Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Forty-Nine.

The assault team sat in a circle just outside the metal bars they had closed after falsely promising the prisoners they would be back— They were still unsure of whether or not they wanted to lie and simply leave without saying anything until they saw their platoon leader again, or if they actually wanted to do something. Tae-man was the first to speak up after a long silence of simply staring.

"What's going on? Why are they the only ones here?" Tae-man whispered.

"Did the wardens really leave them behind?" Yeong-shin murmured.

"There's no way of knowing what happened here?" Bo-ra said. "And we can't trust what they're saying either."

"As far as I know, petty criminals are freed," Yeong-shin said, "and felons are transported to Busan at times of war. Since they're still here, could they be the worst offenders who were slated to be sent to fight?" he wondered. Several people grimaced.

"You saw the name tag earlier, right?" So-yun asked quietly. "He's on death row. Doesn't that mean he's a serial killer or something?"

"Gosh, he looked so fucking scary," Tae-man grimaced. He paused and looked around at the worried faces of the others, immediately concluding he had to lighten their moods, even if they got annoyed with him. "He's the boss of a gang who got locked up for wiping out a rival gang," Tae-man concluded. He tossed an arm around Bo-ra. "Come on, bring it on," he said determinedly as though prepared to fight.

"Fuck off," Bo-ra huffed, shoving the boy away and into (Y/n). Tae-man pretended the shove was harder than it actually was, closing his eyes as his head fell into (Y/n)'s lap.

"Ouch..." Tae-man said dramatically. "(Y/n), are you going to let her hurt me like that?" (Y/n) simply rubbed up and down his arm.

"You're okay."

"Kids, you're still there, right?" a prisoner called. "Please come over here and open the doors." (Y/n) immediately got full-body shivers. She was sure the hair on her body was sticking up right. Tae-man, feeling the trembling, turning his head and looked up at the girl, spotting the fear in her eyes. They all tightened their grips on their guns, growing immediately uneasy despite the brief exchange between Bo-ra and Tae-man.

"Fuck! I'm serious, you're all going to get yourselves killed!" another prisoner shouted furiously. "Hurry up and open the doors!"

"Please spare us!"

"W-We're not bad people, kids!"

"Just come here for a second. Just a second."

"Guys... Just come over here and hear us out."

"We're absolutely not freeing them," Hui-rak hissed, gripping his gun for dear life and pointing at the prisoners. "They're dangerous bastards!"

"He's right," So-yun nodded.

"But they said they didn't even get to eat for days," Ae-seol said sympathetically. "We should at least give them food."

"Are you insane?" Hui-rak gaped.

"Do we just leave them then? Just ignore them?" Yeong-shin asked uncertainly.

"If we leave them as is, they'll die soon," Jang-su said.

"Why do you care about that?" Hui-rak muttered. "Let's just get what we need and leave."

"Yes, let's just leave them and go. It's not even our business," Tae-man agreed.

"Fuck! Come over here and open the door, you assholes!" yelled a prisoner, making them jump. "We're really just so hungry."

"What should we do?" Jang-su asked. They all looked at Yu-jeong as the shouting continued.