Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Prisoner
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The survivor camp had already formed an invisible class society to some extent.
Awakened and non-awakened.
It was natural, but also inevitable.
That said, he had no intention of changing the system.
The original world hadn't been much different.
In the original world, awakeners had simply inserted themselves between the rich and the poor.
Here, with money's value diminished, the invisible classes had divided along more primal lines of power.
Either way, it meant he now had people he could conveniently exploit.
He wasn't some saint like Buddha or Jesus.
He wasn't managing the camp out of concern for the innocent sufferers Im Gu-seong had mentioned.
If he couldn't use the camp's people, there'd be no reason to bother standing above them and dealing with the hassle.
Thanks to that, he could now handle things he'd previously found too annoying to bother with.
He had no desire to live in a camp with so many people and poor facilities, so he planned to stay at his original base and give necessary orders to Im Gu-seong as needed.
Seong Ga-yeon, who could be called the representative of the women he'd rescued from the raiders' hideout, came to visit with the old Heavenly Sect Leader.
"Please let us stay with Un-ho."
She had thought that sending the women to the Heavenly Sect meant she wouldn't see them again.
Seeing his puzzled expression,
"The girls won't come out of their quarters,"
the sect leader grandpa said with a pitiful look.
"Many of them feel extreme anxiety around men."
From what Seong Ga-yeon explained, whether it was trauma or something else, the women weren't adapting to the Heavenly Sect.
Park Un-ho was a man too.
But he remembered them seeming relatively fine when he'd rescued them.
So he'd sent them to the Heavenly Sect without a second thought.
Were the women fine because he'd been the one to save them?
Either way, their behavior at the Heavenly Sect was unexpected.
But would being with him improve things?
Did they realize?
That being with him could be far more dangerous than staying at the Heavenly Sect.
His lust was probably stronger than all the men there combined.
'Or... am I unexpectedly attractive in this world?'
"What kind of ridiculous delusion is that?"
Han Su-ji firmly snapped him out of his misconception.
Taking in twenty women was something even he had to ponder.
Before, his reluctance had stemmed from annoyance.
Now, having swallowed a whole camp and managing hundreds, twenty women felt like no big deal.
Still, he couldn't decide lightly, so he sent Seong Ga-yeon back and consulted the girls at the round table meeting—what was it called again?
He usually didn't pay much attention to their opinions.
But this situation troubled him too, so he decided to follow theirs completely.
"I think we should help them until they can live normal lives."
"Me too... Considering the pain they've endured, I can't oppose it."
The girls seemed to feel sympathy for the women who'd lived in hellish conditions there.
"I'm for it too. And mister, don't go groping traumatized girls."
Han Su-ji glared at him as she spoke.
Since he'd slept with every other woman here, he had no ground to argue even if he wanted to.
He had no intention of groping traumatized women anyway.
Still, they voted in favor more lightly than expected.
It was proof that living here had given them the mental leeway to consider others.
Cheon Su-ho was confined in a single small room blocked by a lone iron door.
It was a flimsy door compared to his abilities.
With his powers, he could have escaped.
But right now, his mind was in turmoil.
-Clank.
"Visiting time."
With the guard's words, the door opened, and five men entered.
Familiar faces.
Cheon Su-ho's eyes wavered at the sight of them.
"Y-You guys..."
Cheon Su-ho was speechless at the visit from his once-closest junior brothers.
"Senior brother, long time no see."
"H-How..."
They were the ones he'd once been as close to as blood brothers.
Junior brothers who'd joined Park Un-ho's night raid.
"Did junior sister send you...?"
"No. We came after hearing you were here."
Of course, they'd only come with Park Un-ho's permission.
"...You must be disappointed..."
"Disappointed? Between us? We're worried, that's why we came. Senior brother... Beg forgiveness from Un-ho. He's not the villain you think he is."
"That guy? Him!? ...You all... You've been fooled by Park Un-ho!"
