I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison

Unknowingly, Mint stared at his face intently.
In fact, it was inevitable that her hand would reach out to him.
This prison was an easy place to give in to impulse.

All day long, all he could see was prisoners tainted with madness, guards who hated prisoners, and prison staff who were busy abusing or exploiting prisoners.

It was a place where if they didn’t express themselves, it was easy to go crazy.
Mint herself had lived like that and managed to survive.

“You sweat a lot. Is it really that difficult?”

As she said this, Mint’s hand lightly brushed against his cheek, causing Helios to feel awkward. Mint was questioning him as if it was not that difficult.

“I tried to be as gentle as possible, but it seems you’ve become weaker. You have a long way to go.”

“…What are you saying? Are you really out of your mind?”

Even the training instructor his father had sent to awaken Kia when he was young wasn’t as ruthless as him.

Moreover, he didn’t attack as if he would really kill him.

“You’re saying sensible things….”

However, when she tried to remove her hand, he felt a strange feeling and held onto it.

‘This guy… Why does he feels so soft?’

How could he have been defeated by this weak arm? It was unfair in a way.
Honestly speaking, at this moment, he didn’t dislike the warmth. Just for now.

“I don’t know what kind of person you are, but I’ll accept your ambiguous kindness,” Helios said, leaning slightly against Mint’s hand and exhaling a languid breath.

Despite trying to maintain his pride, he was weakening.

“Congratulations, Sir Garrett,” Helios continued, lifting the corner of his mouth slightly. His previously fierce gaze softened subtly.
“You’re the first person to make me shed tears since becoming an adult.” His voice was rebellious, and it sounded quite provocative to Mint.

“Are you ready to take responsibility?”

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

96th floor.

“Yawn…” A woman lazily sat down and yawned. Below her, a burly man lay unconscious, frothing at the mouth.

The woman’s name was Ramona, and she was casually perched on the body of the massive man. He used to be the owner of the 96th floor. Correction: just three minutes ago, he was the owner.

Ever since reaching the late 80s of the tower, Ramona had steadily climbed the rankings. Until now, there was no need for her to do so, but she suddenly felt the need to ascend.

“The Boss is late,” she muttered, her scarred face was hidden in her disheveled hair. It had been two months since Mint, the leader of the prisoners, the owner of the top 100th floor, disappeared.

Ramona had never doubted that Mint would come back. However, this time she felt it would take quite a while.

She raised her hand, and a drop of thick green liquid fell from her fingertips. As it hit the ground, it dissolved on the floor, emitting a corrosive sound. It was poison.

Ramona tilted her head, casually and with a faint hint of interest. A relaxed yet faintly intrigued voice flowed out. “Our Boss, didn’t she usually go mad every two months?”

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

“Jump down,” I said to Helios as he looked at me as if I was a lunatic. It was a face that I had become so accustomed to that it no longer stirred any feelings within me.

“This guard has endless patience. Trust your master and jump down,” I continued.

“…Crazy. If you really want to claim you’re my master, shouldn’t you help me clear the way below?”

Three weeks had passed, and Helios had climbed up to the 7th floor. It was currently a resting period, and this area served as the resting space.

“Hey, rookie, they told me you’ll keep being assigned as his guard from above.”

“Did you offend your superiors, or maybe you didn’t perform well in the tests? Why would such an order come down?”

From above, an order was given for me to serve as an assigned guard for a longer period. It was only natural since I was assigned to support Helios. Sergeant Stephen saw it as something strange, but the other guards seemed to accept it without much surprise. It was like they expected it.

“This is strange.”

“What’s strange? To me, it seems perfectly natural.”

Sergeant Stephen kindly explained to me that the other guards’ reactions were more like, ‘Since I’m not good enough to handle the official duties, let alone the simplest tasks, it was natural that I would be assigned as his guard longer’ But why?

“I haven’t caused any accidents, though.”

It had been almost two months since I became a guard, and I was growing into an excellent one. Even the senior guards, in this prison hierarchy, treated me with great respect.

“Aaahh! It’s hot!”

“Ow, my tongue!”

“Hey, you crazy guy! Who boils tea this hot for so long?”

“This tea tastes best when brewed at 100 degrees.”

“Cool it down! Cool it!”

I brewed and served tea just as instructed.

“Hey, rookie, this is an important weapon storage. Don’t let anyone enter, got it?”

“Yes, understood.”

“Alright. I’m going to take a quick nap. I’ll be back in five minutes, so don’t slack off.”

I prevented anyone from entering, just as instructed.

“You crazy guy! I need to see the Sergeant inside.”

“I was told not to let anyone in.”

“…You!”

That didn’t seem to please the senior guards either, so I made sure to do all the other tasks assigned, such as organizing documents, properly.

“Ah, d*mn, it’s so frustrating! Can’t you understand what I’m saying? Hey, rookie,  just throw all of those away!”

“Yes, understood.”

A very enthusiastic response was given to her instead.

“Are you crazy? I told you to throw them away, but who would who actually throw them away?!”

Well, yes. No matter how much I think about it, it doesn’t seem like I did anything wrong.

I even received the enthusiastic response from the senior guards by continuing my duties.

It seems that if I continue to work diligently as before, everything will be fine.

Indeed, it seems that being diligent leaves no room for anything bad.

When I opened up a little to the male lead, with whom I had become somewhat close through various conversations over the past two months, he revealed a troubled expression and said, “I didn’t think social skills were considered in the guard’s test.”

Soon, I came back to my senses and looked up. Helios was standing on a tree. It wasn’t strange since I had instructed him to climb up that tree.

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

I looked in front of me. Under Helios’ feet, there was a pit, and beneath that, there were numerous sharp white thorns sticking out. They were the thorns I created using my Kia ability. When pierced by them, real blood would flow, and it would hurt, just like traps set by ancient hunters.

“Your safety is guaranteed.”

“Said the one who throws punches that could be deadly during training? I can’t trust you at all.”

“That’s… a lack of trust in your master.”

Helios furrowed his brow and twisted his lips slightly, as if mocking me.

“The relationship between a guard and a prisoner should be just like this.”

I tilted my head.

“This is excellent training. You have a material type ability, and you wanted to accurately manifest objects. Usually, that ability only develops in extreme situations.”

“But what if I really end up in a life-threatening situation?”

It was strange.

“Isn’t it better than dying there?”

“….”

He turned pale for a moment, but on the other hand, he had a face that seemed convinced by my words.

I didn’t say anything much, but I could see a fleeting expression on his face, as if saying, ‘Well, that’s true…’

“Think and create something that can save your life when you fall.”

“Even so, this is really cruel and ignorant… Hey!”

I cleanly cut down the tree on which Helios was standing.

Various curses came out of his beautiful mouth.

Ah, I kind of miss it. It feels like how Deryl used to look at me.

Helios falling happened in an instant.

“Good luck.”

“Ugh, I’m going to kill you!”

I smiled.

I walked a little and looked inside the pit. The faint smile that seemed visible grew even deeper.

“See? It’s as simple as that.”

“….”

Inside the pit, a net-like structure had been created precariously. It looked like a safety net set up under a circus tightrope.

“Oh, have you ever seen a circus?”

On the net made of light, Helios sat helplessly, covering his face with his hands.