I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 14

Mint found herself staring intently at his face without realizing it.

In fact, it was inevitable that her hand had moved on its own.

This prison was a place where it was all too easy to fall into impulse.

All day long there were prisoners stained with madness, guards who despised prisoners, and even the Prison Administration busy abusing or exploiting prisoners.

It was a place where you’d go crazy if you didn’t express yourself.

Mint herself had lived and survived by adapting to this space.

“You’re sweating quite a lot. Is it that difficult?”

Helios was dumbfounded by Mint’s hand that came up to his cheek and rubbed back and forth while saying this.

Because she had a genuinely innocent expression asking ‘why is it so hard for you?’

“I held back as much as possible, but you really seem pathetically weak. We have a long way to go.”

“…What are you saying? Are you really insane?”

Even the Training Instructor his Father had sent when he was young, hoping he would awaken Kia, hadn’t been this brutally unreasonable.

Moreover, they hadn’t attacked him as if they really intended to kill him.

“What you’re saying makes no sense…”

But when he tried to remove this hand, he felt strangely reluctant and kept holding onto it.

‘This man… why is he so thin everywhere?’

He felt wronged that he had been beaten by these thin arms, but.

To be honest, he didn’t dislike the warmth. At least for right now.

I don’t know what kind of person you are.

But I’ll accept this ambiguous kindness you’ve given me.

“It’s not sweat, it’s tears.”

Helios leaned slightly against Mint’s hand and let out a languid breath.

Honestly, he was holding on out of wounded pride, but it was beyond his strength.

“Congratulations, Sir Garret.”

Helios pulled up the corners of his mouth loosely.

Then his fierce eyes mysteriously softened.

“Since becoming an adult, you’re the first person to bring tears to my eyes.”

It was a rebellious voice.

One that sounded quite provocative to Mint.

“Why don’t you take responsibility?”

* * *

96th Floor.

“Haaaaaam.”

A woman sat languidly and yawned.

Below her, a man with a massive build lay unconscious with his eyes rolled back and foam at his mouth.

The woman’s name was Ramona.

And she was casually mounted on top of the large man’s body.

This man was the 96th Floor Owner.

Let me correct that.

He was ‘the one who had been the owner’ until just 3 minutes ago.

In the Tower, from the 90th floor onwards, if you defeated the floor’s owner, the ownership changed.

Ramona had been steadily raising her rank from the Upper 80th Floors where she had been staying.

She hadn’t needed to do so before, but now she seemed to feel the necessity to climb higher.

“Boss is late.”

Her hair was disheveled over her scarred face.

Two months had passed since Boss Mint, the king of prisoners and owner of the Tower’s 100th Floor summit, had disappeared.

Ramona believed without a doubt that Mint would return.

But she definitely thought it was taking quite a long time this round.

With her mind that had been with Mint for so long, a certain ‘cycle’ came to her thoughts.

“Two months, huh.”

As Ramona raised her hand, a dark green droplet fell from her fingertip.

When it hit the ground, hissss. It melted the earth directly.

It was Poison.

Ramona tilted her head regardless.

A leisurely yet faintly interested voice flowed out.

“Our Boss, didn’t she do crazy things every two months?”

The cycle should have come around by now.

* * *

“Jump down.”

Then, Helios looked down at me like I was some kind of lunatic.

It was a face I was now used to, so I felt nothing about it.

“This Instructor has the patience to say things twice. Trust your mentor and jump down.”

“…Crazy. If you really want to claim to be a mentor, why don’t you clear away what’s down there first?”

Another 3 weeks had passed. Helios had climbed up to the 7th Floor during that time.

Currently, it was rest time as always, and we were in the Rest Area.

“Newcomer, they’re telling you to stay as a Personal Guard up there longer?”

“Did you get on Upper Management’s bad side? Or did you do terribly on some test? What kind of order is this coming down?”

From above, an order came down for me to continue as a Personal Guard for longer.

It was natural. I was personnel assigned to pull Helios upward.

