Chapter 286. City of the Abandoned (6)

A dry wind often swept through the City of the Abandoned. In the desert, sandstorms howled like the wailing of a forsaken woman.

Creak—

The coarse gusts scraped endlessly against the Arena’s bare stone walls, which had no windows to shield them. The overseers used to claim that the sound came from those who had tried to escape, begging to be let back in. Of course, no one truly believed them, but some wished it were true.

Most of the slaves thought otherwise. The wind carried the cries of the dead, the lingering resentment of those who had perished by their hands. Therefore, night after night, they trembled in fear.

“Haah...”

However, today was different. Whether it was pleading voices or restless spirits no longer mattered. Today, the ones flickering like candles in the wind were the overseers themselves.

“We’re screwed.”

“Yeah, we’re completely screwed.”

Overseer H let out a long sigh after hearing the grim news Overseer K had brought.

“So, what kind of person is this new chairman?” H asked.

“No idea. I heard he’s just some rookie employee,” K replied.

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Right? Even my smoking buddy wasn’t sure about that one. Sounds like someone exaggerated the story along the way.”

A rookie employee?

As if they could get any preparations done based on such ridiculous rumors!

“Anyway, the new chairman must be terrifyingly ruthless, right?” H said.

“Has to be. From what I’ve heard...” K gestured for him to come closer, lowering his voice. “They say he flayed the shareholders alive and stripped them down to the bone.”

“What? The chairman did that?”

“That’s not all. Apparently, he drained their blood and made wine out of it.”

In truth, the original complaints had been more like “He stripped us bare and left us with nothing!” and “He even demanded our precious wine!”

However, rumors of this kind always grew more grotesque the more they were passed around.

H paled instantly. “I can’t believe he treated the shareholders like that!”

Even the former chairman hadn’t gone that far. Granted, he had been vicious, but at least he had maintained the fa?ade of a refined gentleman.

“Well, he did defeat the former chairman. That alone says enough, doesn’t it?” K said.

The color drained completely from H’s face.

“So I was thinking—” K said.

“What is it?”

“We need to get on his good side. No matter what it takes.”

“And how exactly do we do that?”

They were hanging by a thread.

Yet, the plan K brought forward was surprisingly simple. “We’ve got those new slaves, don’t we?”

H recalled the man and woman who had been dumped near the portal in a pitiful state. “What about them?”

It had been so long since they had received newcomers that he had even considered going easy on them.

“Those two! They’re the first ones to be discarded after the new chairman took power!”

Out of all his enemies, the new chairman had sent only two as slaves. That could only mean one thing.

“He probably hates them the most!”

“Ah, that makes sense!”

The two overseers exchanged glances.

“Which means we need to work them harder than anyone else,” K said.

“That’s a great idea, K!”

“Right? Then let’s throw them in immediately.”

“Right away? What about training?”

Arena fights were nothing like ordinary brawls. Even throwing a spear in that confined space required basic training.

Besides, those two were ordinary employees just yesterday. Sending them into the arena without preparation was essentially a death sentence—yet it was also the fastest and most thorough way to break them.

K insisted, “If we show how brutally we’re working them, he’ll be pleased.”

“How do we show it to him? He’s not even here.”

“Oh, come on. This place is a goldmine. Don’t you think he might show up? Whether openly or in secret?”

The strategy, built on proving loyalty by crushing the chairman’s enemies, was not entirely unreasonable. H found himself nodding before he even realized it.

K clenched his fist, already imagining how mercilessly he would grind the slaves down. “We crush the slaves and prove we’re on the chairman’s side.”

“I’ll give it everything I’ve got,” H replied.

***

Ding—!

The bell rang, its sharp clang echoing painfully in Ji-Eun’s ears. She lowered her gaze to her bound wrists. The ropes were wound so tight that even the slightest movement made her wince.

She muttered, “What is going on here?”

It had already been half a day since the sandstorm had swept her away. When she woke up, she found herself like this.

Not only were her clothes torn to shreds, but sand had also worked its way into her underwear, leaving her feeling utterly miserable. Moreover, she was restrained.

“Well, I’d like to know that too, Noonim,” Jae-Hyuk said.

At least she wasn’t alone.

“Do you think the number will come off?” he asked.

Jae-Hyuk glanced down at the number #99999 marked on the back of his hand, then at #100000 etched onto Ji-Eun’s.

Ji-Eun shrugged. “Who knows.”

“Ah!”

Jae-Hyuk quickly asked Ji-Eun, “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine,” she replied.

In truth, she wasn’t. Her right shoulder throbbed faintly. She had probably hit it badly when she fell, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“Eun-Ho would be okay, right?” she asked.

“He probably didn’t fall into the wasteland,” Jae-Hyuk said.

Ji-Eun tried to send a message.

[Message cannot be sent.]

[You are outside the messenger system’s range.]

She then tried another method.

[Gift cannot be sent.]

[You are outside the shop system’s range.]

Since they couldn’t communicate, she couldn’t even confirm whether he was alive or dead. Still, Ji-Eun didn’t despair. They had overcome worse situations than this.

“Didn’t they say we’d be sent into the Arena after three days of training?” she asked.

“Yes! That’s what the overseer said earlier,” Jae-Hyuk replied.

Three days is more than enough, Ji-Eun thought.

“This might actually work out,” Ji-Eun said.

“Huh?”

She nodded to herself, steadying her thoughts. “We had to come here anyway, didn’t we? They may think we’re new slaves, but either way, we made it inside.”

