Chapter 59: Detention Center
To be honest, Korean detention centers were theme parks.
Journalists occasionally wrote pieces like "Is this poor correctional environment really acceptable? No air conditioning in the sweltering heat. Are inmates not human?" But it was all the whining of well-fed idiots.
At least, that's how it looked to Ri Su-jin, now in the embrace of her homeland.
On the way to the detention center after three days of victim identification hearings—when Ri Su-jin finally came to her senses and begged to be allowed to hire a lawyer—
"You want a lawyer? Go call one yourself!"
"……"
"What's the rush!?"
That was the mocking response Ri Su-jin received from the escorting officer as she was being transported to the detention center. Call your own lawyer if you want one. What's the big deal.
Technically, that was correct. But this wasn't Korea.
"Make a phone call."
At least a phone call, please.
"Denied."
Rejected, as expected. This was the treatment you got in China once you were labeled a "major criminal."
Phone calls? Those could only be made in the presence of public security officers—and only when the officers allowed it, of course. Naturally, hiring a lawyer was also subject to permission. They could deny it.
This is China.
The real China.
If this had been Yanbian, teeming with ethnic Koreans? If it had been her hometown where her local influence reached even slightly, she might have received marginally better treatment. She had a contact—a grassroots public security officer—among the compatriots she knew through one degree of separation.
But this was Yantai.
She was an ethnic Korean accused of trafficking Chinese nationals.
"No... this isn't right."
"Sit down!"
"I'm telling the truth. Please."
Ri Su-jin, growing desperate, sat up in the transport vehicle.
"Sit down!"
The Chinese officer would not tolerate such insubordination. The baton came down immediately.
Ri Su-jin cowered in the rattling transport vehicle as she was beaten. Every time her head—which had already been beaten by Joo Sung-hyun—was struck again, her skull rang. At some point she began begging for her life, but the officer's beating showed no mercy.
Ri Su-jin received a total of thirty-five blows. The fact that it stopped at thirty-five was only because the driver scolded them to stop.
They soon arrived at the detention center. It was a facility under the Yantai City Public Security Bureau of Shandong Province. Not a Korean-style detention center that doubled as a theme park, but a real one.
…
Naturally, Ri Su-jin was assigned to the major crimes wing. Her cellmates were all trash. Trash equal to or worse than Ri Su-jin.
The cell leader was Wang Chunmei, suspected of child trafficking. A huge bitch. Really huge. Liu Hua, who immediately snickered and pointed at Ri Su-jin, calling her "cellmate." She was a drug addict, caught distributing meth. The rest were no pushovers either—a woman who came in for robbery-murder, one who ran a brothel, one who killed a debtor and buried the body, one who had produced over fifty victims through romance scams…
In terms of criminal weight, they were all lesser than Ri Su-jin. Ri Su-jin wasn't just a criminal—she was the boss of an international organization. If they had met outside the detention center, she would have crushed them all.
"Just a cellmate."
In the cell, she was alone, and therefore weak. The kind of weakling who couldn't even properly object when called a cellmate.
What do I do now?
The situation ahead was bleak, but fortunately, Ri Su-jin didn't need to worry. Because once you're caught by public security and locked up in a detention center, your will doesn't matter anymore.
Ri Su-jin rolled her eyes weakly and looked around the cell. It was... a sight to behold. Bamboo mats laid on a concrete floor, small barred windows. On one wall was a phrase that looked like a warning that disobeying would get you killed: Obey discipline, follow orders.
"Please send me back to Korea."
The words spilled out in Korean before she realized it. Suddenly, she missed Korea.
The cell leader threw her a mop. Along with the message that she was now mop duty. A mop that smelled absolutely terrible. But compared to everything else, the mop was actually easier to adapt to.
First, the meals were no easy matter.
"This is supposed to be food?"
The food served was truly at the level of pig slop. Breakfast was two ladles of thin corn porridge and one steamed bun that smelled musty. Lunch was salted cabbage stir-fry with radish soup. Dinner was pickled cucumber and tofu stir-fry that had been smashed to pieces. The taste was revolting, and she couldn't bring herself to eat it.
The food wasn't the problem... No, it was the problem.
Thinking about it, the food was also punishment. When she was doing well in Korea—actually, even since her days as an office lady, she'd never gone hungry. Even just two sets a day would bring in a decent part-time weekly wage. Even when she just needed to grab a quick meal, her manager would bring her an Italian VBT sandwich and an energy drink.
Now, low-quality pig slop sat before her.
"Urk...!"
Ri Su-jin simply couldn't eat the food. Her cellmates mocked her, saying she'd be eating like a madwoman within a week.
And a few days later.
Unexpectedly, staff from the Korean consulate came to see her. From the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Qingdao. It was a moment when Ri Su-jin found a sliver of hope. Did she believe Korea would help her? Not really. Why would Korea help her? It was just that Ri Su-jin was currently in a situation where any contact with the outside world was impossible. The mere fact of meeting someone who didn't view her as an enemy was a relief.
She had been planning to ask them to help her hire a lawyer when the opportunity arose.
