Chapter 246
“Looks nice and clean now. This is how it should’ve been from the start. Heh-heh!”
Old Man Clexi looked around the streets with a satisfied smile.
The streets were much quieter now that Dongdaemun’s fanatics were gone. Even so, Old Man Clexi liked this scenery very much.
“Heh-heh!”
Humming to himself, he began preparing to open his shop.
When Dongdaemun had controlled the area, he hadn’t operated his business at all.
He was worried about getting into trouble with the fanatics for no reason.
You avoid filth because it’s dirty, not because it’s frightening.
Fortunately, Zeon had returned before it was too late, and everything that had gone wrong was restored to normal.
Thanks to that, Old Man Clexi once again realized how precious ordinary daily life was.
At that moment, someone spoke from behind him.
“You seem to be in a good mood. Did something nice happen?”
“It did. Something very good…”
Old Man Clexi answered without even turning around.
Without looking, he had already recognized who the owner of the voice was.
Smiling, he turned toward the speaker.
“You brat! If you came back, you should’ve come here first. What took you so long to crawl over here?”
“I was tired.”
Ignoring Old Man Clexi’s scolding, the one who sat down was none other than Zeon.
Old Man Clexi looked at Zeon with affectionate eyes.
“Well, I suppose you must’ve been exhausted. So, have you recovered from your travels a bit?”
“I’m finally starting to feel alive again. Got anything ready to eat?”
“How about gukbap?”
“Sounds great.”
“Wait a little. I’ll have it ready in no time.”
Old Man Clexi reheated the broth he had prepared the day before and busily began making the gukbap.
Zeon sat quietly, watching his back.
For the past several days, Zeon had not left the house.
He was tired.
Not physically, but mentally.
Zeon simply rolled around on the bed and sofa without thinking about anything.
Levin and Brielle were the same.
Sometimes they stayed in their own rooms, and other times they gathered together in the living room, idly passing the time.
The first to recover his energy was Levin.
Once he regained his strength, Levin went outside and spent time wandering around.
Next was Brielle.
The moment she recovered from her fatigue, she shut herself inside her room and began researching alchemy again.
Just analyzing the materials they had obtained while crossing the desert consumed all her time.
The last one to get up was Zeon.
Once he recovered his strength, the first thing that came to mind was delicious food. That was why he came to Old Man Clexi’s shop.
While waiting for the gukbap to arrive, someone sat down beside him and said,
“One bowl of gukbap here too.”
The person who plopped down right next to Zeon without even asking permission was Yoo Sehui.
Old Man Clexi smirked.
“Just wait a little.”
“You know the drill, right? Lots of meat, less rice.”
“Hmph! Just eat what you’re given. How old are you already, still being picky with food?”
“I take after you, Grandpa. What does age have to do with it?”
“That mouth of yours, seriously. You never let a single word slide.”
Old Man Clexi shook his head and sighed.
Yoo Sehui turned to look at Zeon sitting beside her.
“You came back safely. I can’t even tell you how happy I am that the fanatics finally withdrew.”
“Looks like you had quite a hard time.”
“If you hadn’t come back, I might’ve exploded first. Still, at least we can relax for a while. They’ll restrain themselves to some extent.”
“It won’t last very long.”
“They really are the kind of people who make everyone suffer.”
Yoo Sehui let out a deep sigh.
The past few months had truly been hell for her.
That was how viciously Dongdaemun had harassed them.
Dongdaemun never directly touched the Goblin Market, but they relentlessly targeted the surrounding connections and outer areas.
Their strategy was to slowly suffocate the Goblin Market to death.
The problem was that even though everyone clearly understood their intentions, there was no definite way to counter them.
Just imagining what might have happened if Zeon had not returned in time to drive Dongdaemun away sent chills down her spine.
“Thank you. You really saved us.”
“It was nothing…”
“Still, now that Lee Jiryung is dead, there’s bound to be a huge shift in Neo Seoul’s power structure.”
“Probably.”
Zeon nodded.
Lee Jiryung’s presence had never been small.
He himself was an S-rank Awakened and the leader of the massive Pegasus Raid Force.
With Lee Jiryung’s death, the Pegasus Raid Force had been left drifting aimlessly.
Core figures like Keldah and Bronson had also lost their lives, leaving no one capable of leading the organization.
Having lost its leadership, the Pegasus Raid Force began to fracture.
Some argued that they should remain and rebuild the Pegasus Raid Force, while others wanted to join different factions.
Although many had died at Zeon’s hands, quite a few survivors remained. Since they were all elite Awakened, the leaders of every district began moving to recruit them.
It was obvious that whichever faction recruited the most Pegasus Raid Force Awakened would greatly increase its power.
Because of that, Neo Seoul was currently in turmoil.
Yoo Sehui asked cautiously,
“So what are you going to do now?”
“About what?”
“You’ve firmly engraved your existence into Neo Seoul now. Everyone knows who you are at this point, so are you really just going to sit still?”
“And if I don’t?”
“You don’t have any ambition? With your current momentum, you could probably take control of the slums in no time.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a shame. If you were just a little more ambitious, you could probably influence the entire balance of power in Neo Seoul.”
Just as Yoo Sehui clicked her tongue regretfully—
“Stop trying to tempt someone who’s not interested and just eat your food.”
Thunk!
With a gruff voice, Old Man Clexi placed two bowls of gukbap onto the table.
“Hmph! You never let me say anything.”
