[ Chapter 6 ]
My hands were shaking. Since I possessed Lemony, I had encountered many things that were strange to me, but hearing the sound of a gunshot was something I had never experienced before. I was dragged along the floor, unable to even think about running away. Maybe because I was suffering from sensory processing disorder, I felt no pain in my head or body, but one thing was for sure.
“I wish you were dead.”
I’m not dead. As the contemptuous tone spread, my half-giving-up eyelids slowly rose. The fired bullet was stuck in the wall. If Deon hadn’t tackled me, the bullet would have hit me squarely in the head.
“I didn’t mean to tell someone else to die carelessly anyway.”
The person who covered me indifferently was staring at the hallway without giving me a single glance. He was probably looking at the person who fired the gun.
“Senior! Senior!”
At that moment,
“Did the first-class prisoner die? Did I shoot well?”
From where Deon’s gaze was directed, someone ran toward us with that strange, aggressive voice. It was the officer who had run away earlier.
“Senior, what’s going on?”
The man who ran up, breathing heavily, stopped and looked at Deon and me, his expression confused that Deon was not dead.
“Why is the first-class prisoner perfectly fine like this?”
“….Because the bullet came toward me.”
When I lifted my head, which was under Deon, his immature face was filled with amazement. He seemed to realize that he had messed up only after seeing me lying under the big man.
It was like the expression of a student being called by a scary teacher.
“I’m sorry! Th—th—that…I definitely shot at the first-class prisoner…h—h—ha! What is this!”
The man, flustered and trying to make excuses, was startled again at the sight of the shackles connecting Deon and me. The quiet atmosphere became noisy. By the way, I thought he had abandoned me and run away, but it seemed like he really came back to save me.
“Please calm down. Let me explain what happened…”
“Have you already used the shackles on the first-class prisoner?”
I blinked my eyes, wondering what he was saying, but the man who had been sparkling his eyes was now opening his mouth wide.
“Moreover, you even put shackles on the first-class prisoner’s hands to prevent him from escaping… “
“What?”
“As expected of you, Senior! You have an incredible spirit of sacrifice!”
….it’s not like that. As I opened my eyes in disbelief, a resounding round of applause erupted in the quiet hallway.
“I respect you!”
It seemed like there wasn’t a single normal person in this place.
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“I’ll report the situation!”
Crackle. The torch that had been making a pleasant sound started to shrink. Normally, someone would have refueled the torch to keep it going. But the ownerless Dreys Prison was getting darker and darker.
In the middle of the torch’s dim light, a man who was completely out of place in the dreary hallway blinked his innocent eyes.
“That, I mean, the current situation… The first-class prisoner threatened Senior. So Senior tried to stop the first-class prisoner with the shackles.”
“That’s right.”
“So, So the first-class prisoner filled the remaining shackle pair that he had with him onto the Senior to prevent the excessive suppression by the prison officer. At that time, I almost shot Senior Lemony’s head due to my inexperience, and the first-class prisoner saved Senior.”
The man who let out a cry lowered his head deeply.
“Conclusion! I have committed a crime worthy of death!”
I nodded my head in agreement with the objective self-reflection, feeling uneasy. Deon looked at me incredulously and then turned away as if he didn’t want to hear it.
The only fortunate thing was that that one man had shattered the subtle tension that had been building between Deon and me. From my perspective, it wasn’t a bad situation, but I couldn’t believe someone with such a unique personality was a prison officer.
If someone like that could exist, they could possibly appear in the story at some point. Hmm. I pondered this for a moment, but it wasn’t important. There would be all kinds of people among the invisible extras. Lemony was one of them too.
For now, I had to figure out how to deal with those sparkling eyes that were looking for praise.
“….you’ve apologized, so it’s fine.”
The man who stiffened his neck at my words nodded his head. Even the way he saluted seemed awkward, but since he seemed to know how to shoot a gun, it would be helpful.
As long as he doesn’t shoot me.
Since he seemed to be a prison officer based on his appearance, I decided to ask for his name first.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“You forgot my name too… Senior, did you drink again? My name is Day.”
“Sorry for interrogating you, but what rank of prison officer are you and how did you end up here?”
I grabbed onto my wrist, indicating that the man was not a first-class prison officer. He had an immature attitude and lacked professionalism.
“It’s sixth class.”
It was the lowest class.
“Wasn’t the sixth class on the bottom floor?”
“…well, the angry sixth-class prisoner kidnapped me and went upstairs. Fifth-class prisoner kidnapped me again, and fourth-class prisoner kidnapped me again…”
“….therefore…..”
I was so shocked that I couldn’t say anything. He was tall and had a fairly big build, but he acted like a helpless puppy. Now that I think about it, in the story’s setting, Lemony was 21 years old, but he looked even younger than me. Maybe he was around 20 years old.
