The Guard Meeting
— Clang.
A691’s torture session has begun….
“Haa.”
After shutting the door and confirming that the alarm inside the iron gate was functioning properly, Leviathan let out a long breath. He turned his head. Displayed before him were the inmate numbers of every prisoner who had entered a torture chamber, along with the time remaining for each.
The one with the longest allotment of all:
A713
181 minutes
Even after every other inmate’s treatment had finished, screams still leaked from her chamber—the one with the most time left.
At this rate her throat will give out…
It was not a situation beyond understanding. During guard training, Leviathan himself had undergone the torture program. Compared to what the inmates endured, the intensity had been lower and there had been no bondage or restraint, so it had been little more than an “experience.” Even so, the pain he had felt then was far from mild.
To suffer that kind of agony for hours on end…
He had been the one to put her in this position with his own hands, yet he genuinely wondered whether A713 could endure it. Still—
A713 had to endure. If a truly dangerous situation arose, Control would contact him. There was nothing more he could do for her right now. From the start, an inmate who had lost to her own lust was never granted the freedom to choose her torture duration.
This was Prison Island—the place where those defeated by desire came.
Prison Island contained many zones.
The Confinement Area, where the inmates lived. The Torture Area, where those who had committed infractions were processed and daily Demeanor Penalty Points were settled. The Training Area, where inmates built their stamina or were drilled as sex slaves. The Execution Area—the flower of Prison Island and the ultimate means of controlling the inmates—where “executions” were carried out. Near the entrance stood the individual rooms of each guard, along with the guard offices.
Those were all the zones the imprisoned inmates could ever see. If one stretched the list a little further, there was the Control Room that exchanged radio contact with the guards, and the Recovery Room near the Execution Area.
But there were spaces they did not know.
Leviathan set off toward the prison entrance.
— Whirr.
He opened a door with a fingerprint scan. More precisely, he opened another hidden door set into the wall beside the great iron gate that blocked the prison entrance. To the naked eye it was impossible even to tell whether a door was there at all. Yet a door most certainly existed.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Looks like I’m the last one.”
“Happens when you’re looking after a newcomer. I heard A522 got hurt too?”
“She was bitten by the Male Dogs on the way back from solitary.”
“Bad?”
“Pretty banged up, but I healed her and put her in a torture chamber.”
“So not life-threatening, then.”
“If it had been, I’d have reported it immediately.”
“Right.”
The space he entered was a conference room flooded with bright light. Against the stark white surroundings, the guards in their black uniforms stood out sharply. They sat around a single large table in the center. Every one of them was a guard.
“All right. Let’s begin the regular meeting. Sit up properly, everyone.”
“Yes, sir.”
The warden at the head of the table called them all to attention. Black long hair, glasses—nickname Diabolos. The overall manager of Prison Island. At his command every guard straightened their posture and fixed their gaze forward. Then, led by Diabolos, the ritual chant began.
“Inmates are our clients, and we do not handle them carelessly. We treat them according to established regulations and policy rather than personal emotion. We respect an inmate’s preferences, and we do not regard them as fellow human beings. For the sake of an inmate’s satisfaction, we do not hesitate to treat them as less than human!”
“All right. Keep that firmly in mind as we begin the meeting.”
A ritual the inmates would never know. The regular staff meeting of the guards who belonged to this workplace called Prison Island.
“Who’s off today?”
“Cell 6—Ba’al.”
“Ah, right. He said he was taking the family to the valley, didn’t he?”
“Yes. He’s out until tomorrow.”
“Fine. As I always say, use your leave early whenever you get the chance. Don’t wait until inmates pile up and some incident leaves everyone scrambling.”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right. Excluding those absent, we’ll start with Lucifer.”
“Yes. Beginning the regular report.”
At Diabolos’s order, the guard in charge of Cell 1—Lucifer—rose from his seat. Black hair, eyes like pure darkness. With his short sports cut and trained physique he looked every bit a real soldier. He expanded the hologram on his portable terminal to maximum size and began.
