stamped on it. It was about four centimeters in size, with complicated symbols inside a circle. It was the sign of magic, as well as the identifying marker of a research experiment. This symbol constantly sent out a signal to ensure that experimental subjects could never run away without their location being compromised.

The Mad Hatter’s blue eyes flashed in concern upon seeing the symbol. “So your business is to get rid of this?”

“Is it possible?”

“To put it in layman’s terms, this symbol is attached deep in your shoulder. So, if you want to get rid of this, we have to remove a chunk of your shoulder. About… this deep?”

Mad Hatter held his hands apart about a finger’s length. Essentially, the whole arm would have to be sliced off.

Teasing SoYoon, he extended his fingers. “Or maybe this much?”

“Any other way?”

“Well… If the only thing we have to worry about is its signal relaying power… Hmm. But that can’t be its only purpose…”

Mad Hatter mumbled slowly in a small voice as he leaned close to observe the symbol. He was close enough for her to feel the warmth of his body. His gaze concentrated on SoYoon’s skin to an uncomfortable degree. SoYoon’s breathing stopped.

“If you’ve seen everything you need, can you move your face?”

“Why? Are you embarrassed?”

“It tickles.”

As Mad Hatter lifted his head, SoYoon scratched her arm. A girl with her chest bared, scratching her arm—SoYoon’s conscience returned. The man looking at her was flabbergasted.

“So, to be clear, is your motive to get rid of the symbol altogether or just to block the signal so that it can’t do its job?”

“The first. However, it really doesn’t matter if I have to settle for the second.” She hated seeing the blue brand because it made her feel like a pig in a butcher’s shop, but how she felt about it wasn’t a priority.

At her answer, Mad Hatter suggested a compromise. “Then I think it’s best to try to block the signal. It’s going to take a long time until the proper items will be available. Come see me once every other day. Even if you can’t come on a certain day, there’s no need to notify me.”

It’s you who’s in a hurry, not me, thought Mad Hatter.

After Mad Hatter finished, he stopped staring at her. He wanted to get under her skin, but SoYoon’s remembered something else.

“Cell phone.”

“You can use the previous White Rabbit’s cell phone. Like him, you don’t seem to have an ounce of magical powers. Or do you have reservations about using a personal item of the person you killed?”

“Not really. That’s not what I wanted to ask.”

SoYoon pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. On it was a sketch of a smartphone. It just looked like a rectangle in a thin box, so the Mad Hatter looked at it without much of a reaction.

“You are the person who knows the most about Wonderland, aren’t you?” said SoYoon.

“Yes I am. What is this?”

“Smartphone. It’s the upgraded version of the cell phone.”

Touchscreen, home button—after SoYoon explained the simplest components, Mad Hatter stole the paper out of her hands and stared at it with his nose almost touching the paper. After fully examining all the descriptions she had written in tiny letters, he popped back up with his eyes ablaze.

“Where in the world have you seen such a thing? The research facility? Who’s the maker? Let’s kidnap him this moment and bring him here! I need to split his head open and gain his knowledge…”

“…Pervert.”

“What? What did you say?! Wait! Where do you think you’re going?!”

“I’ll see you the day after tomorrow.”

SoYoon shut the front door in the Mad Hatter’s face as he tried to follow her. She had told him about the smartphone to get him to concentrate his energies on getting rid of the brand, but it only made things bothersome. Mad Hatter was a true technological nerd.