Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Zeon recognized them at a glance.

‘Jang Yong-beom’s party.’

They were the party that had saved Zeon eight years ago when he had been attacked by a Sandworm in the middle of the desert.

Without their help, Zeon would no longer have been of this world.

Unlike Zeon, who remembered them immediately, Jang Yong-beom’s party did not recognize him.

Giselle glared at Aiden.

“I told you, why did you insist on stopping by the casino and making this mess?”

“How was I supposed to know we’d get cleaned out like this?”

“You said you were confident.”

“I was confident. I just didn’t know that big dumb bastard would bet everything in one go.”

Aiden glared at Mountain, who was grinning foolishly behind him.

Mountain was at the root of this entire situation.

Of all people, they had entrusted a large sum of money to Mountain, and he had bet it all on a single round.

Naturally, the dealer won, and Mountain lost all their money.

Jang Yong-beom realized it belatedly, but by then they were already penniless.

Jang Yong-beom said,

“Whose idea was it to entrust the money to Mountain?”

“I’m sorry. I thought he would be the safest......”

Aiden could not lift his head.

He had no face to show Jang Yong-beom.

“There’s no helping it. We’ll have to work.”

“I thought it was strange that we got to rest comfortably for a few days. You big dumb lump. You do all the work.”

Giselle kicked Mountain in the butt. Even so, Mountain only grinned.

Like that, Jang Yong-beom’s party passed by Zeon, laughing and talking among themselves.

“Hm?”

Suddenly, Jang Yong-beom turned around.

Giselle looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“The man who just passed us.”

“The handsome one?”

“......”

“What about him?”

“Doesn’t he look familiar?”

“What? Not at all. If I’d seen a man that handsome, there’s no way I would’ve forgotten him.”

“No. I’m certain I’ve seen him somewhere.”

Jang Yong-beom stroked his chin with his finger and searched his memory. But no matter how hard he thought, no name came to mind.

Zeon had already disappeared among the people and could no longer be seen. Yet the lingering trace he had left behind kept Jang Yong-beom from moving.

---

‘He has a good memory. To think he still remembers someone he passed by only once.’

Jang Yong-beom had muttered quietly to himself, but Zeon heard him clearly.

‘That man hasn’t changed, whether it was eight years ago or now. He still looks strong.’

The only difference was that in the past, he had felt so overwhelming that Zeon could not even approach him, but now Zeon did not feel that from him.

Perhaps it was because Zeon had become incomparably stronger than he had been back then.

Zeon got a room at the front desk.

His room was on the fifteenth floor.

He was about to head up the stairs without thinking, then remembered that this was Neo Seoul.

Naturally, every high-rise building in Neo Seoul had an elevator.

Elevators, which were precious in the slums, were everywhere here.

The elevator carried him to the fifteenth floor very quickly and comfortably.

Thanks to that, he was able to enter his room without using any strength.

The hotel room was very small. It was incomparably smaller than Zeon’s house in the slums. Even so, it had everything it needed.

It was full of all kinds of electrical devices and convenient facilities that Zeon had never seen before.

“What is this......?”

With a dumbfounded expression, Zeon pressed the handle of the kettle. Soon, the water boiled and steam leaked out.

Even that sight was quite shocking to Zeon.

The people living in Neo Seoul probably had no idea what a tremendous blessing it was to enjoy civilized life so casually.

“Whew!”

Zeon sat on the bed and looked out at Neo Seoul.

The splendid, overwhelming scenery of Neo Seoul spread before him.

Even though it was night, the streets and buildings shone brightly with dazzling lights.

“It’s a completely different world from the slums.”

It was far more splendid and impressive than he had vaguely imagined.

This seemed to be why, when an Awakened appeared in the slums, they tried so desperately to enter Neo Seoul.

Once someone became accustomed to such comfortable living, they would never want to return to the slums again.

Zeon lay on the bed and tried to sleep, but perhaps because of the excitement of having entered Neo Seoul, sleep did not come easily.

“Whew! I suppose I’ll go to the casino.”

In the end, Zeon gave up on sleeping.

Mandy had told him not to go to the casino, saying he would ruin himself. But now that he had entered Neo Seoul, he thought it would not be bad to visit once.

Zeon went outside and took the elevator.

The moment he opened the door to the casino on the first basement floor and stepped inside, the air changed.

It was filled with scorching heat and madness that paralyzed reason.

“Good!”

“Fuck! Just hold on a little more.”

“One more turn.”

“Waaaah!”

At the people’s madness-filled shouts, Zeon frowned without realizing it.

There was not a single sane-looking person.

Most of the people had bloodshot eyes and were absorbed in the gambling happening right in front of them.

They looked as if they would erupt like volcanoes if someone so much as brushed past them. That was how heated they were.

“Waaaah!”

“Aaah!”

When the dealer flipped the cards, joy and grief crossed paths.

The winners smiled brightly as if they had gained the whole world, while the losers wore expressions as if they had lost their parents.

Maintaining composure in this place was nearly impossible.

Once civilization had been rebuilt and people had become able to make a living to some extent, casinos appeared in the city.

Even so, the casinos of the old era had lines that had to be observed.

The amount of betting, the kinds of gambling, and the people allowed to enter.

Even if only formally, there had been some degree of regulation.

But Neo Seoul’s casino had none of that.

Unlimited betting.

Anyone could enter, and anything could become gambling.

In fact, on a ring on one side of the casino, fighters were battling until blood flew.

Right now, Awakened were fighting each other, but sometimes duels between ordinary people also took place.

“Fuck! Just hold on a little more.”

