Silence & Chaos | Kim Jungwoo

Chaper 1 - Adagissimo

At first it was dark.

Then exhaustion weighed down on Sunhee's body like a heavy blanket, followed by a splitting headache that could compare to the feeling of a balloon expanding in her skull. It would have made her groan unhappily and turn over, had she had the energy.

She didn't. She instead just lied still and accepted her early-fated-doom of unrestful sleep.

She didn't open her eyes immediately, hoping that she'd be able to fall back asleep and ignore the throbbing of her head. However, her headache paired with aching in her back from the hard surface she was sleeping on deemed that option impossible.

With a defeated sigh she opened her eyes slowly, blinking away the sleep. A few moments later, she lifted herself into a sitting position, her spine popping in a ripple as she did so.

"Oh, good. You're awake," a soft voice called.

Sunhee's eyes felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets from the pain in her head, yet she ignored the feeling as nervousness overtook it. She drowsily looked around the room, which she immediately knew was unfamiliar.

A single bed with no bedding save for a small, thin pillow, and an even thinner mattress with a questionable brown stain, pushed up against the wall next to a cheap looking sink and a very small toilet. It was actually less of a room, and more a corner of a bigger room... only separated by bars.

A cell.

"Are you alright?" the voice called again, pulling Sunhee out of her thoughts. The owner of the voice stood outside the door, with concern in his eyes as he leaned against the cell, holding something between the bars. "Take this. It'll cool the bruising."

"Bruising?" She asked.

The man nodded. "Yeah. Your jaw."

Then, a wave of aching came to confirm that her jaw was indeed a little injured.

She didn't say anything as she investigated the item. It was a face mask.

Her face must have displayed her confusion, because the man began to explain.

"I can't give you an ice pack, so I left this in the freezer. It's the best I can do for you right now, I'm sorry."

She was a little apprehensive, but gave in when her jaw ached again. She quickly swiped the chilled mask and put it on, letting the cool fabric soothe the throbbing.

Before she could thank him, another man walked up behind the first.

"C'mon, Jungwoo, you're even nice to criminals." The second stranger nudged his partner, Jungwoo. He hadn't even bothered to look at Sunhee yet.

Jungwoo didn't respond to his partner's playful grin, and instead looked to the floor as his cheeks flushed a bit in embarrassment.

Sunhee wasn't concerned about the men in front of her at that moment. She was too busy digging around her memory. What happened? Unfortunately, she couldn't think straight.

Her migraine posed as too big a wall to get past. She could only hold her head and stand to meet eyes with the men outside the cell, in defeat of her own head. "E-excuse me, but why--"

"Ah, ah," Jungwoo's partner cut Sunhee off and shook his finger, leaning against the bars next to Jungwoo as he looked over some papers. "You have the right to remain silent, yeah? I suggest you should do that, especially in your position."

Despite feeling offended and confused, Sunhee obediently bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers, not knowing exactly what else to do in such a situation as Jungwoo sighed. He looked back up to the girl, taking some handcuffs off his belt.