"Vincent Table" by Seol Jae-in (Vookda)

"Vincent Table"

By Seol Jae-in

Vookda

Vincent Table, a unique one-person Italian restaurant, has strict rules: no electronic devices and only two diners per table.

What’s more, diners must sit side by side, rather than facing each other. This concept has made it a popular spot for those seeking a special escape from the prying eyes of others.

One Saturday for lunch, eight individuals -- four pairs -- visit the restaurant. They are two graduate school classmates dreaming of becoming novelists, a mother and daughter who have only ever relied on each other, childhood best friends reuniting after 20 years and close co-workers of the same age.

The owner, Vincent, has devised an “experiment” that might answer his long-standing curiosity about human nature: Do people really live lives of deceiving one another and layering on pretenses?

With the sound of a single gunshot, Vincent begins the experiment. Only one person at each table can survive. The two must together decide who lives and who dies within 10 minutes.

The seemingly warm, harmonious atmosphere shatters and the diners’ hidden truths and complex emotions erupt. Is it because they want to live? Or because they don’t want the other person to survive?