Chapter 373
Chapter 373
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 373
>Chapter Title: The 31st Piece Overturns the Board
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“…Go easy on them. It’s not good to cause too much of a scene.”
“H… Ha! Yes!”
“You lot, clean up quickly and get back to your spots.”
Karuna flashed a grin and vanished.
I’d heard the saying about a smiling henchman.
Even with that smile on his face, Karuna’s eyes were ice-cold.
In the end, thanks to his two-faced act, we got off without major trouble, but the overseer was petty about it. He deliberately messed up the serving order for Yurin and me, leaving us with only half our usual rations.
If that settled his grudge, then so be it.
‘Looks like things are getting dicey.’
The whip lashes would probably fester. If it got serious, they’d toss me into the sea.
‘I can’t… I can’t keep living like this.’
Normally, I’d have brushed it off as just a passing squall.
But then, something happened that planted a seed of hope in my heart.
Jamad the Righteous Saint was coming to Melton.
He’d gather the masses for a speech, then tour the city. Symbolic stuff, I guess, but who cares…
“Yurin, let’s get out of here.”
“…What?”
“Let’s leave this godforsaken dock together, Yurin!”
“……”
“Yurin?”
I explained the plan to Yurin, who couldn’t respond.
On the day Jamad the Righteous Saint visits the city. We barge in when everything’s in chaos. Stand before the hero and wait for salvation.
“He’ll take us with him?”
Yurin beamed innocently.
Her body was wrecked from the whipping, but her heart was soaring.
We were still young, still pure.
Time flew by.
The day Jamad was due arrived. But the dock overseers seemed to have caught on.
It was obvious the hero Jamad would rage if he saw the conditions here.
“Everyone, stay put here for now. Work starts up again in a few days—rest till then.”
“R-rest?”
“Shut your mouths. Just answer yes.”
“Yes!”
The kids grinned brightly.
But Yurin’s and my lips stayed flat.
Especially Yurin—she hugged her knees in the building crammed with kids, looking miserable.
“Yurin, what’s wrong?”
“The plan failed, Seol-ah… They knew we might slip out…”
“Failed? Who said?”
I hadn’t told Yurin everything. She was too fragile; she’d be crushed if it fell through.
I whispered to her.
“I figured this might happen, so I swiped the back door key.”
“H-how?”
“Snatched it. Obviously.”
“As expected! Seol-ah, you’re…”
“Shh… The plan’s still on.”
It wasn’t much of a plan.
But if it was the Righteous Saint…
Even in this rotten world, surely the famed Righteous Saint would save us.
We clung to hope and waited for dawn. We didn’t know the exact time of his city tour, but we’d heard it was daytime.
The docks were different today, thanks to Jamad’s visit.
Waaaaaaah—!
Look over here, please!
The city’s clamor reached even us.
Locked away from it all in our pigsty pens, the kids still smiled at the chance to rest.
Noon was approaching.
The warehouse guards stuck to the front door, but even they stepped away now and then to smoke.
Doooong…
Dooooong…
The noon bell tolled.
Most workers headed for lunch, quieting the docks. And right now was…
Click…
“Run, Yurin!”
“Yeah!”
Our one shot at escape.
The others wouldn’t even know what happened. Only Yurin and I had the guts to step up.
Lucky for us, the wall we’d scouted was right by the building.
It had crumbled in a typhoon and stayed low—never properly fixed.
A kid’s legs can’t outrun adults.
If they spotted our escape, the laborers would chase us down. First, we had to get out of the docks.
‘Gotta reach Jamad!’
We’d endured for this day.
A new life was about to begin!
But that hope shattered in an instant.
“No way… When did…”
The wall was topped with barbed wire. We’d shred ourselves bloody before climbing over.
“We’re screwed, Seol-ah. Let’s go back while…”
“No, not yet!”
I racked my brain desperately.
In the end, only one option left.
‘The front gate.’
Decision made in a flash.
We sprinted even faster.
The front gate had to be open, waiting for Jamad. My head was spinning perfectly in the panic.
“Find them!”
Squeeeee—!
Shouts to hunt us filled the docks.
Arf!
Woof—!
They’d even unleashed the vicious hounds.
Strangely, my heart calmed.
Like this was routine.
Like strolling through a storm.
“Ruuuun—!”
The iron gate was ajar—reinforcements rushing in after a call for backup.
A moment later, and we’d have been trapped.
“The left guy’s limping. Go that way!”
Yurin yelled to me.
‘How’d she know?’
Anyway, I trusted her. We dodged the guard on the gate’s side.
“Ugh… These brats!”
“We made it! We’re out!”
“Yeah!”
