Chapter 74
If you went deep into the Sinchon streets, a building resembling the Colosseum would appear.
It was incomparably smaller than the real Colosseum, but at least its exterior was nearly identical. That was why people called this place the Colosseum as well.
The fact that an arena actually existed inside was another similarity.
“Waaaah!”
“Kill him!”
Shouts erupted inside the arena.
Hundreds of people had gathered in the arena to watch the fight.
“Fuck!”
“Uwaaaah!”
Two people were fighting while everyone watched.
Both of them were ordinary people far removed from Awakening.
Nevertheless, they swung weapons at each other with murderous intent. They had already suffered considerable wounds. Even so, they did not back down and tried to kill each other.
The spectators in the arena grew excited watching those two.
A man was sitting in a separate box seat at the very top of the stands.
He was a Black man wearing a worn-out baseball cap and sunglasses.
He possessed a magnificent physique, his forearms as thick as a woman’s torso and his frame reminiscent of logs.
He had his feet up on the front seat, chewing gum noisily.
He was none other than Goran, the ruler of Sinchon.
Goran’s father had been an international student who came to Seoul to study a hundred years ago.
He had planned to return to his homeland, Kenya, after finishing his studies, but right then the world changed.
All means of transportation to his hometown had disappeared.
In the end, he had no choice but to settle in Seoul, and he had Goran late in life.
Many races mixed naturally now, but at the time the majority were Koreans and other Asians.
Naturally, discrimination was severe.
Of course, Goran’s father also endured discrimination while raising his son.
Goran, who grew up watching such a father, naturally came to harbor deep-seated spite.
The boy full of spite grew up to become the ruler of Sinchon.
Goran shouted loudly.
“Hey, put your backs into it. Your families are on the line. The loser dies with his whole family. Hehe!”
The two men flinched at his voice.
Both of them had been captured because they owed Goran debts they couldn’t repay.
The loser of this fight would die along with his entire family.
That was why the two were fighting to the death.
Goran smiled as he watched the two fight desperately.
“Hehe! As expected, watching weaklings fight is the best entertainment.”
Fights between Awakened ones or those skilled in battle ended in an instant, so they weren’t fun to watch.
That was the reason Goran threw debtors into the arena.
Because their families’ lives were at stake, they fought to the death regardless of what happened to their bodies. That was what excited people.
“Kuaack!”
With the loser’s scream, the fight finally ended.
A knife was stuck in the loser’s chest, and the winner lay collapsed, gasping roughly.
“Huff! Huff!”
The winner’s face was stained entirely with tears and blood.
There was no trace of a victor’s joy on his face.
A mixture of relief at having survived and guilt over killing his opponent twisted his face wretchedly.
Goran stood up from his seat and asked a subordinate beside him.
“How many in the dead bastard’s family?”
“Two men and three women.”
“Kill all the males, and send the females to the brothels.”
“Yes sir!”
The subordinate withdrew with his answer.
It was then.
A man in a neat suit with a ponytail approached Goran.
He was a man named Iteun, one of Goran’s trusted confidants.
He lowered his head and spoke.
“Boss!”
“What?”
“A guest has arrived.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
Then, from behind Iteun, a massive figure comparable to Goran revealed itself.
The moment Goran checked the man’s face, his expression crumpled like paper.
Skin rough and bumpy like a crocodile, tattoos covering his face, and yellow irises.
Features one could never forget after a single glance.
In the slums, there was only one man with such features.
“Crocker? Didn’t we agree to never see each other again?”
“We did.”
“Then why have you crawled out here?”
“Because the situation has changed.”
“If you can’t convince me, you’ll never be able to return underground again.”
Goran stood up from his seat and approached Crocker.
He naturally emanated a physique rivaling Crocker’s and tremendous pressure.
The two glared at each other from a distance close enough to feel each other’s breath.
Crocker glared at Goran and spoke.
“I need a mana generator.”
“Didn’t I give you information on a mana generator a few days ago?”
“I did!”
“So?”
“I failed to secure it.”
“Failed? Fuck! I even kindly gave you the transport route, and you failed to hijack it? And that’s what you have to say for yourself?”
“……”
Crocker bit his lip hard instead of making excuses.
There was no room for excuses.
Goran and Crocker were in a symbiotic relationship.
Crocker supplied Goran with drugs, and Goran paid Crocker with money or information.
The drugs Crocker handled were of such high quality that demand was enormous. Thus, they were profitable.
That was the reason Goran had joined hands with Crocker.
Goran asked.
“What happened?”
“The owner of the mana generator tracked us down personally.”
“The owner bastard himself?”
“It seems the hijacking location was near his house.”
“So you got robbed by the owner without putting up a fight?”
“He’s a powerhouse at least C-Rank.”
“Ha! And you call that an excuse? Even if he were B-Rank instead of C-Rank, you should have handled him. What if our relationship gets exposed like this?”
“That won’t happen.”
“Fuck! You stupid bastard!”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Watch it? Is that what a failed bastard should be saying? I risked my ass to leak information from the Goblin Market.”
“If you give me the information again, I’ll double the drug supply.”
“And if you can’t?”
“I’ll go to Dongdaemun.”
“Ha! So now you’re weighing me against Yohan?”
Goran glared at Crocker with bloodshot eyes. But there wasn’t a hint of wavering in Crocker’s yellow pupils.
