Madam Helma (2)
[At that moment, in one of the underground rooms of the arena.]
A hazy underground room filled with pale purple smoke. A seductive blonde woman in an alluring dress inhaled the fumes from tightly rolled burning herbs, gazing down at the women before her with utter disbelief etched on her face.
"I just can't wrap my head around it. You girls are that expensive?"
The black-haired women said nothing. Their faces were flushed beet red, though some looked bruised as well. Their clothes—if you could call them that—were single prisoner uniforms, all torn to shreds. It was impossible to tell if they were meant to cover skin or if the whores were just draping rags like some twisted fashion statement.
"I really can't understand it. Are all the women from the East like this? Spread your legs once, and I'll wipe out the borrowed exchange vouchers plus interest. Why won't you just do it?"
"W-We said we'd pay it back."
One of the women finally forced the words out.
"We'll pay it for sure, so just give us a little more time."
"I've already given you plenty."
"I-It hasn't even been three days!"
"A day here feels like a week. Or you should've read the contract properly."
"That contract...!"
The women lifted their heads, injustice burning in their eyes. But soon, other women approaching from behind forced their faces back to the dirt.
"Urk...!"
"You signed your names and put your signatures on that contract."
Madam Helma's underlings—dressed only in flimsy dresses—ground their heels into the women's backs.
"Even the great Chekhov herself is watching this place right now, but she wouldn't say a word about you lot. You're the idiots who rolled in here as losers and fucked up your contracts so bad you're about to become whores."
"T-That's why we're saying the contract was rigged...! Y-You set it up from the start!"
"So what."
Madam Helma just shrugged at the blatant hostility.
"Then you shouldn't have come crawling to me in the first place. You knew damn well I run a brothel, but you got tempted by the promise of exchange vouchers and showed up anyway, right?"
"Ugh... urk...!"
"I lent you girls a whopping fifty vouchers. And when I asked how you'd pay them back... you all just planned to farm or mine, huh? You kidding me? When the hell were you gonna repay that? A month? A hundred days? Oh, right—if you don't spend a single one and just keep grinding nonstop, maybe ten days. Assuming you don't even buy water."
The women had no retort to Madam Helma's barrage. They'd planned to work steadily and pay it off. Even if it wasn't underground farms or mining, each had her own method.
"If you'd at least held onto the principal, I wouldn't have said shit. Screw up a contract once, chalk it up to a harsh life lesson, slap you around and kick you out—that was my plan. But... most of you don't even have the principal anymore, do you?"
Fifty exchange vouchers. A hefty sum, no doubt. But every woman who'd borrowed them had only three or four left in their possession.
"One of you swapped cheap swords that a goblin merchant wouldn't even buy for ten vouchers into thirty-voucher gear. Another got robbed before a single day passed. Some bought full equipment with fifty, went into the arena, begged for their lives, and barely survived—with all their gear stripped away."
They'd lost everything. Some might want to scream injustice, others cry foul play, but the bottom line was that these women kneeling before Helma, wrists shackled, had zero vouchers to their names.
"Act like idiots, pay the price. You've sunk to the fucking bottom, and you're still clinging to 'I'm not that kind of person'? The world's a walk in the park, huh?"
No one dared speak. Any rebuttal would just make the whores' heels dig in harder.
"Or are you pinning your hopes on that Choi Yu-jin girl?"
"......!!"
Choi Yu-jin. At the name, the women's faces drained of color.
"You really think she can pay off all your debts? Every single one?"
"T-That's..."
"Sigh, whatever. But remember this: the moment you try to wriggle out of my contracts, you'll get gang-raped in front of everyone by the horny dogs hunting newbies in the arena."
"......!!"
"Take the girls away. And hey, girls? Don't ruin the 'merchandise' value, no matter what happens. Don't let them waste away."
"Yes, Madam."
At Madam Helma's command, the whores led the women away one by one. A moment later.
"So, how are they, dear? The mental state of the women you wanted to save?"
Madam Helma waved away the purple smoke, and like a curtain parting, it dissipated along with the walls. Fsssh. The walls vanished, revealing a hidden space beyond—as if that's what the magical veil had concealed all along. Madam Helma approached a woman chained to the wall in that secret room.
"Do they know? That the woman who said she'd earn vouchers from outside... is actually chained up back here like this."
"Ptoo. Cowardly bitches."
Choi Yu-jin, bound head to toe in chains against the wall, spat at Madam Helma.
