“There is a secret tunnel beneath room no.4 for bodyguards. It ends up in the backyard of that grandpa’s mansion. After that it’s your decision on how you tackle the guards and kill grandpa. But I had a suggestion for that as well.” The old man replied.

“And what suggestion is it? Let me hear it.” Markus replied.

“Fortunately the window to the living room faces the backyard. If you manage to get inside, there is a main switch present in the room adjacent to it. You can turn it off for a while to distract the guards and then carry on with the plan.” The old man said.

“How do you know about this all?” Markus asked.

“I am not the only one who has suffered all this. There are many, losing their near and dear ones daily in this hell. It was their sacrifices until now that I have gathered all this information.” The old man replied, his voice heavy, as if remembering the ones he had lost.

“Hmm. Thank you for the information.” Markus said.

pa(nd)a no vel “Don’t thank me. Just kill that bastard to thank those all who brought this information till me.” The old man replied, a sad smile on his face.

“May I know your name?” Markus asked before they climbed down the tree.

“Edward.” The man replied before both of them quietly climbed down the tree, going their own ways.

Next day, early in the morning, Markus was called out with his stuff to shift in the bodyguard team.

The team was nowhere near his expectations. It was a team made up of youngsters with no experience or proper training.

The people weren’t welcoming, nor were their leaders. Markus decided to lay low to not attract much attention. He was given room no. 11 with six other men to share the room. None of his roommates were friendly enough, and thus he decided to work alone.

He started with the basic training that was given to the team while working day and night endlessly. He never talked to anyone and would always sit alone to have his barely edible meals.

Finally on 27th day, a man from his team approached him during lunch.

“Sid, Wanna join us?” He asked.

Markus looked at the man and was internally surprised at his fortune. The man turned out to be the one staying in room no. 4, the one where the tunnel was located.

“Thank you.” Markus or Sid, replied in a weak and polite voice, not making the man put up any guards against him.

“I have always seen you have meals alone. Why didn’t you befriend anyone?” The man asked while walking towards his group of three men.

“I don’t know.. know how to talk much.” Markus replied, trying to play weak.

“Don’t worry. You can join us whenever you want.” The man said, trying to be good with Markus.

After all, these men were simply poor people brought here for hard labour. Some prefered to remain silent while suffering all this, while others felt that maybe mingling and supporting each other could make tough times easier.

“Thank you.” Markus said in a low and polite voice.

By the end of week, Markus started talking a little more than earlier. Plus his weak behaviour made people lower down their guards and talk frankly with him.

Markus thought that he had already wasted much time, and thus decided to start with the action.

He asked his other four friends from room no.4 to not eat today’s meal and give it to him, as he was gonna make a better dish out of it.

Others being poor didn’t find a problem in giving up on one meal, even if the food didn’t turn out well after Markus’s cooking.

Markus, who had collected some herbs surrounding the garden where they lived, used those to add some flavours and roasted it more.

Once the break was given, he directly went to room no.4 with the dish. Surprised would be too less of a word to describe the reaction those men had after taking the very first bite.

For the first time in months, they were getting to eat something so heavenly and delicious. And that day onwards, it became a habit of those people to save their food while Markus would do some random seasoning and bring it back to their room.

But unknown to all, he would always inspect the room minutely, to see for any evidence of the tunnel. He kept doing it for three days before he found a tunnel hidden discreetly beneath one of the beds.

Without wasting much time, Markus decided to check the tunnel out today before executing his plan properly.

Thus, like always he prepared the dish and went to their rooms. But this time, he had mixed a little of valerian roots to it, intending to make them asleep real quick.

The five of them had a hearty meal before slowly the other four started to feel sleepy, ultimately dozing off.

Markus left their room to keep guard on the other two roommates of room no 4. Once he saw that both of them left the room, he instantly entered, without making any noise.

Since his target was already settled, he quickly went towards the bed and crawled beneath it, opening the tunnel lid gently.

Though it took him a lot of effort to open it up as the lid seemed closed for quite some time.

Eventually he climbed inside the tunnel before properly closing the lid behind him.

But once inside, he immediately realised the problems he would be facing while actually executing the plan, and he couldn’t help but curse at the tunnel he was supposed to cross tonight.

———————

Hello lovelies., Hope you all are doing well. I was a little busy with the hospital for past two days, hence was unable to post chapter (apologies😅). Don’t forget to comment and vote with powerstones and golden tickets. Have a wonderful day ahead!!

– Kizy