Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 62

Episode 62

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Elaine handled the job quite well, just as the Teacher Apothecary-noona had instructed.

Fortunately, he was a quick and skilled thief, so within one hour, he unlocked almost all the cages in the prison.

Click, click, click.

Working the cage locks relentlessly like a machine, he finally reached the place where his brethren were trapped.

Dozens of elves were crammed inside the tiny cage, which wasn't even a few square meters.

A restraint device was placed on every one of their heads.

'Noona, hyungs...'

It was all his fault.

It was clear his brethren's situation had worsened ever since it was revealed that the petty thief 'Green Mask', who had screwed over the Dark Society several times, was an elf.

Suppressing the surging sorrow and anger, Elaine immediately picked the cage's lock.

He then quickly undid the handcuffs and shackles of those who were bound.

It was meaningless because of the restraints, but the Teacher Apothecary-noona had said it clearly.

If he stole the main body of the restraint device from that bastard leader, everyone could be freed.

Click, clank.

Just as he finished removing Ibu-noona's shackles.

"Is, is someone there?"

Startled by the lock opening without a sound, the elves asked into the empty air.

Until now, he had remained silent when other slaves noticed something and asked, but he couldn't do that to his brethren.

"...It's me, noona."

Elaine finally revealed his identity in a small voice.

"E-Elaine?!"

"What are you talking about, Elena? Elaine is here?"

"Where is Elaine? Good heavens, did Elaine really find Beliser's Eye...!"

"Everyone, shh!"

As the inside of the cage immediately grew noisy, Elaine hurriedly spoke.

"I can't break you out right now because of the restraints, hyungs, noonas."

Lest his brethren be disappointed, he quickly added.

"But I have a helper, so we'll be able to get out soon."

"We're okay, so don't overdo it, Elaine."

Ibu-noona replied affectionately, looking at the empty air next to where Elaine was, not at him.

"That's right. Don't feel too guilty, little brother."

"Always act carefully, and look after your own safety first. That bastard Ballakk and the organization members are sharpening their knives for you."

Not only his blood-related Ibu-noona, but all the elves were more worried about Elaine's safety than their own.

How on earth could he live alone, leaving such people behind?

Glancing around at the miserable state of his brethren, Elaine's expression hardened for a moment as he asked.

"Noona, where is Lucy?"

At that, Ibu-noona's face, which had been composed just moments before, crumpled.

"I don't know... One of those organization bastards took her yesterday morning, and she hasn't come back since."

"Pan, Maria, and Kein were also taken a while ago."

An elf next to Ibu-noona sobbed, her face dark.

Lucy was Ibu-noona's young daughter, Elaine's niece.

The others named were also young elves he had regarded as nieces and nephews.

A thick gloom settled over the elves whose children had been dragged away.

"Lately, those bastards seem to keep taking the young ones. Not just elves, but other demi-humans too, they say."

"...Don't worry. I'll figure something out."

Elaine ground his teeth and vowed.

But even as he said it, he knew well that it was already a hopeless matter.

The Dark Society's bastard leader would occasionally drag off young slaves for no reason, and he knew well that they weren't being put up for auction.

They were always trash, but to think they'd even touch children.

"Sorry, noona. I'll come back to save you soon."

Feeling his eyes burn, he quickly exited the cage where the elves were trapped.

Otherwise, he felt like he would burst into tears disgracefully in front of his hyungs and noonas.

'They said if a man cries before the big deed, it'll fall off.'

As he was pulling himself together with that strained nonsense and unlocking the remaining cages.

"Raccoon! It's your turn for the auction... What, where'd he go?!"

From a distance, he heard one of the bastard slave traders open the cage he had been in and panic.

'It's the time the Teacher Apothecary-noona mentioned.'

"Raccoon! Hey, you haven't seen a raccoon-kin around here, have you?!"

Elaine immediately slipped past the frantic slave trader and entered one of the several narrow passages.

If he mistakenly entered the wrong passage, the path could end, and he could fall straight down into the pitch-black abyss below.

This was because they had intentionally dug multiple tunnels like an ant farm to prevent slaves from escaping.

Fortunately, the internal structure hadn't changed since his escape, so he didn't fall to his death while exiting the basement.

Furthermore, thanks to the invisibility potion the Teacher Apothecary-noona had given him, no one noticed his presence as he climbed to the fourth floor.

"Ugh! Hey! Did you just... pass gas?"