Whether they entered as slaves or infiltrators, the result was the same.

“Is that really a good thing?”

“All we need is the stock certificate. We find where the former chairman hid it, tell Eun-Ho, and then get out.”

She calmed her trembling heart with that simple plan.

“Think of it as going undercover,” she added.

Jae-Hyuk beamed. “U-undercover?!”

“Since we’re here, we might as well gather as much information as we can. What do you think?”

“Oh! Then we should eavesdrop on those overseers from earlier!” he said eagerly, his eyes burning with determination.

“Eun-Ho will be fine,” Ji-Eun said firmly. “So let’s focus on what we can do here.”

“We’ve got this!”

Though they were unexpectedly about to be thrown into the Arena in less than ten minutes, they had made up their minds.

“Get inside. When the bell rings, the door will open. If you don’t go out, I’ll stab you from behind. Don’t make things harder for the cleaners by dying here,” said one of the overseers.

“You’re sending us in now?!” Ji-Eun protested. “You said there would be three days of training!”

“Shut up and pick a weapon before I strip you of everything.”

Was it a lie to lower our guard? Or is there another reason? Ji-Eun wondered.

The situation was unfolding differently than expected. Still, instead of panicking, Ji-Eun calmed down.

A weapon, she thought.

Separated from Jae-Hyuk, Ji-Eun was dragged into a cramped space resembling a cage. On the right wall hung worn-out weapons. On the left, battered shields. In front of her stood a plain stone wall. If not for the display above, she would have thought it was just an abandoned storage room.

[Round 1 - Finished]

[Round 2 - Finished]

[Round 3 - Upcoming]

Rounds one and two had already ended. Round three, which seemed to be Ji-Eun’s round, was about to begin.

“The rules are simple,” the overseer said. “Win, and you live. Lose, and you die.”

“Lose and die?” Ji-Eun repeated.

“Either your opponent kills you, or I do when you come back out.”

Clank—

Without any visible movement, the overseer caused dozens of spears to materialize behind her, their razor-sharp tips aimed at her back.

If I win, doesn't that mean my opponent, who would be just like me, would die?

The spears hovering near her eyes, heart, and throat made that truth unmistakably clear.

“Well, that’s strange,” Ji-Eun said.

“You still don’t get the situation? You’re dumber than you loo—”

“That’s not true,” she cut in. She collected information, analyzed it, and assessed everything she had learned while standing beside him. “The number written on my hand says I’m the hundred-thousandth.”

“So what?”

“If one person dies every round,” she said calmly, “then there shouldn’t be any gladiators left by now.”

With three rounds a day, that’s at least three deaths daily, Ji-Eun thought.

Her tone remained steady. “You bring in slaves, train them, and kill them off in a single match? That’s far too inefficient.”

Even if she gave them the benefit of the doubt and assumed matches weren’t held every day, the logic still didn’t hold. After all, the Arena still functioned after such a long time.

“For the fights to be entertaining, they’d have to be fierce,” Ji-Eun pressed. “So yes, lives are probably on the line. But there has to be another way to survive even if one loses, isn’t there?”

The overseer flinched, and the tip of one spear trembled ever so slightly.

“Ha.” His expression turned ambiguous, neither confirming nor denying anything. “Try that out there.”

“Out there?”

“Then maybe you won’t die on my spear.”

Ji-Eun opened her mouth to press further, but the bell rang three times.

Diiiing— Diiiing— Diiiing—

“Looks like you’ll be going out empty-handed after all.”

The overseer smirked, glancing past her. Behind her, the black stone wall stood silent beneath the display.

Rumble—

The wall and the ground then shook as the massive slab of stone slowly rose. Light poured into the sealed chamber along with a blood-red sandstorm.

The blazing sun scorched her skin, and sand forced its way down her throat. Roaring cheers erupted, loud enough to make her ears ring.

“Thank you for your patience, everyone! Round 3 begins now!”

The match had started.

“Woohoo!”

There was no time for Ji-Eun to think. The deafening roar of the crowd, mixed with whistles and shouts, overwhelmed her senses.

Then, from behind, a dark violet beam shot toward her.

Pazzzzt—!

The massive beam tore through the air in a straight line. She dodged, but it grazed her back.

[Caution!]

[You have come into contact with Disintegration Beam.]

[Your back tissue is disintegrating.]

“Ugh!”

A searing pain shot through her back, as if it were being burned away in a straight line. Her vision even blurred for a moment.

“Ah! A freshly acquired rookie slave! She’s entering unarmed and already struggling! Has she not even grasped the situation yet?!”

The wall had opened, and she had been thrust into the Arena. Tiered seats rose higher and higher like a colosseum, packed with spectators. Before she could even regain her bearings, she saw her opponent.

[#100000 vs Eye of Destruction]

Before her was a grotesque sphere with dozens of eyeballs clinging to it like barnacles. No matter where she moved, it tracked her instantly, firing that horrifying beam nonstop.

“Ah, perhaps survival was too much to hope for from a rookie! We can almost hear the three hundred and nineteen bettors who wagered against the odds slamming their fists in regret!”

Get it together, Kim Ji-Eun!

Ji-Eun didn't come here to be food for a monster or entertainment for others. Someone was waiting for her; she had to do something!

I can do this. Eun-Ho would be fine, so I can’t afford to fall here.

She wasn’t the na?ve, lost, and helpless woman who had once collapsed in front of an elevator.

“Hup!” She snapped her eyes wide open, gazing forward with the same unwavering determination as the one she admired most. “Summon!”