"Out of my way bitches! I'm the one who's gonna claim the gold piece and arise as the victor, hahaha!!"

"Fuck you, Rayazaki! You haven't worked for shit this past week! I've seen you when King George wasn't watching you! You'd take breaks often! You don't deserve this chance! Back the fuck away!"

"What was that!? That's it! I thought that you would all be reasonable and let I, the one with the greatest chance of succeeding this exam, win this without any sort of interruptions, but... You're all dumb as fuck!"

"You're the dumb one you retard!! There's nothing reasonable about letting you win!!"

The situation was the following, the rest of us, which were still here, were rushing for the gold. To avoid direct confrontation, Hyunda and I took different paths. Plus, Rayazaki's unreasonable argument with Tsudo just goes to show how much of a pain this is.

Ah crap, this is all Hyunda's fault, why did he fall for Tatsu's taunt...

Whatever the case is, Hyunda and I know the way to where the gold piece is located. I'm fairly sure everyone knows it but Hyunda had already memorized the whole path to it.

That's really good. With his help, I will surprise him and steal the gold piece. I'm sorry to say this, Hyunda, but I am quite fast actually.

But.

Um.

It's just...

I just have a simple question right now...

"HYUNDA, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?"

Coincidentally, as I was looking away for a clue as to where the rest of them were, Hyunda, during that time gap had completely gone off on his own.

Damn it!

I can't afford to lose sight of Hyunda!! He's the only one who knows the path to it. I'm going to be really honest and just say this but, after so much digging, we have created an actual mine here. Well, supposedly not, but a very confusing labyrinth.

Knowing this, I had to take into consideration my current location.

As soon as we all left, four paths were visible from the get-go. Most of us followed Hyunda, but Hyunda and I decided to speed up to contrast their tendencies.

The path that we followed would lead to a dual path, in other words, a path where we had to choose between two paths.

And that's where I lost sight of Hyunda. As soon as I came to it, I was staring down at two dark paths. Ultimately, one of them would lead to where Hyunda is.

To be precise, this isn't a hunt for the gold, but a hunt for Hyunda.

Then, just as I was about to decide on which path to take, a creepy hand touches my back.

..!!

"Yooo, chill, it's me brah!"

"Whoever the fuck you are, don't you ever use the word 'brah' unless you're Indian!"

Despite how supposedly dangerous the situation could get I had to establish some common sense first.

Erupting from the chilling darkness that covered this whole underground, what I saw was the figure of no other than...

"Wait, what? I thought you could use 'brah' as a synonym of 'bro'."

"No, Kan. You can't. That's against the true law."

"Anyways... Where did he go?"

"You mean Hyunda? Well, he actually went towards---"

Wait a minute. Why should I tell Kan the truth? So far, there is only one undeniable truth. That being, Hyunda took one of these paths. Knowing this I can...

"He went to the left. Hey, I'll go to the right, so you---"

Once again, Kan's gigantic creepy hand reaches all the way to my shoulder.

"No... You'll come with me..."

Crap, this guy isn't dumb. Just because he's on cloud 9 24/7, that doesn't mean that his brain cells are in a state of evaporation. Furthermore, this guy is the guy who has trust issues.

"No, no, Kan. We both should check the paths before it's too late. That bastard Hyunda is probably at the end of one of these tunnels. Therefore, we have to split up here. Whoever finds him basically fights him for the gold."

Understanding my reasoning, Kan puts his right index finger on the bottom of his chin as if to reflect.

Honestly, this didn't exactly favor me. The plan would be, if Hyunda was not at the end of my path, then I would sprint back and confront Kan, and then take the whole piece of gold.

Besides, our strategy was already completed. There would be no more reason to stay here. The goal of my strategy was to create a scenario where we would be able to identify the suspects. Ultimately, we had fulfilled the purpose of being here in the first place. According to Hyunda, this event was far more important than the special exam we just lost.

"I see. That's good reasoning. Then, go left."

...I might have seen a mini silhouette of someone at the end of the right entrance, hence my decision of going to the right. Then again, I wasn't going to let that cloud my judgment.

"Alright. See you."

We then parted ways.

.........

This is weird...

I don't recall this path being this long...

No...

I don't recall this path at all.

For the record, we had helmets with lanterns on top of it, so we could safely explore any zone we wanted, regardless of whether or not we were lost.

But, something was bothering me. It might have been my impression, but I, for a second, thought I heard secondary footsteps.

Wanting to confirm that, I stopped. Then, coincidentally or not, the sound of the footsteps, which under my assumption didn't belong to me, stopped making a single sound.

