Beyond the Cage
Beyond the Cage
The girl's name was 'Hati'.
As expected, Hati was smarter and quicker on the uptake than other kids her age. Not only did she immediately understand my escape plan, but she also pointed out potential problems.
"What if there's more than one guard?"
"So far, there's never been more than two at a time, so don't worry about that part."
"What if there's no hole in the ceiling?"
"There is. Wind's coming in right now, isn't it? Where else would the opening be?"
Truth be told, all my answers were just smoke and mirrors.
She asked 'what if', so I should have given her a solution, but instead I just brushed it off with 'it'll be fine'.
I had no choice.
We only had one shot at this; I couldn't exactly risk our lives on the experimental table just to collect more data.
Think of it like a rocket experiment.
An expensive experiment where failure means the end.
To attract investors for this kind of experiment, I had to emphasize not the success rate, but the reward that would come with success.
"Right now, just focus on escaping. If we hesitate and fail, we die anyway."
Fortunately, the reward I could offer was enormous.
Nothing less than our lives.
For Hati, it was a reward so grand that she had no other option.
"...Okay."
I nodded firmly at Hati, then asked if she fully understood the plan.
"When we get out into the hallway, which way do we run?"
"That way."
"And when looking for the hole, what should I focus on?"
"That dark spot over there, and behind those pointy things."
Hati answered perfectly, and she threw herself into the simulations and practice sessions we ran for the next two days.
Kki-i-ik
The heavy iron door at the entrance of the cave creaked open.
Hati and I, who had been lying flat on the floor, both got up at the same time as if we had planned it.
Hati crawled to the corner farthest from the iron bars, while I moved right next to them.
Footsteps.
Footsteps that didn't stop anywhere else but came straight toward the cell where we were trapped.
A moment later, a thug in a dark red robe appeared, muttering in a raspy voice.
"Stay still. If you resist, you'll only make things worse for yourselves."
Click
The lock was undone.
Clang
Kki-i-i-ik
The sharp scraping sound of the door opening tickled my ears.
The man stepped inside, glanced at me with a look as if he were inspecting a bug, then headed toward the corner where Hati was curled up.
One step,
Another step,
Just as the man, moving deeper inside, was positioned exactly between Hati and me.
Hati sprang up and charged at him.
A reckless charge using the momentum from unfolding her curled body, just as I had taught her.
...But it was way faster than I expected.
The man didn't even have time to react.
The sound of Hati's shoulder colliding with him was strange, too.
Thud!
The man's body flew up into the air.
His face was twisted in shock and terror.
My jaw dropped.
I barely managed to pull myself together, thanks to the rope that flashed beneath the fluttering robe of the unconscious man.
Originally, I had planned to steal it while Hati was fighting.
But watching the man, now slammed against the bars and spitting blood, changed my mind.
I walked over slowly and picked up the rope.
The man was already unconscious, foaming at the mouth, so there was no need for the chokehold we'd practiced so hard.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
'Are all beastmen like this?'
There were so many things I wanted to experiment on.
But escape came first.
Suppressing my curiosity, I turned toward Hati.
She was staring wide-eyed at the thug she had just taken down, then flinched and looked at me.
She just moved her lips wordlessly, so I gave her an order.
"Go outside and close the entrance first. You can do that alone, right?"
The cave entrance was a thick iron door.
For a slender girl to close it without mechanical help was nearly impossible.
So the original plan was to try pushing the door together, and if it didn't budge, at least check the situation outside.
'If I'd known this, I would've focused more on something else...'
I had to revise the plan even now.
With Hati's superhuman strength in mind, I re-evaluated the entire strategy.
'She could basically handle almost every step by herself?'
A very rational plan emerged.
I turned to Hati with a determined face.
"Let's go."
"Uh, okay!"
We stepped outside together and each carried out our tasks.
While Hati pushed the door shut with her shoulder, producing a heavy grinding sound, I made a lasso from the rope.
I'd always loved all kinds of experiments since I was a kid, so I'd practiced throwing a lasso like a cowboy many times.
Being shrunken down to a small body actually worked in my favor.
