Chapter 136 - Phase 2

The prison bells rang loudly, indicating the beginning of another monotonous day. A few days had passed since Hyun had been transferred to the new cell and his new cellmates had been using him as a punching bag. Chuldoo and Yoo take out all their frustrations on him while Jung could only meekly observe but do nothing. 

Hyun winced as the pain in his ribs worsened but there was no other way. He must ignore the pain and look for a way to earn money. Slowly getting up, he paused for a moment and looked at the door. A guard had arrived to take the prisoners to the canteen where they would be fed breakfast. 

Even though the food was usually delivered to the cells, on rare occasions, good food was served at the prison canteen. Benevolent NGO's would send food and supplies to the prison which were mostly taken away by the guards. Only the scraps and leftovers were given to the prisoners if they felt generous enough.

"Lucky bastards!" one of the guards was saying as the prisoners lined up outside. "Getting such good food even in prison."

"Don't get used to it!" another guard warned. "It's just on very rare occasions to please the human rights groups. Otherwise who'd wanna feed dogs like you lot?"

Hyun slowly staggered behind Jung, trying to avoid Chuldoo and Yoo. He was hoping to get a glimpse of Eight or even Six. Six might not be happy to see him but Hyun must find him and somehow make his escape otherwise the prison life would kill him.

They stepped out on the grounds and Hyun was almost blinded by the bright sun. How many days had it been since he last saw the sun? He could not recall. Even stepping on the prison grounds felt comforting because it was much better than the small, four walls where he was confined. 

Shuffling along with the other prisoners, he followed them into the canteen and sat next to Jung. Chuldoo and Yoo sat at the front table where they were soon surrounded by a crowd of similarly burly men who seemed to be their minions. 

Chuldoo was clearly the leader. He sat on the table, observing the other prisoners like the Big Brother from fictional novels. His omniscient presence was haunting everyone who was there. Hyun looked around and saw that there were several such factions which seemed to have a rockiness amongst them. Chuldoo was staring at another table where a heavily tattooed man in his thirties sat.

Hyun was staring at the tattooed man. He had a muscular build with a goatee and a mean streak which did not go amiss. Hyun let out a sharp breath upon seeing that man and the latter also glanced at him. They shared a meaningful look before he looked away.

"Who's that?" Hyun asked.

"That's Li Woonshik," Jung replied. "One of the most dangerous gang leaders in this prison. He's in here for the murder of a high profile leader who was opposing the government last year on some bill. Basically, a hitman for the Choi family."

"Choi family?" Hyun asked. 

"Yes," Jung said. "They betrayed him and threw him into this prison. He's in for a cool thirty years without parole."

Woonshik glanced at Hyun again and gave him a flirty smile which Hyun returned. 

"Does he get any special privileges?" Hyun asked.

"Plenty!" Jung answered. "He has his own cell and when his boyfriend comes over, they get a few hours of privacy in there! Prisons might have been designed to keep criminals locked up but if you can climb up the hierarchy, you'll get privileges!"

Hyun did not say anything else but nodded and looked away from Woonshik.

"I need to use the toilet," he told Jung. 

"There's one there," Jung said, pointing at one of the toilets in a corner which had a few guards outside of it. Hyun nodded and headed for that direction. 

Woonshik noticed that Hyun was heading for the toilet and got off his chair.

"I'll be back, boys," he told his men who nodded. He headed for the toilet. A guard tried to tell him that someone was using it but Woonshik handed over an intact cigarette to him. The guard nodded and took the cigarette, letting him enter.

Hyun had just finished his business and was washing his hand when he heard the door open and close. Woonshik was staring at him in a lecherous manner, his blackened teeth leering at him.

"I didn't know there was a fine piece of ass in this dreary prison," Woonshik remarked.

Hyun smirked and slowly pulled down his pants to show off his bare ass for the tattooed man to check out. 

Woonshik whistled and was about to open his own pants when Hyun held his hands and said, "I don't work for free."

"How much?" Woonshik asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"I want information," Hyun said. "On the hero of this prison. Six. I want to know where Six is. I hope you know who he is."

"That old geezer?" Woonshik asked. No one has seen him for the past five years but rumor has it that he's in the top most cell of Building A. In the most heavily guarded cell. Only one guard goes there to tend to him; otherwise, he's not allowed to come out at all."

Hyun's eyes narrowed. Building A was for the most dangerous criminals and for Six to be put there, then it was nearly impossible to break him out.

"Now for my reward…" Woonshik grinned. Hyun sighed and turned around before bending forward. He held the sink to hold himself steady and watched in the mirror as Woonshik pulled down his own pants.

How small, Hyun groaned inwardly but braced himself for the torture he was about to embark in.

Outside, the guards stood still while the fake moans of Hyun reached their ears. They had heard these sounds from other men so much that it was now easy for them to distinguish real cries of pleasure from the fake ones.

"This one's a fake too," a guard commented.

"As if Woonshik could ever make a guy climax!" another guard snorted and both of them laughed as the fake moans kept on coming from the toilet.

….

Sunye strutted through the corridor in a hurry. Many lawyers passed by her, greeting her but she did not have time to greet them back. Instead, she headed straight into the Judge's chambers where several judges were seated.

Judge Jeon was in his office, reading some case files when he heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," he said. Sunye entered his office and bowed.

"Han Sunye!" he frowned. "This is a pleasant surprise. As far as I know, you don't have any cases pending with me. So to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Sir, I have to discuss something with you," she said in a constrained tone. Jeon ushered her to sit down.

"Sir, we have information to believe that a shipment will arrive from Country R tomorrow which will consist of illegal goods," she stated. She handed over a document to Jeon who was reading it carefully.

"An informer's report?" he questioned her. "Not enough to solicit a search warrant."

"No," Sunye stated. "It's not. But this is."

She handed a list of names and records of the routes through which the drugs were transferred. It was a copy of the routes which SD had leaked to the underworld via his men. 

"The police obtained a copy of this leaked list and trade records from the informers," she explained. "You can see the commissioner's signed approval as well. I have looked up the trade records following this with the aid of the police. I just came from the Commissioner's office and they have revealed that a ship will arrive from Country R tomorrow using this route."

She took out the ship's itinerary and showed it to him. "This itinerary was obtained by the Coastal Department from the office of Mikhael, the Ambassador of Country R. He informed them that his private ship will be using this route and since he's got diplomatic immunity, no one dared to question him."

"If he has diplomatic immunity then we cannot file any charges of illegal good solicitation on him," Jeon frowned.

"Not him," Sunye said. "We're not going to charge him directly. But we can charge the ship's captain for overloading the ship with three times the legal limit. As you can see in the itinerary, the weight of the goods on the ship is higher than the allowed limit. It's not a big difference but it's enough to issue a search warrant. Against the Captain. No one can claim that the ambassador's diplomatic immunity was harmed in the process."

Jeon was looking at her with great interest. "Alright," he agreed. "I'll issue the search warrant against the Captain of the ship. I'll issue the search warrant by tomorrow morning. Let's see if your plan works or not."

Sunye smiled at him and nodded.

"Thank you, Judge Jeon," she said. "I'll look into the matter myself."

With that, she left his chamber. Once outside, she texted Orea.

"Second phase is complete," she wrote and pressed the send button. Within seconds, she got a reply back.

"Time for phase 3 then!"