HONOR, DIGNITY, AND PRIDE

Honor, Dignity, and Pride 15

The Betrayal Duel of Sevgül and Marut

The screen flickered with static and displayed two faces side by side: encrypted files on the holding servers belonging to Mr. İlkay and Can’s father.

Spotlights lit up simultaneously in the compartments of Mrs. Sevgül and Marut, the silent partner. The thin, sharp steel wires behind them began humming.

"Sevgül... Marut... It's your turn," said Mr. İlkay, forcing himself not to vomit as he looked at Cevdet’s bisected corpse in the adjacent compartment. "Tell the wire how you stabbed me in the back and crashed the holding's shares! Otherwise, both of you will be sliced apart just like that ferret!"

Mrs. Sevgül looked at Marut in the opposite compartment through her mask, sobbing. Pure hatred and desperate survival instincts burned in her eyes.

"I’m telling it!" screamed Sevgül, spittle coating her mask. "Marut manipulated me! He was the one who started that disgusting illicit affair, dragging me into those dark archive rooms in the basement while saying, 'We will destroy İlkay and take the holding for ourselves'! I just wanted to protect my lavish lifestyle! Marut blackmailed me into destroying the files regarding the old illegal import lawsuit Can’s father filed against the holding! You are the scoundrel, Marut, you ruined me!"

Mr. Marut contorted his marble-hard face in fear for the first time, roaring at Sevgül:

"Shut your mouth, Sevgül! You were eager enough when we set up 'Mar-Seu'—the stock manipulation company—just to parade your diamonds at luxury charity galas! You were the one who bought the blackmail tapes of İlkay’s affair with the foreign banker from Cevdet and put them in front of İlkay to drive him insane and push him to suicide! We deliberately dragged that day laborer's son Can into that fake invoice conspiracy to get revenge for his father! We ruined that boy's life together, with pleasure! I am telling the truth, stop this damn wire!"

Inside their narrow compartments, the two partners hurled venomous insults at each other, weeping and screaming as they confessed their dirty past partnership to the portraits on screen. The thin wires behind their waists crept forward millimeter by millimeter.

CHAPTER 11: ROOM 4 — THE WIRES OF RETRIBUTION (The Execution of Mr. Süphan)

Mrs. Sevgül and Marut, the silent partner, were losing their minds inside the cramped, stainless-steel compartments. The laser-sharpened steel wires behind them hummed, sticking directly against their waistlines.

As the electrodes at their temples buzzed, their bodies—covered in fresh victim blood—shook violently.

"Marut! Tell them everything, stop this damn thing!" shrieked Sevgül. She wept hierarchically inside her mask, mucus and tears mixing with blood clots. "I am the queen of high society! No one could touch me! I own a two-billion-dollar holding; I won't be sliced apart like a rat in a day laborer's cell! Tell them everything!"

Mr. Marut had completely lost his stoic demeanor. The veins on his forehead bulged, the whites of his eyes bloodshot with terror.

"I’m telling it too! I beg you, stop!" he screamed into the microphone, his former narcissistic arrogance shattered. "Yes! When Can’s father tried to report our overseas illegal import network, I was the one who sent the mob after him to silence him! After having the man shot and paralyzed, we framed his son Can just for revenge! I personally placed those fake invoice programs onto the holding server!"

"And I was complicit!" shouted Sevgül, pounding her hands against the iron bars. "I was messing around with Marut in those dark basement archive rooms to drive my husband İlkay insane and take complete control of the holding! I bought those secret recordings of İlkay with the foreign banker from Cevdet to blackmail him! My goal was to push him to suicide! I used to say, 'No one in Turkey can touch me, I have my father's hidden shares and legal power behind me'! I am a scoundrel! I won't ruin my life for a pawn, for that kid Can! I told the truth, lock the wire!"

"I am a scoundrel too!" sobbed Marut, tears leaking through his mask filter. "We established 'Mar-Seu Investment' to crash the shares and steal the holding! Even though we knew Can was innocent, we said, 'We can't ruin a billion-dollar plan for the son of a worker'! We vomited out the truth, please let us go!"

With dual mechanical clicks, the deadly steel wires behind their waists locked into the rail system and stopped. Sevgül and Marut sobbed inside their compartments, taking deep, desperate breaths. They had paid for their betrayal and pride by spilling every secret, escaping death by milliseconds.

The Reckoning of the Last Two

The central TV screen flickered with static. This time, images of the dark, damp Worm Farm—populated by millions of carnivorous worms—appeared on screen alongside confidential reports detailing toxic gas leaks that had poisoned factory workers on the lowest floor.

Spotlights lit up in blood red inside the narrow compartments of Big Boss İlkay and Grandpa Süphan. The thin steel wires behind them began operating rapidly.

The sharp coldness of the wire cut through the shirts at their waists.

