Chapter 227

Chapter 227

Thanks to sleeping deeply in comfortable beds, Zeon’s group was full of energy from morning.

Briel and Eloy’s freshly washed skin shone with a glow.

“Now I feel like I can live.”

“As expected, people should live in civilization.”

“Don’t make me laugh, little one! You’re not even human......”

“And what about you?”

“Who are you calling ‘you,’ when I’m your elder sister?”

“How funny! Coming from a half-elf......”

“A High Elf who was addicted to drugs has no room to talk......”

Seeing the two women bickering from early morning again, Levin simply accepted it as usual.

It was not a sight he had seen only once or twice.

Levin approached Zeon.

“What are we doing for breakfast?”

“We should eat.”

“Do you know a decent restaurant?”

“I found out about one.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. I met someone I know.”

The person Zeon was referring to was Will.

Will had given him various pieces of information and introduced him to a restaurant. He had said it was the most edible place in the Mana Stone Mine.

“Then let’s go together.”

At that moment, Jang Yong-beom’s voice sounded.

Perhaps because Jang Yong-beom’s party had also slept deeply through the night, they looked full of energy.

There was no reason to refuse, so Zeon nodded.

“Let’s do that.”

“I hope it tastes good. There are almost no proper restaurants in the Mana Stone Mine.”

“Don’t expect too much.”

“Heh-heh! I won’t.”

Zeon and Jang Yong-beom’s group all went to the restaurant Will had introduced.

Like most restaurants in the Mana Stone Mine, this place was also extremely shabby. There were not many seats either, so once Zeon and Jang Yong-beom’s group entered, it was full.

What the restaurant owner brought out was an unidentified dish halfway between gukbap and stew, filled with meat.

“It smells pretty good.”

“Oh!”

Without anyone needing to say who should start first, the eight of them began moving their spoons diligently.

The harmony between cultured meat raised in a factory, rice, and the broth made with the owner’s own secret method was outstanding.

They ate so intently that before they knew it, the bottoms of their bowls were showing.

Eloy and Briel put down their spoons with satisfied expressions.

“That was really amazing.”

“My heart feels peaceful.”

The two always bickered, but at least this time, their opinions matched.

The others were the same.

Only the large-bodied Mountain seemed unsatisfied with this much, so he ordered several more bowls.

Giselle scolded him when she saw that.

“Ugh! You pig. Can all of that really fit in your stomach?”

“Heehee! Yes.”

“Fine! Eat as much as you want. This big sister will pay for all of it.”

“Thank you!”

Mountain smiled with an innocent expression, not realizing Giselle was being sarcastic. At that, Giselle clicked her tongue.

Picking a fight only worked when the other party accepted it.

With someone like Mountain, who had no thoughts at all, a verbal fight itself could not happen.

Levin patted his bulging stomach and said,

“This place is really decent. I didn’t know a restaurant like this was hidden in the Mana Stone Mine.”

“It tastes better than I expected.”

Zeon agreed with Levin’s opinion as well.

After sleeping deeply in a proper bed and eating a delicious meal, he felt as if he had nothing to envy in the world.

The seven people, excluding Mountain, sat blankly in their chairs and enjoyed the drowsy feeling.

It was a peace they had not felt in a long time.

They wanted to enjoy that peace for a long while. But the murmur of people coming from far away dragged them back to reality.

“Waaaah!”

“I’ve never seen anything this big before.”

“This is insane. Completely insane!”

There was no explanation of what exactly was insane, but it was enough to draw the curiosity of Zeon’s group and Jang Yong-beom’s party.

Zeon stood from his seat.

“It seems something happened at the Mana Stone Mine.”

“We have plenty of time anyway, so let’s go take a look.”

Jang Yong-beom answered with a curious expression.

To him, the Mana Stone Mine was not a destination but a stopover.

It was nothing more and nothing less than a place he passed through when heading out on external missions.

Because of that, he did not know much about the Mana Stone Mine’s circumstances.

Zeon’s group and Jang Yong-beom’s party moved toward the place where people were murmuring.

