Reunion with Clexy
Zeon left the house.
He had to descend a whopping eighteen floors, but it was no trouble at all for him.
Just as he'd seen from home, the streets teemed with people.
The city, dormant all day, seemed to have stirred awake with the night.
Stalls had sprung up on roads that hadn't shown so much as an ant moments before, transforming into a bustling market.
Some sold food; others peddled unidentifiable monster meat.
Among them were vendors hawking high-tech gadgets rare even in the slums—smuggled from Neo Seoul, no doubt.
In the dank alleys, deals for what looked like drugs were going down. Zeon took it all in.
Nothing had changed since eight years ago.
The only difference was Zeon himself.
When he'd left the Slum, he was young and powerless. Now, the biggest change was that he could protect himself.
Slum dwellers shot Zeon sidelong glances.
His aura felt utterly alien to them, marking him as from a different breed.
Instinctively, they sensed he wasn't one of them and grew wary.
Zeon noticed the stares but paid them no mind.
He'd gotten plenty like them in other colonies.
Zeon was an outsider.
No place ever welcomed him.
It was a touch regrettable not to be welcomed even in his hometown Slum, but nothing to lose sleep over.
After walking some distance, a tantalizing aroma drifted from somewhere.
A smell he'd never encountered in the desert or other colonies.
Zeon followed it.
He arrived at stalls where people were selling food.
He took a seat at one.
Simple reason for picking it out of the crowd: it smelled the most delicious.
An old man grilled meat with his back turned.
Sensing the customer, he turned around.
Deep wrinkles of indeterminate age, a long beard, and cracked glasses on one side—striking features.
The old man said to Zeon,
"Here for a meal?"
"…."
Zeon stared without replying.
Something about the face felt familiar.
Moments later, he placed it.
"Clexy... old timer?"
"You know me?"
Clexy frowned slightly, eyeing Zeon.
Hardly anyone on this street knew his real name. Yet this stranger uttered it.
Wary, naturally.
"Who the hell are you to know my name?"
"Saw you at the Magic Stone Mine—thought it odd. And here you are, slinging food."
"Haven't said my name yet."
Clexy's eyes sharpened behind the lenses.
No mere street vendor's gaze—too keen.
Zeon smiled.
"Looks the same, but memory's slipping, eh? Can't recognize me?"
"Come to think, your mug does look familiar."
Clexy furrowed his brow deep, rummaging through memories.
After some effort, he nailed it.
"Magic Stone Mine? Oh, you're that kid from back then."
"Still remember."
"You were a weird one. Kid with magic stones, vanished after one day in. Figured you croaked. And here you are, alive. What gives?"
"What?"
"How'd you get by all this time?"
Curiosity gleamed in Clexy's eyes.
Zeon smirked.
"Muddled through somehow."
"How, exactly?"
"Does it matter? Point is, I'm alive and seeing you again."
"Hah! Got sly. Seemed innocent back then."
"Paid steep tuition. Learned plenty."
"Fine, don't wanna spill, don't. Like I care?"
Clexy pulled a tsundere pout. Zeon didn't budge.
He knew full well how cunning and dangerous the old man was.
A lifetime tumbling in the rough Magic Stone Mine, dealing with brutal miners and Awakeners. Underestimate him, and you'd regret it.
"Starving. Food, please."
"Got cash?"
"Enough for a meal."
"Yeah?"
Clexy plated the grilled meat.
Zeon picked up chopsticks.
"Dig in."
First food since entering Neo Seoul.
Zeon popped a piece of mystery meat in his mouth.
It melted tenderly on the tongue.
Whatever the seasoning, flavors exploded.
Zeon figured food marked civilization's divide.
Advanced societies had advanced eats; backward ones stayed primitive.
Most colonies he'd hit were stuck at medieval levels.
Too busy surviving monster threats to advance.
Neo Seoul was special.
Tasty food even in the slums.
Zeon savored each bite.
After watching a bit, Clexy pulled out a booze bottle.
"Booze too?"
"Pass."
"Why?"
