Chapter 78
Jeon stared holes through the steak.
Just as Goran had said, it was clearly made from real beef.
The juices slowly seeping out and the aroma carried a rich depth of flavor that could never be found in cultured meat or magical beast meat.
Saliva pooled involuntarily in Jeon’s mouth.
Goran spoke as he cut the steak.
“I told you not to hold back. This is a real treat.”
He put a large slice of meat into his mouth and chewed.
Juice trickled down the corner of his mouth.
Goran wiped it with his finger and sucked it clean.
In an instant, the chunk of steak disappeared into his stomach.
Goran pointed at the steak sitting in front of Jeon.
“You’re not going to eat it?”
“It doesn’t really appeal to me.”
“Tsk! When you’re young, you ought to eat anything and everything.”
“I’m just a picky eater, I suppose.”
“Seems you’re not hungry yet. Then what about women?”
Snap!
Goran snapped his fingers once more, and a door opened.
Beyond the door, over ten women in provocative attire were waiting.
A middle-aged woman in gaudy clothing led them out.
Jeon recognized the middle-aged woman at a glance.
Eiba.
She was Iteun’s lover, whom Jeon had driven to the brink of death, and the madam of a brothel.
Eiba gave a bewitching smile.
“We meet again, young master!”
“I wonder how your boyfriend is doing. I beat him rather severely.”
“You don’t need to worry. He’ll shake it off and be back on his feet in no time.”
“That’s a relief.”
“You really are a kind-hearted young master.”
Eiba smiled with her eyes.
Jeon thought Eiba was no ordinary woman.
Being able to smile in front of someone who had nearly killed her lover was by no means an easy thing.
Eiba gestured to the prostitutes on either side.
“So, is there any girl who catches your fancy? I’ve handpicked only the very best among my girls…….”
The prostitutes flashed radiant smiles.
They were known to be among the most beautiful of the women under Eiba’s charge.
The perfume on their bodies stimulated Jeon’s sense of smell.
Jeon looked them over one by one.
To appeal to him, the prostitutes made sensual expressions or struck poses to emphasize their chests.
But not a single one of them reached Jeon’s heart.
Jeon spoke.
“I don’t think they’re my type.”
“That’s because you don’t know women yet. Even if they don’t appeal to you, once you hold them in your arms and roll around, you’ll change your mind.”
When Eiba gestured with her chin, the prostitutes surrounded Jeon.
One sat on his knee, while another slipped her hand inside his shirt and caressed his chest.
It was a temptation any man would find hard to refuse.
Goran spoke as he watched Jeon surrounded by the prostitutes.
“All you have to do is say one word. Then all those women are yours.”
“What is it you want me to say?”
“The words, ‘I will follow you.’”
“So you’re saying…….”
“Yes! I’m making you a scouting offer. So I’d prefer you didn’t refuse. I’m not accustomed to being rejected.”
His words were soft, but his eyes were not.
A terrifying gaze could be felt from beyond his sunglasses.
Jeon asked with an intrigued expression.
“What if I refuse anyway?”
“You’ll pay the price. And it will be a harsh one.”
“Is this how you normally threaten someone you’re trying to recruit?”
“It depends on who the target is.”
Iteun, whom he had sent to Jeon, had returned with grave injuries.
Along with Dolkan, Taeo, and Eiba, Iteun was one of his most trusted confidants.
Jeon had subdued such an Iteun without much trouble.
According to Iteun and Eiba, his rank was estimated to be at least B-grade, not C-grade.
In the slums, Awakened of B-grade or higher were extremely rare.
Those who could receive noble treatment even inside Neo Seoul were precisely B-grade Awakened.
If he could recruit a B-grade Awakened, he could easily set aside petty personal feelings or grudges.
Jeon spoke.
“I’m at a loss with how highly you regard me. Let me ask one thing before I answer. You’re the one who leaked information about the mana generator to the Crocodiles, aren’t you?”
“It was business. Don’t misunderstand; there were no personal feelings involved.”
“I thought as much.”
“For your information, I don’t want this fact reaching the Dokkaebi Market. So you’d better think carefully before you answer.”
Goran smiled, baring his white teeth.
Against his dark skin, the smile felt even more chilling.
Jeon was not someone who would fail to grasp Goran’s meaning.
This place was Goran’s inner courtyard.
Everyone in the arena was under Goran’s influence.
At a single command from Goran, everyone in the arena—and all of Sinchon—would become Jeon’s enemies and attack him.
The title of ruler of Sinchon was not merely for show.
Jeon spoke.
“So I never had a choice from the start.”
“If you want to keep your footing in Sinchon, come under me. I won’t work you that harshly.”
“What about the Crocodiles?”
“Just hand over the mana generator. Then there won’t be any problem.”
“Hey! What kind of solution is that? In the end, I’m the only one losing out.”
“That’s just how the world works. The weak must endure all unreasonable conditions. If it’s unfair, then you just need to become the stronger one.”
“Is that really all it takes?”
“You confident?”
Goran lowered his sunglasses slightly and looked at Jeon.
“Not everything in this world is solved by confidence alone.”
“You speak as if you have plenty of experience with that.”
“More than a few.”
“Haah!”
Goran let out a sigh at Jeon’s nitpicking attitude.
His face was etched with irritation.
“Then the negotiations have broken down.”
“Negotiations are only established when both sides have something to concede. Who would agree to a negotiation where one side unilaterally takes all the losses?”
