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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: An Unwelcome Confrontation
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“What's wrong?”
He didn't answer. I watched him closely. Was he hurt?
But no matter where I looked, there was no blood on the thorns I had manifested.
“……Damn it, this actually works? It shatters all common sense.”
I burst out laughing at Helios's blunt assessment. That was a funny thing to say.
Helios looked up in surprise, and we faced each other with the pit between us.
“You still don't get it? This is a world where common sense doesn't apply.”
“……”
“You'll see soon enough. Whether in the Tower.”
I looked away and glanced at the rest area.
“Or outside of it.”
I felt a presence nearby.
……A presence that probably didn't bode well for Helios.
* * *
“……Or outside of it.”
Helios clearly saw Mint's expression turn cold for a moment.
She was a person characterized by a gentle face and a dry, almost sleepy tone.
She seemed interested in nothing, always appearing so detached that it was strange she was even training him like this.
Other than the occasional appearance of Sergeant Steven, she kept no other colleagues close.
And yet, when Helios occasionally succeeded in his training, she would smile with such satisfaction that he couldn't look away.
It felt like being forced to look at a single red flower blooming alone in a snow-covered winter.
So when that same Mint wiped all expression from her face, she seemed cold and cynical.
“Let's go. Today is the day of the Tower's trial.”
She didn't use her usual stiff address, 'Inmate Helios'.
Helios felt a faint sense of disappointment.
‘What an intense gaze.’
Meanwhile, Mint had spent about ten years here, and as a result, her intuition was highly developed.
The feelings Mint got were rarely wrong.
The presence she had felt at the end of her training session with Helios.
To be precise, it was a gaze that seemed to be observing and monitoring them.
‘At first, I thought it was the Warden watching.’
The Warden had no reason to be watching her right now.
Above all, the male lead was currently a complete 'rookie'. The Warden would likely only take an interest after the male lead had reached the intermediate level.
Frankly, if he weren't the main character, his skills wouldn't even be worth paying attention to.
‘In that case……’
A few possibilities popped into Mint's head.
Not that she would do anything about it right now.
But something was bound to happen soon.
After a period of waiting, the incident occurred after Helios came out of the Tower.
Helios had once again easily cleared the 8th floor and returned.
In fact, it was only natural, since he had awakened his Kia and, thanks to Mint, had learned a little more about his detailed abilities and how to control them as of today.
‘If I can use Kia, getting to the 10th floor should be no problem.’
Helios was just coming out of the gate with the other inmates who had cleared the same floor.
Instead of heading toward Helios, Mint gazed upward.
The gates from which the inmates emerged were different for each rank.
Mint saw a few familiar faces among those approaching.
‘High-rank inmates?’
Mint had made a point of memorizing the faces of inmates from this rank and up.
‘What was that guy's name again……’
But why would high-rank inmates be coming this way?
Many of the inmates who had just finished the Tower's trial using Kia were agitated.
Having just escaped an extreme situation, they were easily angered and excited by small things.
That's why, except during rest periods, contact between inmates of different ranks was strictly forbidden before and after the Tower's trial.
‘What are the guards in charge of the high-ranks doing……’
Mint calmly looked around, but the guards responsible for them were nowhere to be seen.
While she was focused on the approaching high-rank inmates, the lowest-rank guards had already rounded up the other inmates and led them away.
In other words, Helios was the only one left here.
Mint spotted Sergeant First Class Kein standing at a distance.
The one in charge of the lowest-rank inmates.
He was someone who, at some point, had stopped associating with her altogether.
He was smirking.
‘I've got you today.’
The guy sauntering over was a gift he had prepared for the arrogant rookie guard.
“So, Sergeant First Class, you're saying you'll look the other way if we take that pretty boy?”
They were high-rank inmates who had the power to match and enjoyed tormenting those of lower ranks.
As it happened, this group was also aware of the new inmate who drew everyone's attention during rest periods.
And they coveted him as a ‘target’ to kill and destroy.
“Wow, Sergeant First Class Kein, you're the best. So generous.”
“Just handle it properly.”
