So, let's say that someone asked you what were your thoughts on jail. But then someone would say: 'What is even more horrifying than jail?'.

Honestly, I had no idea. I think jail is the worst possible thing a human being could face.

But, I was, once again, naive to a fault.

"Too slow, trash! Get to work or you'll not sleep tonight!"

"Y-Yes!!"

And right now, I was unwillingly being whipped on my back.

Oh right, it wasn't just me. Every single boy was sharing the same fate as I did.

Yeah, yeah, I know. An explanation, right?

Well, it's quite simple. Long story short, our bags got investigated and despite our meaningless struggles, we did not manage to come out on top. The only thing that truly mattered was our consequences.

"Can't hear you! Kuzan! Move faster!"

"I-I can't! We've been at this since 10 am! It should be night now!"

Also, this is referring to my point earlier. I never thought that there was something more fearful than jail, but I remembered it quickly. Although I had never experienced it, after experiencing it to a reasonable degree, it became clear to me that this was far worse than jail.

"My God! This hurts to watch! Stop! Rest for 5 minutes! Work will resume after that!"

Apparently, even after our sentences got longer for another additional 20 years, Basara-sensei added that we would have to fulfill the natural consequence of losing the exam. Because you know, having 20 years added to our sentences just isn't enough to satisfy that demon's unquenchable thirst.

"H-Huhhhh... Finally... Some rest.... Hey, Daniel, how long has it been?"

"6 hours if my memory doesn't fail me."

Allow me to give the audience a bigger picture. Against our knowledge, this school has an underground. And this underground was actually an old mine. It is said that there have been times where gold was found here and that the ones who did so, massively profited from such action.

Now that the times have passed, this mine has regained, probably, the same old structure. That would explain why we are being worked like slaves. No, that's actually the main thing I wanted to explain.

Basara-sensei said that we would have to, in order to reverse the 20 years sentence back to normal, win this exam.

Essentially, this is what you call a backup exam.

However, there was something very fucked up about this situation.

"Oops! 5 minutes have gone by! Back to work bitches! Hiiiyyyhaaaaa!!"

By the way, the one who had been lashing at us with a whip all this time was no other than our supervisor, King George.

My main point was, slavery was way worse than jail. At least in jail, you can reflect on your bad decisions, but slavery!? The fuck are you supposed to reflect about!? The nut you busted last night?! Oh fucking wait, that's not possible because you will die due to overwork since you were worked to the utter bone!

What pisses me off about this is that Basara-sensei suggested this without showing any consideration whatsoever.

What were his words again...

Something like: 'Come back rich or come back poor, hahaha!'

Oh, that's right. The premise of this exam is to retreat a piece of gold and to deliver it to Basara-sensei. Therefore, not only is that bastard already winning in a way but on top of that, he gets to enjoy our suffering while sitting on a bench.

There was something slightly interesting about the exam though.

The one who delivered the gold piece first would return to the surface first.

Yes, we are not on the surface. This is the underground. And so, this jackass of a teacher is sitting on his bench as if he is on a beach or something. The balls this guy has I swear!

2 hours later.

"You'll sleep in these cells until at least one of you gets finds gold. Enjoy, hahahaha!!"

Leaving us in front of these dark, cold and rustic cells, Basara-sensei leaves the scene.

Needless to say, Basara-sensei was not the one who was whipping us earlier. It was King George. I had already stated that but I felt the need to say it in case someone didn't realize the main problem here.

"Hey, what about the food though!? You can't just work me to the bone like this, bastard!"

Even though Kawahara's question was the question we all wanted to ask, we all knew what would happen if any of us dared to ask that question.

Getting violently slapped, one of Kawahara's teeth was seen flying off his mouth.

"Shut the fuck up!! You think you losers have any right to speak here!? Nonsense! But, I will tell you something interesting! The first one to get the gold will receive my special noodle menu! If you get this then shut your fucking mouth and sleep!"

"No fucking way! I don't give a fuck if you beat me, I will not stop! Give me food or I will fucking devour every single one of these fuckers!!"

This was looking a tad too serious. The bloodlust that resided inside Kawahara's eyes was not even a joking matter.

"Man... shut the fuck up already... I want to sleep. I can't sleep if you keep screaming like a little princess, Bitchara."

For future reference, this wasn't a divided cell, this was a cell where we were all standing on the ground. In other words, if someone wanted to create a fight then it would not be a bad idea to do so. Even so, Kan throws some salt at Kawahara.

"Little princess!? Come and say that to my face, I double fucking dare you!"

