The Investigation by Jung-myung Lee Page A

well-choreographed play or an acrobatics show. The time he sneaked into a military
truck loaded with bricks made by the prisoners, it seemed he’d made it, until the truck was stopped just before it drove out of the gates. He almost succeeded the time he crawled through a
narrow, 300-metre-long sewer pipe, until he lost consciousness from poisonous gas with thirty metres to go. Soon he and the guards came to a silent agreement. When a fortnight passed after his last
stint in solitary, the guards moved first. They sent him back under the guise that he’d violated some trivial rule, before he could do something more serious again. The guards could stop
Choi’s violent behaviour and he could avoid the beatings. The solitary cell was occupied more often than not. So it was like clockwork; he and his gang went to and fro between Ward Three and
the solitary cells like honeybees to a hive. Nobody thought twice about their trips, even though it happened at regular intervals. Until Sugiyama sniffed out the plot.
    One day Choi was called into the interrogation room. Sugiyama held out a cigarette. Choi sucked on it deeply before hacking.
    ‘I see you’ve forgotten how to smoke. Don’t worry. If your plans go off without a hitch you’ll be able to smoke as much as you want.’ Sugiyama’s sunken eyes
glinted.
    An artery throbbed in Choi’s neck. This guard had a dog’s nose, he thought. ‘Whatever do you mean?’
    ‘I ask the questions!’ Sugiyama slammed his club down on the desk. ‘I won’t ask how long you’ve been at it. I don’t want to know why you’re digging the
tunnel, either.’
    Choi felt as though he had been dunked in cold water. But at least it was Sugiyama. If another guard had discovered the tunnel, he would immediately have pressed the emergency alarm. But
Sugiyama thought the world revolved around him. Choi took a breath. ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to press the emergency alarm or report the tunnel to your boss? Why make things more
complicated?’
    Sugiyama let out a long trail of cigarette smoke. ‘As soon as I do that, this incident leaves my hands. All the guards would get in on it. The machine gun on the watchtower would be aimed
at the solitary cells and the searchlight would shine all around the prison. The guard dogs would chase after your scent. You’d be shot or mauled by the dogs and dragged back for your
execution.’
    ‘Are you letting me live?’
    ‘No. I just don’t want you to die at another’s hands. We’re not done here,’ Sugiyama smirked.
    Choi’s heart sank, as though he were watching a heavy metal bar being lowered over the door to freedom.
    Sugiyama continued slowly, ‘You might think everything is over, but the battle has just begun. Fill up that rat hole with your own hands. You can’t leave even a tiny gap. If you do
that for me, I’ll take your secret to my grave.’
    ‘It’s too late,’ Choi said. ‘The dirt from the tunnel blew away in the wind, so I can’t replace it.’
    ‘I’m sure you can figure it out. I don’t care if you vomit dirt or if you dig another hole. Otherwise I’ll have to send you and your idiot mole comrades to the
cemetery.’
    The hairs on Choi’s forearm stood on end. He thought of each Korean who’d gone into solitary to dig that tunnel.
    Sugiyama continued, ‘If you don’t like my terms, keep digging that tunnel and get out of prison. If you win, you’re free. If I win, you’re right back here. Wouldn’t
you say it’s a fair fight?’ Sugiyama looked at Choi with dark, brooding eyes.
    Sugiyama continued to watch him over the next three months; the tunnel wasn’t complete and escape seemed impossible. Killing Sugiyama was the only way. If he disappeared, the only person
who knew about the tunnel would be gone. It wasn’t an easy choice for a cornered mouse to bite the cat, but it wasn’t impossible, either. Choi started to dig a new tunnel towards the
cemetery, branching off the original tunnel to make it