Chapter 3: Suspicious Eyes
The leader's name was Jang Yong-beom.
Jang Yong-beom was an Awakener of the martial artist type.
His weapon was a massive Claymore.
He fought by infusing his Claymore with aura to tear enemies limb from limb.
The woman who had frozen the superheated sand for a moment was named Giselle.
She was a frost-type magic Awakener.
The Awakener who used ultra-vibrations was Aiden, the party's second-in-command, possessing sharp eyes and an exceptional mind.
And finally, the giant who had smashed the sandworm's head bore the name Mountain.
At first glance, he seemed gentle, but his true personality was brutally sadistic.
His cruelty in ripping desert monsters apart while they were still alive was quite infamous even within Neo Seoul.
The party led by Jang Yong-beom happened to be heading from Neo Seoul to the Magic Stone Mine.
Jang Yong-beom's gaze toward Zeon was as sharp as a blade.
"How'd you survive?"
"Pardon?"
"Everyone else became sandworm chow. How'd you make it out alone?"
"I... I don't know. When I came to, I was just on the sand."
At Zeon's answer, Jang Yong-beom's eyes grew even colder.
"Did you awaken by any chance? Check that kid's wrist for a rank badge."
"Okay!"
The blue-haired woman, Giselle, grabbed Zeon's wrist as she replied.
"Kuk!"
Zeon let out an involuntary groan from the pain of his wrist nearly twisting off.
Giselle examined Zeon's wrist closely.
"Huh, no rank badge?"
"For real?"
"See! There isn't one."
Giselle showed Zeon's wrist to Jang Yong-beom.
As she said, Zeon's wrist was pristine.
Jang Yong-beom muttered to himself.
"So he didn't awaken—just got lucky?"
When one awakens, seven thin lines appear on the wrist like a tattoo.
They resembled the rank insignia from old armies, so Awakeners called them rank badges.
If the bottom line glowed, it was F-rank. If the second line glowed too, E-rank.
Three lines for D-rank, four for C-rank, and so on.
The glow color also varied by awakening type.
Magic types were blue.
Martial artists were red.
Curse types were gray.
Those fused with machines were black.
Occasionally, there were those who awakened in other types, but they were exceedingly rare.
Those deviating from the mainstream were called Irregulars. But even Irregulars had rank badges on their wrists.
The rank badge was proof of awakening—and a shackle.
There was no surer evidence of an Awakener.
Jang Yong-beom's wrist rank badge glowed red, clear proof of his martial artist type.
Giselle, Aiden, and Mountain all had rank badges on their wrists.
Zeon's wrist, however, was spotless.
No rank badge—the mark of an Awakener—nor any sign of awakening.
Giselle said,
"He's just a guy with insanely good luck."
"Surviving when everyone else died? That's no ordinary luck."
"What do we do with him, boss?"
"We're heading to the Magic Stone Mine anyway. Throw him in the truck."
"Hoho! Lucky guy."
Giselle burst into laughter at Jang Yong-beom's words. But Zeon couldn't laugh.
They can't see it?
In Zeon's eyes, the rank badge on his wrist was perfectly clear.
Though only the bottom line—the mark of F-rank—glowed, it was unmistakably a rank badge.
Yet it seemed invisible to the others.
What the hell? Why can't they see my rank badge? And come to think of it, the color's off too.
It was a deep orange, like sand dyed in a blood-red sunset.
Zeon had never heard of a rank badge in that color.
Moreover, his awakened ability was sand manipulation.
In that moment of crisis, the surrounding sand had moved at his will.
Though F-rank meant weak control, he could still manipulate sand within a certain radius as he pleased.
Zeon glanced around.
Everything in sight was the desert—made of sand.
After the five great extinctions at the end of the Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous periods came the sudden sixth.
In a way, the sixth extinction was the true apocalypse.
Ninety percent of life went extinct, and most of Earth turned to desert.
Rivers and seas vanished, the whole world buried in sand.
Nature struggled to recover, but no one knew when the green would return.
In such a world, the power to freely command sand...
The entire desert was his stage.
Only then did Zeon truly realize his ability was anything but ordinary.
From his long slum experience, Zeon knew well:
A power beyond one's station was a curse.
If my ability gets out, who knows what'll happen. They might drag me to a lab and dissect me.
He'd awakened luckily, but it was merely F-rank.
In the Awakener world, that made him no better than untouchable scum.
He needed to grow and develop his power to raise his rank. Only then would his survival odds improve.
Mountains beyond mountains. Damn it all!
Zeon bit his lip.
It chafed that he couldn't flaunt his awakening even now, but it beat being powerless.
He decided to think positively.
Mountain said to Zeon,
"Hey, kid! You ride in the cargo bed."
"Cargo bed?"
"What, you got a problem?"
"No way! I, uh, love the cargo bed."
"Then get on."
"Yes, sir!"
Zeon hopped into the cargo bed with a quick reply. The others piled into the truck after him.
The magic stone-powered vehicle roared across the desert.
