solid as smoke

After school he helped Su-ho's grandmother tend to her little garden and pumped water up a well for her— something that was usually Su-ho's task. He didn't know where she was, but from the cut herbs in the garden he assumed she must be trading them for something else on The Market.

A black market, they weren't supposed to have. They were supposed to starve on the meager rations the Capitol handed out. Sign their own death sentence for more.

The price, always higher than the value.

Si-eun went by, but couldn't see anyone— the whole place was deserted. A sick feeling spread out from his stomach and he ran to the city hall.

Sure enough, the peacekeepers caught over a dozen people. Many of which weren't able to run anymore and that might be the only reason why they got caught. Si-eun saw how one of the elderly was released from the flog and dragged away— bloody and exhausted. At their age, wounds of that size could be a death sentence.

One of the shorter peacekeepers— his helmet missing entirely— called another over and pushed the whip into his hand. "You can discipline your own people, right?" He said in a sneer and arranged for the next criminal to come over.

It turned out to be Su-ho's grandmother, who helplessly shuffled in the direction of the flog. She was already crying and something snapped inside of Si-eun. He couldn't take this anymore. They were human beings!

"For illegally trading medical herbs for food, you will receive ten lashes," the short peacekeeper said loudly. Su-ho's grandmother had trouble kneeling down and he kicked the back of her knees. Her pained moan was a stab to Si-eun's heart.

They were carelessly chaining her arms around the flog and the heartless peacekeeper nodded to the other one to start.

There was hesitance in his movements and he appeared to say something Si-eun couldn't quite hear.

"I don't care who this woman is!" The man replied loudly, "You swore to obey!" He screamed at the other man and Si-eun finally saw the face correctly— peacekeeper Choi Chang-hee. He kicked the other peacekeeper in the shins, exactly to a spot where the protective gear ended. "Obey!"

Si-eun could see the posture of the other peacekeeper changing and knew he had to intervene to save Su-ho's grandmother. He ran up to them and stood in between those white uniforms and her. "Don't hurt her." His words brought their full attention to him. "I'll take her punishment."

Peacekeeper Choi got really close to Si-eun in an attempt to intimidate him before he made a hand gesture to have Su-ho's grandmother removed. "Deal," Choi said right into his face, "you take the ten lashes meant for her and I'll add five for you— since you thought interrupting me was wise," he sneered, taking Si-eun's chin in one hand, "or do you have a problem with that, Mayor's son?"

Si-eun blinked rapidly as the weight of his decision dawned on him before he reciprocated the death glare with one of his own. "Deal." He simply said and soon was pushed to the flog. He took off his shirt, knowing it would be a lost cause if he kept it on and willingly knelt down to be fastened to the flog.

"I'll hope you have less of a problem to whip him," Si-eun heard Choi say. There was only silence and Si-eun braced himself for the snapping of a whip, but it never came. Instead there was commotion behind him and he saw the shocked faces of the elderly that stood in a row near the flog. "You useless," snap, "piece," snap, "of shit!" Snap, snap, snap. "I knew it was a stupid idea to let you in," there was a low grunt to be heard and Si-eun tried to see what was happening. "Worthless scum, you will be back on duty to secure the perimeter, rations cut in half."

Si-eun got a glance at the situation unfolding behind him and noticed the other peacekeeper had been Seong-je. His helmet had come off at one point and there was blood on his face as he squinted up at Choi without his glasses.

He didn't have much time to comprehend that Seong-je had just refused to whip Si-eun before Choi decided to make him the target. With each lash, his anger was prevalent. Si-eun had never felt a pain like this before— and he'd gotten beat up by classmates and peacekeepers alike in the past few years. The white hot sting was like someone setting fire to his skin over and over. The sharp bite intensifying where it hit a previous mark. Parts of his back turned numb.

Choi whipped him more than fifteen times, Si-eun knew because it was the only thing he could think of in order to not faint from the pain. The skin on his back must be raw and cut open. Then someone else stopped Choi as he took over the next shift— Si-eun only heard parts of their conversation as it was hard to stay conscious.

That was until Choi rounded the flog and pulled Si-eun's head up by the hair to force eye contact. "Don't try too hard to heal. You live on borrowed time anyway," he told him and left. Si-eun vaguely noticed that once Choi was gone, the rest of the elderly were let go. The peacekeeper who took over must've been Noh, he usually liked to turn a blind eye to The Market and even bought himself various things that were impossible to get elsewhere.

Someone opened the chains on his wrists and Si-eun's arms fell heavily to the ground. "Fuck, stay awake," he heard them say and tried his best to open one eye. Once again, it was Seong-je, like he was haunting Si-eun. His face was bloody and dirty, one lens of his glasses broken. "You with me? …Hey…"

Si-eun felt so tired, as if all his energy got sucked out at once, "You… should've whipped me," he brought out, noticing the shock on Seong-je's face before he blacked out.

The next time Si-eun gained consciousness, he lay in a bed in what could be called their towns hospital. Even though it was barely worth the title. But they did have pain medication and Si-eun was glad the morphine coursing his veins made it easier to breathe. Although, there was a tightness to the skin on his back that told him he would spent a significant amount of time laying on his belly from now on.

His mother was sitting in the chair next to him, a book in hand. "You're awake."

Si-eun hummed, not trusting his ability to speak with the amount of morphine he must've gotten.

"How could you be so stupid," Si-eun's mom scolded him, "Why would you give them a reason to harm you?" She wanted to know, closing the book swiftly. "Since when is my son so reckless?" The disappointment in her voice cut deeper than the flogging had. She sniffled momentarily as if she'd been crying, but Si-eun couldn't see her face to verify his assumption. "I hope you will learn to keep to yourself from now on."

She left without waiting for an answer, there was none she wanted to hear anyway.