Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Neo Seoul stood tall in the middle of the desert sea like an island.

Like Las Vegas, which had existed in the old days, Neo Seoul was a city that existed in the middle of the desert.

What made Neo Seoul special was the existence of a mountain.

For some reason, Bukhansan, which had once served as Old Seoul’s lungs, had been preserved intact.

Thanks to that, the citizens living inside Neo Seoul could enjoy Bukhansan’s greenery and fresh air to their hearts’ content.

To the north, Bukhansan served as a barrier, while to the south, an enormous city wall had been built to protect the city.

In this stable environment, Neo Seoul developed rapidly.

As Magic and science fused, high-rise buildings hundreds of stories tall, the kind people could not even have dreamed of in the past, rose in rows.

For Neo Seoul, this too had been an unavoidable choice.

Safe land was limited, but people kept increasing. Survivors who had lived through the Great Extinction flocked to Neo Seoul in search of safety.

To accommodate them, space was expanded underground, and buildings were raised endlessly toward the sky. Even so, there was a limit to how many people could be housed.

In the end, Neo Seoul locked its gates.

It had judged that if it accepted any more people, the city could not be maintained.

Neo Seoul was closed that way, but survivors continued to gather. They made their homes beneath Neo Seoul’s walls.

At first, it was no more than the size of a village, but as time passed, it grew to a scale no less than Neo Seoul.

As houses were built atop existing houses, and extensions were added again on top of those, the slums gradually came to resemble the Kowloon Walled City of old Hong Kong.

Because of the mazes reminiscent of an ant nest and the buildings piled up however people pleased, sunlight could hardly enter properly even in broad daylight.

For some reason, monsters did not even approach Neo Seoul, and thanks to that, for over a hundred years, the slums had grown to a scale no less than Neo Seoul.

To enter Neo Seoul, one had to pass through the road that pierced the center of the slums.

The people of the slums called this road Heaven’s Road.

That was because it was the only road by which one could enter Neo Seoul. But Heaven’s Road was neither beautiful nor splendid like its name.

If anything, it was desperate and gloomy.

That was because everyone who had tried to enter Neo Seoul along Heaven’s Road had met a miserable end.

Only a small number of people could enter Neo Seoul through Heaven’s Road. And all of them were either Neo Seoul citizens or people who had been issued passage permits.

Anyone else was attacked the moment they approached the gate.

RUMBLE!

An Armored Bus, ragged and tattered like a bundle of rags, appeared on Heaven’s Road.

GRRRM!

The engine of the Armored Bus, so damaged it was a wonder it was still moving, let out ragged breaths like a person on the verge of death.

The people near Heaven’s Road looked at the Armored Bus with curious gazes.

That was because it had been a long time since an Armored Bus had returned in such a broken state.

At that moment, the Armored Bus stopped, and someone got off.

It was a man with a dark red robe pulled low over his head.

The man exchanged a few words with someone inside the bus, then turned away.

The bus left for Neo Seoul, and the man, left alone, stepped off Heaven’s Road and entered the slums.

“What the hell is that bastard?”

“Looks like we might get some money if we strip him.”

Men gathered on one side of the slums exchanged glances.

At a glance, the men had extremely delinquent eyes and faces.

They swaggered toward the man who had stepped down from the Armored Bus.

“Hey!”

“Let’s have a little talk.”

The men surrounded the man who had gotten off the Armored Bus and created a murderous atmosphere.

They called it a conversation, but in truth, it was intimidation.

“What is this about? I have no intention of talking with you.”

“Arrogant bastard. You just came back from the Mana Stone Mine, didn’t you? How much did you earn?”

“If you hand over everything you made, we’ll let you go. Heh-heh!”

The men drew the knives hanging at their waists and pointed them at him.

At that moment, the man who had stepped down from the Armored Bus pushed back the hood he had been wearing low over his head. Then his face was revealed.

Long hair falling to his shoulders, skin tanned brown beneath the sun, a rather handsome face, and a fresh smile made an impression.

