Chapter 147 - The Number 8

The bell in the prison rang, indicating the end of leisure time. A burly looking man came out of the bathroom, zipping his pants. He looked around, making sure that no one saw him. The other prisoners were being led away to their cells and guards were keeping an eye on them. The burly man followed the line, hoping that no one would know what he was doing inside the bathroom

A few minutes later, Hyun staggered out of the toilet. He was limping a little, his butt still aching in pain but he tried not to show it on his face. A few cigarettes were stacked in his front pocket. For the past few weeks, he had been carefully planning and plotting his way up the prison's ladder. He had already collected quite a few cigarettes and information from the men who had used him as a sex toy. 

Hyun was trying to be smart. He aimed only those who had a substantial amount of power in prison. From his many escapades with both prisoners and sometimes the guards, he had gathered information on where Six might be. The old man had been kept in solitary confinement at Building A. In order to get to Building A, he needed the map of the prison.

Damn it! He cursed at himself. The map maker, Song Tamlin, was long dead and before the Company could get their hands on it, someone else had taken it. 

No doubt the Light has it, he thought. He was sure that the Light was also plotting to break out their prisoners but why were they quiet?

"Oi, you!"

Hyun spun around to see a guard walking up to him.

"You are to start your laundry duties from today," the guard informed him. "Follow me."

"Now?" Hyun complained. The guard hit him with a stick, causing him to wince in pain.

Hyun did not dare to complain but followed the guard towards the laundry room. There were several other prisoners inside the room, busy with their jobs. The room was almost as large as the cafeteria at Building B. Large industrial washers were placed against the walls while the tasks for the prisoners were broken down into several sections. 

Tailors were on one end of the room, stitching old uniforms. A few prisoners were in charge of folding while the cleaners separated the dirty underwear from the clothes. They had to do this by hand, sometimes having to touch underwear carrying dry urine and shit. Then, they had to wash them by hand first and then put them into the washing machine before letting them dry. Another set of prisoners would then iron and fold them before the guards sent the clothes back to the respective prisoners.

"You'll be stitching!" the guard told Hyun. He nodded and walked straight towards the tailors who were busy stitching clothes. They got hundreds of torn uniforms everyday so their section was very busy. Sometimes, they even got commissioned work from outside which gave them extra income. The prisons kept a record of that money and at the end of their sentence, the money was returned to the prisoners once they were freed. However, the prisoners only got a partial amount because the guards would squander a lot of it.

Still, something was better than nothing and once they completed their sentence, even the meager amount of money was a lot to them. But Hyun was not interested in money. He was seeking out the man with the blue tiger tattoo.

He sat at an unoccupied desk with a sewing machine on top of it. A guard threw heaps of uniform at him.

"Start stitching!" he barked. Hyun meekly nodded and began to work on stitching the clothes.

"Where's the kid?" one of the guards asked. "The client sent a bunch of clothes again for him!"

"He got a beating last night for flipping the finger at a guard," another guard replied. "He'll be here soon."

Kid? Did they mean Eight?

He scanned at the entrance for Eight to enter but there was no one. Grudgingly, he began to work on the clothes he had been given. To his dismay, the clothes stank bad. Someone had mixed in a shit laden pants with the lot.

"This has shit stuck on it!" Hyun complained to the guards but they only stared at him before bursting into laughter.

"So?" a guard taunted. "Stitch the shit with it!"

They chortled at their own joke. "This is a prison, you asshole!" another guard growled. "Not your pretty mansion. This is nothing. You should be glad you didn't get a pant with diarrhea crap!"

The guards were still laughing at him. Hyun groaned and with a disgusted face, began to stitch the shitty pants. He tried not to throw up as he touched the goo but there was no other choice. Even after spending so many weeks in prison, he was not accustomed to the stench.

That damned Company betrayed me, he gritted inwardly. I'm gonna make them pay…

A guard entered the laundry room with another prisoner in tow. His hands were cuffed so the guard had to unlock his shackles.

"The hell is that tiger thingie on your hand?" the guard asked the new prisoner. Tiger? Hyun frowned.

