Chapter 271
Chapter 271
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 74
>Chapter Title: Underground Golden Prison (2)
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-Clunk!
Mok Kyung-un unrolled the Golden Prison map, examined it, then rolled it back up into its bamboo tube.
Someone was watching this Mok Kyung-un intently—or more precisely, the man wearing Bae Ji-seok's face.
It was Joo Un-hyang, assigned to the Abyssal Golden Prison.
They hadn't even reached the third underground level yet, and she had already found it odd that he was unfolding the map.
But what really bothered her was his expression.
'What is it?'
His face after looking at the map felt somehow off, not quite right.
With suspicion in her eyes, Joo Un-hyang glanced at the Golden Prison map tube hanging from her own waist.
Was there something wrong with the map?
Her doubts lingered, but there was no way to check right now.
The apprentices had all been sent one by one to their assigned sectors, leaving only Joo Un-hyang and Yeom Kyung for the Abyssal Golden Prison.
When they reached the lowest level, the remaining group consisted of those two plus two Gold Guard ensigns.
But contrary to her expectation that apprentices would be assigned to the sector closest to the exit even at the lowest level, those spots went to the two accompanying ensigns.
Yeom Kyung, who had been holding back to avoid losing more points, finally protested.
"We're supposed to take the inner sectors?"
"That's right."
"But even with the Golden Prison map, it's hard for us to navigate these twisting cave paths."
"Is that why you're asking us to swap assignments when we need to hurry with the rations? Scared already?"
"That's not what I meant..."
"You know one more deduction means elimination from the Gold Guard selection process."
At the ensign's words, Yeom Kyung had no choice but to shut his mouth.
He glared at Joo Un-hyang as if daring her to say something, but she showed no particular dissatisfaction.
In the end, they parted ways with the only remaining instructor, the Gold Guard ensign, and headed deeper into the Abyssal Golden Prison.
As Yeom Kyung pulled the ration cart along the torch-lit passage, he stopped.
The sector marked "D" was where he was assigned.
'At least it's not the very end.'
He could take some relief in that.
He was about to enter the cave etched with "D" on the wall when Joo Un-hyang suddenly called out to him.
"Hey."
Wondering why, he turned his head, and she was already right in front of him.
"W-What? You?"
He disliked Joo Un-hyang, but after seeing her performance during the internal energy test, he had decided not to pick a fight lightly.
Unwittingly, he shrank back.
To him, she extended her hand and said,
"Let me see your Golden Prison map."
"What?"
"I said, let me see yours."
Unable to fathom why, he followed her gaze to the map scroll hanging from his waist.
Already uneasy about being alone with her in the Abyssal Golden Prison, Yeom Kyung reluctantly handed it over.
Joo Un-hyang took Yeom Kyung's map and unrolled both it and her own at the same time.
But,
'...They're the same?'
There wasn't the slightest difference between the maps.
* * *
Mok Kyung-un pulled the ration cart along as he moved through the passage.
His mind was fully occupied calculating the route to the Abyssal Golden Prison.
Assigned to the opposite side from the descending passages, he had to account for the various traps and mechanisms, as well as the Golden Prison wardens stationed at intervals along the paths.
Deep in thought, he pressed on until the first prison cell holding his assigned prisoner came into view.
A thick iron grate barred a cave-like hollow.
'The stench is bad.'
He had heard the smell of piss grew worse the deeper you went, but the prisoners on the third level weren't treated much like humans at all.
They were left to shit and piss in that tiny cell and abandoned there.
'Agh.'
Mok Kyung-un covered his nose with his sleeve.
His heightened sense of smell made it nauseating.
They seemed to change it out occasionally, but judging by the buildup and the dizzying reek, the intervals were quite long.
'Inefficient.'
Locking them up like this might torment them long-term, but it wasn't to his taste.
Why leave them to rot and grow accustomed when you could imprint pain sharply and kill them cleanly and efficiently?
No sense wasting manpower and space.
Mok Kyung-un opened the ration box.
-Clang!
The disheveled prisoner immediately pressed against the bars, thrusting out his hands and howling.