"Gentlemen. I'll give you a contact number."
"We don't need it."
"What?"
"We have one question. Do you have any intention of cooperating with Korean investigative authorities?"
They hadn't come to talk to her at all. They had probably come at the request of the NIS and the police, just to gather information—and even that, judging by their expressions, they had almost no expectations.
If Ri Su-jin actually started spilling useful information to Korean diplomats, would the public security officers just stand by? They'd cut it off immediately.
Only then did Ri Su-jin truly feel it. That there was no one she could rely on. That even obtaining outside information was nearly impossible.
Still, there was one thing she absolutely had to ask.
"What happened to Joo Sung-hyun?"
"No intention to cooperate? Then..."
"Joo Sung-hyun! What happened to him!!"
"Oh dear."
The consulate staff clicked their tongues. The public security officer observing the meeting fiddled with his baton. The only reason he didn't strike was because Korean diplomats were watching. Truly... civilized.
Fortunately, her courage had paid off—she was able to learn about the fate of the one who had sent her here.
"We've heard there's an unofficial civilian informant."
"An informant? That bastard is way more than that...!"
"He's probably back in Korea by now. Safely."
Joo Sung-hyun, who had thrown her here and slipped away alone.
Ri Su-jin collapsed in despair.
She had many things she wanted to say. Raising suspicions that Joo Sung-hyun had her old phone—which she'd used for deleted file recovery and which could become a golden phone depending on how it was used—cursing that they were all being played by Joo Sung-hyun, or at least making accusations.
But she couldn't. Because even this might be Joo Sung-hyun's trap.
"The interview is over!"
"Public security says to wrap it up. Take care."
From the start, there was no one who would listen to her.
Ri Su-jin ended the interview in vain and returned to the detention center.
And a few more days passed.
Ri Su-jin was transferred to the procuratorate. And then...
She received a document from an officer. It wasn't a document related to the investigation.
Voluntary Human Organ Donation Form
Human Organ Donation Volunteer Form. It was a document pledging to "voluntarily" donate organs to the organ transplant system managed by the People's Liberation Army and the Chinese Red Cross.
"Haha... fuck."
I volunteer to donate my human organs after death for medical and research purposes. This donation is entirely based on my own voluntary will and is not coerced. This volunteer form is considered my true intention upon signature...
Right. Voluntary.
But they were presenting this to someone facing over ten charges including child trafficking (two counts), organizing and brokering prostitution, and using forged documents—someone who would have difficulty avoiding the death penalty.
Compared to the era when they just ripped out organs regardless of international opinion (sometimes even before death), this seemed much more progressive, but it was still forced organ extraction. It also meant that public security had no intention of keeping Ri Su-jin alive.
"Sign or not?"
Sign or not.
According to the cell leader, if she signed, they'd give her medical priority (so they could secure healthy organs) and occasionally send in special meals. Just that much benefit. But if she refused, the word "non-cooperative" would be written in her correctional record. There was no Chinese person who didn't know what that meant.
Thanks to that, Ri Su-jin also understood. That even if not now, she would eventually sign.
With trembling hands, Ri Su-jin wrote her three-character name.
Li Xiu Zhen.
The name of the boss who once dominated Annam City's entertainment district from behind the scenes. Now it was just the name of a powerless prisoner.
Two days after staying in China for a while, handing over Ri Su-jin, and returning to Korea.
Ri Su-jin's case finally started making the news.
I had received a brief information sharing from the NIS. China had refused to extradite her. The NIS had attempted behind-the-scenes negotiations, but there was no hope at all...
Of course. There was no way China would extradite an ethnic Korean woman who ran a prostitution business in Korea, especially one whose younger sister was a Korean national. They had done it knowing this would happen.
From the NIS's perspective, they had almost caught a criminal only to have China snatch them away. But I wasn't the one who would be reprimanded. In fact, the opposite.
"...Officer Joo Sung-hyun, I express my regret unofficially. You independently identified Ri Su-jin's smuggling route and even tracked her, but due to the lukewarm response from the coast guard and police, Ri Su-jin was handed over to China."
"Yes. I'm truly sorry as well."
"You were a diligent informant. And..."
"I'll keep my mouth shut and live accordingly."
I was just an informant. Even though I was excluded from the investigation because I was a civilian, I had chased Ri Su-jin on my own and "diligently" reported valid information, but I only missed her because of the NIS and police's sluggish response. The contractor who helped Ri Su-jin and the smuggling broker were barely caught thanks to me.
Anyway, this was a satisfactory ending.
"Officer Joo Sung-hyun? I'll come see you as soon as the disciplinary procedure is finished."
10 / 1,243 / 3 years 5 months
Lee Kwang-chul, the chief of the NIS Annam branch office, left room for future contact. He said he'd see me soon after my disciplinary procedure—which stemmed from Ri Su-jin's false accusations—was over.
I let it go. I had worked hard, so I didn't even ask him to use the NIS network to reduce the severity of my punishment. Because I had something to handle right away.
Ri Su-min.
Since I had sent 999 to a good place, it was now time to take care of her younger sister. In a different way than her sister.