'Pober? Who's that?' the question was birthed in Irwiz's mind.
However, judging by appearance alone, whoever was Pober had associated with the wrong person.
Such sinister looks, Irwiz wouldn't be surprised if the man had the blood of a few people on his hands.
If even Irwiz had judged the man so, the rest of the orphans were nothing to talk about. They had been scared witless by the man's cold aura and vicious looks.
"U- uhh, w-w-who might mister be looking for?" Rera was barely able to hold in her stutter as she staggered in front of the man.
Earlier, she had expected a familiar face to be in front of the door. Yet to be greeted with such a sight and human was a huge letdown.
"Pober. Doesn't he operate this place?" the man asked again.
"Aahh the boss!" a voice seemed to connect the dots and blurted out. However, they immediately covered their mouth and looked at the robed man with fear.
After all, what if he was a loan shark?
"The boss huh, oh yes. Pober, your boss, where is he?" the man stepped inside the room without asking.
As he glanced at the amalgamation of dried blood in the center and the rotten smell throughout this room, a slight sneer came upon his face.
"Why- are you looking for the boss?" a girl asked.
"Oh? Questioning me?" the robed man immediately turned his head towards the girl.
"Hyeeek!"
Instantly, that girl also covered her mouth.
However, that didn't seem to stop the robed man as he walked towards her. Then, his arm swung, and the girl was soon sprawling on the ground.
"What are you doing!?" seeing the robed man's actions, Koeth seemed to be very enraged. He immediately rushed forward towards the man.
Still, all it took was another punch for the robed man to throw the kid on the ground.
"Don't talk back." at this point, the robed man's presence seemed indescribably strong and domineering.
Still, the orphans who had been used to living on the streets was not going to let this go down. All the boys rushed forward to the robed man, swearing revenge.
Only Irwiz stayed where he was and even bore intentions of going out through the open door. However, something seemed to be limiting his mind, warning him of trying to escape.
Thus, he could only observe what was happening.
Since it was a small space, it was very hard for the robed man to evade the kids.
"What!" a surprised voice came out before he ended up being overwhelmed by the kids.
Koeth had also got back up as he joined in on beating the robed man.
Still, although flustered, the robed man barely defended himself as he took out a small ball and then crushed it inside his hand.
Instantly, pale white mist started to spread out from within the ball.
It maybe took a second or two for the mist to spread entirely within the room.
Then, one by one all the kids fell paralyzed to the ground. They seemed to regain their consciousness but unable to move their body.
Irwiz was no exception, he had also fallen to the ground.
"Tsk, a bunch of rats!" the robed man seemed to be brimming full of fury as he stomped hard on the kids' bodies, having no mercy.
'Was what I was fearing happen? Am I going to die now?' the thought circulated inside Irwiz's mind repeatedly as he wanted to get up and run away many times.
To no avail, he found his efforts absolutely failure.
But at that moment, a pale black screen had appeared midair, right in front of his eyes.
[Do you want to use your fate points?]
That was Irwiz's last view before he fell unconscious.
...
'Uh... my head hurts' there was a numb pain in his head, restricting his thoughts. He even had trouble moving his fingers, let alone his body.
However, Irwiz was barely able to open his eyelids slightly.
What greeted his view was darkness.
Although it stank here and the moisture seemed to be especially high, just like he was nearby a sewer, what struck Irwiz more was the faint outline of a door shut with thick locks.
Irwiz then looked around himself, viewing his surroundings. There was nothing but stone walls and damp moist smells as if this place had rotted for a century.
He even felt as if just existing here seemed to drain his life away.
Thus, he explored another way.
'Where is this?' Irwiz made no sound as he approached the door locking this place.
The door seemed to be very thick and robust as if it was made for locking prisoners behind.
From exploring the surroundings, Irwiz had figured as much; he wasn't surprised.
Then, he tried pushing the door open, but it didn't budge a bit.
He put in more effort, thinking hopefully that maybe the door was just heavy, but it didn't have any effect.
Eventually, a thought bore fruit inside his mind.
'Am I doomed?'
But just as Irwiz looked down in desparation, something seemed to shine in the darkness.
'This!'
They were keys that seemed to have just slid underneath the door!
Through the pale moonlight coming from outside, the key just seemed to shine in that moment before fading away.
It was truly a coincidence arranged by the heavens.
So, since Irwiz had made note of its position, he reached his hand towards there. At the same time, he had double thoughts about it.
He suspected its nature, so he cautiously approached the key and picked it up.
Irwiz made no sound during the process.
After he picked it up, he carefully put the key into the keyhole surrounded by iron.
Then...
Click!
The door had been opened!
'What the fuck' Irwiz thought.
Was this a trap designed for him?
Irwiz didn't know.
But due to his careful nature, he locked the door back as he stepped back.
However, his instinct seemed to scream at him that was he was doing was wrong, that he had been on the right path, but now he had derailed.
'Is this due to the fate points?' Irwiz thought.
He remembered that just after the system had given him the option to use the fate points before he fell unconscious, he had accepted it.
Now, it seems like due to that, he had ended up obtaining the keys to his escape.
Was this fate?
Irwiz didn't know, but he suspected that it was largely due to its contribution.
So, hesitatingly, he unlocked the door again before heading out carefully. There was nothing in that moisty prison cell anyways.
Nothing but isolation to make him despair.
Having come out of that room, Irwiz looked to the right. Then he looked to the left.
It was a long corridor made of stone.
There was indeed no one.
There was but the lanterns and torches upon the walls to keep the corridor visible.
Trusting his guts, Irwiz turned right and started to walk along the path. He felt like he just had to listen to his instincts.
After a while, he firmly believed this entire structure had been built underground.
Although he wasn't sure if there existed guards in this place, he didn't find anyone so he just thought it was his luck.
Thus, he continued traversing cautiously.
Eventually, he finally managed to reach a place where he was able to find sounds coming from.
Then, he heard it.
A faint hoarse voice coming from a direction. The place that would've been if he had headed more left.
Irwiz heard what that man was saying. Although he was in a corner of the place, barely able to hear, he still heard what the man said.
"Children, everyone here are the children of god. You all will be saved from your destiny, and freed from worldly sufferings...!" although the man's voice was hoarse and reeked of old age, his words sounded incredibly clear in his ears.
It was strange.
'Perhaps it was the echo from the walls.' Irwiz rationalized it inside his mind.
However, he personally thought it was because the man's words hard been uttered with incredible faith and devotion.
It was so full of it that unknowingly, he had felt a chill run down his spine.
However, it wasn't over. After the man's words, some sort of chant began. A chant so loud and full of fervent faith to the point of madness.
"Accept your fate!"
"Accept your fate!"
"Accept your fate!"