I PICKED UP A CHILD IN A DUMPSTER-Chapter 83: A channel...

He lifted the bone again.

CLANG. CLANG.

The lock did not move.

But the hallway suddenly became very quiet.

Too quiet.

Si Hon slowly lowered the bone and glanced around. Even the prisoners had stopped talking.

Then—

THUNK.

Heavy footsteps echoed somewhere far down the corridor.

One prisoner immediately whispered loudly, "Ohhh he’s dead."

Another voice laughed. "First day and already summoning the guards. KEWK."

"RIP kid."

Si Hon’s eye twitched. "Hey! Don’t write my obituary yet!"

He looked down at the stubborn lock again, sighed dramatically, and tapped it once more with the bone.

CLINK.

The lock... popped open.

Si Hon blinked.

"...Huh."

For a long moment he simply stared at it.

Then he slowly raised both hands with the bone still in one of them like a victorious warrior.

"(⁠⌐⁠■⁠-⁠■⁠)... knew it."

Han-Gyeol Mimi appeared in the air.

「( •̀ᴗ•́ )و 파파 amazing!」

Si Hon looked at the floating window.

"Woah... where systemy?"

「Gone, she said she’ll need to take a break, I’m just So awesome ( •̀ᴗ•́ )و」

From the cells around him came the immediate delayed reactions.

"WHAT!"

"No way."

"Kekwk— DID IT ACTUALLY OPEN?!"

Si Hon puffed his chest proudly and turned toward the corridor like a hero addressing an audience.

"See? What did I tell you guys? GOATED."

Behind him, however, the heavy footsteps were getting closer.

Much closer.

A prisoner coughed.

"...Kid."

Si Hon tilted his head. "Yeah?"

"You might wanna run now."

Si Hon slowly turned his head toward the dark end of the hallway.

The footsteps stopped.

Then a deep metallic CLANG echoed as something was hit somewhere.

Si Hon swallowed.

"...Ah."

Si Hon didn’t waste a second.

The moment he heard another step, he yanked the door open and slipped through the opening, quickly pulling it shut behind him. The iron groaned as it slammed back into place.

But what waited on the other side... was not another hallway.

It was a cave.

A wide, damp cavern stretched ahead, its rough stone walls illuminated by only two weak torches on each side.

Their flames flickered uncertainly, casting long trembling shadows across the ground. And directly in front of him— Four different paths split deeper into the darkness.

Si Hon stopped.

"...Ah."

His eyes slowly moved from one tunnel to the next. Left. Right. Middle. Other middle.

Then sweat began forming on his forehead.

"(￣□￣;)!!! What, the. FUCK."

For a few seconds he just stood there, staring at the four tunnels like a student who had accidentally opened the hardest exam in existence.

Then—

BANG!

Si Hon jumped.

The metal door behind him shook violently as something massive slammed into it from the other side. Dust fell from the stone ceiling.

BANG!

The entire cave echoed.

Si Hon slowly turned his head.

From behind the door came loud, panicked, extremely angry Munches voices.

"Human! Human escape! The stupid human escape!!!"

Another Munches voice shouted angrily.

"King mad! Scary magic woman get mad too! We get him!"

SMACK!

The door bent inward slightly.

Then another voice yelled proudly, "Yes! Dumb human fool us! He genius!"

BANG!

Si Hon’s face went pale.

"...Oh."

He slowly turned back to the four tunnels again.

"Fuck..."

His pupils started twitching like a malfunctioning machine as he stared at the paths.

Left.

Right.

Middle.

Other middle.

"Oh fuck this shit! I really need to pick a path."

His breathing started getting faster.

"Okay... okay... think... think..."

But his brain had already logged out.

From behind the door, a familiar voice shouted loudly.

"Lolol! Good luck out there kid! Just trust your guts!!"

Si Hon froze.

That voice...

He blinked slowly.

"...That mature voice..."

Then realization hit him.

"The red-haired girl."

