Did You Smile?
“Why? Think just because you’re a newbie you’ll get a free pass from the death sentence?”
“Ah, I… no, sir.”
“Then what is it? What’s so funny that you’re standing there grinning like an idiot?”
It was unfair. I hadn’t smiled at all.
Before I knew it, Leviathan had closed the distance and seized my chin.
“Hm? Answer me.”
He asked again. That terrifying face, those sharp eyes, loomed right in front of mine.
But I couldn’t answer. Even if I had steeled myself to spill whatever was in my heart, there was nothing there this time—no true feeling to offer. No matter how hard I tried to speak, nothing would come out.
More than anything—
“I didn’t smile…”
I truly hadn’t even realized I was smiling.
Whether my mouth muscles had moved wrong, or whether my face had slipped into its usual smiling expression without my noticing, I couldn’t say. The only answer I could give was denial.
“Oh-ho? Lying to a guard’s face, are we? Hey. A711.”
“Yes, sir!”
Still gripping my chin, Leviathan called for Ruia.
“You saw it too, right? This bitch smiling.”
“…Yes. I saw it.”
“And you next to her, A691.”
“…Yes.”
“You?”
“….”
“Tell me what you saw.”
“…I saw her smiling.”
The same question, the same answer, came from Yejin standing beside her. The way my cellmates hesitated yet still spoke made it clear—my expression really had been a smile.
And then the evidence I couldn’t wriggle free of.
“Be honest. Did you smile or didn’t you? Keep spouting lies and I’ll check the CCTV.”
Leviathan pointed a finger somewhere toward the ceiling. Following the tip of that finger, I found a camera pointed squarely in my direction.
My resolve wavered in front of the camera that would hold irrefutable proof.
“Come on. Answer. I’m asking if you smiled.”
But honestly—I couldn’t say I had smiled when I hadn’t.
Circumstantial evidence was betting everything on the fact that I had, yet to me, the person involved, it was a lie I simply could not admit.
“No… I… didn’t smile.”
In the end, after all that inner conflict, my final choice was denial.
I knew this side carried the greater risk, but when I imagined the questions that would follow, I realized I wouldn’t be able to answer those either.
If I said I had smiled…
He would definitely ask why.
And if I couldn’t answer that…
Better to gamble on the long odds.
— Hiss.
“Control room. This is Leviathan. Send the link for Execution Area Camera Seven.”
Transmitting to terminal. Over.
Hearing the reply, Leviathan immediately contacted the control room and received the CCTV feed. More precisely, he received the video link itself and projected a holographic replay.
The footage unfolded large and clear for everyone to see.
And there I was…
“Still going to deny it?”
Smiling.
Brightly, teeth showing, unmistakable. A face that almost didn’t look like mine—yet a woman wearing a smile so radiant I couldn’t possibly deny it—was clearly me from just a few minutes ago.
Worse still.
“Looking at it now, your fingers are between your legs. Don’t tell me you were masturbating?”
“Nngh!”
In the video, the tips of my fingers were hooked between my thighs. As if to confirm it, Leviathan roughly yanked my cuffed hands forward and inspected the ends.
Fortunately, nothing was smeared on them.
But I could feel it. I had no memory of touching myself, yet a thick wetness had already pooled between my legs…
If he’d left me alone even a little longer, it would have soaked through the thin prison uniform and left traces on my fingers too.
That would have been even worse, wouldn’t it?
“Hmm. You just bathed, yet there’s a scent on your fingertips… Tch. Or is there?”
Fortunately, he didn’t press that far.
…No. There was nothing fortunate about it.
I was already a liar. Whatever punishment he handed down, that reality wasn’t going to change.
“Anyway, A713.”
“…Yes.”
“Anything to say?”
“….”
I wanted to open my mouth and say no. I wanted to say that the me in the video was smiling, but I hadn’t truly meant it.
But the words wouldn’t leave my lips.
I didn’t know why… the evidence was solid, and by this point I genuinely had no idea why I had been smiling.
More than anything, this wasn’t the first time I’d been called out for smiling. No matter what excuse I offered, it wouldn’t be accepted.
“…I’m sorry.”
So I surrendered.
In truth, he probably knew as well. That I hadn’t smiled from the heart. Not just Leviathan—my fellow inmates, from the looks and attitudes they gave me, seemed to understand I hadn’t meant it either.
But… I knew.
Unless I’d gone completely insane, I would never have told a lie like that.
