Chapter 31
Just before dawn, when the sky began turning a deep bluish-black...
Two shadows faced each other again in a clearing deep inside the forest.
"...West side is finished."
"East too."
The two boys who had spent the entire night running through the forest looked terrible.
Their clothes were heavy with dirt and dew, and blisters covered the palms gripping their wooden swords.
Yet beneath their exhausted faces burned a strange heat.
They had done it.
In a single night, they had collected every badge from nearly four hundred trainees.
"Here."
Isaac dropped the sack he had carried on his back at Theron's feet.
When he opened it, wooden badges filled the inside so completely that they looked ready to spill out like a mountain.
"East side. One hundred and eighty-seven."
Isaac sighed.
"Counting them took forever."
"Good work."
Theron reached for the sack.
But Isaac placed one hand firmly over it.
"...Wait."
"Why?"
"I want to make sure of something before I give this to you."
Isaac's expression was more serious than ever.
"The moment I hand these over, I'll be empty-handed too."
He looked directly at Theron.
"We started this together, but you'll be the only one taking the blame. You understand that, right?"
"I do."
"...You're taking my share too?"
"The fewer targets, the better."
Theron answered calmly.
"There's no reason for you to be marked too."
Then his gaze dropped toward Isaac's hand resting on the sack.
"Besides..."
He paused.
"Section Three..."
Then corrected himself.
"No. This entire training facility needs you."
Isaac's eyes narrowed.
"If something happens and I'm no longer here..."
Theron's voice became quiet.
"You'll have to take over my role."
"..."
Isaac remained silent for a long time.
What exactly was this guy thinking?
No.
What was he planning to do?
One question only created another.
Still...
Isaac slowly removed his hand from the sack.
Then he turned away and muttered over his shoulder.
"Fine. Stop lecturing me."
The two sat beside each other on a rock until the ending bell.
They watched the dark sky slowly turn red.
Then Isaac suddenly spoke.
"Hey."
"What."
"While collecting badges all night..."
Isaac tapped the ground lightly with the end of his wooden sword.
"I saw something strange."
"..."
"The guys who lost their badges didn't look like people waiting to die."
"At first they cried and panicked."
"But once the rumor spread, they changed."
Isaac continued.
"The ones without badges started gathering together."
"Some even stood watch for each other."
He frowned slightly.
"They were stealing badges from each other just yesterday."
Then he laughed faintly.
"Everyone was doomed together... so they started surviving together instead."
He shook his head.
"Isn't that funny?"
"No."
Theron looked toward the reddening sky.
"That's what people are supposed to be like."
Isaac glanced at him.
Theron continued.
"This island was the thing that forced them to forget it."
"..."
Isaac said nothing.
His profile showed that he was thinking deeply about those words.
Dong... Dong...
The moment the sun rose past the horizon, the ending bell rang.
At the same time...
Trainees began emerging from all across the forest.
One after another, they formed a long line toward the gathering point.
It was a strange procession.
Nearly four hundred trainees who had spent the entire night inside the test area...
And every single one was empty-handed.
"Hey... you don't have one either?"
"Yeah. Mine got taken before dawn."
"Our whole section got wiped out. Not one of us has a badge."
Every time one empty hand met another...
The murmuring grew louder.
No badge meant bottom fifty.
Bottom fifty meant Hell Island no longer needed you.
According to those rules, this entire procession should have been as good as dead.
But because everyone was in exactly the same situation...
The rule itself began to feel strange.
"Wait..."
Someone finally asked.
"If everyone has zero badges... who exactly are the bottom fifty?"
The line suddenly fell silent.
Then...
One by one...
Everyone's gaze began turning toward the same place.
In the middle of the procession.
A boy from Section Five walking alone while carrying an enormous load.
"That's him."
"He took my badge last night."
"Isaac took everyone on our side."
"But... why is Isaac empty-handed?"
"Don't tell me he gave everything to that guy."
The whispers slowly became a realization.
Because everyone had zero badges...
There was no way to select the bottom fifty.
And to create this situation...
One boy had taken every badge and every bit of responsibility onto himself.
The incredible truth spread through the gathering crowd.
Theron ignored all the gazes pressing against his back.
He simply kept walking.
The final count became something Hell Island had never witnessed before.
"Section Three. Isaac... none."
"Section Seven. Dergan... none."
"Section One. Roud... none."
Every trainee stepped forward.
Every time...
The same word appeared.
None.
None.
None.
At first, the instructors continued mechanically.
But after more than a hundred trainees...
They started exchanging glances.
"...Hey. Isn't something wrong here?"
"We checked properly. They really don't have any."
"No, I'm saying... how can almost four hundred people all have nothing?"
The instructor recording the results gradually slowed.
Eventually...
He simply stopped writing and stared at the list in disbelief.
Even instructors who had spent decades on Hell Island had never seen anything like this.
Finally...
"...Section Five. Theron."
Theron stepped forward.
Then he dropped the entire sack he had been carrying beneath the platform.
Rattle!
The sack tipped over.
Wooden badges poured out like a waterfall.
Nearly four hundred badges formed a mountain beneath the morning light.
