PROMPTS

He Said. She Said.

The Rat. That's me. That's what the villagers call me, that is. You see, I listen in on people's conversations, even private ones, through wiretapping. Yes, there is nothing decent about what I am doing. I am literally ratting on people at the expense of innocent lives and my conscience.

Yes, I do have a conscience.  I am always battling with it yet stay compliant to Lieutenant Commander Cho Cheol Gang's thumb. Till when will I turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the injustices perpetrated around me, with my aid to boot? Till when will my hands be tied for the sake of my family's safety and my means of livelihood? Till when will I live with sleepless nights knowing that the death of the only friend I've ever known is in my hands?

Most days, I am cramped in this underground doing the work I wouldn't wish even my most nosy neighbor, Yang Ok-Geum, to have. 

For days now, I have been ratting on Capt. Ri, his men and his fiancèe from Division 11. Everyone in the village was surprised by that big revelation. Who knew that Mu-hyeok's younger brother already has an intended? No one. Not even me. 

The instructions were very clear: take note of everything that goes on inside the house and provide him with the transcripts of the recordings. Everything. 

And it is because of that order that I am now in a quandary. I haven't had the same or nearly similar recordings like these in all my years of being The Rat, I don't know how to make of them.

I know now that he and the woman are not really engaged. But it is also very obvious to me that they have feelings for each other. Feelings, that for whatever reason, they would want to keep to themselves and hidden from the other.