The reason for the smile was clear. And above all, the fingers resting in that suggestive place were the proof…
“I must have gone into heat… and smiled and touched myself without realizing. I’m sorry.”
I confessed the single truth I could guess at.
At that, the hand that had been gripping my chin fell away. The motion was rough, as if he’d slapped my cheek.
What punishment would I receive?
Would I make it through the night safely…?
The lingering chill of the water torture had already left my body, yet I was trembling hard.
“I don’t need excuses like that. You lied, and you’ll take the punishment for it.”
“….”
“I’m giving you one hundred Demeanor Penalty Points. And I’ll leave the Stimulation Spores running the entire labor period today, so endure it while you work.”
“…Yes.”
“And among the inmates here, your labor results had better be the best. If you’re not number one, or if I catch you slacking, I’ll double the points on the spot. Prepare yourself.”
“…!”
Too harsh a punishment.
If I’d known it would come to this, I never should have made that bet.
But the choice was already too late, and the outcome irreversible.
“And the rest of you. If you go easy on the labor just to cut A713 some slack, every single one of you gets a hundred points. And A713 will get triple. If you fail to finish the task I gave you before torture time, that’s what happens. Understood?”
“Yes. Understood.”
Leviathan laid down rules with no escape. He opened the door to the execution grounds and led us inside.
Strength drained from my body. Following him with the sensation of truly being led to my own execution, we emerged into a vast open space.
“…Ah.”
The execution grounds were truly enormous. The great wall he had mentioned was only faintly visible far in the distance. A space as wide as a World Cup stadium I’d once visited, filled with low-growing trees, spread out before us.
As if they had deliberately left a piece of nature intact for use as an execution site, we kept walking behind Leviathan through that environment.
After walking a long while, we reached a clearing littered with various tools. Leviathan stopped there and gave the order.
“From now on, you inmates will dig pits roughly three meters deep.”
“…Yes.”
“I’ll give you pickaxes for tools. Use those. The three of you dig a pit each where I plant the flags. I’ll only measure depth, so the surface area just needs to be roughly workable.”
As he spoke, Leviathan planted the flags. The distance between them was only about five meters—not far at all.
But just now… hadn’t Leviathan said three people?
Must have misspoken…?
“I’ll assign positions too. This side is A691.”
“Yes.”
“The middle is A522.”
“Yes.”
“And over there is A713.”
“…Yes.”
Each of us was assigned a spot. The flags stood almost in a straight line. First Yejin, next to her Jaehee, and at the far end the place I was to dig.
But then… what about Ruia?
Everyone seemed to share the same thought; every inmate, Ruia included, looked toward Leviathan.
As if he had already read our minds, Leviathan fetched a black object from a nearby tool box and pressed it into Ruia’s hands.
“Here. A711. Do you know what this is?”
“Ah… yes. This is… a switch… sir.”
What she received was a switch—a rather long one, of metal that flexed slightly like a whip.
“From now on, you’ll hold that and strike any inmate who stops moving for more than five seconds.”
“…What? M-me?”
The order delivered after handing it over. Ruia’s reply came a beat late, as if her mind had frozen at the unexpected command.
Everyone was equally shocked. We had assumed that even with three pits, we would all be doing the same work…
No one had imagined one person would be pulled out for a role like that.
“That’s right. I was away yesterday, so I’ve got a lot of work piled up in the guard room. You’ll watch your fellow inmates here for me.”
“Ah… I-I can’t. Please, someone else… one of the others…”
“Ah, don’t worry. I’ll check the footage from time to time. And I’ll lighten the burden on your conscience too. If you hit too lightly or look like you’re resting, I’ll torture you remotely. If you want to escape the pain, hit your comrades hard. Got it?”
“I-I can’t do it. I…”
“Are you defying me?”
“Hic! Ah… aah.”
Naturally Ruia voiced her refusal. Of all the expressions I’d seen on her, this was the most terrified.
But this was not a place where saying you couldn’t do something meant you got to stop.
Under Leviathan’s iron command, Ruia bowed her head. Perhaps, among today’s laborers, the one given the harshest role… was her.
Assigned a duty she would never have chosen even if given the right to choose, Ruia looked at us with a tearful face.
“….”
At that pitiful expression, everyone gave a small nod of encouragement. It’s okay. Don’t worry—just do your part.
And in our hearts we resolved: somehow, we would push ourselves so she wouldn’t be put in a difficult position… a firm will.
