Seoul Correction Facility - Prisoner 4839-2938
Mmmm, Seokmin had never seen a block of machinery as stunning as the one before him. The tall machine glowing in the corner of the room, he could almost hear it's steady humming. His eyes drifted from treat to treat on the rack – sweet candy bars, bags of chips... He was almost drooling.
"Seokmin, are you listening?" Fingers snapped in his face. "Seokmin-ah!"
His head whipped forward, eyes blinking hard. He wasn't listening at all.
"Jaegyu, do you have any cash on you?" Seokmin asked quietly, staring at the puzzled man ahead of him with almost crazy eyes. Jaegyu was one of the guys who'd been helping to import drugs into the facility. He was fairly young, (but not as young as Seokmin), fresh face and always well-dressed. His dark hair was always gelled and styled cleanly, and he had perfectly straight white teeth that most definitely must've cost a lot of money. Why, Jaegyu could've fitted in with the mafia with his dark businessman look.
Currently, they should've been talking business, but Seokmin simply couldn't take his eyes off the vending machine across the visitation room. It didn't take much for his attention to be stolen from the more important subject.
"What?" Jaegyu frowned. Seokmin picked up on the frustration in his tone, most likely because Seokmin was acting like an insane person.
"Do you?"
"I do, why?"
Seokmin pointed to the machine. "The Snickers, please, I'm desperate."
Jaegyu rolled his eyes, scooting out of his chair as he pulled some cash from his jean pocket. Seokmin watched in anticipation, literally on the edge of his seat. Seeing the Snickers bar drop, and seeing Jaegyu scoop it out from the bottom of the machine, Seokmin could've almost cried. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten a candy bar that wasn't some cheap knock-off shit from the commissary.
Jaegyu strolled back, weaving through the other tables and chairs where other inmates spoke to their visitors. He tossed the bar onto the small table and it slid right in front of Seokmin. A wide smile spread across his face as he took the candy in his hand, not wasting a moment to rip it open and take a large bite into the chocolate, nutty heaven.
"Mmm!" Seokmin moaned, widening his bright eyes. "Thanks, hyung!" he exclaimed through chews.
"Jesus, do they even feed you here?" Jaegyu asked, sounding genuinely concerned.
Seokmin nodded as he took another mouthful. "They do. Just it's pretty shit. Prison's shit." Visitation hours were probably one of Seokmin's favourite times in prison, if it was even possible to have one. It was where he could sit and talk to somebody from the outside, and he could see faces around him that he'd never seen before. He could watch family members reunite, smiles and big hugs, he saw children and their mothers who'd come to visit their father in prison – children as small as little blabbering babies, pure and unknowing. Seokmin hoped those children wouldn't end up here like their father. Still, it wasn't always peaceful and joyful in the visitation room; there were in fact quite a lot of incidents that Seokmin had witnessed. He'd seen feuds between couples, where the one on the outside wanted to end the relationship because they felt tied down. Those fights were always violent, but the guards were quick to restrain the inmate and send him back. He'd also seen a mother enraged, slapping her prisoner son over the head with her palm and yelling her disappointment at him. That was why Seokmin only ever used visitation for business – he'd never ask his family come to see him; he didn't want to let them behold the damage that prison did to people.
"Look, now that I've fed you, can you listen? You know how seriously Wonwoo takes his business," Jaegyu said. Seokmin remained quiet as he snacked on his chocolate, his focus on Jaegyu now. "Okay, I wanted to know how the bird method has been going. My boys tell me that it's perfect on our side of the bars. What about yours?" Jaegyu leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. He glanced around the room as he spoke, making sure the guards weren't listening.
Seokmin nodded. "I think it's pretty effective. We haven't been caught and we've managed to get a lot in this way." He and Minghao had become remarkably stealthy with their routine by now, and they were getting quicker each time. Minghao didn't use the garden equipment to slice open the bird anymore, he used his hands instead. It saved time when it came to cleaning up. They'd also do it at night now too, since Minghao had managed to tip off the guard that was always on night shift around the yard. Seokmin didn't know what Minghao had given the guard to keep quiet, perhaps it was a deal of cocaine. Most correctional officers were just as bad junkies as the inmates.
"Good, because I was thinking about making it our main approach for bringing the gear in; visitation has always been dangerous," Jaegyu presented his idea to Seokmin who chowed down on his Snickers. Seokmin had noticed that Jaegyu seemed to have something in his mouth himself, it looked like a jawbreaker candy, he kept pushing it into his cheek when he spoke.
Seokmin swallowed his mouthful before speaking, "I don't know if Minghao would be happy about that. Plus, Wen Junhui is onto us – he knows."
Jaegyu scoffed, "Junhui wouldn't do shit, you know that! C'mon, Seokmin, just speak to Wonwoo about it, would you? If we do this, me and my boys would also get more pay."
Seokmin sighed. "Since you bought me the Snickers, fine."
"Seokmin, time's up!" The CO from behind the desk shouted.
"Shit!" Seokmin whispered, his back to the CO. They still hadn't passed the drugs. Seokmin shot wide eyes at Jaegyu who reflected a calmer gaze. As Seokmin stepped out of his chair, Jaegyu did the same. Seokmin's eyes were on Jaegyu's hands, but they didn't seem to have anything in them.
That was when Jaegyu pulled Seokmin closer until their lips crashed together. Out of complete shock, he'd tried to back away, but Jaegyu insisted. He quickly realised that Jaegyu wasn't kissing out of affection. Seokmin felt a large round capsule passed from Jaegyu's mouth and into his before the 'kiss' was broken. So, it wasn't a jawbreaker after all...
"Swallow!" Jaegyu whispered harshly in his ear. Seokmin followed orders. It was almost a struggle to keep down, but he managed. Sliding slowly down his throat, he could feel the uncomfortable size of the capsule.
"That's enough! Jesus Christ..." snapped the CO who was approaching to take Seokmin back. Seokmin wiped his lips and scrunched his face. Jaegyu tasted like cigarettes.
As Seokmin was led out of the visitation room, he looked over his shoulder to Jaegyu who was being escorted the other way in a much kinder fashion. He passed Seokmin two thumbs up before disappearing through the door. Seokmin was almost envious; Jaegyu was going through the right door, the door to the main office where he'd sign out and leave into the real world. Seokmin on the other hand, was going through the door to be strip-searched and then thrown back into prison.
"I didn't know you swung that way, Seokmin," the tall CO chuckled as they made their way down the corridor. His hand was tightly on Seokmin's upper arm. Rushing back and forth down this corridor like working bees were workers other than the usual correctional officer. They were people like shrinks or case managers, the people who came to work in sharp suits rather than the guard uniform.
Seokmin had seen the strip search room enough times for the humiliation to die out by now. Four blank walls of shame were what they used to be, but now, Seokmin was over it. He couldn't give a shit about the officer who stood in the corner of the room and just watched. And he didn't care that another officer was demanding him to strip down until he stood completely naked. They usually checked from top to bottom, starting off by asking the inmate to ruffle their hair, check behind the ears, and ending by telling them to bend over in order to check their nether region. A truly delightful experience...!
