Untouched [minsung]

Chapter 24

I awoke suddenly to a siren blaring throughout the room. My eyes shot open but I couldn't see anything, it was pitch black. And cold...so cold.

The floor was hard and smooth, concrete I presumed. I moved my hands to help me push myself off the ground to stand but my wrist felt heavy, weighed down. I realized they were chained. I tried to remain calm, but that had never been my strong suit. Panic set in, and I wondered where I was and why.

I tried to feel around for anything on the ground that could be useful to unlock the cuffs on my wrists, but the floor was completely clean. Eventually, I crawled my way over to a corner and was able to feel the walls. They felt like normal drywall, but I could feel where some of the paint had peeled.

The siren continued to wail, and I wondered when it would stop. Was I meant to find a way?

I searched the walls, feeling for a switch or button to make it stop but found nothing.

"Hello?" I yelled. "Jeongin?"

No response and the noise continued. I couldn't tell if it was getting louder or just more annoying. It echoed against the empty room and bounced into me each time.

"Jeongin? Are you there?" I asked again.

I suddenly heard something above me turn on and the chains on my arms began to pull me back towards the center of the room. I moved with them as they dragged me along and my arms raised above my head uncomfortably.

"Jeongin, please," I pleaded. I had no idea what was going on.

The chain kept pulling until my arms were completely extended, and I was barely able to reach the ground.

The siren stopped at the same time, and I could hear nothing but my own breathing.

"Jeongin?" I called again. No response.

"Look, I know you can hear me. I don't know what's going on. But I'm a nobody. Can't you just let me go? I won't tell Changbin anything. I won't tell anyone," I pleaded.

The sound of static filled the space before I heard Jeongin speak, "If you were nobody, they wouldn't be wasting so many resources on you."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Was he talking about Lee Know? Felix had said they had him watching me because I was close with Changbin. But Jeongin had said 'resources' plural. Who else was watching me?

"Who are you?" Jeongin asked.

"Han. Han Jisung," I said stupidly. What did he mean? I haven't lied about my name.

"Even if your name really is Han Jisung, you're not a nobody. So who are you working for? I know you spied on Lee Know."

I knew he'd been the one to put those photos in our room...Lee Know's room. "You don't understand. I am just a nobody."

"Bullshit. Why'd you investigate Lee Know?"

This was so ridiculous. I felt like I was living in a bad movie. "I wasn't investigating. I was stalking him because I liked him and wanted to know about him." I nearly laughed at how much that stupid decision was costing me.

My relationship with Lee Know, my freedom...

"You expect me to believe you stalked him for pleasure? No. There's a reason his family protected you. And there's a reason our family wants to know more."

"Well, I don't know what the families want with me, but I did follow him because I liked him."

"Liar. Tell me the truth."

"That is the truth," I said. I didn't know how to make him believe me. It was the same with Lee Know. What I'd done was so insane that rational people couldn't understand. Although, I wouldn't really call either of them rational now knowing what I know.

A loud buzzing sound filled the space for a second.

"What the hell?" I yelled. I tried to cover my ears, momentarily forgetting they were suspended in the air.

"Strike one. Tell who you're working for," Jeongin demanded.

"Nobody! I just wanted to make him like me. I thought I could learn about him and..."

The buzzing sound went off again.

"Strike 2."

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know enough information about this world to lie even if I wanted to. I anxiously wondered what would happen if he hit Strike 3.

"Try again," he said over the intercom. "Who are you working for?"

I sighed. "Nobody."

An alarm sounded and the room filled with red lights. I heard something that sounded like a garage door open around me as if every wall was lifting.

And then I heard hundreds of tiny footsteps rushing all around me. Rats. He'd put rats into the room. They squeaked at my bare feet, and I jumped to try to hold myself up using the tightened links of the chains.

He must've seen what I was doing somehow because the chains released, and they dropped me to the ground. I fell into a pile of rats, and they rushed on top of me. I brushed any off that I could find and stood up as quickly as I could.

Some crawled up my leg or held onto my pants. Some bit at my exposed feet.

I attempted to run to the corner I had been at earlier to at least close off one side of access, but he'd only given me enough slack to get to the ground.

"Jeongin, please! I'm not lying!" I pleaded. I jumped and yelped as more rats bit and climbed on me.

"Jeongin," I cried out. Nothing changed. I wrapped the chains around my wrists a few times and tried to make it so that I could pull myself up again.

But the more I wrapped, the more he released. I felt so defeated. The static sounded...

"Han Jisung:

Han does not have many friends. He eats alone at lunch. He wasn't able to find a roommate, so he had his own dorm. He is a loner.

Han moved in with me at the slightest indication he was welcome. Han dropped out of college at my asking him only once. He is easily manipulated.

Han has anxiety, OCD, and PTSD. I believe him not the be a threat to your family. After finding him in the alley, I allowed him to stay with me. It has been weeks, and he still has nightmares.

I conclude my investigation under the pretense that he could not be a threat due to his emotional fragility and susceptibility to manipulation.

Signed,
Lee Know"

My eyes welled with tears as I listened. The rats at my feet didn't bother me anymore and didn't feel nearly as painful as Lee Know's letter.

Did he really think so little of me? I couldn't imagine saying anything negative about him. My brain couldn't even come up with a single thing even though he had been potentially lying to me the entire time I knew him. In my head, I justified it. He must've had a reason, right?

"Wow, Han...' emotional fragility', 'susceptibility to manipulation'. Lee Know doesn't think too highly of you, does he? I'll come back tomorrow and we'll chat again."

The side of one of the walls dropped and released a hard bench for me to sit on. I pulled my feet up, kicking a few rats off in the process, and rocked myself as I tried to forget the words Jeongin had just read me.

Maybe he had made it up.

Or maybe Lee Know had been pretending about everything.