I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison - Chapter 41

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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 41

At Helios’s unexpected words, I opened my eyes slightly wider.

“I don’t know since when you’ve been strong, but there must have been many people who looked up to you. Like Ged’s Group.”

“….”

Well, is that so?

Certainly there were people who called me Boss as their leader and followed me.

But they only came close because they needed something.

Rather, in this place full of villains, Helios would be the only person who could be described as having pure ‘admiration’ toward me.

“There are quite a few people who approach me because I have utility value. This Master is very popular, you know.”

“Why are you so popular?”

Helios flared up. I became bewildered.

“…? Why are you flaring up?”

“…No, never mind. I made a mistake. Anyway, I want to become strong like Master. Yes, this is admiration.”

Helios, who added “definitely,” seemed to be feeling impatient, though I wasn’t sure why.

He moved jerkily like a wooden doll again. His face turned red too. Even his neck.

Helios moistened his lips.

“And let me say one more thing.”

“Say what?”

“I have no prejudices.”

“…? Okay.”

He bit his lips and spoke again.

“I said I have no prejudices. I said it twice.”

“Okay…?”

I didn’t know why this topic was coming up here, but he seemed quite serious, so I obediently agreed for now.

Helios covered his face with both hands and hung his head low.

“…Master doesn’t understand anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“…How difficult it was to say that. Ha, never mind.”

He looked like his feelings were complicated. Though I couldn’t tell for sure, based on Helios’s story, I could guess.

He’s saying he wants to become strong, right?

“Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility and make you strong.”

The Tower still had countless trials remaining. Trials that were wicked like an abyss, and sometimes vicious.

I didn’t know how it was in the book, but I felt like I didn’t really want to see the Male Lead break.

* * *

In the Dark Space, bright red lights were scattered everywhere.

The red light blended with the old walls, creating an eerie and bizarre atmosphere.

“Aaaahhhhh!”

And there were people desperately running through a space. To be precise, it wasn’t just one person but several people.

It was Helios and Ged’s Group.

“Seth, stop just screaming and look properly! Which way do we need to go next?”

“I, I don’t know. Ah, aaah!! It’s, it’s scary…!”

Behind the party, a Pierrot soaked in blood was chasing them. Its face was painted like a clown, but it held a bizarre knife in its hand.

“So you’re riding on Ged’s back, but can’t you at least do your part?”

“Hic, hic!”

Usually, Seth was among the more timid members of Ged’s Group, but he always did his share.

However, right now he was not only useless but was terrified beyond comparison to his usual self.

His trembling appearance looked like he had fallen into panic and developed a mental illness.

His back had long since become damp with sweat.

‘Scary, scary, scary…!’

It was natural.

This space looked exactly like the Human Trafficking Gang’s Mansion where Seth had been captured as a child.

Moreover, the various eerie ghosts that kept popping out were one of the things Seth feared most.

And that Pierrot-disguised ghost chasing them from behind was a cruel serial killer from a horror novel Seth had read just once.

Helios gazed around while running.

Here and there, cloth with holes for eyes, nose, and mouth floated around like ghosts.

They mustn’t make contact. Those things would target people the moment they were touched.

Helios thought of Mint, who had disappeared somewhere, and recalled how they had ended up running like this.

* * *

20 minutes ago.

[Ah, ah. Wild dogs. We will now begin the trial of the 30th Floor.]

Inside the 30th Floor, Ged’s Group stared at the door with tense faces.

“From the 30th Floor onward, it will be completely different from the trials we’ve faced so far.”

Helios and Ged’s Group recalled the advice Mint had given them before entering.

For some reason, Mint hadn’t immediately proceeded to the next floor like usual, but had given them a few days’ respite.

She felt the need for training because the difficulty had increased dramatically.

“Haha, a real man doesn’t fall from something like this, Boss! Bring it on!”

“Yeah.”

“B-Boss! Wait a moment, wait! Agh! Agh!”

Helios and Ged’s Group had to endure harsh training.

