Chapter 32.1

Chapter 32.1

“…By becoming a sheep that follows the Good Shepherd, I governed my heart with service and repentance.”

As I read down one sentence, a gurgling rumble sounded from my stomach.

“As a young lamb, I wish to live without shame. Please forgive my sins and let me see the right path….”

Barely managing to read down to the last sentence, the pastor who had been listening quietly with his arms crossed nodded his head.

“Not bad. But your voice has no strength at all. It would be much better if you put a little more emotion into it.”

The reason my voice had no strength was because I hadn’t had a proper meal for two full days. I didn’t even have the strength to say this or that, so I only moved my chin and faintly nodded.

On the morning one day before the Christmas service, I had received permission to skip the morning labor and was in the chapel.

Perhaps because the prison warden had come, the guards were quite lenient about me going to the chapel to prepare. Thanks to that, I at least gained some breathing room, but there was nothing I could do about my hunger.

Two days earlier, Yera, who had charged at me as if she would beat me to death, seemed startled by Deputy Ki’s fierce attitude and didn’t do anything to me right away. Rather, she stayed quiet. She didn’t glare at me, didn’t grab my hair, and didn’t suddenly lunge at me while I was sleeping.

Eyes said it was because she got her cheek slapped hard by the man she had a one-sided crush on, so she was embarrassed, and that it was fortunate, but somehow the uneasy feeling wouldn’t go away.

The reason I couldn’t eat wasn’t because of Yera, but purely because of Wangnyeo.

With Christmas right in front of us, all sorts of special dishes that were so different from before started coming out, and perhaps her already overflowing gluttony was stimulated, Wangnyeo even put her hand on my food tray. If I looked at her in disbelief and exasperation,

“Tell Deputy Ki and ask for it. Go and act cute while you do.”

She would say cr@.p like that and laugh.

Wangnyeo seemed to know the situation where I couldn’t report to Deputy Ki even if my meal was taken away. Because I had a parole review ahead of me. I couldn’t afford to cause any kind of trouble.

That thought wasn’t wrong, so I endured the two days by eating only the leftover rice that Eyes and Sole each gave me one spoonful of.

“It seems everything is ready. I can feel well how great the Lord’s grace and love were toward our sister. I will meet the warden separately and submit a statement as well. Inmate 7059, you’ve worked hard until now.”

At those words, tears suddenly welled up. So God hadn’t ignored my dog-like suffering.

Once parole was granted, I planned to ask Chief Park to let me move to another room. If I handed over all the commissary money that Park Jaeman had put in for me, it wouldn’t be too difficult.

This place had rules and at the same time had no rules. Depending on who was in charge, strict rules might apply, but sometimes things moved as if there were no rules at all.

Now that I had some money, it was worth a shot. Once parole was decided, even Chief Park wouldn’t be able to hit on me. After all, I was someone about to return to society.

They said they’d give me just a little travel money when I left prison, so I would take that and head straight to board the bus to Seoul. I would go to Euljiro where Starline Entertainment is, meet the president, and then go to the hospital where my real body was admitted to confirm.

Just imagining that scene made emotions well up inside me. I had suffered absurd things twice, but anyway, both my body and my mind were still alive. Wasn’t that enough?

So until then, let’s live as if dead.

I strengthened my resolve once again.

Fortunately, the pastor gave me one Choco Pie, and wolfed it down before heading to the afternoon workshop.

In the morning I packaged chopsticks, and in the afternoon I did sewing. Strangely enough, I knew how to use the sewing machine. Even when I had to sew by hand, my body picked up the needle and stitched the fabric as if it were familiar.

I thought this was the skill that Ham Yeohee’s body remembered.

Tsk. She had a pretty face and talent too, yet why didn’t she live her life properly? How did such a young girl end up in a place like this? Tsk tsk. I would often find myself clicking my tongue for no reason.

I picked up one piece of fabric from the high stack and placed it under the sewing needle. I could feel the sidelong glances on me, but I pretended not to notice.

That’s her, the b*tch who seduced Deputy Ki.

Her face is quite decent.

Look at those big t!.ts. No wonder even that block of wood fell for it.

Though she looks dull, that fox-like one must have batted her eyelashes around.

I’d already picked up enough of that kind of talk over the past two days, whispered as if meant for me to hear.

As if to erase that sound, I stepped on the pedal and pushed the fabric forward. With a loud drrrrrrrrrr noise, a line of thread was engraved on the fabric.

Like any prison, the workshop always had a supervising correctional officer stationed there. Especially in the workshop, because there were many dangerous items, even the guards who slacked off elsewhere would not loosen their surveillance here, kept walking around and never let their guard down.

So the workshop was the most dangerous place and, at the same time, the safest place.