"You won't get away with this, you bitch...!"
"Looks like she's clueless about her situation too. Hey, tighten it up."
Krraaak. Madam Helma yanked the chain, and the bindings constricted harder around Choi Yu-jin.
"Grk...!"
"Y-You fucking bastard...!"
Choi Yu-jin spat curses, her eyes shifting. They'd started on Helma but now locked onto the man gripping the chains from behind the veil.
"Park Chang-su, you fucking piece of shit...!"
"Heh heh heh."
Park Chang-su. He licked his lips lewdly at Choi Yu-jin before turning to Madam Helma.
"Madam. Can't I really have her?"
"No. If you wanna fuck her that bad, bring two hundred vouchers."
"Fuck. Way too pricey."
"Whatever. Go make contact with the other girls. Do exactly as I told you, and I'll give you what you want. Got it, Chang-su?"
"...Then."
Park Chang-su mimed slitting his throat.
"You'll kill that bastard too?"
"Of course. It's a promise. Now scram."
"Ah, yes. Thanks, Madam."
Once Park Chang-su vanished, Madam Helma approached Choi Yu-jin and lifted her chin with a hand.
"Heh heh heh, poor thing. About to get fucked by your old teammate. Why not call him nicely? That guy."
"Yoo Si-woo? He's not the type to come running just 'cause I call, you dumb bitch."
"You never know. Didn't some girls say they saw you talking to him?"
"A little chat means he'll come? You got the wrong guy. If he was that nice, he'd have kept me around and taken care of me from the start."
"True. Shin Yu-hee, was it? She's prettier anyway. Bigger tits, better body."
"You...!"
"Eh, whatever. Doesn't matter. If you're useless, I'll just grab someone else to lure him out."
"Why are you so obsessed with Yoo Si-woo?"
Madam Helma froze at Choi Yu-jin's question.
"...Obsessed?"
"Yeah. Did he kill your boyfriend or something? Makes sense—he goes around offing guys as proxies."
"Could be obsession. He's killing off all my customers, after all."
Madam Helma rubbed her fingertips together.
"That fucker's racking up thirty vouchers a pop from my clients. My whores' pussies are drying up because of it."
"From the vibe, seems like he'll hit four wins and bail."
"If he leaves the arena, you lot become whores here forever. Curse him till you die—the man who abandoned you."
"......Fuck."
Choi Yu-jin hung her head. She knew the real targets for her resentment were Helma right in front of her and Park Chang-su, who'd herded everyone here. But psychologically, the pressure was unavoidable. Should she blame herself for getting caught in Park Chang-su's ambush while trying Yoo Si-woo's plan? At least for now. But long-term, if Shin Yu-hee ditched with him first, things would change. If that happened, she'd have no choice but her final resort. Yoo Si-woo's method. Escape after five wins. He hadn't spelled it out, but she'd gotten an idea from him. A way to escape without five wins. A method that bore risk but erased it entirely. ...Though it'd plunge her not into a swamp, but an abyss.
"Hmm, what to do. Alright, wanna make a deal?"
"A deal?"
"Yeah. When you can pick challengers, choose him. Yoo Si-woo."
"......!!"
"Then I'll bring a warrior to fight as your proxy. How's that?"
"What bullshit...!"
"Only if he abandons you and leaves, of course."
"......."
"Tempting, right?"
"Shut up, you psycho bitch."
Ptoo.
"Why would a guy who's no pushover come here to save me or the other girls?"
"If not, you'll be the first one he ditches... right?"
Knock knock knock.
"Report, Madam."
"What?"
"Yoo Si-woo says he's coming."
"......Heh heh heh."
Tap tap. Madam Helma patted Choi Yu-jin's cheek.
"Cute little things. See? You're worth something after all."
"......."
"Watch from behind the veil again."
"What are you planning to do with that guy?"
"A bet. To see how strong your camaraderie really is."
Madam Helma's gaze drifted downward to Choi Yu-jin's body.
"If I say I'll forgive all the others' debts and free them... in exchange for abandoning just you—what do you think he'll choose?"
"Things seem to be getting complicated, sunbae."
"Yeah. Looks like they've got their own mess over there."
"What do we do?"
"If it's complicated, flip the board clean."
To meet Chekhov, upend the arena's power balance.
"Let's go for four wins. You got anyone you wanna pick?"
"I'll fight whoever you choose, sunbae. Who are you picking?"
"Madam Helma."
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