The Mafia's Dove (Hyunjin centric)

Locks

The sound of screaming was muffled by the basement door, and I tilted my head in thought as a particularly pained scream echoed out into the main room. Chan had taken 'Lee' down to the basement for interrogation, and while a few hours had passed before Chan even bothered to start, the others had yet to arrive. Jisung had left to go utilize the training room, which meant I was left alone to do as I pleased.

Usually I would take the opportunity to go cause havoc, but I found myself unable to leave the mainroom as 'Lee's' screams of pain filled the vacant space. He sounded like he was in an agonizing amount of pain despite the actual torture only starting a few minutes ago, and I couldn't seem to wrap my head around the sounds I was hearing.

Because seriously, how pathetic was he?

Despite the fact I'd only been exposed to Chan's methods once, I was able to figure out the way he did things. He liked to start off slow to get a feel of the person's pain tolerance, because the only purpose torture served to him was a means of gathering information. If he went too hard too quickly and ended up pushing them past their limits, then he would have to wait for them to compose themselves or regain consciousness before he could continue. That dragged it out a lot longer than it needed to be, and Chan didn't seem like the type to enjoy wasting time.

That meant right now, Chan was only doing very basic methods of torture like he had done on me. Nothing debilitating or mind numbing. Just a good old dose of barely tolerable but still manageable pain.

That also meant this 'Lee' guy had a very low pain tolerance. I was glad I didn't scream while I was down there. That would have been embarrassing. Especially with so many of them having been up in the main room at the time. If it was really that easy to hear screams, then they would have definitely heard me had I been weaker.

I rolled my eyes as the sounds of sobbing replaced the pained screams, and I froze.

Should I have empathy? I didn't know this guy, so I couldn't say whether or not he was a bad person. He was definitely a snitch and a rat, but I didn't know his motivation or even the details of the case itself. Yet I considered this man to be pathetic for not withstanding torture.

Was something wrong with me?

I had been on the receiving end of torture on many occasions. Did that make me desensitized to it happening to other people? Shouldn't I be able to empathize even more because I had experienced it myself?

So why didn't I feel anything?

I lifted myself from the couch before heading towards the basement door, and I wrapped my hand around the cold steel of the knob.

There was really only one way to figure it out.

I opened the door as silently as possible before sneaking my way down the stairs, though from how loud the screams were, being quiet really wasn't necessary. Last time I was here I was a little out of it from blood loss, so finding my way back to the room designated for torture was like exploring a new space.

I followed the screams around the corner and down a dark hall, and I internally celebrated when I noticed a room with "Interrogation" carved onto it. This was most definitely the source of the screams, and when I went to open the door, I found it was unlocked.

Well, that seemed reckless.

I stepped into the cement room before closing the door behind me, wincing slightly as the screams became ten times louder.

His voice was echoing off the bloodstained walls, eyes squinted shut as he screamed bloody murder. There really wasn't a need for that, though. Chan was barely touching him at this point, head tilted in what I could only assume was confusion as he lightly grazed the blade across the man's arm.