Chapter 233

Chapter 233

Zeon walked toward the window.

“Has the rumor that I came in here already reached your ears?”

“We’re the Numbers.”

“All information comes to the Numbers first.”

The twin sisters answered with proud expressions.

Zeon looked at Elder Go.

“Then the Mayor must know I was captured too.”

“He knows everything.”

“Does he have any intention of getting me out?”

“No matter how much of a mayor he is, he can’t carelessly release someone accused of wiping out NSSC Team 2.”

“I didn’t do that, though.”

“I know. If it had been you, you would’ve handled it far more efficiently. Still, there are procedures.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Zeon was not disappointed by Elder Go’s answer.

He had already expected as much.

Elder Go said with a serious expression,

“They’re quite cunning. They stole the top-grade Mana Stone without leaving a single trace.”

“Did you take charge of the recovery mission, Elder Go?”

“Heh-heh! It’s about time they let an old man rest, but the Mayor doesn’t seem to have any intention of doing so. He works me to the bone.”

“That must be because you’re capable.”

“I am a little capable. But for my capability to shine, I need information. Do you know anything?”

“There are a few people who consider me a thorn in their side. One of them, or several of them working together, may have planned this.”

“Johan and Lee Ji-ryeong, then? They’re all big shots.”

Elder Go scratched his cheek with a finger.

He was somewhat troubled.

Both Johan, the ruler of Dongdaemun, and Lee Ji-ryeong, who had rapidly expanded his power recently, were burdensome opponents.

The slums had their own laws.

Like Shinchon and Dongdaemun, they were divided into several districts, and each had its own owner. The ruler of each district was no different from a king.

If one carelessly touched them, the entire slums could rise up like a disturbed beehive.

Because of that, Neo Seoul did not interfere in the affairs of the slums unless the matter was truly serious.

It was not because the slums were frightening, but because they were troublesome.

Elder Go was the same.

Johan and Lee Ji-ryeong were both big shots who could not be ignored.

Even if only one of them were involved, the matter would already be burdensome. If both had intervened in this situation, then even Elder Go would have a hard time handling it.

The twin sisters spoke with admiring expressions.

“Wow! Zeon became enemies with people like that? That’s amazing.”

“It must mean Zeon is a big shot too, right? That’s why he gets tangled up with big shots.”

“Is that so?”

“He’s the only Sandmancer on Earth. He is a big shot.”

“That’s true!”

The twin sisters chattered nonstop until his ears almost hurt.

Elder Go clicked his tongue.

“Please understand them. There aren’t many people around whom those girls can relax and act so comfortably.”

“It’s all right.”

“In any case, Johan and Lee Ji-ryeong, is it? It’s been a while since I’ve had such burdensome opponents. I’ll have to be careful.”

“Can you hold them responsible?”

“Responsible for what? Ah! For killing NSSC Team 2? That probably won’t be easy. Recovering the top-grade Mana Stone will be fortunate enough.”

“But you’re the Numbers, aren’t you?”

“Heh-heh! The Numbers aren’t omnipotent. And the Mayor wants us to intervene only to an appropriate degree. He doesn’t want the board completely overturned. As long as the board he arranged isn’t completely ruined, he allows an appropriate level of competition and struggle.”

“That’s incredible.”

“He is an incredible person. That’s why he was able to grow Neo Seoul to this extent. He has no interest in the petty infighting that happens inside Neo Seoul. Of course, if someone crosses the line too far, he’ll impose sanctions without hesitation....... Fortunately, it seems they haven’t crossed the line he set yet.”

Fear was contained in Elder Go’s voice as he spoke of Jin Geum-ho.

Even Elder Go, a member of the Numbers, feared Jin Geum-ho.

It was not simply a matter of force.

What made Jin Geum-ho frightening had nothing to do with his grade or Awakened ability.

Even to Elder Go, who had worked as his hands and feet for a long time, Jin Geum-ho never revealed his true thoughts.

He was definitely drawing some larger picture, but he never showed his subordinates the complete image.

The only one who knew the complete picture was Jin Geum-ho.

Everyone else was merely a component moving to fulfill his will.

Elder Go and the twin sisters, members of the Numbers, were no different.

No one knew what his ideal was, or where the final destination he wanted lay.

They simply believed and followed him.

Even so, they could not help feeling uneasy from time to time.

Compared to Jin Geum-ho, Lee Ji-ryeong and Johan were nothing more than minnows.

The ideals they held and the scale of the pictures they drew were completely different.

“The order the Mayor gave me was not to sanction those who annihilated NSSC, but to recover the top-grade Mana Stone. So if I recover the Mana Stone, my mission is complete.”

“I see.”

“Why? Are you disappointed in the Mayor’s decision?”

“No.”

Zeon shook his head.

The one who knew Jin Geum-ho better than anyone was Deioden. But even he had not told Zeon much about Jin Geum-ho.

He had said that seeing him once would help Zeon understand him far better than hearing a hundred explanations.

Deioden had been right.

The Jin Geum-ho he had seen in person was a giant.

He was so immense that he did not even care about the trivial matters unfolding beneath his feet.

He was the type to let things be, so long as fearless ants did not crawl up his ankles.

Some might look at such a Jin Geum-ho and think he was lenient, but that was a judgment only fools would make.

He ignored ants because he could crush them with a finger at any time, not because he did not pay attention at all.

