(Third Person POV)
To Vesper, the world was not a dramatic stage overflowing with emotions as drunken poets often rambled about in suburban taverns. The world, when viewed through his cold and objective glass lenses, was merely a complex and merciless accounting ledger. A giant balance sheet consisting of debit and credit columns, assets and liabilities, profits and losses.
Every human was merely a statistic that could be replaced. Every action was a business transaction that had to be profitable.
And Arin? Arin was merely a decimal calculation error disturbing the balance of that ledger. A statistical anomaly appearing in the 'Loss' column of the Benzzi Faction's financial report, which had to be erased immediately with permanent red ink so the balance sheet would return to being balanced and stable.
Vesper stood motionless behind a narrow gap between two giant damp and mossy stalagmites. His position was perfectly hidden in the deep shadows unreachable by the dim cave moss light. From this strategic hiding place, he had a perfect view of the "stage" he had meticulously prepared over the past week.
Down there, about fifty meters from his position, the main corridor of Sector 9 stretched out like the throat of a rock monster ready to swallow any prey passing through.
Vesper adjusted his silver-framed glasses with his index finger, ensuring his vision was clear without a speck of dust. He glanced at the gold pocket watch ticking rhythmically in his palm.
"Timing is precise. Not a second's delay," he muttered flatly to himself.
At the end of the tunnel, three figures emerged slowly from the darkness.
Tom Garius walked in front as a guide, his steps looking hesitant yet moving surely as if pulled by invisible strings. Behind him walked the two main targets of the Benzzi Faction: Arin and Erika.
They looked wary with weapons drawn, eyes scanning the surroundings looking for monsters that might ambush from behind the rocks. However, their vigilance was futile in Vesper's eyes. They were unaware that their death variable had been entered into the formula since they stepped through the iron gate earlier.
Vesper saw Tom point toward a large cave on the left side of the tunnel, a dead end that used to be an old dynamite storage warehouse. Arin nodded in agreement, then obediently followed Tom into the belly of that cave.
The corner of Vesper's lips lifted slightly. Very slightly, almost invisible to the naked eye.
"Variables entered into curly brackets. Equation almost complete. Just waiting for the final result."
This was not about personal hatred. Vesper did not hate Arin like Karl hated him. Vesper wanted to erase Arin because he disrupted the flow of funds. Arin caused Benzzi stocks to fall, messed up the betting market, and made his master, Karl, mentally unstable.
Erasing Arin was merely a logical and necessary step to rebalance the shaking scales of power.
Suddenly, the thud of rough footsteps and dirty curses were heard from the narrow rat tunnel behind Vesper. Noisy sounds ruining the calm of his calculations.
"Damn it! What kind of tunnel is this?! Narrow, smelly, and full of disgusting slime!" shouted that familiar voice.
Vesper turned slowly without changing his flat expression in the slightest.
Karl Benzzi emerged from the darkness, bursting out of the narrow hole with a furious face and ragged breath.
The Duke's heir, usually appearing perfect in a silk suit and slicked-back hair, now looked very messy. His expensive robe was stained with cave mud on the shoulders and knees from crawling like a ground animal. His handsome face was beet red holding back anger, and he kept brushing dust off his arms with disgust.
Behind him followed another figure in a far more pathetic condition.
Kars Benzzi.
Karl's twin brother walked stumbling, his back bent under the weight of a large wooden box he carried. The Spare Supply Box.
Kars panted, his face pale and sweating profusely until his collar was soaked. His legs trembled every time he took a step, as if his knee bones would snap at any moment.
"Karl... please slow down..." complained Kars weakly, his voice almost gone. "This is very heavy... my legs are cramping."
"Shut your mouth and walk faster, Kars!" snapped Karl without turning, kicking a pebble at his brother roughly. "You only carry one box and you complain like a spoiled girl? Useless trash! Speed up your pace or I leave you here with the centipede monsters!"
Kars looked down, not daring to argue. He hugged the box tightly, as if its contents were his own precious life.
"Sorry, Karl. I am trying," squeaked Kars.
Karl arrived beside Vesper. He did not greet him, but immediately snatched the magic binoculars Vesper held and peered down with rough movements.
"Where are they now?" he demanded impatiently, his breath racing fast due to emotion and fatigue. "Tell me the rat has entered the trap! I do not want to wait anymore!"
"They just entered, Sir," answered Vesper calmly, pointing toward the dark cave mouth down there. "Tom is positioning them in the middle of the room. According to the scenario, Tom will make an excuse to check another exit, then he will exit the cave to save himself. Once Tom is safe, we detonate."
"Excellent," hissed Karl. His eyes flashed crazily behind the binocular lenses. A terrifying wide smile slowly carved on his face, displaying a row of white teeth contrasting with the cave dimness. "Finally... finally I can see him suffer."
Karl lowered the binoculars, then looked at Vesper. Burning impatience made him unable to think clearly.
"Detonate it right now," ordered Karl suddenly.
