Chapter 65

Chapter 65

The inside of the house was far more spacious than it looked from the outside.

That was because Zeon’s house had been built in the early days when the slums were first formed. Houses built early on were old, but they were also that much larger.

Recently built houses were so cramped that two or three adults inside would fill them completely. Since the land on which houses could be built was limited, it could not be helped.

Zeon did not know how many times the owner had changed while he was gone. There was no way those changing owners had properly maintained the house.

The inside of the house was saturated with a terrible smell.

The smell of drugs, the stench of blood, and countless other foul odors were mixed together, assaulting his nose.

Removing the vicious smell that had built up layer after layer over the years came first.

Zeon opened the windows wide to air the place out. Even so, the smell did not leave easily.

Zeon took out the musk sac of a One-Horned Elk from his subspace.

The One-Horned Elk was a monster over three meters tall at the shoulder. Near its reproductive organs, it had a musk sac, an organ that produced a distinctive fragrance.

If a small piece of the One-Horned Elk’s musk sac was cut off and placed in water, an invisible gas was produced, and it had a powerful effect on eliminating all kinds of miscellaneous odors.

Zeon filled a washbasin with water and placed about one-third of the musk sac inside. Then the water began to bubble and boil, producing gas.

While the gas was being produced, Zeon put every piece of furniture in the house into his subspace.

The furniture, filthy with all kinds of grime and badly worn, could not be reused. It was better to throw it away and bring in new things.

Fortunately, Zeon’s subspace contained quite a lot of odds and ends he had collected while wandering the desert.

One of them was the Bloodsucking Tree he had obtained near the lake where he had hunted Leviathan.

The Bloodsucking Tree was both a tree and a monster.

When a lifeform passed nearby, it extended its branches, bound the target, and sucked its blood.

Once caught by the Bloodsucking Tree, the victim had to have their blood drained until they died.

Zeon killed the Bloodsucking Tree and took a considerable amount of the main body, the wood.

Wood was a precious resource in and of itself.

Once he built a frame with the Bloodsucking Tree and covered it with Sand Angler hide, a fairly decent bed and sofa were quickly made.

With the remaining Bloodsucking Tree and Sand Angler hide, he repaired the broken door.

In the meantime, all the air inside the house had been purified.

The terrible smell that had tormented his nose disappeared entirely, and a refreshing fragrance filled the house.

“Not bad!”

There were still many things left to repair, but at this level, he felt he could rest comfortably for the time being without thinking about anything.

Zeon lay down on the bed he had made himself.

It was fairly soft, making sleep come naturally.

Zeon did not resist the drowsiness and entrusted himself to it.

He fell into a deep sleep.

He did not know how long he had slept.

When Zeon opened his eyes again, it had grown dim outside.

The slums, which had been as quiet as a dead mouse during the day, began to gain vitality at night.

Starting with the electronic billboard lighting up on the outer wall of the building across from him, billboards all over the slums brightly lit the shabby back alleys.

A billboard showing a crossed gun and knife meant there was a weapon shop there, and a red billboard with an obscene drawing meant there was a brothel.

The building shining especially brightly was a casino.

People who had not been visible during the day now appeared on the streets.

Drug addicts openly dealing drugs, people lining up to enter cheap bars, prostitutes tempting passersby.

BAAANG!

Several blocks away, an explosive roar rang out, as if a huge fight had broken out. Even so, fear or terror could not be found on anyone’s face.

That was because such things were everyday life here.

The slums were still a place where people lived.

And wherever people lived, interests inevitably existed.

Moreover, this was an ultra-dense area where as many as ten million people lived gathered together. Naturally, the interests at stake were just as large.

Wars between organizations fighting to seize those interests broke out several times a day.

In this place, monsters were not the threat.

The most dangerous beings in the slums were humans themselves.

That was when it happened.

BANG! BANG!

Someone pounded roughly on Zeon’s door and shouted.

“I know you’re in there. Get out here, you son of a bitch!”

Zeon recognized the owner of the voice without difficulty.

It was the man he had kicked out.

The man was not alone.

He had brought more than ten people with him.