“As shared on your terminals, today’s top performer in training was A701 from my Cell 1. As her reward she requested a night with Shatan, and I have already granted permission.”
“Didn’t A701 take first last time as well?”
“Yes, that’s correct. When it comes to physical ability, A701—a former national-team training squad member—and A691 from Cell 3, a former fitness trainer, have been showing overwhelming results.”
“Speaking of which, where did A691 place this time?”
At Diabolos’s question Lucifer glanced toward Leviathan, the officer in charge of Cell 3. Sensing the look, Leviathan gave a slight nod—a gesture that said he didn’t mind, speak freely.
“She was in solitary today and could not participate.”
“Again? Why this time?”
“She resisted a guard. During a training session run by Asmode she attempted to overpower the officer by force. Control detected it and issued a neutralization order. The solitary disposition was decided by her assigned guard, Leviathan.”
At the detailed explanation Diabolos looked back and forth between Leviathan and Asmode, the parties involved. The look asked why they had not reported it earlier. Still, this was the weekly regular meeting; the incident had occurred in the interval, and from their expressions it seemed they had intended to bring it up. He decided not to reprimand them for now. As long as an inmate was not broken, excessive interference with the guards was something Diabolos preferred to avoid—that was his usual philosophy.
“I see. Understood. Anything else?”
“Nothing of particular note. Ah—A708 is due for release next month, so socialization training will soon be required. I’ll submit a separate request for that.”
“Do so. Especially with A708—her boyfriend cheated on her during her sentence. Inform her of that in advance and look after her carefully. Inmates who go through that sort of thing often blame themselves and request extremely severe torture, so adjust the intensity with care.”
“Understood.”
With that, Lucifer’s report ended. The other guards entered the contents of his report into their virtual keyboards and holograms. The inmate herself might not know it yet, but starting tomorrow A708’s treatment would have to change, so they noted the key points carefully so nothing would be missed.
“Ahem. Then I believe it’s my turn?”
Following Lucifer was a massive, loosely built giant—the guard in charge of Cell 2, Marmon, built like an American strongman.
“Nothing much on my end either… As shared last week, A688 has been re-incarcerated. I’m sure you’re all curious. After the interview… well. Her condition is pretty severe.”
He opened with the claim that it was nothing special. Yet every eye in the room locked onto him. Watching Marmon hesitate, Diabolos spoke first to keep the flow moving.
“I’ve been interested in A688 anyway. When headquarters designed the program they basically dictated the term and set the options by fiat… Setting a thirty-six-month sentence has only happened twice in the twenty-year history of Prison Island.”
“…That’s right.”
“And the earlier case was a murderer using a loophole to run. In the end a police cooperation request came during the sentence, and the inmate—exhausted by life here, which is harder than actual prison—walked out on her own two feet. So if we set that aside, this is the first, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s correct. And… after the interview, it’s a bit more… than expected.”
“Tell us.”
At Diabolos’s order, Marmon expanded the hologram to full size and transmitted the prepared information to everyone’s terminals. The content was too long and too pitiful; he let them read the interview results for themselves in place of an explanation.
“…Is this real?”
“Yes. It is. Haa~.”
“This is rough. That ex-husband bastard… isn’t he pure garbage? Fraudulent marriage, squandering every last won of her assets, abortion by violence? Ha.”
Asmode, the only other woman present, exploded in anger. As she said, A688’s counseling record was shocking. Summarizing what the hologram displayed: after her previous incarceration A688 had met a man, married him, and even become pregnant. But it turned out the man had approached her solely for her money. Once he learned of the unwanted child, he used every illegal means to siphon off or waste her fortune while tormenting her. The torment escalated into physical violence and finally produced the worst outcome—an abortion—before the marriage collapsed completely.
The man, already under pursuit for assault and other crimes, caused a drunk-driving accident and died. In the end the wicked had been punished, yet the life of inmate A688—Kang Seoa—had been ruined all the same.