"Just not my thing."
"Heuhheu! All grown tall, kid's tastebuds. Real man handles his liquor."
"Pass. If booze makes a man, count me out."
"Sly little shit. What the hell happened to you?"
Clexy scanned Zeon head to toe like dissecting prey. Looks alone revealed zilch.
Zeon devoured heartily.
So good, even the cook Clexy craved a bite.
"When'd you roll into the slums?"
"This afternoon."
"Crash pad?"
"Lucky—old house still there."
"No kidding? Empty houses don't exist here. Against the rules."
"Guess I'm lucky."
"Share some."
"Why? Bad luck?"
"Not just bad needs luck. At my age, you pray for more years, more coin."
"Wanna keep going after all this time?"
Clexy grinned wide, flashing remaining teeth.
"Kid! More you live, more you crave. If I could, I'd deal with a dragon for immortality. Human nature."
"Dragons grant eternal life?"
"Who knows? Guzzle their blood, live forever. Why those wall-jumpers obsess."
Clexy's gaze drifted to the distant barrier.
The wall splitting Neo Seoul from the Slum.
One wall divided citizens from slum rats.
Insiders got civilization's perks; outsiders scraped by amid dangers.
All from that single wall.
Some called it the Wall of Despair.
One no ordinary soul could cross in a lifetime.
Only the chosen few, by freak chance.
Zeon asked,
"They crave dragon blood too?"
"Who doesn't? Heuhheu!"
"Tch!"
Zeon clicked his tongue.
Dragons were living creatures.
Ridiculous to think their blood bestowed immortality.
Clexy's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Nice robe. Where'd you score it?"
"Chance find."
"Chance?"
"Yeah."
"Buy that?"
"Told you—pretty lucky."
"Hmph."
"Gotta bounce. Thanks, hit the spot. How much?"
"Forget it. Reunion treat—on the house."
"Nah. This cover it?"
Zeon pulled cash from his pocket, set it on the table.
Clexy's face twisted in disbelief.
Exactly ten sol.
What Clexy had charged him at the Magic Stone Mine.
Zeon rose without lingering.
"You...?"
"Paid exact. No bitching later."
Zeon smiled and walked off.
Clexy stared blankly at his retreating back.
Felt like a sledgehammer to the skull.
Been ages since that sensation.
"Hasn't forgotten that day? More vindictive than he looks."
A smile tugged his lips.
Clexy stepped from the stall.
"Shop's done for today. Pack it."
"Yes!"
Bulky merchants from nearby stalls approached, cleared his setup, and followed.
Onlookers parted like the sea.
Clexy murmured,
"Put a tail on that guy."
"Worth the effort?"
"Worth."
His wrinkles deepened further.
He was grinning.
"Kid who vanished day one in the Magic Stone Mine. Thought him dead like the rest. Back alive. That's value enough."
The Magic Stone Mine was a labyrinth.
Stray wrong, lose bearings, starve lost.
Bodies usually turned up.
Zeon's never did. Odd, but soon forgotten.
Back then, just another worthless boy—no time to care.
Now? Different story.
The boy presumed dead returned hale, eight years on.
His path those years itched like madness. But prying beyond Neo Seoul or the mine? Impossible, even for him.
No one pierced desert secrets. Slum happenings, though? Like reading his palm.
"Awakened, no doubt. Skills, reason for Neo Seoul return—dig it all, miss nothing."
"Understood."
The merchant vanished with the nod.
Clexy eyed his palm.
Zeon's ten sol lay there.
"Damn. What an intriguing bastard rolls in."
Zeon muttered,
"No ordinary old timer, as expected."
Subtle gazes prickled the moment he sat at Clexy's stall.
Felt like the whole market zeroed in on him.
Clexy's crew, for sure.
Most ordinary folk, but some radiated that distinct vibe.
Zeon knew only Awakeners gave off that feel.
Commanding Awakeners marked Clexy a heavyweight.
Why a big shot hawked street food? Mystery.
First day in Neo Seoul, and already intriguing developments.
"Fun!"