Chapter 33.1

Chapter 33.1

With my eyes closed, all I could see was darkness. Nothing exists within it. Disliking that, I forced my eyes open with difficulty, and what I saw was darkness again.

I closed my eyes again, opened them again, closed them, again and again.

“…”

No matter how many times I blinked, whether my eyes were closed or open, reality didn’t change.

The cold pressing in from all sides made my body shiver uncontrollably. I curled up as tightly as I could.

19,831… 19,832… I mumbled as I counted the seconds, though I couldn’t recall when I stopped. It already felt like it was a long time ago.

Even though not a single ray of light entered, I could still tell the shape and size of this room. Because when I stretched out my hand and fumbled around, the walls on all sides were within arm’s length.

In the corner of the room, there was a tin basin that clangs when it hits the floor. Since no one would wash their face in such a pitch-black place, it must have been placed here to urinate and defecate.

For some reason the walls gave off damp cold air, and the air was thick with mold, humidity, and the stench of urine.

The solitary cell was so cold, narrow, and foul-smelling that it couldn’t even be compared to the shared cell.

I’m hungry…. How many days has it been since I last drank water….

My mouth and throat felt rough as if everything were stuck together. In a place surrounded entirely by pitch-black darkness without a single window, I couldn’t even tell whether it was night or day.

Yet the discomfort of my body was nothing compared to the reality right in front of me.

“I didn’t do that! Yera, 5983 attacked first and I just stayed still—”

No one listened to me.

Behind Chief Park’s stunned face, the guards who appeared pulled Yera off me and dragged her away by the soles of her feet.

I, who had also collapsed on the floor, soon had both arms grabbed and was hauled up. Even though I shouted protests at their unusual attitude, it seemed no one was listening to me.

While being dragged along, my shoes came off and my heels were scraped raw against the rough asphalt floor, but they shoved me into this place in the end.

There must be some misunderstanding; once the truth comes out, I thought I would be released—at that time I still naïvely thought so.

How many days has it been?

It can’t be that Christmas has already come, right? No, it can’t be. I have to read the testimony aloud in front of the warden; there is no way they would leave out such an important event. There is no one but me who can do it, so there is no way….

With impatience rising up, I barely manage to lift myself up. My head spun from days without proper food.

I reached out to the damp wall for support and moved toward the iron door. When I knocked with my clenched fist, a loud noise echoed. I squeezed out my voice with all my strength.

“…E-Excuse me…! On Christmas… There’s an important event! The, the warden is also coming… I, I have to go out…!”

After only a few words, I am out of breath. I wanted to shout, but with no strength in my stomach, my words kept breaking off.

Panting, I banged the iron door with all my strength, but no response came back. I almost wished someone would at least curse at me, telling me to be quiet.

Surely everyone didn’t just disappear, leaving me trapped here all alone?

When that thought came to me, fear swept over me.

“…P-please help me…! I didn’t do that… ha, I… It’s not that… H-help….”

As expected, only my own voice returned.

Strength drained from my body. I slumped down onto the floor as if I were collapsing.

Whether I closed my eyes or opened them, there was only darkness.

Frightened by that deep shadow where not a single glimmer of light or hope could be found, I closed my eyes. Just as I had done dozens of times before.

Clang, thud.

I open my eyes at the sound.

Through my blurred vision, a faint speck of light lingered for a moment before vanishing.

Like someone struck by lightning, I jolted upright from my spot. I crawled on my knees and clung to the door. Before the light disappeared completely, before the person standing in front of the door leaves, I wanted to hold on.

“…Ex-excuse me! Here, c-could you… please…!”

Even though I clung as I did before losing consciousness, there was no reaction from outside. Instead, something brushed my knees with a rustling sound. I frantically picked it up.

I tore open the rustling plastic and bit into it; hard rice grains crunched in my mouth. It smelled musty and tasted stale—I couldn’t tell how old it was.

“Ugh, ptooey!”

I spat it out without even chewing it properly.