Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Unwilling Slaves
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He tied up the three unconscious overseers with ropes and tossed them into the training camp's outer courtyard.
The slaves in the training camp all widened their eyes at the sudden intrusion of this handsome, unidentified figure and walked toward Dun to figure out what was going on.
Dun placed one foot on top of the bound overseers and opened his mouth.
“The magic surveillance orbs are down, and the overseers are out cold. Let’s escape. If you come with me, you won’t be slaves anymore.”
The slaves, unable to grasp the situation, gradually formed a circle around Dun.
The murmurs grew louder.
“Who are you…?”
Ordinary slaves from a typical slave trading company would latch onto the hope the moment someone took down an overseer and suggested running away.
But their hesitant, ambiguous reactions were irritating.
“Um… You’d need to explain…”
Dun walked toward one of the slaves who had mustered the courage to question him and reached out his hand.
He grabbed the jeweled choker around their neck and shattered it right then.
“What are you doing!!”
The slave whose choker had been broken scrambled to pick up the shards from the floor and shouted.
Their gaze suddenly shifted toward the iron choker slaves.
“We want to escape!”
The iron choker slaves clamored and pounded on the glass walls with their hands.
Clicking his tongue, Dun headed toward the iron choker slaves first and smashed open the door of their glass enclosure.
“You’re taking us with you, right? We don’t know who you are, but you’ll let us get out of here, right?”
“Don’t take them!”
Suddenly, one of the jeweled choker slaves burst out yelling.
“If you only take them, one of us will have to fill their spots! The punishments will get worse!”
“That’s why let’s all leave together right now so no one gets punished.”
Dun crossed his arms and relaxed his eyes as much as possible to look like a good guy.
“…I’ve heard there are slave trading companies that target slave training camps! What guarantee do we have that you’re not one of them?”
Dun sighed.
“There’s no way to prove it right now. You’ll have to come with me first for me to show you.”
Suppressing a surge of annoyance, Dun replied indifferently.
“We’ve been living pretty well here. I’m a high-quality slave, so I’ll meet a good master and live without ever worrying about food or clothes for the rest of my life. Just go. I don’t want to get involved in whatever you’re stirring up.”
“Yeah, just leave us alone.”
Getting unnecessarily involved could turn them into iron choker slaves.
Things weren’t so bad right now.
They were fed delicious meals they’d never tasted before in their lives, and they slept on soft beds.
Sure, they had to endure excessive training and abuse from masters with nasty tempers or weird tastes, but the better they withstood it, the greater the rewards, so it was bearable.
The overseers had said that no matter how cruel the master, they were all rich, so they’d enjoy the same luxuries as in this training camp.
They had gradually lost their sense of self amid the endless abuse interspersed with candy-like rewards.
“Then only the ones who want to come, come.”
“Don’t go! Anyone who follows that guy, I’ll kill you. There’s no guarantee it’ll be better than here just because you follow him, and the ones left behind will suffer twice as much because of the ones who leave…”
Dun stared silently at the guy who kept opposing him—the apparent ringleader of the group—before stuffing dirt and stones into his mouth.
“Who are you to keep forcing a choice on us? Stop stirring shit and shut up.”
He understood the wary reactions, but the opposition felt a bit contrived.
The fact that this one had fewer scars than the other slaves made him wonder if they’d been specially trained to dissuade escaping slaves.
He couldn’t assume, but back in the association days, some overseers had gotten close to certain kids to explain why they couldn’t leave.
Those kids had subtly psychologically controlled the others to keep them from escaping the association.
“This concerns everyone’s direct future here, so I’m just letting the others know!”
“Stones in the mouth? He’s violent! See? I told you following him means death!”
The situation felt oddly familiar, and it didn’t sit right.
A quick scan of their expressions showed many had already been swayed.
He could see groups who wanted to follow but couldn’t step forward because of the slaves yelling that they shouldn’t.
“I’m strong. Ignore the loudmouths and follow me. I’ll protect you.”
“We get it, but slave life is good! Stop pretending to be a saint and get lost!”
One of the slaves who’d been watching quietly joined in the hostile atmosphere toward Dun and yelled.
[I’ll kill them… I’m pissed… I’ll kill them…]
Dogpoop suddenly bubbled red. As it grew larger, Dun patted it.
Any patience for persistent persuasion evaporated in an instant.
No point explaining; he’d just get trapped in endless arguments and waste time.
“Then stay, you slave bastards.”
Plan changed.
He’d just blow up the whole building on black market day and destroy the slave trading company that way.
Dun used his world transfer skill to extract only the iron choker slaves who’d said they wanted to escape from the training camp.
“Wh-what did you do with those slaves just now?”
As Dun made the slaves vanish in an instant, the others widened their eyes and asked.
“Didn’t need them, so I killed them.”
“???”
After speaking, Dun untied the ropes binding the overseers before leaving the training camp.
If they woke up still tied, they might think it was a slave conspiracy.
“Mission complete! Huh, why’s the vibe here like this? I thought it’d be everyone packing up to leave.”
Tiarin, who had returned after disabling the magic surveillance orbs, scanned the slaves surrounding Dun.
Contrary to expectations, they were heavily guarded against Dun and clearly didn’t want to follow.
“Didn’t expect this reaction. Interesting.”
Dun tapped Tiarin’s shoulder as she whistled and observed the situation.
“Let’s go.”
“Go?”
“Business here’s done.”
“That was fast… Wasn’t there a plan to rescue the slaves too?”
“Rescue? I was gonna take them and use them, but turns out they’re useless.”
Dun clicked his tongue and spoke loudly.
Saying it like this would minimize backlash on the remaining slaves when they reported to the overseers later.
They’d all claim it was an attack from another slave trading company in unison.
