Chapter 29.1

Chapter 29.1

I followed Deputy Ki down a corridor I’d never seen before.

A visitor? Who could it be? My first thought was that it must be Ham Yeohee’s family.

My gaze settled on the man walking ahead of me. He was still the same.

Beneath his crisply tailored uniform, his broad, well-defined shoulders, long arms, a waist that tapered towards his belted hips, firm, shapely buttocks, and long legs made it impossible not to stare, regardless of the situation or time.

It might be too late to say it now, but I liked Deputy Ki’s face and body. I didn’t dislike skinship with him; his touch, his licks, his penetration… I’d probably think of him often even after I got out.

But what could I do? Things were already thoroughly messed up. I had no desire or leisure to untangle them. My priority, my entire focus, was getting out, checking on Geummi’s condition, and returning to my original body. I firmly resolved myself.

The visitor’s room, which I was seeing for the first time, was a small space, barely a pyeong, divided by iron bars. There were chairs facing each other, and behind the inmate’s side of the room, a desk where a corrections officer recorded conversations. As I stepped inside, surveying the cramped interior, a figure on the other side of the partition rose to their feet.

“Yeohee!”

It was a young man.

He looked to be in his late twenties. Our eye levels weren’t far off, so he wasn’t particularly tall, and his face, healthily tanned by the sun, was just ordinary. He was not handsome by any stretch of the imagination. There was nothing remarkable about him, no striking features to point out; truly an average face.

His eyes, which had found me, welled up with moisture, quickly becoming teary. Judging by his reaction, he and Ham Yeohee must have been quite close.

“…Oh… Myeongja-ssi?”

It was a completely unsuitable name, but since he’d likely come after receiving that letter, I tried a name I knew. The man thumped his chest with thick, kettle-lid hands and nodded.

“Yes, it’s me. Park Jaeman.”

Park Jaeman looked utterly heartbroken and sorry at my response. He seemed like someone with a lot of facial expressions as he abruptly announced his identity.
“I’m Park Jaeman. Your boyfriend, Yeohee!”

“…”

“Why that expression? Is there something you’re still upset with me?!”

Park Jaeman’s voice was like a train horn. It grated on my ears. I pretended to adjust my seat, scratching my ear once.

“It’s not that… actually, I… hit my head a little here… so my memory comes and goes…”

I vaguely used that as an excuse for now. Park Jaeman seemed to find it understandable enough, as he quickly accepted it.

“Well, of course, how could anyone be completely sane in a place like this? Do you know how shocked I was when I got your letter?”

Something felt off. According to Park Jaeman, he was my boyfriend, and Ham Yeohee had been incarcerated for over two years, yet her fiancé was only just now finding out? It seemed suspicious. No, it didn’t make sense! Where had he been all this time, only to discover his girlfriend was in prison now?

As if sensing my doubt, Park Jaeman shrewdly provided an answer.

“You might not remember, but we dated secretly, away from your parents’ eyes.”

He spoke, then briefly cast his gaze downwards towards my chest, which wasn’t properly visible due to the partition.

“After our big fight, you just vanished, didn’t even show your face. And I couldn’t very well go ask your parents. Do you know how much I searched for you?… I thought you’d gone to Seoul with your family.”

Park Jaeman’s voice wavered at the end. The man’s eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed quite devoted to Ham Yeohee. As for me, I didn’t remember any of it, and it wasn’t my business anyway, so I had little to say and just watched him cautiously.

“Still, you managed to figure it out, somehow. Oh Myeongja, that’s my mother’s name, isn’t it? That’s how we used to exchange secret letters, you and I.”

Ah… So Ham Yeohee had been exchanging sweet, innocent letters, pretending it’s a woman named Oh Myeongja, all behind her parents’ backs. They were more naive than I thought.

“How are you, how’s your body? Is anything seriously wrong? And how is it living here?”

“…Prison is… well, it’s prison…”

“Just look at how pale your face is… I put a little money in your commissary account. Buy something to eat, okay?”

Park Jaeman seemed more genuine about Ham Yeohee than I’d expected. I nodded and then subtly asked what I was curious about.

“But why hasn’t any of our family come to visit?”

A deep sigh suddenly escaped the man, startling me slightly. He fumed, as if suppressing a burst of anger, then opened his mouth.