‘Even the top-grade Mana Stone is only something he needs to pay a little attention to.’

It was a scale an ordinary person’s nerves could never endure.

Elder Go said,

“It seems the allotted visit time is over. We must go now.”

“May I know where this prison is?”

“Why? Are you planning to escape if you know?”

“Is there any reason to? It’s this comfortable.”

“Hmm!”

Elder Go looked at Zeon through narrowed eyes, as if trying to see through his intentions. But no matter how he looked, he could not read Zeon’s inner thoughts.

In the end, he sighed and said,

“Whew! It’s on the border between the Central District and the South District.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“Please don’t cause trouble. The other Numbers aren’t very favorable toward you, so they won’t treat you as gently as I do.”

“What kind of trouble could I cause here? I’ll just think of it as resting.”

“Don’t let that thought change. Then......”

Elder Go and the twin sisters closed the window and left the prison.

Zeon sat in a chair and murmured,

“Between City Hall and the South District....... What a clever location.”

---

“Repent, unbelievers!”

“Follow the Lord’s teachings.”

From dawn, bloodshed swept through Shinchon.

Dongdaemun’s Paladins had raided a tavern in Shinchon.

At the sudden attack, the people inside the tavern shouted.

“Damn it! Fanatics!”

“Everyone, run!”

The people inside the tavern scattered in every direction like locusts. They tried to escape through emergency exits they had prepared in advance, but Paladins were waiting there too.

The Paladins’ merciless attack began, and the Awakened inside the tavern used their Skills in response.

CRASH—! BOOM—!

“Kraaak!”

“Kuhk!”

Explosions and screams echoed inside.

At the center of the Awakened group resisting the Paladins, a man gritted his teeth.

“Was the information leaked?”

He was Eaton, who had become the ruler of Shinchon after Goran.

When Dongdaemun invaded, he had hidden in this tavern.

The tavern was one of the safe houses he had prepared, boasting an ironclad security network. Yet the Paladins had attacked without any warning.

His information had been leaked, while theirs had been cut off.

It was like fighting blindfolded.

In this situation with no way forward or back, Eaton shouted,

“Everyone escape on your own and gather at Safe House No. 3.”

It was an order for every man to fend for himself.

“You fucking bastards! Die!”

“Haaah!”

Eaton’s subordinates attacked the Paladins with all their strength.

Under their fierce assault, the Paladins were pushed back.

“Krrgh!”

“Lord!”

Several Paladins at the front collapsed, spraying blood. But the Paladins behind them did not care and stepped over their comrades’ corpses.

What mattered to them was spreading the Lord’s teachings in Shinchon and carrying out Johan’s orders.

The deaths of their comrades could not affect their minds at all.

The Paladins were killing machines colder and more merciless than machines.

Under the Paladins’ fierce offensive, the Awakened inside the tavern were gradually driven into a corner.

Even the escape routes had been occupied by the Paladins, and there seemed to be no way out.

“Damn it! Is this how it ends?”

Despair settled over Eaton’s face.

No matter how he looked around, he could see no way to escape.

At this rate, being captured was only a matter of time.

It was obvious what would happen to him if Dongdaemun caught him.

He would be tortured horribly, then brutally killed.

“Kraaak!”

“S-save me! Aaaagh!”

“Mom!”

Even at that moment, his subordinates collapsed with screams.

The Paladins were cruel.

They killed the Awakened inside the tavern as brutally as slaughtering beasts.

Already, two-thirds of the Awakened had fallen to the Paladins. The remaining ones were also in precarious states.

At this rate, they would all fall within a minute.

‘What do I do? Will they accept me if I surrender? No, there’s no way.’

In the end, all that remained for Eaton was fighting to the death.

A steel ball slipped out of Eaton’s pocket.

He had moved the steel ball with his Skill, telekinesis.

The steel ball floating in the air struck the Paladins at terrifying speed.

TATATATANG!

With metallic sounds, the Paladins’ bodies shook. But they suffered no real damage.

That was because the heavy armor they wore protected them perfectly.

Eaton had become the ruler of Shinchon because Zeon had backed him, not because he was strong.

With his ability, he could not pierce the Paladins’ armor, not even if he died and came back.

“It’s Eaton.”

“Capture him.”

The Paladins glared and approached Eaton.

Once they subdued Eaton, the fight would be over.

There was no need to even glance at the other Awakened.

In that way, the Paladins reached right in front of Eaton.

At that moment, the expression that appeared on Eaton’s face was despair.

He saw no opening to escape anywhere.

‘Krrgh! Am I going to die like this?’

The instant he thought of death, it happened.

Suddenly, a half-transparent hand jutted out from behind him and grabbed Eaton by the nape.

“What?”

At that instant, Eaton felt a dizzying sensation, as if his entire body were floating.

His feeling was not an illusion.

Eaton was actually floating in the air.

Half-transparent.

SWOOSH—!

Eaton’s body, which had turned like a ghost, disappeared straight into the wall.

“What?”

“What the hell? Where did he go?”

At the situation that happened in the blink of an eye, the Paladins froze in surprise.

“Is it a concealment Skill?”

“Damn it! Hurry and find him.”

A moment later, they came back to their senses and searched the area, but Eaton was nowhere to be found.

In that way, Eaton vanished without a trace, and the Paladins were left looking like dogs that had chased a chicken only to lose it.