Chapter 4

Chapter 4

That night, the miners did not return to the dormitory.

Thanks to that, Zeon had the spacious dormitory all to himself and was able to sleep comfortably.

“Yaaawn!”

Zeon stretched and rose from his spot.

Perhaps because he had awakened, he did not feel tired at all. He only felt refreshed.

“Nice!”

Zeon was satisfied with the state of his body.

The energy he felt from the morning onward was clearly different from yesterday.

Zeon opened the door and left the dormitory. Then the first thing to greet him was the intense sunlight.

Even though it was still early morning, the sunlight beat down so fiercely that it seemed as if it would burn his skin.

Before, he would have hurriedly covered his bare skin. But now there was no need for that.

This, too, was thanks to his awakening.

Enjoying the benefits of awakening, Zeon walked through the mining city.

It was far too cramped and shabby to be called a city, but it still had more or less everything it needed.

The Mana Stone Mine was also a major base in the desert.

Caravans crossing the desert stopped there to receive supplies, and some sold goods they had bought in other cities.

It was also a place that people who conquered dungeons, like Jang Yong-beom’s party, were required to stop by in order to inspect their equipment.

Because of that, a fairly large market had formed inside the city.

‘First, I need to learn everything about this place.’

A great deal of information about the inside had been spread through the mouths of those who had worked at the Mana Stone Mine and returned. However, there was a great difference between hearing something from someone else and seeing and grasping it for oneself.

Zeon trusted only information he had seen and judged for himself.

This, too, was one of the habits he had learned in the slums.

There were only a few people in the shabby market.

It was partly because it was so early in the morning, and partly because most of the main customers, the miners, had not come out of the shafts.

Because the shafts were so deep and complicated, it was said that miners entered with several days’ worth of food from the start. Even after swinging their pickaxes for several days like that, they might barely manage to mine a single Mana Stone, or they might not.

Even the time spent coming and going from the shafts was too precious, so the miners chose instead to eat and sleep inside.

It could truly be called a life at rock bottom.

When Zeon first heard that story, he had no idea how hard he had shuddered.

Fortunately, he had awakened, but if he did not quickly find a way to grow his ability, he too might have to enter the shafts someday.

He had to prevent that situation at all costs.

Grrrwl!

Zeon frowned.

Come to think of it, he had not eaten anything properly since lunch yesterday.

He had to deal with his hunger first.

Zeon entered the market in search of a place to eat.

There was no way a proper restaurant would exist in the market. Even so, he did not come away with nothing.

Deep inside the market, he discovered a shop selling some unidentified meat.

The meat was skewered and being grilled, and the smell was extremely savory.

The person grilling the meat was a shabby old man.

He was an impressive old man, with wrinkles so deep that it was impossible to guess how old he was, a beard, and glasses cracked on one side.

Zeon plopped down in front of the old man and said,

“What kind of meat is this?”

“Nothing good will come of knowing. Heh-heh!”

“True enough......”

Zeon nodded.

In the past, people had supposedly raised cows and pigs and eaten meat as much as they wanted, but no one could hope for such luxury in the world now.

At least inside Neo Seoul, people made and ate artificial meat, but in the slums, it was common to eat rats, cockroaches, or scraps of monsters.

Zeon naturally brought one skewer to his mouth.

The old man looked at Zeon through his cracked glasses.

“I haven’t seen you before.”

“I came yesterday. This is pretty good.”

Zeon answered as he chewed the meat.

“Yesterday? Then you must be the survivor who lived through the sandworm attack.”

“That news has already spread?”

“Heh-heh! The only secret inside this place is probably the color of the underwear you’re wearing. And by tomorrow, everyone will know that too.”

“Tch!”

“Heh-heh! In any case, with your pale skin and pretty looks, quite a few bastards will have their eyes on you.”

Zeon instantly understood the meaning hidden in the old man’s words and glared at him.

Even under Zeon’s rather fierce gaze, the old man continued speaking without the slightest concern.

“I’m telling you to be careful. I don’t know why you chose this place as a refuge, but this place is not that easy.”

“A refuge? I came here to earn money.”

“Heh-heh! Yes, I am sure you did. But for that, you are not prepared at all.”

