The Accidental Monarch

Riveting

"Are you ready to talk?"

Jeong-hyeok sits across from the arsonist in a cold prison cell a hundred meters underground. The other man squints despite the dim light overhead, his eyes already accustomed to the dark after being detained for so long. He starts by chuckling, his voice scratchy and raw from misuse, before saying, "I didn't think you had it in you to subject your people to torture, Your Majesty."

"Consider this mercy because I have a list of people waiting for you to receive the death penalty as punishment," the king says before walking over to him with a cold drink in hand. All the royal guards tense at the close proximity while the arsonist sits up on his chair in sudden attention. "I was told that you have decided to confess."

"I - I have decided that, yes," the man stutters as his dry throat itches and his hands struggle against the cuffs behind him. "But if I do, do I have your word that I will walk out of here free?"

It is the royal's turn to laugh. "In case you have forgotten, you detonated a bomb that ended in several casualties and you attempted on an officer's life when you were detained at the local station," he reminds him before his expression turns grave. "You also had the nerve to put my fiancée in harm's way. That last one alone can have you locked up in a sensory-deprived cell."

He unscrews the water bottle and watches the other man swallow in anticipation. "You already know what it feels like to see nothing for days on end," he continues to say. "Now imagine not being able to see or hear anything. Not even the sound of your own voice. How long do you think you can last until you go mad?"

Instead of tipping the mouth of the bottle into the arsonist's mouth, the king spills a little water on the ground instead. "Oh, sorry, man," he says unapologetically to which the other man surges up with flared nostrils and bared teeth. The royal guards immediately flank him and restrain him back onto his seat. "You will be allowed to drink once you confessed. Who sent you to do this?"

"You arrogant son of a bitch," the arsonist snarls. "You act as if you are above all of us when it is a toss of the dice to be born a royal. You behave as if you can do this to me when we both know you can't throw a punch to save your life. You're nothing without these guards. You're nothing without that crown on your head. Who do you think you are to keep me in here like an animal?"

Jeong-hyeok pretends not to hear anything. "Who gave you the bomb?"

"No objections, Your Majesty? Did I hit a nerve?" he taunts and receives a deadly glare. "All that wealth cannot buy you out of that impostor syndrome, can it? What a tragedy."

The king prepares to leave. "I do not have time for small talk."

The arsonist resorts to bargaining to make him stay. "Are you even sure you have the right guy? I could have just been walking outside the restaurant when your men tackled me to the ground and arrested me. Are you making me confess just so that you can put the blame on someone?"

"Nobody is making you do anything. You are the one who called me in here because you have something to say," Jeong-hyeok recalls for him before chuckling in astonishment. "How much is he paying you? You seem awfully protective of your boss by the way you deflect my questions."

"You rich people think of the working class as pawns that do your bidding," he diverts the topic once again. "But we have our own minds, our own opinions, our own plans. What makes you think that someone instructed me to do this? Do I not have the capacity or the bravery to do this on my own? To free my fellow men from your wretched family that no longer has a place in this modern world?"

The king allows him to talk in the hopes that he incriminates himself even more.

"You people in power are simple-minded creatures, only focused on greed and status rather than the welfare of the people you supposedly serve. You can walk in here and have an innocent man killed if that's what you desire. And we are expected to welcome every spawn that comes out of your lineage as our leader without question. How pathetic."