Chapter 1

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Living as the Boss of the Prison
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Prologue

Chirp, chirp. The morning came with the sound of birdsong.

When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling greeted me.

A wooden ceiling, cold stone walls.

For a moment, I was busy trying to grasp the situation.

‘What is this?’

But even after a few minutes, I still couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Eventually, confusion clouded my face.

Even though I’d always been told I was unnaturally calm since I was a child.

This place was still enough to fluster me.

A low murmur.

“Order.”

Before me was a large dais with three people seated on it.

On either side, people filled what looked like gallery seats, as if an audience had been brought in.

Yes, this was like a ‘trial’… Wait, a trial?

It was at that moment.

“The verdict will be delivered.”

My head was spinning.

The words of the old man with snow-white hair didn’t register at first, and I could only catch fragmented phrases.

“...Therefore, while the death penalty is warranted, considering the defendant is a minor of a remarkably young age…”

Bang, bang, bang.

The sound of a gavel struck three times.

“I sentence you to life in prison.”

…Huh?

Only then did I realize.

That my body was bound tight.

And that the clothes I wore resembled a ‘prison uniform’.

What the hell.

One day, I woke up and found I was a prisoner.

What in the world was my crime?!

* * *

Clip-clop.

“She’s crazy. Absolutely insane.”

“Or possessed by a demon.”

This carriage I was riding in was supposedly made from a special mix of stone.

The windows were said to be solid iron.

It was designed to ensure that no heinous criminal could ever escape during transport.

“How else could she have killed dozens of people?”

My eyes were covered, so I couldn’t see their faces clearly.

Was it to prevent me from seeing the gate?

But the knights-slash-guards escorting me were quite the chatterboxes.

Thanks to them, I was able to learn a great deal.

“A demon seems most likely.”

My current identity—or, to be precise, the body I’ve possessed—is the empire’s youngest serial killer.

A horrific criminal, and yet a girl of only twelve.

So far, so good.

First off, I’m not the killer.

And second, the serial killings that shocked the entire empire weren’t this girl’s doing; she was framed.

Thanks to that, it was convenient to know which novel’s world I was in.

‘Damn, is loving novels a crime now?’

A friend of mine who loved idols used to say it.

One of the ultimate goals of being a fan is to meet your favorite.

But for a web novel junkie like me, what does meeting my favorite mean?

There’s no other way than ‘transmigration’.

Of course, most people would decline if given the choice.

‘And on top of that, I ended up in a grimdark, R-19 novel...’

To think having perverted tastes was a capital offense.

‘If I ever get back, I’m deleting the app. For sure.’

But in my current situation, that resolution was nothing but an empty cry.

Right now, I had just been sentenced and was being carted off to prison.

‘Niflheim’.

The name of the prison I was headed to.

In the language of this world, it means ‘Frost Hell’.

Likely taken from Norse mythology, it was located, just as its name suggested, at the far ends of the earth.

Though on the continent, it was a place called the Land of the Forgotten.

Whether due to some mechanism, it was effectively an ‘island’ that not just anyone could enter.

To be precise, it could only be entered through a single path.

“Hah, they said she was young… but she just looks ordinary. Weak and scrawny, too. Tsk, looks like a light push would kill her.”

“Watch yourself.”

After a very long journey, we arrived at the infamous prison.

My eyes were covered, but I could still feel the chill air of the prison.

…I lived a good life, so why was I punished with transmigration?

“She may not look it, but she's the psycho bitch who killed thirty-two people.”

“Hah…”

Tsk. I didn’t need to see him to know who was clicking his tongue.

A grim and sinister voice, with an undercurrent of leisure.

Probably a high-ranking official at this prison.

And he wasn’t clicking his tongue out of surprise.

“Good. This prison is already full of psychos. A bunch of Stray Dogs! One more won’t make a difference. Kehehehe!”

I was dragged along by a rough grip, then thrown somewhere before I could finally remove my blindfold.

As expected, it was a pitch-black cell.

“Hey, you’re in solitary for the first day. Stay in there and quietly reflect on your sins.”

A sneer followed.

“Of course, not that repenting will do you any good.”

“...”

“Because starting tomorrow, it’s going to be hell.”

Hearing this, I silently nodded to myself.

‘I needed time anyway, so this is perfect.’

This was an infamous prison.

A place where people went in, but from which no one had escaped in hundreds of years.

The male lead would appear here.

And when he did, getting out of this prison would be a piece of cake.

Because I know the entire original story!

With an almost bizarre sense of calm, I pinpointed a serious issue.

