Chapter 41 Joon-Gi

Chapter 41

?Joon-gi

Joon-gi is in his maintenance shed when she arrives.

He can tell there's something wrong just by looking at her as she catches her breath in the doorway. She is usually immaculate, one of those people who always seem like they've only just left the house. But of course he knows that's not the case, he sees her working here all day, or rather he sees her when she came up from the rooms.

But she's not immaculate now: her face is flushed, damp with sweat, her dress clinging to her abdomen and back, her hair askew; her breath is coming in tight gasps.

He rises from his workbench and opens his mouth to speak but she stops him.

"I need to talk to you. It's very important you know what is about to happen."

Joon-gi sits back down. "Okay. This is about the rooms, isn't it?"

The woman looks terrified, panicked. Something has gone very wrong or is about to and he knows in that moment, in his bones, that what he has always suspected about the rooms must be true.

They are not exactly what they say they are.

Lucinda nods and closes the door behind her, locking it, her eyes scanning for the room's cameras and finding them. Their usually red lights are now dark, off. She sinks onto a seat by the door and leans forward to explain.

"The rooms used to be the experience. Clients used to come here. But now civilians come. It is…non-consensual." She reassesses then, desperately searching for the words—"I mean, there's a degree of choice factored into the experience but, I mean, they don't know what this place is when they enter. They don't know until it's too late. And then they're in there. There have been four participants already. None of them made it," she explains, then falters, because Maria had gotten out; Maria made it all the way into her kitchen back in London. Maria almost won a competition that wasn't supposed to be a competition anymore. And Lucinda watched her die.

To Lucinda's utter shame, it was only then, in that kitchen, that any of what she had been doing had actually seemed real to her. Seeing Maria in her home was the first moment in all of this that any of these people were real. Even hearing John talk about Nina, it all seemed like a story or an idea. But bruised and beaten in her own kitchen, the truth finally got her; they were hurting real, live people. And still, even after that, Lucinda continued. She quietly waited until the time was perfect to put her plan in motion; she brought Nina out here. Out of fear, out of self-preservation, out of weakness because she needed a distraction and she needed people to help her pull this off. This escape of her own.

She has a contact, a way out, and if she uses it right then she will get out of this with her life.

And if she saves Nina, if they all survive, her story is stronger, her bargaining chips bigger.

Joon-gi listens to Lucinda as she continues, her tone urgent. "The woman you left notes for, Nina: she is still down there and we need to get her out. Do you understand?"

Joon-gi nods, then a thought occurs. "The woman before. The nanny?"

Lucinda shakes her head quickly. "Her name was Maria. You helped her escape but she didn't make it."

Triumph and loss peak and crumple inside Joon-gi because he was right. He was right all along and he almost saved that woman. He wonders if she knew. He thinks of her face, her smile. She was so young.

"Since Maria the electrical inputs for the house have been changed, haven't they?" Lucinda asks, trying to refocus him. "You can't shut down the power to the rooms from the old substation anymore, can you?"

Joon-gi understands: they need to stop the rooms, to rescue the girl. He wonders if this is some elaborate trick. The last time he tried to do just that he was attacked. And yet looking at Lucinda's panicked face he doubts she is lying. She's scared and this is clearly an emergency.

But then he watches her depress a small button on her wrist band. "What are you doing," he blurts, pointing at the band. "Are you calling for backup, is security coming?"

She quickly shakes her head. "No, every time I press it they don't come, but they will come eventually. All the cameras are down. But help is on its way now too. I have a contact; the authorities are coming, but they'll be coming from the mainland. We need to do this ourselves as soon as we can. Or she'll die too."

Joon-gi straightens in his seat. "Am I going to jail? Are we both going to jail?"

Lucinda shakes her head. "No. I promise you. This is not your fault. It's mine and I will fix it. I'll tell them everything. I'll give them so many names that our names won't mean a thing. Okay?"

Joon-gi nods, then after a second he rises and grabs his bag. "The basement rooms' power runs off a generator now. I installed it, it's disaster-proof. Even if the whole island grid goes down that generator won't stop. If you want me to do this, I need to disable it," he explains.

"Is that hard?"

Joon-gi shakes his head. "Not hard, just far." He notes Lucinda's frown of concern. "I can get the whole thing powered down in ten, twenty minutes tops. Will she be okay in there for that long? Is it quick enough?"

He watches calculated thoughts whir across Lucinda's face, her jaw clenched tight. "Yes. Yes, she will."

And with that Lucinda leans forward and squeezes his hand, her eyes locking with his, a promise in them.

Joon-gi watches her set off across the lawns back to the main house. Then he hitches his bag onto his shoulders and begins to run as fast as his legs can pump down to the beach.