HideLand

🟠 chapter 09 :

Days and weeks passed while I remained stuck in this prison, my life revolving around porridge and the cell. I tried getting to know some of the other inmates, hoping to find someone here for the same reason. But most either avoided me, thinking I was weird, or tried to pick a fight. No one wanted to talk about why they ended up here. To them, I was playing the role of a criminal detective, whatever that meant.

Still, I managed to pick up some bits of information.

Some prisoners deeply distrust everyone in here and even more strangely, they seem to hold a strong grudge against the entire city of Valoris. They constantly badmouth it, calling its people liars and deceivers. One of the most vocal among them is a guy named Simon, who claims he was only visiting Valoris for vacation after hearing it was a great place to relax. Now he's behind bars and because he used to promote the city as a tourist destination, his imprisonment actually caused a drop in visitors.

Then there's another inmate named Raynar. He claims to know the full layout of the prison and talks about some big escape plan. But no one can stand him. They blame him for their misery though I have no idea what kind of tragedy he supposedly caused. All I know is that he's the prison cook… for the guards. Yes, apparently the inmates' chef is a guard, and the guards' chef is a prisoner. How ridiculous is that?

As I was thinking about all this in my cell, I heard footsteps approaching. It was a guard.

"Well, kid. Looks like you've settled in nicely… That means it's time for the place."

The place?

Oh no. Could he mean that place? The one all the prisoners fear? I thought I wasn't qualified for it yet. But apparently, they don't care everyone has to experience it. Prisoners get sent there for eight hours and come back with blank faces, completely drained.

They opened my cell and escorted me out. I wasn't the only one being taken others were brought along too. Some started yelling and screaming. I didn't but that doesn't mean I wasn't terrified. What kind of place tests your endurance and patience like this?

We arrived.

The smell hit me before I even saw the door. It was horrible.

The guard opened the door, and what I saw inside… well, I'm not sure if shocking is even the right word. Was it a torture room? No.

A labor room? Not quite.

Well… maybe a little of both. But if you thought about it carefully, the true horror became clear.

Blank expressions. Buckets. That unbearable smell.

It was all leading up to the worst possible guess yes, it was toilets.

Overflowing toilets.

And our task as prisoners?

Clean them.

To be clear, they were the guards' toilets.

I asked one of the other guys brought along, and he said it's because the guards eat a lot of bean stew. Meanwhile, we get porridge from… who knows where.

Naturally, everyone wore nose plugs. I did the same.

There were more than twenty toilets, each one reeking twenty times worse than a regular one.

Now I understand why people disappear for the full eight hours.

How would I even survive this?

The cleaning began…

Nearly eight hours of hellish sanitation.

By the time we were done, I could barely feel my senses. My arms limp, my face numb, a bucket still in hand.

Now that's a test of willpower.

At the end, each prisoner was handed something like gum by a guard supposedly to help us recover. I took it, but didn't eat it. No way. I've had enough of mysterious substances for one day.

And now I get why everyone hates Raynar.

It's him and that bean stew he makes for the guards.

In exchange for not being the one to clean the toilets, he cooks that abomination for them.

Later that night, I was lying on my bed, still trying to mentally recover. I had a feeling I'd be dreaming about toilets for a while…

Just then, I heard voices outside the cell.

I moved to the small window, trying to peek out.

I saw Boral… and a guard with him.

What were they doing there?

I couldn't make out the guard's face clearly, but I could hear their conversation.

"Make sure the next shipment is even bigger."

Shipment?

What are they talking about?

And are they seriously discussing this right outside a prison cell?

Do they really think I'm asleep? I was just lying there!

Then the guard added something else:

"By the way, that tourist Simon is getting released next week. Make preparations. I'll be waiting at the city's reception center."

What?! Simon is getting out?

What kind of preparations is he talking about?

I couldn't see the guard's face well, but I tried to memorize his voice.

Looks like it's time to activate my Detective Mode.

If I want to survive this place… I need to figure out what's going on.