The man belonged to an organization called the Red Skull Gang.

The Red Skull Gang was a small criminal organization based in Shinchon.

Although its scale was not large, it was regarded as formidable because it was made up of ruthless bastards.

The boss of the Red Skull Gang was Jo Sang-hyeok.

He was a Grade F martial-type Awakened.

Jo Sang-hyeok looked at Room 1820 with his arms crossed.

Even though his subordinates were pounding roughly on it, the door did not budge. Judging by its appearance, it looked as if it would break with a single tap.

Jo Sang-hyeok asked the man,

“Did you reinforce the door? What’s wrong with it?”

“Come on, boss. Where would I get the money for that? It’s just the door that was always there.”

The man’s face had turned bright red.

That was because he had pounded on the door with the intention of breaking it. But the door remained perfectly fine, and the man had exhausted himself and was panting.

That was when it happened.

The door, which had not budged no matter how hard they had pounded, opened without a sound. Then Zeon revealed himself.

“What is this?”

“This is the bastard. This bastard barged in out of nowhere, said it was his house, and beat me up.”

The man shouted at the top of his lungs when he saw Zeon.

Jo Sang-hyeok furrowed his brow.

That was because he did not like the sight of the man tattling like a child. But he was still one of his organization members.

If one of his people had been beaten and he left the opponent alone, his authority would not stand.

He had to teach people that anyone who touched him or his organization would bleed. Only then would people not look down on him.

Jo Sang-hyeok stepped forward.

“What are you? Why did you touch my boy?”

“I’m the owner.”

“What?”

“He was living without permission in the place where I originally lived. So I threw him out.”

“Do you call that an explanation?”

Jo Sang-hyeok looked dumbfounded. But Zeon was serious.

“Why would it not be? If the original owner has returned, the illegal occupant should naturally leave.”

“Do you have proof this is your house?”

“No.”

“Are you playing word games with me right now? You’re saying this is your house without proof?”

“Yes!”

“You son of a bitch, seriously......”

In the end, Jo Sang-hyeok’s anger exploded.

His underlings moved first in response to his rage.

“Make this bastard kneel.”

“This little fucker......”

It was when they surrounded Zeon, swelling their bulging muscles.

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!

Suddenly, a series of powerful impacts rang out.

Then the men who had surrounded Zeon collapsed like sand castles.

Their eyes had rolled back, and foam frothed at their mouths.

“You were an Awakened?”

Jo Sang-hyeok’s eyes shook.

It was impossible for an ordinary human to subdue more than ten sturdy men in an instant.

Zeon shrugged.

“As you can see......”

“Hah! Fuck. So you got arrogant because you trusted some rat-tail little ability?”

“I was never arrogant.”

“What grade are you? Show me your Rank Insignia, you son of a bitch!”

“If I show you my Rank Insignia, you’ll die.”

“What?”

“I said you’ll die.”

“This bastard is bluffing......”

“Does it look like a bluff?”

Zeon smiled.

At that instant, Jo Sang-hyeok felt a chill run through his whole body.

It was a biological reaction that appeared only when one sensed a threat to one’s life.

This feeling was the first he had experienced since the war with a rival organization that had risked his life not long ago.

Jo Sang-hyeok instinctively realized that Zeon’s level was not ordinary. In his heart, he wanted to withdraw like this.

But he could not step back.

He had his pride too.

“Fuck you!”

Jo Sang-hyeok swung his large fist.

As befitted a martial-type Awakened, his fist contained powerful force. But to Zeon’s eyes, it looked far too weak.

Zeon avoided Jo Sang-hyeok’s fist and struck his chest lightly. But the aftermath was by no means light.

CRAAAAASH!

“Kweeek!”

Jo Sang-hyeok flew backward with a scream like a pig being slaughtered. His chest was deeply caved in.

It was a wound severe enough that he would have died instantly if Zeon had not held back.

He was alive only because he was an Awakened.

From a single punch by Zeon, Jo Sang-hyeok felt pain as if his entire body were being dismantled.

It felt as if all his muscles were unraveling and his organs were melting down.

The focus vanished from his eyes, and he could see nothing.