‘There’s a problem!’

A very serious problem.

The youngest murderer, a horrific serial killer.

Since she was a memorable character in the book, I know when she entered the prison.

Which is why I know the fucking insane truth…

The male lead, who is crucial for the escape, won’t show up in this prison for another ten years.

“Oh, my God.”

That’s right. I had transmigrated ten years before the original story even begins!

Therefore, I had to rot in this prison for a long, long time, and I had to survive.

‘To think my perverted tastes were such a grave sin…!’

I lifted my head and looked at the dark room and the window, the only source of faint light.

The guard’s shadow was faintly visible.

I could hear their sneers and taunts.

I even heard them betting on my survival.

‘Come to think of it, this is pissing me off. Don’t they know minors can’t get life sentences?!’

My long-lost anger belatedly grabbed my reason by the collar and shook it.

“Aaaaaargh!”

No, seriously! Who the fuck transmigrates someone ten years too early?

“Kehehe, look at that. She’s throwing a fit.”

“Leave her be. The rumors said she was a crazy kid. Phew, I’ve seen all sorts of trash, but never a horrific brat like that.”

“She’ll be dead soon.”

I raged for a good two hours before I finally calmed down.

What could I do? The only way for me to live was to endure it here.

The one who framed this girl in place of the ‘real culprit’—no.

The family that framed her was a power I could never hope to stand against right now.

I had to survive.

Yes, let’s just focus on surviving!

.

And 10 years later.

I had brilliantly become the boss of the prison.

1. Living as the Boss of the Prison

Haira Kammon, a con artist, was dragged to ‘Niflheim’, the worst prison on earth.

‘Damn it all, what rotten luck.’

She was not only intelligent, but she also possessed ‘Kia’, the ability to beguile others.

Kia, the power that held all the mysteries of the world.

Hers was of the rare mental type, the power to charm and deceive.

“Listen up, ‘Stray Dog’. I’m only going to explain this once.”

The guards here called the prisoners ‘Stray Dogs’.

As in, you’re no different from dogs.

In that sense, the guard’s voice was rather friendly.

In that he saw everyone as equal trash, perhaps?

The guard laid down the law, saying this was his first and last act of kindness.

“This place is broadly divided into the central ‘Tower’, the east and west main buildings, and finally, the recreational area.”

The east main building housed the female inmates, while the west main building housed the male inmates.

As soon as they left the building with the solitary cells, a vast common area came into view.

It was a yard. And surrounding it was a massive, circular wall, like a colosseum.

The wall was dizzyingly high just to look at, as if to say, ‘Don’t even dream of escaping’.

“Except for the single road to the continent, it’s surrounded by the sea on three sides.”

Haira let the guard’s words wash over her as she surveyed the yard.

Though called a yard, only patches of it were green; most of the ground was either withered yellow grass or bare dirt.

In the middle stood an imposing iron cage, inside which people were gathered in small groups, playing simple card games.

Or engaging in things like brawls.

“This is the recreational area where you Stray Dogs gather.”

Beyond the common area, in the center, was a massive tower. Its size left no other way to describe it.

Haira was taken aback. She hadn’t seen such a tower from a distance.

“Take a good look. Aside from sleeping, you’ll be spending your time either here or in that tower.”

In front of the iron cage, a woman holding a large broom was slowly sweeping the ground near the gate.

She looked to be in her twenties, and her hair was a peculiar shade of blue-green.

To be precise, it was a pretty mint color.

Moreover, her eyes—a color somewhere between red and reddish-pink—boasted a completely different hue.

She was so stunningly beautiful that it was impossible not to be captivated.

Her features were so exquisitely arranged they formed a perfect sculpture, making one wonder if this was a prison or if she was a sculptor’s masterpiece placed within it.

A face that could steal one’s soul was no different from a natural treasure.

‘Wow, what a face. Makes me want to offer her a partnership.’

With a face like that, her beauty would work on men and women alike.

As she was lost in thought, a piercing scream erupted nearby.

She turned to see a scrawny man being beaten by other men.

“The Stray Dogs here are divided by rank. As a newcomer, you’ll start at the lowest. Depending on what you do… your rank could rise.”

“…”

“Of course, no one knows if you’ll remain at the bottom like vermin until your release, or if you’ll just die.”

“Aaaargh! Help me, help—kuh!”

“You hear that? Here, the lowest-ranking prisoners are worse than dogs.”

He was saying that if she wanted to be treated like a human, she had to raise her rank.

“How do you raise your rank?”

“See that tower over there? Think it’s just for show?”

