Junseo woke to a bright white light shining down on his face. He tried to move his hand to shield his eyes but found that he was unable to do so. Disorientated, he turned his head and saw that his arm had been tied down by a leather strap. He soon realised that all four limbs were restrained by a leather strap to the metal surgical table he was lying on. His mouth was gagged and he was trapped.

His pupils dilated in fear as cold sweat began to form. His eyes darted around at his surroundings. The walls had paint peeling off them and the doors of cupboards and cabinets were either hanging off their hinges or completely missing. Graffiti could be seen all over the walls and broken hospital beds were pushed up against the wall. Mould could be seen on the wall by a sink and he knew exactly where he was. Directly beside the surgical table was an equally rusted surgical instrument trolley which had several rusty instruments laid out neatly on the top.

Just then, he heard footsteps echoing from the corridor outside the theatre. His heart thumped in his chest as he struggled frantically against the restraints but to no avail.

There was no escape.

The terrible sound of metal scraping against metal resounded around the operating theatre and stopped with a deafening bang when it collided with the door frame. Junseo was now shaking in fear, heart thumping wildly in his chest as he continued to struggle. He could make out the silhouette of someone standing motionless by the doorway, staring directly at him. The person’s hands were raised at the elbows in a surgeon-like manner.

His muffled screams echoed through the theatre as the figure approached silently. The figure was wearing a black button-up shirt tucked neatly into a pair of black dress pants. The metal buckle of the belt glinted in the surgical light. A surgical mask covered half of the figure’s face, leaving only her eyes visible to the terrified man.

He followed the figure with his eyes as it walked to the rusted trolley. Junseo began struggling once again as the surgeon picked up a pair of medical gloves. His pupils shook in fear as he watched the surgeon put them on, flinching when the rubber snapped against the surgeon's skin.

“Kang Junseo.” The surgeon said and the man quickly realized who the surgeon was. It was the girl who he had helped earlier. She roughly pulled the gag out of his mouth and he coughed.

“Y-you? What do you want?” He asked, voice trembling.

“Answers,” Yerin asked as she picked up the rusty scalpel, raising it against the light.

“W-What? I-I don’t understand what you mean.” He said, struggling more.

“Shall I help you spark your memory?” Yerin asked, twisting the instrument around her gloved hand. “I’ll let you choose. Would you like me to remove your hippocampus without sterilization and anaesthesia or would you prefer a verbal explanation?”

“Verbal! Verbal!” he cried, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Then I’ll cut to the chase. 13 years ago, you framed a police officer for a crime he did not commit and caused his death. Why?” Yerin asked.

“Police officer? 13 years ago? I-I don’t remember!” he yelled.

“Think. If you don’t think, I’ll help you.” Yerin said, raising the scalpel.

“Okay! Okay! Give me some time!” he shouted. Yerin waited in unsettling silence by Junseo’s side. “Officer Jung?”

“That is correct. So, why did you do it? What happened?”

“I was kicked out of my house at that time. I was only 14 and I desperately needed the money so I tried to shoplift a store.” He said, looking to the left. “That officer saw me trying to steal and pulled out his gun to shoot me but-”

“Stop lying!” Yerin yelled and slammed her hand down on the surgical table, startling him.

“I’m not!” he protested.

“He didn’t take out his gun! You looked to the right when you said that.” Yerin growled and gripped his collar. “You better start telling the truth and only the truth because if you don’t, you’re not getting out of this place alive.” She said, staring into his eyes with a murderous gaze. He cowered in fear and nodded furiously.

“H-he stopped me. Verbally. He asked what I was doing and I couldn’t answer him. He asked me if I needed money and wanted to take me back to my parents but I refused. T-there was quite a commotion and the shop attendant came to ask what was going on. I seized the opportunity and made a run for it.” Junseo recounted. “I returned to the store a few days later but this time at night. I broke in and found a whole bag of cash so I took it and was about to escape when a group of burly men caught me and demanded to know what I was doing. T-they said that they were part of a drug cartel and the shop was theirs. I-I panicked and said that someone had made me do it.”

“So, you blamed the officer?” Yerin asked and Junseo nodded.

“I was young and foolish at the time and I didn’t want to be killed by those men so I said that the officer had told me to steal from them and when he caught me the other day, it was a distraction for us to scout the store. They believed me and set me free after a beating.”

“Do you know what happened after that?” Yerin asked, jaw clenched.

“No. W-what happened? I just know that I never saw him again and the store closed down.” He replied honestly.

“That officer died. He and his family were hunted down by that drug cartel-slash-mafia and brutally murdered. The family was threatened and he was ultimately captured with his wife. Mercilessly beaten and tortured. Their two kids were made to witness their deaths.” Yerin said, eyes growing darker. Her tone was acerbic as she spat out each word, pain evident in her voice despite her calm demeanour.

“The youngest was 9 and the older one was 20. They had a whole life in front of them but it was destroyed when they saw their parents being shot in the head right before their very eyes. They were forced to kneel in the blood of their own parents and watched helplessly as their blood smeared all