Chapter 258

Chapter 258

The pillar of fire that surged up from the underground where the Three-Legged Crow was located pierced through all the way to the floor where Zeon’s group had been imprisoned.

In the aftermath, the door of the prison they had been locked in was destroyed.

Thanks to that, Zeon’s group was able to come outside without any obstruction.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Why did something explode underground......? I almost died while lying down.”

The explosion was powerful enough to make Levin and Briel fuss.

Fortunately, they had not suffered any direct damage, but the roar of the explosion had shocked their eardrums, leaving them muffled.

Mandy, too, was grimacing heavily because her ears hurt.

Only Zeon looked around with an unbothered expression, trying to grasp the situation.

He looked at the large hole opened in front of them.

As if a volcano had erupted, the steel plates around the hole were boiling from the intense heat.

It was a phenomenon that could never occur from an ordinary explosion.

That was how unusual the explosion that had struck Mega Tower’s underground had been.

Zeon approached the hole and looked down.

Like a vertical shaft in a Mana Stone mine, a bottomless hole had been punched deep underground.

The source of the explosion.

From deep underground, someone was looking up at him.

It was Kim Hyun-soo, the ruler of West District.

“Kim...... Hyun-soo.”

It was clearly a face he was seeing for the first time, but Zeon instinctively recognized who he was.

“Zeon!”

Several dozen meters and darkness existed between the two men. But they could not obstruct their sight.

Kim Hyun-soo’s eyes gleamed terrifyingly in the darkness.

“Why are you here, Zeon?”

“Why don’t you ask the Three-Legged Crow? Thanks to it, I was resting comfortably in West District’s prison.”

“The Three-Legged Crow?”

―Zeon’s companion, Levin, committed murder in our district, so they were being detained.

At the Three-Legged Crow’s words, Kim Hyun-soo frowned.

“Then why did you not report it?”

―The moment I was about to report it, Researcher Lee Su-myeong intruded into the bunker where my main unit is located.

In other words, there had been no time to report.

Kim Hyun-soo accepted that, but still felt uneasy.

With the Three-Legged Crow’s capabilities, it should have been more than capable of reporting to him while opposing Lee Su-myeong and Black Tortoise.

Even so, the situation was not good enough for him to interrogate it in detail.

As he launched himself toward the floor where Zeon was, he gave the Three-Legged Crow an order.

“Seal every underground floor and inspect the system once more.”

―Yes, Master.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

With the Three-Legged Crow’s answer, emergency bulkheads closed one after another, sealing off the underground floors.

Meanwhile, Kim Hyun-soo quietly landed in front of Zeon.

Though he was a mechanized Awakened, Kim Hyun-soo’s appearance alone did not make him distinguishable from an ordinary human. Even so, a distinctly inorganic atmosphere unique to mechanized Awakened flowed from him.

“This is my mistake. I did not know I had kept an honored guest in such a shabby place.”

“It’s all right. Thanks to you, I rested well.”

“How unfortunate. For something like this to happen precisely when you came.”

“Indeed. I seem to have seen something I wasn’t supposed to see.”

“So you do understand.”

“That was the Three-Legged Crow’s main unit.”

“I am currently wondering whether I should gouge out your eyes, or cut out your tongue.”

Kim Hyun-soo’s eyes were glowing red.

It was a murderous gaze so fierce that most Awakened would have their knees go weak just by meeting it.

But Zeon answered calmly without the slightest hint of intimidation.

“Can’t I just keep my mouth shut?”

“The fewer people who know a secret, the better.”

“Then I suppose I have no choice but to struggle as much as I can.”

“You dare say you will resist?”

“I value my life too, you see.”

“It seems killing Lee Ji-ryeong has made you arrogant. I am different from him.”

“I know.”

“And yet you would still challenge me?”

“I can’t just sit here and die. Well, I’d be grateful if you thought of it as a desperate struggle.”