Yurin slipped free too.
There—Jamad and his entourage, swarming like clouds.
“Stop!”
Someone chased us.
“Run!”
Jamad’s face sharpened into view.
Thick brows.
Squared jaw.
Scars etched across his features.
The hero’s aura was thick.
We ran.
We had to run.
We had to tell the hero.
About the hellish lives of kids trapped here.
“Yaaaaaaah—!”
My scream didn’t reach.
The crowd’s roar swallowed it instantly.
Faster then!
More desperately!
We had to get closer.
But suddenly, my legs grew heavy.
The moment our eyes met Jamad’s.
‘His eyes… His eyes…’
Yurin grabbed my slowing self and urged.
“Seol-ah! What’s wrong? Run!”
“Y-yeah!”
That’s when it hit.
Paaaaak—!
“Gyaah!”
“Aaah!”
Sizzle…
We tumbled, skidding across the ground.
“What a hassle. You trash.”
It was Karuna.
Those frigid eyes glared down. Our bodies were already pinned under him.
Step…
Step…
“Hey, what’s this commotion in the middle of the daytime street?”
“……”
“I asked what’s going on.”
Jamad approached and questioned.
Yurin brimmed with anticipation.
She thought this was it—our hero’s salvation.
“…My little siblings. They slipped away while I looked away…”
“No, they’re not our…”
Thud—!
Mmph…
Mmmph…
Karuna’s hands clamped our mouths.
Jamad watched, then spoke.
“Let’s hear what the kids have to say. Like this.”
Jamad leaned in to listen, gesturing for us to whisper only to him.
I said nothing.
But Yurin blurted excitedly.
“H-he makes kids like us work as slaves by force! We were sold here and every day…”
Jamad looked at Yurin.
“Every day…”
Then she saw his smile.
Everything I’d seen in his eyes, Yurin now saw too.
His eyes…
“I see. But what can we do.”
They matched Karuna’s.
He lightly placed hands on our shoulders and murmured.
“I’m the Smiling Face.”
“……”
Jamad straightened, jesting to the crowd.
“Hahaha! Siblings fight sometimes. If I’d had brothers, I’d have caused trouble with them every day too.”
“Oh, it’s just kid stuff…”
“Knew it.”
Rumble…
We couldn’t budge our mouths.
Jamad’s power sealed them shut.
This rotten world was so festering it dressed fakes as heroes.
I felt myself plummeting into pitch darkness.
The hero we trusted was one and the same as the worst villain we knew.
Urp…
I wanted to vomit up my guts.
But right then.
“Still the same, Jamad! That foul stench! Still pretending to be a hypocrite?”
Turning toward the voice, I saw two masked figures.
‘Who are they…’
Jamad cocked his head.
“Who are you?”
“The Curtain watches you, Jamad.”
“…Curtain? Did you say Curtain?”
At “Curtain,” the smiling Jamad faltered.
‘Is Curtain that big a deal?’
If it shook a hero and arch-villain like Jamad, it had to be something huge.
“Keukeke… Bunch of bluffers.
“…What?”
“It’s been ages since Curtain was active. And now you pop up out of nowhere to block me? Why? And even if you are Curtain, what reason would they have?”
The muscular brute of the duo trembled.
“Curtain has merely been silent. Now it spreads its wings again.”
“Nonsense.”
“You’ll see if it’s nonsense by the end. Anyway, we came for one reason.”
Smirk…
Everyone there knew the lips behind that mask were grinning.
The man wore his intentions plainly.
“You’re a villain.”
“……Always drawing types like you. So, what’s your name?”
Fwoosh—!
The musclehead flexed his bicep.
“I’m Zilliac, aspiring strongest martial artist! And this guy’s…”
“Idiot! Why reveal your real name!”
“Whoops! Slip-up! Kuhahaha! Whatever, now that it’s out, loosen up too.”
“Damn it… Wasn’t planning this. Guess no choice.”
“See?”
Zilliac.
I’d heard that name before.
Beside him, a lanky man.
Handsome even with just his eyes showing.
He struck a suave pose, raising his rapier.
“I’m Kirie. And…”
Kirie pointed skyward.
Everyone’s gazes naturally followed.
Mine too.
‘…Ah.’
Today’s sky—I’d never forget it as long as I lived. The whole heaven seemed blotted black.
Kiiiiiaaaaaah—!
“That one’s Kupa.”
“Ugh… Dodge!”
Kwaaaaaaaaang—!
The fabricated dream world.
The dream realm twisted beyond even what the gods Sin-rip and Sin-hyeon foresaw.
They hadn’t known Kang Seol harbored so many souls and egos.