Chapter 381

Chapter 381

Zeon, Levin, and Briel returned to Neo Seoul for the time being.

In their hearts, they wanted to go straight to Briel’s hometown, but Briel needed time to prepare herself mentally. That was why they returned to Neo Seoul first.

“Aaah! Home really is the best.”

As soon as they entered the house, Levin threw himself onto the sofa.

Briel sat beside him and leaned her head back.

“I agree. Especially this sofa. It really is the best.”

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the soft feel of the sofa.

Zeon smiled faintly as he looked at the two, who were utterly exhausted.

They had walked through the desert, where their ankles sank deep with every step, for more than fifteen days. It was hardly strange that the two were worn out.

Zeon opened the window wide and looked up at the sky.

High in the sky, where people’s gazes could not reach, Gaia was swimming through the air.

Gaia spent most of its time swimming through the sky like that. What made it admirable was that it never strayed very far from Zeon.

At that moment, Briel called Liri.

“Liri!”

―Kyaruru!

Liri appeared with her distinctive laughter.

Liri’s face was full of curiosity as she looked around the house.

Since she had only recently been born, this was her first time seeing a house built in this style.

Briel smiled as she looked at Liri.

“First, ventilate the place for me. Then I’ll show you around the house.”

―Kyaaah!

When Liri nodded, a cool breeze blew through the house.

For Liri, a wind spirit, something like this was not difficult at all.

Since Briel also mainly used wind Magic, her compatibility with Liri was very good.

Thanks to Liri ventilating the house, the air inside became pleasant. Then, just as she had promised, Briel took Liri around and showed her every corner of the house.

“This is my room. There are a lot of fascinating things, right? They’re all things I need for studying alchemy.”

When her chatter began, Levin rose from the sofa.

“Hyung, I’ll go out for a bit. It’s been a while, so I need to check whether my friends are still alive.”

“Since you’re going out, check whether Jetoya is doing well too.”

“Got it. I’ll stop by here and there. I might not come back tonight, so don’t wait for me.”

“Sure!”

Zeon smiled.

Levin was especially sociable.

Whenever he returned after spending a long time out in the desert, he always went around visiting people he knew and checking on them.

Thanks to that, Zeon could rest comfortably at home without needing to go outside. Unfortunately, this time, he was not given time to rest.

Because Yu Se-hee stormed in.

“Why are you so late?”

“Did something happen? Why are you so worked up?”

“How could I not be worked up? Today, we built a house with the sand hardener.”

“Did it succeed?”

“Of course. That’s why I came running here like this.”

“That’s a relief.”

“It’s thanks to you. More importantly, why did you come back so late? Did you stop somewhere on the way?”

“Well, for personal reasons......”

When Zeon trailed off, Yu Se-hee raised an eyebrow.

“So you don’t plan to tell me after all.”

“No.”

“You really are a man with too many secrets.”

Yu Se-hee grumbled. But she did not press Zeon any further. She knew perfectly well that Zeon would not answer.

“Fine! I won’t ask where you went. But answer me this one thing instead.”

“What is it?”

“You can get more Ironclad Ant corpses later, right? I heard the Ironclad Ant swarm there was wiped out because of the orcs.”

“Yes. As I told you before, as long as you find blue wolf moss parasitizing white snow cacti......”

“There’s an Ironclad Ant nest nearby, right? Okay!”

“You remembered it well.”

“That’s how important it is. I’ll get going now.”

“You’re leaving already?”

“I’m going to check the house we built earlier one more time. Right, stop by the Goblin Market sometime.”

“Pardon?”

“You helped us. I can’t just sit still. I’ll repay you, so come by the Goblin Market when you have time.”

“Understood.”

“Good! Then rest.”

Yu Se-hee immediately closed the door and left.

Zeon stared at the closed door with a dumbfounded expression.

It felt as though a storm had swept through. That was how chaotic it had been.

At that moment, Briel cracked open the door from inside the room and looked at Zeon.

“Is that lady gone?”

“Yes!”

“Ugh! She barged in so suddenly that Liri got startled, tch!”

“What about Liri?”

“She was startled and went back to the Spirit Realm.”

Briel pouted and closed the door.

Zeon smiled faintly and sank deep into the sofa.

---

Several days had passed since they returned to Neo Seoul.

During that time, Briel shut herself in her room and never came out. Judging by the knocking and clattering sounds coming from inside, it seemed she was making something.

Zeon left Briel alone and went outside.

After looking around for a moment, Zeon soon headed toward the desert.

In the desert touching the outskirts of Shinchon, he saw construction in full swing.

Countless people were making bricks and roof tiles out of sand, and using those bricks and tiles to build houses.

Dozens of houses were being built simultaneously.

The people building the houses were the residents of the slums.

They belonged to the lowest stratum of the slums and had no homes of their own, living out on the streets.

Seeing people who had lived day by day without any will to do anything come out voluntarily and work with all their strength felt unfamiliar.

Zeon saw hope on their faces.

Though it was outside the slums, they were still rolling up their sleeves and working because they would have houses of their own.

“We’re short on bricks.”

“Is there any more sand hardener?”

“Bring any extra roof tiles over here.”

They worked so hard that three or four houses seemed to go up every hour.

Because it was voluntary work, not something anyone had forced them to do, they worked even harder.

Several inspectors from the Goblin Market were present, but in truth, there was almost nothing for them to do.