For a moment he looked back at the four tunnels again.

Left.

Right.

Straight.

"...Alright."

Without thinking any longer, Si Hon suddenly sprinted forward.

Straight into the second path.

"F***- THIS SHIT! I’M TRUSTING MY GUTS!!!"

His footsteps echoed wildly as he ran deeper into the cave. The light from the torches quickly disappeared behind him, and the tunnel swallowed him in darkness.

Luckily, his slight night vision kicked in. The world turned into faint gray outlines— enough for him to see the rocky ground and avoid smashing into walls.

"Okay! Okay! still alive!!! still alive!!!"

He kept running.

Then suddenly—

POP.

Windows.

Blue windows.

One.

Two.

Ten.

Twenty.

Within seconds, dozens of glowing windows popped into existence around him, floating in the air like a swarm of extremely annoying pigeons.

Messages began flooding instantly.

「Kewk! Someone fire the system that was assigned to this guy.」

「Lolol hello!!!」

「Kwhahaha he already reached level 20 ages ago, I was wondering why his chats weren’t open yet (≧▽≦)」

「Hi Si Hon~ we’ve been watching you since you were assigned this system~」

「Kewk look at him just running while staring at us...」

「Don’t tell me he’s shocked」

Si Hon slowed down mid-run.

His brain stopped functioning.

His legs, however, continued moving automatically

His eyes slowly widened as he stared at the dozens of floating chat windows surrounding him mid-run.

"The fuck..."

One message popped up right in front of his face.

「He noticed KEWK」

Si Hon pointed at the air while jogging.

"WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WINDOWS TALKING IN THE AIR?!"

More messages immediately appeared.

「LOOOL」

「This feels like; Streamer finally unlocked chat」

「Look at him panic KEWK」

Then—

A familiar bluish window suddenly popped beside him.

It looked... nervous.

Very nervous.

The text inside it trembled.

「((;ﾟДﾟ))... S-Si Hon... I’m sorry...」

Si Hon slowly turned his head toward it while he kept running.

His eyes narrowed dangerously.

The system stuttered.

「The audience... uh... tell them I’ve been busy... and that I forgot to update your status...」

Si Hon stared at it.

Then slowly looked around at the swarm of chat messages floating everywhere.

Then back to the system.

His eye twitched.

"(￣□￣;)!! ...What is this?"

He pointed wildly at the windows while running.

"WHY ARE THERE SO MANY RANDOM WINDOWS COMMENTING IN THE AIR?!"

The system hesitated.

Then the text inside it shifted, and a familiar round face appeared on the screen.

「(｡•́︿•̀｡)... I... it’s our channel...」

Si Hon blinked.

"...Channel?"

Before the system could continue—

POP!

Another window burst into existence.

Han-Gyeol Mimi appeared dramatically beside it, and she looked furious.

She pointed aggressively at the round emoji on the system screen.

「(ง’̀-’́)ง!!! THAT EMOTION!!!」

Her tiny digital body shook in outrage.

「That cute chubby round face emoji is MINE!!!」

She stomped angrily in midair.

「How dare you steal Mimi’s cuteness!!!」

Meanwhile the chat exploded again.

「KEWK the goo-ring is mad again」

「LOLOL Mimi jealous arc」

「Streamer system drama」

Si Hon kept running deeper into the dark tunnel while staring at the chaotic swarm of windows.

His brain was completely broken now.

"...Wait."

He looked at the messages again.

Then at the system.

Then at Mimi.

Then at the chat.

"No fucking way... are you telling me..."

His voice trembled.

"People might have been watching my life like a livestream this whole time?"

One chat message instantly replied.

「Yes KEWK」

Another text appeared but this one was different.

「Acardthatwasmaxxedoutwithcash has sent a super chat:

[Welcome to your or... our Fate Channel]」

Si Hon’s soul nearly left his body.

"WHAT?!"

And behind him, far in the distance—

BOOM.

The prison door finally broke open.