Convict Unit: Black Parade

“HRAAAAHH—!”

The roar was followed by a symphony of thuds, crashes, and sickening impacts.

The brawl had begun.

Jae-hee’s jaw dropped as he speechlessly watched the mess hall descend into chaos.

Status Window just chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder. “The tree of revolution must sometimes be watered with the blood of patriots. So while the patriots are busy fighting, let’s hang back and watch from a safe distance desu.”

Just then, a group of Big Fist’s men spotted them and charged, roaring. “There’s the little shits from Boy’s crew!”

“Get ’em!”

“Yipe!” Status Window shrieked before diving under a table and disappearing into the shadows. “I’m counting on you desu, Boy-kun!”

Jae-hee simply shook his head. By the time he looked up, Big Fist’s men were right on top of him.

He took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. “Sorry about this!”

Jae-hee’s eyes snapped open.

A blue arrow erupted from his chest, tracing a path through the air. Following it, his foot swept cleanly across an inmate’s jaw.

Now adept at using Stormroad, Jae-hee saw the charging inmates as little more than stationary targets.

With a sound like bursting air, the prisoners went down one after another, a collapsing row of dominoes.

“Wooooah!” The other inmates roared their approval.

Embarrassed, Jae-hee gave a few awkward bows to the crowd.

“Awesome desu! Keep it up desu!” Status Window yelled, having already rolled back out from under the table.

Seeing Big Fist’s men falter, the newly energized prisoners surged forward to meet them.

***

Meanwhile, outside the mess hall, a duel had begun.

Razor and Big Fist—the former deck leader and the current one—were locked in a one-on-one fight.

Razor slashed at Big Fist’s torso with the knife he’d fashioned from his own fingernails, but it bounced off with a sharp clink, failing to break the skin.

“?!”

“My abs are pretty solid, huh?” Big Fist grinned.

He swung a massive fist at the stunned Razor, who blocked it with his cast-bound right shoulder and was sent skidding backward.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Razor asked, “Wearing something special, are we?”

“It’s a stab-proof vest, motherfucker. Been collecting scraps of leather to make it, just for a day like this.”

Sure enough, the tears in Big Fist’s prison uniform revealed crude armor patched together from scraps of leather. The craftsmanship was shoddy, but it was more than enough to stop a bone knife.

“A shitty little blade like that won’t even leave a scratch!”

“That so?” Without another thought, Razor tossed his knife aside. “Good thing I prepared something for just this occasion.”

He began to rip away the bandages on his right shoulder, pulling something out from underneath.

It was a small, beastly tooth.

Big Fist’s expression, initially one of confusion, soon twisted into alarm. “That… Don’t tell me—”

“That’s right.” Razor grinned. “It’s a tooth from the Gate Lord we killed on the last mission.”

Back on the mission, when Razor had ripped out the Phantom Tyrant’s massive sabertooth, he had also managed to swipe one of its smaller teeth.

Since he’d been brought back as a critical patient, his entry inspection had been cursory, and Razor had seized the opportunity to smuggle it in.

With a sickening crackle, the otherworldly Lord’s tooth morphed into a sharp dagger in Razor’s hand.

Realizing the weapon radiated a menacing aura, Big Fist broke out in a cold sweat. “You crazy son of a bitch, bringing Gate Gear onto the ship—”

Razor wasn’t listening. He charged.

Big Fist threw a vicious hook, but Razor used his shorter stature to easily duck under it, closing the distance and thrusting the dagger forward.

The dagger, made from the Phantom Tyrant’s tooth, tore through the crude leather armor with ease and sank into Big Fist’s side.

“Gack—?!”

Big Fist let out a sound like a leaking tire as Razor snarled in his ear.

“When you stab a man in the back, you better be ready to take a knife yourself.”

“Guhhh, Ra…zor…!”

“That’s right, you son of a cunt. You knew who I was when you came for me, didn’t you?”

Twisting the dagger, Razor asked cruelly, “You were ready for this, yeah? Yeah? Weren’t you?”

“Gaghh…! S-spare me—”

“You know that’s bullshit. Ha. Spare you? My ass.”

With a smirk, Razor pulled the dagger out and began hacking wildly at Big Fist’s body.

Big Fist swung back desperately, but he couldn’t hold out and finally collapsed.

By now, a crowd of inmates had gathered to watch.

Noticing them, Razor swung the dagger with deliberate, theatrical cruelty.

“Die, motherfucker! Die! DIIIIIIE!”

***

The brawl was over.

The fight inside the mess hall had ended in an overwhelming victory for the new deck leader candidate, Jae-hee.

While Big Fist’s crew were, on average, better fighters than the general population, Jae-hee had been the deciding factor. His combat prowess was on a level the Deck 1 prisoners simply couldn’t handle.

He had single-handedly shattered the balance of the fight.

And the one-on-one duel to the death outside…

“Whoa…”

…had ended in a brutal sea of blood.

Razor, drenched in gore, was sitting casually on Big Fist’s hacked-up corpse. The sight made Jae-hee’s stomach turn.

“I… I get that you had to kill him,” he stammered, “but did you have to be so… brutal?”

Razor spat on the floor.

“I had to make a point,” he said, sweeping his blood-matted hair back. “Show everyone what happens to any bastard who stabs me in the back.”

“….”

“Look here, you naive punkass. Get a grip. This is a prison. An Awakened prison. A den of Villains.”

Razor’s advice was delivered with a look of utter disbelief, but it was genuine. “If you want to survive here, you can’t freeze up just because you saw a little blood on a corpse. Fucking kid’s too soft…”

Still, how could he not have a visceral reaction to such a gruesome corpse?