The place they arrived at was the entrance to the Mana Stone Mine.

Countless people had gathered at the mine entrance.

Most of them were miners who worked at the Mana Stone Mine.

The miners’ gazes were focused on a large rock.

The rock, shining dark blue, was as enormous as Mountain standing beside Jang Yong-beom.

Zeon recognized the rock’s identity at a glance.

“A Mana Stone?”

“And top-grade at that.”

The corners of Jang Yong-beom’s eyes trembled.

The rock the miners were looking at was the largest Mana Stone ever mined from the Mana Stone Mine.

It was the largest among the Mana Stones mined over the past hundred years, and its purity was also tremendous.

Even from a distance, the immense mana contained within the top-grade Mana Stone could be felt.

Eloy frowned and said,

“With this much, it would be more than enough to handle Neo Seoul’s power for over a year.”

“That’s really insane.”

Aiden shook his head with a sickened expression.

Maintaining Neo Seoul required an enormous amount of Mana Stones.

Even with steady mining from the Mana Stone Mine, barely matching a year’s supply was difficult.

But with this single Mana Stone, all of Neo Seoul’s electricity for a year could be produced. In other words, it possessed an incredible value.

Jang Yong-beom said,

“They won’t be able to siphon that one off. Neo Seoul will definitely send a special transport vehicle.”

“Do people siphon off Mana Stones? I thought every Mana Stone mined here was taken by City Hall.”

“Heh-heh! Then how do you think the rulers of each district are securing Mana Stones? Everyone is diligently siphoning them off through back channels. For some reason, Jin Geum-ho knows that and turns a blind eye.”

“I see.”

“But if it’s a Mana Stone this large and containing mana this powerful, the story changes. That belongs to Jin Geum-ho. He won’t let anyone else take a top-grade Mana Stone like that.”

Even if it was not used to produce electricity, the uses of a top-grade Mana Stone were endless.

Depending on the research, it could produce groundbreaking results.

There was no way City Hall would allow others to siphon off such an incredible object.

Jang Yong-beom’s face suddenly twisted.

“Damn it!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Now that I think about it, this isn’t good for us at all.”

“What?”

Zeon looked at Jang Yong-beom with a puzzled expression.

“With something this incredible appearing, there’s no way they’ll let the Mana Stone Mine transport it on its own.”

“So?”

“I told you earlier. Personnel for special transport will come.”

“Is that a problem?”

“That part isn’t the problem. The process before that is the problem. To prevent the Mana Stone from being leaked outside, entry and exit at the Mana Stone Mine will definitely be prohibited.”

It was then.

THUD—!

As if proving Jang Yong-beom’s words, the gate at the Mana Stone Mine’s exit closed. The huge iron gate could only be opened by machinery.

Unless the manager opened it, no one could go outside, and no one could enter.

Now the Mana Stone Mine was completely isolated from the outside.

No matter how powerful Jang Yong-beom was, he could no longer go outside without the overseer’s permission.

Zeon asked Jang Yong-beom,

“Then no one can leave until the transport team arrives from Neo Seoul?”

“That’s right!”

“We’ve suddenly been imprisoned.”

“It’s a damn shitty situation.”

Jang Yong-beom looked at the top-grade Mana Stone with a displeased expression.

From Neo Seoul or City Hall’s perspective, it would be the greatest gift. But to someone like Jang Yong-beom, who hated being bound, it was no different from suddenly being shackled.

“When do you think the transport team will arrive?”

“That young lady would know better than anyone. She’s a Supervisor.”

Receiving Jang Yong-beom’s gaze, Eloy answered with a troubled expression.

“A Mana Stone this large has never been mined before. It’s so incredible that its value can’t even be calculated, so they’ll definitely send the best team. Gathering the best team and putting in the commission will take at least a day. Then it’ll take another day to reach the Mana Stone Mine. So we’ll have to stay here for at least two days.”

“That’s what she says.”

Jang Yong-beom wrinkled the tip of his nose.

