I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison - Chapter 6

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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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Episode 6

* * *

“Uhahahaha!”

Three hours later, Sergeant Steven, who was sitting with me in the Guard Rest Room, laughed heartily and said.

“I really thought some defective bastard had come in!”

It seemed like things couldn’t continue as they were, so after having various conversations, he said he had cleared up his misunderstanding about me.

The Warden hadn’t simply handed over just the Disguise Tools.

He had perfectly prepared and handed over all the personal details, hometown, and life story of the guard I was to impersonate.

“Memorize it completely. I created a background that would make your crazy way of speaking understandable.”

The 10 days were also time to verify this and memorize it so well that I could recite it even if woken from sleep.

“Right, the third son of a Baron House? I understand. There are guys here and there who go crazy from the pressure.”

‘Garret’ was born as the third son of a declining Baron House, unable to receive even the remaining fortune.

Fortunately, he knew how to use Strength Enhancement Kia a little, so he applied to Niflheim trusting in this ability.

“If you endure 3 years in Niflheim, you can become an Imperial knight or Capital noble.”

“….”

“It’s a famous story among guys like you who seem unlikely to inherit, let alone become nobles, and bastards.”

The guards here often have to subdue prisoners who handle Kia.

Therefore, they need to know how to handle Kia. But people who handle Kia well are classified as high-level talent.

There’s no reason for such talent to come to this remote, notorious Prison.

Therefore, the Empire began to highly evaluate the careers of those who applied as guards here.

If you endure and return after 3 years, you get a simple title. If you endure 5 years or more, you can receive an inherited title plus a Capital knight position.

“I’m grateful that you understand.”

“Tsk tsk, I thought your speech was particularly stiff. You’re still feeling a lot of pressure, aren’t you? Be comfortable. Comfortable.”

Sergeant Steven, who learned that what I had said to the Male Lead was actually meant as a joke.

He giggled for a long time, saying it was the first time he’d seen someone interpret that Manual in such a way.

After that, he began showing friendliness toward me.

Since I needed to blend in among the guards, it wasn’t bad.

“Right, right. Well, to be a guard watching these wild dogs, you do need to go a bit crazy to be comfortable. Hmm… yeah, it might actually be comfortable for someone who’s already gone crazy.”

“I see. I’ll try my best to go crazy.”

“….”

“I’ll take note of that. Thank you for the advice.”

Sergeant Steven’s mouth twitched with a mysterious expression as if he wanted to say something.

“…Though I’ve only seen you briefly, you’re really a peculiar guy. Thanks to you, I learned what happens when a person goes crazy from pressure.”

“I’m glad I could provide you with learning.”

He soon shook his head back and forth.

“Have you learned the structure of this place?”

“Yes. Since you gave me some time, I’ve memorized the entire structure and all the zones.”

“Well, I like your attitude. Then all that’s left is… talking about work duties.”

Sergeant Steven stroked his chin.

Here, new guards were called ‘Officer’ until their first year, and from the second year onward they were called ‘Sergeant.’

“You know that guys who just came in are assigned one newly arrived prisoner to be in charge of, right? Did you get the manual?”

“Yes. I’ve reviewed it.”

“Good. There’s nothing much to do. Just follow them around and watch them take care of their basic needs.”

“…”

“There’ll be seniors like me here and there, so don’t worry about small mistakes. Anyway, it’s a rule made for new guys to actually get familiar with this area and look around.”

At those words, I briefly thought of ‘Haira.’

She was a new prisoner who came in on the day I decided to disappear as Mint.

The timing was bad, so I couldn’t teach her various things like I did for other new prisoners.

‘Ramona and Deril should guide her well.’

They’re rarely good people, but. Since they’re also veterans who’ve stayed here for a long time.

It was questionable whether they’d be kind to a newbie.

Both guards and prisoners need an adjustment period.

“Oh, come to think of it. What’s the crime of the prisoner you’re assigned to? That pretty boy, I mean.”

“I haven’t seen the documents yet.”

I had seen them, but pretended not to know.

“Tsk. That criminal bastard fooling around with this woman and that woman, with only his face all shiny – ‘Helios’? Ha, a mythological name, how grandiose.”

For a moment, I felt like I experienced the ‘inferiority complex toward handsome guys’ that Sergeant Steven had mentioned. But I decided not to say anything.

“Senior, you’re teaching me so much.”