The time I'd dedicated to practicing lasso throwing was back in early elementary school.
Exactly the same body type I had now.
My body still remembered the skills I'd practiced back then.
I couldn't get a stiff rope called 'lasso' that cowboys used, so I developed my own spinning technique—'two-handed rotation'—to generate torque, and used a snap to maintain the lasso's shape when throwing.
The flying lasso accurately captured a stalactite growing above.
I pulled the rope to tighten the lasso.
Right after that, Hati succeeded in closing the iron door.
It was the most desirable outcome among all the scenarios I had imagined.
All that was left was to climb the rope and find the hole where the wind came in, and we'd succeed.
But as always, in any multi-participant project, the most troublesome part was managing the people.
A middle-aged woman's voice called out from behind.
"Kids!"
I turned around. There was a lady reaching her hand through the iron bars.
I recited the line I had prepared.
"I'll bring someone to help. Just hold on a little longer."
I thought it was a pretty good line—reasonable and able to give some hope.
If I freed everyone in the cells, a commotion would definitely break out, and besides, I wasn't even sure if there was a hole big enough for a person to pass through in the upper section we were about to climb.
At least until Hati and I could find a place to hide, it was the best option for the prisoners too.
But the survival instinct of humans facing death was far more intense than I had anticipated.
"No! Get me out first! I know plenty of people who can help!"
She shouted urgently, then suddenly plastered on a smile.
"You're a good kid, right? Listen to your ajumma. Once we get out, I'll buy you pretty clothes, okay..."
She spoke softly, almost like she was trying to kidnap me.
Then she started screaming like crazy, "Open this damn thing right now!! That bastard you knocked out has the keys, doesn't he!!!"
I made my decision.
'Let's get the hell out of here.'
Panic is contagious.
Right now it was just one lady, but the other victims could catch it at any moment and start a chorus.
I called Hati.
"Hati! You climb first!"
Hati seemed shocked by the woman's screaming.
She stood frozen stiff, then flinched, opened her mouth hesitantly.
"Huh? B-but... the others..."
I dashed over and shoved the rope into her hands.
"I told you, right? If we hesitate, we both die. We can call the police once we're out. For now, just do what I say."
Hati kept hesitating, and only after I pushed her back did she finally grab the rope.
At first, she hung awkwardly, barely clinging to the rope, but within ten seconds she started climbing faster than most athletes.
'I definitely need to study this.'
I vowed to start researching beastmen as soon as we escaped, then shouted up to Hati, who had just reached the stalactite.
"Pull me up!"
Hati yanked the rope.
As expected, her superhuman strength defied the laws of physics.
She pulled me up without taking a single break, then casually asked a question without even looking tired.
"Are you sure it's okay for just us to go?"
I followed Hati's gaze.
The woman was still screaming.
And there were over a dozen children looking up at us with pitiful eyes.
Considering there were people in other rooms we couldn't see, it must have been at least thirty.
Thirty people.
The answer was obvious, so why was I even thinking about it?
"I told you. We have to escape so that those people can live too."
To be honest, I had no intention of calling the police.
I just made up a plausible excuse to convince Hati.
Among all the victims trapped down there, the only person who might have made the right choice was that woman howling in madness.
"You crazy bitches!!! Get me out first!!! What the hell can you two do on your own!!!!"
The choice to destroy if you can't have.
In a world ruled by the logic of survival of the fittest and zero-sum, someone else's happiness is your unhappiness, so her choice was pure.
Maybe that was why.
It was quite effective.
Thump thump thump thump
A knocking sound came from the iron door.
Then a gruff voice followed, the same thug I'd heard on the first day I woke up here.
"What's all this noise! Geb! Are you in there?!"
The woman flinched for a moment, then glared at us again and said.
"Come down right now! Hurry up and search that guy's clothes for the keys!"
She tried to lower her voice, but it came out as a metallic screech, still loud enough to sound like shouting.
The thug outside immediately figured out the situation.
"Fuck! Geb! Geb!!!"
Then came the sound of footsteps running away, tadadadak.
Thanks to the woman who made the most human choice, we now had a time limit.