Chapter 259
“The First Sand Mage.”
For some reason, the title felt unpleasant to hear.
It sounded as though Kim Kyungsoo was predicting that more Sand Mages would appear after Zeon.
But Zeon knew the truth.
That he was both the first and the last Sand Mage.
The power was simply too great and too terrifying to ever be granted to more than one person.
No one had told him that.
He had simply known it from the very beginning.
As if it had been engraved into his DNA.
That was why Kim Kyungsoo’s words did not truly resonate with him. Still, he understood what Kim Kyungsoo was trying to say.
Kim Kyungsoo wanted more people to arise who would protect their own kind with convictions like his.
Perhaps that desire had triggered the awakening of mechanized awakeneds. But Zeon had no such ambition.
He had no desire to expand his influence, nor did he want others with powers like his to appear.
Fundamentally, he was different from Kim Kyungsoo.
But he saw no reason to say that aloud.
Even then, Kim Kyungsoo continued speaking.
“After obtaining the Samjok-o, it became possible to efficiently manage and upgrade mechanized awakeneds. That is why protecting the Samjok-o is more important to us than anything else.”
Even without the Samjok-o, mechanized awakeneds would continue to be born and grow stronger.
But the Samjok-o could accelerate that growth.
That was why it was so important.
“Now you understand, don’t you? Why you must keep this secret. The moment rumors about the Samjok-o begin spreading through the streets, I will erase everything connected to you from Neo Seoul.”
Kim Kyungsoo’s warning was no empty threat.
It was the warning of someone who genuinely possessed the power to do exactly that.
Zeon shrugged as he answered,
“Nothing about the Samjok-o will leak from our side. But if word spreads from your side, that won’t be our responsibility.”
For a brief moment, the bunker a hundred meters underground had been destroyed, exposing the Samjok-o.
Some people had undoubtedly seen its true form.
Zeon could not be held responsible for rumors coming from those witnesses.
Kim Kyungsoo replied,
“That will never happen.”
“Then there’s no problem. Nothing will come from our side either.”
“You really are as arrogant as I heard. But since you have the ability to back it up, I’ll let it slide this time.”
Kim Kyungsoo respected the strong.
He could tolerate arrogance from those powerful enough to deserve it.
And Zeon belonged among the strong.
That was why he could overlook a bit of insolence.
At that moment, the door opened, and a woman wearing tight-fitting clothes pushed in a cart full of food.
She arranged the dishes on the table before quietly leaving.
For something prepared hastily in the middle of the night, it was an impressively lavish spread.
“Then let’s eat.”
Kim Kyungsoo picked up his fork first and began eating.
Though he was a mechanized awakened, parts of him—including his face—were still human. Because of that, he still needed to consume at least small amounts of food.
Zeon also silently began eating.
Unexpectedly, the food tasted quite good.
The ingredients were fresh, and the seasoning was excellent.
Zeon slowly savored each bite.
For a while, the two men simply ate in silence.
Only the sounds of their meal echoed quietly through the room.
After finishing first, Kim Kyungsoo spoke.
“What do you plan to do now?”
“I’ll return home.”
“The slums?”
“Yes.”
“If you want, I could give you a house here. One far larger and more luxurious than anything in the slums.”
“I don’t need such a large house.”
“So you have no intention of moving into Neo Seoul either?”
“No.”
“Is there some reason you insist on staying in the slums? It must be inconvenient in many ways.”
“It feels more comfortable than Neo Seoul.”
“You dislike being controlled.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m naturally someone who values freedom.”
“I hope that way of thinking never changes. If you reject my offer only to settle in another district later, I’d be rather offended.”
For someone as powerful as Kim Kyungsoo, authority and prestige were everything.
Anyone who infringed upon his authority had to be torn apart and killed, and anyone who damaged his prestige had to have even their family slaughtered so his dignity could be preserved.
That was one of the secrets behind how men like Kim Kyungsoo remained at the top.