Vesper paused for a moment, his eyebrow raised slightly in surprise. "Pardon, Sir? Tom has not come out yet."
"Are you deaf, Vesper?" Karl stared at his subordinate sharply, bringing his face close until their noses almost touched. "I said detonate now! Close that cave before he gets suspicious and runs! I do not care who is inside!"
Vesper did not answer; he only glanced at the ten Class B students standing behind them. The students' faces paled instantly hearing their master's crazy order.
"Sir..." interrupted one of the students, Jhon, with a voice trembling in fear. He held the magic scroll with violently shaking hands. "Tom... Tom Garius is still in there with them. We agreed to wait for him to come out first. That was the plan."
"Right, Master Karl," added another student with a pleading tone, his face pale. "Tom is our friend. He is part of this plan. If we detonate now, he will be buried alive with Arin."
Karl turned his body slowly facing the students. His face showed no guilt, consideration, or empathy in the slightest. There was only absolute and terrifying emptiness of conscience.
"So?" asked Karl flatly, as if Tom's life was worth no more than the dust on his shoes. "What is the problem?"
The students jolted, stepping back due to Karl's thick killing aura. "W-What do you mean?"
"Tom is a tool. Just like all of you," said Karl coldly, stepping closer to the trembling Jhon. "Tools that are finished being used must be discarded. Besides, isn't it better if Tom dies there? No eyewitnesses left. Arin dies, Tom dies, Erika dies. A perfect and clean collapse tragedy. No one will suspect."
"But... I cannot kill my own friend..." Jhon shook his head, tears of fear starting to well in his eyes. His morality rebelled against that crazy order. "I cannot, Sir."
Karl snorted dismissively, then turned to Vesper. His gaze gave a silent order: Handle this, Accountant. I do not pay you to be silent.
Vesper sighed softly. Emotion was the most troublesome variable in every human equation. Always slowing work efficiency and messing up results.
Vesper stepped forward, standing between Karl and Jhon. He reached into his coat pocket and took out a small black leather-bound notebook.
The Debt Book.
Vesper opened it with casual movements, turning the pages one by one until he found the name he sought.
"Student Jhon Carter," read Vesper with a flat tone, as if calling roll in morning class. "Third son of Baron Carter who owns a vineyard business in the West Valley."
Jhon froze in place. His eyes stared at the book in Vesper's hand with horror, as if the book were a death sentence for his entire family.
"Last month, your father borrowed ten thousand gold coins from a shadow firm owned by the Benzzi Faction to cover crop failure losses due to pests," continued Vesper, his eyes looking at the numbers, not Jhon's pale face. "The due date is the day after tomorrow. And based on my accurate intelligence report, your father does not have a single penny to pay it. The crop failure case is worse than reported to the public."
Vesper closed the book with a soft slap that sounded like a gunshot.
"If you do not activate that magic scroll in five seconds, Jhon... I will send a collateral seizure letter tomorrow morning. Your house, your vineyard, and your father's noble title will be seized by the bank. Your family will become despicable beggars on the streets of the capital."
Vesper looked into Jhon's eyes which were now wet with tears of fear.
"Choose now, Jhon. Tom Garius's life... or your family's future shattered to pieces?"
A gripping silence fell in the narrow tunnel. Kars, standing in the back hugging his box tightly, looked down deeply, hiding his expression full of conflict.
Jhon trembled violently. He looked at the cave down there, then looked at the cold Vesper, then looked at the cruelly grinning Karl.
Morality collapsed instantly in the face of poverty.
"Forgive me, Tom..." whispered Jhon hoarsely, his tears falling.
He raised the magic scroll with trembling hands. Mana flowed into the ancient paper. The seal shone brightly, ready to explode.
"Very good. Smart boy," whispered Karl full of anticipation.
Active.
Down there, right on the ceiling of the cave mouth where Arin and his friends were, an orange magic circle lit up brightly like a small sun.
Third Circle Magic: Earth Blast.
BOOM!
A massive explosion shook the entire mine sector.
The sound was deafening, followed by violent vibrations causing stalactites above them to fall. Thick dust billowed high like a mini mushroom cloud from the cave mouth below, covering the view completely with gray fog.
When the dust began to thin blown by the wind, the cave entrance was gone without a trace. All that remained was a pile of solid rocks weighing tons blocking the exit completely.
They were trapped.
"Perfect! Collapse!" exclaimed Karl, pumping his fist into the air triumphantly. "Buried like sewer rats! Die, all of you!"
Vesper did not join the cheering. His task was not finished. He walked calmly toward the cliff side hidden by bushes, where a series of rusty metal pipes protruded from the ground. It was the remnant of this mine's old ventilation system he had modified beforehand.
"Phase two begins," mumbled Vesper. "Hypoxic Attrition."
He turned the valve of the first gas tank hidden behind a large rock.
Hisssss....
A sharp hissing sound was heard as high-pressure gas began to flow into the pipe, heading straight into the tightly closed cave.
