Chapter 64
Neo Seoul stood tall in the middle of a vast desert, like an island rising from an ocean of sand.
Just like the old Las Vegas once did, it was a city that existed in the heart of a desert.
What made Neo Seoul special, however, was the presence of a mountain.
For some reason, Bukhansan—which had once served as the lungs of old Seoul—had been perfectly preserved.
Thanks to this, the citizens living inside Neo Seoul could fully enjoy the lush greenery and fresh air of Bukhansan.
With Bukhansan acting as a natural barrier to the north and a massive wall constructed to the south, the city was well protected.
Within such a stable environment, Neo Seoul developed rapidly.
As magic and science merged, hundreds-of-stories-high skyscrapers—once unimaginable—rose everywhere.
For Neo Seoul, this was an unavoidable choice.
Safe land was limited, yet the population kept increasing. Survivors of the Great Cataclysm flocked to Neo Seoul in search of safety.
To accommodate them, the city expanded underground and built endlessly toward the sky. Even so, there were limits to how many people it could house.
Eventually, Neo Seoul shut its gates.
It was determined that accepting more people would make it impossible to sustain the city.
Even after its closure, however, survivors continued to gather. They settled beneath the walls of Neo Seoul.
At first, it was no more than a small village, but over time it grew to rival Neo Seoul itself in size.
Houses were stacked upon houses, expanded again and again, until the slums came to resemble the old Kowloon Walled City.
The maze-like alleys and haphazardly piled structures were so dense that even in broad daylight, sunlight barely reached inside.
For some reason, monsters never came near Neo Seoul, and thanks to that, over the course of more than a hundred years, the slums grew to a scale comparable to the city itself.
To enter Neo Seoul, one had to pass through a road that cut through the center of the slums.
The people of the slums called this road the Path to Heaven.
It was the only way into Neo Seoul. But despite its name, the Path to Heaven was neither beautiful nor glorious.
Rather, it was grim and ominous.
Because everyone who had tried to enter Neo Seoul through it had met a miserable end.
Only a handful of people could pass through the Path to Heaven—those who were already citizens of Neo Seoul or who possessed official passes.
Anyone else would be attacked the moment they approached the city gates.
Rrrrr—!
A ragged armored bus, torn and battered like a piece of cloth, appeared on the Path to Heaven.
Grrrr—!
Its engine, so damaged it was a miracle it could still move, wheezed like a person on the verge of death.
People nearby turned their curious gazes toward the bus.
It had been a long time since an armored bus returned in such a wrecked state.
At that moment, the bus stopped, and someone stepped out.
It was a man wearing a dark crimson robe pulled low over his head.
After exchanging a few words with someone inside the bus, he turned away.
As the bus departed toward Neo Seoul, the man, now alone, stepped off the Path to Heaven and entered the slums.
“What the hell is that guy?”
“Looks like we could make some money if we rob him.”
A group of men gathered in one corner of the slums exchanged glances.
At a glance, they looked thoroughly disreputable.
They swaggered over toward the man who had just gotten off the bus.
“Hey!”
“Mind if we have a little chat?”
They surrounded him, creating a threatening atmosphere.
They called it a conversation, but it was clearly intimidation.
“What is it? I don’t feel like talking with you.”
“Cocky bastard. You just got back from a magic stone mine, didn’t you? How much did you make?”
“Hand over everything you earned, and we’ll let you go. Heh!”
The men drew the knives at their waists and pointed them at him.
At that moment, the man who had stepped off the bus pushed back his hood. His face was revealed.
He had long hair that reached his shoulders and sun-tanned skin. Handsome, with a fresh, easy smile.
But what stood out the most were his deep eyes, like black gemstones set in place.
It was Zeon.
Smiling, Zeon said,
“What a welcome right after returning. Home really is the best.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Did this bastard get shot in the head?”
The men’s expressions twisted viciously.
To an ordinary person, they might have been intimidating—but to Zeon, they meant nothing.
If anything, it made him feel like he had truly returned home.
This was the kind of place where he had been born and raised.
A place without law or order.
The strong took everything, and the weak had nowhere to complain even after losing it all.
A barbaric world where only the strong possessed everything.
That was the slums.
Long ago, Zeon had been at the very bottom here.
He couldn’t even breathe loudly, nor could he show himself before the strong. He had lived here like a bug for eighteen years.
Back then, this place had felt like nothing but hell. But now, returning after so long and receiving such a “welcome,” he couldn’t help but laugh.
The men holding knives frowned even more.
“This son of a bitch smiling like that?”
“Let’s just kill him and take everything.”
Without hesitation, they stabbed their knives into Zeon’s abdomen.
Their movements showed they were no amateurs.
But their blades couldn’t leave even a scratch on him.
The knives were stopped by his robe.
“What the hell? An item?”
“An… Awakener?”
Their eyes trembled.
No matter how reckless they were, they knew better than to underestimate an Awakener.
Even a low-ranked F-class Awakener could wipe them out with a single finger.
Damn it, we’re screwed.
Run!
Just as they exchanged glances—
Zeon lightly kicked the shin of the man standing in front of him.
But the result was anything but light.
Crack!
“Aaaagh!”
The man’s shin snapped, bending at a grotesque angle.
Seeing this, the others fled in different directions.
They had no sense of loyalty toward each other.
But before they could even take a few steps, Zeon caught up with all of them.
As if using a cloning technique, Zeon instantly caught up to all the men and struck them down in a single blow.