As he placed another piece of food into his mouth, Zeon said,
“That won’t happen. I’ve already rejected offers from elsewhere too.”
“Is that so?”
“If no one stops us, I plan to return to the slums as soon as this meal is over.”
“Then you’ll leave today.”
“Probably.”
“Good.”
Kim Kyungsoo nodded as though pleased.
To him, Zeon was like a piping-hot chicken rib.
There was not much meat to gain from it, but trying to forcefully bite into it could burn the roof of his mouth clean off.
For now, the best option was to keep some distance and observe him.
***
Jin Geumho stood with his hands behind his back, staring out the window.
His gaze was fixed toward the west side of City Hall—the West District.
Seo Taeran, standing quietly to one side of the mayor’s office, cautiously spoke.
“A short while ago, a massive tremor was detected in the West District. It appears there was a large explosion at the Mega Tower.”
“The Mega Tower? Kim Kyungsoo’s residence.”
“Yes. We’re currently trying to determine exactly what happened.”
“It won’t be easy to approach.”
“We already have agents we’ve planted there. Once we contact them, we should at least be able to get a rough picture of what happened.”
“Handle that matter yourself.”
There was no need for him to involve himself in every minor detail.
That was precisely why he had a secretary.
Seo Taeran was an exceptionally capable secretary.
Even without explicit orders from Jin Geumho, she handled everything on her own.
Thanks to that, he could avoid distractions and focus solely on his own work.
At that moment, a voice came through the earpiece Seo Taeran was wearing.
After listening for a moment, she turned to Jin Geumho and spoke.
“Lee Jeongho wishes to see you on Underground Floor Twenty. What shall I do?”
“If Jeongho wants to see me, then I should go. Underground Floor Twenty... that’s the abandoned laboratory, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Then I’ll go alone.”
“Understood.”
Leaving Seo Taeran behind, Jin Geumho boarded the elevator by himself.
The elevator swiftly carried him down to Underground Floor Twenty.
When the doors opened, the interior of a laboratory came into view.
It was a laboratory that had been shut down long ago.
Most of the research equipment had already been removed, leaving the place eerily empty.
At the center of the laboratory stood a man wearing a loose robe.
The hilt of a sword protruded from beneath the folds of the robe.
The man looked at Jin Geumho with unfocused eyes.
“My apologies for making you come all the way down here, Mayor.”
“It’s fine. I was feeling restless anyway.”
Jin Geumho answered calmly, as though it were nothing.
No ordinary person would even dare ask Jin Geumho to come to them.
In all of Neo Seoul, there were fewer than ten people who could summon him.
And this man was one of them.
Because he was Lee Jeongho, one of the Numbers.
The man who had blinded himself in order to obtain the Mind’s Eye.
And the man most loyal to Jin Geumho.
Someone like Lee Jeongho would never call for him over something trivial.
“So, what is it?”
“Please look at this.”
Lee Jeongho pointed toward an object lying atop a laboratory workbench.
A decapitated corpse rested there.
Its eyes were still wide open, as though it could not believe its own death.
It was the serial killer.
Jin Geumho examined the corpse and spoke.
“Number 301?”
“Yes. One of the Bio Soldiers that escaped from the laboratory.”
“It survived quite a long time. To think it managed to stay on the run until now.”
Jin Geumho looked genuinely impressed.
Long ago, there had been an incident where experimental subjects escaped from a laboratory operated by City Hall.
Most of the subjects had been recaptured, but a few had stubbornly evaded capture even to this day.
The subject he referred to as Number 301 was one of them.
That creature had been different from the others.
While the other test subjects hid underground or out in the desert, this one committed murders in the slums. Then, for some unknown reason, it recently shifted its hunting grounds to Neo Seoul and continued killing there.
Since the matter could grow serious, Jin Geumho had ordered Lee Jeongho to capture it.
“It seems it gave you a difficult fight. Judging by the fact its head was cut off.”