Zeon looked at the main gate of the Mana Stone Mine in the distance.

A wall dozens of meters high and an enormous iron gate that looked more than ten meters tall.

To ordinary people, it was a cliff they could never cross, but for an Awakened like Zeon, it was not impossible to climb over if he decided to. Even so, he did not cross it because he knew that the moment he arbitrarily crossed that wall, he would be expelled from the excellent system called Neo Seoul.

Those expelled from Neo Seoul’s system were never accepted again. Awakened knew very well how harsh that was.

Zeon had no desire to give up a convenient system for no reason either.

“I suppose we should just think of it as receiving a vacation and rest for two full days.”

“What should we do during that time?”

“Whatever it is, it’ll be better than rolling around in a sand pit in the desert.”

Levin, Eloy, and Briel also accepted reality.

They would only be staying two days longer.

The lodging and food were excellent, so there was no reason to be disappointed.

Zeon said to them,

“You heard that, right? We only have to stay two more days, so don’t cause trouble and behave yourselves.”

“Is it free time?”

“When have I ever forced you? Relax and do what you want.”

“Yes, sir!”

Levin answered with a bright smile.

Jang Yong-beom also ordered his party members to rest for two days.

After everyone scattered, Zeon remained alone and looked at the top-grade Mana Stone.

He did not particularly covet it just because it was a top-grade Mana Stone. That was because he had seen many Mana Stones more precious than that.

Mana Stones from Grade S monsters or boss-level monsters contained mana far stronger than that.

However, they were not easy to refine, so they were unsuitable for power generation like this.

At that moment, the Awakened stationed at the Mana Stone Mine rushed over in a crowd.

They loaded the enormous Mana Stone onto the vehicle they had ridden and said,

“Hurry and move it to the warehouse.”

“If we lose this, all of us are dead. We have to guard the warehouse thoroughly.”

Tension could be felt in their voices.

Even though they were only moving it from the Mana Stone Mine to the warehouse, every nerve in their bodies was on edge.

People stepped far away, knowing that if they touched them wrongly at a time like this, it would not end with just getting beaten.

Only then did Zeon leave.

‘Again. I don’t know whether incidents follow me around, or whether I’m the one calling them in.’

For some reason, wherever he went, major incidents always happened.

This time was the same.

He had merely stopped by briefly on his way back to Neo Seoul, and such a large top-grade Mana Stone had been mined.

It was the first time in a hundred years.

Coincidentally, this happened as soon as Zeon arrived.

As if the god of fate were playing a prank.

The top-grade Mana Stone was loaded onto the vehicle and headed to the warehouse, and the gathered miners also dispersed.

Zeon no longer felt any need to stay there and left.

“Huh? You bastard!”

At that moment, someone grabbed Zeon hard by the shoulder and shouted.

When Zeon turned around, a rough-looking man was glaring at him.

Judging from the many scars on the forearms exposed by his rolled-up sleeves, he seemed to have lived quite a harsh life.

The man tightened his grip on Zeon’s shoulder and said,

“You’re that bastard, aren’t you?”

“Pardon?”

“Fuck! It is you. The bastard who ran away.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re the bastard who ran away after I threw you into the Mana Stone Mine eight years ago. You son of a bitch! Do you know how much trouble I was in because of you?”

Only then could Zeon recall the man’s identity.

“Park...... Man-ho?”

“Am I your friend? You fucking bastard!”

SMACK—!

Park Man-ho struck the back of Zeon’s head with a hand as large as a pot lid.

It contained enough force that an ordinary person’s skull would have cracked.

After being struck unexpectedly on the back of the head, Zeon’s hair was disheveled.

This was the first time in recent years that Zeon had been hit by someone.

It was a situation where he should naturally have felt displeased, but Zeon was smiling.

White teeth showed between his tousled hair.

“I’d completely forgotten, but here we meet again. Good to see you.”

Park Man-ho.

He was the man who had forcibly pushed Zeon into Shaft 972 when Zeon first came to the Mana Stone Mine eight years ago.