Confinement-3

-Gurgle

Even in a serious situation, my autonomic nervous system was working just fine.

Having not eaten dinner, I leaned against the bed, trying to appease my rumbling stomach.

The chain binding me was long enough to move around the room, but I didn’t feel like turning on the light.

I secretly hoped the darkness filling the room would hide my existence.

Beyond the closed door, there was a commotion, as if someone was preparing something.

I regretted that this apartment was so soundproof at times like this. If the downstairs neighbor came up because of the noise between floors, I could at least scream for help.

Well, I didn’t choose this place, and what good would it do to regret it now…

I could hear hammering and the whirring of a drill.

I tugged on the chain a few times. The chain remained taut, stuck to the wall, unmoving.

Looking closely at the connection point between the wall and the chain, I saw a lock.

It seemed that if I unlocked it, I could detach it from the wall.

I didn’t dwell long on why it was designed to be detachable.

It must be related to the loud noises coming from outside.

Probably, Garam wants to be able to connect the chain to various places around the house.

“So, at least I can move freely inside the house, huh?”

It was the moment a disgustingly large prison was completed.

Heh…

All I could do was laugh.

I moved my feet meaninglessly, fantasizing that, by some miracle, I might be able to break free.

As always, reality was harsh, and only the pain of the chain tightening around my ankle grew.

I lay down as I was.

Thanks to the plush mattress, my body was slightly lifted and then dropped again.

“Ah… what should I do?”

The words came out reflexively, without thinking.

But seriously, what should I do?

I tapped my foot to the rhythmic hammering.

If I grouped the hammering and drilling sounds into sets, that was already five sets.

-Wee-ing

Now it’s the sixth set. The loud noise was turning my insides out.

And then it stopped. Now all I could hear was the sound of heavy objects being moved and organized.

“Hoo…”

It sounded like Garam was making that sound of self-congratulation after finishing a strenuous workout, and it traveled through the door.

Ah, the work is all done. There’s no way she’d make such a refreshed sound otherwise.

Footsteps were getting closer.

-Knock knock

A knock. I wondered why she was knocking all of a sudden and sat up.

-Knock knock

“Ah, are you asleep?”

Would I be able to sleep in this situation?

-Knock knock

“Um, I’m coming in.”

Without waiting for an answer, the door burst open.

The bright light from the living room made me squint slightly.

Garam stood before me in the same clothes as before.

The only differences were that she was a little sweatier and the bloodstain on her neck was gone.

“Ah, I didn’t wake you, did I?”

She covered her mouth with her hand as she asked, seeing my open eyes.

I nodded without realizing it at this bizarre, everyday conversation.

“If you’re not sleeping, please say something.”

She sat down on the bed, her bottom near my feet.

-Gurgle

My tactless stomach rumbled once more, announcing its hunger.

“Pfft. You’re hungry.”

“As you can see, I haven’t eaten. If it’s okay, could you bring me some jajangmyeon? It’s a waste to have ordered it….”

“No. It’s not good for you to eat something like that at this hour.”

Forcibly confining me is good for my health?

The words that rose up my throat hit my front teeth, trying to burst out, but I raised my tongue and ran it over my teeth to stop them.

“Then something else at least.”

“Looking at the things you’ve hidden in the cupboard, they’re all unhealthy things, aren’t they?”

Garam looked at me, puffing out her cheeks.

I wanted to slap her across the face.

“Just go hungry today, and wake up early tomorrow morning and have a chicken breast salad. I’ll make it delicious for you.”

She said with a stern face, like a Supreme Court justice.

No, how is she going to make chicken breast delicious when it tastes awful?

Confined, and now my diet is being controlled too?

One thing is hard enough, but doing two at the same time, the world must be going crazy.

Wait a minute, controlling my diet means…

“I’m just asking in case, but what are you planning to do tomorrow?”

“Hmm… I can’t leave the center empty, so I have to go out in the morning. Ah, before that, I can do bodyweight exercises here with Ah.”

Confinement, diet, and exercise.

Faced with the triple hardship that lay ahead, I thought about suicide for the first time.

“So, let’s go to bed early today.”

Garam nudged me.

Thinking there was no point in resisting, I lay down as I was, and she spread a thick blanket over me.

“I’m going to go wash up.”

Leaving behind those cryptic words, she left the room.

No, what does she mean, wash up?

Not long after, Garam returned in more comfortable clothes than before.

In a white tank top and black shorts, she walked slowly along the line where I was lying, then went around the bed to the opposite side of me.

And without warning, she got into the blanket and lay down next to me.

“Oof.”

Garam snuggled into the blanket and stuck close to me. Her body heat was transmitted through my arm.

It was warmth I hadn’t felt in a long time, but it was more damp and unpleasant than warm.

“Hehe, I never thought I’d be sleeping next to you like this.”

“Me neither.”

She turned her body and hugged me like a bamboo wife.

Her right hand came up onto my chest.

Like a living snake, her right hand, which had landed without permission, caressed my chest stickily.

“Ah… you don’t have to hold back.”

In the complete darkness, she whispered in my ear.

Without replying, I turned my body away from her.

Despite my firm rejection, she scribbled on my back with her fingers.

“If you want to, tell me anytime. I’ll be waiting.”

Garam said, sticking close to my back, and I remained silent until I fell asleep.

It was autumn.