Chapter 56: Black Sheep Exodus #3
"Oh my G.o.d… A plan to lead all the partic.i.p.ants and escape is unprecedented. Have we ever had such a partic.i.p.ant? If this happens then it really will be like the miracle of Moses!"
"How many partic.i.p.ants are remaining now?"
“17 except for the wolves…"
“I-If the plan is successful then that"s a huge sum of 3.4 billion won!"
The party guests had already heard of the Black Sheep Exodus plan.
Sheep hunting wolves.
That was surprising enough. However, that wasn"t the end. The black sheep started leading other sheep to escape the circus.
Most of the guests listening to the plan thought it was a carefully planned fraud. He and a handful of other people were deceiving the partic.i.p.ants in order to survive. If successful, it would be the best scam since the Death Circus started.
That alone made the masked people watch the monitor while sweating. It was the charm of an addictive show.
“This show alone is worth a few billion. Immediately scout Lee Cheol-su as a wolf!”
There were comments about wanting Cheol-su to appear as a wolf in the next Death Circus. Every time Cheol-su solved a puzzle, there would be a loud sigh.
"H-Hoo! H-He perfectly cleared the Puzzle House!"
“T-That is ridiculous! How can he solve it so quickly?"
“I-I already missed nine questions…!"
The extraordinary scenes continued. The black sheep solved all of the problems and received the prize money with a casual expression.
–How is it? Simple right?
Tremendous cheering shook the ballroom. The atmosphere was like the Korean national soccer team scoring a goal from behind!
The only one who remained silent was the lion mask. He was quietly waiting for his sources to figure out Lee Cheol-su"s ident.i.ty.
A clear photo of his face. His name. The age was in the mid-20s or so.
If they had this information, then all the details could be discovered in 30 minutes. He pressed the call b.u.t.ton as the call he had been waiting for arrived.
“It is me. So what did you find out?"
–That… So. No matter where I looked, there was no information matching the person you described.
"W-What? You can"t even find him with that much money! You incompetent b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
-I-I"m really sorry. I thought his name might be an alias, so I tried searching the resident registration cards of adult males. Indeed…
“Then he would be a ghost!"
–I-I am ashamed of myself.
The lion mask roughly hung up. In the end, he couldn"t identify the black sheep. The lion mask looked at the image of Seo Tae-hyuk on the monitor. He murmured in a trembling voice.
"You… Who the h.e.l.l are you?"
Then he shut up again.
There was another person on the monitor. It was the woman called An Eun-jeong who had been attached to the black sheep from the beginning of the Death Circus.
She read the note from the black sheep and suddenly screamed. Unfortunately, they couldn"t see the contents because of the camera angles.
The masked people clamoured loudly.
"What is that?"
“I"m feeling dizzy. Please show the note."
"d.a.m.n. Call the Puzzle House manager right now to check it out!"
Unexpected developments followed.
The lion mask swallowed his saliva and stared at the monitor. He was curious about the following contents so he couldn"t afford to think of anything else.
Tears flowed from An Eun-jeong"s eyes. Her heart throbbed, and it felt like her heart had been cut into twelve pieces.
At that moment, she recalled a sentence that Cheol-su wrote.
"Noona should know the pain that they experienced."
"Ah…"
A moan emerged from An Eun-jeong"s mouth.
She betrayed her family and ran away before falling into the corruption of a multilevel company.
Father… And her little sister… Did they feel like this? It was the feeling of being betrayed by someone that was completely trusted.
“I’m sorry. Daddy… I"m sorry… Sorry Eun-young… Mama… I can"t return…"
She would soon die. The guillotine would cut off her limbs and she would die an awful death.
At that time, the appearance of her family emerged. The appearance that she had hated so much came to Eun-jeong"s mind. If only she was given one more chance… She wanted to apologize to them for her mistakes.
"Sob sob…"
Eun-jeong slowly started to prepare her mind for death.
At that moment, the bearded manager of the Puzzle House approached Eun-jeong and said,
“Did you have a fight with your lover? By the way… The man who just left told me to say something to you."
"U-Uwaah…"
“I don"t know what the situation is, so I will just say it."
He threw some words at her before returning to his seat.
"That note is a joke."
“…Sob… Huh?"
She was so amazed that the flowing tears dried in an instant.
“What"s up with that look? I received money so I just did what I was told."
The bearded man started to count the money that he had received from someone.
"D-Don"t tell me…"
Eun-jeong wiped her eyes with her sleeves and looked out of the Puzzle House. She saw Cheol-su smiling innocently at her. He waved his hand when he caught her eyes.
In the end, Eun-jeong couldn"t resist screaming.
"Hey, you jerk!"
She wanted to do something truly unpleasant right now but she couldn"t.
“H-How can t-t-this person d-do this!"
An Eun-jeong was able to solve all the puzzles and earned 50 million won.
As soon as she came out, she demanded answers from Tae-hyuk who was waiting. Tae-hyuk replied with a satisfied expression.
“Wasn"t it a moderately tense attraction? Now, don"t betray the faith of your family again."
An Eun-jeong bit her lip. It was terrible enough to make her want to beat him up. But thanks to him, she was alive like this. In the end, Eun-jeong agreed.
"Yes…"
“If you betray them once more then you will see me again."
“H-Hik!”
An Eun-jeong"s face turned white. Meet this demon again? She didn"t want to imagine such a terrible thing.
“Come now. There is no time. The next person should enter. I will tell them the answers."