“All right. Everyone stand in front of your flags. And A713—I forgot to bring the switch, so I’ll go activate the Stimulation Spores from the guard room. Take that as the starting signal, grab a pickaxe, and begin work. Ah, I’ll grant speaking permission, so if anyone looks like they’re in real danger, say something. Don’t waste it on useless chatter…”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be watching, so do well. I’ll come back later.”
“….”
With that, Leviathan turned and walked back the way we had come. Watching his retreating figure, we all exhaled as one.
Fear of the situation we were about to face.
After Leviathan left, we stood quietly in place and waited.
We could have sat on the ground to rest, but there was no telling when he would reach the guard room, and none of us wanted to give him any excuse to pick on us.
“Nayoon.”
“Hm…?”
In the middle of that tense waiting, Jaehee, standing beside me, suddenly called my name. When I looked at her, her eyes were brimming with tears.
“I’m sorry.”
That single phrase. The moment it reached me, I knew exactly why she was saying it.
But her way of putting it was wrong.
“…For what?”
So I pretended not to understand and asked back. I’m fine. Really, I’m fine…
“I didn’t have to… agree that you were smiling earlier…”
“Yeah… I’m sorry too, Nayoon. I…”
“Unnie…”
The apology I had expected. Following Jaehee’s feelings, Yejin and Ruia offered similar words of regret.
But there was no need.
“No. You all saw it earlier. I really was smiling… and I’m the one who made the reckless move that got us here, so… But I honestly didn’t even know I was smiling. Haa~ Maybe I should’ve practiced my expressions more. My face just keeps defaulting to a smile. Heh. It’s okay. Don’t do this, everyone.”
I tried to brush their apologies away with a laugh. Truly, they didn’t need to feel this way.
The moment Leviathan pointed out my expression, I was going to be punished one way or another. If we fretted over each other now, the labor ahead would only get harder.
I smiled to lift the mood.
“Yeah… okay.”
“Really, it’s fine, so let’s just push through from here. And let’s not get upset with each other over things like this. I don’t know how it was before I arrived, but I really hate that kind of thing. Got it?”
“Heh. Yeah. Looking at stuff like this, you and I really get along, Nayoon.”
“Same here, Yejin-ssu~”
“Pfft. What’s that supposed to mean~”
We lightened the atmosphere with uncharacteristic jokes. Yejin especially caught my intention quickly and played along. Thankfully, the others understood and afterward did their best not to show any more guilt.
Yeah. This was enough.
And one more thing.
“Ruia.”
“…Yes, unnie.”
“I’ll try my best, but because of the Stimulation Spores, I’m probably going to get hit the most… Absolutely! Don’t hesitate—hit me.”
Even while we were joking, I wanted to ease the anxiety of Ruia, who was still trembling at what lay ahead.
“Unnie… but still!”
“It’s not like you’re hitting us on purpose. So there’s no reason for both of us to suffer. Or better yet—hit me hard enough to knock me out. That’s one way, right?”
“Ugh…”
“A few days have already passed, and you’ve all helped me so much that I’ve roughly got the hang of things. So there won’t be any more misunderstandings, and I want you to know I’m not the kind of person who wouldn’t understand something like that.”
“…Unnie.”
Yeah. It’s okay. I can do this.
I steadied my heart and kept telling Ruia it was fine. Honestly I was scared and shaking, but I meant it too.
And then—
“Ruia. That one’s still a Prison Island newbie so she doesn’t get it… Don’t listen to her. Hit me. If Nayoon starts staggering, I’ll just drop everything completely. Got it?”
Yejin chimed in. At her provocation I let out a short laugh. The words were blunt, but the content was nothing but her offering herself up as sacrifice, wasn’t it?
“Don’t do that—just work hard. Don’t create a situation where we regret not finishing today’s work. So Ruia.”
“Hm?”
“Hit freely. Yejin, Nayoon… and me too. Help us finish the work quickly. You understand what I mean, right?”
Finally Jaehee said it with a smile. Had the weight on her heart lightened a little?
“Unnie… yeah. I understand.”
Ruia gripped the switch tightly in both hands.
This much was enough. Because everyone’s will had come together, the anxiety and emotional burden of the labor had eased.
All that remained was to finish the work well and face torture time as safely as possible.
“….”
We steadied our breathing and waited. With everyone’s eyes on me, I closed my own and prepared for the stimulation that would come.
And then, amid the writhing sensation, I exhaled and spoke.
“Nngh…! I-it’s starting.”
The Stimulation Spores began to thrash inside my nipples.