... And Other Ships

MinJoon: Forbidden

On a deserted island a few miles off the coast of South Korea stood a maximum-security prison. It was similar to Alcatraz in the fact that it was unescapable - the prisoners who had succeeded at leaving the island never made it to the mainland. But unlike Alcatraz, this prison wasn't crowded, had adequate funds, and absolutely no contact with the outside world.

Everyone who has either passed the island or knows of its existence calls it the Inferno, after the story by Dante Alighieri. South Korea's most prolific cast of betrayers, psychopaths, sociopaths, and gang leaders were locked away in the Inferno.

So many guards have walked through the halls of the Inferno; most have quit after a few months, some have committed suicide, and some were murdered by the prisoners themselves.

Today was the first day of Officer Kim Namjoon's employment at Inferno.

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"So, Kim," the warden gestured to the cell block that Namjoon would spend his time in, Cell Block B, "We call this the Busan Block because most of the inmates here are all from Busan, save for one. But you're going to be in charge of a single inmate."

Namjoon nodded as he looked around at all the cells, noticing each cell had one inmate only. Their doors were made of three-inch, bulletproof glass. There was a slot for food and one button opened and closed the door, while the other button turned on a microphone for the guards to speak to the inmates.

All sorts of men (and women) stared at the new officer as he followed the warden. Namjoon could hear some of them screaming profanities at him, taunts that he wouldn't get out of the Inferno alive, death threats and catcalls. He ignored it all though; his time in the military hardened Namjoon to that type of thing.

"Alright, the inmate assigned to you will definitely try to kill you. He's been in and out of prisons since he was seventeen, wanted for homicides, tax evasion, and in charge of one of the country's most violent gangs. I would limit contact with him."

The way the warden listed everything off like it was no big deal - as if he ran this race before - made Namjoon's stomach churn. As he was led to the very end of the cell block, he couldn't help but wonder why he, the "new guy," was being put in charge of the most dangerous inmate in the entire prison.

They stopped a few feet away from the cell when they noticed a guard standing in front of the cell. Except...his feet weren't touching the floor. His head was slumped forward in an unnatural way.

"Goddammit," the warden shook his head, leaning to the radio on his shoulder, "Send a body bag and clean-up crew to cell thirteen in Busan."

Namjoon wanted to throw up as he saw the dead guard hanging in front of the cell, a sign written in what looked like the guard's blood hung across his chest.

It read: SEND ME TO THE HOLE!

The Hole was even more solitary than the solitary confinement cells were. It was, quite literally, a hole in the basement of the prison, nothing in the barred cell except a chair. Prisoners were strapped down and gagged there for days on end.

Soon enough, the clean-up crew came and disposed of the dead guard, cleaning up all the blood on the floor and around cell thirteen, the cell Namjoon was assigned to. Would that happen to him, too?

The warden walked up to the cell door, banging on it once and pressing the button. "Did you not like your old guard!? Huh!?"

The voice that answered was one Namjoon least expected. "He was no fun. I need some form of entertainment, you know."