He looked up to take a good look at the new prisoner. The boy was in his early twenties, perhaps 21 or 22 years old. He had lazy dark eyes and tanned skin as if he had worked as a hard laborer. His hair was cut into a buzz cut while his muscles were bulging and staunch which made Hyun's mouth water. The new prisoner walked with a smug arrogance as if he owned the place.

"The beating didn't snuff out your arrogance huh?" one of the guards spat.

"Wha' do I say?" the boy said with a smirk. "When ma face is this pretty, I can affor' arroganc'."

He sat down on one of the benches and took off his shirt. Hyun was ogling at the guy, unable to move his eyes away from him. He was immediately thinking of ways to seduce this man. Knowing fully well that a lot of men were seuxally frustrated in prison, it was easy for Hyun to find people to pay him for his service. But the guy in front of him was a fine specimen.

Then his eyes fell on the prisoner's right hand. There was an '8' with a blue tiger tattooed on it.

Eight? This kid was Eight?

Eight took the shirts an outer firm had outsourced to the prison. He expertly sorted the clothes and began to stitch. Hyun tried to see what he was stitching and also attempted to catch his attention but Eight paid no heed to him.

"The hell are ya doing?" One of the guards growled at Hyun. "Focus on your own work!"

Hyun quickly looked down, pretending to work. So this is Eight, he realized. I must talk to him!

Eight was calmly stitching the shirts. He checked the pattern of the threads, memorizing them carefully.

SD's method is ingenious, he thought with a slight grin. This was all a part of their plan to break Six out of prison. Eight had gotten himself purposefully arrested so that he could locate Six. It did not take him long thanks to his connections inside the prison but the breaking out part was difficult. 

Hence, SD had come up with a plan to secretly stitch in parts of the prison map inside the shirts. SInce the guards checked all the shirts carefully, SD had to use the threads to create abstract patterns consisting of parts of the prison bit by bit so that Eight could use it to find a passage directly leading to Six. It was taking more time than usual because they were allowed in the laundry room only once a week but almost fifty percent of the map was complete. 

Eight side eyed the minister who was probably drowning in lust after laying his eyes on him.

Fuckin' git, he cursed. SD had told him of the minister's lecherous ways and was sure that Hyun would try to seduce Eight. Too bad for the guy because Eight was in love with his girlfriend and already has access for special visits since he traded many secrets with the guards.

But he must now use the minister to gain information on the Company. He had to adopt a carrot and stick method.

Memorizing the patterns hidden in the shirts' stitches, he quietly finished his work while Hyun was still debating on how to approach Eight. The prison bell rang again, marking the end of working hours.

"Back to yer cells!" a guard growled. Eight got up and stood in line. Hyun stood right behind him, slowly inching closer.

"Are you Eight?" he muttered.

Eight raised an eyebrow. "My name is Song Youngjae," Eight lied smoothly. "Refer to me as that."

Hyun immediately retracted his words. "Youngjae," he said. "We can benefit from one another. I'm looking for Six and I know you're also searching for him. What say, we work together on this?"

The guards were leading them back to their cells in Building B. Hyun and Eight were walking slowly, lagging a little behind but still moving so as to not raise suspicions amongst the guards.

"I'll think about it," Eight said with a smirk. He winked at Hyun and headed for his cell on the ground floor while Hyun was being led upstairs. The minister looked longingly at Eight. 

I wanna tap that, he thought in lust. A guard barked at him to move forward, causing Hyun to scowl and look away.

Meanwhile, Eight headed straight for his cell. Since he was a prisoner with special privileges, he got to have a cell all to his own. Sitting on his bed, he pieced the parts of the map he received in his head. It was the only way to keep their plans a secret. Drawing the map down would arouse suspicion so he had to rely on his memory to piece the map like a jigsaw puzzle.

SD has informed him via one of the coded patterns about the arrival of Shin Hyun and that they needed him to arrange their prison escape. Eight was aware of Hyun's 'extracurricular' activities. SD had predicted that Hyun would resort to prostituting himself to gain power and once he gained control, Eight could manipulate him into using that power however they wanted.

"Le's play a game, Shin Hyun," Eight smirked.