Trapped in the Skinner Box
Through the open door, the sight of her—the woman I never wanted to see again—appears with painful clarity.
“...I told you to open the door, didn’t I?”
Jeong Soyeon steps inside the house and closes the door behind her. Riiiing.
“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”
“Don’t come any closer. We’re not lovers anymore, and entering someone’s home without permission is a crime.”
I have to stay calm. Ever since Jimin stabbed me, this body hasn’t had a chance to rest. It keeps deteriorating. There’s no way I can run. I need to think clearly, speak the words, and force her out of here.
Even as my body—little more than a tattered rag that wants nothing more than to collapse and recover—screams for rest, I keep my mind spinning.
“Jihyun, what kind of concept is this now? Noona’s starting to get angry, so maybe you should ease up a little…”
“I’m dead serious, so listen. We broke up. Turn around right now and leave.”
“...Why are you suddenly doing this?”
“Until now I put up with all your perverted, violent, deviant desires because you were my girlfriend. I can’t endure it anymore. Go see a psychiatrist. Get on medication and start counseling again.”
Jeong Soyeon’s expression begins to distort. That cold, blank face twitches violently.
“You… what did you just say to Noona…”
“If you take even one more step into my house, I’m calling the police.”
I hold up my smartphone with 112 already dialed on the screen. Jeong Soyeon, who had been advancing one step at a time, flinches and freezes.
“I’ll say it one last time. Our relationship is over, so open that door and get out right now. If you don’t…”
Jeong Soyeon lunges at me. I immediately press the call button. Riiiing. The connection tone sounds.
She climbs on top of me, reaching for the phone. The moment her fingers touch it, I frantically swipe across the screen trying to hit the end-call button. I kick out with every ounce of strength I have left. But she doesn’t budge easily and clings to me like a leech.
Riiiing. The tone sounds a second time.
I twist my arm behind my back, desperately trying to keep the phone out of reach. Jeong Soyeon mounts me again and begins wrenching my wrist. A sickening crack echoes from my hand.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!”
The pain I’ve never felt before makes my entire body scream. My hand spasms and drops the phone. Jeong Soyeon snatches it up.
The ringing stops and a police officer’s voice comes through. Jeong Soyeon shoves her hand into my mouth to silence me and answers in my place.
“Ah, I’m sorry. My friend pressed it as a joke…”
I bite down with every last bit of strength I possess on the fingers forcing their way inside, blocking my tongue. Blood floods my mouth.
“S…sorry. Yes, yes.”
Her jaw trembles violently as I bite hard enough to crush bone, yet she endures it and continues the call without a tremor in her voice.
“Yes… I’m sorry. Yes, thank you for your service.”
The call ends. Jeong Soyeon grabs my chin with her other hand and yanks her fingers free. The hand is drenched in my saliva and blood pours from the ugly bite marks. I can see the torn flesh clearly, yet she simply picks up my phone again as if nothing happened.
“Fuck…! Get out! Get the hell out!!”
I swing at her, trying to shove her away, but she holds firm. That bleeding hand clamps viciously onto my face. A fishy, nauseating liquid smears across my skin.
Crack!
An impact so powerful my consciousness flickers slams into my cheek. Shattered teeth fly from my mouth. I hear them clatter and roll across the floor with sickening clarity.
“You dare defy Noona? You?”
She begins slamming my own smartphone down onto the wound on my shoulder.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!! Ugggh… uuuuuurgh!”
Jeong Soyeon strips off her top, forces the fabric into my mouth, and ties it brutally behind my neck. Even though I want to resist, the wounds that had barely begun to close tear open again. The agony forces my mouth open on its own, spilling out moans.
“There. If you scream any louder the neighbors will complain, so keep that mouth shut from now on. This is only the beginning, so endure it well. Understand?”
Jeong Soyeon drags me across the floor into my room. Then she wraps her arm around my neck… and squeezes.
“When you open your eyes again, pleasant things will be waiting for you. See you soon, my baby?”
The pressure on my carotid artery tightens…
…………
Consciousness returned.
I sense a presence very close by. Jeong Soyeon… I can hear her carrying something back and forth.
