I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison

Hira’s mouth hung open. The green light bursting forth before her was more radiant than any light she had ever seen from a ‘Kia’ before.

“I was threatened, so this… is self-defense, right?”

And the broom was floating in the air. The men who had been gripping her by the hair forcefully fell to the ground with a thud.

“Sir, since I need to defend myself against these prisoners, let me use my broom.”

Along with the woman’s strange words, the broom began to move on its own, striking the men relentlessly.

“Dear God, it’s the broom who did this, not me.”

“Arghh!”

“W-What, what is this! Ahh, help! Save me!”

“Yes, yes. You can sue me later. To sue someone, all you have to do is go through the prison guard, but let me tell you, it was the same as going to hell.”

The larger man, despite being relentlessly struck, seemed unable to use Kia.

However, the smaller man, surrounded by a faint golden light, swiftly stood up and lunged towards the woman, extending his fist.

A light, like a plant stem sprouting from the man, coiled around the woman’s arm. The smaller man visibly felt a sense of pleasure.

“You b*tch! Is she a long-range Kia user? Then if we just capture her…”

However, the woman calmly grasped the man’s fist with one hand.

Snap!

She lightly flicked his ankle. It was a light flick, but the result was far from light.

Crash!

The smaller man plummeted to the ground. As she looked at the fallen man, the woman murmured solemnly, “One more shall depart, dear God.”

She drew the sacred symbol of Lumens, the Empire’s sole deity.

The broom, as if waiting, swiftly rushed towards the smaller man.

Thud, thud!

Blood splattered. Seeing blood, the woman casually wiped the blood away in her face.

“Oh no, the floor is a mess now.”

At the same time, the woman swept her hair back.

“If you can’t clean, you won’t go to heaven, you wretched creatures.”

Only her eyebrows were slightly raised, and the previous sense of melancholy was nowhere to be found. It was an entirely different atmosphere—a woman with an irritated expression standing there.

When the woman turned her head slightly, Hira noticed that the other prisoners, exhaling and avoiding eye contact, were trying to escape her gaze.

Then, someone was heard running toward them from a distance.

“Damn it, Mint!”

It was a man dressed in a completely different uniform from the guard next to Hira.

He wore a jacket adorned with badges on his chest.

The guard standing next to Hira stood neatly and respectfully saluted.

“Greetings, sir!”

“Ah, greetings are unnecessary. Hey, Mint!”

The guard, passing by Hira, approached the woman known as Mint, who was cleaning.

“Are you crazy? Causing more trouble while being punished?!”

“Sir, I feel unjustly treated.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You’re…”

“The broom moved on its own accord.”

“Yes, it must be your broom! You think it’s not violence just because you didn’t use your hands?!”

“Wasn’t it?”

The woman who was known as Mint, chuckled mischievously.

No matter what, her striking appearance made it clear that she was not your typical back-alley thug.

“I couldn’t help it. Don’t you know about self-defense? My Amy and Angel were in danger.”

“Amy and Angel?”

Mint laughed gleefully and divided her hair into both hands. She shook her right hand.

“This is ‘Amy’.”

The hair held in her right hand swayed like a puppy’s tail.

“And this is ‘Angel’.”

This time, she waved the hair held in her left hand.

“I had to do it.”

“Oh…”

The face of the guard turned red. It was only natural. He thought Mint was mocking him.

“I told them over and over again not to touch them.”

“Don’t use Kia! If you use it, they’ll die. Even though this is a space filled with disrespectful b*stards, the guards will be the one moving their corpse. Do you think we’re here to clean up corpses?!”

“Oh, it wasn’t like that?”

“Exactly! No, wait what? Do you want to die?”

Instead of provoking her superior further, Mint surrendered obediently.

“I didn’t touch it. My broom…”

“Whether it’s the broom or your hands, it’s still your fault!”

“Well, if I was the one who touched them, they would’ve been sent to hell already.”

“….”

“I’m giving them kindness.”

The guard flinched for a moment and grumbled.

“Kindness, my foot! It was just three days ago that you said you’d live sensibly! You lack common sense, you do!”

“Ah, please understand. I entered this place as the youngest, so my brain has gone bad.”

