Chapter 61
After guiding Mandy and Kim Sang-sik to their lodging, Cha Dong-seok stepped outside.
There was no doubt about the identities of the two.
Kim Sang-sik’s access card had been the decisive proof.
The problem was Zeon.
How to treat an Awakened from the slums was entirely up to him.
“They’ve probably trained him well on their own, right?”
They had worked together for a long time.
Just from his gaze, they could tell exactly what Cha Dong-seok wanted.
They would have taken care of breaking Zeon in properly.
It wasn’t that they held any personal grudge against him.
In Neo Seoul, this kind of thing happened all the time.
Especially, there was a widespread belief that Awakened from the slums had to be treated harshly to crush their spirit.
Even if trouble arose from this, those above wouldn’t question it.
He arrived in front of the shabby lodging where Zeon had been taken.
But strangely, it was quiet.
“No way… they didn’t kill the bastard, did they?”
Feeling uneasy, Cha Dong-seok flung the door open.
The moment he saw inside, he doubted his own eyes. The scene before him was unbelievable.
“Ugh! Boss…!”
“Ghh…!”
All of his subordinates were sprawled on the floor, groaning.
Their arms and legs were twisted in grotesque directions as they crawled on the ground.
And in the middle of it all was Zeon.
Zeon sat on a chair, looking at Cha Dong-seok.
“Welcome.”
“What the hell? Why are they…?”
Startled, Cha Dong-seok drew his sword.
Scrape!
Zeon stood up from the chair and walked toward him.
Cha Dong-seok pointed his sword at Zeon’s neck.
“Did you do this to them?”
“They tried to check someone else’s rank insignia without permission.”
“And for something like that, you did this to them? You son of a—”
“If you swing that sword, your wrist won’t come out unscathed either.”
“And you think you can still enter Neo Seoul after this?”
“It doesn’t matter as long as I don’t go into Neo Seoul. I’ll just stay in the slums.”
“Grr…!”
Cha Dong-seok clenched his teeth.
Though Neo Seoul and the slums were adjacent, they were practically separate zones.
Neo Seoul rarely interfered in matters of the slums.
Getting involved would only create more trouble, so a certain level of autonomy was allowed.
Zeon stepped right up to him.
They were so close they could feel each other’s breath, and Cha Dong-seok could see Zeon’s eyes.
Deep black eyes that felt unnaturally dry.
For a moment, a chill ran down his spine.
Just meeting Zeon’s gaze made him feel as if his soul was plunging into an abyss, leaving him dizzy.
He had never felt anything like this before.
Not even from high-ranking Awakened in Neo Seoul had he felt such pressure.
Though only D-rank, he was still a veteran who had gone through all kinds of rough situations.
The moment he realized things had gone wrong, he immediately changed his stance.
“My apologies. You should have told us you were a high-ranking Awakened.”
“Didn’t Mandy and Mr. Kim Sang-sik vouch for me? Looks like you already forgot.”
“That… I’m sorry.”
When you bow, you bow properly.
Cha Dong-seok didn’t make excuses and offered a clear apology.
His subordinates weren’t particularly weak.
They were all D-rank or E-rank Awakened.
Yet none of them had managed to even scratch Zeon and had been utterly defeated.
If stepping in himself wouldn’t change the situation, it was better to let it end here and withdraw.
Fortunately, Zeon had no intention of escalating things further.
“Then there’s no problem between us, right?”
“What problem could there have been?”
“That’s good. Glad you’re someone reasonable.”
“I’ll arrange a different lodging for you.”
“No need. This is more than enough.”
“But…”
“I’d like to be alone now.”
“…Understood. Then please rest well.”
Cha Dong-seok bowed his head slightly to Zeon, then shouted at his subordinates.
“Hey, you bastards! Can’t you get up? Move it, all of you!”
“Ugh…!”
“Urgh!”
The subordinates struggled to their feet.
Cha Dong-seok left with them.
Once the sounds outside disappeared, Zeon muttered,
“Now I can finally rest.”
It had been a kind of initiation he had to go through anyway.
If things could be settled at this level, it wasn’t a bad outcome for him either.
Zeon sat down and looked around the inside of the lodging.
Suddenly, a faint smile appeared on his face.
“So it’s this place.”
It was the very lodging he had stayed in eight years ago when he first came to the Magic Stone Mine.
Nothing had changed, so he recognized it immediately.
He had slept here for one day before being dragged to the mine, and from there, he had fallen into a dungeon. Eight years had passed since then.
Now, Zeon was no longer a child, nor did he have any reason to work in the mine.
And yet, being here made him feel as though he would be sent back into the Magic Stone Mine at any moment.
“Come to think of it, that old man was here too, wasn’t he?”
That old swindler had the nerve to charge ten sols for a single meal and then snatch a magic stone worth three hundred sols for only a hundred.
In return, Zeon had received an hourglass and obtained Exion, but the fact that he had been scammed didn’t change.
Even after all this time, the old man’s face remained vivid in his memory.
“His name was old man Clexi, right? Maybe I should go see his face again.”
There wasn’t much to do staying inside anyway.
Zeon stepped outside.
Fortunately, perhaps because Cha Dong-seok had given prior instructions, no one tried to pick a fight with him or block his way.
