Chapter 65

The inside of the house was far more spacious than it looked from the outside.

That was because Zeon’s home had been built in the early days when the slums were first formed. Houses built back then were old, but in return, they were much larger.

Newer homes, on the other hand, were so cramped that just two adults could fill them completely. With land for construction being so limited, it was unavoidable.

Zeon had no idea how many times the owner had changed while he was gone. Naturally, none of them had properly maintained the place.

The house was filled with a horrible stench.

The smell of drugs, the metallic scent of blood, and countless other foul odors mixed together, assaulting his senses.

The first priority was to get rid of the layers of accumulated stench.

Zeon opened the windows wide to ventilate the place. Even so, the smell didn’t fade easily.

He then pulled out a musk gland from a giant one-horned deer from his subspace.

The creature stood over three meters tall—a magical beast. Near its reproductive organs was a special gland that produced a unique fragrance.

If a piece of this gland was placed in water, it would release an invisible gas that was highly effective at eliminating all kinds of odors.

Zeon filled a basin with water and dropped in about a third of the gland. The water began to bubble, producing gas.

While the gas spread, Zeon stored all the furniture in the house into his subspace.

The worn-out furniture, covered in filth, was beyond saving. It was better to throw it all away and replace it with new items.

Fortunately, Zeon had collected plenty of miscellaneous materials while wandering the desert.

One of them was wood from a blood-sucking tree he had obtained near the lake where he hunted a Leviathan.

The blood-sucking tree was both a plant and a magical beast.

Whenever a living creature passed nearby, it would extend its branches, bind them, and drain their blood.

Once caught, the victim would be drained until death.

Zeon had killed the tree and gathered a considerable amount of its main body.

Wood itself was already a valuable resource.

Using the blood-sucking tree as a frame and covering it with sand eel skin, he quickly fashioned a decent bed and sofa.

With the remaining materials, he repaired the broken door.

By the time he finished, the air inside the house had been completely purified.

The terrible smell that had tormented his nose was gone, replaced by a refreshing fragrance.

“Nice.”

There was still much to repair, but this was enough to rest comfortably for a while without worrying about anything.

Zeon lay down on the bed he had made himself.

It was surprisingly soft, and sleep quickly came over him.

He didn’t resist the drowsiness and let himself drift off.

Before he knew it, he had fallen into a deep sleep.

He didn’t know how long he had slept.

When Zeon opened his eyes again, it was already getting dark outside.

The slums, which had been silent as the grave during the day, began to come alive at night.

Lights flickered on across the area, starting with the electronic billboard on the building across the street, illuminating the shabby alleys.

A billboard showing crossed guns and blades meant there was a weapons dealer nearby, while a red sign with obscene imagery indicated a brothel.

The brightest building of all was a casino.

People who hadn’t been visible during the day now filled the streets.

Drug addicts openly dealing narcotics, people lining up to enter cheap bars, and prostitutes luring passersby.

Boom!

From a few blocks away came the sound of a massive fight breaking out. Yet no one showed fear or concern.

This was everyday life here.

The slums were still a place where people lived.

And wherever people lived, there were bound to be interests and power struggles.

This place, in particular, was an extremely dense population zone with over ten million people. Naturally, the stakes were enormous.

Battles between organizations over territory and profit broke out several times a day.

Here, monsters were not the real threat.

The most dangerous beings in the slums were humans themselves.

Just then—

Bang! Bang!

Someone pounded harshly on Zeon’s door and shouted,

“I know you’re in there! Get out here, you bastard!”

Zeon easily recognized the voice.

It was the man he had thrown out earlier.

And he wasn’t alone.

He had brought more than a dozen others with him.

The man belonged to an organization called Red Skull.

Red Skull was a small criminal group based in Sinchon.

Though not large in scale, they were known for being ruthless and difficult to deal with.

Their leader was Jo Sanghyeok—an F-rank Awakener of the martial type.

Jo Sanghyeok stood with his arms crossed, staring at Room 1820.

No matter how hard his subordinates pounded on the door, it didn’t budge. It looked like it would break with a light tap, yet it remained intact.

Jo Sanghyeok turned to the man.

“Did you reinforce the door or something? What’s going on?”

“Come on, boss. Where would I get money for that? It’s just the same old door.”

The man’s face was flushed red.

He had been pounding with enough force to break it, but the door remained unharmed, and now he was out of breath.

At that moment—

The door, which hadn’t budged despite all the pounding, opened silently.

And Zeon appeared.

“What is it?”

“It’s him! This bastard barged in out of nowhere, claimed it was his house, and beat me up!”

The man shouted at the top of his lungs.

Jo Sanghyeok frowned.

He didn’t like how the man sounded like a whining child, but he was still one of his people.

If he let this slide, it would damage his reputation.

He had to show that anyone who touched him or his men would pay the price.

Jo Sanghyeok stepped forward.

“You. Who the hell are you? Why did you mess with my guy?”

“I’m the owner of this house.”

“What?”

“He was living here without permission, in a place that originally belonged to me. So I kicked him out.”

“You call that an explanation?”

Jo Sanghyeok looked dumbfounded. But Zeon remained serious.

“Why wouldn’t it be? If the original owner returns, the illegal occupant should leave.”

“You got any proof this place is yours?”

“No.”

“You messing with me right now? No proof, and you say it’s yours?”

“Yes.”

“You little bastard…”

At last, Jo Sanghyeok’s anger exploded.

At Jo Sanghyeok’s anger, his subordinates stepped forward first.