“What preparation?”

“I am saying that a fellow who came to the Mana Stone Mine did not even bring a single pickaxe. That is not the attitude of someone who came here to earn money.”

At the old man’s words, which struck at the heart of the matter, Zeon’s brow furrowed deeply.

The old man looked at Zeon with an amused expression.

Zeon changed the subject.

“You must have been here a long time.”

“I have been here since the Mana Stone Mine was discovered, so I suppose you could call me an old fixture.”

“You’ve been here that long?”

“Yes! You can tell by looking at those. They are things I have collected since the early days.”

The old man pointed inside the shop.

Inside the shop, piles of unidentifiable junk were stacked high.

“What is all that?”

“The ones who first come here hold out. Just like you.”

“Pardon?”

“They try to hold out somehow without going into the mine. Then, when they run out of money, they sell what they have. At first, they sell things with no value, and in the end, they even put up their most precious possessions. When there is nothing left to sell, only then do they finally enter the mine. That is the order of things.”

“Insane!”

“The useful things are sent to Neo Seoul, and the worthless things are simply left here. So you could say those are the traces left behind at the end by lives that hit rock bottom. Heh-heh!”

The old man’s laughter felt chilling.

His eyes seemed to be telling Zeon that he would end up the same way.

Zeon’s appetite vanished.

He forced himself to swallow the remaining meat and rose from his seat.

“How much is it?”

“Ten sol!”

“Insane! Did you sprinkle gold on the meat? Ten sol for this kind of meat?”

Zeon shouted without realizing it.

The currency standard of Neo Seoul Colony was Mana Stones.

It was calculated based on one kilogram of Mana Stones.

One sol had the value of one-thousandth of a Mana Stone. In other words, ten sol was equivalent to one-hundredth of a Mana Stone.

Even inside Neo Seoul, no one charged such an exorbitant price.

It was only natural for Zeon to get angry.

However, the old man himself remained calm.

His attitude said he had expected exactly this sort of reaction.

“Everything is precious here. Food, clothing, even pickaxes. That is why everyone sells what they have.”

“What if I refuse to pay?”

“Heh-heh! There is a reason a powerless old man like me has been able to run a business for so long in such a rough place.”

“What do you mean?”

That was when it happened.

The owners of the nearby shops turned their heads and looked at Zeon.

At their sharp gazes, Zeon gritted his teeth.

‘So that’s what he meant by old fixture.’

Now he felt as if he understood the meaning.

The old man must have been connected somehow to the other shops inside the Mana Stone Mine. Perhaps the old man himself was the center of the market.

This place was not easy enough for someone to survive for a long time through sheer luck. It was possible only with ability and backing to match.

If he did not pay the old man for the food he had eaten, there was a high chance that no shop would trade with Zeon.

“Damn it! I got caught by the wrong person.”

“Still, your head works fairly well. Some bastards start thrashing around before they can tell heaven from earth.”

“Ha! I don’t have any money right now......”

“Then that means you have some other item. Is it perhaps a Mana Stone?”

“......”

“So it is a Mana Stone. Take it out. I will appraise its value accurately.”

Zeon tried to refuse until the very end.

He did not want to hand over the Mana Stone he had protected even by killing someone, merely as payment for a single skewer.

The old man looked at Zeon and smirked.

“Boy! The rumor that you have a Mana Stone will spread through the entire mine before an hour passes. Do you think you can protect the Mana Stone even then?”

Of course, the source of the rumor would be the old man. But the old man did not bother saying that much.

Zeon glared at the old man.

He prided himself on having gone through all kinds of hardships, but the old man before him had crossed battlefields several times, no, several dozen times harsher than his own.

There was no comparison between them, not in reading the room, nor in a battle of nerve.

Compared to the old man, Zeon was nothing but a greenhorn.

Now that it had been discovered he had a Mana Stone, he had no right to refuse.

“Damn it!”

Zeon took out the small Mana Stone he had hidden inside his pants.

The old man’s eyes gleamed sharply.

“Oh! At that size, it should be worth around one hundred sol.”

“Are you joking? In Neo Seoul, I could get more than three hundred sol for this.”

“This is not Neo Seoul, is it?”