"Maybe I'm hearing things... This shit is driving me insane, it's only normal."

No way was I hearing things. This was a simple bluff to see whether or not my stalker would take the bait.

But, after roughly waiting around for 30 seconds, I noticed that he wasn't taking the bait.

I wonder who it is? Kan? It's possible, he might've suspected that I was lying or something. He also has trust issues, it wouldn't be such a bad thing to assume that it's Kan.

Even so, this is weird... The one who is following me is fluent in this.

Nevertheless, I decided to walk again.

On my way to the destination, I touched the humid walls. I'm pretty sure that on the surface, it's raining or something. This was also the first time that I didn't know what day of the year it was. It happened to me more than once not knowing what time it was, but this is the very first time that I'm clueless about what day it is.

Isn't it close to February or something?

..........

This guy is such a pussy...

I repeated the same trick and yet no response.

I walked again, but this time, I wasn't in the mood to fuck around.

In order to fully utilize the maximum potency of the speed in my legs, I assumed a running stance. It's fairly basic, with all things considered. Instead of using the back and medium area of your feet, you simply run while utilizing the toes. This way, the sprint you give is, not only faster but unreachable.

The aim was not to be faster but to be unreachable. Unreachable in the sense where my footsteps would not be heard at all. Besides, while running in this stance, the lower half of your body feels that it's totally on ecstasy. Needless to say, but, this often causes a sprain on the twin leg muscles.

Alternatively speaking, I could've just run in the opposite direction and confront this pussy.

Yet...

"Not again..."

Except this time, instead of being a dual path, it was a triple choice. I was not with patience for this, so I decided to follow the middle one.

Whether or not that fucker who is stalking me ends up facing me along the way, is a possibility that I couldn't care less. Plus, I'm convinced that the only reason as to why this guy who is stalking me is up on my ass is because I happened to follow the same way as Hyunda.

Knowing this, this guy isn't in a good position too. Which was a good thing because this confirms that Hyunda is most likely at the end of Kan's way.

Or maybe he followed a different way, overall.

I sprinted for a great round of 3 minutes, which then allowed me to realize something. A shimmering low voice could be heard from far away. Once again, this path was extensive. Who even did all these paths though?

It hardly feels like a coincidence now that I think about it.

What if Hyunda dug all this just for this one moment?

No, wait. What gives me the certainty that it was only Hyunda?

Nothing...

Rapidly reaching the end of the path, I spotted from far away, a single figure. However, since I wanted to remain incognito, I slowed down.

By the way, the footsteps which I was listening to, stopped, but only after I stopped sprinting too.

What this means is, the guy who was stalking me, managed to follow the same path that I did.

"One more week? Are you sure? Won't that raise suspicions?"

Stumbling upon this conversation might be the greatest thing that has happened so far. Well, it's far too early to call it a conversation. However, what I meant to say was, although I am hiding in the darkness with my back against the wall, I could hear those words coming out from someone.

Unfortunately, I had to keep my distance, which was a shame since I wanted to hear whoever was speaking those words.

No.

I had to close my distance.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

This was crucial. I had to know who was speaking those words out loud.

After all, those words were definitely suspicious.

"Huh? No, it's fine. No one is suspecting about that, it really is fine."

I kept on hearing more intriguing words as my distance closed in. I had to walk sideways just so my footsteps could not be heard that much.

But... against all odds, some rocks decided that it was a good time for them to crumble. Basically, noise could be heard.

"I'm going to have to end the call here. Someone's here."

Well, since I was most likely found out, there was no point in hiding myself anymore. Plus, that seemed like a phone call. How the hell can you make a phone call from down here?

Makes no sense...

"Might as well..."

Once again, I resumed my running stance.

I wasn't going to allow that bastard to escape. Because, even though I couldn't determine whose voice it was, that might have been the traitor straight up.

Thus, the sprinting began once again.

However, I didn't expect this... The one who was most likely talking was already way up ahead. Undoubtedly, a giant silhouette could be spotted, but as I was making my way, I noticed that two paths once again appeared.

Meaning that they would diverge. Regardless of that, I picked the one that went all the way to the top. The path that most likely diverged from the original path was to my left.

Additionally, a rush of footsteps could be heard from up ahead, not from my left.

"Wait..."

At last, I had finished. In contrast to my expectations, this path was finished. Going back to my previous paths, there was not once, a time where the end path was visible. There was always another route to take or just another continuous path. That's essentially how I have arrived here.

But, this time around, it was a different story. 5 paths that were visible to me connected right to this end path. The most surprising part was when I arrived here.