Slowly getting up from the ground while acting out of his character, Kan stands in front of Kawahara and says:

"Little queen who only knows how to bitch. Did you learn that from your mother?"

"You're fucking dead bastard!"

I'm not even going to bother to tell how it went down. A massive fight broke down and after a few bones from both sides were severely shattered, the fight stopped. This took about 30 minutes.

I did nothing in the meantime.

I had to use this free time to reflect on certain things.

The first thing I really wanted to reflect on was how I completely ignored Kan's initial advice. I remember how he told me to not communicate with anyone yet I unconsciously began to do so. What I could tell from this is that Kan sees everyone differently than I do. I say this because I cannot understand how I'm not supposed to interact. The very fact that I am someone who has little to no morals enables me the ability to interact with people who share the same level of malice.

No, that's correct. I don't know them honestly.

I want to say I do, but I really don't. After all, our past conversations have been forced interactions. There was only one single genuine interaction and that was, Sagasuga's confession about his crime.

There was something else bothering me. I'm surprised I didn't forget about this, but this goes back to the first day. As soon as Basara-sensei told me that I could get executed from accumulating too many sentences, he indicated that this was stated in some index or something like that.

I never got that index.

By no means, was this a coincidence. Although Kan might have suspicious behavior and may have trust issues, maybe he was right about what he said. I say this because I'm starting to suspect everyone right now. There is no way that my index would simply just disappear like that.

In other words, it was most likely stolen before I could even read it.

I avoided not thinking about this but it's extremely bothersome to know that there might be a thief who intentionally tried to fuck me up.

To be fair, I was losing my patience over this matter. It really pissed me off how easy the person who stole my index is getting away with.

.................

"No fucking way can I sleep on this rock hard ground..."

I'm not sure what's worse, to be in prison or to be at that demon's mercy.

Is he trying to make us feel guilty about the crimes we did?

As only darkness could be seen, amidst it, no one could be seen.

I had to wonder just how used to the darkness everyone in this cell was.

However---

A sensible sensation shook my shoulder right away.

"Yo. You awake?"

It was Hyunda's voice apparently. He was speaking really low though.

This is perfect. I wanted to talk to him regarding what happened earlier.

"Yeah, I'm awake."

"Perfect. I can't stand being inside here. Let's break out."

"What? There's no point. We will just receive a worse punishment. Plus, King George would surely..."

"No, not now. I'm talking about breaking out of this cell."

"No, no, no. That's even more impossible, Hyunda. You can't break out of these steel bars."

"...Think for a second. What is strong against steel?"

"...What are you getting at?"

"Grab Kan's lighter. We can use his lighter to melt these bars. Although it will take time, it will work."

"No way man! Kan would murder me. After his fight with Kawahara he seemed pretty pissed about it."

Hyunda wasn't really making much sense. Besides, what was the point of breaking out now?

"This is important. I really need to tell you something in private. It's regarding this exam."

"Well, what is it? We are in private here."

"Nah, it's way too risky. I can't afford to get caught. Just so you know, it's your choice. But I really will not be able to talk to you during the day."

...Nope. No matter how I look at it, I am asking to die if I steal Kan's lighter.

Besides, it's way too dark right now.

The next day.

"Oh. Hey, I found it."

"Congratulations, you just saved your ass from even more trouble! Now, take the exit and direct yourself to your teacher."

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Wait what the fuck?

What happened?

How come Susaga just found out a piece of gold this easily? I don't see him being particularly skilled at this, so I guess it was luck?

Either way, Basara-sensei was not here. As we were being worked to the bone to dig for some gold, Basara-sensei was giving the girls the usual classes. He would probably come here to mock us once his shift is over though.

"Oh, alright. Well then."

Our bellies howled quite loud once we saw the figure of Susaga leaving to the surface.

Ah...

I wonder what the sun looks like? How come I can't remember it? Hey. Am I going to die just because I haven't seen the sun for more than a day?

No!!

If that bastard did it, then so can I!!

"Ahhhh!!!!!"

I let out a warcry that captivated all my other companions. Ah, please don't think that this is a moment of unity. Everyone started to dig for the gold just so they can actually get the fuck out of this hell.

But, in the upcoming three days, nothing happened.

We were unable to produce any positive results, unlike Susaga.

Why though?

"Damn it! I need that gold. That gold is that good shit! I need it!"

Kuzan sounded like a crack addict speaking while he was devouring the rice that King George had prepared for all of us. To be honest, he just prepared food because he didn't feed us for 2 days straight. We might've actually died if he didn't feed us today.

Furthermore, our wounds were getting a little bit too serious. The whiplashes were not a joke, realistically.