“Are you really going to do this?”

“Boy! If you do not have the strength to protect it, even treasure becomes a disaster. Heh-heh!”

The old man cackled.

Zeon wanted to drive his fist into the old man’s face. However, in the end, he could not do it.

Subduing the old man would not be very difficult, but he feared the consequences.

If the old man had survived here for so long, he was surely on friendly terms with the Awakened who guarded the Mana Stone Mine.

The old man’s attitude said he did not care even if Zeon walked out.

From the old man, who had lived here for several decades or more, Zeon felt a seasoned composure and ease that overwhelmed him.

Zeon felt himself shrinking before the old man despite himself.

“Haa!”

In the end, Zeon let out a sigh.

He had drifted all the way here because of this one small Mana Stone, and yet its value was only one hundred sol. Everything he had done until now felt like a pointless waste.

“What did I go through all that suffering for......?”

In the end, he handed the Mana Stone over to the old man.

“Heh-heh! Do not be too discouraged. I am not such a bad or inflexible person. I am not so unreasonable that I would strip a newcomer I have met for the first time of everything he has.”

“What do you mean?”

“First, I will give you ninety sol in change. Keep it safe. There are quite a few pickpockets and robbers here too.”

“Look at you pretending to care about the mouse after stealing from it like a cat......”

Zeon grumbled as he put the ninety sol the old man had given him into his pocket.

The old man smirked and pointed inside.

“As the price of our first transaction, I will give you one of the things piled up inside.”

“You’re telling me to take that junk?”

“If you do not want it, then forget it......”

“Damn it!”

Zeon rose from his seat and went inside.

He disliked the feeling that if he just walked away like this, he would be losing.

He felt as though he had to take something, anything, to make up for what the old man had done to him.

That did not mean he thought there would actually be anything good inside.

The old man had said that every usable item was sent to Neo Seoul, so only true junk would be left.

Zeon searched through the mountain of junk.

“What is this? It’s nothing but trash. What am I supposed to take from here?”

“Heh-heh!”

The old man laughed as he watched Zeon.

He was a rather entertaining fellow.

Most people became intimidated and hesitant when they came here, but Zeon showed no such sign.

That meant he still had something he believed in.

This place was worn down.

Even normal things became worn down once they came here.

People, objects, and everything else......

In a world so abraded, someone with that much rawness about him was bound to stand out.

That was why the old man smiled as he looked at Zeon.

Even the sight of him rummaging through the junk while grumbling felt full of life.

The way his eyes burned, determined not to take a loss no matter what, was rather cute.

Then Zeon pulled something out from the junk.

“What is this?”

What he held out to the old man was a very small hourglass.

“It is an hourglass.”

“That’s not what I’m asking, is it? I’m asking why this is here.”

“It must be here because no one took it.”

The old man spoke as if it were nothing.

His words were true.

He had obtained that hourglass a very long time ago.

It was an item he had acquired from a caravan entering Neo Seoul.

He had bought it along with other items, but since it had no use, he had tossed it into the junk pile.

No matter how ruined the world had become, there was no one who would go out of their way to carry an hourglass around.

It was a decoration, nothing more and nothing less.

In this day and age, the only people who would spend money on such decorations were the high-ranking people of Neo Seoul. And people like that did not set foot in this place.

“Would it not be better to choose another item?”

“Hmph! Even if I keep digging, I don’t think I’ll find anything more intact than this.”

“Do not regret it.”

“I’m fine.”

Zeon left the shop with the hourglass.

“Heh-heh! Come by again later.”

“No need.”

“For some reason, I feel we will be seeing each other often.”

“Do not say such unlucky things......”

Zeon looked disgusted and walked away.

The old man watched Zeon with his smile still on his face.

Then Zeon turned back and asked the old man,

“What is your name, old man?”

“It is Kleksi.”

“Then I can call you Old Man Kleksi. Let’s never see each other again.”

Zeon walked straight out of the market.

The old man laughed as he watched Zeon’s back.

“That will not do. It seems there is still much left to strip from him. Heh-heh!”

Once one hooked a sucker, sucking him dry down to the marrow was the law of this place.

Kleksi knew the laws of this Mana Stone mining city better than anyone.