“Ooh, ruthless.”
Tiarin giggled and followed behind the departing Dun.
‘Stupid bastards. Should’ve come quick when I said to.’
Tiarin gave the slave group a scornful last glance and spotted a pointy-eared slave.
Judging by the skin and hair color, it looked like a Lowrian elf—why wasn’t one from an elf village here?
Tiarin frowned and looked toward the elf slave.
There was more than one. Quite a few were clustered together.
“Huh…?? Isaac?”
Tiarin called out the name of a familiar face among the elf slaves.
“…?”
The elf called Isaac tilted his head at Tiarin, seemingly unable to recognize her.
‘Oh, maybe he can’t tell because I turned into a dark elf?’
Seeing an old connection after so long, Tiarin’s eyes widened.
“You know that elf?”
Dun, about to leave the training ground while patting the red Dogpoop that wanted to devour the slaves, asked.
“Y-yeah, from way back, whatever. It’s fine, let’s go, Dun.”
“Oh, right. You’re not on good terms with the elf village folks.”
“Yeah, but…”
Truth be told, that group of slaves was one she’d gotten along with decently. But not anymore.
If she told Dun, he’d pretend not to care but obsess over it anyway. Or would he? Probably…
What did she care about old kids from the past.
Dun was the best.
“They’re not close friends.”
“What’s with that ambiguous expression?”
“Actually, I really hated them. Let’s go, Dun. To celebrate failing to blow up the slave training camp, I’ll treat you to something delicious!!”
“…You.”
“Come on, quick! I know a place with the best steak!”
Tiarin’s eyes, usually unshaken, trembled faintly.
She started to say something, but Tiarin scooped up Dun and vanished via magic circle.
Dun memorized the faces of the inciting slaves among those receding into the distance.
“We repelled the intruder!”
It bugged him that he couldn’t smash that loudmouth’s face properly because they were too sturdy.
* * *
I Sa-byeok raised her fist and struck Moon Se-rim’s face hard.
Moon Se-rim had been one of the Abyss kids who trailed after the strongest among them, I Sa-byeok.
But once the overseers—once objects of terror—started treating Moon Se-rim well, she, who admired the strong, fell effortlessly.
Moon Se-rim’s awakening ability: reinforced muscles.
Now, no matter how hard she struck, it barely fazed her, which was utterly disheartening. But the anger outweighed the despair.
“Sa-byeok, why, why are you doing this??”
Moon Se-rim urgently grabbed I Sa-byeok’s fist.
“I fucking hate you!!!!!!!”
I Sa-byeok gritted her teeth and screamed.
“I hate sellouts like you more than Seon A-rim or the overseer thugs. Pretending to be on our side while trolling like idiots. I can’t even fucking kill you!!!”
Moon Se-rim, bewildered by I Sa-byeok’s sudden rage after returning from a gate run, just blinked in confusion.
“Hwang Ki-tae, that dimwit should’ve been kicked out of here ages ago… If you hadn’t stirred up weird ideas in the kids just to score points with those thug overseers… I thought he’d definitely leave this place…”
“What happened with Hwang Ki-tae?”
“Fuck, he died!!!’
“!!!”
Hwang Ki-tae, one of A-Class Abyss, had died in an accident while running a gate today.
He’d been living unstably like a flickering bulb on its last legs, but gained a strong awakening ability and stayed in A-Class.
He’d been preparing to leave the association, but spineless Hwang Ki-tae stayed after the other kids dissuaded him and ended up dead.
She recalled the advice he’d spat when he said he was leaving.
Guilt pierced Moon Se-rim’s heart. Maybe an excuse would lighten it.
“I never tried to score points! I just… I just said what was already true…”
“So you just got dumbly swayed into inciting them?”
Tears began dripping from I Sa-byeok’s eyes.
“You’re the real scum.”
One drop fell, then two. Then they poured.
I Sa-byeok rarely cried, so Moon Se-rim panicked and wiped her tears with her sleeve.
“S-sorry… Sorry, Sa-byeok. Don’t cry, I’m sorry.”
Suddenly, I Sa-byeok’s tattered, blood-soaked clothes caught her eye.
Running gates without awakening often left her severely injured, and today her clothes were especially ragged.
The wounds seemed healed, but fresh scars layered over old ones.
She’d tried desperately to save Hwang Ki-tae and gotten hurt worse.
“Sorry, Sa-byeok. But I wasn’t the only one who said that to Hwang Ki-tae—why just hate me? Go yell at the other kids too? Oh, sorry, Sa-byeok… Don’t cry. Sorry… Sorry…”
“Sniff, fuck, what a shitty life. I wanna die. Fucking hell.”
I Sa-byeok spat the pooling blood in her mouth and kept cursing.
If she’d had a bit more mana, she could’ve moved faster.
Then she wouldn’t have had to watch him die so pathetically…
Her helplessness crushed her chest.
“D-don’t die! Sorry… Don’t cry. I was really so stupid, sorry… Okay? Sa-byeok, don’t die. Don’t say you’re gonna die…”
In the end, Moon Se-rim burst into tears too and hugged I Sa-byeok.
* * *
“!!!!”
Dun jolted awake, eyes snapping open from sleep.
He’d dozed off mulling over Tiarin’s unsettled expression and her ties to her old friends, only to have an old dream.
A fight with dinosaurs and Abyss kids?
He didn’t remember, but it was a really unpleasant dream. He needed to resolve this nagging feeling.
Those slave bastards acted like real slaves, so he’d treat them like ones and bend them to his will.
No more talk or compromise. He’d just force them out.
‘Just pick up the whole building.’
He felt like he needed to punch that loudmouth slave to sleep soundly.
Dun got out of bed to uproot the slave training camp building and move it to Da-boseok.