Chapter 3

Gimcheon Juvenile Prison (2)

I gave up on appealing.

Of course, my enthusiastic court-appointed attorney practically foamed at the mouth as he urged me to file an appeal.

“Bareum, this is absurd. A minimum of four years and a maximum of eight years despite all those mitigating circumstances? The judges blatantly punished you out of sheer resentment. We absolutely have to appeal.”

“Appeal? Shouldn't I consider myself lucky they didn't add contempt of court to my charges?”

“If we appeal, the case goes to the High Court, so the entire panel of judges will be replaced! If the judges in the first trial were that inflexible, we can use public opinion as leverage to pressure the appellate court. Your final words in court are causing an enormous stir on the internet and in the media right now. Public sympathy is surging. If we gather petitions from citizens and enlist the media's support, we can definitely get your sentence reduced in the second trial!”

Why was that?

Suddenly, I recalled the words that had appeared before me at the moment of my awakening.

“The Temple of Justice, watched over by blind Justice.”

“Pardon?”

“Thank you for everything, sir. But I don't want to be judged in that courtroom again. I'll just leave things as they are. An acquittal is impossible anyway, isn't it? In that case, I don't think a difference of one or two years matters much. I'm giving up on the appeal.”

The attorney remained silent for a moment after hearing my words before opening his mouth.

And this time, his expression and voice were not those of a professional going about his duties, but those of a genuine adult.

“Bareum, no, listen, Bareum. I'm going to tell you something, not as your attorney, but simply as an adult in this society who entered the working world a few years before you.”

It was the first time he had shown me his true face since taking on my defense.

“I completely sympathize with and understand why you've become disillusioned with this country's judicial system and why you're reacting this way now. But this isn't right. It really isn't. You're only seventeen. Do you have any idea how important and precious a single year of your life is?”

“Besides, you don't know what kind of place Gimcheon Juvenile Prison is. Juvenile offenders? Most minors receive protective dispositions for all but the most serious crimes. Kids who would get five years or more if they were adults end up being sent to juvenile detention centers instead. Do you understand what that means? It means Gimcheon Prison is where they put the worst of the worst, even among violent criminals. Only those deemed beyond rehabilitation are sent there. If a kid like you, who did nothing but study at a prestigious high school, goes in there······ you'll really die. I'm not speaking figuratively. I mean you'll literally die.”

Was it because I could sense the sincerity in the court-appointed attorney's words?

I ended up speaking my own true feelings as well.

“Die······. If that happens, I suppose it would be a stroke of luck for the Republic of Korea.”

“Bareum!!”

____________

On the way to Gimcheon Prison.

The bus made its way around Seoul before reaching Daejeon.

“Gimcheon is Bus Number 7. Everyone, move quickly!!”

Dozens of inmates poured out of each bus gathered in the yard of Daejeon Prison. It was a sight that made me wonder whether there really were this many criminals in South Korea. Among them, the particularly young-looking ones moved toward Bus Number 7 alongside me.

Juvenile violent offenders gathered from all over the country.

According to that court-appointed attorney, they were the worst of the worst, deemed beyond rehabilitation.

The transport bus had been converted from a 45-seat passenger bus and now had around thirty seats.

Roughly two-thirds of them were occupied by inmates.

'Isn't that bastard the guy? The one who fired a gun in court.'

'Ah!! That orphan bastard whose whole family got run over like roadkill? I think you're right.'

I could hear whispers coming from all around.

“Quiet!! Everyone, be quiet.”

Despite the correctional officer's shouting, the snickering voices showed no signs of dying down. But those bastards' whispers weren't what had my attention right now.

[Current Status]

Strength: 50 (First Limit)

Durability: 6

Stamina: 4

Karma Held: 1,000

This status window was real.

I had already experienced that firsthand in the courtroom. I didn't know exactly how much each point represented, but a Strength stat of 50 was extraordinary enough to effortlessly surpass the combined strength of two well-built adult male correctional officers.