This was not nerve poison gas that killed instantly and left forensic-detectable alchemical traces. This was a mixture of Methane gas and Sulfur Dioxide. Its specific gravity was heavier than air. This gas would descend to the cave floor, pushing oxygen upward, and slowly replacing clean air with choking poison.
Oxygen levels would drop drastically. From twenty-one percent to fifteen percent... ten percent... and finally zero percent.
Slow, painful, and inevitable death.
"Oxygen levels will be totally depleted in fifteen minutes for normal humans," analyzed Vesper while turning the second valve, his eyes watching the pocket watch. "But for Arin... who uses heart breathing techniques to pump strength... his metabolism requires three times more oxygen."
"Eight minutes. His body will die completely in eight minutes. But anticipating Arin brought a mask, we wait fifteen minutes."
Checkmate. The opponent's King was locked without an escape.
Seconds later, voices began to be heard from behind the rock ruins down there. Although muffled by the thick rock walls, the cave acoustics made the screams echo to their hiding place.
"COUGH! COUGH!"
That was the sound of coughing. Loud, wet, and panicked.
"TOM! WHY?! THE EXIT IS CLOSED! WE ARE TRAPPED HERE!"
That was Arin's voice. Sounding panicked and desperate. Far different from his arrogant and calm tone in court or the cafeteria.
"NO! PLEASE! I AM STILL HERE! KARL! VESPER! OPEN THE DOOR! DO NOT LEAVE ME! I AM YOUR SPY!"
And that was Tom's voice. Screaming hysterically calling his masters' names.
Hearing those screams, Karl closed his eyes. He tilted his head back, inhaling the damp cave air as if it were the most fragrant perfume in the world. A wide smile carved on his face, a smile so wide it looked painful and crazy.
"Hear that..." whispered Karl, his body trembling from pure ecstasy. "Hear that melody, Vesper? That is the sound of beautiful despair. That is the sound of Arin realizing he is nobody before me."
"HAHAHAHAHA."
Karl laughed. A broken, insane laugh echoing horribly in the narrow passage where they hid.
"Scream louder, Trash! Scream until your lungs explode! No one will hear you! Elena will not come to save you! You die in my cage like a dog!"
Behind Karl, Kars Benzzi stood frozen.
He still hugged the large wooden box to his chest as if it were a protective shield. Kars's face was deathly pale, his eyes staring at his brother's back with a look of horror that could not be hidden. He saw how easily Karl sacrificed Tom, their loyal ally all this time.
Kars swallowed saliva that tasted bitter. His hands gripped the box tighter until the wood creaked softly.
He knew that inside the box marked "Emergency Reserve Supply," there were no gas masks or stamina potions promised.
There were only river stones and empty bottles.
Seeing Karl's madness right now... Kars realized he had made the right decision in the greenhouse with Elena. Karl was not a leader. He was a monster who would eat his own brother if he was hungry.
Vesper glanced at Kars briefly. He saw the trembling and pale Kars.
He is terrified, thought Vesper analytically. Natural. Who wouldn't be afraid seeing their brother go mad?
Vesper returned focus to his watch.
"Eight minutes passed," muttered Vesper. "Gas concentration should have reached thirty percent of the room. Initial symptoms are dizziness, nausea, hallucinations, and excessive panic."
Down there, the screaming began to turn into weak pounding on the rock.
Thud... thud... thud...
Then silence for a moment.
"Vesper," called Karl without turning, his eyes still closed enjoying his moment of victory. "Make sure they are dead! I do not want even the slightest mistake."
"Certainly, Sir," answered Vesper efficiently. "I will send the cleanup team with gas masks in seven minutes to ensure no one is breathing. We will rearrange their corpses to look like a pure accident due to natural gas explosion."
Everything went according to calculation. Numbers in his head lined up neatly toward the final result: Zero.
Zero oxygen.
Zero life.
Zero problems.
Vesper stared at the pile of rocks down there with a blank gaze.
Such a pity, Arin, he thought. You had potential. Your brain is smart, your physique strong. If only you chose to be my subordinate, maybe we could control this Academy's economy together. But you chose to be a chaotic variable.
And in Vesper's accounting, chaotic variables must be erased from the ledger.
"Goodbye, Arin," he whispered softly.
However, in the silence of his calculations... there was one small thing disturbing Vesper's analytical mind.
Arin's scream earlier...
His voice was indeed panicked. His words sounded desperate. But the rhythm...
Why did the rhythm of his scream sound so... powerful?
People inhaling methane and sulfur gas in high concentrations should experience instant airway constriction or bronchospasm. Their voices should be squeaky, choked, and weak due to inflamed vocal cords. But Arin's scream sounded round and resonant.
Vesper shook his head slowly.
Impossible. That must just be the acoustic effect of the cave reflecting sound.
He adjusted his glasses, chasing that illogical doubt from his mind. No human could breathe in that gas without a mask.