Confinement – 4

Having someone next to me makes it hard to sleep.

Whether it was because my head was a mess due to the absurd situation, or because there was a living heater next to me sharing its warm body temperature, I slept lightly.

Whether the flexible work system, introduced under the banner of work-life balance, had been applied to Hae as well, it was dark outside.

Blinking my bleary eyes, I frowned at the gradually tightening headache.

Perhaps it was because I had been sleeping on my side, but my left side felt stuffy.

I turned over and slowly looked at the ceiling of the room, which was gradually becoming familiar.

“Did you sleep well?”

Garam, who seemed to have been awake for a while, greeted me with a relatively clear voice.

Ah, so it wasn’t a dream.

With her voice, the cold temperature of the shackles crept up my ankle.

“You were awake.”

At my hoarse voice, Garam snuggled up to me and rubbed her face against me.

Everywhere her breath touched, goosebumps rose.

“Garam, my medicine, please.”

“Medicine?”

“Yes, there should be some medicine pre-portioned in the study. Please bring it to me.”

Garam, who had been marking her territory on my body for a while, ran out quickly and soon returned with the medicine container, portioned out by day, and water.

I placed the pills on my palm and counted them.

One, two, three… six. None missing, different shapes, different colors.

I poured them into my mouth, drank water, and closed my eyes, pushing the pills down my throat.

I felt the objects that were prolonging my life descend down my throat.

“……..”

As I drank the remaining water to rinse my mouth, I felt Garam’s gaze fixed on me.

If it were before, I would have said something, but my heart was so tired that I couldn’t think of anything.

“Do I have to get this medicine regularly?”

“Yes. Once every three months.”

“Proxy receipt is possible, right?”

I felt like I knew what she was asking for.

“It’s possible.”

For a moment, I thought about lying, but I knew she would investigate separately anyway, and there was no need to tell a lie that would soon be discovered, so I said yes.

“That’s a relief. Well, shall we get up now?”

She unlocked the padlock on the chain and wrapped the end around her hand.

She looked like a dog owner taking her dog for a walk.

“Get up?”

“We were going to do some simple bodyweight exercises, weren’t we?”

She looked at me with an expression that seemed to ask what was obvious, and instead questioned me.

Living in the original dimension, I had heard the term “imprisonment pure love.”

But why do I have to experience this novel neologism of “imprisonment PT” myself…

Before I knew it, Garam, who was standing at the doorway, slowly pulled the chain, and my body was dragged towards the living room against my will.

Ah, really… it’s a bumper crop of bullshit.

Imprisonment. It’s a very scary word, but personally, it’s more annoying than scary.

Garam, who insisted on making me do morning exercises, prepared breakfast while I showered.

I thought she would do something about the damn shackles when I went to the bathroom, but I think I underestimated her.

I didn’t know she could make a hook to hang it in the bathroom.

No, with this level of skill and preparedness, how could the center have failed?

I feel unjustly resentful.

Thanks to her kindly changing the position of the shackles so that I could wash myself properly, I was able to wash both ankles very cleanly.

Ah, Garam is so kind. Damn it.

She’s at work at the center.

Since there’s no guard, I should cut the damn chain or find a way to contact the outside world.

But the former was impossible because the chain was very strong and couldn’t be cut without tools, and the latter was impossible because everything that could communicate had been smashed.

It seems that yesterday’s drilling and hammering included not only hammering hooks into the wall but also smashing all the electronic devices in the house.

Anyway, after eating a breakfast of salad and chicken breast, I lay on the sofa in the living room, tied up, and counted the patterns on the ceiling without meaning.

It’s so boring because I can’t use my phone or computer.

It’s not like the previous dimension where I couldn’t access it at all, but being unable to use it when it’s there makes the sense of loss even greater.

“What should I do?”

Saying the words that were now stuck to my mouth, I thought about how to escape this life.

Ironically, it’s most difficult to escape now that there’s no guard.

Then, conversely, will there be an opportunity to escape when there is a guard?

There is. When going to another room, I inevitably have to unlock the chain fixed to the wall.

At that time, I’m not tied to anything, so I can subdue Garam and go straight outside.

Subdue Garam… To be honest, I’m not confident I can win in a head-on fight.

Then I have to push her over and run away, but there’s a possibility that I’ll be caught because the chain is long.

Maybe…

Could I strangle her with the long chain?

When moving, she stands in front of me, so I can go behind her and strangle her with the chain.

Even if there is a difference in strength, if I strangle her from behind, she won’t be able to do anything.

But am I ready to kill someone?

It’s different from Namgoong Soyeon’s case.

It’s not indirectly involved in death, but directly silencing a life with my own hands.

“……”

I’m frustrated with myself for hesitating even in this situation.

Garam came home after 11 p.m.

I had warmed up and eaten the lunch and dinner that Garam had prepared for me.

Garam checked if I had done my afternoon workout.

I had exercised because I didn’t want to offend her, so Garam smiled with satisfaction.

She urged me to sleep, saying that I would lose weight if I went to bed early.

We went to the bathroom together to brush our teeth, and the faces of her and me reflected in the mirror were as clearly divided as heaven and hell.

“Okay, let’s go to bed now.”

Garam took the chain fixed to the wall and started walking towards the bedroom first.

Finally, the opportunity has come.

As I had simulated all afternoon, I quietly picked up the chain dragging on the floor and stuck close behind her.

I held the chain in both hands and raised it over the back of her head.

Now all I have to do is lower the chain in front of her neck and pull it back.

Yes, that’s what I have to do.

But my hands won’t move.

What are you hesitating for? Just lower it, pull it. That’s how you live.

Even if I urge myself, my arms don’t move as if someone other than me is controlling me.

“……..”

Thus, I realized that I was not ready to kill someone.

Even in this situation.

I carefully put the chain back down and follow her to the bedroom.

Garam tied the chain back to the bedroom wall and turned to me.

She opened her arms and came into my arms.

I was surprised by the sudden skinship, but I also thought that I shouldn’t expect anything sensible from her.

She buried her face in my chest, looked up at me, and said.

“You thought well. That kind of thing doesn’t work.”

Cold sweat ran down my spine.