Ch.58New Beginning! (2)

#058

The visiting room is also called the meeting room.

It’s a place where you can see people who are incarcerated in prison every weekend, either for mistakes they’ve made or for malicious actions they’ve committed against others.

Being the closest area to the prison entrance, this place only opens on weekends, so today, being a weekday, it was empty.

Dexter, who normally had no reason to visit the meeting room, was looking around while eating a chocolate bar he’d taken from a vending machine in the corner.

“It’s quiet.”

“…Mr. Dexter.”

When a voice suddenly came from behind, Dexter pointed his chocolate bar in that direction as he turned around.

“Are you going to shoot me with that?”

Hearing this remark, Dexter looked at the chocolate bar in his hand, then placed it on the table and spoke.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he greeted her.

“Ah, it’s the warden’s assistant.”

‘Looking at her now, her chest might be bigger than Jessie’s.’

Dexter briefly turned his head away because of Hannah’s prominent chest, noticeable even in her dark green suit.

Being a man, Dexter found his eyes repeatedly drawn to her chest despite trying to look away, so he deliberately turned his head this way and that while speaking to Hannah.

“So, why did you call for me?”

As Dexter spoke with inner anticipation, Hannah shattered his hopes without hesitation.

“OSA.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hannah Hobbs, OSA Counterintelligence Division.”

As soon as the term OSA was mentioned, Dexter’s mood plummeted.

‘Ah, damn it.’

Not having expected Hannah to be the OSA agent he’d feared, Dexter couldn’t hide his disappointment as he recalled her working as Robert’s assistant and spoke.

“Why is an OSA agent working as a prison warden’s assistant?”

Hannah answered Dexter’s question honestly.

“Robert Branson is a top-priority surveillance target.”

“Why the warden?”

“Because he served as CTO (Chief Technical Officer) at Universe X before establishing P&J Secure.”

Dexter was about to ask what that had to do with her working as an assistant, but he nodded instead.

“Universe X was the space industry company that publicly announced they would send humans to Mars, right?”

“You remember well.”

For OSA, which always considers space-related industries sensitive, anyone from Universe X is definitely someone to be monitored.

Especially someone who was a former CTO would naturally be under OSA surveillance.

‘They monitor anything space-related frighteningly closely.’

Dexter could see how OSA collected information within the United States.

“But why did you look for me?”

In response to Dexter’s question, Hannah handed him a brown envelope instead of answering.

“What is this?”

“You’ll know if you open it.”

When Dexter opened the brown envelope, there was a sheet of paper inside filled with writing.

As he took the paper out of the envelope, the title at the top read:

“OSA Honorary Agent Application Form?”

“The Deputy Director handed it to me with a frown.”

“Ah, well. It makes sense he’d dislike it.”

He might have been cursing terribly inside.

Hannah handed him a pen along with the form, and Dexter casually filled out the application before putting it back in the envelope and returning it.

“Is that all?”

“Within a week, you’ll receive an OSA ID, black suit, firearm, and equipment. Of course, Mr. Hughes, you’re not obligated to wear the black suit.”

“Well, I probably wouldn’t wear it even if you gave it to me.”

Dexter shook his head as he imagined himself in black sunglasses and a black suit.

If Dexter were to walk around in the black suit that OSA agents wear, people might mistake him for a bouncer standing in front of a popular club rather than a prison guard.

“Anyway, thank you. I was expecting you called me for a different reason.”

“A different reason?”

Hannah, who hadn’t considered any other possibility, looked at Dexter and asked.

“Well, when a beautiful woman suddenly calls a man over, wouldn’t he misunderstand?”

Dexter spoke with his usual joking manner, but Hannah showed no reaction.

“Is that so? I’ll be careful.”

Hannah’s cold response was the type Dexter found most difficult to deal with.

‘She’s not made of wood, but she doesn’t respond to jokes at all.’

Finally giving up on joking, Dexter decided to just ask about OSA-related matters and leave quickly.

“Let’s say the honorary agent application is done. What did the Deputy Director say about parole?”

“He said he needs a bit more time.”

“What kind of time?”

“He mentioned there are a few issues to coordinate with the parole board.”

‘Well, it couldn’t happen that quickly anyway.’

Dexter thought with a visibly disappointed expression.

Though Dexter really wanted to go out with Jessie on holidays, it seemed they would have to settle for secret meetings in the prison for the time being.

“If you have no further questions, you may go.”

Hannah said, looking at Dexter who was standing still.

Dexter felt somewhat disappointed that he was parting ways with an attractive woman without anything happening.

‘I was at least hoping to exchange numbers.’

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

When Dexter said goodbye, indicating he had no more questions, Hannah coldly gathered her envelope and left the visiting room.

Dexter checked the current time on his wristwatch.

“Between writing reports and everything else, I won’t have time to hang out with Jessie.”

Without looking back, Dexter left the visiting room and headed to the guard office to write his report and prepare for the handover.

“Aren’t you going home?”

Dexter said to Judy, who was sitting in front of the computer writing a report.

Usually, Judy would finish her reports before Dexter and leisurely drink tea until the handover, but for some reason, she was writing her report later than Dexter today.

“Ah, yes. I should.”

Judy, who stared at Dexter for a moment, looked more tired than usual.

“Is the exercise too hard?”

“No, that’s not it. I’ve just been a bit sensitive lately, I guess.”

