Chapter 72

Chapter 72

In the slums, Zeon’s life was one of idleness.

He did nothing and thought of nothing.

He either sat in a daze and stared out the window all day, or lay in bed and only slept.

For the past eight years, he had always lived under tension, so he had longed desperately for time like this.

Time to focus entirely on himself, and time meant only for himself.

Right now, Zeon was spending such time.

But there was no such thing as endless rest.

After spending nearly fifteen days shut up inside his house without doing anything, he began to want to breathe the outside air.

Zeon rose from the bed and headed to the bathroom.

When he had first returned home, it had been full of stench and filth, but now it had become fairly clean.

Zeon washed his face briefly and went outside.

CLICK!

When he came out, the Watching Eye locked the door.

Now he no longer had to worry about his house being robbed.

The Watching Eye would protect it perfectly.

There was no hurry, so Zeon walked down the stairs.

It was when he had descended to around the fifteenth floor.

“Oh, you’re a brother I haven’t seen before.”

A boy coming out onto the stairs saw Zeon and spoke to him.

He looked about fifteen or sixteen years old.

For his age, his physique did not look especially large.

A somewhat blank-looking face, unfocused eyes, drooping shoulders, and an oddly languid atmosphere.

His hair was buzzed short, and flashy earrings and piercings caught the eye.

Like most children in the slums, the boy also looked utterly unmotivated.

There was no way children who had no dreams or hope and struggled just to live day by day would have any motivation.

Zeon asked,

“Do you live here?”

“Yes! The last house on the fifteenth floor.”

“I see.”

“What about you, brother?”

“The last house on the eighteenth floor.”

“So we both live in the last house.”

“I guess so.”

Zeon nodded.

“My name is Levin. What about you, brother?”

“Zeon!”

“That’s a cool name.”

“I hear that a lot.”

Levin was quite talkative.

As if he was not afraid of Zeon, whom he was meeting for the first time, he chattered away.

“Are you in a gang too, brother?”

“No.”

“Then what do you do to make a living?”

“I have enough money that I don’t need to work for a while.”

“I’m jealous. Our house has nothing.”

“Is that so?”

“My mom, me, and my younger siblings live together, but I have no idea how we’re going to eat from now on.”

“You must have a lot of worries.”

“So, brother, if you have a lot of money, could you lend me some? I’ll work hard and pay you back.”

“No. I can’t.”

“Hey, aren’t you being too firm?”

“Aren’t you being too shameless?”

“Tch! It didn’t work.”

Levin wrinkled his nose.

Even so, he did not look offended.

Living in the slums did not mean neighbors were close to one another.

He had heard that such cases sometimes existed before the world became like this, but not now.

At least, the world Levin knew was like that.

In the slums, the very bottom of the human ecosystem, it was extremely common for neighbors to cheat and prey on one another.

In this place, affection was another word for sucker.

It was only natural for affectionate people to be picked clean by others.

As they exchanged one thing and another, they arrived at the first floor before they knew it.

Outside, boys who seemed to be Levin’s friends had gathered.

“Why did you take so long to come down? You slow bastard!”

“Fuck! This bastard makes us wait every day. It’s not like he has anything to do.”

As boys their age usually did, they greeted Levin with curses.

Levin seemed used to his friends’ reaction and answered with an unconcerned expression.

“Sorry! A new brother moved into the neighborhood, so I was late because I was talking to him.”

“That bastard?”

“He looks like he has some money.”

The boys’ eyes gleamed with greed.

Levin slung both arms over the boys’ shoulders and tightened his grip.

“You bastards! No matter how blinded by money you are, you should choose your targets. If you mess with that brother, you’ll die.”

“What? Did your spiritual sense activate again?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, it’s better for your lives not to touch that brother.”

“Fuck! What a waste.”

At Levin’s words, the boys spat on the ground.

They soon lost interest in Zeon.

Levin’s nickname was “Shaman.”

Whether he truly had a spiritual sense or not, most of what he said came true.

Because of that, his friends did not ignore Levin’s words.

Levin dragged his friends along and said,

“Let’s go. I don’t feel good today.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It just feels bad. I want to hurry somewhere else.”

“Then let’s go to Dongdaemun.”

“Why Dongdaemun?”

“It’s popular there these days. Heh-heh!”

One of Levin’s friends made a gesture as if inhaling something through his nose. Then the other boys burst into laughter.

Levin said to his friends,

“If you keep doing drugs like that, you’ll die young.”

“Fuck! What’s the point of living long like this?”

“At least drugs keep me from going crazy. Let’s go to Shinchon.”

Levin and his friends disappeared from Zeon’s sight, chattering noisily.

“It looks like they’ve been exposed to drugs for a long time.”

The drugs they were talking about were clearly cheap narcotics.

They gave extreme pleasure when inhaled, but in the end, they ruined the human body.

There was no one who did not know that fact. Even so, people sought out drugs.

That was because there was nothing like drugs for forgetting the painful reality of the moment.

At least Levin did not seem to have used drugs yet, but his other friends clearly showed signs of addiction.

Children like that could easily be seen in this place.

They would not listen even if he tried to stop them, and Zeon was not the kind of meddlesome person to recklessly interfere in someone else’s life.

In the end, one had to take responsibility for one’s own life.

Whether one ruined oneself with drugs or lived hard and earned a lot of money.

Zeon soon shook off thoughts of Levin and his friends and walked toward the market.

