Became a stagnant person in a squalid prison cell
Chapter 15 —
“What’s wrong?”
There was no answer. I watched closely. Was he injured?
But no matter how carefully I looked, there was no blood on the thorns I had summoned.
“…Damn. That actually worked? This breaks all common sense.”
At Helios’s blunt remark, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was amusing.
Helios looked up at me in surprise. We faced each other, with a pit between us.
“You still don’t know? This is a world where common sense doesn’t apply.”
“……”
“You’ll see it for yourself soon—whether it’s inside the Tower…”
I looked away briefly toward the resting area.
“…or outside of it.”
I sensed movement nearby.
…And judging by the presence, it probably wasn’t something good for Helios.
“…or outside of it.”
Helios noticed the sudden chill in Mint’s face.
He was always someone with a calm, indifferent expression and a dry, sleepy tone.
He never seemed interested in anything, and it was strange that he even bothered to train Helios in the first place.
Aside from occasionally appearing with Warden Steven, he rarely stayed near others.
Still, whenever Helios succeeded in training, he would smile with satisfaction—making it impossible to look away. It felt like seeing a single red flower bloom in a snowy winter—impossible to ignore.
Now, with all emotion gone from Mint’s face, he looked cold and cynical.
“Let’s go. Today’s your Tower trial.”
There was no stiff call like usual—no “Prisoner Helios.”
Helios felt a tiny bit of disappointment.
‘That gaze is intense.’
Mint had been here for over ten years and had developed a sharp intuition.
His instincts rarely missed the mark.
Near the end of Helios’s training, Mint had sensed something.
It wasn’t just any presence—it was like someone was watching and monitoring them.
‘At first, I thought it might be the Warden watching.’
But the Warden had no reason to keep an eye on him yet.
Helios was still a complete novice. The Warden wouldn’t be interested until he reached at least intermediate rank.
Honestly, if Helios weren’t the male lead, he wouldn’t even be worth the attention.
‘Then who is it…?’
Several possibilities popped into Mint’s head.
He wouldn’t act just yet, but…
Something was definitely about to happen.
And it did—right after Helios returned from the Tower.
Helios had once again cleared the 8th floor with ease.
After unlocking his Kia and learning more about his abilities from Mint, it was only natural that he would improve.
‘If I can use Kia, reaching the 10th floor shouldn’t be a problem.’
As Helios walked out alongside others who cleared the same floor, Mint didn’t look at him. Instead, he looked up.
Each grade level had a separate exit.
Among the approaching figures, Mint saw a few familiar faces.
‘High-grade prisoners?’
He had memorized the faces of prisoners at this level.
‘What was that guy’s name again…?’
But why were high-grade prisoners here?
Prisoners who had just completed a Tower trial—especially those using Kia—were often emotionally unstable.
Coming out of an extreme situation, they were quick to anger or agitation, even over small things.
That’s why meeting prisoners from other grades was strictly forbidden before and after trials.
‘What are the high-grade guards doing?’
Mint calmly looked around but saw no trace of the guards assigned to those prisoners.
While he was focused on them, the lower-grade guards quietly cleared away the rest of the prisoners.
In other words, only Helios was left now.
Mint spotted Sergeant Cain in the distance—the one in charge of low-grade prisoners.
Cain had long since refused to speak to Mint.
He was grinning.
‘Perfect timing.’
The man slowly walking this way—he was a “gift” prepared by Cain for the annoying rookie guard.
“So, Sergeant, you’re saying you’ll look the other way if we take that pretty boy?”
Some high-grade prisoners not only had power but also liked bullying lower-grade ones.
This group had already noticed the new, eye-catching prisoner during their breaks.
And they had grown obsessed—with the desire to break and ruin him.
“Wow, Sergeant Cain. You’re so generous today.”
“Just make sure you handle it properly.”
“Of course, of course. You know how much I love ruining pretty faces.”
Cain had always disliked Mint.
He held a grudge from the first day they met—when Mint humiliated him.
And every time Cain tried to assert dominance, he ended up on the losing side.
“Aaargh!”
It was always Cain who got knocked down.
Which only fueled his rage further.
Occasionally, some guards came in like monsters—like Steven, who had once been nicknamed “Knight” during his rookie days.
Maybe Mint was one of those—skilled but antisocial, completely impossible to control.
So Cain had to take a different approach.
‘That pretty prisoner, I hear he’s protective of him? Filthy bastard.’
Mint’s unusual behavior was already widely known.
A guard following the manual to protect his assigned prisoner? Laughable.
He had dared to disgrace the authority of a guard, and today, he would pay for it.
‘Ah, now I remember.’
At that same moment, Mint was calmly trying to recall a name.
The face was familiar, but he hadn’t connected it to any specific ability.
‘I think his name started with “Gro”… Gro…’
Meanwhile, the high-grade prisoners had surrounded both Helios and Mint.
Behind them, guards led away the other low-grade prisoners.
“Prisoner Helios. Let’s head to the main building.”
“…Here?”
Helios looked around at the prisoners surrounding them, confused.
Did Mint not see this human wall around them?
“Well, well, pretty boy. You gonna hide behind your guard forever?”
One of the high-grade prisoners swaggered forward.
“Acting all high and mighty just because you’ve got a guard on your side. How about we have a little chat?”
He was the only prisoner Mint recognized by face. Still, he couldn’t remember the name, so he mentally labeled him “that bastard.”
“Damn, look at that shine. I came to see the rookie everyone’s been talking about—and wow, he’s dazzling.”
That bastard’s name was Grogi.
Grogi stared Helios down from head to toe.
Beautiful things made him feel an urge to twist and ruin them.
And to him, this pretty new prisoner was the perfect material to destroy.
Grogi licked his lips. His appetite had been stirred.
“Prisoner Helios. I’ve made up my mind.”
That is, until someone cut in with an odd remark.
“Let’s meet after lunch by the west wall.”
…Who the hell was that?
Grogi turned with a confused expression—it was the rookie guard Cain had mentioned.
Despite being surrounded, he looked completely calm.
Grogi had seen eyes like that before—naive fools who didn’t know what kind of place this was.
Those kinds were easy to crush.
‘I do enjoy smashing innocent faces like his…’
But Cain had made a request.
Grogi leisurely walked over to Helios, smirking.
“So, pretty boy, I heard your guard’s got your back. What’s the secret, huh? Did you… shake something for him?”
“Oh, I heard today’s meal includes meat. Make sure to eat plenty—protein is important,” Mint replied.
“Seriously? Others bust their asses and get nothing, and you—what, just winked at him?”
“Prisoner Helios. If you’re late, there won’t be any meat left.”
“….”
What the hell? Is this guy not afraid? Or just crazy?
Grogi stared at Mint, completely dumbfounded.
His rank was “High Grade / Class 3.” Not the highest, but strong enough to reach the 80th floor—definitely elite.
He loved showing off, and the thrill of crushing others into despair gave him a rush.
His power—telekinesis—was already active around the area.
But then…
‘What the—can’t he feel my Kia?’
No. That couldn’t be.
‘…Then is he feeling it and still standing there?’
Grogi felt a sudden, instinctive discomfort as he looked at Mint.
Maybe Cain hadn’t chosen poorly after all.
‘But still, I have my pride.’
Grogi hated the strange, unfamiliar feeling that seeing Mint stirred inside him.
Trying to brush it off, he turned back to Helios.
He needed to drag that rookie off and deal with this unease, once and for all.