Her answer was slightly more curt than usual.

“Alright. If anything’s wrong, just let me know anytime.”

“Thank you.”

Judy sighed deeply again and then focused on writing her report.

‘Seems like she doesn’t want to go home.’

But thinking it was probably nothing serious, Dexter left the guard office and headed to Medium Security Facility 2, where Jessie was.

It was normally exercise time for the inmates.

Jessie was sitting on a table in the living area, swinging her feet back and forth.

‘Today, both Judy and Jessie seem to be in a bad mood.’

For Jessie, exercise time was usually when she practiced the workouts she had learned from Rose, but she was sitting with a somewhat gloomy expression.

“Is something wrong?”

Since other inmates were around, Dexter stood about two steps away, looking elsewhere while speaking to Jessie.

“No, nothing happened…”

“It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

Her voice was noticeably more dejected than usual, so Dexter crossed his arms and spoke to her.

“What am I going to say to you? Just tell me what’s bothering you and get it off your chest.”

At Dexter’s gentle prompting, Jessie hesitated before speaking.

“Actually, I hit someone today.”

“…Well, that’s unexpected.”

Dexter uncrossed his arms and scratched the back of his neck.

He had expected her to say she made a mistake at work or had an argument with someone, but this made him realize once again what Jessie’s character was like.

“Who did you hit?”

“Someone named Allison, a girl who’s been bullying me for a long time.”

She probably bullied Jessie back when she was skinny.

‘She looked vulnerable, got angry easily, and showed reactions—must have been fun to bully.’

However, Dexter didn’t pity Jessie or scold her for hitting Allison.

“Really? Good for you. If she’s been bullying you for a long time, you could’ve half-killed her.”

“…Aren’t you a prison guard?”

When the guard openly suggested that she could have half-killed another inmate, Jessie frowned in confusion.

As if he had anticipated her reaction, Dexter smiled slightly and said:

“I told you before not to cause trouble, remember?”

“I do remember…”

“The Jessie Blumberg I know doesn’t take people’s words lightly. At least that Allison or whoever must have done something to deserve getting beaten up.”

Dexter had fixed Jessie’s frontal lobe with advanced technology.

Since her frontal lobe abnormality was fixed, she should have better anger control, so the fact that she couldn’t hold back meant only one conclusion: Allison deserved it.

Especially since Dexter heard about Jessie from other guards as well, he didn’t believe she would hit someone without reason.

As Dexter’s trust was conveyed, Jessie’s gloomy demeanor gradually disappeared.

“You’re right, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Exactly. If you didn’t do anything wrong, why be depressed? There’s no reason. Stand up straight and be confident.”

“Right!”

When Dexter glanced at Jessie with her energetic voice, she had a more lively smile than before.

“That’s it, don’t be depressed.”

“Thanks, Dexter.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Dexter looked around, then took a chocolate bar from his front pocket and tossed it to Jessie.

Jessie caught the chocolate bar and stared at Dexter.

“It’s almost time to clock out. See you tomorrow.”

As Dexter smiled slightly and headed toward the staff area, Jessie slowly looked at the chocolate bar in her palm.

‘It’s just a simple chocolate bar.’

When Jessie was known by the nickname J-Bone, she sometimes received prize money ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

With the money she earned back then, she could have bought thousands of these chocolate bars.

‘But somehow this finger-sized chocolate bar seems better than all the prize money I got back then.’

Jessie held the chocolate bar up to the fluorescent light for a moment, then quickly put it in her pocket before anyone could see.

* * *

Today, Dexter also had little time, so he spent very little time with Jessie.

He felt a corner of his heart grow lonely.

‘When I was busy working, I didn’t have time to feel lonely.’

Recently, when he finished work and saw his empty house, he felt somewhat desolate.

Dexter, who hadn’t felt lonely even when he was in the vast, endless space, was now lying in bed staring at the ceiling and feeling emptiness.

“How dreary.”

Just then.

-Buzz.

The cell phone Dexter had placed on the bedside table was vibrating.

“……”

When Dexter checked his phone, he saw that Judy, who had clocked out around the same time, had sent him a text message.

However, Judy’s message contained no text, just a photo.

The photo showed one wall of Judy’s home, which looked cozy and neat. Judy herself, who took the photo, wasn’t visible.

The table with decorations and picture frames looked normal.

Dexter was about to text back asking why she sent a photo at this hour when he noticed something strange.

‘There seems to be something there.’

In the photo, there appeared to be a dark, human-like figure standing near the table.

‘What is this?’

Just as Dexter was about to send a message, he received another text from Judy.

-Like I mentioned before, I felt someone watching me, so I took a picture without turning around. 🙁

Dexter replied to Judy’s message.

>Are you alone?

-Yes, I’m by myself.

Dexter, now dressed, tried to reassure Judy with his usual joke.

>Is it okay for a man to suddenly enter a woman’s house when she’s alone?

-I can trust you, Mr. Hughes.

‘She shouldn’t respond to jokes like that.’

>I’m kidding. I’ll come right away, so keep your phone in your hand so you can contact me anytime.

-Okay. 🙂

Seeing Judy’s reply, Dexter thought it might not be as urgent as he initially feared.

‘But it could become serious at any moment.’

Dexter hurriedly left his house, got into his pickup truck, and headed to Judy’s home.