Chapter 74

Chapter 74

If one went deep into the streets of Shinchon, a building resembling a Colosseum appeared.

It was incomparably smaller than the real Colosseum, but at least in outward appearance, it looked almost identical. Because of that, people also called this place the Colosseum.

The fact that an arena actually existed inside the Colosseum was similar too.

“Waaaaah!”

“Kill him!”

Shouts erupted inside the arena.

Hundreds of people had gathered in the arena, watching a fight.

“Fuck!”

“Uwaaaah!”

Two people were fighting while everyone watched.

Both of them were ordinary people, far removed from awakening.

Even so, they were crazed with desperation as they swung weapons at each other. They had already suffered more than a few wounds. Yet they did not back down and tried to kill each other.

The spectators in the arena grew excited as they watched them.

At the very top of the spectator seats, in an isolated spot, a man was sitting.

He was a Black man wearing a worn-out baseball cap and sunglasses.

His arms were as thick as a woman’s torso, and his massive build called a log to mind.

He had his feet propped up on the seat in front of him and was chewing gum noisily.

He was Goran, the ruler of Shinchon.

Goran’s father had been an international student who had come to Seoul to study a hundred years ago.

He had planned to return to his hometown in Kenya after finishing his studies, but unfortunately, that was when the world changed into this.

All means of transportation back to his hometown in Kenya had vanished.

In the end, he had no choice but to settle in Seoul, and he had Goran, the child of his later years.

Now, many races had naturally mixed together, but at the time, Koreans and other Asians had made up the overwhelming majority.

Naturally, discrimination had been severe.

Of course, Goran’s father had also endured discrimination while raising his son.

Goran, who had grown up watching such a father, naturally developed venom in his heart.

The venom-filled boy grew up and became the ruler of Shinchon.

Goran shouted loudly.

“Hey, put some strength into it. Your family’s on the line, isn’t it? The loser’s whole family dies. Heh-heh!”

The two men flinched when they heard his voice.

Both of them had been dragged here after falling into debt to Goran and failing to repay it.

The family of the loser in this fight would all die too.

That was why the two fought as if their lives depended on it.

Goran laughed as he watched the two men fight desperately.

“Heh-heh! When it comes to watching a fight, nothing beats small fry beating each other up.”

Fights between Awakened or those skilled in combat ended in an instant, so they had no flavor as a spectacle.

That was why Goran threw debtors into the arena.

Because their families’ lives were at stake, they fought desperately, no matter what happened to their own bodies. That was what excited the people.

“Guh!”

With the loser’s scream, the fight finally ended.

A knife was stuck in the loser’s chest, and the winner had collapsed face-down, gasping roughly.

“Haa! Haa!”

The winner’s face was stained all over with tears and blood.

There was no joy of victory visible on his face.

It was wretchedly twisted with both relief that he had survived and guilt toward the opponent he had killed.

Goran rose from his seat and asked the subordinate beside him,

“How many family members does the dead bastard have?”

“Two males and three females.”

“Kill all the males, and send the females to a brothel.”

“Yes, sir!”

The subordinate withdrew after answering.

That was when it happened.

A man in a neat suit with his hair tied back approached Goran.

He was a man named Eaton, one of Goran’s close aides.

He lowered his head and said,

“Boss!”

“What?”

“A guest has arrived.”

“Who?”

“Me.”

At that moment, a massive figure no smaller than Goran appeared from behind Eaton.

The instant Goran saw his face, his expression crumpled like a sheet of paper.

Bumpy skin like a crocodile’s, tattoos covering his face, and bright yellow eyes.

They were features impossible to forget once seen.

There was only one man in the slums with such features.

“Croker? I thought we agreed never to see each other again.”

“We did.”

“Then why did you crawl out?”

“Because the situation changed.”

“If you can’t convince me, you’ll never go back underground again.”

Goran rose from his seat and approached Croker.

A physique no less than Croker’s and tremendous pressure naturally flowed from him.

The two glared at each other from close enough to feel each other’s breath.

Croker glared at Goran and said,

“I need a magic power generator.”

“I think I gave you information on a magic power generator a few days ago.”

“You did.”

“And?”

“I failed to secure it.”

“Failed? Fuck! I kindly gave you the transport route, and you still failed to steal it? Are you seriously saying that right now?”

“......”

Instead of making excuses, Croker bit his lip.

There was no room for excuses.

Goran and Croker had a kind of symbiotic relationship.

Croker supplied Goran with drugs, and Goran paid him in money or information.

The drugs Croker handled were of very high quality and in great demand. That meant money.

That was why Goran had joined hands with Croker.

Goran asked,

“What happened?”

“The owner of the magic power generator tracked it down himself.”

“The owner bastard did?”

“It seems the place where we stole it was near his house.”

“So you got it taken from you helplessly by the owner?”

“He’s a strong one, at least Grade C or higher.”

“Hah! You call that an excuse? Even if he was Grade B, you should have dealt with him. What are you going to do if our relationship gets exposed because of this?”

“That won’t happen.”

“Fuck! You stupid bastard!”

“Watch your mouth.”

“Watch? Is that something a bastard who failed should be saying? I took a risk to pull information out of the Goblin Market.”

“If you give me information again, I’ll double the drug supply.”

“And if you can’t?”

“I’ll go to Dongdaemun.”

“Hah! So now you’re going to weigh Johan and me against each other?”