Yoo Sehui grumbled as she picked up her spoon.
Zeon also smiled and began eating the gukbap.
The feeling of the hot broth sliding down his throat was wonderful.
“Nice.”
“It should be. I spent the entire day yesterday simmering the broth so I could start business again today.”
“I’m guessing you won’t tell me the ingredients even if I ask?”
“Heh-heh! You’re better off not knowing.”
“Then I’ll enjoy the meal.”
Zeon rolled up his sleeves and began properly eating the gukbap.
It was a dish that could only be tasted in this one place in the entire world.
Other colonies were neither prosperous enough to make gukbap nor did they have the same food culture.
Old Man Clexi was the only one who made Korean-style gukbap like this.
At least among the people Zeon had met.
As the steaming broth entered his stomach, it felt as though all the tension inside him was melting away.
And that was without even drinking alcohol.
Beside him, Yoo Sehui also ate her gukbap enthusiastically.
In an instant, she completely emptied her bowl.
The moment she finished, Old Man Clexi placed another bowl in front of her as if he had been waiting for it.
“Eat more.”
“You prepared this in advance?”
“You worked that hard. Do you think one bowl is enough to recover? I made plenty, so eat more if you want.”
“This is enough.”
Zeon smiled and started on his second bowl of gukbap.
“You look like you’ve been starving for days.”
“I only ate preserved rations while staying home.”
“Anyone would get sick of preserved food.”
“Where did you even get rice from?”
“From crops grown in a plant factory. It wasn’t easy to obtain.”
“I figured as much.”
Neo Seoul was certainly a megacity.
It was a gigantic city with twenty million people living there if the slums were included, but there was almost no land available for agriculture.
Because of that, plant factories specialized in growing rice and fruit existed. However, production was far too limited, so supplies almost never reached the slums.
If not for Old Man Clexi, Zeon would never have been able to eat gukbap like this.
Clack!
Zeon set down his spoon.
He had finished the second bowl as well.
A satisfied smile spread across Zeon’s face.
Filling himself with delicious food had improved his mood.
Right on cue, Yoo Sehui also put down her spoon and muttered,
“So good.”
“Of course it is. Whose cooking do you think it is?”
“You should make it more often.”
“Make it more often? I sell this for money, you know.”
“Tch! You really don’t go easy on your own granddaughter.”
“You already ate your fill, so why are you still complaining? If you’re done, go back to the Goblin Market and stop making noise.”
“I was planning to anyway.”
Yoo Sehui stood up from her seat.
Before leaving, she looked down at Zeon one last time and spoke.
“Thank you. I’ll definitely repay this debt someday.”
“Okay.”
“If you ever need anything, come to the Goblin Market anytime.”
“I will.”
Yoo Sehui patted Zeon on the shoulder once before leaving.
Watching her retreating figure, Old Man Clexi smiled in his usual way.
“She must’ve been really grateful. That’s not normally how she acts.”
“That can happen.”
“So, you’ve rested and eaten your fill. What now?”
“I’m going to rest some more.”
“Again?”
“For a while, I just want to rest without thinking about anything. I also have a lot to sort out.”
“Sort out?”
“Yes.”
“Alright then. If you get hungry, come by anytime. Food’s free for you.”
“Thank you.”
After saying goodbye to Old Man Clexi, Zeon left.
Perhaps because it was midday and the sunlight blazed fiercely overhead, there were barely any people on the streets.
Thanks to that, Zeon was able to walk without anyone disturbing him.
The place he headed toward was the desert outside the slums.
Whoooosh!
As soon as he entered the desert, fierce sand-filled winds greeted him.
Zeon stopped for a moment and savored the feel of the sand brushing against his skin.
The grains of sand mixed into the wind circled around Zeon like living creatures.
Using Sand Walk, Zeon traveled far away from Neo Seoul.
After confirming that no one was nearby, Zeon opened his subspace.
The subspace, which should have been filled with sand, now felt strangely empty.
That was because he had used it all during the battle against Lee Jiryung.
Srrrrk!
The surrounding sand wriggled like living creatures before being sucked into the subspace.
An endless stream of sand poured into it.
Before long, the enormous subspace was completely filled again.
Looking at the sand-filled subspace, Zeon wore a dissatisfied expression.
To an ordinary person, it would have seemed like an overwhelming amount, but Zeon still considered it insufficient.
Even during his battle against Lee Jiryung, he had lacked enough sand to fully utilize one hundred percent of his abilities.
Fortunately, he had learned the new fusion skill Sand Gehenna and managed to defeat Lee Jiryung, but he could not rely on such luck happening again.
He never knew when he might once again be forced to fight in an environment almost devoid of sand, like Neo Seoul.
“If only there were a way to expand my subspace.”
Zeon frowned.
Even the current size of his subspace already surpassed humanity’s limits. Expanding it any further was practically impossible.
“It can’t be helped. For now, I’ll just have to use it like this…”
It was regrettable, but there was no solution at the moment.
That was when it happened.
Wooooong!
A strong resonance suddenly came from inside Zeon’s subspace.
“What?”
The resonance came from one side of the subspace—the area where he stored the items obtained from dungeons.
Zeon quickly identified the source of the resonance.
It was the massive ore, as large as a child’s torso, that he had taken from the secret vault of Park Manho, the overseer of the magic stone mine.
Wooooong!
The ore emitted powerful waves as though it were sobbing.
“What in the world is this…?”