There was no such thing as loyalty or obligation between them.
They were connected solely by transaction.
If there was nothing to gain, one simply moved to another trading partner.
“Kak! Ptui! This is why those underground can’t be trusted. Ha! Disloyal bastards!”
“If you just get me the mana generator, our loyalty will continue unbroken.”
“You’d better keep your promise, crocodile bastard!”
“Don’t worry.”
At Crocker’s definite answer, Goran looked at Iteun.
“Do we have any spare mana generators?”
“I believe there are none even in the Goblin Market.”
“Fuck! So that bastard’s item is the only one? And he’s that strong?”
As far as Goran knew, Crocker was a C-Rank martial-class Awakened.
His rank was low, but he was a powerhouse who couldn’t be ignored.
He was especially used to fighting underground where not a single ray of sunlight entered.
When it came to underground fighting, even Goran had to concede he was outmatched.
Such a Crocker had been cleaned out by someone who tracked him underground.
It was evidence that the tracker’s skill was that great.
“He’s definitely C-Rank or higher.”
“So you’re saying such a bastard has been nesting in my territory without permission?”
Goran’s eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, flickered.
Awakened ones of C-Rank or higher were rare.
Those bastards chose glamorous Neo Seoul as their residence rather than these squalid slums.
Since they could live in a clean city, not many chose the slums for no reason.
Those who chose the slums were mostly people who couldn’t enter Neo Seoul for one reason or another.
Goran was one such person, and his trusted subordinates below him also lacked the qualifications.
Because they had committed many crimes since they were young.
So they had long since given up on entering Neo Seoul and set their sights on conquering the slums.
To do that, a lot of capital was needed.
A considerable portion of that was resolved by Crocker and the crocodiles before his eyes.
The drugs they supplied were precious items that couldn’t be obtained anywhere else.
He couldn’t give that up.
Goran spoke to Iteun.
“You’ll have to go to him.”
“Negotiation? Or robbery?”
“Meet him and judge for yourself.”
“Understood.”
“And if possible, recruit him to our side. If he’s C-Rank, he’ll be a significant asset.”
“Yes!”
Iteun answered with a lowered head.
He wasn’t a simple secretary.
He was a powerhouse with strength comparable to Dolkan, who served as Goran’s enforcer, and he was quite smart.
If it was Iteun, he would be able to resolve this matter excellently.
***
“Slurp!”
Jeon ate his gukbap noisily.
The gukbap made with meat from an unidentified beast was incredibly delicious.
Today, the place where he was eating gukbap was not Elder Clexy’s shop. At first he had mainly visited Elder Clexy’s shop, but now he visited other shops more often.
Jeon emptied his bowl of gukbap, placed money on the table, and stood up.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“Come again.”
“Yes!”
Even at the owner’s curt reply, Jeon didn’t lose his smile.
If there was any pleasure for him, it was coming out to the market at night and having a delicious meal like this.
Other than that, he just loafed around at home doing nothing.
Yet he didn’t feel bored.
There had never been a time in his life as enjoyable as now.
Because he had lived fiercely for so long, he liked the current peace.
Jeon thought that if possible, he would like this peace to last.
“Hey, brat!”
Suddenly, Elder Clexy’s voice rang out.
He had called to Jeon, who was passing in front of his stall.
Jeon stopped and looked at Elder Clexy.
“Yes?”
“You seem to be going to other places more than our shop these days.”
“I get tired of eating at just one place.”
“It’s not that my food is bad, right?”
“It’s passable, I guess.”
“This level is excellent. Probably even the folks inside Neo Seoul can’t produce this taste.”
“I suppose so.”
“You, that’s a sneer, isn’t it? I’m telling you it’s true.”
“Yes, yes!”
At Jeon’s perfunctory reply, Elder Clexy glared. But Jeon still wore a languid expression.
“You, bastard! Sucking the energy out of a man’s words….”
“May I go now?”
“Sit down for a moment. Let’s talk.”
“About what?”
“Just sit down first.”
Jeon reluctantly sat in the seat in front of the stall.
“What is it?”
“Are you just going to keep lazing around like that?”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why, you bastard! Because there’s work.”
“What work?”
“Are you interested?”
“If I’m not, will you just let me go?”
“You, bastard! Sucking the energy out….”
Elder Clexy glanced at Jeon.
“So what is it?”
“You want to do a part-time job?”
“What kind of part-time job?”
“It’s delivery work.”
“So what kind of delivery?”
“If you hear it, you must do it.”
“Then I won’t.”
Jeon stood up from his seat without listening further.
He didn’t know much about Elder Clexy, but he knew the old man had many subordinates.
The fact that he was requesting this of him instead of those subordinates meant it was either highly secret, or that it must not be revealed that Elder Clexy was involved.
If things went wrong, the chances of being disposed of after outliving his usefulness were high.
There was nothing good about getting needlessly entangled.
Jeon spoke.
“Ask someone else.”
“Hey!”
“I’m leaving.”
Jeon left without looking back.
Elder Clexy clicked his tongue as he watched Jeon’s retreating figure.
“He’s disgustingly quick-witted.”
It was a matter where the fact that he was involved must not be revealed. That was why he had chosen Jeon.
He was quite perceptive and skilled.
What was even better was that there would be no burden in cutting him loose.
So he had subtly tested the waters, but the perceptive Jeon had refused in an instant.