Goran glared at Croker with bloodshot eyes. But not the slightest tremor existed in Croker’s yellow eyes.

There was no such thing as loyalty or affection to be kept between them.

They were connected strictly by transaction.

If there was nothing to gain, one only had to move to another customer.

“Kaaak! Ptui! This is why you can’t trust things that live underground. Hah! Disloyal bastards!”

“If you get me a magic power generator, our loyalty will remain strong.”

“You’d better keep your promise. You crocodile bastard!”

“Don’t worry.”

At Croker’s firm answer, Goran looked at Eaton.

“Do we have any spare magic power generators?”

“As far as I know, even the Goblin Market doesn’t have any.”

“Fuck! Then that bastard’s item is the only one? Is he that strong?”

As far as he knew, Croker was a Grade C martial-type Awakened.

His grade was low, but he was not someone whose skill could be ignored.

In particular, he was accustomed to fighting underground, where not even a single ray of sunlight entered.

When it came to fighting underground, even Goran would have to give him some credit.

That Croker had been robbed by someone who had tracked him underground.

It was proof that the pursuer’s ability was that remarkable.

“He’s definitely Grade C or higher.”

“So a guy like that has been coiled up in my territory without permission?”

Goran’s eyes gleamed fiercely behind his sunglasses.

Awakened Grade C or higher were rare.

Such people chose the splendid Neo Seoul as their residence over these shabby slums.

There were not many people who would deliberately choose the slums when they could live in a clean city.

Most of those who chose the slums were people who could not enter Neo Seoul for one reason or another.

Goran was like that, and the close aides beneath him were not qualified either.

That was because they had committed too many crimes from a very young age.

So they had long since given up on entering Neo Seoul and set the conquest of the slums as their goal.

To do that, they needed a great deal of capital.

The one who solved a large part of that was Croker and the Crocodiles standing before him.

The drugs they supplied were rare goods that could not be obtained anywhere else.

He could not give that up.

Goran said to Eaton,

“You go to that guy.”

“Negotiation or robbery?”

“Meet him and decide.”

“Understood.”

“And if possible, draw him to our side. If he’s Grade C, he’ll be a fairly major force.”

“Yes, sir!”

Eaton lowered his head and answered.

He was not simply a secretary.

He was a strong man with martial power comparable to Dolkan, who served as a field commander. On top of that, he was fairly intelligent.

If it was Eaton, he would be able to handle this matter splendidly.

---

“Slurp!”

Zeon ate gukbap noisily.

The gukbap made from the meat of an unknown beast was extremely delicious.

The place where he was eating gukbap today was not old man Clexi’s shop. At first, he had mainly visited old man Clexi’s place, but now he went to other shops more often.

After emptying the entire bowl of gukbap, Zeon placed money on the table and stood.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Come again.”

“Yes!”

Even at the owner’s blunt reply, Zeon did not lose his smile.

If he had one pleasure, it was coming out to the market at night like this and eating a delicious meal.

Other than that, he only lazed around inside his house without doing anything.

Even so, he did not feel bored.

There had never been a period in his life as enjoyable as now.

Because he had lived fiercely for so long, he liked this present quiet.

Zeon hoped this peace would last as long as possible.

“Kid!”

At that moment, old man Clexi’s voice suddenly rang out.

He had called out after seeing Zeon passing in front of his street stall.

Zeon stopped and looked at old man Clexi.

“Yes?”

“These days, it seems like you go to places other than my shop more often.”

“If I eat at only one place, I’ll get sick of it.”

“You’re not saying my food isn’t good, are you?”

“It’s just barely edible.”

“This is excellent. The bastards inside Neo Seoul probably can’t even produce this kind of flavor.”

“I’m sure.”

“You, that was mockery, wasn’t it? I’m serious.”

“Yes, yes!”

At Zeon’s half-hearted answer, old man Clexi glared at him. But Zeon still wore a languid expression.

“You brat. You sure know how to drain the energy out of someone’s words......”

“Can I go now?”

“Sit down for a moment. Let’s talk.”

“What kind of talk?”

“I said sit first.”

Having no choice, Zeon sat in front of the street stall.

“What is it?”

“Are you going to keep playing around like that?”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why? Because there’s work, you brat.”

“What kind of work?”

“Are you interested?”

“If I’m not, will you just let me go?”

“You brat. You really know how to kill the mood......”

Old man Clexi glared at Zeon.

“So what kind of work is it?”

“Do you want to do a part-time job?”

“What kind of part-time job?”

“A delivery job.”

“So what kind of delivery?”

“If you hear it, you have to do it.”

“Then I won’t do it.”

Without needing to hear more, Zeon stood from his seat.

He did not know old man Clexi well, but he did know that the old man had many subordinates.

The fact that he was setting those subordinates aside and making a request to Zeon meant the matter either required extreme secrecy, or old man Clexi must not be revealed to be involved.

If the job went wrong, there was a high chance Zeon would be discarded after being used.

There was nothing good about getting pointlessly involved.

Zeon said,

“Ask someone else.”

“Hey!”

“I’m leaving.”

Zeon left without looking back.

Old man Clexi clicked his tongue as he watched Zeon’s back.

“His instincts are disgustingly sharp.”

It was something in which the fact that he was involved must not be revealed. That was why he had chosen Zeon.

Zeon had a good eye and skill as well.

Even better, there would be no burden in cutting him off.

That was why he had hinted at it, but Zeon noticed and refused at once.