“Somehow I ended up on the 6th floor.”
Still, he finished his answer and gulped down his dry saliva.
His appearance was like that of a young child trying not to cry, and my face, which had been frozen, softened on its own. He seemed to be aware of this himself, and his embarrassed expression made his gaze drop down.
It seemed like he was staring at my hand. At first, I thought he was admiring the shackles, but he was actually observing my other hand.
It was the hand that I injured when I fell earlier. It was bleeding, and he seemed worried about it.
Maybe he’s not a bad person.
Of course, I won’t forget the incident where I almost got shot in the head, but I shouldn’t forget that he also brought a gun to protect me.
“I’m glad you survived.”
“What do you mean?”
“You went through a lot of hardships. I’m saying it’s fortunate that you survived.”
Realizing that I had cut off the context before and after, I belatedly explained and gave a friendly smile. Hmm. And since he was Lemony’s colleague, I thought I could be a little more friendly.
“Also, I feel relieved because I have a colleague like Day.”
As I hesitantly approached and patted his shoulder, the pupil of his golden eyes, which had been fixed on my hand, seemed to contract for a moment.
It was like the eyes of a beast that had regained its appetite after seeing its prey.
“….So you know how to comfort people too, Senior.”
I felt chills run down my whole body as if I had touched a snake.
It was a strange feeling.
I felt an indescribable sense of oppression in the subtly changed atmosphere. His gaze seemed so childish, and his satisfied smile had become slightly more masculine.
“You can comfort me a little more.”
He tilted his head and whispered in a low voice in my ear. For some reason, the deep tone sounded seductive, and I flinched and took a step back. It was just a light pat on the shoulder, but it felt like something was going wrong.
“….I’ve actually never met someone who is a decent person while being here. It’s been quite a long time since the prison became like this.”
“Oh?”
“Someone like Senior. It’s my first time meeting someone like you.”
After coming to my senses and looking at him again, Day was back to the young man I knew. His gold-colored pupils, like a freshly bloomed daisy, his lovely silver hair covering his forehead, smooth skin like a nobleman, and even the attractive tear mole under his eyes.
At that moment, I felt like a fool.
“Ah….”
‘A tear mole?’
It seemed like there was a character with a tear mole in the novel, but since all the main characters were prisoners, I decided not to pay attention to it. Anyway, Day was a prison officer.
“…how long have you been working here anyway?”
“I’ve been here for a month!”
Was it a baby, not a prison officer?
A first-class prisoner was growling. A high school student who finished the college entrance exam and became a prison officer. And now a crying prison officer who has only been working for a month. I started to worry about how to survive with the three of them, who seemed impossible to deal with.
As I was rubbing my chin, something hard hit my round cheek when I turned my gaze away.
“Officer, is it a hobby of yours to touch men?”
With an expression that seemed to convey discomfort, he asked in a gruff voice.
The hard thing was Deon’s chest. As I realized that I had inadvertently turned around and ended up embracing him, I stiffened my neck and took a step back.
“By the way, Senior, what are your plans for the future?”
A soft touch that was wrapped around my back and shoulder. When I turned my head, a golden eye smiled at me as if telling me to calm down.
Oh my gosh. Day was behind me.
“….that’s,”
My saliva involuntarily built up. Gulp. I swallowed so loudly that it made me nervous, and I muttered after a while.
“I’m worried.”
Why are these guys so close to each other? Before I knew it, I was stuck between two men, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe. To my right, an overbearing figure with the straps of his tunic undone, standing firm without any intention of stepping back, and to my left, Day, who had lowered his waist to meet my gaze.
In the end, I hunched my shoulders like a person trapped in a crowded elevator. Instead of Deon, I turned my head toward Day. It was less awkward to look at his face than his chest.
“I—I want to go to Building C first.”
“Building C?”
Fortunately, Day asked back with a friendly smile.
“Yes. I’m going to visit Chief Yvonne.”
“Do you want to keep talking?”
Curious golden eyes closed and opened again. A strange green light, like a clean and clear landscape painting, intertwined between the golden colors. Is this what they call art therapy? As I met his calm gaze, I felt my labored breath gradually calmed down.
Actually, the first place I wanted to go after getting away from Deon was Building C. Among the five buildings in Dreys Prison, Building C is the center, and on the 3rd floor, there is a control room that can control the entire building in case of an emergency.
At that moment, the sudden sound of an emergency bell made it clear that Yvonne was still in the control room. As the only surviving officer from 『The Shackles on My Hands』, she was the main villain who fought against the novel’s protagonists.
If I’m with Yvonne, I can survive relatively longer. Since he knows how to unlock the handcuffs, if the situation improves, I could use the whistle to issue a no-approach order to the owner of the main antagonist, who was the only prison officer who survived in the latter part of 『The Shackles on My Hands』.
It was then.
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Thank you for reading!