Of course, it wasn't some kind of telekinesis that worked without any physical strain.

The force with which they desperately pulled at me had placed a heavy load on my bones and muscles. But that was all. Just as a hydraulic cylinder capable of withstanding dozens of tons of pressure wouldn't budge no matter how hard a human pushed against it, my body had endured their strength head-on without moving an inch.

It felt almost like the physical strength of a warrior who had become superhuman after receiving a serum in a movie. Not some weightless, magical superpower, but the force of dense, substantial mass that had just barely transcended the biological limitations of a human being.

And that wasn't even the end of it.

Systems of this kind were generally designed around the user's growth. To put it another way, I had only just finished the tutorial. If I already possessed strength beyond human limits at such an early stage, wouldn't the eventual result be closer to the realm of superheroes than grounded realism?

Of course, I still didn't know exactly how to obtain Karma or how difficult it would be.

But I could make an educated guess.

The moment I took Hong Chang-sik's life, his sins were 'judged,' and that judgment was converted into Karma. Meanwhile, the harm suffered by the other people in the courtroom was deducted as a penalty. In the end, perhaps the way to earn Karma was to 'judge' criminals without harming innocent people?

And from that perspective, Gimcheon Juvenile Prison, where I was now headed, might turn out to be the perfect place.

According to the court-appointed attorney, it was a gathering place for genuine heinous criminals, the kind rarely encountered in ordinary society or even in other prisons. The dregs of society who had been deemed beyond rehabilitation despite not yet reaching twenty years of age.

—Heh.

Ah, the corners of my mouth had risen again without my realizing it.

But wasn't it rather funny? Here I was, the very worst of the 'trash' as defined by society, already judging the others in that place as the dregs of society.

My gaze shifted toward another line of glowing text in the status window.

Another notification was shining beneath my stats.

[First Limit First-Time Reward]

*Roulette Ticket (Rare) - Test your luck.

I didn't know how this awakening had happened to me or exactly what it was, but its form was remarkably familiar and convenient. A kind of draw ticket commonly seen in mobile games. If this were a game with events and similar features, I'd probably have to save these up before using them, but there was no particular reason to do that in reality.

The moment I decided to use the Roulette Ticket,

a gigantic, flashing slot machine appeared before my eyes.

I reached toward the lever, which looked as though it was practically begging to be pulled.

—Clunk!!

The moment I pulled the lever downward,

the reels of the slot machine before me began spinning rapidly.

All sorts of glittering, brilliantly colored objects that looked extraordinarily precious flashed past my eyes. If this were a game, they would probably be the flashy prizes meant to lure players in.

And when the spinning finally stopped, an extraordinarily bizarre symbol radiating dark red light came to rest in the first slot.

It depicted two masks facing each other as though they were about to devour one another.

One had wide-open eyes filled with blood and a jaw twisted in agony, while the other wore an ecstatic smile across its torn-open mouth.

They looked like representations of a victim and a perpetrator.

A chain of sharp thorns bound the two masks together, forming a single circular emblem.

[Congratulations! You have acquired the Unique Skill 'Resonance of Sin.']

'Resonance of Sin?'

Wait, more importantly, Unique?

Judging by the standards of older games, Unique was among the highest rarity grades.

Of course, thanks to the rampant inflation of rarity grades in modern mobile games, there were now strings of higher tiers like Legendary and Mythic stacked above it like sausages. Even so, Unique was hardly a grade that would fall short in terms of performance.

Did I somehow manage to snag one of those flashy grand prizes?

Just as I was about to check its exact effects in detail.

—Rumble!

With the heavy sound of brakes, my body lurched sharply forward. The slot machine and emblem floating before me scattered like smoke, and the musty smell inside the transport bus assaulted my nose.

“We've arrived at Gimcheon Juvenile Prison. Everyone, get off the bus. Form ranks and move quickly.”

The doors opened along with the correctional officer's barked orders. Before my eyes stood a gray concrete wall more than ten meters high, its upper edge densely wrapped in barbed wire.

