Chapter 21.2

Chapter 21.2

“Yeah right, fifteen minutes in freezing water. Bastard can’t even bother to turn on the hot tap. We’ll freeze to death in there.”

A woman sitting next to me muttered. No wonder. The first turn in the bath was freezing, no steam at all, teeth-chattering cold. The trickle of water wasn’t exactly iced, but in this weather it might as well have been.

On top of that, my spot was by the entrance, so wind from the corridor came in through the open bath door to keep watch. Goosebumps rose on my arms and my n!p.p2es went hard and pink from the chill.

Maybe I’ll just splash my face. Since today’s the infirmary-cleaning day, if I told Deputy Ki I wanted to shower before that—

My thought trailed off mid-sentence as if someone had cut it. Habitually I shook my head and turned the faucet. Squatting, all n1k./2d and hunched, I watched weak water drip into the basin.

The stream was so weak that if left for half an hour or more it would probably freeze. I brushed a finger through it and yup, it was painfully cold.

My thinking about Deputy Ki cooled as much as that water. Sorting through the feelings I’d been chewing on from last night to this morning, the best word was pissed off. Yes, I was properly pissed at Deputy Ki.

I told him I liked him and he’d flushed all red like some rookie. I remembered how he came inside me by accident. Awkward and thrilled, his heart had been racing. Yet now he won’t grant my request? Me, Kim Geummi’s request?

No matter how brave I wanted to be, in this place where you can’t expect an ounce of decent treatment, I’d been holding back. I restrained my actions to survive.

Maybe the reason I could harbor such a reversed feeling toward Deputy Ki was that he was easy, that he seemed manageable.

But what if he still refuses? After all, Deputy Ki is clearly the boss and I’m not even an underling. The psychological position and the reality were so different that I couldn’t shake a sour mood. 

It pissed me off that he drew a line and said, “You’re a prisoner; I’ll do just enough.” It stung to have him call me human and yet treat me first as a criminal.

Finding that out made me furious in a way that surprised even me. If someone overheard it, it’d be laughable, but I was serious. It felt like someone had pressed a rage button I didn’t even know I had.

Enough. Screw it.

It might take some time, but writing a letter would be better. Starlight Management was a known agency; if a guard found the address and sent it, that might work. If that failed, I’d try Doctor Ahn.

If I could just get Hongbae oppa to come for a visit, then prove to him that I was really Geummi, he’d find a way. Whether that meant bringing in a shaman or scribbling a talisman, something—anything—would let me go back.

Once I organized my thoughts, my head felt clearer. I’d always had a strong sense of pride.

‘Do you have no pride at all? Doesn’t it disgust you?’

The sharp voice cut through my ear like glass, shrill and piercing. The noise scratched through my temples, like the screech of nails on a chalkboard.

Dizzy, I grabbed my head and fumbled for the faucet. My skull buzzed with the sound of a thousand bees building a hive inside it.

Then, a low curse came from nearby.

“That crazy bitch’s at it again.”

“Tch, huh.”

Even through the dizziness, I could sense the murmurs around me. From my crouched view, I saw my bare feet and a pair of black leather shoes against the cold concrete floor. I slowly raised my head. A stocky man stood there. Short legs, a thick gut, and a rat-like face.

“Inmate 7059, what’re you hiding in there?”

“…What?”

My brow creased and my tone came out rough.

What the hell was he talking about? What could I possibly be hiding, and where? The only person in this shower room wearing clothes was Section Chief Park himself.

I was squatting, my knees pulled together, a single thin, frayed towel draped over my shoulders. If I so much as moved or stood up, I’d be completely exposed.

His greasy gaze slid toward my chest, where I was trying to cover myself as best I could.

“I said, what’re you hiding under your chest?”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“That’s not what I saw.”

What the hell was wrong with this bastard. Everyone knew he liked to drop by the showers under the excuse of “inspection.”

And once again, Park cleared his throat, pretending to be there for official business, hands folded neatly behind his back.

“Inmate 7059, random body inspection. Stand up straight.”

“…”

“Didn’t you hear me? Get up. Now.”