"I don't understand how Susaga did it though. Was it out of sheer luck?"

"No fucking way it was... If it was out of sheer luck then we should have found it right about now, but that ain't happening..."

Kuzan's answer to Sagasuga's question wasn't bad, but it felt like there was more to it.

In the meantime, I felt the need to remind myself of Hyunda's proposal. He said that he had something to say regarding this exam. I couldn't shake this assumption that just kept screaming that Hyunda might actually know whether or not Susaga's discovery was out of sheer luck or not.

But, to get a deal with him, I needed to grab Kan's lighter. Although, I had no idea how that was going to happen.

4 days went by next. An official week had passed.

We were not making any progress despite how much we tried.

I never played Minecraft but this is a really good simulator if I do say so myself.

"...Crap... Where is it?"

That's strange. While we were on break, Kan was panicking all over the sudden.

"Fuck it. I'll ask you this but have you seen my lighter?"

Oh. So that's what this was about.

In response, Hyunda didn't falter.

"I don't have it, Kan. You can check me if you want.

"Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Kan performed a full-body investigation onto Hyunda just like that. But the question remained. Why was Hyunda offering up being checked like this?

It didn't really matter, but this only made my deal worse.

But, that was only because I didn't realize something quite simple.

Later on in the night, as I was sleeping, I was forced to wake up my a trembling sensation.

"...........Mhmn............"

As my eyes started to slowly open, I could see a massive yet lively flame being held.

"Don't speak. Not a single word. Just wait until I'm done."

No doubt, it was Hyunda's words. Plus, he was burning down a portion of the steel bars with a lighter.

But, how come he has a lighter though? I thought that you needed Kan's lighter to melt the bars...

Oh, I'm dumb. But so dumb.

How did I not notice it from the get-go?

This is Hyunda we are talking about. He has anime protagonist's powers. Of course, he would be up to something that I wouldn't be aware of.

I silently watched the steel bars being melted in the scene.

Thankfully, everyone was way too tired from the digging and they were sleeping like rocks.

"Follow me."

Without uttering a single word, I followed Hyunda, who used Kan's lighter as a way to light up the path.

We did follow a path that would leave us way too far away from everyone else. Additionally, our digging paths have caused problems recently. Some of us couldn't go back to where they were digging because they got confused by how the paths were structured. In other words, right now, you need an extremely good memory to travel around, otherwise, you will be stuck in a labyrinth.

"Okay, you can speak now."

I was really going to ask him where he hid the lighter out of principle but opted to do a better question since this scenario immediately reminded me of a scene that I have been trying to accomplish these days.

"Was this not where Susaga obtained the gold?"

"Nice, you noticed. That saves me the trouble. I had to steal Kan's lighter because you were too much of a pussy to do so."

Those words really hurt but I couldn't argue back. I behaved like a true pussy.

"So? Why did we have to come all the way here? Why couldn't we just speak inside the cell."

"That's because--- I really dislike this type of exam. It's boring, but really boring. Plus, I discovered the gimmick of it on the first day."

"Wait, then why are you still here? Was it a coincidence that Susaga obtained the gold too or did he also understand the gimmick?"

"No, it was pure luck. He didn't understand the gimmick. He, however, coincidentally played right into the gimmick, thus he was lucky. But either way, the gimmick aside, I need to tell you something first."

"No, please tell me the gimmick. I'm really curious as to how I can get out of this nightmare."

"...Sure, I can tell you, but you have to promise that you will not try to win right away."

To be honest, I was feeling like being a little bitch but I was tremendously curious as to why he dragged me so far in if his goal was not to tell me the gimmick but something else. In other words, I was going to behave properly.

"You have my word. I will not try to win right away."

"Well, then, it's really simple. The first thing you actually have to take into account is that there is no real gold inside this 'mine'. Hell, this isn't even a mine. This is just underground. That's why you haven't been nailing anything in the past few days. However, the gimmick makes you think that this actually is a mine while it isn't. Listen, the thing about the gimmick is that it replaces itself over and over."

...?

?

?

Sorry, I couldn't help but feel dumb right now. Was Hyunda's logic way too advanced for me or something?

"Ah... I'll simplify, don't worry. What I meant by the gimmick replacing itself is; the gold that was found is replaced right back at the same place every night. Here, take a look at this..."

.....

Oh, I see now. Well, this is a really dumb trick.

"As you can see, the same piece of gold is here. Nobody would bother to dig this place after it was already proven that there was technically no gold there. Furthermore, according to my hearing, I suspect that King George might be the one who puts the gold here, after it is found. Of course, this is only later on in the middle of the night. Conclusion being, let's say that you win and take this gold. You will give it to Basara-sensei and then, Basara-sensei will most likely give it to King George so he can abuse the same trick again.