"What are you talking about, suddenly... Ugh! What is that smell?"

However, perhaps because he had stayed for a moment in the cage where the raccoon-kin was held, there were humans who sometimes noticed the smell when he got close.

Unlike the living hell of the basement, the building above ground was luxurious like a high noble's mansion and filled with fragrant scents, so the smell seemed to contrast more sharply.

But no one even imagined that an invisible elf was slipping past them.

In less than 10 minutes, Elaine easily arrived in front of the leader's room on the fourth floor.

He carefully grabbed the doorknob and turned it.

'Ugh! The smell!'

Elaine scowled and pinched his nose at the awful perfume smell that wafted out the moment he opened the door.

But that, too, was brief.

Discovering the bed in the middle of the large room, his face lit up, and he ran toward it.

'The Teacher Apothecary-noona was right.'

The Dark Society's bastard leader was indeed fast asleep.

It was ironic, considering the auction was in full swing.

'Pig-like bastard.'

Elaine glared fiercely at the bastard, who was sleeping with his mass of flesh spread out wide, like a dripping, gooey pile of flour dough.

He wanted to strangle him to death right now.

No, if he had just one dagger, he wanted to tear him to shreds.

Back when he was fleeing the organization bastards who tried to rape him as a child, citing 'sex slave education', before he escaped the hellish underground prison.

His mother, who had desperately tried to stop the organization members to protect her child, was torn apart and killed by Ballakk's hands right before his eyes.

Unconsciously, Elaine reached both hands toward the bastard's neck, which was thick with overlapping folds of flesh.

But before he could even touch him, he saw his own fingertips trembling violently.

'Damn it!'

He cursed roughly under his breath and barely managed to withdraw the hands he had extended toward his sworn enemy.

Elaine still hadn't escaped the nightmare.

As much as he wanted to kill the bastard, it was true that he was also afraid.

He vividly remembered how the defiant slaves, including his mother, had died under that bastard's overwhelming power.

'...Teacher Apothecary-noona told me not to do anything stupid.'

"As long as you don't get sidetracked by whatever's in there!"

"Then you can get out within the time limit without anyone seeing you. Mark my words."

"I don't care how many amazing treasures are in that bastard's room, just bring the laurel crown. Got it?"

Elaine recalled Shari's warning and comforted his cowardly self.

Now was not the time.

Rescuing his brethren and the other slaves trapped in misery came first.

Instead of strangling the bastard, Elaine reached for the laurel crown, which looked quite out of place on that pig-like head.

His intense nervousness felt pointless; thanks to the bastard sleeping as if dead, he was able to remove it easily.

His mission complete, Elaine headed straight for the door.

Now, if he returned to the hotel, he would have flawlessly accomplished the task she gave him.

Just as he was quickly crossing the room, planning to swagger back and brag.

'Huh...'

A display cabinet filling one side of the room suddenly caught his eye.

Elaine, who had been passing by indifferently, took a few steps back and stood in front of the cabinet.

Among the countless jewels and various rare ornaments, there was one thing that stood out.

'This is...'

Compared to the ornately crafted accessories, it was rather plain.

A single, coin-sized green gemstone hung crudely from a silver chain as thin as thread.

It hadn't even been cleaned; the gemstone was covered in dark grime and didn't even shine.

But, as if it were more valuable than anything else, it was placed on the largest and most splendid case among the countless jewels.

Elaine, too, instinctively knew what it was.

'Beliser's Eye.'

The relic of the ancient elf king, passed down like a legend among the elves.

Compared to the legends that described it as a large green jewel, more brilliant than any other, the necklace before him was far too shabby.

But the elf blood flowing in his body was strongly drawn to it.

Even as his mind muttered that he should just go, that he couldn't stay any longer.

Elaine, as if possessed, picked up the green gemstone.

At that moment.

Click, creeaak...

A gap suddenly appeared on one side of the display cabinet.

Elaine stumbled back a few steps in alarm.

Watching the gap with wary eyes, he soon realized it was a hidden passage.

'I have to go back.'

He had grabbed not only the laurel crown but also Beliser's Eye; staying here any longer was dangerous.

However.

"Sob, sob... Pwease help me. Mommy... Auntie, Uncwe..."

Elaine had no choice but to immediately throw open the gap in the cabinet and run into the hidden passage.

Because the sobs leaking from the open gap belonged to none other than his young niece.