“Make this bastard kneel.”

“Cocky little punk…”

Just as they flexed their bulky muscles and surrounded Zeon—

Thud-thud-thud!

Suddenly, a series of heavy impact sounds rang out.

The next moment, the men surrounding Zeon collapsed like sandcastles.

Their eyes rolled back, foam spilling from their mouths.

“You… you’re an Awakener?”

Jo Sanghyeok’s eyes trembled.

There was no way an ordinary human could take down over a dozen grown men in an instant.

Zeon shrugged.

“As you can see…”

“Ha! Damn it. So you were acting all high and mighty because of your tiny bit of power?”

“I was never acting high and mighty.”

“What rank are you? Show me your badge, you bastard!”

“If I show you my rank, you’ll die.”

“What?”

“You’ll die.”

“This bastard’s bluffing…”

“Does it look like a bluff?”

Zeon smiled.

In that instant, a chill ran through Jo Sanghyeok’s entire body.

It was the instinctive reaction that only appeared when one sensed a life-threatening danger.

He hadn’t felt something like this since the life-or-death clash with a rival organization not long ago.

Jo Sanghyeok instinctively realized that Zeon was far from ordinary.

If he could, he would have backed off right then and there.

But he couldn’t.

He had his pride.

“Fuck it!”

Jo Sanghyeok swung his massive fist.

As a martial-type Awakener, his punch carried tremendous force. But in Zeon’s eyes, it was laughably weak.

Dodging the punch, Zeon delivered a light strike to his chest.

But the result was anything but light.

BOOM!

“Guaaah!”

Jo Sanghyeok was sent flying, letting out a pig-like scream. His chest was caved in.

If Zeon hadn’t held back, he would have died instantly.

The only reason he was still alive was because he was an Awakener.

From a single blow, Jo Sanghyeok felt as though his entire body was falling apart.

His muscles went limp, his insides felt like they were melting.

His vision blurred, losing all focus.

It took a long time before his senses returned.

“Cough!”

After coughing up a mouthful of blood, the paralysis eased.

That was when he saw Zeon.

Zeon was crouched in front of him, meeting his gaze.

Those deep black eyes, impossible to measure, stared directly into him.

The moment their eyes met, Jo Sanghyeok’s pupils shook violently.

It felt as though just looking into Zeon’s eyes would melt his brain.

It was the result of the overwhelming difference in their levels.

Only then did Jo Sanghyeok realize—

The opponent before him was a high-rank Awakener he could never hope to challenge.

D-rank? No… maybe even C-rank or higher.

The strongest rank he could imagine was C-rank.

Even an F-rank could form a small gang like his. An E-rank could command several such groups.

From D-rank onward, one could even be scouted into Neo Seoul.

Jo Sanghyeok’s ultimate goal was to enter Neo Seoul.

Leaving this miserable place behind and stepping into a world of advanced civilization—that was the dream of everyone in the slums.

Zeon was more than qualified to enter Neo Seoul.

Why someone like him had come to a place like this was beyond understanding, but one thing was certain—he was not someone Jo Sanghyeok could oppose.

Zeon spoke.

“Do you still have a problem with me living here?”

“N-no problem.”

“I thought so. I don’t care what you do. Just make sure I can live here quietly. You can promise that, right?”

“I p-promise.”

“Good.”

Zeon smiled and stood up.

He could kill Jo Sanghyeok with just a flick of his finger.

But there was no point.

Even if he killed him, others would crawl in like cockroaches to take his place.

It was better to leave someone who feared him in charge of managing the area.

After a while, Jo Sanghyeok and his subordinates, having regained some strength, stood up.

As they were about to leave, Zeon spoke again.

“It’d be best if you don’t go around talking about what happened today. Whenever you feel like opening your mouth, remember this.”

At that moment, a massive fireball formed around Zeon’s body.

“Gasp!”

Jo Sanghyeok and his men’s eyes widened in shock.

A magic-type… and a fire-element Awakener at that.

Even at the same rank, magic-type Awakeners were treated as more valuable than martial types.

Among them, fire-element users were considered especially powerful—alongside lightning, they possessed some of the greatest destructive force.

Because of that, fire-type Awakeners were highly prized even in Neo Seoul.

“We w-won’t say a word. Don’t worry.”

Jo Sanghyeok replied with slurred speech, his tongue still stiff from shock.

Only then did Zeon smile in satisfaction and dismiss the fireball.

“You must be busy, so just leave me your address before you go.”

“My address?”

“Don’t want to?”

“N-no.”

Jo Sanghyeok hurriedly wrote it down.

After checking it, Zeon said,

“You can go now.”

“Th-thank you.”

Jo Sanghyeok and his men bowed their heads and quickly ran down the stairs.

Once outside, Jo Sanghyeok immediately began beating one of his subordinates—the one who had brought them there.

“You bastard! Said it was nothing, huh? Is that nothing?”

“I’m sorry! Agh!”

“Because of you, we almost died! And you say it’s nothing?”

“I was wrong! Please spare me!”

Jo Sanghyeok vented all the humiliation he had suffered onto the subordinate.

The man who had once occupied Zeon’s home was beaten senseless and collapsed.

Breathing heavily, Jo Sanghyeok glared at the others.

“Make sure today’s incident doesn’t leak. If this gets out, you die—and I die too.”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

The subordinates answered quickly.

Jo Sanghyeok then looked up at the building where Zeon lived, his face twisted.

Damn it… why did a monster like that have to crawl into my territory?

A deep sigh escaped his lips.