Who I've Been Searching For | Sungjoy

Epilogue

Seoul Detention Centre – Uiwang, Korea, Four Months Later

--

The lights in the wing flickered on, signalling to the prisoners that 6 a.m. had arrived. The door electronically slid open as the wing of prisoners slowly shuffled out of their cells.

Lee Dong Wook opened his eyes and stretched slowly as he walked out of his cell in a leisurely fashion, joining the rest of the wing for morning roll call.

--

Drab concrete walls, windows that are divided by solid bars, barebone furniture, and an early 6 a.m. wake up.

It was a far cry from the life that Dong Wook was used to living.

Every morning, he would wake up and report outside his cell for morning roll call. After the ridiculous amount of time that the guards would waste, he would retreat into his cell, fold up his futon neatly and get ready for whatever tasteless mush they were serving that day for breakfast.

After breakfast, he would devote his time to reading, walking around the courtyard, and writing letters to his lawyers.

To his immense relief, Irene hadn't been able to completely track down all his accounts. While his mail was censored and checked, he always addressed them to his "mother."

Dong Wook didn't intend to spend a second longer in this prison than he had to. Forget the pathetic pro bono lawyers that he had been assigned, he had a literal award-winning team at his beck and call, none of those snot-nosed brats just barely out of law school.

--

With the rest of the prisoners outside in the courtyard after breakfast, Dong Wook found the wing to be nice and quiet. The occasional noise might interrupt his thoughts, but it was better than being out there with the rest of those simpletons, he thought.

His thoughts were interrupted by the warden banging his baton after the bars in his door.

"You have a visitor," he was told bluntly.

"Finally," Dong Wook rolled his eyes as he stood up and put his hands through the slot in the door, allowing for the warden to handcuff him before he was led out to the visitor's room.

Massaging his wrists after he was uncuffed, he waited for the guard to open the door.

Dong Wook was delighted as he walked into the room, sat down on the old metal chair, and looked across the plexiglass to see Sungjae staring back at him impassively.

"And how are we doing today?" Dong Wook asked as though this was their normal routine.

No answer came from Sungjae, so he decided to continue. "I must say, I wasn't expecting you to come and visit me. Well, not yet at least."

Sungjae just continued to look at Dong Wook.

"Aww," Dong Wook pouted. "Are you still mad that I tried to use you? It was only business."

"I looked up to you, Dong Wook," Sungjae spoke softly. "You were my role model. You took me in after I lost my memory."

"Still haven't gotten it back, have you?" Dong Wook mocked him. "What was the point of having Ms Park around if she couldn't even help you get back your memory?"

"Don't talk about Sooyoung," Sungjae's voice became hard. "She's done more for me than you've ever done."

"Oh, I'm sure she has," Dong Wook clapped his hands derisively. "Why have you come today?"

Sungjae took out a newspaper and slid it underneath the plexiglass to Dong Wook. "I thought you might want to know."

Dong Wook humoured Sungjae as he took a look at the headline.