By Zephyria 
…My head hurts.
“Ugh….”
Chrissy let out a thin groan and barely managed to open his eyes. It wasn’t just his head. His ankles, his entire body felt as if it were breaking. What on earth was the cause of this pain? Tracing back his memories, he finally realized how he had lost consciousness.
“This… kgh.”
He tried to push himself up hurriedly, but soon curled back up with a groan. He waited for the excruciating pain spreading through his body to subside, and when he finally lifted his head, he was barely able to tell where he was.
An animal cage.
In the small cage, just large enough for one adult to curl up in, thick iron bars were set at regular intervals. The heavy lock fastened to the door seemed to warn him not to even dream of escape.
Where the hell is this….
The lights illuminating the area were dim, but sufficient to distinguish objects. Chrissy realized that there wasn’t just one or two of these cages, and that he wasn’t the only person trapped inside them. There was one person in each cage, and soon, he realized why the cages were so small.
Except for Chrissy, everyone trapped in the cages was a child.
Seeing the small bodies, some looking as if they weren’t even ten years old, Chrissy gasped involuntarily. No matter where he turned his gaze, nothing changed. He nearly screamed at the sight of the thin, small bodies entering his field of vision.
Haa, haa. Haa, haa.
He felt dizzy from his labored breathing. He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath. He remained like that, holding his breath until the dizziness slowly subsided, and finally exhaled just before the pain of oxygen deprivation set in. As he gradually regained his senses, he heard faint sounds. It didn’t take long to realize they were the sounds of children sobbing.
Opening his eyes again to look around, Chrissy struggled to accept that the scene before him was reality. It was agonizing, but it was actually happening. To put such small, young children in cages like livestock.
Horribly, he had seen a cage like this before. To be precise, he had the experience of being trapped inside one, just like those children. That was why he desperately didn’t want to believe that the current situation was the same as back then.
No, please, anything but that.
Chrissy bit his lower lip and swallowed a deep groan. Trying his best to regain his composure, he attempted to assess the situation. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he spotted a young boy curled up in the cage opposite him. After opening his mouth and swallowing hard, Chrissy barely managed to call out to the child.
“Hey, kid. Can you hear me? Over here, look over here.”
When he tapped the bars of the cage with his finger to make a sound, he saw the child flinch. The reaction came a beat late. Slowly lifting his head, the boy stared silently at Chrissy while still clutching his knees. While trying to make eye contact with the boy, Chrissy spoke with a kind smile so as not to frighten him.
“Hi, I’m Chrissy Jin. What’s your name?”
Instead of answering, the child just gazed at him blankly. Chrissy didn’t stop there and continued speaking.
“What is this place? How did you end up trapped in a place like this? It’s okay, I’m a prosecutor. If something bad happened to you, I’ll help you. Can you tell me what happened?”
The child merely listened to Chrissy’s continuous words. Sobbing continued intermittently from various places. Chrissy waited patiently until the boy opened up and spoke even a little. Finally, he murmured in a small voice.
“……You’re trapped in a cage too.”
The boy spoke indifferently, as if asking what kind of nonsense he was talking in such a state. The child was young, but he wasn’t a fool. It was natural that he wouldn’t trust someone who was in no better position than himself yet spoke such words. While fully understanding the boy’s feelings, Chrissy continued.
“I got caught on purpose. The police will be coming to rescue me soon, so you just need to tell me what you know.”
The child still sounded suspicious.
“Why would you get caught on purpose? Doesn’t that mean you already knew everything?”
Fortunately, Chrissy was an adult. Unlike a child, an adult could lie skillfully. And he was a rotten adult with a track record of lying.
“Of course I know. But knowing something and hearing about the actual experience are two completely different things. You know that, right? How important a witness’s testimony is.”
The last part was true. Though they were still young children, if there were consistent testimonies, it would be enough. Please, let it not be that.
As Chrissy prayed fervently in his heart, the child seemed half-convinced and cautiously opened his mouth.
“I’m Scott Payne.”
“Hi, Scott. Nice to meet you.”
When Chrissy smiled and called him by name familiarly, the child gave a short nod and continued.
“I was playing in front of my house, and suddenly a car came and took me. Over there, Maple said her father suddenly told her to follow a man, and that’s how she came here….”
The stories that followed one by one were more or less the same. In the end, these children had come here through similar paths—either sold by their parents or kidnapped while playing. And as soon as they arrived, they were locked in cages, receiving only minimal rations while waiting for the day they would leave.
“Leave? What do you mean by that? Where are they going?”
To Chrissy’s question, the child answered in a voice that barely reached him.
“I don’t know. Just once in a while, a few people leave, and after that, they never come back….”
Having said that much, Scott murmured in a voice thick with emotion.
“I want to go home. Mommy, Daddy….”
Scott’s crying mixed with the sounds of weeping coming from all around. Chrissy wanted to hug the child, but it was impossible since he was also trapped in a cage.
“Don’t cry, Scott. I’ll definitely get you all out of here.”
He tried his best to comfort the child. He didn’t even want to imagine what they intended to do after kidnapping children like this. It was because Chrissy already knew all too well.
‘No, I don’t want to…. Please, stop! Noooo….’
The sound of his own voice, crying and pleading, echoed in his ears. He buried his face in his hands and took a deep breath. This was no time to indulge in self-pity by recalling the past. He had to get out somehow. He had to get the children out.
How.
Chrissy hurriedly felt around the inside of the cage, inspecting it. If it was a place to keep children, it might not be that sturdy. It would be impossible for the children, but with the strength of an adult man….
“Damn it.”
He tried to kick the wall opposite the bars, but ended up cursing. The pain in one of his ankles hit him belatedly. Using both feet was out of the question. Could he break this wall with only one foot?
It was while he was feeling the seams of the wall with his hand, a serious expression on his face. Suddenly, the sound of a door opening echoed, followed by the entire area brightening. Someone had entered and turned on all the lights.
Blinded by the sudden flood of light, Chrissy grimaced and covered his eyes with one hand. Soon after, the sound of thumping footsteps was heard. It was the sound of someone coming down the stairs. Quickly blinking to adjust to the light, he rapidly scanned outside the cage. Inside the room, cages were stacked in two tiers in rows, and without exception, one child was inside each.
Seeing the terrified and emaciated children, Chrissy felt his heart sink heavily. Get it together, Chrissy. You’re the only one who can save those kids right now. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, scanning the surroundings. The footsteps grew closer. Chrissy gripped the iron bars, trying to identify the man approaching. And finally, the man stopped in front of the cage where Chrissy was trapped and greeted him with a bright smile.
“Wow, you’re awake. It is an infinite honor to meet you like this. Our superstar!”
Chrissy looked bewilderedly at the face of the man who spoke grandly with his arms wide open. …Where had he seen him? He had definitely seen him before…
Ah.
Soon, he realized the identity of the man smiling at him.
The man who had identified himself as ‘Ben’.
Why was that man, who had interfered by nitpicking every little thing during the grand jury, here?