Chapter 51.2

Chapter 51.2

A sigh or a hollow laugh seemed to escape his lips. “Officer Han Seoryeong”

“Yes.”

“Let’s just say 59.9343°N, 30.3351°E is something the instructor hasn’t heard about.”

“What?”

“Because the prisoner was so excellent, she didn’t spill everything until the end. ”

“Me?”

“And the bent pepper is… Ah, damn it…” Lee Wooshin muttered curses, wrinkling his forehead. Lee Wooshin pushed her leg, wrapped around his waist, uncomfortably, propping it up with a bucket under her foot.

Seoryeong finally relaxed, letting out a long sigh. Her legs trembled like newborn calves, as if they would give way by tomorrow morning.

With an uneasy demeanor, she asked the puzzled Lee Wooshin, who kept his lips tightly sealed and only showed his back.

“However, if it’s according to the instructor’s advice, wouldn’t this be a safer method?”

With a grim expression, Lee Wooshin shut his eyes tightly, as if performing a dreadful self-inflicted punishment.

It was strange. She had undoubtedly been in a dead-end situation, yet now it felt as if he were the one trapped in a desperate situation.

“Is there a problem with finding something similar to a husband here? This side seems much better than metal clamps or handcuffs. They say if you’re trapped in filthy muck, your entire body will rot.”

“….”

He stared at the ceiling, fingers tapping his temple.

“Ah! By the way, did you happen to know that Instructor Jin Hojae-”

Was it when he said that? Suddenly, there was a loud bang as the door slammed shut. The old light bulb vibrated and eventually crashed to the floor, plunging the room into darkness.

It was an unprecedented situation. The instructor was the first to declare surrender and leave.

***

During the 10-week training period, the program with the highest dropout rate.

A 48-hour intense prisoner interrogation training.

It was an unprecedented crisis.

The instructor had surrendered first and left.

*

What must have been a harrowing two days for everyone was finally over.

After being locked up in the basement of the training center, the state of the men who were released could not be described as good.

Exactly half of them rang their own bell and left. They had to endure extreme harassment from the instructors and eventually gave up the information.

Yet, amidst this, there were still quite a few familiar faces around. Especially surprising was the endurance of those who had been whimpering and wailing during the underwater training. Despite their faces swollen and beaten like crushed grapes, their confident smiles warranted some respect.

“Are you okay?”

The concern of her companions turned to Seoryeong, who was still standing on her feet surprisingly. It was hilarious to see them scanning her from toe to toe with their bulging eyelids, each one bursting at the seams. It would take a while for those things to return to a normal human face.

“Yours must have been horrible too.”

“How did you know?”

“You know, words spread fast here.”

“I was angry, but it wasn’t the worst thing ever.”

Suddenly, the face of someone, whose features kept shifting under the dim and dingy light, came to mind. Seoryong remembered Lee Wooshin’s strange impressions as if he had several hidden faces.

In the dark and dismal space, amidst the dense breaths, Seoryeong’s eyebrows twitched.

“I feel like I stepped into an unknown territory myself.”

“What?”

“I feel like I’ve broken some kind of taboo.”

Seeing Seoryeong speaking so freely, the expressions of the recruits became more serious.

“Hey…. You were submerged in water, trapped in a dark cell for two days, they say.”

“Huh?”

The recruits tapped Seoryeong’s shoulders. Ironically, those who were doing so had faces that looked like squashed dough.

It was publicly known that Han Seoryeong had been left unattended in water and darkness for 48 hours. It wasn’t entirely false.

After Lee Wooshin left, Seoryeong was alone until the end of the training. When she opened her eyes, her pants were somehow back on, and there was no pain anywhere.

Due to the broken bulb, absolutely nothing was visible, yet she could act naturally.

Being unable to see was part of her daily life, so she took the opportunity to catch up on much-needed sleep comfortably. She was hungry, and her bound arms were uncomfortable, but it was a rare luxury during training.

However, the other members, unaware of these details, thought she had been crouching in a deep, dark place like a cave. If anything, it wasn’t such a big issue; it was just that occasionally, she felt a dull ache in places she couldn’t mention.