“Yes, yes, of course. You know how much I love killing bastards with pretty faces, don't you?”
Kein had never liked Mint.
Not only had he held a grudge since she embarrassed him on their first day, but every time he tried to discipline her afterward.
“Aaargh!”
He was the one who ended up on the ground!
The more it happened, the more enraged he became.
Occasionally, a monster would join the ranks of the guards.
Like Sergeant Steven back when he was a rookie called ‘Sir’.
A guard with a strange personality but outstanding skills must have arrived.
But she had terrible social skills, was completely oblivious, and simply couldn't be reined in.
He had no choice but to use other means.
‘So she cherishes her pretty little inmate, does she? Filthy bitch.’
Mint's unusual behavior was already well known.
A guard following the manual to protect their assigned inmate—it was laughable.
That bitch had dared to act so unbecomingly, tarnishing the dignity of the guards. She would pay the price today.
‘Ah, I remember now.’
At the same time, Mint was peacefully having these thoughts.
The face was familiar, but she hadn't immediately connected it to his ability.
‘His name started with a G, I think. G, G……’
Before she knew it, the group of high-rank inmates had surrounded Helios and Mint.
Beyond them, she could see the guards leading away the lowest-rank inmates.
“Inmate Helios. We're going to the main building too.”
“……Through here?”
Helios said, looking around at the men who had surrounded them. He looked baffled.
Can Mint not see this wall of people?
“Well now, pretty boy, where do you think you're going?”
Someone swaggered out from among the high-rank inmates.
“Looks like you're getting pretty high and mighty with a guard at your back. How about you and I have a little chat?”
It was the one inmate whose face Mint recognized. She still couldn't remember his name, so she decided to just call him ‘that bastard’.
“Whoa, look at you shine. I heard there was a new rookie getting famous, so I came to see for myself. You're just dazzling, aren't you?”
That bastard's name was Grogi.
The man raked his eyes over Helios's entire body.
Whenever he saw beautiful things, he was overcome with the desire and impulse to ruin them.
And from his perspective, the new inmate was excellent material to break.
Grogi licked his lips. His appetite was whetted.
“Inmate Helios, I've decided.”
That is…… until a strange voice suddenly cut in.
“We'll meet west of here after the meal today, as usual.”
What the hell is this bitch? Grogi stared at the guard, dumbfounded.
It was the rookie guard Kein had mentioned.
Despite being surrounded by him and his crew, she didn't look flustered at all.
Grogi had seen eyes like these before.
He figured she was just some hot-blooded fool who had no idea what kind of place this was.
It's easy to crush someone like that.
‘Though grinding a naive face like this into the dirt is also a hobby of mine……’
But Kein had a specific order.
Grogi leisurely turned toward Helios. A sneer came naturally to his lips.
“Tsk, pretty boy. I hear a guard's got you under her wing. What's your secret, huh? Tell me. Did you have to shake something for her?”
“Ah, I heard they're serving meat today for a change. Protein intake is important, so make sure to eat a lot.”
“How did you manage something others couldn't, even after shaking their asses off?”
“Inmate Helios. If you're too late, there won't be any meat left.”
“……”
What, does this bitch really have no fear? Or is she just crazy?
Grogi stared at Mint with a look of utter disbelief.
Grogi's rank was ‘High/Rank 3’. It was low among the high-ranks, but it was safe to say he was skilled enough to enter the 80th floor.
He had a showy personality and enjoyed the sense of superiority that came from driving his opponents to despair.
His power, ‘Psychokinesis’, which he used to crush his opponents, was already active in the area.
And yet.
‘What, can't she feel my Kia?’
No. That can't be.
‘……Then, is she feeling it and just enduring it?’
Looking at the detached Mint, Grogi felt an instinctual sense of displeasure.
He was starting to think there was a reason Sergeant First Class Kein had targeted her.
‘But I have my pride.’
Feeling uneasy about the unfamiliar emotion Mint had stirred in him, he forced himself to look back at Helios.
He had to drag this rookie away quickly and get rid of this unpleasant feeling.