This was Gimcheon Juvenile Prison, where the youngest devils in the Republic of Korea gathered.

Was it because this was a place where those considered less than human were gathered?

The admission procedures were utterly humiliating.

Before changing into the blue prison uniform, I had to stand there completely naked.

“Bang Hyeong-ju, Number 391. Jeong Bareum, Number 412. From now on, you will not be addressed by your names. These numbers are your names. Make sure you memorize them.”

A low, dry voice that used polite language but didn't sound respectful in the slightest.

Next came an electronic imaging examination, commonly referred to as an anal inspection.

Following the correctional officer's instructions, we had to repeatedly squat and stand over a camera-equipped sensor while wearing nothing but blue gowns. Without exception, expressions of bitter humiliation crossed the juvenile offenders' faces.

Then came the cell assignments.

“Number 412. Cell Number 7. Follow the correctional officer's instructions and move.”

At that moment, the atmosphere in the waiting room changed subtly.

Several of the boys turned their gazes openly toward me.

“That bastard is fucked.”

A juvenile offender sitting in the corner swallowed hard and whispered quietly to the boy beside him.

“Why? You know something?”

“I told you my buddy was in here until recently, didn't I? Fuck, Cell 7 is seriously fucked.”

“Why? What's wrong with it?”

“Bae Do-hyeon is the cell boss.”

“Bae Do-hyeon? That pimp who gathered runaway kids around Yeokgok in Bucheon and ran a prostitution operation?”

“Yeah. That bastard who supposedly beat girls and forced them to sell their bodies. But what does that have to do with Cell 7 being fucked?”

“I heard he's doing the same thing in here.”

“Huh? In here? Pimping? There are girls in this place?”

“Do you think there would be, you fucking idiot?”

One of the juvenile offenders involved in the conversation turned deathly pale.

He understood all too clearly what it meant to run a prostitution operation in a prison occupied entirely by men.

“Th-that crazy bastard······.”

“He picks out the weak ones, makes their lives in the cell a living hell, and every night······ Anyway, fuck, that bastard looks like a total honor student. He's really going to be screaming his lungs out tonight.”

Leaving the whispers behind, I stood before an iron door, urged forward by the correctional officer's rough gestures.

The heavy iron door swung open smoothly.

Cell Number 7.

It looked like an ordinary prison cell from a movie or drama. But the acrid smell of sweat and the strange sense of oppression that no movie or drama could convey pressed against my skin.

Eight juvenile offenders were sprawled around the room.

Among them, one boy was lying in front of a fan with his shirt off, exposing a crude tattoo on his chest.

“Number 471, straighten your uniform.”

“Aw, Officer. Cut me some slack. It's thirty-five degrees today. I get hot really easily, so if I wear all that, I'll die.”

“Number 471!!”

“Jeez, seriously. You keep making me lose face in front of the new guy. I'm putting it on. See? I'm putting it on real fast.”

Grumbling, Bae Do-hyeon casually pulled on his sweat-soaked prison shirt. The correctional officer swept his sharp gaze across the room before slamming the iron door shut.

The sound of the heavy iron door closing and the lock clicking into place echoed throughout the cellblock.

Now this room was entirely their world.

The moment the iron door closed, the sly smile vanished completely from Bae Do-hyeon's face.

His gleaming eyes swept over my entire body. His gaze resembled that of a butcher inspecting meat hanging in a shop.

“Wow, fuck, who do we have here? You look like a total honor student. Aren't you that sniper who's been on the news every day lately?”

Bae Do-hyeon sauntered over, stretched out his arm, and casually draped it across my shoulders.

It was the typical shoulder hold used by delinquents to extort money or intimidate someone.

And at that very moment.

[Prolonged physical contact with an evildoer has been detected.]

[Unique Skill 'Resonance of Sin' has been activated.]

© Myoyeop#12ipk

Author's Note

Thank you!!