Nobuyoshi Araki: It Was Once A Paradise

I've been married to Sylvia Fuller, a mafia donna, for ten years. I'm there with her in every life-and-death situation. My hands, which are meant for playing the piano, have developed calluses from using guns. They are also stained with blood from the enemies. But when Sylvia turns 28, she falls head over heels in love with Wilson Hink, the young man she's brought back from the slums. Sylvia has hidden him very well… right until the moment I bump into him accompanying her to a prenatal check-up. Mad with jealousy, I demand Sylvia for answers, but she just passes me a divorce agreement in a lackadaisical manner. "Wilson is a man of religion. He can't sire a child without getting married, so I have to give him a legitimate status. Sign this agreement, and I'll give you 40% of my shares." I refuse to give my position away, so Sylvia keeps forcing my hand. In the end, she even kidnaps my younger brother, who's paralyzed from waist down, and drags him to the spot beneath a hydraulic press. "Sebastian Chance, either you sign the agreement, or watch him get crushed. Your choice." I kneel on the ground and beg Sylvia to stop. But soon, I hear the hydraulic press being activated. It doesn't take long before I'm completely covered in my brother's flesh and blood. I end up collapsing onto the gore-splattered ground. When I open my eyes again, I realize I've gone back in time—back to the time when Wilson has accompanied Sylvia to the prenatal check-up. This time, I don't say anything. Instead, I contact a rehabilitation center located overseas before filing for a divorce and leaving Sylvia behind. But once I'm gone for real, Sylvia actually goes crazy.

Existing on an era where women has less priviledge than men, Utopia strived to show the people of her world the importance of their existence. Yet before she can even shine and outlive such ridiculous belief that her world has, her fate was sealed by a decree. Fighting love and the enivitable, Utopia finds herself tangled in the mysterious secret of her existence and riot the dark side of her world has.

After I get abducted to Paradise Island, I've attempted escape twice so far in order to avoid becoming the rich's plaything. The first time I get caught, on that very same night, I receive a video of my fiancee, Lucille Hoffman, getting torn into pieces by a school of piranhas. The second time I get caught, my older sister, Edith Cox, whom I've relied on since I was young, gets mutilated by the kidnappers on a cruise ship. Driven by despair, I agree to bind myself to a system. "As long as you earn enough points, you can revive your lover and your sister." From that day onward, I shed my pride and ego. I allow the electrified collar to dig deep into my neck. I keep getting tormented time and again until I lose consciousness. After undergoing yet another organ transplant that's forced onto me, I stare at the points, which are enough for me to revive Lucille and Edith. That's when a trace of hope emerges from my heart. Just as I'm about to hit the "confirm" button with a trembling finger, I hear a burst of laughter coming from a corner. "That idiot actually thinks he's bound to a system! He's still working hard to gather points just to revive his sister and his fiancee! Little does he know that Paradise Island, their deaths, as well as the system, are all big fat lies!" "I know, right? The rich really have a way of grooming people, huh? Apparently, Ms. Cox and Ms. Hoffman faked their deaths and created a fake system for this guy just because he had slapped Mr. Trenton back then and refused to apologize to him or admit his mistake. That's why they put on this act in order to teach him a lesson and make him yield to them." "Shh! Drop this topic for now! Ms. Cox and Ms. Hoffman are here to check on the training progress…" I feel as though I've plunged into an icy abyss. My ears begin ringing from shock and disbelief. That's when the poison I've taken in advance starts kicking in. Before I know it, blood begins streaming down the corner of my mouth uncontrollably. Just as my vision is going dark, someone kicks the door open.

“The beautiful world embraces you” is a story that is not too dramatic and full of drama. It is simply a love story between two very honest characters. Chan Phong -is a boy who cares deeply about his childhood friend, but an incident occurs that makes him entangled in plots and hatred. An Thu - a girl with a pitiful situation, always living in sadness, she only has a friend, Chan Phong, who has been with her to overcome all childhood sorrows, suddenly when the family separates, it's time. Her best friend left her. With the same pain and hatred, they finally met again at the age of 18, in a new environment but did not recognize each other, hurting each other. Through many trials, will they find each other again? Their love may not be the prettiest, but it is certainly the truest. Trials do not make our love worse but make us stronger and better.

The world was glorious, shining like gold in the middle of the universe as people raised their toasts, celebrating the victory they had. However, the victory they achieved turned out to be a nightmare. The victors swung their blades as the blood of their own kin spread on the floor. The victors did everything, no matter how cruel it is, just to achieve victory. In the end, the world was like a paradise—a deceptive paradise everyone thought was glorious . . . but it isn't. It was fiendish. Maximaze was a child from the lowest level of civilization, a slave of the superiors. Maze just wanted a peaceful life with her mother, Sybil, while desiring to find her father who was separated from them since the day she was born. Until one day, an old friend of her parents entered her life and gave her an opportunity to study. However, there was a condition. Maze needed to be one of the candidates to become a Death Judge and travel the world. Her desire for peace made her continue the ruthless road of becoming the Death Judge. Her quiet yet terrific life with her mother before became more chaotic—worse than slavery. As she wandered the world, she found out the truth. Maze's dreams shattered into pieces—nightmares kept visiting her, day and night. Since that day, she received a horrific reminder.

In a drought-ravaged apocalypse, I kept our entire apartment block alive with my “watermaker” ability. But when I grew weak, my neighbors shattered my limbs and turned me into a living water source. Later, when raiders stormed in, they dragged me out to take the blade for them, only to realize that even my severed arms could still produce water. So, they shouted about “saving humanity,” then shoved me into the crowd and fled in the chaos. People rushed forward one after another, tearing at my flesh. But I didn’t die. What was left of me fell into the hands of a monster, and I was subjected to inhuman torment day after day. Ten years later, when the apocalypse finally ended, that monster tossed me into an incinerator. Only then did I die. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the moment I first awakened my ability, just as my neighbor knocked on the door, begging for water.