Finally, they had arrived at the 30th Floor.

From the 30th Floor onward, zones were divided into groups of five or six people, just like the 20th Floor.

“It’s so dark.”

Seth was the most terrified, his teeth chattering loudly.

“Something, something’s going to come out…”

“Hey. Seth, when are you going to learn? When you say things like that, something always shows up.”

“Hahaha. Surely another human-looking scarecrow won’t appear, right?”

Ged’s Group, excluding Helios, exchanged conversations as they moved forward.

Helios was busy observing his surroundings. He clearly remembered what Mint had told them.

That from now on, there might be trials with separate clear conditions, not just mindlessly eliminating everything.

‘Where exactly is this place?’

It was nothing but a pitch-black space.

In fact, from the 20th to 29th Floors, the trials involved killing opponents, including human-shaped scarecrows.

Most prisoners who reached the 30th Floor had either broken mentally or become addicted to murder.

Compared to that, Helios and Ged’s Group were in very healthy condition.

Mint, who was watching, was curious.

Whether they could maintain this state until the very end.

‘The 30th Floor is…’

She knew the form of trials that appeared from the 30th Floor onward. But since the Boss had changed, something different from what she knew would appear.

‘I wonder what and how much has changed from this Floor?’

Before long, something flew toward Ged’s Group.

“Aaaah! There, there’s something there…!”

Seth tried to catch the flying object with telekinesis, but his power didn’t work on it.

“Da, darts?”

What appeared before their eyes was a fairly large dart board and dart pins.

The dart pins spun around above the party’s heads.

“Huh. But that doesn’t look particularly dangerous?”

“Boss, wh, what should we do?”

“…”

Even for Helios, who usually made decisions for the party, this was a puzzling situation.

At that moment, the dart needle that had been floating flew toward Seth.

“Aaaah! Someone save me!”

Seth squeezed his eyes shut.

Strangely, the dart pin seeped right into Seth’s body.

And as if it had been waiting, the center of the dart board floating in the air cracked open, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth.

― It’s you! It’s you! It’s you!

― You! You’re scared, aren’t you?

“What, what is that…? It’s talking?”

That’s when it began.

― Hahaha, let’s play hide and seek! Fun!

― Be scared! Be scared!

― Die! Hahaha! Just die!

The space surrounding them rippled and changed form. What appeared was the interior of an old, massive mansion.

― Let’s play! Let’s play!

― It’s a ghost!

― It’s a novel! It’s a serial killer!

The dartboard giggled and smoothly disappeared.

What remained were only Helios, Ged’s Group, and Mint left behind in the interior of the old mansion.

“What is this? This place…”

“A mansion? Is it an illusion?”

The surroundings were full of dust and eerie. Haira frowned slightly.

“It looks like something out of a ghost story.”

Since Haira had an impressive record in fraud cases, she had encountered quite a few criminals who used places like this as hideouts.

Since ordinary people wouldn’t come near such places for fear of ghosts, they were perfect as secret hideouts.

At Haira’s thoughtless muttering, Seth’s shoulders visibly flinched.

“I think it would be better to move for now, what do you think would be best, Boss?”

“That would be good. If it’s another format where we have to defeat something, it would be better to find a stable location.”

“Wait a moment.”

It was Mint who stopped the party.

She approached Seth without hesitation.

“Huh? H-hyeong…?”

Seth looked at her with frightened eyes.

“What are you afraid of?”

“Pardon?”

Suddenly asking what he was afraid of?

It was a question that didn’t match this situation at all.

But Seth, already accustomed to Mint’s suddenness, unconsciously answered with a terrified expression.

“H-human trafficking and ghosts…? A-and horror novels with serial killers too.”

“Tsk, this won’t be easy.”

It was only a few minutes later that they understood what Mint’s words meant.

“Everyone dodge!”

The moment the party had just left the mansion corridor, someone began attacking the party from around the corner as if they had been waiting.

It was a human with a bizarre appearance.

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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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