Chapter 3

When San woke up with a very, very dizzy head, he blinked several times while adjusting the light that seemed to attack his eyes.

Strange place. San was sure that this was a place he had never been before. Rising from the position he was lying on the hard surface, he glanced around.

He just realized that there was someone else beside him, and at that moment, he realized something. "Why am I here?"

"Oh, you've realized?" said the crew-cut man with a long scar running down his right cheek.

"Sir-" San called as he approached with a shuffle. The young man's gaze began to panic. He hoped this was just a dream. It doesn't make sense, and it doesn't make sense. As far as he could remember, it was in front of his younger brother's house. Why is he suddenly behind bars?

San was about to ask again, but a guard came and called out. San was confused, and even when he was dragged outside, he could only surrender.

Now he is in a room with dimmer lighting, more isolated because all the walls are gray, two doors are tightly closed, and the strangest thing is that his hands are handcuffed.

"What is this?!" he was annoyed. He sits in an iron chair, and a small notebook and a ballpoint pen are on the table.

"Are you ready for the interrogation?" Someone entered and approached San.

"Interrogation? Policeman, why am I here?" He had never had the chance to ask questions.

The almost bald man stared meaningfully. "Because of your actions," he replied after a moment.

"What? How—wait." San laughed dryly. "What have I done to get handcuffed like this?!" His voice was squeaky; he had been getting irritated by this absurd situation for a long time.

"Because you committed a crime, boy!" The policeman snapped back. "It's been wrong to stick up for parents again!"

"Oh, sir. I didn't commit any crime. What did I do?" San tried not to launch his tears. He was confused and worried, and to be honest, and there was fear.

"Here, I have the right to ask, boy! Why did you do that?"

"What the why?" Sam was perplexed.

The almost bald head rubbed his frustrated face. "You fuck know what's wrong with you?!" he snapped.

"I've always asked you, why am I here? What have I done to get my hands cuffed?" He thrust his hand forward.

"Theft, assault, abuse, and murder!"

Sam fell silent. He had almost forgotten how to blink and breathe. What did he hear just now? Wait a minute... "Sir, I--"

"You have raped your college friend and killed her," explained the officer with a tired look. He then let out a long sigh. "If you need money, isn't stealing enough? Why do you have to rape-kill?!"

San was awakened when the man pounded on the table. His hands which were all on the table, now fell into his lap. The young man's gaze was still uncertain. He had a hard time digesting the information he had just heard.

Steal?

Rape?

Kill?

What kind of crazy drama is this again?

The man took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Do you remember now? Do you know what you did wrong? Your sin?!"

"Impossible," San muttered, his voice trembling and his eyeballs still staring at the table's surface.

"Admit it. You won't get away because the evidence is so accurate. You won't have a future. You will rot in prison."

***

San felt that this was all just a dream, but it was too real to be just a dream.

He slapped his cheeks.

Feeling that this was not enough, he did it again and again, this time countless times.

"Self-harm won't help you at all."

"Maybe I can wake up," San replied to the middle-aged man.

He was in the same cell when he first woke up. Come to think of it, and he didn't remember the trip to the prison. Even what he remembered last time was the girl's house, the large courtyard, the door opening, then… that scream and the pain in his head.

"Sir," he called when he remembered something. "Were you here before I came?"

The almost bald man looked at San with unreadable eyes. Then, he nodded.

San's seat, which used to be leaning against the iron bars, is now upright. The look on his face that was initially limp was suddenly full of calculation. "How did I get here? S-I mean, is the state of me coming here? That's because suddenly when I woke up, everything changed."

"Dragged."

"Hah?" Two seconds later, he was laughing. "Not funny, anyway, but I just laugh out of respect for elders."

The man sighed. "They put you in here while you were unconscious."

San snapped his fingers. "I thought so. But, how come I'm in jail when I'm unconscious?" He felt the back of his head, still a slight throbbing pain when he pressed against it. Then San shook his head. It doesn't seem necessary. "I ask you this because you are the only one here. The police don't want me to talk to them."

San remembered when he demanded more explanation from one of the officers. They thought that he was only pretending to have lost his memory to avoid being questioned by interrogation.

"I was slandered, Sir. I don't even remember why I'm here. Theft, rape, even murder?" He let out a rough breath. "That's impossible. As poor as I am, I've never stolen anything." Gaining a sanctioned look from his interlocutor, he continued, "I swear, sir! For God's sake, I have never taken other people's rights by force."

"Prison is full of all thieves confess, Son."

San just realized even though he looked pretty scary, the man he had been talking to earlier used formal language towards him. Even though San was sure that anyone who saw that person for the first time would think he was a cruel thug. Just look at the scar that extends from the jaw to almost the eye.

"I'm no longer making confessions or defending, sir. I'm just setting the record straight. They misunderstood." His face turned worried again.

"If the police don't believe me, what about me? You need acknowledgment from me?"

That is true. What's the point of saying that to this man? What he should have convinced was the police.

"By the way, son," continued the man earlier. "You know who reported you?"

San, staring blankly at the cold floor, turned to the man. "Yes?" San's confusion was answered by the man's gaze that was directed straight at the barred door. He followed the direction of the eye and found someone smiling at him.

"Gio?"