I PICKED UP A CHILD IN A DUMPSTER-Chapter 80: Inside the prison.

The sound of distant Munches laughter echoed faintly from somewhere in the lair.

"Shit... I’m going to die."

Then the laughter grew louder.

Closer and Closer.

Until several massive gray figures finally appeared beyond the prison bars.

A Munches leaned forward, gripping the metal rods as it peered inside. Its wide mouth stretched into a crooked grin when it saw Si Hon sitting there.

"Hehe... human stupid, right?" it said, turning to the Munches beside him.

"Yea! Human so, so stupid! Earlier he talking to air! Whahahaha!" another one cackled, clutching its belly as it laughed.

Then one of them suddenly pulled something out of... somewhere. Si Hon honestly had no idea where it came from.

One moment the Munches’ hand was empty— the next it was holding a plastic water bottle and a slab of meat.

Without warning, it tossed both through the bars.

The meat landed on the floor with a dull plop. The bottle rolled beside it.

Si Hon immediately stepped back.

He stared at the "food" ... then slowly looked up at the Munches outside the cell.

"Bro’s... why you’d throw it?" he asked cautiously.

His eyes shifted down to the meat again. It looked... suspicious. The color was wrong. The texture looked worse.

"I’m not eating that," he added flatly.

The Munches stopped laughing.

They turned toward him at the same time.

"...No, no," one of them said slowly, waving its hand. "Human eat. You fight later."

Si Hon’s eye twitched.

"Wait— what? Fight?" he asked. "What do you mean fight?"

The Munches exploded into laughter again.

"HUMAN REALLY STUPID! KWAHAHAHAHA!"

Then the creature abruptly stopped laughing and leaned closer to the bars. "You are going to fight in the arena." it said in full English and not Hangugeo — a Korean language.

"...ಠ_ಠ..."

Si Hon slowly turned his head toward the two floating system windows still arguing above him.

"Did that guy just talk normally?"

Systemy, Mimi ignored him completely.

They continued yelling at each other like two malfunctioning chatboxes.

The Munches huffed, clearly losing interest, and eventually stomped away down the corridor, their laughter echoing deeper into the cavern.

Silence returned.

Si Hon sighed and slid down the wall until he was sitting on the cold stone floor again. His eyes drifted back toward the meat and water bottle lying a few feet away.

"...Man," he muttered, rubbing his face. "I can’t eat that."

He stared at it.

The meat stared back...

Then his stomach growled loudly.

"...."

Si Hon slowly crawled forward like a suspicious raccoon approaching a trash can and he grabbed the bottle and the meat before quickly crawling back to the wall again, sitting down with his back against the stone.

"I mean..." he murmured, examining the slab carefully. "It wouldn’t hurt to take a small bite..."

He paused.

Then looked up.

"System. Mimi. Scan this for poison."

The two floating windows continued arguing.

Completely ignoring him.

Seconds passed.

Nothing happened.

"...Right," Si Hon sighed. "Great teamwork, guys."

He looked back down at the meat. "I swear If I die, it’s both of your fault."

Then he took a bite.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he chewed—

And froze.

"...Huh?"

Slowly, he opened one eye.

"This is... actually not bad?"

He looked at the meat suspiciously.

It wasn’t sweet— obviously, it was meat. It wasn’t sour like spoiled food either. And surprisingly, it wasn’t bitter or bland.

It was just... normal.

Decently seasoned, even.

"The texture feels terrible though," he added, making a face as he chewed.

Still, hunger was stronger than pride.

So Si Hon shrugged and kept eating, washing it down with a long sip of water.

***

(After his mukbang)

"Phew... that’s better," Si Hon muttered after finishing the last bite of the questionable meat.

He leaned back against the cold wall, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand—

Then a voice suddenly drifted from somewhere beyond the bars.

"Hello?"

"!?"

Si Hon jolted upright like someone had just pulled a fire alarm in his brain. He hurried toward the iron bars and peered into the dim corridor.

"Uh... hello too?" he replied cautiously.

A faint chuckle came from the neighboring cell. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"New guy, I guess..."

Si Hon blinked, squinting into the shadows between the cells.

"...This is new," he said slowly. "Why didn’t I notice you when I first got here?"

"I... don’t know what you’re talking about... your voice is new so." the person replied calmly from beside the wall separating their cells.

After a minute of silence, Si Hon awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"This is awkward."

"Yeah," the person agreed simply.

For a brief moment, the prison fell quiet again.

Then suddenly—

"Ohhh!? New prisoner?!"

"New guy!"

"Sup!!! Don’t die immediately, okay?!"

"DO A BACKFLIP!"

"LMAOOOO!"

Human voices burst out from all directions. Cells that had seemed completely empty seconds ago suddenly came alive with shouting, laughter, and half-delirious commentary.

Si Hon blinked slowly as the once silent prison transformed into what sounded like a chaotic group chat.

S/H: "...Wow."

The person in the neighboring cell sighed softly, the sound almost amused.

"Just ignore them," they said. Si Hon heard the faint scrape of someone shifting against the stone wall, as if leaning more comfortably in the darkness. "You’ll get used to it. So... how did you end up here, anyway?"

Si Hon thought about it.

"I... came in. :D"

A choking sound came from the next cell.

"F—FUCK?! What the fuck does that mean?!" the person sputtered. "What do you mean you came in?!"

Si Hon scratched his head.

"I mean... I came in. One of my friends and—"

He paused.

(Hana is pretty much my daughter... right?)

"...Yeah. My friend and my daughter got dragged into this place, so I came to save them," he explained, gripping the cold iron bars while staring down the dark corridor. "I managed to get them out, but... I got left behind and got captured."

Silence followed.

Then the person beside him let out a quiet breath.

"You’re probably joking," they said flatly. "Only strong people escape from here. And judging by your voice... you sound like a twink."

A pause.

"...And weak."

Si Hon’s face went blank.

"Yeah. Fuck you."