It had been quite a while since he had gone out, but the atmosphere of the market had not changed much.

“Oh? You’re still alive.”

Old man Clexi looked surprised when he saw Zeon.

Zeon sat down at old man Clexi’s street stall and said,

“Did someone say I died? Why are you so surprised?”

“I hadn’t seen you for so long that I thought you were dead.”

“I was just resting at home.”

“You mean you were shut up in your house for over fifteen days?”

“Yes!”

“You’re really something.”

Old man Clexi looked fed up.

Zeon had come out so rarely that he had even withdrawn the people watching him.

Continuing to watch him had been nothing but a waste of manpower.

It was the first time old man Clexi had withdrawn people midway.

“You really are strange. Strange indeed.”

“What is?”

“Just everything.”

In the end, he had learned nothing about Zeon, so old man Clexi’s mood was extremely unpleasant.

Zeon was the first person to make him feel this uncomfortable. Because of that, it was also true that his curiosity grew even stronger.

“Are you here to eat?”

“That’s why I came. Give me anything.”

“Tch!”

Old man Clexi clicked his tongue and prepared a meal.

While waiting for the food to come out, Zeon looked around.

For some reason, the atmosphere of the market felt subdued.

“Did something happen?”

“Why?”

“The atmosphere just feels a little strange.”

“It’s because a viper has been running wild lately.”

“A viper?”

“He’s too cunning and possesses too deadly a poison to dismiss as a mere loach.”

“So what happened?”

Zeon showed curiosity for the first time.

“Some lunatic bastard is going around killing people.”

“A lunatic?”

“They say he kills people, cuts them to pieces, and decorates them like works of art.”

“Someone like that exists?”

“It’s hard enough to find a normal person in this world, but even so, it’s not easy to see someone this insane.”

He killed people by cutting them to pieces, then drew pictures with their drained blood and decorated the scene with severed body parts.

It was an act no normal person could possibly commit.

“And Goran is just leaving him alone?”

Goran was the ruler of Shinchon.

He too was nothing more than a criminal in the larger sense, but if he claimed to be the ruler of Shinchon, he still had some responsibility to manage order.

If he allowed such a grotesque murderer to run wild, the people of Shinchon might come to distrust him.

“Do you think that would be the case? He already sent troubleshooters.”

“Then they’ll catch him soon.”

“I hope so, but......”

“Is that not the case?”

“I told you, he’s a viper, didn’t I? If they approach him thinking he’s a loach, they’ll definitely pay dearly.”

“Hmm!”

“If it bothers you that much, why don’t you catch him?”

“It doesn’t bother me at all.”

“You heartless bastard.”

“Then why don’t you catch him, old man?”

“What strength do I have to catch a murderer?”

Old man Clexi flared up.

“Come on! You still look hale and hearty.”

“I only look that way. There isn’t a single place that doesn’t hurt. My arms and legs all ache.”

“That means you’re still hale and hearty. Why get so worked up?”

“You try becoming my age. You’ll realize living day by day is suffering.”

“Yes, yes!”

Zeon answered half-heartedly and dug at his ear with his pinky finger.

Old man Clexi looked dumbfounded despite himself.

Zeon was the first person on this street to treat him this casually.

After always meeting only people who bowed and scraped, seeing Zeon even felt refreshing somehow.

‘Just what kind of life did this bastard live?’

He felt certain Zeon had not lived an ordinary life.

THUD!

“Here. Eat.”

Old man Clexi irritably set the food down in front of Zeon.

Broth splashed everywhere, but strangely, not a single drop touched Zeon’s body. That made him even more annoyed.

“Lucky bastard!”

“I hear that a lot.”

Zeon answered calmly and ate the unidentified dish old man Clexi had given him.

Although his personality was filthy, old man Clexi’s skill was certain.

The moment he took a mouthful, a smile naturally appeared.

“You bastard. Grinning like that......”

Old man Clexi also gave a faint laugh as he looked at Zeon.

Zeon emptied the bowl in an instant.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Are you going straight home?”

“Yes!”

“Isn’t it boring to stay shut up inside your house every day? How can a young man live like a monk?”

“What’s wrong with staying shut up at home?”

“It’s a waste to throw away your youth like that.”

“I’m enjoying myself plenty. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Tch!”

When he could not get through to him, old man Clexi clicked his tongue.

Even if he wanted to find something out, there was no way to do so when Zeon refused to come outside.

It felt as if he had run into a complete wall.

Whether Zeon knew old man Clexi’s feelings or not, he placed money on the street stall and rose.

“I’ll come again next time.”

“Hmph!”

Leaving old man Clexi’s snort behind, Zeon walked away.

Before he knew it, the sky had grown dark.

In contrast, lights were coming on one by one in the slums.

The building where Zeon lived also lit up. But most of the lights were flickering uneasily, so it was impossible to know when the electricity would cut off.

Zeon thought it was fortunate that he had bought the magic power generator before it was too late and climbed the stairs.

It was when he had climbed to around the tenth floor.

“Kyaaak!”

“Aaagh!”

Suddenly, people’s screams rang out from above.

At the ear-splitting shrill sound, Zeon found himself moving in that direction.

The place the screams had come from was the fifteenth floor.

People had gathered at the end of the fifteenth-floor hallway.

Zeon pushed through the people and went forward.

The moment he saw inside the house with the door wide open, Zeon frowned.

A scene of hell had unfolded there.