My Mentor Sergeant Steven found it strange, but the other Guards had faces that said ‘whatever.’

Rather, their reaction seemed to say it was only natural.

“That’s strange. This is.”

“What’s strange? Seems natural to me.”

Sergeant Steven kindly informed me that the other guards’ reaction was along the lines of ‘how incompetent must he be to keep getting told to continue doing the simplest personal guard work instead of getting proper duty assignments.’

Why though?

‘I haven’t caused any particular trouble, have I?’

Now, nearly two months since becoming a guard, I was developing into an excellent guard.

Befitting a prison with strict hierarchy, I was very respectful to the senior guards too.

“Aaaaah! It’s hot!”

“Agh, my tongue!”

“Hey, you crazy bastard! Who brings tea boiling hot like this!”

“This tea steeps best at 100 degrees.”

“Bring it cooled down, cooled down!”

I made tea well as instructed and brought it.

“Hey. Newcomer, this is an important weapons storage, so don’t let anyone enter, got it?”

“Yes, understood.”

“Good. I’m going to catch some sleep. I’ll be back in 5 minutes, so don’t slack off.”

Since he said not to let anyone in, I really blocked anyone who came.

“You crazy bastard! How can you block the Sergeant from entering!”

“You told me not to let anyone in.”

“…You!”

This also didn’t seem to please the senior guard, so I properly did all the other tasks like organizing documents that I was told to do.

“Ah damn, this is annoying. You should understand words properly! Hey, Newcomer, if you’re going to do it like this, just throw all that away!”

“Yes, understood.”

A very enthusiastic reaction burst out.

“Are you insane? What kind of crazy bastard actually throws things away when told to throw them away!”

Hmm, right.

No matter how I think about it, I don’t think I did anything wrong.

So, my continuing the personal guard duties was practically receiving enthusiastic support from the senior guards. It seems I should continue working even harder as I have been.

Indeed, being diligent seems to have no downsides at all.

I also confided in the Male Lead, who had become somewhat closer after about two months of various conversations.

“I thought the guard exam didn’t test social skills.”

He said this with a displeased expression.

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up. Helios was standing on top of a tree.

Since I was the one who told him to climb up that tree, it wasn’t strange.

“So… you’re telling me to jump down with such a terrifying thing placed below?”

At those words, I looked ahead of me.

Below Helios’s feet was a dug pit, and densely packed White Spikes were jutting up from below.

They were spikes I had manifested using my ‘Material Type’ ability.

Like old hunters’ traps, they would actually draw blood and hurt if you got stabbed.

“I guarantee your safety.”

“From someone who threw deadly punches calling it training? I don’t want to trust you at all.”

“Oh my… you lack faith in your teacher.”

Helios frowned and twisted his lips slightly in a mocking manner.

“This distance between guard and prisoner is just right.”

I tilted my head.

“This is excellent training. You’re a Material Type, and you wanted to manifest objects accurately. Usually that’s an ability that develops in extreme situations.”

“But what if you actually create a life-threatening situation!”

How strange.

“It’s better than dying in the Tower, isn’t it?”

“…”

He soon turned a bit pale but also had a somewhat convinced expression.

Though he didn’t say it, I saw an expression that seemed to say ‘That’s true…’ cross his face.

“While falling, think of and create any tool that could save your life.”

“Even so, this is really heartless and barbaric…! Hey!”

I cleanly cut down the tree Helios was standing on.

All sorts of curses flashed across Helios’s clean and beautiful face.

Ah, I miss that a little. I think Deril used to look at me like that often.

Helios falling happened in an instant.

“Fighting.”

“Ugh, I’m going to kill youuuu!”

I smiled brightly.

When I walked over slightly and looked inside the pit, the faint smile I had been wearing deepened.

“See? You can do it if you try.”

“…”

Inside the pit, something like a Net had been precariously created.

It looked like a safety net made under circus tightropes.

‘Oh, has he seen a circus before?’

On the Light Net, Helios sat there helplessly, covering his face with his hands.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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