« Don't live in the past.»

« You should move on. »

« If you keep looking backwards, the future will run out on you. »

I've always had a hard time understanding people. I was rather skilled at reading their facial expressions but the complexity of their twisted minds would forever remain a murky mystery for me. They were always found claiming some miraculous pieces of advice that they were clearly unable to follow themselves.

Why were they saying such things when all my life I have been the victim of my own past ?

I wasn't the one unable to move on, people were. I came to term with my mistake long ago, but they were the one who constantly reminded me of it. Because it disgusted them, it scared them to no end. And the simple thought of having me near them was inimaginable.

Let's talk honestly, who would want to give a chance to an ex-convict ?

They could care less about my sin. Stealing bread, drink-driving or murder, they were all the same for these 'unblemished citizens'. The only thing that haunted their dreams was this one and only word.

Jail.

Horrifying, isn't it ?

Because, yes, no matter the mistake, whether it is for survival or due to some sorts of psychotic impulse, it was well-fixed in everyone's minds that we were dangerous.

Well, I'm going to tell you something : this is partly true.

I'm not lying. I never do    ̶ being in jail for four years at least taught me that falsehood should never be the solution. Not that I was unaware of this before. Let's just say it has enhanced this belief of mine.

Of course, Justice may not be human but it can also make mistakes. Because it is guided by humans. Some innocents are condemned to pay for crimes they never committed while some culprits happen to be released for a mere lack of evidence. Some may even come back to their old selves after paying their debts to society. Because they are stupid and corrupted enough not to learn from their wrongful acts.

I'm not one of them. I'm neither corrupted or stupid. But this certainly doesn't mean that I was given a second chance.

Complicity in theft. Imposture. That's the reasons of my imprisonment. You must wonder how I ended up in such a situation... Well, this is an interesting story. Or not. After all, it's only up to you to judge its worth. As long as you only judge my story, not the man who it belongs to. Because you can't judge me. You don't have the power to. It is something that has already been done and I certainly don't intend to go through it twice. I'm sick of people assuming things when they don't know anything.

Since I have to begin with something, I would say this is what one gains from running with the wrong crowd. Yet, it was something unknown to me, at that time. I was just the man on the street ; a somehow naive because inexperienced, ordinary, engineering student who had always rigorously followed the rules. I wasn't an outcast but I didn't have myriad friends either. I was simply satisfied with what I had. With caring parents, a wonderful girlfriend and my three closest peers. I led a simple life, but I liked it. I wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world.

Yet, without my consent, everything changed. In a snap of a finger, everything was gone. My life has literally been stolen away from me. And the worse is that I can't even deny my complete responsability in this tragic loss of mine.

I come from a well-off family, I never knew financial problems. However, I was aware of my friends' lower economic situation. In an attempt to help them, I told my parents about it. That's how the Huan brothers and Yu Doweon, my friends, began to work as cashiers for a renowned Cafe, thanks to my family connections. Everything went fine for them, after this. At least, it seemed like it. Because, how could I've known of their past association with a loan shark ? How could I've known that their relatives' lives were at stake if they didn't do what they were asked to do by this corrupted thug ?

The answer is simple. I couldn't. That is, until they told me about it after I spent almost two hours pressuring them to explain what was the exact problem. Because I didn't know the reason didn't mean that I was completely ignorant of the situation. If you've paid enough attention to my words, you certainly remember the fact that I can easily translate people's body langage. I definitely knew that there was something fishy, I just needed them to tell me what.

That's how we   ̶ the Huan brothers, Doweon and myself   ̶ ended up in this bad position. That's how they were asked to bring back a certain amount of money. A large one, at that. One hundred milion won exactly. And finally, that's how they came up with the desperate idea of robbing a museum. No matter how stupid and reckless this might sound to you, I embroiled myself in this unstoppable mess with no possible way out.

I told you earlier : I was naive and inexperienced enough to believe my friends when they told me we didn't risk anything.

According to them, people were easily charmed by my presence. Thus, after the closure of the museum, I was charged of distracting the guards under the false identity of an employee from the security company. I simply said I needed to check the cameras, that several of them were not working properly. It did work. The guy even insisted on following me to see if he could be of any help.

Meanwhile the others infiltrated the museum and managed to steal two paintings of big worth. But ‒because let's not be mistaken, there is always a 'but'‒ as they exited the building, the guard I was trying to keep busy caught them fleeing. I tried to escape but I could obviously not struggle against this muscle-man. I was sent to the police station where I eventually chose to say the truth, because despite my mistake, I remained a law-abiding, hones