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
Their screams echoed through the streets, yet not a single person came out.
The men rolled on the ground, clutching their broken arms and legs.
Zeon crouched in front of one of them. The man, forgetting even his pain, pleaded desperately.
“P-please… spare me!”
“It’s my first day back home. I can’t just go around killing people.”
“Th-thank you…”
“Instead, hand over everything you’ve got.”
“…What?”
“Didn’t you hear me? Give me everything you have.”
At Zeon’s threat, the man stared blankly, momentarily forgetting his pain.
“Don’t even think about hiding anything. If I find something after searching you, I’ll break your other arm too.”
“Ghk!”
In the end, the man, sobbing with tears and snot running down his face, handed over everything he had.
Zeon did the same to the others, taking all their belongings.
He felt no guilt.
This was normal here.
They had attacked without even judging their opponent properly—if they died, they’d have no one to blame.
Still, he hadn’t taken their lives, so they would somehow manage to survive.
Leaving the men behind, Zeon moved on.
Nothing in the slums had changed.
It was as if time had stopped, everything exactly as it used to be.
Buildings packed so tightly that sunlight couldn’t even enter, and people wandering the streets without energy.
Due to a lack of electricity, most homes were dark.
He could feel eyes watching him from the unlit windows.
The people living here had an uncanny ability to sense those who were different from them.
They could immediately tell who didn’t carry the damp, musty scent unique to the slums.
Zeon was one of those people now.
Someone who didn’t belong in the slums anymore.
That was why they were wary of him.
Zeon knew this, but he didn’t care.
He had already expected it.
Savoring the atmosphere of his hometown, Zeon continued walking.
His destination was Sinchon, the western district of the slums.
Neo Seoul had many areas that inherited the names of old Seoul, and Sinchon was one of them.
But aside from the name, nothing of the original Sinchon remained.
Sinchon had another name—Ant Tunnel.
Ant Tunnel was one of the worst areas in the slums.
It was where the lowest of the low gathered to live.
Because of that, even slum dwellers rarely approached it.
This was Zeon’s hometown.
He didn’t know if he had been born here, but ever since he could remember, he had lived in this place.
Zeon stopped in front of a shabby building.
It was over thirty stories tall.
No one could tell how many times it had been expanded, but each floor looked different, making the exterior resemble a patchwork of scraps.
An old building from the early days of Neo Seoul, one that looked like it could collapse at any moment—this was where Zeon had lived.
After staring at it for a moment, Zeon stepped inside.
Despite being over thirty stories high, there was no elevator.
He climbed the stairs on foot.
Step by step, he made his way up to the eighteenth floor.
Back then, he used to curse every time he climbed these stairs. Now, his breathing didn’t even quicken.
At last, reaching his destination, Zeon walked toward the room at the end of the corridor.
Room 1820.
It was where he used to live.
While living here, he had once obtained a magic stone by chance.
He killed a neighbor who broke in to steal it, and because of that, he had to flee to the magic stone mines.
Even though he had been forced to abandon it, it didn’t change the fact that this had been his home.
Zeon turned the doorknob.
It didn’t budge. It was locked from the inside.
With no choice, he knocked.
Bang! Bang!
“What the hell? Who is it?”
After a moment, someone inside opened the door angrily.
A massive man over two meters tall, his body covered in tattoos.
He glared at Zeon with a scowl.
“You’ve got some nerve, kid, knocking on someone else’s door.”
“And what are you doing in someone else’s house?”
“What?”
“This is where I used to live.”
“What kind of bullshit are you spouting? In Ant Tunnel, what’s yours or mine? If a place is empty, you just move in.”
The big man frowned.
He had only taken over this place three years ago.
The previous occupant had been killed while dealing drugs.
Since then, he had lived here without interruption.
Zeon smiled.
“I know that. But now that the owner has returned, I’d appreciate it if you vacated as soon as possible.”
“You little bastard…”
Suddenly, the man scanned Zeon’s body with half-lidded eyes.
A grin crept onto his lips, and a lewd glint appeared in his eyes.
“You’re not bad-looking. Fine, come in.”
“Are you going to vacate the place?”
“I said come in first.”
The man grabbed Zeon’s hand and pulled him inside, locking the door behind them.
Blocking the exit, he spoke with a smirk.
“Heh… take off your pants and turn around. I’ll let you live.”
“Tsk. I guess I’ll need to fix the door.”
“What?”
Bang!
At that moment, Zeon’s fist slammed into the man’s abdomen.
The man couldn’t even scream before being sent flying backward.
The hinges broke, and the door shook dangerously.
Zeon thought it was fortunate the door hadn’t been completely destroyed.
The man clutched his stomach and vomited everything inside him.
Once he could breathe a little easier, he wiped his mouth and staggered to his feet.
“You’re dead. Do you even know who I am?”
As the man tried to approach, Zeon’s figure suddenly vanished from his sight.
The next moment, he reappeared right beside him.
Zeon had moved at a speed the man’s eyes couldn’t follow.
Grabbing the man’s head, Zeon slammed it straight into the wall.
Bang!
With a thunderous crash, the wall shook and fragments scattered everywhere.
“Ghhh…!”
The man could only groan under the overwhelming pain.
Zeon spoke quietly.
“I’m not interested in who you are. All I want is for you to vacate this house.”
“Ugh…!”
“Answer.”
“Yes!”
Only then did Zeon release him.
Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Zeon smiled and turned away.
Closing the barely hanging door, he muttered,
“I’ve finally come home.”