I tried to crack my eyes open, but whatever was wrapped around them completely blocked my vision. My body screamed for death. I somehow swallowed the moans threatening to escape, fighting to keep her from realizing I was awake.
“Jihyun, I know you’re awake.”
Fuck… I want to curse, but my mouth is sealed shut. My throat and cracked lips are painfully dry. Jeong Soyeon’s clothes wrapped around my face have absorbed every drop of saliva, leaving my mouth in a state of unnatural drought.
Pain radiates from everywhere. Cheek, shattered teeth, shoulder, back, waist, legs, arms, head, stomach… It would be easier to name the places that don’t hurt.
“Jihyun, I’ve seen you in a new light! That manly, brave side of you was incredibly attractive. I might be even more obsessed than when we first met…?”
Her voice draws closer along with her footsteps.
“I went to the hospital while you were out… The doctor was shocked. He said he’d never seen injuries like these before! The bone was completely visible, can you imagine? And even that bone was fractured.”
Jeong Soyeon strokes my chin.
“Yes, I was definitely wrong. I thought my Jihyun was a cute little rabbit who listened so well. But even a rabbit has surprisingly sharp fangs. It really hurt when you bit me… Noona was in so much pain. Still, I endured it. I endured it because I love my Jihyun. If you had actually called the police, we wouldn’t be able to see each other anymore… How sad that would have been, don’t you think?”
I have no strength left to scream or thrash.
“Jihyun, after thinking it over, I realized that no matter how much I forgive you from now on, you’ll eventually report me and try to run away again. You can understand why I’d think that, can’t you?”
Jeong Soyeon strokes my head. I feel the bandages wrapped around her hand.
“So I kept wondering what I should do… How can I turn my wonderful Jihyun back into that obedient, adorable baby again? Hmm…”
Her hand rests on my shoulder as she circles me.
“How can I take this suddenly manly Jihyun and make him pure and good again…”
Both of her hands settle on my shoulders.
“Then it hit me! Jihyun, do you understand now why I studied psychology all this time? I memorized all those scholars and experiments for this very moment!”
Jeong Soyeon continues, her voice bright with delight.
“Freud, Jung, Skinner, Albert Bandura, Watson, Pavlov, Piaget… You remember them all, don’t you?”
The names of famous psychologists roll off her tongue.
“And all the experiments we learned about—think back slowly. There were so many interesting, fascinating ones. Do you remember?”
Everything she’s talking about with such excited glee flashes through my mind as well. I already understand what insane thing she wants to do, but I don’t want to put it into words.
“You and I, Jihyun, are going to personally reenact those experiments!”
“Remember the one where they used punishment, rewards, electric shocks, and stimuli to condition rats into specific behaviors? I think that was Skinner. Let’s see if my Jihyun can learn it too. That brilliant man ran every experiment imaginable… right? We’ll modify it slightly and try it together! I’m not sure where to begin first.”
“Oh, but before that, there’s something else we need to do! You remember classical conditioning, don’t you? The one Pavlov did with his dogs. He used food, so for my Jihyun we’ll make it a little more hardcore. Every time I punch you in the stomach, I’ll ring this little bell I bought.”
Ding~ The bell sounds clear and pure.
“What other experiments should we try? Ah! I almost forgot the ones Jihyun likes best… Complexes, PTSD—how should I experiment with those? I know! I’ll combine them with Mr. Skinner’s methods and teach my Jihyun an entirely new complex! I’ll need to create a truly shocking event… How should I shock my Jihyun? Hmm?”
Jeong Soyeon pokes my cheek repeatedly. Those demonic, horrifying words and the joyful anticipation in her voice are utterly repulsive.
“Mother won’t be here for quite a while… So let’s experiment thoroughly until then! Okay? That way we can show her how well we’ve reconciled.”
Jeong Soyeon pulls me into her arms.
Please. Someone just knock me unconscious. Or kill me right now.
All the psychologists and experiments in my head twist into the horrific vivisections she plans to perform on me, flooding me with nothing but pure terror.
“Still, my Jihyun was really manly! Not only did you speak to me so fiercely and decisively, you even hit and kicked me… So my Jihyun knows how to do those things too.”
“But since I enjoyed that for a little while, let’s go back to the way things were before. All right?”
Jeong Soyeon presses her lips to my cheek.