“Who asked for your answer?”

The guard shouted, his anger rising, then soon raised his head.

“Come with me. The warden wants to see you.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the woman moved her hand as if losing interest, the green light faded and the broom fell to the ground.

When it was time to use it as a shield, she used it without hesitation.

Mint skillfully stepped on the fingers of the fallen man as she passed by.

It was the hand that had grabbed Mint’s hair.

“Ha, it’s Amy’s revenge.”

Watching the woman walking away, Hira could only stay silent.

‘Kia’ was a power used by about half of the population in this world.

Various strong people existed, but she had never seen such a brilliant light before.

“Um, sir. Who is that woman…?”

Fragile appearance and exceptional combat skills, but her speech and actions was eccentric. It was like watching an innocent child who hadn’t mastered etiquette.

Yet, her expression as she snapped someone’s finger felt pure evil.

“Who is she? She’s the leader of this prison. The one and only top-tier prisoner.”

She crawled up to the top with her own feet.

The guard sneered and spat, but unknowingly, he seemed to acknowledge the greatness of that woman.

At the same time, a hint of fear could be glimpsed. Hira watched Mint’s back for a long time until it completely disappeared from sight.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

‘Hmm, this b*stard must be happy,’ the woman thought, looking at the man in the smoke-filled room.

“Living sensibly, you say?”

She looked at the man sitting in front of her with a relaxed posture.

He was a middle-aged man with stray, tangled hair on the sides, resembling unruly fur.

He was Ralph Garman, the warden of ‘Niflheim’ the equivalent to an emperor in this prison.

“Are you dumb?” He continued, “You’re obviously lying. If you use your power, they’ll die, you know?”

She silently looked at the bald eagle, in other words, the warden.

She thought hard. What did she do?

“Wouldn’t it be fine to live without their hands?”

“Mint, if you use your power, it will cause permanent damage. How could you survive if you’re released?”

He was speaking to a lifelong prisoner.

“It’s agonizing just to hear about parole for a prisoner who has no chance of getting out.”

“You want to be released?”

“Yes. If I go out, I want to marry a rabbit-like husband and give birth to a wolf-like child.”

“…Isn’t it the other way around?”

“The world is harsh, so children should be raised to be tough.”

“…And the husband?”

“I’ll protect him.”

In truth, she had no intention of having a husband or a child, but she played along with the topic because she knew the warden liked it when she answered that way.

It has been a whopping 10 years since she was imprisoned. And now, she have become the leader of the prison. They call her by some grandiose name like ‘Top Dog’ or whatever. But all she had done was just climb up to the top of the tower, making her the leader of all the inmates.

It happened somehow, but that doesn’t mean it was an easy task.

‘Well, it hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure.’

“Just three days have passed since you said you wanted to live sensibly, Mint.”

Her name was Mint. Her full name was ‘Minte Limnades.’

But that name was no longer used. She must be nonexistent even within the Limnades family. From some point on, people started calling her ‘Mint’ based on her hair color. She accepted it. It wasn’t so bad.

“Peppermint*!”

TL/N: I was confused on how to translate this. So her other name was mint in Korean (박하). Her name was usually written as Mint (민트) in English. So I thought maybe peppermint would be fitting. And because of the medieval setting, if I suddenly translate her name as Bakha, it doesn’t make sense. So peppermint it is. Haha.

Peppermint. That was also her other name.

“Why did you do it? Now, because of you, we have to protect the new inmates again.”

The warden grabbed a pen and threw it.
This old man was annoying.

He continued, “Are the inmates under you causing trouble? Huh?”

“I’ll try to calm them down, at least in appearance.”

“Don’t just appear to calm them down, really calm them down!”

How was she supposed to make them listen to her? She might be their leader, but in reality, she just knocked them all down with her fists.

The people here weren’t the kind who obediently listen after being knocked down.

“If they were such socially compliant individuals, they wouldn’t be in this prison.”

In this prison, there was a strict hierarchy based on the logic of power. The guards have a grading system for them, and the inmates have their ranks determined through the fights in the Tower, referred to as the ‘Dogfight’. These ranks are not solely based on strength, physique, gender, or age.

They are determined by the power of ‘Kia.’