Their job was to designate the areas where houses would be built and check the incoming and outgoing sand hardener. The rest was handled by the residents on their own.

“One house is complete here.”

“Waaah!”

“This one’s complete too. Wow! Building houses is easy.”

“Woo ha ha!”

All over the place, shouts announcing completed houses rang out along with laughter.

The fact that they had built homes for their families with their own hands filled the people with joy.

Those who completed their houses first helped those who had not finished theirs yet.

When so many people joined in, even houses that had been progressing slowly were completed in an instant.

The sound of people’s laughter rang out everywhere.

In a single day, a new village had appeared on the desert.

The inspectors from the Goblin Market clicked their tongues in amazement.

“This really is incredible. To think this many houses were built in just one day.”

“If this becomes known, the structure of the slums will change.”

“How could it not? Everyone without a home will flock to Shinchon.”

In any era, population was power.

A place where many people gathered meant that district’s power would increase.

If the poor gathered in Shinchon and villages spread around its outskirts, Shinchon’s power would grow by that much.

Because she knew that, Yu Se-hee managed the sand hardener thoroughly.

She released only enough for one day of housebuilding, and whatever remained after construction was stored back in the warehouse.

Security around Bryce, the only alchemist capable of making sand hardener, was also strengthened.

The Awakened did not notice that Zeon had appeared and kept talking.

Listening to their conversation, Zeon became certain.

‘Shinchon will soon take the lead in the slums.’

The Yu Se-hee he knew would never miss this opportunity.

He thought a single small sand hardener might change the flow of the slums, perhaps even Neo Seoul itself.

‘In any case, it’s a good thing if more houses people can actually live in are built.’

Just as Zeon organized his thoughts and was about to turn away—

The main gate of Neo Seoul suddenly opened, and a group of vehicles came out.

The buggy cars carrying Awakened raced into the desert at terrifying speed. But at the head of the buggy cars was someone Zeon knew.

“Mandy?”

The person sitting in the lead vehicle and glaring straight ahead was Mandy, the Supervisor.

Mandy did not see Zeon and simply passed by.

“Did something happen?”

If it was serious enough for Mandy to be dispatched, it was definitely no ordinary incident.

The buggy cars kicked up dust clouds and vanished beyond the horizon in an instant.

“Hmm! I hope it’s nothing serious......”

Zeon turned his steps toward the Goblin Market.

“Lord Zeon, you’re here?”

“Welcome.”

The Guards were the first to greet Zeon.

Zeon smiled and asked,

“Has anything happened?”

“Oh, plenty.”

“Why? What happened?”

“The problem is that too many people are gathering.”

“Really?”

“Yes! With Dongdaemun collapsed, people are flocking to Shinchon. Along with that, many people have flowed into the Goblin Market too. So it’s extremely crowded.”

With the situation like this, the Guards protecting the Goblin Market were suffering the most.

There were many people trying to sneak in under false identities.

They were after items that could never be obtained in ordinary markets.

“I see.”

After hearing the whole story, Zeon nodded.

The Guards opened the door for Zeon.

“Please go in. As it happens, the Guildmaster has been waiting for you to come.”

“I’ll go right away. Keep up the good work.”

“Thank you, Lord Zeon!”

The Guards bowed deeply to Zeon.

Other than Yu Se-hee and Elder Kleksi, Zeon was the only person they treated with this much courtesy.

―The one who killed the false god.

―The Massacrer who brought down Dongdaemun alone.

―Neo Seoul is ruled by Jin Geum-ho, but every territory beyond it is ruled by Zeon.

Countless rumors about Zeon were circulating through the slums and Neo Seoul.

That was how unparalleled Zeon’s existence was in the slums.

Naturally, the Guards could not help treating him with utmost respect.

Zeon, however, felt burdened by the Guards’ attitude. So he hurriedly passed through the door.

“Do you have any sand hardener?”

“No, why are you looking for that here?”

“Come on! Why are you acting like this? I know the sand hardener flowed out of the Goblin Market. Let me buy just one hundred barrels.”

“I’m telling you, we really don’t have any.”

“Don’t be like that. If you have some, bring it out. I’ll pay whatever you want.”

Starting from the entrance of the Goblin Market, people looking for sand hardener were lined up.

Those with sharp eyes had already caught the smell of money.

As long as they had sand hardener, they could build and sell as many houses from sand as they wanted.

In other words, they could sell sand and rake in money.

Because of that, the Goblin Market was packed with merchants who had smelled profit and come running.

‘Human greed really has no end.’

At the merchants’ enormous greed, Zeon shook his head.

It was an item made for the poor who had nothing.

Yu Se-hee had no intention of earning money with sand hardener either. That was why she had not put it up for sale in the Goblin Market at all. Even so, this chaos had erupted.

“Haa!”

Zeon sighed and walked through the people.

When he arrived at his destination, Yu Se-hee greeted him with a tired face.

“Welcome.”

“You look exhausted.”

“You saw outside, right?”

“Yes!”

“They’re just the tip of the iceberg. People are poking around everywhere, asking if they can get sand hardener.”

“That must be exhausting.”

“It is.”

“But you’re not going to release sand hardener onto the market, are you?”

Yu Se-hee answered with a firm expression.

“Of course not. Not until dirt gets in my eyes will it ever be released to merchants.”