“At first I asked about her resolve, and when the answer was vague I did administer corporal punishment, but even while I was hitting her I didn’t feel good about it.”
“But she told you everything in the end?”
“Fortunately, A688 says she considered suicide, then returned here to regain the will to live. Her purpose itself is close to that.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. In addition, she set the sentence long because she wanted to reawaken the female sexual desire she had forgotten and recover the fortune she lost, so she filled it to the maximum. That’s why A688 contracted under a system that deducts incarceration fees first from video revenue rather than an advance payment. Video sales were also set to begin the moment her sentence started.”
“Hmm. Choosing this place as an escape… a little worrying.”
“Yes. Even so, once she has chosen incarceration we have to treat her as a client and do the job properly. Please just keep this in mind and treat her the same as any other inmate. That’s all from me.”
At his request everyone nodded. Only one person—Asmode, the sole female guard—clicked her tongue. She understood the situation and intended to follow the same standard, yet she suspected that when the moment actually came to treat A688 harshly she would hesitate. Diabolos watched her with concern, but decided to set the matter aside for now. If a problem arose he could admonish her later. That was what he thought.
“My turn next, then.”
After Marmon’s report, Leviathan, officer of Cell 3, rose from his seat.
“I had quite a few items to convey… but since Lucifer already brought up the matter involving A691, I’ll skip that.”
“Fine. Submit a separate report on it.”
“Yes…. Apart from that, A522 was caught by the Male Dogs in the Solitary Confinement Area and was badly injured. Treatment is finished now and she completed her full torture time as well, but I have a vague sense of whether she was caught deliberately or by accident, so I’m investigating separately.”
“Would any inmate deliberately get caught by the Male Dogs?”
“…If it’s A522, it’s possible.”
The guards pictured the Male Dogs kept in the Solitary Confinement Area. The black Male Dogs were always in heat, ready to charge the moment they saw an inmate. Anyone caught by them was inevitably violated into a wreck. Yet unless they were restrained, inmates almost never got caught. The Male Dogs were blind, crawled on all fours, and were slow. If someone was caught, it was either because the inmate had truly let her guard down or because her assigned guard had openly thrown her to them.
“Ah, right. She’s a masochism patient, isn’t she.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
But unlike other inmates, A522 could manage it. Despite her haughty expression and crisp attitude, she was one of those who sometimes let her lust explode and courted danger on purpose.
“However, given that I had already assigned her Demeanor Penalty Points and she still got caught, the odds are high it wasn’t intentional. As you know, A522 is meticulous about managing her points.”
“That’s true.”
“Then it wasn’t deliberate.”
A522 was also an inmate who managed her Demeanor Penalty Points with extreme care. Starved for proper living and praise, she had even taken the optional penalty of double point application. If a woman like that failed a mission that carried points, there had to be some other reason. The guards all shared the same thought and moved past the item.
“And… Cell 3 also has a release.”
“A711.”
“Yes. That’s right. Her sentence was only two months from the start, so there isn’t much that specially needs attention, but…”
“No. Precisely because it’s A711, you need to pay more attention.”
“…Yes. You’re right. I’ll see it through carefully to the end.”
“Good.”
Diabolos fixed Leviathan with a meaningful look and pulled up A711’s profile. Every option and every remarks field was filled with solid black squares (■■■)—a secretive inmate. After reconfirming her release date, he prompted the hesitating Leviathan for the next item.
“Continue.”
“Yes. Next is the matter of the new inmate, A713.”
“Come to think of it, complete newcomers who aren’t re-incarcerations have been rare lately.”
“The previous numbers—A712, A711, and so on—were all Grade B veterans, so a true first-timer really has been a long time coming.”
“True. And applying for Grade A from the very start… impressive.”
“How strong must her lust have been.”
“The counselor who handled A713 was Kim Eunbi, wasn’t it? Is it all right to recommend Grade A for a first incarceration?”
Because the case was so uncommon, a murmur rose. Watching the other guards, Leviathan continued his explanation.