Chapter 355

Chapter 355

Knock, knock!

“Zeon! Wake up. It’s already seven.”

From the morning, Briel noisily knocked on Zeon’s door.

“Haaah! What is it this early in the morning?”

When Zeon rubbed his eyes and opened the door, Briel and Gaia came inside.

“Did you forget? Yu Se-hee said she wanted to meet today.”

“Ah! Right.”

Only then did Zeon scratch his head as if he remembered.

A few days ago, Yu Se-hee had sent someone to ask him to come to the Dokkaebi Market. She had said that by then, the thing they had been preparing would probably be complete.

At the time, he had been too tired to even ask what she had prepared.

Since he had brought Dongdaemun down, dealing with the aftermath was also Zeon’s responsibility.

If Zeon had wanted to back then, he probably could have taken Dongdaemun into his own hands. But that was not what Zeon wanted.

Zeon had sent Joshua and the remaining Dongdaemun personnel back intact.

Naturally, Zeon had thought Joshua, the Heresy Inquisitor, would seize Dongdaemun’s hegemony.

That was because he was the strongest among Dongdaemun’s surviving believers. But the situation did not unfold as Zeon expected.

Infighting broke out among Dongdaemun’s surviving upper ranks.

When a powerful focal point called Johan existed, no one dared covet the seat of power. But once Johan vanished, every surviving member of the upper ranks began coveting that seat.

They refused to enter under anyone else.

In terms of Awakening ability, Joshua, the Heresy Inquisitor, was the strongest, but unfortunately, he had no political ability.

He was excellent at torturing or killing people, but he was not suited to gathering others and leading them.

In the end, Joshua’s lack of political ability caused trouble, and those with ambition fought to seize Dongdaemun’s hegemony.

Dongdaemun was a group of fanatics.

If they had been ordinary people, Johan’s death would have made them realize that he was not a savior and leave the Church. But people incapable of rational thought could not accept Johan’s death and believed he would someday resurrect.

They thought it was their duty to protect and maintain the Church until then.

The surviving upper ranks used those people’s hearts and declared themselves guardians of the Church.

They claimed they would protect and develop the Church until Johan resurrected and returned.

With so many people declaring themselves guardians of the Church like this, infighting naturally broke out.

Because of that, countless people died, and Dongdaemun became a lawless zone.

Taking advantage of Dongdaemun’s chaos, countless Scavengers and criminals entered, worsening the disorder even further.

Zeon had told Eaton to frequently check Dongdaemun’s movements.

That was because Dongdaemun’s chaos would certainly affect the entire slums.

For now, the chaos was still limited to Dongdaemun, but as time passed, it would definitely affect places like Shinchon and Guro as well.

‘This is why I didn’t want to get involved with fanatics.’

Zeon gave a bitter smile and put on his robe.

In any case, this had happened because he had killed Johan.

He did bear some responsibility for the chain of events.

Because of that, he was closely watching Dongdaemun and preparing to intervene at any time.

Of course, the best outcome would be for him to never need to intervene at all. But the affairs of the world were impossible to predict even an inch ahead, so he could not relax.

Thanks to that, Zeon was mentally quite exhausted.

If Briel had not woken him, he would have forgotten he was supposed to meet Yu Se-hee today and kept sleeping.

After washing his face simply, Zeon said to Briel,

“Let’s go!”

“Mm!”

“I don’t see Levin.”

“He went to the Crocodile den last night.”

“He goes often.”

“I think he’s worried about Jetoya and Remura. He packs all sorts of things into a subspace backpack and goes down there all the time.”

At Briel’s answer, Zeon gave a small laugh.

Levin was the one going underground, but the items filling the subspace backpack were surely all things Briel had obtained.

Both Levin and Briel were closed off toward strangers, but they had a tendency to give generously to people within the same fence.

They rejected those they saw for the first time or found unfamiliar, but once they were certain someone was on their side, they cared for them warmly.

Zeon left the house with Briel.