Everyone else was already present.

"Is this it!? I've searched up all the possible routes and it always led here! Which means... the gold is here!!"

Apparently, Rayazaki had already searched for all the possible paths in the meantime. With his speed, it's not a blunder to assume that he is capable of doing such.

"Alright, boys. I'm just going to say this but whoever gets in my way will get knocked the fuck out. Nothing personal, but this right here is a kill free zone. In other words, I could kill every single one of you and nothing will happen."

Kan was being illogical. There is no way that's true. If you kill everyone here then you will be the primary suspect.

Unless you accuse King George out of spite, but then again, what are the odds of it working?

"Fine by me. I couldn't give a fuck about all of you. Whether you're all breathing or not, same shit."

"That settles it then. Ryoken, since you were the one who released those words, I will start with you."

"Wait."

Acting as the pillar of peace, Sagasuga wanted to say something.

I wonder if he wanted to say the same thing.

"What now, Sagasuga? I get it, I get it. You're next. Just line up, then."

"No, not that. It's just that... where is Hyunda?"

"Huh? Hyunda is here. Right, Hyunda? Huh? Hyunda? Oh shit..."

Kan, at last, had noticed. That motherfucker was nowhere to be spotted.

"Wait, why isn't Hyunda here!? He was the one who came here first, right!?"

Not knowing what to assume, Tsudo spoke his worries.

Besides, it was a bit premature to assume that he passed here. After all, if everyone here, except Hyunda, doesn't know where he is, then chances are, he led us all here on purpose.

"What does that matter? It doesn't. You fuckers will die first. Hyunda can come next."

Grabbing Ryoken's collar, Kan pulls out a knife from his boxers. Well, I cannot believe he had a knife hidden that close to his dick.

Plus, shit was getting too real. Kan might actually kill Ryoken if no one stops him.

"Actually, it does matter a lot. We all came here under the assumption that Hyunda was not lying. Why don't we confirm where the gold is before we assume things? If I recall correctly, this is the place where Kawahara and Susaga found the piece of gold. If Hyunda is not lying then it SHOULD be here, right?"

"Sagasuga, what's your fucking point?"

It seems that Kan was not in the mood to play guess and thus he said those words to Sagasuga. Besides, Sagasuga does have this weird habit of never getting to the damn fucking point.

"What I'm saying is, let's actually play fair. There's not a single reason as to why we should just kill each other for this fucking piece of gold! It's a piece of gold, that you will have to give it to sensei, for fuck's sake! Look, if you could keep it then I would understand. I would murder the living shit out of anyone who dared to get that gold before me!"

Wow, Sagasuga, you are totally not going to where you wanted to be. It's like he made his whole point on another point which led to this exact point, which then will be followed by the ultimate point.

"However! That's not the damn case, damn it! No point on getting emotional for something that will never be ours!"

"Your fucking point?!"

Kan reasonably snapped because Sagasuga, yet again, refused to get to the motherfucking point! Is that the secret to conquering girls!? To never get to the point! What a fucking simple world we live in!

"What Sagasuga wants to say is, we should search for the gold around this perimeter and see if Hyunda was actually lying or not."

"Thanks a fucking a lot, Tatsu! Take some fucking notes you shitty pointless turtle!"

I'm trying to identify the references here and I think that what Kan meant by pointless is the fact that Sagasuga refused to get to the point, therefore pointless. And turtle because his verbal pacing was extremely slow. What a weird analogy.

"Um, well, actually-"

"Shut up, Sagasuga!!"

Sagasuga was about to retort but all of us except him just told him to zip it basically.

I'm proud of this necessary yet malicious synergy that we sometimes have.

"Nothing personal but I'm stealing the gold from whoever finds it first."

"I think we can all agree that that thought is not uncommon around here. In fact, we will all attempt to do the same, aren't we?"

"Yep!"

Although Sagasuga tried to make sure we solved this matter at hand peacefully, the rest of us naturally agreed that despite the circumstances, we would not hold back if someone found the gold.

I thought that everyone was forgetting about the fact that as soon as someone found the piece of gold, that someone would most likely hide it.

However, whenever it comes to being scumbags, we are professionals.

Thus, instead of searching for the piece of gold, we would massively trade glaces to see if someone had found the gold.

"Oi... You guys..."

I had to make sure about this.

"Hm, what is it?"

Everyone simultaneously looked at me straight up.

"W-Why..."

"Yeah...?"

They continued to remain clueless.

"Why... the fuck are we not searching for the fucking gold?! Are you all stupid or some shit!?"

"Then, you search for it."

