6:40 pm

As a woman entered, Changmin closed out of the game he was playing and tried to act natural. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be playing games on the computer he was provided, but he was bored out of his mind. The woman placed the bowl in front of him and set the chopsticks and spoon to the side. Then she sat down across the table, waiting for him to start eating. He stared at the food and didn’t touch it. “I’m not hungry.”

She sighed and set a bowl of rice next to him. “Changmin sshi, we haven’t fed you all day, you need to eat. Eat the Jajangmyeon.” He looked at the food once more. He was getting hungry, but he felt like he was falling into a trap. “Eat the food.”

Changmin smacked the bowl onto the floor and let the noodles spill. “I said I wasn’t hungry. If I want to eat, I want to go home and have my mother’s cooking. What right do you have to keep me here? There is nothing that puts me in the position of being suspected for murder. Just let me go.”

“Changmin, you were there when Amara died. We have to keep you here. The way things are going now, we aren’t sure if you will ever get out. You are going to be facing some time.” He smirked.

“Time? Time seems to be the only thing that is messing with my life. I was only there when Amara died in the game, not in real life. I know nothing about her in her personal life. Do not relate games and reality, they are completely different things.” What Changmin was saying made sense. If he was able to separate the events of the game from his everyday life then he had no reason to be there. Changmin was completely innocent and had nothing to do with Amara’s disappearance.

“We can’t trust what – .”

“Just leave me alone.”

10:12 pm

Her head was resting on the table. She was used to staying up late, but she was tired. She had been asked questions all day. She answered them, and then she answered them again and again and again. They were hoping she would change her story, but she had told her side so many times she had memorized everything. She no longer waited for them to ask her the questions; she just spilled all the information out.

The door opened and two agents came in. She sat up ready for the questions to begin. “Johnson Erika, we are going to be asking you a few questions. We would like you to answer them as truthfully as possible. Please state your parents’ names and occupations.

“Lisa Johnson and Fredrick Johnson. Lisa is currently without a job, living in England, and Fred is doing contracting work here in Seoul. Yes I did five years of ballet, but I took an interest in hip hop and have been dancing in clubs since I moved to Seoul last year. I am a University student, but I am close to failing. I have been playing this game for five months and I am fine with my rank. IMAGE probably refers to the fact that I have such a strong attitude. I don’t know where Amara’s body is. Yes, she is dead and never coming back. It hurts to die in the game, but we learn to get over it. It’s not me that is crazy. I find waiting for midnight to be extremely aggravating. No I would not like some Jajangmyeon.”

They made no effort to write down what she said. It was a routine they were tired of. “Then we will be leaving Johnson Erika.” She cringed when they mispronounced her name. She knew she sounded weird, but she hated when they said her name wrong.

11:28 pm

The team of investigators was completely lost. Nobody’s story matched with each other. Each person said one thing that another person later claimed was false. In front of them were several monitors. Nine screens had the interviews replaying. They wanted to review them and try and add the facts up. Nine screens had the players sitting in real time. Most were lying down in their holding cell’s bed while some were pacing or in Dae case, crouching a corner. The voices of the interviews intertwined with each other to form a menacing unity of resistance.

“I can’t explain it.”

“Have you ever had a nightmare?”

“Do you know how hard it is to wait for midnight?”

“Sit down you ing clowns. I’m sure you’ve dealt with worse.”

“Soon, some of us will disappear.”

“Yah, food!”

“I will tell you my makeshift answer if you would explain to me how a Japanese like Haruka was able to speak Korean with her interrogators. She has never had lessons in Hangul and I’m sure nobody spoke her native tongue. Did Tawako Haruka understand what was being said, and more importantly, did you understand her?”

“Why, I didn’t kill her.”

“I’m telling you it was Amara and I am sticking to that!”

“Just leave me alone.”

As the last words of Erika’s long answer ended, a disturbance swept through the group. One screen showed a very strange visual. Nothing. When it was finally noticed they rewound his footage and watched it carefully. Changmin was sitting on his bed rubbing his obviously hungry stomach. The footage became blurry then Changmin was no longer in the picture. They watched the video over and over until they finally sent someone to Changmin’s cell. They came back to report that Changmin was in fact not there. They watched it one more time frame by frame.

Changmin was sitting on his bed with a calm but pained hungry look. He wished he hadn’t refused dinner. He really hadn’t eaten all day. He thought he was being strong, but he was really being stupid. He was also becoming sleepy. He had been woken early and forced to stay awake through countless and pointless interrogations. Changmin needed to sleep. When he was about to lie down he yawned and closed his tired eyes. He wished he had never opened them again.

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