Confinement-2

The clattering sound of the chain beats against my heart like a drum, at a rapid pace.

However you look at it, this is my house, my room, my bedroom.

This familiar space has been transformed into an alien one by a single object.

It still feels like a dream.

Clearly, I was at the front door… and then I fainted? Yeah, I think so.

In the end, I couldn’t stop Garam from coming in.

This shackle on my ankle is the result.

The chain attached to my ankle is quite long.

Long enough to at least move around the bedroom.

I grab the chain with my hand and pull it aimlessly.

The end of the taut chain is firmly fixed to the wall.

Just in case it might come loose, I stand up and twist it this way and that. But the shackle, tightly constricting my ankle, clatters as if to say it’s impossible.

Like in Saw, it seemed impossible to remove this without sawing off my ankle with a saw.

After fainting and waking up, until I came to my senses.

Until I recognized my firmly bound situation.

Only after hearing someone’s footsteps in the distance, I had no choice but to utter the single sentiment rising from the depths of my core.

“I’m fucked.”

“You’re awake? I was surprised because you suddenly collapsed.”

The door opens, and Garam enters.

In her hand, she holds a large glass, filled with a somewhat brownish liquid.

“It’s a supplement. For me to drink.”

Knowing that my gaze is fixed on the glass, she shrugs her shoulders.

Then she gulps down the supplement.

I can see clothes soaked with sweat, and a bloodstain on her neck.

“I don’t think I ever told you my home address, how did you know?”

I asked, genuinely curious.

“Your phone.”

“My phone?”

“You leave your phone behind when you go to get water or go to the bathroom during workouts, right?”

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and explains step by step, as if explaining to a child.

“I opened the delivery app then. I saw the address there.”

Was that why she knew so accurately what I ate?

“Even if you know the address, the building’s password is… no, in the first place, how did you know I was coming out of the house?”

She could follow someone else in when they enter the building, but what if I hadn’t ordered food today?

“Well, Ah always orders delivery food around this time. Even if you didn’t come out today, I could just wait in the emergency stairs.”

I’m speechless at her words, as if it’s nothing.

“There are about three things I want to ask.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Why am I tied up like this?”

When I lift the chain, she turns her eyes to the other side.

Hesitantly, she seems to be aware that what she did was wrong.

“W-well… Ah keeps avoiding me.”

Pressing her two index fingers together, she argues in a barely audible voice.

“You hang up quickly when I call, and you don’t work out often… you keep avoiding me. So I had no choice.”

“My ankle hurts.”

“I’m sorry about that. But… I’m sorry. If I untie you, you’ll run away.”

Even if she apologizes with her head down, her resolve doesn’t seem to change.

“Okay. Then next question. What’s that blood on your neck? And why are your clothes like that?”

“Ah… this….”

She rubs her neck with her hand, hiding the bloodstain.

Her face turns bright red, as if she’s been caught revealing something she shouldn’t.

She probably thinks I don’t know, so she shouldn’t get caught. But I already know everything she’s done.

“Who is it this time?”

“Pardon?”

“That blood. Whose is it? Who is it this time?”

“……..”

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

“But…”

“But! Those people treated Ah badly. I just…”

“Did I ask you to beat them up?”

“That’s…”

“Did I say I wanted them to be hospitalized?”

“Who is it this time? Is it someone who bumped into me on the street? Or someone who handed out flyers on the street?”

Now that things have turned out this way, I confront her without hiding anything.

“…Hana.”

“Who?”

“Hana, that bitch Ah is so crazy about.”

“Why Hana all of a sudden… no, how?”

“She came to the center. She said she wanted to meet Ah. She said she was going to make some kind of deal with Ah before suing Ah for sexual harassment with the messages Ah had sent her.”

“……”

“So I taught her a lesson. But, is this wrong too? Am I overreacting again?”

“…Garam, that’s…”

I tried to say something, but the words didn’t come out easily.

Because the exceptional case of Hana suddenly came up.

“Right? You can’t say anything, so I guess I did the right thing.”

“Ah always seemed to be like that.” Garam, with her head bowed, mutters.

“You don’t honestly say what’s on your mind. You think Hana is annoying and wish she would disappear.”

“But I don’t hate that kind of Ah. No, I actually like it.”

Garam, who put the glass on the table, slowly approaches.

“You’re just too shy to say it properly, right? You’re afraid it’ll be awkward if you show your true feelings, right?”

Her hand goes on my shoulder.

“It’s okay with me. I can do everything Ah says. So please, tell me now.”

She leads me to the bed.

She presses down on my shoulders. Unable to resist her strength, I sit on the bed.

Clatter, the chain makes another sound.

Garam bends her knees and puts her face on my thigh.

“Garam.”

“Yes, Ah.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen you in a romantic way. I just wanted to support you, so I helped you.”

“…Liar.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Then why were you so nice to me?”

“Well, it’s because I liked seeing you work hard. I wanted to support you for working hard even in difficult situations.”

I try to calm her rampage with sincerity.

Did my words reach her? She closes her eyes and remains silent, using my lap as a pillow.

Soon, she gets up again and meets my gaze.

“You still seem to be very shy. There’s plenty of time. If you ever feel like it, please tell me anytime.”

“There’s plenty of time.”

She puts her lips on my cheek and walks away.

“Oh, right. I’ll keep your phone.”

With those words, she turns off the light and closes the door.

Slam.

In the wide bedroom, I am left alone in the darkness.