His senses returned only after quite some time.

“Cough!”

After he vomited almost a basin’s worth of blood, the paralysis in his body loosened.

That was when Zeon appeared before his eyes.

Zeon had crouched down and met his gaze.

Depthless black eyes stared quietly at him.

The moment Jo Sang-hyeok met Zeon’s eyes, his own eyes shook wildly. Just looking into Zeon’s eyes made it feel as if his brain would melt.

It was a phenomenon caused by the difference in their ranks.

Only then did Jo Sang-hyeok realize it.

The fact that his opponent was a high-ranking Awakened whom someone like him could not even dare to look upon.

‘Grade D? No, maybe even Grade C or higher.’

The strongest grade he could imagine was Grade C.

Even Grade F was enough to create a small organization like his, and Grade E Awakened had several small organizations under their command.

From Grade D onward, one could even be scouted and enter Neo Seoul.

Jo Sang-hyeok’s ultimate goal was also to enter Neo Seoul.

Leaving this shitty place and entering the dazzling civilized world was the dream of everyone in the slums.

Zeon was someone fully qualified to enter Neo Seoul. He did not know why someone like him had entered this shitty place, but it was clear that he was not someone Jo Sang-hyeok could oppose.

Zeon asked,

“Do you still have a problem with me living in this house?”

“N-no problem.”

“I thought so. I don’t care what you do. You just need to cooperate so I can live quietly. You can promise that, right?”

“I promise.”

“Then that’s enough.”

Zeon smiled and stood.

He could kill someone like Jo Sang-hyeok with a single movement of his pinky. But the reason he did not do so was because he knew that even if he killed Jo Sang-hyeok, others would appear like cockroaches and take his place.

It was far more convenient to let Jo Sang-hyeok, who knew how frightening he was, live and manage the area.

A moment later, Jo Sang-hyeok and his subordinates recovered enough strength to stand.

As they were about to leave, Zeon said to them,

“It would be better not to run your mouths about what happened today. Whenever your mouth starts itching, think of this.”

At that instant, a large fireball formed around Zeon’s body.

“Hrk!”

Jo Sang-hyeok and his subordinates’ eyes widened as if they would tear.

‘A Magic Type, and a flame-type Awakened at that.’

Even at the same grade, Magic Type Awakened were treated as more precious than martial-type Awakened. They were further divided according to the type of Magic, and among them, flame types belonged to the stronger axis.

Together with lightning types, flame-type Magic boasted the greatest destructive power.

Because of that, flame-type Magic Awakened received precious treatment even in Neo Seoul.

“I will absolutely keep my mouth shut. Please don’t worry.”

Jo Sang-hyeok answered with mangled pronunciation. His tongue, paralyzed by the enormous shock, still had not loosened.

Only then did Zeon smile in satisfaction and erase the fireball.

“You must be busy, but leave me an address before you go.”

“An address?”

“You don’t want to leave one?”

“N-no.”

Jo Sang-hyeok hurriedly wrote down an address.

Zeon checked the address and said,

“Now go.”

“Thank you.”

Jo Sang-hyeok and his subordinates bowed deeply to Zeon, then hurriedly ran down the stairs.

Once outside, Jo Sang-hyeok began beating one of his subordinates viciously. It was the subordinate who had brought them there.

“You son of a bitch! What, he was nothing special? Does that look like nothing special?”

“I’m sorry. Aagh!”

“Because of you, all of us almost died. And what?”

“I was wrong. Please spare me.”

Jo Sang-hyeok stomped on the begging subordinate mercilessly.

He was venting all the humiliation he had suffered from Zeon onto his subordinate.

The subordinate who had once been the occupant of Zeon’s house was brutally crushed and lost consciousness.

Jo Sang-hyeok huffed and looked around at the other subordinates.

“Make sure not a word of today gets out. If this becomes known outside, you bastards die, and I die too.”

“Yes!”

“Understood.”

The subordinates answered hurriedly.

Jo Sang-hyeok looked at the building where Zeon lived with a twisted face.

‘Fuck! Of all places, why did a monster like that crawl into my territory?’

A sigh escaped him on its own.