“What? This guy says something weird once every ten sentences. Kid.”

Sergeant Steven made an incredulous expression.

Then he casually recited the Male Lead’s crime.

“That guy’s crime is ‘massacre.'”

His face was bored as he spoke the heavy charge.

“He massacred the people of a village and then set it on fire. At first they pinned it on the Revolutionary Army, but the Investigation Team dug into it thoroughly and revealed the truth.”

“…”

“Tsk, anyway. Every single bastard who comes in here isn’t just an ordinary criminal.”

Of course.

Why else would this be the world’s worst prison?

However, the Male Lead must feel wronged.

That’s not a crime the Male Lead committed, but a false accusation.

‘In that regard, he’s similar to me.’

Moreover, if there’s one more thing in common, it’s that the real culprit behind the crime that the body I possessed was framed for.

And the actual perpetrator of the real massacre incident that the Male Lead was framed for—.

‘Are the same.’

The fact that they’re identical.

“Hey, newbie. Break time’s over. Let’s go for the shift change.”

“Yes.”

* * *

The next day.

The time had come for the Male Lead, who had spent the night in the Cell Entrance Building for a day, to move to the Main Building.

All prisoners pass through the Garden and walking area in front of the Tower on this day, then arrive at the Main Building to be assigned their rooms.

“This is the room assigned to you for one month.”

The Male Lead Helios was no exception.

“I heard that criminals with crimes as heinous as yours go through a management period before being assigned to the next room.”

Mass murderers are assigned to Four-Person Cells or Seven-Person Cells after a management period of one week to one month ends.

There used to be Fifteen-Person Cells, but they were abolished after prisoners banded together and attempted a Prison Break.

If your grade goes up, you can use Three-Person Cells or Two-Person Cells.

A question arose on Helios’s face as he quietly looked at the prison cell.

“A Solitary Cell?”

“That’s right. It’s a Solitary Cell. Your next room depends on how you conduct yourself.”

The Manual said not to explain too much information to prisoners, but.

‘This much should be fine.’

Though it was called a Solitary Cell, the room was dirty and shabby.

“I heard even this room is a luxury for mass murderers.”

At the words ‘mass murderer,’ Helios’s face hardened. A faint sense of injustice and resignation flashed by.

Did my face look like that once too?

I thought about it for a moment, but it was too distant a memory.

“Now you are a prisoner of the lowest grade. But if you enter the ‘Tower’ within the Prison, overcome the trials, and your grade rises, you can be assigned a cleaner room than now according to your grade.”

This was something that had to be announced.

“And I’m ‘Garret’. I’ll be your dedicated guard for a while.”

What do you mean for a while.

I’ll be watching you until you become the boss of this place, until I’m sick of it.

“Does being dedicated mean you’ll be following me around like a tail?”

It was a sarcastic voice.

I understood.

‘How surprising and frightening this must be.’

It was common to see prisoners here express their fear through defiance.

Besides, I had always been kind to new prisoners. It was the same now that I had become a guard.

“Similar but different. I have the duty to protect and monitor you for one month so that you don’t die, suffer permanent physical damage, or lose any limbs.”

“…”

But I swallowed the fact that dedicated guards rarely actually fulfill this duty.

You could tell just by looking at how new prisoners die most frequently within a month of admission.

“I’ll protect you.”

Newly arrived chicks often broke taboos because they didn’t know any better.

After watching countless lives fade away like that… I began personally guiding new prisoners.

“Of course, hardly any guards consider this duty an actual obligation. But I will keep it. So you can trust me.”

Being a newbie here means being at the very bottom of the pyramid hierarchy.

Unfortunately, this place is where lower ranks treat those beneath them even more cruelly.

“Oh, and I apologize for what I said yesterday.”

“Apologize?”

“I belatedly realized that my praise was misdirected.”

Helios looked at me like I was completely insane.

His eyes also held hostility.

“You’re really going to protect me.”

“…”

“With that physique that’s much smaller and more frail than mine, who’s protecting who?”

“Kid.”

“What?”

He’s confused right now, so this is when he’s most on edge. That’s understandable.

“Prisoner Helios, you can’t use ‘Kia’, can you?”

“…What does that matter?”

It’s a power that half the world cannot use.

The outside world isn’t such a terrible place to live even without Kia. Not being able to use it doesn’t make you inadequate. But here is different.

“The moment you enter a communal space, you’ll become a target for violence.”

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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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