"Food! Food!"
Through his wild tangle of hair, his eyes looked far from human.
Eyes driven only by base urges.
Of course, spending years alone in such a dark, damp cell would drive anyone mad—staying sane would be the real anomaly.
'Hmm.'
The emaciated prisoner gripped the bars with bony arms, reaching out.
Mok Kyung-un stared at him for a moment before tossing him a rice ball from the ration box.
The prisoner snatched it greedily and retreated to a corner, wolfing it down frantically.
As if afraid it might be taken away.
Mok Kyung-un's lips twitched at the sight.
'Close to a beast now.'
This was intriguing.
Peel back the layers, and humans drew near their primal instincts after all.
Soon, Mok Kyung-un scooped water in a square ladle and poured it through a horn-shaped hole beside the iron grate.
-Splash!
The water flowed into a small depression dug in the cell floor.
They got one meal and water per day via rations—just enough to barely keep them alive.
'No wonder the Death Line Division's Gold Guards are desperate to transfer out.'
An interesting spectacle bringing humans close to their essence, but ordinary folk would find working here pure agony.
Mok Kyung-un moved on to the next cell.
After completing the second and third distributions, he pulled the cart toward the fourth, deeper in.
The passages were incredibly convoluted.
'A maze itself.'
If they were neat and orderly, it might be easier, but these twists made them hard to remember.
Distances between cells were considerable, and to prevent escapes, the paths twisted like a labyrinth.
Intersections looked nearly identical, inviting confusion.
'Not an issue since I've memorized the map.'
In Mok Kyung-un's mind, the paths weren't flat—they formed a vivid 3D model.
No chance of getting lost.
As he naturally pulled the cart toward a nearby cell via a descending passage,
-Thud!
-Creak! Thump!
-Gahhh!
A strange noise and scream echoed from nearby.
Mok Kyung-un turned toward the sound.
'...What's that?'
It came from where a mechanism trap had triggered.
Why a scream from there?
-Gaaahhh.
The agonized cries continued relentlessly.
If it kept up, it might draw the wardens on constant watch and the Gold Guard ensigns.
With no other choice,
'No helping it.'
-Swish! Whirr!
Mok Kyung-un masked the qi surge and headed there.
Soon, he found the spot where the trap had activated— the floor bristled with embedded arrows.
Before it lay someone riddled with arrows.
It was An Jong-hu, the apprentice assigned to the third level with him.
"Guhhh."
It was clear why he screamed.
Mok Kyung-un approached.
Seeing him, the writhing An Jong-hu pleaded desperately.
"Ughhh... S-Save... me."
Eyes full of desperate will to live.
Mok Kyung-un knelt and said,
"Too late for that, it seems."
"Cough... Ughhh... P-Please..."
Mok Kyung-un examined him impassively.
Arrows pierced his abdomen and chest in multiple places; the bleeding was too severe for survival.
Only his face above the collarbone and left arm were intact.
"I... I..."
"No idea why you'd blunder into a mechanism trap zone."
"Wh-What... are you... I just... followed... the map..."
"Followed the map? You didn't misread it?"
"No way... Cough cough... Gack! Heh! Heh!"
An Jong-hu coughed blood, then choked as his airway seized.
Mok Kyung-un stared at his suffering form, then,
-Tap tap tap!
struck his acupoints.
The pressure points induced sleep, letting him pass without further pain.
Not out of pity or mercy, of course.
After gazing at the dead man's face for a while, Mok Kyung-un looked at the bamboo tube in his right hand.
An arrow had pierced the wrist, but the map tube remained intact.
Mok Kyung-un opened it and unrolled the map.
And,
'!?'
One of Mok Kyung-un's eyebrows shot up.
An Jong-hu's map was identical to the falsified one he had been given.
'They've put some thought into it.'
* * *
Just half a shichen earlier,
Battalion Commander Im Gyu-wol asked Martial Officer Mok Seom, puzzled.
"Pardon? You want all the Golden Prison maps for the third level and Abyssal Golden Prison swapped with fakes?"
