Subjugation on Broadcast (37)
Yu-min was more of a coward than he had expected. She took enormous pride in the allure her looks commanded, but that same pride became a source of chaos the moment it was denied.
A person her charms could not reach. And if that person held her life in his grip, it was all the worse. She had never once met a man her beauty could not move, and that made the collapse even sharper. The instant you prodded at her own sense of powerlessness, Yu-min crumbled that much faster.
Yoon Jin-ju, by contrast, moved with complete faith in Dong-hyun. The note he had given her revealed the existence of a secret passage, and she set out with Gyeo-wool and Min-ju to confirm every piece of information he had provided.
Using the hidden passage in Room 7, they crept silently all the way beneath Room 9. They eased the door open and checked their surroundings. Because the passage opened directly under the bed, they could survey the room the instant the panel shifted without being seen.
Room 9 was empty. Seon Woo-hyeon had taken his people out to eat. Jin-ju slipped inside. Dong-hyun's intel had also suggested that Seon Woo-hyeon might have a close connection to the game itself.
The three of them searched the interior with careful, quiet hands. And sure enough, just as Dong-hyun had said, the room held things that did not belong.
The organizers provided basic clothing and the tools needed to live inside these rooms. But Room 9 was stocked with all manner of equipment and machinery. They found a bank of screens and control consoles that could access the CCTV feeds and cameras. The monitors displayed Room 8 from every angle, split across multiple feeds.
"It's confirmed. Seon Woo-hyeon has some kind of connection to this place."
Yoon Jin-ju spoke to Min-ju. Min-ju was stunned by what they had found. Evidence linking Seon Woo-hyeon to the operation turned up at every turn.
"Our Master really is incredible, isn't he?"
Min-ju said it to Jin-ju. Discovering this room had been largely Min-ju's own achievement, but she transferred every bit of the credit to Dong-hyun without hesitation. Jin-ju didn't bother to challenge her on it. She had no objection to the idea that Min-ju's discovery was Dong-hyun's accomplishment.
"Shall we head back to our Master for now?"
At Gyeo-wool's words, Jin-ju nodded. It would be better to gather with Dong-hyun and talk it through. Things she had spent this entire time trying and failing to uncover, Dong-hyun had figured out in a matter of hours. There was no longer any room to doubt his abilities.
On the first day, he had stunned everyone with that monstrous memory. After that, he had woven competition and cooperation together with surgical precision, winning every game through sheer leadership. And in the decisive match against Jin-ju herself, he had displayed both physical power and astonishing marksmanship.
A man more than capable of taking the championship was putting all this effort into helping them escape instead. For the most likely winner to abandon his own victory to help the others was no small thing. It confirmed that his character was good, too.
Of course, there were other sides to him — but Jin-ju had no way of knowing those.
Just what... does this man even lack? And on top of everything... that body... that stamina... God, I'm really falling for him...
While Jin-ju thought that, a submission message reached Dong-hyun. She had truly, genuinely fallen for him.
Yoon Jin-ju has truly fallen for you.
The three of them returned to Room 8 through the underground passage. Back inside, they reported everything they had found to Dong-hyun. Naturally, the conversation took place under the blankets.
Dong-hyun had predicted some of it, but he had not expected the connection to be this direct. The four of them huddled under the covers and discussed strategies for every contingency. They needed more than just an escape. They needed a way to wipe out the organizers of this game as well.
And the first thing they needed for that was weapons. Their opponents were armed with guns. Charging in bare-handed would be suicide. The problem was where to get those weapons. For now, their thinking was to use the underground passages to overpower the staff, or to raid an armory.
An announcement will be made shortly. All participants, please gather in the Main Hall.
Dong-hyun figured they would not jump straight into the finals today, given that they had just competed yesterday. He expected something like another slave exchange, or perhaps a rest period.
Everyone filed out to the main hall, and Joker was there to greet the participants as always.
