Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2.1

We walked down the long gray corridor, passing several doors that could only be opened with a key. Deputy Ki didn’t say a single word the entire way.

I glanced back at the man walking just a step behind me. His presence alone was heavy, oppressive. Just having him beside me made it hard to breathe. Maybe he was born to be a guard, I thought, quickening my pace into a hurried trot.

After about five minutes, we finally stopped in front of a door marked Infirmary. Deputy Ki knocked twice, then pushed it open.

“Deputy Ki!”

A woman in a white coat lit up the moment she saw us—no, saw him. A flush of color bloomed on her cheeks, out of place in a place this barren.

“Did you enjoy your vacation, Deputy?”

“Yes. This is inmate 7059. She’s got abrasions on her solar plexus and abdomen. Please take a look.”

Unlike the woman’s warm greeting, Deputy Ki spoke only what was necessary.

Her eyes turned toward me. Round glasses, round eyes, a round face—she was soft and round all over, without a single sharp edge. I quickly furrowed my brow, putting on a show of pain.

“I don’t think it’s just abrasions. My bones hurt… at night I groan so much I can’t even sleep…”

I whined as much as I could. The woman’s expression grew serious, and she gestured toward the cot against the wall.

“It might be a rib injury. Why don’t you lie down over there?”

Like an obedient student, I clutched my side and climbed onto the cot.

I lay down straight and stared up at the white ceiling, its paint flaking in patches. Maybe the room was only a few pyeong. A single medicine cabinet with a lock, one metal desk, one cot. Calling this place an infirmary felt almost embarrassing.

Apart from the kerosene stove, it might as well have been another cell. Oh, and there was a faint scent of cosmetics in the air, which was the only thing that marked it different.

The woman who came closer carefully undid the buttons on my prison shirt. Then, as if something had occurred to her, she looked over at Deputy Ki standing by the door.

“Um, Deputy Ki. I need to have her strip and do a brief medical interview…”

Like that would fly.

The guards here, men and women alike, didn’t treat prisoners like people. It was no rare thing to feel someone watching through the bars in the door while you changed, or while you used the night bucket.

“I’ll wait in the corridor.”

Deputy Ki opened the door and stepped out without protest. The woman smiled as if she expected that, almost touched by it. She did not take her eyes off him until the door shut and his back disappeared.

“……”

“Oh my…”

Only then did she seem to remember me. She hurried to compose her face and unbuttoned the rest of my shirt. Her expression grew serious as she took in the yellow and bluish bruises scattered across my torso.

“I’m going to press on these. Tell me if anything hurts badly.”

For a while she pressed here and there along my ribs. I exaggerated my groans and showed pain on purpose. If a bone was broken they’d send me to hospital, and while I was there I might be able to learn something about the outside world. If I was lucky, I could be admitted for a few weeks of tests and hang on.

“Hmm… judging from the pain around the ribs, a fracture is possible.”

Success. They might at least take an X-ray.

“I’ll give you some painkillers. One when it hurts, up to three a day.”

“Painkillers? If something’s wrong with my bones, shouldn’t I go to a hospital? Shouldn’t they check it properly?”

“Hospital? Are you having trouble breathing now? It’s not so painful you can’t speak, right? It’s not like your lung is punctured or you’re in that kind of agony, so painkillers should be enough.”

“……”

In other words, unless my lung was pierced and I couldn’t make a sound, I would never get sent to a hospital. Take the pills and bear it.

A cold dread tightened in my chest. If I stayed in this body and got that sick that I was near death, what then? If she actually died, what would become of me?

Half of it was probably an act, so I didn’t think much of it, but a cold clarity hit me all at once. I was in a prison body. Even if I was hurt, there was no way to expect proper treatment or care.

When I said nothing, the woman let out a low sigh as if she’d been thinking something over.