Among all of them, what stood out most were his deep eyes, as if black jewels had been set into them.

He was Zeon.

Zeon smiled and said,

“To receive such a warm welcome the moment I return. As expected, home is the best.”

“What the hell is he talking about?”

“Did this bastard get shot in the head or something?”

The men’s faces twisted savagely.

To ordinary people, it might have been a great threat, but it stirred no particular emotion in Zeon.

Rather, it truly made him feel as though he had returned home, and his mood improved.

The slums where he had been born and raised were this kind of place.

There was no law, and there was no order.

Those with power stole everything, and the weak had nowhere to complain, no matter how unjustly everything was taken from them.

A barbaric world where the strong possessed everything.

That was what the slums were.

A very long time ago, Zeon had been at the absolute bottom in this place.

He had not been able to breathe loudly, nor had he been allowed to show himself before the strong. He had lived in this place like vermin for eighteen years.

Back then, this place had felt like hell itself. But now that he had returned after so long and received this kind of welcome, laughter came instead.

The men holding knives scowled even harder.

“This son of a bitch is grinning?”

“Let’s just kill him and take everything.”

The men stabbed their knives straight into Zeon’s abdomen.

The skill of their knife work showed they had done this more than once or twice. But their knives did not leave a single wound on Zeon’s body.

The blades had been blocked by his robe.

“What the hell? An item?”

“An...... Awakened?”

The men’s eyes shook.

No matter how fearless these bottom-feeders were, they knew to fear an Awakened.

Even the lowest Grade F Awakened could annihilate them with a single pinky finger.

‘Fuck! We’re fucked.’

‘Run!’

It was when the men exchanged glances.

Zeon lightly kicked the shin of the man right in front of him. But the aftermath was by no means light.

THUD!

“Kraaaagh!”

The man’s shin broke and bent in a grotesque direction.

After seeing that, the other men fled in different directions.

There was no such thing as loyalty to comrades among them.

But before they could take even a few steps, all of them were caught by Zeon.

As if he had used a cloning technique, Zeon caught up to every one of the men in an instant and delivered a blow.

“Kraaaagh!”

“Kek!”

The men’s screams rang out across the street. But not a single person came outside.

The men rolled across the ground, clutching their broken legs and arms.

Zeon crouched down in front of one of them. Then the man forgot even his pain and begged.

“Ugh! P-please spare me.”

“It’s the first day I’ve returned home. I can’t go around killing people carelessly.”

“Thank you.”

“Instead, hand over everything you have.”

“What?”

“Did you not hear me? I said hand over everything you have.”

At Zeon’s threat, the man forgot even his pain and stared blankly at him.

“Don’t even think about hiding anything. If I search you and something comes out, I’ll break your other arm too.”

“Grrgh!”

In the end, the man handed everything he had over to Zeon while crying tears and snot.

Zeon took everything from the other men in the same way.

He felt no guilt.

This was only natural here.

They had attacked without recognizing the level of their opponent, so even if they died, they would have nothing to say.

Still, he had not taken their lives, so they would find some way to survive on their own.

Leaving the men behind, Zeon moved on.

The slums had not changed at all.

As if time had stopped, they remained exactly as he remembered.

Buildings were packed so densely that sunlight could not enter, and people walked the streets with no strength in their steps.

Because there was not enough power, the lights were off in most houses.

He felt gazes watching him through the windows of dark houses.

The people who lived here had an uncanny talent for smelling out those with a different scent from theirs.

They recognized people who did not carry the distinctive damp smell of the slums.

Zeon was one of those people too.

Someone who did not belong in the slums.

That was why they were wary of him.

Zeon knew that too. But he did not care.

He had already expected it.

Zeon enjoyed the atmosphere of his hometown as he walked.

The place he headed toward was Shinchon, in the western district of the slums.

There were many places in Neo Seoul that had inherited the place names of Old Seoul, and Shinchon was one of them.

