Chapter 8.2

Chapter 8.2

Hot breath brushed against my ear.

Even the raspy m0.1an, like one caught in phlegm.

“……”

As soon as I opened my eyes, my vision cleared. In this place, sleep in darkness didn’t exist. That kind of peace was reserved for those who hadn’t sinned.

Turning my head along the scenery illuminated by the light bulb, I saw Wangnyeo’s face right up close, her eyes hazily unfocused. At some point, she’d switched sleeping spots; Wangnyeo clung tightly behind me, hugging me, and spoke as if bestowing a favor.

“Gimme a pack of cigarettes.”

As she spoke, Wangnyeo gr0.p3d my chest as if she’d been waiting. A scream close to a shriek rose up my throat.

“Kyaaaak!”

I screamed, hoping the guard who patrolled every hour would be nearby, but Wangnyeo’s thick hand immediately blocked my mouth.

Mmph mmph! I barely parted my lips and fiercely bit down on whatever finger. Crunch, there was a sound of flesh tearing.

“Aaack!”

With a pained scream, Wangnyeo’s hand fell away. There was a fishy blood taste that lingered in my mouth. I thrashed like I was having a seizure.

“Shut up, will you?!”

Wangnyeo snarled low and slapped me hard across my face with her thick palm. The slap flew in heavily like being hit with a soaked rag, stinging and merciless. My head rang so much it stopped even the scream I was letting out, and my vision went dark.

“Just because I touched you once and you’re throwing a fit…!”

I hate it! It was disgusting. I hate it.

I wrenched my captured hand free with all my might. I grabbed a handful of the rough hair and yanked it as if I was tearing it out.

“…Kuaaaack!”

Only after Wangnyeo let out a shriek did my body get free. Dozens of strands of her curly hair were clutched in my hand.

“You f*cking b*tc1h!”

Wangnyeo lifted the pillow she’d been pressing on my face and swung it mercilessly wherever it landed. In the midst of it, the cigarette pack I’d hidden inside the pillow flew through the air and fell to the floor.

Seeing that, my heart sank. Wangnyeo, still huffing with rage, picked up the small box that fell at her feet.

“What’s this?”

“Give it back, it’s mine!”

“You penniless beggar with no commissary money, where’d you get this? Did you steal it? Did you snatch someone else’s?”

“It’s mine, give it back!”

By now, everyone seemed unable to pretend to sleep or ignore it anymore. They sat up one by one.

Whether someone woke up or not, that didn’t register in my mind right now. My eyes were fixed solely on the 88 cigarette pack in Wangnyeo’s hand.

“Give it back! Give it to me!”

“Tell me straight where it came from, you thieving b*tch!”

I didn’t know whose kindness it was, but it was a hard-won stroke of luck. Losing that wouldn’t just mean losing a mere pack of cigarettes; it was like losing the lifeline I’d gotten in this cramped, suffocating place. At least, that’s how it felt to me. I was that out of my mind.

“Hand it over!”

I lunged at her, screaming. Knowing it was hopeless against Wangnyeo, whose height and bulk were no less than a decent man’s, I still threw myself.

Wangnyeo lightly shoved me clinging to her arm, tossing me away with one hand.

Perhaps due to pent-up aggression, Wangnyeo stormed towards me with a flushed face, breathing heavily. My hair was grabbed in her monster-like hand.

“You thieving b*tch! Shameless c*n!t who steals other people’s stuff!”

Her thick palm smacked my cheek with a sharp slap. I instinctively clenched my teeth, but they all ached.

“You know I’m the b*t!ch who beat someone to death, right? You’re dead today.”

Wangnyeo shook my head violently, as if the hair she held in her hand were nothing but a duster. My scalp was pulled so hard it felt like it was going to tear, but more than that, my head was numb from the two blows, and I couldn’t come to my senses.

B*tch, wh0.re, b!t.ch who deserves to be killed, with each of Wangnyeo’s curses, a palm heavy as a fist came flying at me. Heat trickled from my nose.

“Stop it now…! At this rate, something really bad—”

Unable to watch, Eyes tried to speak up, but shrank back under Wangnyeo’s fierce glare. Wangnyeo, snorting hot breaths, probably checked my likely blood-smeared face and dropped my hair like she was throwing trash to the floor.

“You better know you’re damn lucky today, huh? I could’ve killed you piece by piece, but I let you live, me. For a filthy thieving b!t.ch like you.”

Through my swollen, narrowed vision, I saw the blue cigarette pack in Wangnyeo’s hand. I’m not a thieving b!t.ch. That’s not stolen. It’s mine to begin with. That’s mine.

“…My- …g”

Cough. A cough burst out. If I lose that, I don’t think I can go on living. Well, the body will live, but the me inside will have all hope and everything broken, and just die off.

I fumbled on the floor and struggled to my feet. Then I threw myself at Wangnyeo’s back and clung. Give it back, it’s mine so give it back!

When Wangnyeo faltered before my frenzied, obsessive momentum, I seized the moment. With vicious hands trying to pry me off, I bit down with all my strength on Wangnyeo’s ear.

“Aaaack!”

Letting out a scream of pain distinctly different from before, Wangnyeo wildly pounded my back and head with her rock-like fists.

Still, I didn’t let go of what was in my mouth. I’m not that old ‘Ham Yeohee’ anymore. I’m not the kind of woman who lets precious things she has get taken away. I’m Yongcheon-gu Ssangmi-dong’s scrapper Kim Geummi.

With all her strength, Wangnyeo pried me off and slammed me to the floor, clutching her ear and screaming. Seeing blood flow down her plump face, I spat out what was in my mouth with a sharp ptoo. A chunk of flesh that must be Wangnyeo’s dropped with a soft plop.

“Ugh, uwaaaaaack!”

Wangnyeo went berserk. I should’ve finished her off in one go, but like a provoked beast, Wangnyeo advanced toward me, seething with venom.

“Urk!”

The pain was so intense I couldn’t even cry out as she stomped on my back and kicked my stomach. As if giving no mercy, Wangnyeo, who completely lost her mind and her eyes wild, swung her fists recklessly.

Like a worm crawling on the floor, I could only writhe constantly, letting out groans. I couldn’t fight back at all.

Thud. A hard kick slammed into my solar plexus. My breath got caught. I couldn’t exhale properly.

Intuitively, the thought hit me: Ah… this is the end. It’s really over for me.

Amid Wangnyeo’s rampaging noise, Eyes’s voice pounding the barred door, the jangling sound of keys and the unpleasant creaking of metal. The last thing I saw was a pair of black boots, and all senses faded away.