"Exactly."
Im Gyu-wol frowned at Mok Seom's order.
Doing so would cause accidents beyond just Bae Ji-seok (Mok Kyung-un) or Joo Un-hyang—others would suffer too.
Why sacrifice innocents when targeting one would suffice?
To the puzzled Im Gyu-wol, Mok Seom held up the scroll bound with red thread that he had tried to discard and said,
"Anyone with a shred of observation would spot such an obvious trap. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Th-That wasn't intentional; I marked it to give to him later without mix-ups. I planned to swap it back."
"Doesn't matter now. Since he noticed, better to turn it to our advantage."
"Turn it how?"
"Give the same maps to all the apprentices paired with him."
-Tap tap!
Martial Officer Mok Seom tapped his temple with a finger.
"Make them think harder. Dealing with clever ones demands layers upon layers, not simplicity."
"Ah..."
* * *
-Creak!
'!?'
Joo Un-hyang's expression hardened.
She had just stepped on something that sank slightly inward.
Gulping, she glanced down just as,
-Shwaaaa!
Arrows rained down from the ceiling.
'Ugh!'
In her haste, Joo Un-hyang grabbed the torch and rolled forward.
The arrow storm engulfed the ration cart where she had stood.
A split-second later, and she'd have been a porcupine.
'What?'
She had followed the map—why had the mechanism trap here triggered?
Something was wrong.
Her map matched Yeom Kyung's.
No trickery with the maps, then why...
'Ah!'
Joo Un-hyang furrowed her brow.
Since the maps were identical, she had assumed no foul play via them.
But what if they gave the same fake to all apprentices to target her specifically, sacrificing others...
-Screech! Thwack!
"Huh?"
A massive blade shot from the wall beside her; Joo Un-hyang arched her back to dodge.
-Rumble!
Right then.
The cave floor beneath her gave way.
A four-zhang pit yawned open—no escaping that.
'Damn!'
Joo Un-hyang plummeted into the chasm.
-Screeeeech!
After she fell, the mechanism reversed, the floor seamlessly rising back as if nothing happened.
-Step step!
Soon after, two figures approached.
They were the Gold Guard ensigns who had come to the Abyssal Golden Prison with Joo Un-hyang and Yeom Kyung.
One ensign smirked at the abandoned ration cart.
"One down."
* * *
Around the same time.
Underground Golden Prison third level.
The two assigned Gold Guard ensigns arrived where the mechanism trap had triggered.
An apprentice lay there, riddled with arrows.
No breathing, no twitching—definitely dead.
One ensign approached, turned the corpse's face to confirm identity.
-Swish!
Seeing it, the ensign grinned.
"Smoother than expected."
"No way?"
"Yeah. Bae Ji-seok."
"Perfect. I was worried the paired one dying first might complicate things... Lucky break. I'll report to the superior— you find that An Jong-hu before he hits the trap."
"Got it."
As one ensign left, the other tried straightening the body before searching for An Jong-hu.
Then he froze, staring piercingly at the dead apprentice Bae Ji-seok.
He had grabbed the face carelessly since it was just a corpse, but the skin felt... loose.
And it wasn't just a feeling.
-Slide!
The skin peeled away.
Not just where touched—the entire facial skin shifted sideways, warping grotesquely.
'What the...'
-Swish!
Then a hand clamped his shoulder.
The startled ensign tried shaking it off and leaping away.
But the grip was iron-strong,
-Bam!
slamming him face-down.
As he lay stunned, a voice whispered in his ear.
"Didn't expect you to check before the adhesive set properly."
'Adhesive?'
Bewildered, he watched the skin peel fully from "Bae Ji-seok's" face, revealing a hideous, eerie visage beneath.
'N-No...'
The ensign paled.
The voice murmured to him,
"You could've just passed by. Such bad luck."
"Y-You... who the hell..."
-Grip!
Before he finished, the voice's owner seized his nape,
-Thwack!
and hurled him into the trap pit.
'!!!!!!!'
No time to react— hurtling down, he glimpsed An Jong-hu waving goodbye with a smile.