Although there was some trouble, An Eun-jeong answered all of the puzzles and earned the prize money safely due to Tae-hyuk telling her the answers from outside. The partic.i.p.ants who saw it raised their hands.
“I"ll do it."
"No, me first!"
Tae-hyuk put them in a suitable order and smiled as he nodded.
‘Like this, hasn"t Eun-jeong noona"s spirit become determined?"
She obviously wouldn"t enter a pyramid scheme again. The plan to mentally fix An Eun-young and Seo Ha-ran ended safely. Now the only thing left was to thoroughly defeat the Death Circus.
"But I never thought it would be helpful to memorize all these problems."
There were a total of 150 problems in the Puzzle House. And the questions were random. In order to find all the problems, a person would have to partic.i.p.ate at least five times. In the worst case, they might challenge the Puzzle House 21 times. It was impossible for all the partic.i.p.ants to challenge the Puzzle House to figure out the questions.
But it was possible for Tae-hyuk who had memories of the future.
He was trapped in a prison cell for 10 years. They weren"t pleasant memories. However, Tae-hyuk had knowledge of many crimes thanks to that experience.
Nights in the prison were long. The prisoners who didn"t fall asleep easily would quiz each other. The problems at that time were the ones written by the Producer. Tae-hyuk heard prisoners solving the problems every night.
He became really tired of hearing it. It was to the extent that he knew the answer just by hearing the first word of the question.
Due to that, this ridiculous winning strategy was possible. Tae-hyuk laughed and muttered.
"Now it is time to catch a wolf."
“W-We really can get out of here alive!"
"It is all thanks to Boss!"
An additional 10 people cleared the Puzzle House for a total of 500 million won. The time remaining was approximately 150 minutes. They would be able to collect the target amount before closing.
‘Of course, I don"t have to do anything."
The wolf laughed.
Their job was simple: Interfere in the work of the black sheep. Then they could get out of here. They could obtain the bounty.
The wolf"s plan was simple. The total amount of money that the group of sheep had was 900 million, with most of the money belonging to the black sheep. Furthermore, the next three payment fees meant that more than half of that money would be gone.
In the end, the number of people who could get out would be reduced to two. In other words, if they didn"t make money anymoren then the sheep would fight against each other.
"The method is really simple. There can only be one person in the Puzzle House. That is the rule. Once inside, I won"t answer the questions for as long as possible so they won"t be able to proceed. In other words, I will waste all the time."
It was a simply way to destroy the sheep.
The wolf smiled. It was their turn to enter the Puzzle House.
"You didn"t notice my ident.i.ty even at the end. Yes. This is my victory!"
The wolf slowly walked towards the puzzle house.
“Wait a minute.”
"Huh?"
Tae-hyuk blocked the person about to enter the Puzzle House.
"I think we should change the order of entry. You can enter after everybody has already obtained 200 million won."
“W-Why all of a sudden? Didn"t you set the order beforehand?"
“That"s right."
Tae-hyuk slowly took a step forward and whispered in the other person"s ear.
“Because you are a wolf.”
“W-What are you talking about? I"m not a wolf. You should know. The people gathered in Group A absolutely can"t be wolves!"
The only woman belonging to Group A, Jeon Mina, shouted with confusion.
“If you aren"t a wolf, then it doesn"t really matter. The order is just changed. There will only be a little bit of boredom from waiting. In the meantime, you can talk to Eun-jeong noona."
“I-I"m innocent! I believed in Boss from the beginning! Ah, yes. Kim Jun-tae! He is the wolf. It is obvious no matter how you look at it. If Boss asks for everyone"s opinion…"
Tae-hyuk ignored Mina and called Yoon Jong-hyun over.
“Ajusshi. Could you capture this person?"
“I-Is Mina really the wolf?"
“You will know by the end."
"Yes. I understand."
Yoon Jong-hyun picked up the rope and started to bind Mina"s body. Mina shrieked.
"Ah! It hurts! A little softer! So unfair! I"m really not the wolf!"
Mina was on the verge of tears.
A few partic.i.p.ants who saw her were swayed.
"I don"t think she is…"
"Why is Boss being like this?"
“We have to believe in Boss. Let"s watch."
Tae-hyuk was immovable as he laughed at Mina.
"Mina. No, Wolf. The plan for wasting time in the Puzzle House is now useless. It is your defeat."
Mina glared at Tae-hyuk. Then all of a sudden, she started laughing.
“Ahhahahaha! …How did you know? My acting was perfect."
Mina"s atmosphere instantly changed, making her seem like a different person. The partic.i.p.ants watching got goose b.u.mps.
Tae-hyuk raised two fingers.
“You made two mistakes."
“Mistakes?"
"It is simple. The other partic.i.p.ants are looking for some way to live. But the wolf will try to kill others. I clearly remember that you were trying to kill Kim Jun-tae."
"Kuoock…"
Mina gave a strange groan.
“And in a situation like this, it"s normal to doubt the other person. A person who blindly believes in me is rather suspicious. Kid. Practice acting some more."
Tae-hyuk stroked Mina"s head like she was a cute baby.
“Now. Come. The interference has disappeared."
The fourth wolf, Mina, was captured. The last of the remaining wolves, the fifth one had disappeared.
There were no longer any wolves in this group. Tae-hyuk nodded slightly at everyone gathered.
“Then we will take the money and smash the Death Circus."
The Black Sheep Exodus plan had reached its final phase.