“Indeed! I was too demanding of your sacrifice alone. But what can I do? That’s the law of this world. The ruler takes everything. I am the ruler of Sinchon. Everything in Sinchon is mine. Nothing within it can escape my grasp. You’re no exception.”
At Goran’s arrogant words, Jeon snorted.
“I am nobody’s thing, nobody’s possession.”
“If you’re in my territory, you’re mine.”
“I suppose you’ve lost your mind. I’m almost curious how one achieves such a mental state.”
“You’d better watch your words. My patience isn’t that strong.”
“You should be the one watching your words. Don’t bother someone who’s returned to his hometown after a long time and is trying to rest.”
Jeon pushed aside the surrounding prostitutes and rose from his seat.
Goran glared at him.
“Sit!”
“The negotiation has collapsed.”
“I’m not finished. Sit!”
“I am finished.”
“Can you handle what happens next?”
“I can handle it.”
“Youth truly knows no fear.”
“Unlike some, I don’t hide tucked away inside a barrier.”
Goran’s face contorted at Jeon’s sneer.
He hadn’t actually deployed a barrier, but he was wearing an item that would deploy one upon taking an attack.
It was the ring on his finger.
It was something he had obtained with great difficulty—an item from a dungeon.
It activated automatically when struck by an unexpected attack, but only once per day.
Goran called this ring the Ring of Protection.
Without the Ring of Protection, he would never have let Jeon get this close.
Whether Jeon had noticed the ring’s existence or not, his words were enough to sting.
“Heh-heh!”
Goran laughed.
He no longer tried to persuade Jeon.
Although he coveted Jeon, he did not want him at the cost of such a wounded pride.
Goran stood up.
He spoke while looking down from a height two heads above Jeon.
“I invited you as a guest today, so I shall let you leave.”
“Thank you. Then……”
Jeon slightly bowed his head and walked down the stairs.
Watching Jeon’s retreating figure, Dolkan opened his mouth.
“Are you really letting him go?”
“As if……”
Goran smiled, baring his white teeth.
Jeon had nearly reached the arena at the bottom of the stairs.
The interior of the arena was completely empty, perhaps because the fight had ended.
At that moment, Goran shouted.
“A new match shall begin now!”
“Waaah!”
An enormous cheer erupted.
The faces of those who had been waiting for a new fight were already flushed red with excitement.
Goran pointed his finger at Jeon.
“The opponent is Jeon! I will give ten thousand sol to whoever knocks him down!”
“Waaah!”
The arena doors opened and people poured out.
Most of them were ordinary people who had been captured after failing to pay their debts to Goran.
In their hands were cold weapons like axes and swords.
At Goran’s declaration of ten thousand sol, they lost all reason.
With ten thousand sol, they could pay off all their debts and escape this hellish place.
“Ha!”
Jeon let out a sigh and looked up at Goran.
Goran looked down at him and smiled.
“They are ordinary people without any abilities. Let us see if you can display your strength against ordinary folk.”
“Ha! Truly……”
Jeon let out another sigh.
He had acted politely because he wanted to live quietly, but to the other side, such behavior must have seemed like that of a pushover.
“Shit! Die!”
“Ten thousand sol!”
“Hand over my money!”
The ordinary people captured in the arena swung their weapons at Jeon.
Desperation filled their voices and eyes.
To them, Jeon was like a winning lottery ticket that had vanished long ago—one that would let them escape this hellish reality if they caught it.
On top of that, the cheers of the spectators joined in.
“Waaah!”
“Fight!”
Their cheers paralyzed what little reason remained in the weapon-wielding crowd.
Swish!
Swords and axes flew toward Jeon’s neck and chest.
They were attacks that represented their best efforts, but to Jeon’s eyes, they looked far too slow.
Jeon moved.
Crack-crack-crack!
With sounds of impact, all those rushing at Jeon were sent flying backward.
The weapons they swung couldn’t inflict even a hair’s worth of injury on Jeon’s body.
Jeon looked up at Goran and spoke.
“It’s no use, as I said.”
“No, they have already accomplished their assigned mission splendidly.”
Goran grinned.
Sensing a strange omen in his attitude, Jeon looked at the people collapsed on the ground.
One of their bodies was glowing red.
“Damn it!”
Without thinking further, Jeon hurled himself backward.
Boom!
In an instant, the body glowing red exploded.
It happened before Jeon could completely escape the blast radius.
In the end, Jeon too was swept up in the explosion and slammed against the arena wall.
As an Awakened, Jeon wouldn’t lose his life from just this much.
Jeon dusted himself off and rose.
His gaze had grown cold.
He had countless experiences, but never once had he seen a human explode like a bomb.
It was a phenomenon that could never occur naturally.
Not unless someone had artificially manipulated it.
Jeon’s gaze turned toward Goran.
“Planting bombs inside human bodies—you’re out of your mind, old man!”
“To be surprised by merely that much……”
Goran laughed, baring his white teeth.
He shouted so that everyone in the arena could hear.
“One hundred thousand sol! I will give one hundred thousand sol to whoever injures Jeon’s body!”
“One hundred thousand…… sol?”
“Madness!”
Madness settled on the faces of the spectators.
The enormous sum of one hundred thousand sol had paralyzed their reason.
Even though they had just seen what happened to those who rushed at him.
“He’s mine! Don’t anyone touch him.”
“Shit! I’ll kill him.”
The spectators turned into enemies and rushed at Jeon.
Jeon looked at them with bitterly cold eyes.
“You’ve really crossed the line.”