As Jae-hee broke out in a cold sweat, Status Window put his hands together in prayer, bowed toward Big Fist’s body, and said in a mock-solemn voice, “Rest in pieces.”

Jae-haee was flabbergasted. What kind of morbid joke was that?

“Here. You take this.”

Getting to his feet, Razor pressed the dagger made from the Phantom Tyrant’s tooth into Jae-hee’s hand, then grabbed his arm and thrust it into the air.

“From this moment on, the leader of Deck 1 is Boy!” Razor scanned the crowd. “Any objections?!”

Of course, there were none. Big Fist’s reign hadn’t lasted a day, and with his death, his followers lost their reason to fight.

The toughs of Deck 1 were already scrambling to fall in line behind the new deck leader, Jae-hee, and his powerful backer, Razor.

The prisoners began to chant as one.

“Boy! Boy! Boy! Boy! Boy!”

Razor smiled, satisfied. “Alright, new Deck Leader. Give us a killer inauguration speech.”

“Umm…”

Pondering what would sound the most impressive, Jae-hee shouted a line he’d often heard on TV.

“I will be a deck leader who puts the welfare of the people first!”

A moment of stunned silence, and then—“HRAAAAAAAAH—!”

The mess hall erupted in cheers.

Razor stared at Jae-hee, dumbfounded. “You’ve got a real knack for this, don’t you, kid?”

“Oh, really? Do I have a talent for politics?”

“A talent for bullshitting, you rat.”

Just then, armed guards rushed in, batons at the ready.

“What the hell do you bastards think you’re doing?!”

“Everybody on the ground, now!”

“Well, well, look who decided to show up. Our esteemed correctional officers,” Razor grumbled, then jerked his chin at Jae-hee. “Run Boy!”

That was the signal.

The inmates swarming the mess hall broke and ran, surging as one down the corridor. Swept up in the crowd, Jae-hee ran with them, the prisoners still chanting his name.

A bright smile spread across his face before he even realized it.

Jae-hee Han, the Boy.

Not even a week after entering the prison cruise, Paradise Lost… he had conquered Deck 1—the Newbie Hunting Ground!

***

A few days later, Deck 0 of the Residential Wing, Rock Bottom.

The sun was setting aboard the prison cruise, Paradise Lost.

“Granny!”

Jae-hee sought out Ghost and called to her the moment he saw her. “Granny Ghost! Let’s go get something to eat! My treat!”

Ghost stared blankly at him for a moment before her hand shot out and twisted his ear. “Oi.”

“Ow! Ow! What was that for?! That hurts—ack!”

“I told you not to just waltz down to Deck 0.”

“Ow! But… but I had to come see you, Granny!”

“How many times do I have to tell you it’s dangerous here? Ugh.”

She could sense sinister eyes watching them with interest from the heavy darkness of the long hallway.

Sighing, Ghost quickly pulled Jae-hee down the opposite corridor. “I heard. You took over Deck 1?”

“Oh, yeah. It just sort of happened. Wow, news travels fast, huh?”

Several days had passed since Jae-hee had become the leader of Deck 1. The rumor had long since reached Rock Bottom.

Ghost let out a dry laugh. “I can’t believe you actually did it.”

“Well, I’m just the puppet leader. Razor bro took back all the real power.”

Jae-hee pressed a finger to his lips. “Hmm, what was it he said? Something about how expanding the base with a new face to seize power is a time-honored election strategy used all over the world…?”

“That guy picks up a few phrases and just slaps them onto anything, doesn’t he?”

Shaking her head, Ghost found Jae-hee’s eyes sparkling.

“So, are you going to eat with me or what?!” he asked excitedly.

“Huuuh…” Ghost rubbed her temples as if fighting off a headache, then gestured with her chin. “Fine. I’ve got a debt to collect. Let’s go eat.”

“Alright! Full course! Let’s go!”

“And what the hell is a ‘full course,’ anyway…?”

Just then, as Jae-hee was hopping excitedly down the hall, a hand shot out from one of the cells and grabbed the iron bars.

“Gah!” Startled, Jae-hee looked inside the cell, and his face immediately relaxed.

“Whoa, you scared me. Hello, Hangman bro!”

“Heh heh heh,” Hangman chuckled from behind the bars, his voice low and gloomy.

Jae-hee tilted his head, his expression pure and innocent. “Have you eaten yet?”

“Heh heh heh. I take care of myself…”

“If you haven’t, do you want to come to the shopping arcade with us? It’s on me.”

“Heh heh heh. I appreciate the thought. But I can’t leave…”

“Oh, really? That’s a shame, Hangman bro.”

Then Hangman’s voice dropped low. “You can just call me Brother Hang…”

“Oh, can I? Okay, I’ll do that from now on! Brother Hang!”

“Heh heh heh heh…”

A glint appeared in Hangman’s glassy eyes. “Such a cute little thing… I’d love to hear the screams that fawnish face could make.”

“Huh?”

Ghost clicked her tongue and dragged Jae-hee away as he stood there, wondering if he’d misheard.

“Stop talking to freaks like that and get over here. Actually, just… don’t talk to any of the monsters on Deck 0.”

Even as Ghost pulled him along, Jae-hee waved back at Hangman. “Let’s definitely get a meal next time, Brother Hang~!”

“Heh heh heh, yes. Next time… if there is a next time.” Hangman waved back from between the bars.

“…Getting a single meal out of this kid is a real pain in the ass,” Ghost muttered, practically tucking Jae-hee under her arm as she broke into a run.

Jae-hee simply waved cheerfully at everyone they passed by.

From the darkness, the curious—and crazed—gazes of the Deck 0 inmates were fixed on him.