Damn it! They are all lost causes! They refuse to cooperate even for the greater good! Do they not realize that we are allowing Hyunda to remain free!? Not only that, but they told me to search for it...

"Fuck you guys! Can't you understand that we all need to work together for this to work!?"

"Well, no. I mean, if you just search for it, then we don't really need to work together!"

Shit! Are these guys immune to the Shounen friendship development?!

Fuck this shit. I'm not going to work just because these guys refuse to work together.

"Serve yourselves then. I'm not searching. You can all fucking go to hell for all I care."

"But, hey, aren't you letting Hyunda get away for free? Isn't that bad!?"

What in the fucking fuck is Tsudo on about!? If it's so fucking bad for you then search for it!!

Also, if you realize that, then what the hell are you doing!?

"I don't care. I really don't. Hyunda probably lied to us about the gold being here anyways... How much do you want to bet?"

"How can you know for sure? The gold could be here. If you get it, then you can leave the underground, right?"

"Oh, haha, you think you're so funny, don't you, Rayazaki? As soon as I get the gold I will be mobbed by you desperate fucks..."

I was confident about being able to run at a decent speed, regardless of whether or not they all came after me. What bothered me was that these dumbfucks are being emotional for no reason at all.

It was then that I had the brilliant idea of being intelligent.

"I'm leaving. Have fun."

"W-What?"

Tsudo said in such a shocked tone yet I did not understand why. Plus, the rest was also staring at me as if they all had question marks above their heads.

"I said I'm leaving. I'm going back to work."

"Why though!?"

"I love to work, you see."

No one loves to work without a good reward. Therefore, this was a bad lie, because there was technically nothing to be gained. Instead, I would search for Hyunda, whose location was unknown.

Despite the fact that there was no guarantee whether or not Hyunda had escaped with an ulterior motive, there was no point in being there.

If I think about it, I can just come back here during the night as I did with Hyunda. Assuming that Hyunda already has the gold, he must have given it to King George and thus, went all the way back to the surface.

Therefore, I just have to wait for the gold location to reset and I will be free by tomorrow.

Fuck these little shits. They will never know how to leave this place and that's fan-fucking-tastic.

"Wait, Aniki!"

Suddenly, Kuzan spoke the one word I could not ignore.

I tried to not look in his direction with all my might, but my fragile soul could not resist.

"What?"

A cold answer to match a heartwarming call. Damn it, what is wrong with me?

"I need to take a dump. I'm coming too."

I'm starting to lose hope.

"Wait a fucking second. Why is Hyunda not here though? I can't form a single conclusion..."

Huh? Is Rayazaki this dumb? Does he not realize that Hyunda probably played a trick on us from the get-go?

"...Ah....!!! That's it! I don't care if I get the gold stolen! I'm searching for it!"

Kuzan, contrasting his early words of having to take a dump grabs his shovel, which we all have, and starts digging. For the record, we were all lethally armed.

"Yeah, I don't care as well. I'm searching for it."

Ryoken quickly abandoned his grudge about not wanting to work and got to work quickly.

C-Could it be!?

Is this the friendship development that we have all been waiting for to happen?!

Wait, why is Ryoken holding the shovel like that?

Oi.

Why are you holding the shovel as if you are going to kill Kuzan, you damn psycho!

Fuck, you're all hopeless!

"Wait... I just had the most genius idea of all time..."

"It's probably something utterly retarded, isn't it?"

"No, no, listen! This makes all sorts of sense! What if we..."

Even though Akihiko initially retorted at Rayazaki, we all had our eyes on Rayazaki's mouth.

"The gold piece is actually a bar, right? You know, like in that Indiana Jones movie! There is this bar of gold that can be split into multiple pieces regardless of the size, right!? What if we did the same?"

Is he talking about Lost Ark, Temple of Doom or Last Crusade? I never watched Kingdom of the Crystal Skull so I have no idea. Either way, by far, Rayazaki was not making much sense.

"You dumbfuck, don't you realize how hard gold is? How the hell are we supposed to split it!?"

"Ah, right..."

Well, Rayazaki is more retarded than expected.

"But you know, Rayazaki, even though your point was completely flawed, you made me think of something. What if we delivered the piece at the same time?"

"Ryoken, what do you mean?"

Interested in what Ryoken could imply, Sagasuga interjects.

"Susaga delivered the gold alone. Kawahara did the same. Then, what gives us the absolute certainty that it won't happen? Aren't we just acting way too cautious about it?"

"...It could work..."

"...."

After the massive silence that was transmitted to the current atmosphere, we all started to dig rapidly.