That troll teacher!!!

Wait, then this means...

"Oi, doesn't this mean that they are all screwed!? They are so dumb that they are not going to realize this! They will spend an eternity here!"

"That aside, Susaga's case was really lucky. This was most likely the primary place of the piece of gold. Susaga who happened to have struck it had begun my suspicion. I confirmed my suspicions right after the night Susaga was gone and it became true. In addition to that, the fact that no one was able to find any gold several days later confirmed my theory. That this wasn't an actual mine but just a simple plain underground."

Wow, Hyunda, I really get it, okay.

I'm aware of how awesome you are, stop flexing, please.

"But no, there is still a point I must explain. King George is seen to leave us for 15 minutes when he says that it's lunchtime but doesn't actually feed us anything, right? I think that it's in that time gap where King George received the piece of gold from sensei. Correct me if I'm wrong but I just don't see another time where he could receive it? No, wait. There is another time. King George doesn't sleep in here. Therefore... An exchange could happen in those times. However, that was simply my main point. My point is, ultimately speaking, that King George buried the piece of gold here in this exact same spot out of sensei's orders."

"Hyunda, I'm not sure if you realize but your existence on the surface doesn't overwhelm many but once you start talking, people will actually feel useless against you. Please stop. Have some consideration."

I had to say it. Getting essayed was one thing. But having multiple logical facts thrown at me only to prove how dumb I am for not forming such easy theories? Good game.

"Whatever. Moving on, now that I've explained the gimmick of it, what I wanted to talk to you goes way back to the argument we were having against the girls yesterday."

"Oh. My bad there. I really tried but it was impossible."

"No, don't blame yourself. You did well. You were actually supposed to lose. I created that scenario in order for you to lose, you see."

"Wait, you're not making any sense. You say that but didn't you try to make my argument win when you gave me your phone at the end?"

"Hahaha, what? No way you were going to win. C'mon. You were just trying to make them lose. Listen, the reason as to why I allowed you to show the footage was because I wanted to see what sort of lie Akimiyashika and Ikkiri had upon her sleeves. Plus, it did confirm something along the way."

So he really was aware of how desperate and hopeless the situation was.

Even so---

"Hey, why did you bother to create a losing scenario? What the hell, man. I don't like to lose."

"Oh, please don't misunderstand. I created a losing scenario just so I could achieve a possible win scenario."

"But that's impossible. We already lost to the girls. The battle is over."

"Yes, it is. But we fought a battle that we would never win in the first place. I'm talking about the war that's going on. Hey... Tell me, don't you find it a little bit too convenient? The cameras not having the audios? The fact that we were all busted with underwear inside our bags even though Ikkiri and Akimiyashika had no visible way to put all that underwear in all of our bags? The fact that I couldn't access any other camera aside from the main one from the hall? So many things are just not making any damn sense, huh?"

"Wait, so you knew all of this? Can't you explain it to me, please? So I can follow it up."

"Well, sure. It's meaningless to hide, but let me explain something regarding the current events. They were most likely staged. Let's think for a second. You and me. Do you actually believe that Akimiyashika and Ikkiri are smart enough to replace cameras that were clearly different from the ones that are in our dorm?"

"Hold on. How can you say that with certainty? Weren't the cameras just facing audio issues?"

"Hahahahaha!! That's what you believe? Man, no way they were. They were complete different models. I'll confess a little something but when you were off forming off your team, I was actually taking advantage of the calamity that Kuzan had caused and decided to see from my own two eyes what the cameras from the girls' dorm looked like. I really wanted it to confirm something first before that. So I asked King George the question. He said that despite the dorm, the vigilance cameras will always have the same model. YET, my own two eyes glanced at something completely different. See, this is where it all began. The nonsense coming out from Akimiyashika was so laughable that I felt like dying inside sometimes. It was really hard to stay composed."

M-Monster...

No!

That was a wrong thought. I was just surprised by the way he is acting right now. He is acting as if he was thoroughly enjoying the whole situation.

Hyunda might be more terrifying than I originally thought.

"Also, also. I know I wasn't there but don't you think it's a little odd how the girls just didn't react to Kuzan at all? Kuzan broke their frontal door lock, which, by the way, is hardly silent after it's broken. Yet they did not show reactions until your team arrived, correct? Isn't it a little bit too convenient how Kuzan was ignored for no reason and then you people were automatically busted? It's as if they already knew that you people were already going to enter that dorm, to begin with. And no, there is no way in hell that Kuzan entering the dorm alone provides one enough reason to assume that a whole group of boys will come after him. That's beyond stupid."