“You are impudent.”

“Well, it’s my nature......”

At the two men’s conversation, Levin, Briel, and Mandy gulped dryly.

They knew very well that Zeon was strong, but his opponent was Kim Hyun-soo, who had ruled West District of Neo Seoul for a long time.

The dimension of strength was different.

Moreover, this place was West District.

The moment he gave the order, every Awakened in West District would attack Zeon.

No matter how strong Zeon was, he could not defeat all of West District.

On top of that, they were inside Neo Seoul, where no sand existed.

Zeon could not display his full strength, while Kim Hyun-soo could use his at one hundred percent or more.

Zeon was in an overwhelmingly unfavorable situation. Even so, Zeon remained calm.

Kim Hyun-soo stared at Zeon for a long while before speaking.

“So you will keep the secret?”

“Yes!”

“What about them? Will they keep the secret like you?”

The ones Kim Hyun-soo looked at were Levin, Briel, and Mandy.

Under the tremendous pressure, the three of them turned deathly pale.

Even though he was also a Grade S Awakened, his presence was on a completely different level from Lee Ji-ryeong’s.

Just looking at his eyes made it feel as if their entire bodies would be torn to pieces. It was their first time experiencing this kind of pressure.

At that moment, Zeon stepped in front of Kim Hyun-soo. Then the pressure crushing the three of them vanished in an instant.

Zeon said with a smile,

“Of course they will keep the secret as well.”

“Are you certain?”

“I’ll vouch for them. They are trustworthy people.”

“Have you eaten?”

“As you can see, we were detained all day, so we haven’t eaten anything.”

“Then I will treat you to a meal.”

“I’d be grateful.”

At that moment, the pressure crushing the scene vanished as though washed away.

Only then did Levin, Briel, and the others let out sighs of relief.

‘Haa! I’m alive.’

‘Crazy!’

Their hearts were still pounding, and they could not easily calm down.

That was how enormous the lingering impression and presence Kim Hyun-soo had left behind were.

The four of them boarded the elevator that ascended to the top of Mega Tower.

The elevator stopped below Kim Hyun-soo’s residence.

Kim Hyun-soo said to Levin, Briel, and Mandy,

“I will dine separately with Zeon, so the three of you may eat here. If you wait a little, people will bring out the meal.”

“But......”

Briel began to object, but after seeing Zeon’s eyes, she closed her mouth.

That was because Zeon was stopping her with his gaze.

In the end, the three of them got off, and Zeon and Kim Hyun-soo arrived at the top floor.

As Kim Hyun-soo stepped out of the elevator, he said,

“You are the first outsider to enter this place.”

“It is an honor.”

“Enough flattery. Sit.”

“Yes!”

Zeon did not refuse and sat in the chair.

Kim Hyun-soo sat across from Zeon and said,

“Three-Legged Crow!”

―Yes, Master.

“What is the restoration status?”

―The underground bulkheads have been restored by more than ninety percent. The rest will all be resolved by tomorrow morning.

“Any other problems?”

―Inspection results show no problems in the other auxiliary AIs.

“What about you?”

―Self-inspection results show no problems.

“Are you certain?”

―I am certain.

At the Three-Legged Crow’s answer, Kim Hyun-soo’s hardened expression relaxed a little.

“I will dine with Zeon. Prepare the meal.”

―It is already being prepared.

At the Three-Legged Crow’s voice, no different from usual, Kim Hyun-soo inwardly felt relieved.

The moment a problem occurred with the Three-Legged Crow, all of West District would stop.

West District, where millions of people lived, would fall into an uncontrollable state.

Fortunately, the Three-Legged Crow was intact, and no such signs were visible.

At that moment, Zeon spoke.

“It seems you rely on the Three-Legged Crow a great deal.”

“The Three-Legged Crow is like my other self.”

“You trust it that much?”

