Episode 2
Hira opened her mouth wide in shock.
A bright green light burst out in front of her.
It was the most brilliant light she had ever seen from “Kia”—the energy power people used in this world.
“Since they attacked first… this is self-defense, right?”
A broom floated up into the air by itself.
The men who had grabbed the woman’s hair were suddenly slammed to the ground.
“Dear Lord, since I had to beat up these prisoners, please send my broom to heaven.”
As soon as the woman said this strange prayer, the broom began beating the men on its own.
“Judge, it was my broom that did it.”
“Gaaah! Aahhh!”
“What the heck! Aaah! S-Spare me!”
“Yeah, yeah. Be sure to report me later. Just go through the prison guards for that. Oh, and I heard you just dial the same number front and back to get to hell.”
One of the larger men couldn’t use Kia, so he got beaten badly.
But the smaller man stood up, covered in faint golden light, and rushed at the woman with a punch.
A plant-like light shot out from the man’s hand and wrapped around the woman’s arm.
He thought he had the upper hand.
‘That woman must be a ranged Kia user. If I just catch her…!’
But the woman casually grabbed his fist with one hand.
Then—tap—she lightly kicked his ankle. Just a tap.
But the result was far from light.
BOOM!
The small man crashed headfirst into the ground.
The woman looked down at him and muttered like a prayer.
“One more down, Lord.”
She made the sign of the holy god of the Empire, Lumen.
Almost as if waiting, the broom darted at the smaller man and started beating him too.
Whack! Whack! Blood splattered.
The woman wiped it off the floor without a care.
“Ugh, the floor’s such a mess now.”
She brushed her hair back and muttered,
“You can’t go to heaven if you don’t clean properly, you filthy trash.”
Her sorrowful look from earlier was completely gone—just her raised eyebrows remained.
Now she just looked annoyed and stood there like it was no big deal.
As the woman turned her head slightly, Hira noticed something:
The other prisoners were breathing out and avoiding eye contact with her.
Then someone came running from afar.
“Damn it, Mint!!”
A man wearing a completely different uniform than the nearby guard appeared. He had medals all over his chest.
The nearby guard stood straight and saluted him sharply.
“Sir!”
“Forget the salute. Mint!!”
The man ran right past Hira and stopped in front of the woman, Mint.
“Are you crazy? You’re already being punished, and now this?!”
“Sir, I swear I’m innocent.”
“Don’t mess with me!”
“My broom acted on its own.”
“Your broom?! You think it’s not violence if you don’t touch them yourself?!”
“Isn’t it?”
Mint grinned.
She had such a pretty face, but that grin made her look like a gangster from the back alleys.
“I had no choice. Don’t you know what self-defense is? My Amy and Angel were in danger.”
“Amy and Angel?”
Mint smiled and grabbed two strands of her hair with each hand.
She waved her right hand.
“This one’s Amy.”
The right side of her hair wagged like a puppy’s tail.
“And this one’s Angel.”
The left side of her hair swayed too.
“They got hurt.”
“You little…!”
The officer’s face turned red. Obviously, he thought Mint was mocking him.
“I’ve told you again and again! Don’t touch the newbies! And don’t use Kia! If you do, people die! This place is crazy enough, but do you think we get paid to clean up corpses?!”
“Oh… we don’t?”
“Of course not! Are you asking for a beating?!”
Instead of provoking him further, Mint gave in peacefully.
“I didn’t touch them. My broom ‘Kun’ did.”
“Broom, hand—same thing!”
“If I had touched them, they’d be in hell. Isn’t it better I didn’t send them there before seeing you?”
“…”
“Let’s all live nicely. I’ve killed enough already.”
The officer flinched and grumbled,
“You say that, but didn’t you promise to live properly just three days ago? You have zero common sense!”
“Please understand. I came in here at age twelve. My brain’s all messed up.”
“Who said you could talk back?!”
The officer rubbed his face like he was trying to calm down. Then he looked up.
“Come with me. The warden wants to see you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mint waved her hand, and the green light disappeared. The broom fell to the floor.
She left without hesitation, like she didn’t care at all.
As she walked by, she stepped hard on the finger of the man who had grabbed her hair.
“That’s for Amy.”
Hira could only watch her walk away and hold her breath.
In this world, nearly half the population could use a power called Kia.
There were many strong people, but she had never seen such bright, shining energy.
“Um, sir… who is that woman?”
She looked weak, but fought extremely well. She spoke and acted so strangely.
She seemed innocent like a child, but when she calmly broke someone’s finger…
…it felt like pure evil.
“Who? That woman is the boss of this prison. The top. The only S-Class prisoner here.”
“She climbed to the top all by herself. Ruthless.”
The guard spoke with a sneer, but deep down, he seemed to admire her—and fear her.
Hira watched Mint’s back until she completely disappeared from sight.
‘Well, I’m totally screwed.’
That was my simple thought as I stared at the smoke-filled office.
“You said you wanted to live sensibly, didn’t you?”
I stood straight at attention while the man in front of me sat.
He was a middle-aged man with a shiny bald head and some patchy hair on the sides.
He was the warden of Niflheim—the ruler of this prison. His name was Ralph Garmon.
“That ‘common sense’ of yours sure made a mess.”
I thought for a moment and answered,
“It heals if you lick it.”
“If you use Kia, it causes permanent damage, remember?”
I stared at the bald eagle—my nickname for him.
I tried to recall what I had done wrong.
“People can live without the last joint of their pinky finger, right?”
“Mint. How are you going to live if you ever get out of here?”
Funny question for someone serving a life sentence.
“Hearing about release just hurts more, sir.”
“But you said you wanted to get out.”
“Sure. If I ever get out, I’ll marry a cute husband and have a child like a wild wolf.”
“…Isn’t that the other way around?”
“Well, the world’s tough. I want to raise strong kids like wolves.”
“…And the husband?”
“I’ll protect him, of course.”
The truth was, I had no plans to marry or have kids.
But I said all that because I liked hearing the warden talk back.
It had been ten years since I ended up here.
And now, I was the boss of the prison.
People gave me fancy titles like “Top Dog” or “Tower Queen,” but whatever.
I was just the one who climbed to the top and ruled over the prisoners.
It didn’t happen overnight.
‘Yeah, it wasn’t easy.’
“It’s been exactly three days since you said you’d live with common sense, Mint.”
My name is Mint. My real name is Minte Rimnades.
But no one uses that anymore.
Even my family doesn’t consider me one of them.
At some point, people just started calling me Mint because of my hair color.
I accepted it. I didn’t mind.
“Mint!”
“Why did you let a newbie grab your hair? Now we have to protect them!”
The warden threw his pen in frustration.
He’s just annoyed.
“Are the punks under you too aggressive or what?!”
“I’ll try to calm them down.”
“Not try—actually do it!”
It’s not like they listen to me anyway.
Sure, I’m the boss…
But that’s just because I’m the strongest and beat everyone up.
People here don’t obey words—they obey fists.
‘If they were good at being social, they wouldn’t be in prison.’
Here, there’s a clear ranking system based on power.
The guards call it a “ranking system.”
The prisoners call it a dogfight.
The rankings don’t care about size, gender, or age.
Only one thing matters—
Power.
Power from Kia.