Even though it was early morning, the sunlight was hot.

The two avoided the sunlight, moved through the shade, and arrived at the Dokkaebi Market.

Yu Se-hee greeted Zeon and Briel.

“You came quickly. I thought you’d be a little late.”

“Briel hurried me.”

“The little one has some use after all.”

At Yu Se-hee’s words, Briel frowned and said,

“Hmph! I didn’t hurry because I wanted to hear your praise. You said the sand hardener was complete?”

“That’s right! We already built a house as a test.”

“Really? How is it?”

“Check it yourself.”

Yu Se-hee smiled and headed toward the outskirts of the slums.

The outskirts of the slums connected directly to the desert.

Without any wall, they were fully exposed to the desert sand.

No matter how hard one searched, there were no materials to build a house. Because of that, people did not live there.

And yet, a house stood boldly in the middle of the desert.

Its walls and roof were all made of sand.

It was not large or splendid, but it looked rather sturdy.

At that moment, someone opened the door and came out from inside the house.

Zeon recognized him at a glance.

“Bryce.”

“Ah, Mr. Zeon!”

The man who came out of the house brightened and ran over.

He was Bryce, the one who had created the sand hardener.

After he had lost his village to the Helbrin Mercenary Corps and been captured, Zeon had saved him and entrusted him to Yu Se-hee.

“Is this a house made with sand hardener?”

“Yes! The walls, ceiling, and roof were all made of sand. Aside from the door and windows, it would not be an exaggeration to say the entire thing is made of sand.”

“May I go inside?”

“Of course. Please come in.”

Bryce opened the door and led the three of them inside the house.

The moment they entered the house, they felt a cool air.

Outside, the blazing sun was beating down, but inside the house, there was no heat to be felt.

“Does the hardener perhaps act as insulation too?”

“As expected, you noticed. That’s right. The hardener blocks outside heat and keeps the temperature inside the house cool.”

“That’s incredible.”

“That’s not all. It coats the sand, so even if rain falls, it all runs off.”

“And the reason you still built houses underground was because of the Scavengers, right?”

“That’s right. In the desert, we built houses underground to prepare for Scavenger attacks, but there’s no need for that in Neo Seoul.”

Bryce smiled brightly.

His goal had been consistent, both in the past and now.

It was to live like a person.

In his mind, beasts or those fleeing danger dug caves and lived in them, but if one was human, one should have a dwelling on the surface.

In the slums, countless people had no house of their own and lived under others’ roofs.

If it were not so bad, why would there be people living in the Crocodile den because they could not find a place to live on the surface?

With sand hardener, they could build as many houses as they wanted on the outskirts of the slums.

All they needed were sand hardener and sand.

Of course, things like doors and windows would have to be obtained separately, but in any case, the most basic foundation could be prepared easily.

At that moment, Yu Se-hee joined the conversation between the two.

“But there’s one problem.”

“What is it?”

“We don’t have enough materials for the sand hardener.”

“Can’t you obtain them through the Dokkaebi Market?”

“If I could, I wouldn’t have told you. Ironclad Ant bodily fluid is the key ingredient of sand hardener. As you know, Ironclad Ants dig down hundreds of meters underground, so they’re not easy to hunt.”

Ironclad Ants were Grade E monsters.

Each individual ant did not possess particularly impressive strength. The problem was that they were swarm-type monsters that lived in groups.

They lived together in groups of at least several hundred, and sometimes as many as tens of thousands.

Moreover, their tunnels ran from dozens to hundreds of meters underground. If they decided to hide, it was impossible to find them.

The Ironclad Ant bodily fluid currently circulating in the Dokkaebi Market had been obtained by hunting stragglers, so there was only a very small amount.

Bryce lowered his head like a sinner.

“The bodily fluid from one Ironclad Ant can make ten barrels of sand hardener. If those ten barrels of sand hardener are diluted and used, we can build about a hundred houses like this.”