“I was not the one who severed it.”
“Then who?”
“A kid named Levin. A child awakened with a rather unique ability. He lost his family to Number 301.”
“Revenge for his family, hm? But that name sounds familiar.”
“He’s the kid living with Zeon.”
“Haha! Really? What an amusing coincidence.”
A smile spread across Jin Geumho’s lips.
Yet contrary to that smile, his eyes were as cold and dark as the desert night.
“So Number 301 and the kid living with Zeon became involved?”
“Yes. The creature possessed the ability to transform its body into something like a ghost.”
“That’s quite a strange talent. So why is that a problem?”
“It may be unusual, but it posed no problem for me.”
“Then why did you call me here?”
“Please look at the cross-section of Number 301’s neck.”
“The cross-section?”
Jin Geumho picked up the severed head and examined the cut surface.
A moment later, admiration escaped his lips.
“Oh!”
“Yes. The tissues have changed. The bones transformed into something like metal, and the muscle fibers became densely packed like fiberglass.”
It was exactly as Lee Jeongho described.
“I don’t recall the other experimental subjects being like this.”
“They weren’t. It seems the escaped subjects have undergone changes.”
“Then they evolved? Interesting. I hadn’t predicted something like this.”
The Bio Soldiers were merely one part of Jin Geumho’s greater plan.
He had judged the project a failure and ordered all specimens discarded.
Yet the surviving subjects had evolved like this.
An entirely unexpected result.
“What shall we do?”
“You said there are still surviving subjects, correct? Capture every last one of them.”
“Understood.”
“The flow has changed once again.”
Jin Geumho muttered as he stared up at the laboratory ceiling.
From the moment Zeon appeared, the flow of the world had begun shifting rapidly.
“As expected... you truly are the turning point of this world.”
***
After finishing his meal with Kim Kyungsoo, Zeon descended to the first-floor lobby, where Brielle, Levin, and Mandy were waiting for him.
“Zeon!”
“Hyung!”
“Are you okay?”
The three hurried over to him.
Zeon smiled lightly.
“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
“I’m sorry, Hyung! This all happened because of me...”
“It’s fine, so let’s head back already. I want to go home and get some real rest.”
“Yes, Hyung.”
Levin nodded.
Truthfully, he also desperately wanted to go home and rest.
Ever since arriving in the West District, he had not slept properly even once.
He had focused all his attention on tracking down the serial killer.
He wanted nothing more than to collapse into his own bed and sleep soundly.
At this point, he felt like he could sleep for days without waking.
Zeon looked toward Mandy.
“And you?”
“I should head back to my own place.”
“About what happened today...”
“I know. It’s an absolute secret. I won’t tell anyone. But even if I say nothing, the Mayor probably already knows.”
“You think so?”
“There’s nothing he doesn’t know. Even the smallest incidents happening inside Neo Seoul are laid out before him like the lines on a palm.”
“It doesn’t matter if he knows. As long as you don’t say anything.”
“Don’t worry. No one’s ever called me loose-lipped before.”
“Then that’s enough. Let’s all get some rest for now and talk again later.”
“Okay. Good work today. You guys get home safely too.”
After saying goodbye to Zeon’s group, Mandy headed toward her home in the Central District.
Zeon, Brielle, and Levin also made their way toward Neo Seoul’s entrance.
Suddenly, Zeon turned around.
Something still bothered him.
‘What exactly happened to the Samjok-o?’
The Samjok-o had been inside a bunker a hundred meters underground.
Yet an explosion powerful enough to create a passage all the way to the surface had occurred.
No ordinary explosion could have caused that.
A magic item had clearly been involved.
‘Kim Kyungsoo will deal with it himself.’
There were many things he was curious about, but it was not his place to get involved.
The moment curiosity crossed the line, problems only grew larger.
Zeon did not want things escalating any further.
So he buried his curiosity and headed home together with Levin and Brielle.