Hunger Prison

Chapter 3 Busan Prison

The guards would bring food to the cells at seven in the morning and eight at night. The food quality in Busan Prison was horrific, and it was always the same. All three meals consisted of a bowl of white rice and a glass of tap water that had a strange taste.

Ray ate for two days, six meals total, but he just couldn't stomach it anymore.  

"They would punish you if they find out that you didn't eat the rice," Sue's voice trembled, and Ray could feel the fear in her voice.

"Punish?" He didn't feel that her words were convincing, as the kindergarten teachers threatened to confiscate children's toys if they didn't finish their lunch. The only thing that made him shiver was how she said it.

"Eat it, eat it now..." Sue pleaded, and a rushed tapping came from the other side of the thick wall.

Ray picked up the white ceramic rice bowl and stared at the rice in the bowl. He had his chopsticks in his hand and was about to take a bite when he realized the rice was like sticky worms that made his skin crawl.

"I can't…." Ray moaned.

He felt nauseous, and he threw the bowl against the wall. It shattered, and rice flew into the air, some stuck to the ground and some to the wall. Ray took deep breaths to avoid vomiting as the echo of the bowl smashing rang in his ears.  

"You're done! You're done!" Sue sobbed,

Ray was annoyed enough; he didn't need to listen to her, "Shut up!"

He slammed his fist against the wall he shared with Sue, causing her to freeze with fear. Then Ray went laid on his bed, staring up at the old lightbulb again.

A few hours had passed before Ray's cell door opened. A guard dressed in a black uniform escorted two janitors in to clean the mess of rice.

"What do you want?" Ray sat up alertly from his bed; he waved his limbs so hard that the iron bed creaked as if it were falling apart.

 "Come with us."

The guard looked slightly chubbier and shorter than the previous guard he dealt with. Knowing there was no point in arguing, Ray followed the guard to a small room. He thought for sure he was going to vomit this time; the room was damp and dark and filled with the smell of decay and mold. Ray laughed when he saw an old lightbulb mounted to the ceiling that dimmed and flickered constantly. It was evident that the entire building probably needed an electrical upgrade.

In the middle of the room, there was a rusty bed similar to the one in his cell. There were two ancient, bizarre machines on each side of the bed.

Ray stared at the machines, thinking they looked familiar, yet he couldn't remember where he had seen them before.

"Get on the bed!" The guard shouted in a low, serious voice; then, he pushed Ray so hard that he stumbled toward the bed.

Landing on his knees from the force of the push, Ray's upper body hit the bed frame, and the squeaking pierced his ears.

"Hurry!" 

The cranky guard stepped forward and hit Ray on the spine with his electrically charged baton. Ray stared at the device, and he suddenly recalled where he had seen it before through his dizziness.

Before going to prison, Ray was a journalist and a news anchor. He had conducted a detailed report on a facility aimed at correcting internet addiction; it was a device they used for shock therapy.

"No, no, no…I don't want to do it…." Ray begged.

The guard grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up without saying a word.

"Wait ...... you can't do that; it's illegal!"

Ray's oral Korean was relatively standard, yet the guard just threw him on the iron bed as if he couldn't hear Ray at all.

The bed creaked loudly again, and it sent shivers down Ray's spine.

"Given that this is your first time, consider this is your cautionary punishment."

The guard swiftly tied Ray to the bed; he put two conductive electrodes on his temples and turned the current up to ninety.

 "Please! Don't do this! I won't dare next time!"  Ray's body squirmed with fear as he shouted at the guard, and spit flew from his mouth as he shouted in a complete panic.

Ray had never experienced such pain personally, yet he was well aware of

its damage to human bodies. He had done a news program and personally interviewed two victims from the Internet addiction rehab center. The look on their faces when they talked about the electric shock flashed through Ray's mind.

"I'm sure you won't dare next time. Everyone who experienced this treatment once would never dare to cross the line ever again," the guard laughed.

"Please, I know I was wrong now."

Ray felt his brain buzzing as he struggled furiously, but it was no use. The iron bed kept banging as his body twisted and turned; each of the zaps made Ray's heart feel like someone was squeezing it.

A strange smile crossed the guard's face as he lifted his hand and gently flicked the power switch. When the current ran through Ray's body, he could instantly feel the unprecedented amount of pain as if a million needles were sticking into his pores at once.

He was in a trance, and his entire body was nearly paralyzed after the shock. The guard put his arms under Ray and lifted him into the air. Ray's limbs flailed as the guard carried him down the dark corridor.

There were no lights on in the hallway, but it didn't matter anyway because Ray's eyes were covered in a dark mist. He could sense that the fog was shifting from side to side, and he found if he followed it with his eyes, it would only intensify his dizziness.

"Here we are," the guard chuckled and waited for Ray's cell door to be opened.

The metal scraping against the floor echoed loudly. But after the guard threw Ray onto his bed, the slam of the door was even louder. Ray swore his eardrums were bleeding from the noises. He squinted his eyes to watch the guard locking his cell, and that was when he noticed the badge hanging around the guard's neck.

It was a work permit with his name written in bright yellow letters; the name was burned into Ray's mind. But even in his dazed state, Ray knew there was no way it could be the same Nathan Williams who was in the news. The Nathan Williams he was aware of was from Seoul and was the manager of a financial company. He was jailed for manslaughter about three years before; he attempted and failed to escape prison twice. While he was locked up, he repeatedly assaulted people and committed s****l offenses. He was eventually diagnosed with a mental illness, but before he could be transferred to a psychiatric hospital, he did unexpectedly, six months ago at the age of 43.