Thanks to that, Zeon was able to comfortably reach the area where old man Clexi used to run his business.
This place hadn’t changed much either.
As soon as Zeon appeared, merchants popped up from all directions.
“Come take a look over here!”
“Got some good stuff here!”
“You look like a complete newbie—get yourself geared up here before you go!”
The merchants’ eyes gleamed with greed.
They saw Zeon as a rookie and were trying to fleece him however they could.
This kind of thing was routine here.
If you didn’t stay sharp, you’d get stripped down to the bone before you knew it.
Ignoring their calls, Zeon looked around—but old man Clexi was nowhere to be seen.
With no other choice, he approached one of the merchants trying to lure him in.
“I’ve got a question.”
“You can ask ten if you want. Just buy something from me afterward…”
“If there’s anything worth buying, I will.”
“Good! Go ahead and ask.”
“Where did old man Clexi go? He definitely used to run a stall here.”
“Ah, that old man? Packed everything up and went into Neo Seoul not long ago.”
“So he’s not dead?”
“If that old man’s going to die, it’ll be decades from now. He’s tough as nails.”
“I see.”
“Now then, pick something. I’ll give you a good price.”
The merchant spread his arms wide.
Behind him, countless items were piled up.
Zeon looked around, wondering if there might be something like the hourglass that had given him Exion—but nothing caught his eye.
“Nothing I need here. I’ll be going.”
“Hey! Don’t be like that. Buy something—I’ll give you a discount.”
The merchant roughly grabbed Zeon’s shoulder.
No one who entered this district was allowed to leave empty-handed.
There was an unspoken rule—you had to buy at least one thing before leaving.
Of course, it was a rule made by the merchants themselves.
But Zeon dismissed such rules lightly.
“No thanks. Why would I buy trash?”
“Trash? You little—!”
The merchant’s eyes flared.
Internally, he thought this was perfect.
Now he had an excuse to squeeze a lot out of Zeon.
He tightened his grip on Zeon’s shoulder.
At that moment, Zeon clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Tsk. Didn’t anyone teach you what happens when you touch someone without permission?”
“What did you say—”
Crack!
A chilling sound of something snapping echoed.
“GAAAH!”
Overwhelmed by pain, the merchant collapsed, clutching his wrist.
It hung limply—broken.
Zeon had snapped it.
“That’s what happens to your wrist.”
“You bastard!”
The merchant screamed in fury.
At that, nearby merchants began gathering one by one.
Naturally, they were trying to create an atmosphere of intimidation.
This was how newcomers ended up being stripped down to their underwear.
Just like Zeon had been in the past.
But the Zeon of now was no longer that inexperienced rookie.
Swish!
Zeon rolled up his sleeve, revealing the gauntlet on his fist.
The approaching merchants flinched.
Ordinary people rarely wore equipment like gauntlets.
Only Awakened did.
Which meant this young man, smiling faintly, was an Awakened.
“Ahem! Now that I think about it, I left my shop open…”
“Oh, right—I left a pot on the fire.”
“Oof! My leg!”
The merchants made excuses and quickly returned to their stalls.
The merchant with the broken wrist looked betrayed—but this was reality.
Even dozens of ordinary people couldn’t take on a single Awakened.
If he had anyone to blame, it was his own recklessness for trying to fleece someone without realizing he was an Awakened.
“Damn it…!”
His eyes welled up with tears.
Zeon crouched down and met his gaze.
“Now then, let’s settle the bill.”
“The bill? What nonsense are you talking about? You broke my wrist!”
“Come on now. You tried to treat me like an easy mark first. You got burned trying to scam an Awakened, and now you’re making that face? That’s a bit much, don’t you think?”
“Guh…!”
“Let’s keep it simple. One hundred sols. Just one hundred, and I’ll forget everything that happened today.”
Back then, old man Clexi had taken Zeon’s magic stone and given him only one hundred sols.
It had easily been worth three hundred.
At the time, inexperienced and with nowhere to go, Zeon had been helpless.
But now things were different.
Zeon grinned as he looked at the merchant.
But to the merchant, that smile felt like crushing pressure.
‘Damn it… not a sucker—a reaper.’
There was nowhere to complain.
This was the Magic Stone Mine—if you couldn’t fleece someone, you had no right to complain when you got stripped instead.
The one who lost was the fool.
With his good hand, he pulled out one hundred sols.
The hand he used to pass the money trembled.
It hurt so much he felt like crying blood—but Zeon coldly took the money.
“Thanks. I won’t have to worry about money for a while. Wonder if anyone else wants to mess with me? That’d be nice.”
Zeon muttered as he tucked the money away.
The merchant shuddered at the sight.
‘He’s a demon… robbing someone like me.’
Leaving the dazed merchant behind, Zeon leisurely exited the market district.
Quite a lot had happened on his very first day at the Magic Stone Mine.
It was nice—not being bored.
Zeon slowly wandered through the mining city.
Most of the miners were still in the tunnels, so the city was quiet. Still, quite a few people moved about the streets.
It had been a long time since he’d seen so many people gathered in one place.
Zeon sat down along one side of the street and watched the passersby.
It wasn’t perfect, but he could feel it—
He had stepped back into the edge of the civilized world.
‘Not bad.’