“Kill him! If you don’t kill him, I’ll kill you myself.”

“Yaaaah!”

The spectators screamed at the top of their lungs as they watched the bloody fight.

THWACK! THUD!

“Ghk!”

The fighter struck by his opponent’s fist grimaced, and blood sprayed in every direction.

That sight excited the spectators even more.

‘Grade F martial-type Awakened, perhaps?’

Zeon recognized the fighters’ grades at once.

The world of Awakened was like a pyramid.

At the very bottom were the lowest grade, Grade F, and above that, Grade E and Grade D were stacked in layers.

The higher the grade rose, the more sharply the numbers decreased, and the topmost Grade S Awakened were truly only a small handful.

In Neo Seoul, one had to be at least Grade D to receive proper treatment. Grade E below that was still somewhat better, but the treatment of Grade F was severe.

Among them, martial-type Awakened were barely treated as Awakened at all.

Because of that, many of them drifted into casino rings like this and fought while spilling blood.

The casino gave proper treatment to those who won.

“More, more!”

“Kill him, bastard!”

“Waaaah!”

As the winner was nearly decided, the people went even more mad.

Zeon watched the scene silently.

A martial-type Awakened was, quite literally, someone who had awakened the talent of the body. That was why their fights were so desperate.

They clashed directly with their bodies, judged the other’s strength, then fought with all their might.

There was no room to think about what came after.

They poured everything into a single fight.

THWACK! THWAAACK!

Blood sprayed even from the fist of the one striking.

Even as flesh tore away and bone showed, he struck and struck again.

Only after he had completely sunk his opponent did he release the labored breath he had been holding back.

“Haaah! Hah!”

It felt as if his heart would burst.

His entire body, having poured out its energy in a short time, gave off tremendous heat as steam rose from it.

“The winner is Kim Jun-seok.”

The referee raised the winner’s arm.

At that instant, joy and sorrow crossed paths.

Those who had bet their money on Kim Jun-seok cheered, while those who had bet on the loser sighed.

The winner, Kim Jun-seok, received a large prize.

But the people no longer paid any attention to Kim Jun-seok.

New fighters climbed onto the ring he had left, and people began betting on them.

Zeon watched the entire process from beginning to end.

He understood why people went mad.

But he did not want to throw himself into that gambling pit.

Zeon clicked his tongue and looked elsewhere.

“Waaaah! It hit.”

“It’s a jackpot.”

At that moment, people let out cheers.

A jackpot had appeared on a slot machine.

The one who hit the jackpot was a woman wearing a robe.

Because her hood was pulled low, her true appearance could not be seen, but she was hopping in place, savoring her joy.

“I knew this would happen. It finally hit. Haa! Fuck. I might cry.”

The woman made a show of wiping away tears.

The people around her offered congratulations.

But not a single one of them was truly congratulating her. They were only thinking about how to get some scraps from her, or how to get close to her and suck her dry.

Naturally, the woman also knew the nature of gamblers very well, so she only gave formal thanks and kept her distance.

At the news that a jackpot had hit, the manager hurried over.

The manager told the woman to wait a little and he would exchange her winnings.

The woman nodded and, with a pleased expression, walked over to the bar where Zeon was sitting.

“Hey! Bartender. Give me an Angel Duster.”

“Congratulations, ma’am!”

At the bartender’s words, the woman smiled like a victor and said,

“Hmph! Give everyone sitting at the bar a drink.”

“Yes!”

The bartender answered and busily made cocktails, handing them out to the guests.

Zeon also received a cocktail and thanked the woman.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

“You’re an unfamiliar face. You don’t have the kind of face that belongs here.”

“Is there a particular kind of face that belongs here?”

“Of course. Look around. Look at their faces, at how great their desires are. These are people who don’t care about anyone else’s misfortune. People like that are also numb to their own misfortune. Even knowing gambling is ruin, they still fall into it.”

“You speak as if you aren’t one of them.”

“I’m different from them.”

“In what way?”

“That’s......”

The woman stopped speaking and bit her lip.

Since she had pulled the hood of her robe low, he could not see her nose or face, but from the shape of her lips alone, he could tell that she was extremely displeased.

Zeon apologized.

“I’m sorry. I said something unnecessary.”

“No. It’s not entirely wrong. Whatever the reason, I came here to unwind too.”

“It seems you had a difficult time.”

“It was difficult. It’s been a long time since I used my full strength.”

“I see.”

Zeon nodded and looked at the woman.

His eyes shone sharply.

‘The scent of a Ghost Dragonfly.’

When Ghost Dragonflies died, they released a unique pheromone.

The higher their grade, the more subtle the scent of the pheromone became, and the more distinctive its fragrance.

Most people did not know this fact. But Zeon could distinguish the pheromones of Ghost Dragonflies.

The scent flowing from the woman’s body was that of a Ghost Dragonfly. And not just any Ghost Dragonfly, but the pheromone scent emitted when an extremely powerful individual died.

‘For example, a Queen Ghost Dragonfly.’

The woman raised her glass.

“My name is Claire.”

“I’m Zeon.”

“It was nice to meet you. If fate allows, let’s meet again.”

The woman who introduced herself as Claire stood.

She disappeared among the people in an instant.

Zeon considered following her for a moment, then decided against it.

That was because he had confirmed that the pheromone of a Queen Ghost Dragonfly clung to her.

It was impossible for anyone else, but Zeon had a way to track pheromones.

“Claire......”

Zeon shook his head slightly and set down his glass.

He did not drink a single drop of the liquor Claire had bought.