The mechanical executioner's voice echoed through the bunker:

"Sevgül and Marut vomited the filth from their souls and survived. Now... it is time for Big Boss İlkay at the top of the holding, and the cute monster Süphan—head of accounting and imports! The second execution of this room... will be one of you two! Look at the screen before you. How did you sell out the lives of those workers to cover up the acid leak at the factory? Mr. Süphan, how did you funnel money from the holding's vault to fund your masochistic perversions? Whoever fails to tell the truth will be sliced in half like that ferret! Your time begins now!"

İlkay and Süphan stared at each other in horror from behind their masks, shaking their chains as they wept. The wild, tearful reckoning between the remaining three had begun.

The digital screen counted down ruthlessly: 01:12... 01:11...

Inside the stainless-steel compartments, two men remained, covered in victim blood: Board Chairman İlkay and the cute monster Süphan. The laser-sharpened steel wires behind their waists hummed, creeping within a millimeter of their flesh.

"Süphan! Speak, damn it! Where did you hide those gas leak documents and worker death reports?!" Mr. İlkay roared. He wept hysterically inside his mask, his chest heaving under cold sweat. "I was the chairman, but you managed the industrial raw material dumps and bribe networks at the factory! Speak, I don't want to be sliced apart like that ferret!"

Mr. Süphan stood trembling violently in his cell, his white hair disheveled, his sweet facade wiped away. Mucus and spittle clogged his filter, causing him to gasp for air.

"I... I am innocent, İlkay! Erman and Cevdet organized everything!" Süphan screamed, his voice muffled by cowardice.

A 220-volt electric shock struck Süphan’s temples, slamming his aging body against the steel wall with a sharp clang.

"You are lying, Mr. Süphan..." roared the mechanical voice. "Who erased the death reports of those twelve workers whose lungs rotted away from the toxic gas leak? Who wiped the list of families silenced with bribes from the accounting ledgers? Vomit the truth, or the wire will slice you in half! Final 30 seconds!"

"İlkay! Save me, you're my relative, I beg you!" Grandpa Süphan began weeping. "I did it... Yes, I did it! I was the one who disguised those gas leak reports and hospital records showing the workers' lungs failing as import invoices before destroying them! I distributed 18 million in bribes from the holding vault to silence officials and inspectors! Just so our worm farm production wouldn't halt and global wholesalers wouldn't cancel their contracts, I bought out the lives of those twelve workers and the cries of their families down to the last penny in my accounting office! Their lives weren't worth more than my profit margin!"

Mr. İlkay recoiled in horror behind his mask, his eyes wide. "You vile old lunatic! I thought those workers had simply resigned! You made me complicit in this s*******r!" he shouted. "You are a monster, Süphan!"

Süphan surrendered completely. Tears mixed with red victim blood flowed down his neck as he collapsed to his knees, screaming into the microphone with pure remorse:

"Was it just those workers... I brought my own grandchild—that innocent child—into the basement of my office using the holding's shell import network, abusing them with those disgusting masochistic devices! I used the accounting vault to silence the families! Marut and I deliberately threw Can and his father into the fire because they tried to report this gas leak lawsuit! I destroyed that family! I am a monster! I am the vilest scoundrel of all! I earned this... I earned this death to the very end! God forgive me!"

Grandpa Süphan wept hysterically, accepting his guilt entirely as mucus flowed into his mask. He closed his eyes and awaited his death.

Because Mr. İlkay was genuinely unaware of the worker death ledgers, the system triggered his lock mechanism. The steel wire behind İlkay’s waist locked into place and stopped. İlkay collapsed onto the floor of his cell, taking a deep, desperate breath. He was saved.

For Mr. Süphan, the clock hit 00:00.

The steel mechanism inside Süphan’s compartment fired forward with terrifying speed. The thin, laser-sharpened wire passed through the old man's waist like a storm, striking the front iron bars.

A deathly silence enveloped the room. Süphan remained on his knees with his eyes closed. Split seconds later, a thick, warm line of blood seeped from the center of his white silk shirt. Süphan’s upper torso slid forward, cleanly severed from his lower body along a millimeter-thin cut, collapsing in two pieces onto the steel floor.

The sweet grandfather mask was obliterated forever inside its own pool of blood.

The second victim of Room 4 was Süphan—killer of twelve workers.

The shackles of the remaining three people—İlkay, Sevgül, and Marut—unlocked mechanically, and the iron bars opened. Bathed in fresh victim blood and the crimson color of their sins, the three survivors had to step over the bisected corpses of Cevdet and Süphan.

The heavy steel door to Room 5 opened with a loud roar, spilling dim, misty light into the hallway. The mechanical voice delivered the final decree:

"Room 4 is closed. The sweet-masked monster was sliced in two by the steel wire. Now, you remaining three... proceed to Room 5 wearing the blood-red color of your sins. Remember, the scale of justice has not yet balanced. Walk!"

İlkay, Sevgül, and Marut ran toward Room 5, leaping over the corpses amid sobs and venomous glares.