Chapter 10.1

Chapter 10.1

As always, Deputy Ki was wearing his cap pulled low and his uniform shirt neatly buttoned, but there was something oddly chilly about him.

Thinking it was because of the unfamiliar space and the awkward situation, I hurriedly opened my dry lips.

“Ah…. Um, earlier during the day while working, I forgot something…”

” 7059’s workshop is sewing, isn’t it.”

Deputy Ki’s gaze lingered around the towel basket where I’d just shoved the cigarettes. I hurriedly drew his attention.

“Ah, now that I think about it, I think I mistakenly put the sewing I was working on in the storage room!”

It was a ridiculous excuse, but I thought Deputy Ki would let it slide if I just roughly covered it up like that. Actually, the laundry storage room wasn’t a place with anything particularly important, so it should be fine.

However, Deputy Ki said nothing and lightly rummaged through the basket. The bundle tightly wrapped in white underwear came into view at once.

“…Deputy Ki-nim, that is actually-”

“Items not permitted by the correctional officer are prohibited from being brought in.”

I know. But actually, wasn’t this the kind of thing that the guards knew about but pretended not to? Like Wangnyeo, and the other cell leaders too—I knew they offered this and that they bought with commissary money just to curry favors with the guards.

How could someone like Choksae, who brings in outside items, even exist? It was because there were guards who knew but appropriately took the bribes and turned a blind eye, like Chief Park, for example.

But Deputy Ki didn’t seem to be that type of person. He picked up the bundle with the cigarettes in his hand.

“Confiscated.”

“What? No, you can’t!”

How did I even get this!

It’d be better if you just told me to die. Doctor Ahn said she’d give me cigarettes once a month, but I already had other plans for that. Besides, if I had to gather cigarettes from scratch again to ask Choksae for the job, I didn’t know how many months it would take. I was running out of time.

Even if I looked at that damn magazine and found out news about me, maybe nothing would change. Still, I had to know. It felt like that would open a breathing hole right away. In this reality that was pitch black without a single speck of light, it felt like it would help me endure.

I suddenly grabbed Deputy Ki’s wrist as he took the cigarettes. His tall gaze dropped down from above like it was piercing my forehead. I couldn’t dare look up at it directly and stammered my plea instead.

“E-excuse me, please…. This is, could you just overlook it this once?”

“……”

“It’s so, so important to me, please….”

I quickly took out one pack of cigarettes from the underwear bundle and held it out.

“I’ll give you this, so just this once….”

It’d be better to close my eyes tight and give up one pack rather than lose all five.

“Soliciting a bribe from a correctional officer leads to disciplinary confinement.”

“……”

As if there was no need to say more, he turned to leave with the white cloth bundle.

The hardships so far flashed through my mind like film reeling. No, I hate it. I can’t go on like this anymore.

With the feeling that this was the last chance, I desperately grabbed him.

“Um, then something else, even something else….”

He paused. The large frame that was about to leave stiffened and turned back to me. I’d blurted it out, but I couldn’t think of anything else to offer him.

What is there?

Something I can give, something Deputy Ki might covet.

“That woman, how did she end up as Cell 3 leader? It’s because of Chief Park, you know.”

Was it divine intervention or a prank that those whispered words from the exercise yard sometime ago came to mind?

The thought connected to the day I hugged Deputy Ki tightly while sobbing in the hallway. He didn’t hug me back, but he didn’t push me away either.

Maybe, yeah maybe, just maybe.

“How about I… do something else for you?”

My voice trembled a bit at the end, but it wasn’t out of shame.

I was willing to use this one body as much as needed if it could serve as a breakthrough. It was because types like Wangnyeo or Chief Park didn’t suit my taste, but Deputy Ki… yeah, Deputy Ki was fine. I hadn’t seen his face without the hat, but his build was sleek and nice, and above all, he smelled good.

Use this body like that? It’s not even mine. In a situation where overnight, against my will, I’m in someone else’s body, and locked in prison at that. How could anyone speak so carelessly in a situation like this?