"Senior brother... We've been the ones misunderstanding all this time. He saved the Heavenly Sect from the Black Wolf when it was in crisis."
"H- Huh, the Black Wolf?!"
"Yes, that bastard chased the Heavenly Sect all the way here. Un-ho fought at the forefront. And the Black Wolf died by his hand. Without him, we wouldn't be standing here."
"..........."
"Senior brother, you get it now, right? He's the Heavenly Sect's benefactor."
Cheon Su-ho steadied his heart, which had nearly wavered at his junior brothers' pleas.
Only he knew Park Un-ho's true nature.
Even if everything else was a misunderstanding, a hundred times over...
He vividly remembered his junior sister having to pleasure that bastard to save his life.
If Park Un-ho were a good man, that wouldn't have happened.
He wasn't wrong.
The Heavenly Sect was just being deceived by him.
"Even... if that's true... That much would still be his hypocrisy."
"Senior brother... How did it come to this..."
"Junior brothers... No, the Heavenly Sect is being fooled by him! You must stay vigilant against him at all times!"
Cheon Su-ho's desperate plea.
But his former junior brothers only looked pitying.
Under the high midday sun, eight humans stood.
Their heads were covered with cloth bags blinding them, their arms and legs shackled.
Behind them stood soldiers with guns.
At Park Un-ho's signal, the soldiers fitted thick metal collars around their necks.
Then the final protagonist appeared, escorted by soldiers.
Cheon Su-ho was lined up beside them.
"What's this? Finally executing me?"
Having seen sunlight for the first time in a while, Cheon Su-ho sneered at him.
Whether he had keen instincts or none at all.
For someone without instincts, he oddly hadn't escaped.
In the end, even dog shit had its uses.
-Click!
A thick metal collar was fitted around Cheon Su-ho's neck too.
"What's this?"
"A dog collar fitting for criminals."
It was a vicious restraint collar meant for extreme villains, brought from the original world.
The cloth bags were removed from the heads of the men beside Cheon Su-ho.
Defiant glares.
Ferocious faces screaming "I'm the bad guy."
"Who are these?"
"Who else? Your comrades."
"Com... rades?"
"Yeah, your friendly criminal comrades."
They were the worst: raiders from this brutal world, gathered criminals guilty of heinous acts.
Originally slated as test subjects for Jo In-gwang, they'd luckily avoided that fate.
"Ha! Think these dog collars scare us?"
Whether it was criminal bravado or whatever, one snarled at Park Un-ho, posturing.
-Boom.
The collar exploded, and his head vanished.
"Doesn't matter if you're scared or not. If you all die, I'll just bring more."
-Gulp.
Only then did the criminals break into cold sweats and swallow dryly.
They seemed to have realized what was around their necks.
"Try to run, it blows. Try to break it, it blows. Only one way to remove it. Die."
With that, glancing at them, they seemed ready to listen.
"I'll explain your job now. Simple. You're going to Cheongju. Hunt spider monsters. Extract mana stones from them. Meet your daily quota. Fail? One dies. Simple, right?"
"You think I'll listen?"
Cheon Su-ho, acting unafraid of the collar.
"Doesn't matter if you don't. As long as the legend accepts your death, I'm good."
"What... did you say?"
Cheon Su-ho's face twisted in confusion at his words.
He could guess what he was thinking, more or less...
Though Seol-hwa had offered to manage him, he'd refused.
She didn't have the time.
He planned to entrust most camp management to her anyway.
There was Im Gu-seong, but he couldn't fully trust that guy.
It was incidental; he also did it for convenience.
Excluding himself, she was quite strong.
She was perfect to manage the camp in his stead.
And she was too valuable a talent to waste on someone like Cheon Su-ho.
He planned to assign one of the Awakener executives to manage these guys.
"Plenty of humans to replace you. Don't want to work? Mass suicide, whatever. I'll fill the vacancies, so no worries."