Roughly 30 minutes later.

"Fuck!! Fuck! Fuck! Fucking fuck! It's not here, damn it!"

"I so fucking knew it! That damn Hyunda took the gold all for him!"

Well, this wasn't surprising. What was surprising is the fact that we even managed to reach the status of consensus in the first place. After discarding our selfish yet emotional reasons aside, we decided to dig, only to find absolutely nothing.

In my consciousness, I could have simply explained everyone who is present right now how the gimmick works but knowing how impulsive some of us are, it wouldn't be too surprising if King George changed the gold's location just to make this even harder.

That was absolutely out of the question.

"Let's just return... Besides, our lunchtime is over... King George must be searching for us like a mad man."

Furthermore, this was really a wasted endeavor. Because I could not determine who said those suspicious words earlier. We were all there at the same time. Though, it certainly did not belong to Kawahara and Susaga, because they are not here.

I can't exclude Hyunda because his location is currently unknown.

Nonetheless, we decided to make a run for it to see if Hyunda was in the cell or something.

After 10 minutes of running (yes, it's that long), we had arrived at the base. I'm calling it base because, at this point, it's the only place where we can know the location of for sure.

But, what we encountered at our arrival, burned our hearts with a searing sensation. A hapless door from far away was open. A door that would lead to our freedom.

"O-Oi... Is that...?"

"...No mistake about it..."

Instead of caring whether or not Hyunda was here, our insatiable greed was being tested as we speak.

And so, Tsudo, the greediest of us all, took the chance.

"Sayonara, bitches!! Enjoy the hell ride, hahaha!!"

"Ah!! Wait, I'm coming too!"

Something was wrong...

Why would King George, someone who applied multiple locks onto the door just to make sure that we could never actually break the door, leave the door open like that? It's staggering how cliched this situation is.

A door to the surface was open. But why?

This felt way too simple.

"Almost there! I can see it! Actual solar light!"

"Finally, I will get to breathe fresh air! Oh, my nostrils just got an erection!"

I had no idea that your nostrils could get erected, but let's give Rayazaki the benefit of the doubt.

"Also... I wanted to tell those bitches a little fucking something! Especially that midg- AHHHHHH!!!!!!"

"Damn Shizuku, I won't 'lose' aga- AHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Oh. So this is what this was about.

"Muhahahah! You predictable rats! How do you like my trap hole!? It's utterly flawless! I so fucking knew it that you greedy plebs couldn't resist the sight of freedom!"

Emerging from the darkness, comes the darkness himself. King George starts by saying how foolish Rayazaki and Tsudo were for falling for such obvious bait. I almost fell for that too. Luckily, Rayazaki and Tsudo were way ahead of me. Essentially, King George had most likely set up a trap hole.

What truly bothered me about the trap hole is the visibility of it. Basically, from far away one could identify where the trap hole is. But, not this one. It's as if there is clay on it which would lead us to think that it's just part of the underground yet that's the whole bait.

It appears as if there is a deep hole to the ones who step on it. But seriously, how come there is a hole underneath the clay?

Curious about how deep the hole truly was, the rest of us went to check out...

"Jesus Christ... Are they even alive?!"

"What? Of course, they are! It's just 10 meters!"

I'm not sure if King George realizes this but, not all of us, in fact, none of us has a build similar to his, therefore we could actually, non-ironically die from the fall.

Yet despite this, Rayazaki and Tsudo were smart enough to land in a safe position.

It's as if they have been in this situation or something.

"Wait, King George, have you seen Hyunda?"

"Yeah, damn right I have! While you rats were slacking off, he delivered me the piece of gold! Learn from him, you morons! He probably worked his ass off for that gold! He got what he deserved, that being, freedom! And you motherfuckers who did nothing to deserve it will stay here, muhahaha!!"

Hearing those words hurt like hell.

Because that's not true at all.

Hyunda is not someone who would go out of his way to work hard. He's irresponsible. Someone irresponsible does not work in the first place.

Also, this confirmed it.

Not only did Hyunda fool us, but, he had the gold from the get-go. This explains how he was able to pass this exam.

Although, something is not quite explained. Just how exactly did I lose sight of Hyunda, and, even after that, how come he didn't cross anyone along the way of his escape?

Did he know every path or something?

My reasoning for determining how Hyunda got the gold is really simple. He most likely just left the cell while we were all asleep and hid it on his pocket or something.

In other words, he baited us. Fooled us. Trolled us. Tricked us. And most importantly, sweet-talked us.

I realized something too.

Hyunda is not someone who I should trust.