“That’s simple. One Ironclad Ant equals a hundred houses. If we catch a hundred, that’s ten thousand houses. Then ten thousand people? No. If we assume three people live in one house, that means homes for at least thirty thousand people.”

“That’s right.”

“Then there’s no reason not to hunt them.”

“But Ironclad Ants are so difficult to hunt that even catching one or two isn’t easy.”

Ironclad Ant tunnels were more complicated than a maze, and they were narrow as well.

They were so cramped that even a single adult could barely squeeze inside. Because of that, it was impossible to send in a large force to capture Ironclad Ants.

That was exactly why Ironclad Ant bodily fluid was precious.

“It’s impossible to drive Ironclad Ants out for a hunt, but even finding their habitat is difficult.”

“I see.”

Zeon nodded.

Unless one had a special ability, finding an ant nest that extended hundreds of meters underground was impossible.

The one person in the Dokkaebi Market who could detect monsters to some degree was Akashi, but even for him, finding Ironclad Ants hundreds of meters underground was impossible.

Zeon said to Yu Se-hee,

“Can you prepare ten magic-type Awakened of Grade C or higher, twenty porters, and about ten transport vehicles?”

“That much is possible anytime. Why? Are you going personally?”

Yu Se-hee looked at Zeon with a face full of excitement.

If Zeon went himself, hunting Ironclad Ants would not be that difficult.

Zeon nodded and answered,

“I should.”

“I’m not doubting your ability, but first we need to find the Ironclad Ant habitat. Do you perhaps know where they live in groups?”

“Yes!”

“Really?”

Yu Se-hee looked at him in disbelief.

“If you understand Ironclad Ant physiology, finding their tunnels isn’t that difficult.”

“What is that?”

“They like Blue Wolf Moss.”

“What is that now?”

“Blue Wolf Moss lives parasitically on White Snow Cactus……”

“And what is White Snow Cactus? Ah, forget it! Don’t say more. I won’t understand even if you explain. Anyway, if we find White Snow Cactus, we find Blue Wolf Moss, and if we do, there’s an Ironclad Ant tunnel nearby, right?”

“Usually, yes.”

“You’re saying this time is different. Right?”

“Yes! If I go with you, we can skip such troublesome methods.”

“You already know the habitat.”

“Correct. You really are smart.”

“I’m not happy to hear that praise at all.”

Yu Se-hee glared at Zeon.

Separate from that, her mind was turning at terrifying speed.

‘Transport Team One is resting right now, so if I mobilize them, the Awakened and porters can be roughly solved. We can pull the vehicles we lack from somewhere else.’

If someone else had made this proposal, she would have agonized over it for days. But the proposer was Zeon.

No one knew the desert better than him.

Since Zeon had stepped forward, this expedition was guaranteed to succeed. In that case, there was no reason to hesitate.

“Good! When are we leaving? Tell me, and I’ll have everything ready by then.”

“Is there any need to hesitate? We leave tomorrow.”

“That fast?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No, there isn’t!”

Yu Se-hee shook her head.

Even if there was a problem, she had to make it so there was not.

If Zeon changed his mind in the meantime, they would no longer be able to obtain Ironclad Ant carcasses.

“I’ll prepare the Awakened, porters, and vehicles by tomorrow morning. You just need to come.”

“Understood.”

“If we clear out even one large Ironclad Ant nest, we can prepare places for tens of thousands of people to live. This is truly a major event.”

Yu Se-hee clenched her small fist tightly.

Even Jin Geum-ho, the mayor, had not been able to expand Neo Seoul any further. That was all because there were no places for people to live.

If they secured enough sand hardener, the number of places people could live would increase by that much.

She would be solving a problem even Jin Geum-ho had failed to solve.

The more sand hardener she secured, the greater Yu Se-hee’s power would grow.

As her power grew, the Dokkaebi Market and Shinchon would also become safer. There was no reason not to do it.

‘Neo Seoul’s future depends on this expedition.’