Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3.1

I learned quite a bit from the woman in the infirmary.

The name of this body was Ham Yeohee, age twenty-three. Sentenced to seven years, she’d been locked up for about two, and transferred here from another prison not long ago.

The more important question came after that.

“Doctor, do you happen to know anything about Geummi in Seoul?”
“Geummi? Who’s that? A friend?”

I was dumbstruck. She didn’t even watch TV, apparently. She didn’t know me.

Now that I had a rough picture of this body’s situation, I needed to find out where my real body was and what it was doing. I had to know whether that woman had taken my life and left me here, or whether I, the real me, was okay somewhere else after the accident. The thought gnawed at me.

My mind went back to that night in front of the apartment complex. The blow felt as vivid as if it were still happening, and I found myself rubbing the back of my head without thinking.

Who could it have been? Who could have hated me enough to do that? My manager? Or some deranged fan who’d been sending weird letters?

Being a top star meant you received love and hate in equal measure. I had enemies, sure. But I could not believe anyone would want to actually hurt me.

Nervous and anxious, I chewed at my nails. Before I knew it, we were standing in front of the familiar iron-barred door.

Clank. The lock clicked, the rusty door swung open, and the women in the cramped room turned to look at me. A hand shoved my back and I shuffled inside, half unwilling.

The gate slammed shut behind me without mercy. Inhaling, I tasted the stale odors and that distinct scent that only women in a cell seem to have.

Cheongjin Women’s Prison.

That was the name of the place holding me. I didn’t follow the news closely enough to know much about it. It was somewhere I never expected to set foot in my life.

I scanned the faces in the room.

On one side, sprawled like a queen against the wall, sat Wangnyeo, the room boss. I figured whoever was strongest, or had the worst crime or longest sentence, naturally became top dog. Wangnyeo fit that role perfectly.

She bared her teeth in a grin and made a move to pick a fight.

“What are you standing there for, baby? Come on in, I’ve been waiting.”

Yera, sitting beside Wangnyeo, opened her eyes wide and snapped at me with venom.

“What are you gawking at, you fing bh?”

Yera, the head cleaner, already disliked me, and today she looked especially hostile.

I kicked off my white rubber shoes and stepped onto the yellow linoleum. I went to the empty spot as if it were mine, sat down, and leaned back. Sitting near the night bucket, a light whiff of urine drifted up. I hugged my knees like armor.

Wangnyeo snickered.

“Don’t be scared, b***h. I honestly want to shove that spit you aimed at me back down your throat, but I’m busy today. Consider yourself lucky, okay baby.”

Wangnyeo made a mock thump at her waist. Yera quickly grabbed a pillow and fluffed it onto the floor. Wangnyeo settled down and spoke.

“Hey, Eyes. Tell me my fortune for tomorrow.”

At the sound of her nickname, a girl about my age called Eyes crawled over to Wangnyeo on her knees. She pulled a little cloth pouch from her waistband, then scattered its contents lightly across the floor. With a faint rustle, a few grains of barley rolled away.

“Let’s see now…”

Eyes closed her lids and swayed her body gently back and forth, muttering something under her breath. The sight looked so convincing that I found myself watching without meaning to.

“…Spirit of heaven and earth, merciful bodhisattvas… Our general speaks. Tomorrow your fortune is great, your destiny shines bright!”

“Crazy b***h.”

Wangnyeo and Yera snickered.

It did seem crazy to me too. What good was a great fortune in prison? They said she’d been caught running scams pretending to be a shaman before she landed here, but I had to admit, the act looked real enough.

Just as I was thinking that, Eyes suddenly snapped her head toward me. The angle was strange, as if someone had twisted her neck.

When her gaze met mine, my whole body stiffened. Her pupils, wide and dark, seemed to focus on me with one eye while the other drifted off to someplace unseen.

They said with those crossed eyes she could see ghosts.

And right now, her black pupils glistened like she really was seeing one.

“You.”