“This is not trust. It and I are one body. Because I exist, the Three-Legged Crow exists, and because the Three-Legged Crow exists, I can remain in this position.”

Infinite trust toward the Three-Legged Crow was contained in his voice.

Zeon frowned slightly.

Fundamentally, he did not trust machines very much.

“Is that why you replaced your body with machines? Because you trusted the Three-Legged Crow?”

“Are you curious?”

“Honestly, yes. Just what would make someone cut away a perfectly sound body and replace it with machines......?”

The type of people Zeon understood least in Neo Seoul were the Awakened of West District.

No matter how suitable the ability they had awakened was for machines, could they really discard their original bodies so easily and choose mechanical bodies?

At least high-ranking Awakened like Kim Hyun-soo possessed bodies almost indistinguishable from humans, but most lower-ranking Awakened looked far too mechanical, like cheap tools.

People who had more mechanized parts than human flesh.

Could they truly still be called human?

Moreover, Kim Hyun-soo was someone bound tightly by pride in being pure Korean.

Most of West District’s members were of pure Korean descent, and he spared no support to protect pure bloodlines.

Yet someone so fanatically obsessed with pure blood had a body made of machines.

To Zeon, it was a contradiction he could not easily understand.

At that moment, Kim Hyun-soo’s gaze changed.

“All it takes is for someone to cut off your limbs.”

“What?”

“Your arms and legs are cut away, and a sword is stabbed into your heart while you are dying. Your breathing gradually grows rougher, and your vision blurs. As death approaches like that, pieces of miscellaneous parts are scattered around you. Then, as if by fate, you awaken.”

“......”

“Do you know what happens then? Machines take the place of your severed arms and legs and your broken heart. In the blink of an eye, you become a machine man. What kind of emotion do you think that machine man feels? Is he glad he has become a machine? Is he happy because he has grown stronger? What do you think?”

“......”

“That was the beginning. That was how the first mechanized Awakened was born. It is extremely difficult for the primordial one to appear, but it is not so difficult for successors to follow.”

Even if Kim Hyun-soo did not say it, Zeon thought he knew.

He knew who the first mechanized Awakened was.

It was Kim Hyun-soo himself.

In other words, he was telling his own story now.

“There was no choice from the beginning. But I do not regret becoming this. Do you know why?”

Zeon shook his head.

Kim Hyun-soo looked at Zeon and smiled coldly.

“Because I have a conviction. The conviction to protect my people and my land. Neo Seoul was the land where our people lived for generation after generation. For thousands of years, no less. But what is the situation now? Those who are not Korean claim to be the masters of this land. Even things that are not human brazenly occupy an entire district. Enemies threatening us are on every side. To protect my people from those enemies, I need strength. Even if my body is no longer that of a pure-blooded human, my soul and my mind are still Korean.”

A powerful conviction lingered in Kim Hyun-soo’s voice.

He had fought and fought again to protect Koreans.

When he was injured, he replaced the damaged parts with other parts and continued fighting endlessly. Later, even the remaining human flesh he had left was replaced with machines.

“I call this evolution. The evolution of the first individual is difficult, but once a single individual evolves, it triggers the evolution of its kin.”

Those influenced by Kim Hyun-soo began awakening as mechanized Awakened.

Kim Hyun-soo had had no choice, but they cut off their limbs and replaced their entire bodies with machines of their own will.

That was the beginning of West District.

They had fought fiercely to protect their people, to protect pure humans.

As decades passed that way, no one dared look down on West District.

They lost heart at the sight of mechanized Awakened fighting while replacing broken parts.

“After that, I obtained the Three-Legged Crow and achieved rapid development. But the foundation was always created by those who abandoned human flesh, just as I did. Those who abandoned pure humanity to protect pure humans. Who can curse us? Who can condemn us as those who gave up being human?”

“......”

“We are the shield. The final shield that abandons ourselves to protect pure-blooded humans. Can you still condemn us, first Sandmancer?”