The guard, with a sinister expression, pointed to the tower.

“Participate in the matches held in that tower once a week, and you’ll get a chance to raise your rank.”

Haira realized once again that this was no ordinary prison.

It was too strange to be just a prison. Then again, it wouldn’t have earned the title of ‘worst on earth’ so easily.

Fights were everywhere, and the hierarchy was plain to see.

It wasn’t just decided by size. One man, just as thin, sat on the back of a larger man who was on all fours.

A woman sat atop a human palanquin, looking down impassively at the men prostrated before her.

A jungle. No, a lawless wasteland.

Haira’s mind spun.

In a new world, one had to learn the rules that governed it.

Haira’s gaze shifted back to the sweeping woman.

“By any chance, do your duties change based on your rank?”

“Of course.”

Haira nodded.

Then is that woman, sweeping while others are resting, one of the lowest-ranking prisoners?

Just then, they drew closer to the sweeping woman.

The woman had lifted her head and was staring intently at Haira. For some reason, the guard stopped walking.

“Newbie?”

“Uh, y-yeah?”

Her voice was incredibly beautiful and gentle.

“Th-that’s right.”

“I see. By the way… you’re stepping on the spot I just swept.”

The broom in the woman’s hands pointed to the ground.

Haira blinked.

What does she want me to do? Apologize?

But the guard was the one who led her here. It wasn’t Haira’s fault she was standing there.

“Sorry, but I didn’t choose to stand here. The guard guided me, you know?”

“Ah, then the guard should be scolded.”

“Huh?”

What is this person talking about?

She wasn’t wrong, but her words were so commonsensical they felt out of place here.

“Sweeping is good for character development. Would you like to try?”

“Huh? Uh, y-yeah?”

“Here. If you take this, I won’t blame you.”

For some reason, when she turned her head, the guard had taken a step back.

What the—when did that guard back away like that?

“And, what happens if I don’t take it?”

“…? I won’t do anything.”

Haira was bewildered.

“But who knows, if you get too close, this broom of justice might just decide to crack you on the head all by itself.”

Haira was slightly taken aback by the sharp words coming from the woman’s delicate mouth.

Hock, ptui!

A man spat right in front of the sweeping woman.

Two men in total—one large, one relatively smaller—blocked the slender woman’s path.

“Well, well, I didn’t know this prison had a pretty little thing like you.”

“Right? Just got here and was getting bored. There’s a beauty here we didn’t see yesterday or the day before, huh?”

The woman slowly raised her head. As if this were a common occurrence, her expression didn’t change.

From the way they talked, they seemed to be newcomers, having arrived around the same time as Haira.

A nearby guard muttered.

“Tsk, what a waste of time…”

Haira heard him clearly.

His voice was tinged with faint annoyance.

“…Cleaning up a corpse is a pain.”

Ah, is that woman going to die so soon? That’s a shame…

To Haira’s sharp eyes, the smaller man looked like someone who had trained his ‘Kia’ considerably for combat.

But the woman just sweeping was clearly a bottom-tier prisoner, so what was about to happen was obvious.

And just as expected, as if terrified, the woman clutched the broom tightly to her chest.

“This place is pretty great. Lumping us in here with the broads and all.”

“There are some scary bitches, but to think there are pretty, weak little things like you, too. Good for us. Yep.”

“Don’t be scared. They said we can do whatever we want here, right? So let’s have a gooood time.”

As the sweeping woman stared blankly at the men, Haira, for some reason, felt a sudden chill.

But she dismissed it as her imagination.

Though her face was blank, her eyes looked as pitiful as a cornered animal’s.

Given the situation, she must have been terrified.

“Wow, this one… she’s a product you wouldn’t even see in the capital, huh?”

The man, who had been gulping audibly, suddenly grabbed the sweeping woman’s hair.

It was then. Haira felt that chill once more.

‘What was that just now?’

…For just a moment, every single prisoner in the yard was watching this spot.

Haira quickly moved toward the guard. She felt she had to stop them.

She knew it was none of her business, but she wanted to intervene.

“Um, Officer. That looks dangerous. Aren’t you going to stop them?”

“Stop them? Who?”

“Them, of course. Those men…”

Until she heard the guard’s voice, which was not just calm but utterly annoyed, Haira had been worried about the pitiful, beautiful woman. But then.

“Oh. My. I. Am. So. So. Scared.”

A dry voice, uttered mechanically. This voice, too, was as beautiful as if it came from the heavens.

But at the same time, it was alien, completely devoid of emotion.