Electric Love {Minsung}

Chapter 70: Illusions

Lido Deck of the ES Faraday Kaohsiung Port, Taiwan

"You're killing me," Minchul said.

"No, I'm not," Taeyong said, looking over the chessboard between them. He had already captured more than half of Minchul's pieces. "I'm just slowly torturing you."

For the last half hour, they had been playing chess in the game room of the Faraday's Lido Deck. The remaining three of Park's Glows were also in the room. Yuna was reading a Hollywood gossip magazine, Wonyoung was practicing throwing some Chinese stars she had just purchased at a night market in Kaohsiung, and Mark, as usual, was playing a video game.

They had been back on the ship for only a few hours after spending the day cruising the malls in Kaohsiung. Admiral-General Park had informed them that later that night they were setting sail to Tuvalu and it would be a while before they saw civilization or any of its comforts. They did their best to stock up.

Minchul groaned as Taeyong took his second rook. "This is hopeless. I always lose."

"Life is a game of chess," Taeyong said. "The pieces are always in motion. If you don't plan three to five moves ahead, you lose to the one who does."

"That's profound," Wonyoung said.

"Dr. Park taught me that. Did you know that there are more than a trillion possible play options in the first ten moves of chess?"

"No wonder I suck," Minchul said. "I can barely handle one move at a time."

"You should make yourself look like Bobby Fischer," Taeyong said. "At least you'll look like you know what you're doing."

"Who's Bobby Fischer?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"I don't get why we had to be on the boat so early," Mark said. "We don't leave until ten."

"It's wartime procedures. They can't be holding up an invasion because Yuna couldn't decide what color nail polish she wants on her toes."

"Thanks for making me the failure in your story," Yuna said.

"If the shoe fits," Mark said.

"My shoe will fit up your ass," Yuna said. She set down her magazine. "I wish we didn't have to travel in this piece of crap. I miss the Ampere. If Han were here, I'd slap him. Twice."

"If Han were here, I'd kill him," Wonyoung said with a sweetly innocent smile on her face.

"Good luck with that," Mark said.

"Dr. Park told me that our new yacht is almost complete," Taeyong said. "Then we'll finally be able to move out of this pigsty."

"They can build boats that fast?" Wonyoung asked.

"No, fortunately, Yang had ordered it three years ago. Probably the only smart thing he's ever done."

"What's it going to be called?" Yuna asked.

"The Westinghouse," Taeyong said.

Minchul said, "I heard it's even nicer than the Ampere."

"Nicer. Faster. Stronger," Taeyong said. "It has two heliports, double the surface-to-air missiles and a surround sound theater. It even has a climbing wall and skateboard park."

"And it's not sitting at the bottom of the ocean," Mark said without looking up from his video game. "That's a plus."

"I wish you were sitting at the bottom of the ocean," Yuna said.