Zeon crouched in the cargo bed, watching the desert landscape.
The sun was already nearing the western horizon.
The desert at night was several times more savage and terrifying than by day.
No matter how elite the party of Awakeners, none could guarantee survival if stranded in the dark sands.
That's why Jang Yong-beom hurried toward the Magic Stone Mine.
Thanks to that, they arrived just before sunset.
"This is the Magic Stone Mine?"
Zeon stood in the cargo bed and gazed at it.
A massive rocky mountain towered in the desert's heart.
Deep within lay the mine. A tall wall at the entrance blocked monster incursions.
Awakeners stood guard atop the wall.
Only the gate at the wall's front allowed entry into the mountain.
Spotting the party's vehicle, the Awakeners opened the gate.
The truck slipped through and entered.
Inside the wall lay a small city.
As a key outpost supplying magic stones to Neo Seoul, it housed plenty of facilities and people.
Tiny compared to Neo Seoul, but it had all the basics.
As the vehicle stopped, an Awakener approached.
The moment he saw Jang Yong-beom's face, the Awakener's twisted in disgust.
He'd recognized him instantly.
Why's this human scum here?
Jang Yong-beom's nickname was the Butcher.
His infamy rang not just in Neo Seoul but the mine too.
"Long time no see. What brings you here?"
"None of your business."
"Pardon?"
"I said butt out. What do you care why I'm here?"
At Jang Yong-beom's dismissal, the Awakener's face flushed red.
Mountain stepped in front of the fist-clenching Awakener.
"What, wanna try it?"
"Kuh!"
Faced with Mountain's immense presence, the Awakener could only unclench his fist.
Mountain wasn't just huge—he possessed monstrous strength.
No low-rank Awakener could touch him.
The Awakener backed away, saying,
"Just don't cause trouble while you're here."
"I got no interest in the mine. Worry not."
Jang Yong-beom smirked.
No matter how strong the Butcher was, he wasn't dumb enough to rampage in a Neo Seoul-managed mine.
His target lay in the desert beyond—not here.
This was merely a midway outpost for desert ops.
"Oh, and take that kid."
Jang Yong-beom pointed at Zeon.
"Who's he?"
"A bus to here got hit by a sandworm. Sole survivor."
"The one with the miners?"
"Yeah. By the time we arrived, all eaten—except him."
Jang Yong-beom indicated Zeon in the cargo bed.
The Awakener frowned.
"Hah! We're already short-staffed as it is..."
The Magic Stone Mine always suffered manpower shortages.
Plenty volunteered, but plenty died too.
Working deep underground taxed even the sturdy; weaklings couldn't endure.
Hence the constant scramble for bodies—regardless of status.
The Awakener approached Zeon.
"Hey, kid!"
"Yes?"
"You volunteered as a miner, right?"
"Yes!"
"Then follow me. I'll show you the dorms."
"Got it."
Zeon hopped down.
"Thanks for the save."
He bowed to Jang Yong-beom, then followed the Awakener.
Jang Yong-beom watched Zeon's back with sharp eyes.
"What's up, boss?"
Giselle asked, puzzled.
Zeon seemed ordinary—why the glare?
"Something bugs me about him."
"What?"
"Isn't it weird? Everyone dead, him alone surviving."
"We checked—no awakening."
"Sandworms don't miss on luck alone."
"Hmm."
Giselle groaned.
Staring at Zeon's retreating figure, Jang Yong-beom muttered,
"If not for that mad old killer, I'd have figured him out for sure. Pity."
＊＊＊
The Awakener led Zeon to the miners' dorms.
Pointing to an empty room devoid of furniture, he said,
"This is your dorm."
"It's big. How many sleep here?"
"Twenty."
"Eek? Twenty...?"
Zeon's jaw dropped.
Spacious enough, but for twenty? Cramped.
And mine work reeked of sweat.
Twenty stinking men in one room? Horrifying to imagine.
Seeing Zeon's grimace, the Awakener smirked.
"Twenty on paper, but they won't all cram in here."
"Why not?"
"Plenty die daily—several from this room won't return tonight."
"That dangerous?"
"That's why we grind up trash like you."
Zeon itched to punch him. But that'd mean death or expulsion.
For now, head down.
The Awakener said,
"Behave. Cause trouble, and I'll chop you for monster bait."
"Lots of monsters nearby?"
"Teeming. Without this mountain, it'd be overrun."
Not just scaring him.
The giant sandworm was rare, but smaller ones prowled often.
Most common: great-horned hyenas, circling for chances.
Dump a body in the sand, they sniffed it out ghostly-fast and devoured every scrap.
Mine corpses fed them—clean disposal, no traces.
The Awakener grinned coldly.
"You got baggage, picked this as a hideout. But you'll learn how stupid soon enough."
With that, he left.
Alone, Zeon stared at the door.
"Maybe. If I hadn't awakened."
Zeon flicked his finger.
The sand on the floor danced to his rhythm.
Like sand performing a jig.