"Alright!!! The end of Winner Take All is truly just around the corner!! You all must be exhausted after yesterday's semifinals. But the championship is right in front of you now. Give it everything you've got!"
Joker addressed the participants with that same bright, relentless energy.
"Before we run the finals, we'll be holding a few simple events. And today's event is — Slave Snatch. A game where you can steal slaves from the opposing camp. The upcoming finals include games where headcount really matters, so you'll want to put up a strong showing here and prepare yourselves. Especially a team like Ahn Jin-woo's, which is short on numbers — you'll need to step it up, won't you?"
The moment the words Slave Snatch left Joker's mouth, Lee Su-hyeon's eyes seemed to blaze. This was a crucial chance to reclaim Lee Yu-rim with his own hands.
And it was not just Yu-rim. They absolutely could not afford to lose a single slave. Dong-hyun did not want to give up any of them. Judging by the state Lee Su-hyeon was in, anyone taken by Seon Woo-hyeon would suffer horribly.
"This game is extremely simple. One representative from each side will compete in the same three contests from the last semifinal — intelligence, physical, and sensory. For every match you win, you may take anyone you want from the opposing team, excluding their leader."
Joker's words meant that if they lost even one of the three matches, Dong-hyun could have a slave stolen from him.
"You have thirty minutes to decide who will represent you in each game!!"
Dong-hyun's team gathered and debated who should take which match. In truth, the choices for intelligence and physical were already obvious. Even though Dong-hyun had taken first in the intelligence game, Gyeo-wool had shown a level of skill that was nearly his equal. More importantly, Dong-hyun was by far the best physical competitor on his team. So they settled it: Dong-hyun for the physical match, Gyeo-wool for intelligence.
That left the sensory contest, and the debate came down to Jin-ju or Min-ju. Both of them took pride in their pistol shooting, so the final call rested in Dong-hyun's hands.
After thinking it through, Dong-hyun chose Jin-ju for the sensory match. She had lost to him in that contest, but he had already zeroed the sights to some degree before they competed. If both sides received new guns, he believed Jin-ju would outperform anyone else. Someone who had fired a weapon before would have the edge.
Wait... if they receive new guns...?
The thought snagged, and Dong-hyun suddenly doubted this game would be played on equal footing at all.
"Jin-ju. Over here a second."
Jin-ju leaned in and listened. She nodded. It made more than enough sense.
Dong-hyun handed the list of representatives to Joker.
"Both teams have submitted their representatives, so we will begin immediately. Everyone, please move to the semifinals arena."
Every participant relocated to the semifinals arena — not the venue where Dong-hyun and Jin-ju had competed, but the one where Seon Woo-hyeon had fought his matches.
"First, will the intelligence representatives from both teams please step forward."
Gyeo-wool came forward from Dong-hyun's team. From Seon Woo-hyeon's side came a woman with a lush, sensual figure. Her face was flashy and distinctly sexy, and her body looked ready to burst out of her clothes, drawing every eye in the room. The dark, bruised look around her eyes, though, suggested she had been put through quite a lot by Seon Woo-hyeon.
The other participants moved to the spectator seats. Only Gyeo-wool and the woman entered Room 1.
The match began. On the screen, the colors changed every three seconds.
That was when Dong-hyun noticed something wrong. Seon Woo-hyeon's representative was not looking at the screen at all. She was staring downward, muttering under her breath.
These bastards... they had the answer key for the intelligence match. So that's why Lee Su-hyeon lost.
The deep dark circles under her eyes were not just from Seon Woo-hyeon's abuse. He had driven her to the brink forcing her to memorize the entire color sequence.
Only then did Dong-hyun understand. They would be carrying a handicap into every match from this point forward — not just this one.
But with Gyeo-wool's ability... she can do this. She can't lose...
Before he knew it, Dong-hyun had grown quite attached to them. He did not want to lose a single one.
When all one hundred colors had finished playing across the screen, a staff member handed papers to both representatives. They spread the sheets in front of them and prepared to write as fast as they could.
The real game had begun.