But only the name was the same. Nothing of the old Shinchon could be found there.

Shinchon’s other name was the Ant Nest.

The Ant Nest was one of the worst regions in the slums.

That was because those with the most hopeless lives even in the slums gathered there to live.

Because of that, even the people of the slums rarely approached this place.

This was Zeon’s hometown.

He did not know whether he had been born here, but from the moment he had memory, he had always lived here.

Zeon stopped before a shabby building.

It was a tall building over thirty stories high.

He did not know how many times it had been extended, but the outer wall was different on every floor, making it look like a rag.

An old building constructed in the early days of Neo Seoul, one that could collapse at any time. This was where Zeon had lived.

After looking up at the building for a moment, Zeon went inside.

The building had over thirty floors, but there was no elevator.

Zeon walked up the stairs.

The place he reached after climbing step by step was the eighteenth floor.

In the past, he had cursed often while climbing these stairs. But now his breathing did not grow rough at all.

At last, Zeon reached his intended floor and walked to the room at the end of the hallway.

Room 1820.

It was the place where Zeon had once lived.

While living here, he had obtained a Mana Stone by chance.

A neighbor who had broken in to steal the Mana Stone had been killed, and because of that, he had been forced to flee to the Mana Stone Mine.

He had abandoned it because he had no choice, but the fact that this had been Zeon’s home did not change.

Zeon turned the doorknob. But it did not turn.

It was locked from the inside.

Having no choice, he knocked on the door.

BANG! BANG!

“What the hell? Which bastard is it?”

A moment later, someone opened the door while huffing angrily from inside.

It was a man over two meters tall, his entire body plastered with all kinds of tattoos.

He scowled and glared at Zeon.

“Why is a brat knocking on someone else’s door without fear?”

“Then what are you doing in someone else’s house?”

“What?”

“This is the house I used to live in.”

“What kind of bullshit is that, you crazy bastard? Where in the Ant Nest is there such a thing as your house or my house? If a house is empty, you move in and live there. That’s all.”

The huge man scowled.

He had taken over this house only three years ago.

The person who had lived here before him had been killed while trafficking drugs.

After that, the man had moved in here and lived here ever since.

Zeon smiled and said,

“I know that too. But since the owner has returned like this, I’d like you to vacate it as quickly as possible.”

“You son of a bitch......”

Suddenly, the man swept his narrowed eyes over Zeon’s entire body.

A smile appeared at the corners of his mouth, and an obscene light rose in his eyes.

“You’re not bad-looking. Fine. Just come in.”

“Are you vacating the house?”

“I said come in first.”

The man grabbed Zeon’s hand, pulled him inside, and locked the door.

Blocking the door, he said,

“Heh-heh! Take off your pants and turn around. Then I’ll let you live.”

“Tch! I’ll have to fix the door.”

“What?”

BAAANG!

At that instant, Zeon’s fist slammed into the man’s abdomen.

The man was flung outside without even managing to scream.

Because of that, the hinges broke, and the door swayed precariously.

Zeon thought it was fortunate that at least the door had not been completely destroyed.

The man clutched his stomach and vomited everything inside him.

When breathing became a little easier, the man wiped his mouth and stood up.

“You’re dead. Do you know who I am?”

The moment the man huffed and tried to approach, Zeon’s form vanished from his sight.

The place he reappeared was right beside the man.

Zeon had moved at a tremendous speed the man’s eyesight could not follow.

Zeon grabbed the man’s head and slammed it straight into the wall.

BAAANG!

With an explosive roar, the wall shook, and fragments flew in every direction.

“Grrgh!”

Under the terrible pain, the man could not even scream and only groaned.

Zeon spoke quietly.

“I’m not curious about who you are at all. What I want is only for you to vacate the house like this.”

“Ugh!”

“Answer.”

“Yes!”

Only then did Zeon let the man go.

As if satisfied with the man’s answer, Zeon smiled and turned around.

As he closed the precariously hanging door, he murmured,

“I’m finally home.”