Now that he mentions it, it was indeed odd how they didn't react to Kuzan entering at all. I just assumed that they were asleep and they didn't notice him enter. But knowing Kuzan, he's the type of guy who storms all over the place while creating massive noise along the way.

I overrated Kuzan it seems.

I have two options right now, either keep believing in my own theory about Kuzan or believe in Hyunda's words, which are by far more credible, and see what reasoning will come out on top.

"But, if the cameras were from different models, then how could someone from the girls' dorm just swap cameras out like that?"

"I'll admit I'm somewhat still in doubt when it comes to that. But I really believe that it will come down to one thing."

"That being...?"

"We have been screwed over by things that they had no way of knowing right? Then, if they had no way of knowing such things, just what is that implying?"

"That they were not the source of their own knowledge?"

"That's exactly correct, Daniel. Akimiyashika left a strong argument with a very solid stance but in the end, she was only good at arguing and abusing the evidence that she had. Outside of that, she didn't really do much. Didn't you notice that whenever a point didn't come along with the evidence she had in store that she would occasionally freak out?"

"Oh!! I get what you mean. When I asked Tateyana those questions, she did not bother to even argue back at all!"

"No, those questions were random as fuck, sorry."

Damn it.

"Although, if they are not the primary source of their own knowledge, then could that mean that their intuition is really good?"

Then, as if to call my opinion stupid, he chokes and laughs in a very malicious way.

"Hahahahaha!!!! Intuition!? INTUITION!? Man, why do people even believe in that shit, hahahaha... Listen. If their knowledge doesn't come from them, then it most likely comes from another source. Now, think about it and gather the most logical and possible answer to what I'm about to say... If they had no idea of knowing that we would invade their dorm, then how in the hell could they know!? Where does this mysterious knowledge come from!?"

"Hold on... If we think about it, the only people who had knowledge about this invasion would be, you, Sagasuga, Tsudo, Akihiko, and Rayazaki. Which means that one of them could have...!"

"That's actually not a bad theory there. Unfortunately, I was way ahead of you. After checking the camera models, while you were away, I gathered everyone into the dorm and when they had come back, I told them one single thing. And that was that Kuzan was most likely in the girls' dorm."

"Wait a second. By everyone you mean everyone except my team, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. Essentially, what I want you to grasp here, that's where the primal source of knowledge began. I uttered those words. And under my assumption, the source of knowledge was without a doubt, one of the boys that were there at that time."

"What?! That doesn't make any sense! Why would someone betray us?"

"Daniel, you're the one who's not making any sense. We are all criminals. I could have killed you like a million times already but I choose not to. The same for everyone. What my point here is; we are holding our true nature back in order to pass this fucked up system so we don't go to jail once we are 18. That's why the majority wears a mask. You see how I act in class, right? Like a total boring human being. Do you think I actually like doing that shit!? Fuck no! I just want to unleash my inner savagery and break free, but---- We all supposedly want to get rid of our jail sentences."

"I don't get it, your point was too vague..."

"Allow me to finalize, Daniel. This traitor is someone who was not in your group but someone who heard me say those words. I additionally said at the moment that Daniel and his group would take care of it. I deliberately gave this information for a reason. You see, I didn't receive my index. I'm aware that you didn't receive yours either. What I'm saying is, someone from our side, is most likely cooperating with the girls. And trust me when I say this, taking out our index just so we can commit baseless mistakes that could fuck us big time, is already big damage."

...I had no idea that this was what was going on. From my understanding, Hyunda was trying to find the snitch who stole his index. However, since he would have no way to find the culprit, he couldn't do anything. But then, out of suspicion, he made the culprit vulnerable when he baited him into the act.

Hyunda's words at that time were only to confirm whether or not the culprit was associated with someone else.

On a side note, it's scary how vengeful Hyunda truly is.

"Ultimately, when I said that you were supposed to lose, this was what I meant. It was nothing more than pure bait for the culprit to take. I couldn't care less about the whole argument, really."

Even though his last words infuriate me due to how much I struggled with the whole argument, his initial words are reassuring.

They symbolized the hope that there was when it came to finding the culprit.

"Plus, this exam is the real deal. Because the traitor is very likely in it."

"Yeah, but what about Susaga though?"

"Susaga does not have the social skills to talk to girls. I very much doubt that he is the traitor. But oh well. Let's return. We can't afford to make suspicions right now."

Wrapping our talk, we went back to the cell.

At last, I was able to see through his perspective.