I PICKED UP A CHILD IN A DUMPSTER-Chapter 100: Arena (I)

With that, Si Hon let out a long sigh and scratched the back of his head before leaning against the cold stone wall behind him. The damp chill seeped through his shirt, but he didn’t bother moving.

Then—

Just as he was about to sigh again—

A familiar voice spoke from the neighboring cell beside him.

"Damn... you’re alive?" the voice said. "I swear they usually kill everyone who tries to escape as punishment."

Si Hon blinked once, then slowly pushed himself up and shuffled closer to the wall separating their cells. He sat down with his back against it so his voice would carry through the stone.

"Yeah... lucky me," he said lazily. "Anyway... I just watched someone get ripped apart, you know."

There was a short pause.

"Yeah..."

Another pause.

Then the voice behind the wall suddenly sharpened.

"Wait. How far did you even go? The punishment chamber is far from here. Don’t tell me you actually reached that place."

Si Hon shrugged even though she couldn’t see it.

"Oh, yeah. I’m just goated like that," he replied casually. "Anyway, how are you doing? Miss me?"

"Nah. I didn’t." Her answer came instantly. "Why would I?"

Si Hon clicked his tongue quietly.

"Cold."

"Anyway," she continued, ignoring him completely. "Save your energy. Yesterday you tried to escape, so the arena got postponed."

A short pause.

"So today it’s probably happening."

Si Hon tilted his head.

"Arena?"

"Yes. Arena," she replied flatly. "I swear I already told you about this."

"Oh... right. Yeah, you did," Si Hon said quickly. "My bad."

After that, the two of them fell into silence.

There wasn’t really anything else to say.

Si Hon eventually slid down onto the damp stone floor and rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. Time crawled painfully slow. At one point he simply laid there staring upward for several minutes straight before suddenly letting out a quiet laugh to himself.

"Man..."

Then—

CLANG.

CLANG.

CLANG.

Heavy metal echoed through the prison corridor.

The sound of iron bars being unlocked one by one grew closer.

The woman behind the wall spoke again.

"Oh... here it is."

Her voice sounded strangely calm.

"We’re going to the arena."

She paused.

"Let’s just hope we survive until tomorrow." Another pause. "And that we don’t get chosen to fight each other."

Her tone hardened slightly.

"I won’t show mercy."

Si Hon blinked slowly.

"Cool," he said.

Then he leaned closer to the wall and whispered quietly. "Dude... trying to act cool."

"I’m not."

The response came instantly.

"Oh."

A few seconds later, the Munches finally reached his cell.

CLANG.

The iron bars swung open.

"Out," the creature growled.

Si Hon stood up and stretched lazily before stepping into the corridor along with the other prisoners.

One by one, the cells were opened until everyone had gathered outside.

They were then separated into two long lines.

One for the men.

One for the women.

Si Hon glanced over at the girls’ line.

There were way more people than he expected.

Dozens.

Maybe even hundreds.

The men’s line was just as large.

Rows and rows of prisoners stood silently under the watchful eyes of the towering Munches guards. And somehow, Si Hon ended up standing near the very front of the line.

"Follow," one of the Munches growled.

It raised a massive claw.

"Or kill."

Then it turned and started walking.

Si Hon shrugged and began following.

Everyone behind him moved as well.

The two long lines of prisoners slowly marched through the cavern tunnels.

As they walked, Si Hon kept glancing sideways toward the girls’ line, trying to spot the red-haired girl from the neighboring cell.

The one who called him an idiot.

He couldn’t see her.

But something else suddenly caught his attention.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Wait."

He looked down at his wrists.

Then at the others.

No cuffs.

No chains.

Nothing.

He turned his head and glanced behind him while still walking.

Directly behind him was an old man with a massive white beard and an oddly cheerful smile.

"Hey... uh... Old m— ahj... damn, I mean sir," Si Hon whispered quietly. "Why aren’t we cuffed? What if someone tries to escape?"

The old man chuckled softly and stroked his beard.

"Oh, young man," he said warmly. "That’s because no one dares to escape."

He gestured vaguely toward the distant tunnels. "This lair is like a maze. Even if someone managed to get out... they’d probably starve in the Skaldrim Peaks."

Si Hon frowned slightly.

"Wait."

He tilted his head as they continued walking through the long prison corridor.

"Isn’t this place called Snowfall Mountain?" He scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "Or... Snowgrave? Whitegrave? Something like that... a girl with green hair mentioned it... to me."

The old man walking behind him suddenly stopped chuckling.

His beard swayed slightly as he slowly lifted his head.

The smile that had been resting on his face faded, and for the first time since they started walking, he opened his eyes fully and looked straight at Si Hon’s back.

"No, kid," the old man said quietly. "Whitegrave is what people in the outside world call this place."

His voice had changed. It was calmer now, heavier somehow.

"And Snowfall Mountain is..."

He paused.

By now the prisoners had passed the long rows of prison cells and entered a much wider stone hallway. Torches burned along the walls, casting long shadows across the damp stone floor as the massive Munch guards guided the lines deeper into the lair.

The air here felt different.

Colder.

Older.

From somewhere far ahead, a distant sound began echoing through the cavern tunnels.

A roar... doesn’t sound like a monster, but at the same time... not human. Si Hon doesn’t know actually... Me to!

Hundreds of voices cheering.

The sound rolled through the stone passages like distant a thunder.

Si Hon heard it.

He definitely heard it.

But anyway he chose to ignore it completely.

Instead, he tilted his head slightly and kept talking to the old man behind him as if the entire mountain wasn’t currently vibrating with the noise of a bloodthirsty audience.

"Huh," Si Hon muttered. "So Whitegrave is just the outside name?"

The old man nodded slowly as they walked.

"Mm. Travelers, hunters, and scholars all call this region Whitegrave," he explained. "Because anyone foolish enough to wander too deep into these mountains usually ends up buried beneath the snow. Or killed."

His fingers lightly stroked his beard as he continued.

"But the tribes that lived here long before the outside world discovered this place had a different name for it." His gaze sharpened slightly. "Skaldrim Peaks."

(Yea... that’s what Sarah... aunty... was it Hyuna? Call this place.) He thought.

The old man leaned a little closer as they walked.

"A cursed mountain range where storms never truly stop, where monsters crawl through the ice caves beneath the earth, and where entire villages have vanished without leaving so much as a footprint in the snow."

Ahead of them, the cheering grew louder.

Now it sounded like a massive crowd.

Thousands, maybe.

Si Hon still didn’t look forward.

"Sounds lively," he muttered.

The old man chuckled faintly.

"Lively isn’t the word I’d use."

Then his eyes narrowed slightly.

"But Snowfall Mountain..." He looked at Si Hon again. "That name isn’t something outsiders usually know."

His voice lowered.

"How exactly did you hear it or where, kid?"

Si Hon opened his mouth to answer—

But at that exact moment—

BUMP.

He walked straight into something massive and solid.

His nose nearly smashed against the broad, fur-covered back of the Munches guard in front of him.

"Ow!"

Si Hon stumbled backward and lost his balance, landing flat on the cold stone floor with a dull thud.

The entire line of prisoners immediately stopped moving.

Silence fell over the hallway.

The enormous Munch slowly turned its head.

Its glowing eyes looked down at him.

Si Hon stared up at the towering creature from the floor. "Uh. My bad."