New Seoul Chinatown (2)
New Seoul was the empire's largest city.
It boasted the highest population and the greatest economic prosperity.
Everyone dreamed of living there.
But for criminals, New Seoul wasn't exactly the best choice.
Could the security in the imperial capital really be lax?
The city teemed with investigative agencies: the Imperial Police Headquarters, the Imperial Prosecutors' Office, the Capital Defense Command, the Imperial Audit Office, and more.
Chinatown, however, was a different story.
Dark under the lamp, as they say.
On the surface, it was a bustling tourist spot, but in reality, it was a den of villains.
There was a reason for that.
Early on, Chinatown had been a prime surveillance zone for imperial agencies.
Random spot checks and mass roundups happened at the drop of a hat.
At one point, a third of the people on the streets were investigators.
The Chinese-descended imperial citizens, sensing the crisis, banded together.
And finally, they pulled out the tried-and-true weapon of ethnic discrimination.
Why are we Chinese getting singled out like this?
We lost our country—that's hardship enough. Now you're slapping us with the criminal label and investigating us?
Surprisingly, it worked.
Imperial human rights groups rose up in arms.
They marched in protests under slogans of political correctness, opposing discrimination and hate.
Of course, no one knew they were receiving massive funding from Chinese imperial politicians and businessmen.
And one more thing.
For several years, the emperor hadn't appeared in public, leading the empresses and princes and princesses to engage in power struggles.
What a golden opportunity.
A vacuum left by the absolute ruler.
Villain organizations in Chinatown rapidly grew their power.
The most prominent were the Blood Ghost Alliance and Black Forest.
Through loan sharking, gambling, drugs, prostitution, and organ trafficking, they split Chinatown down the middle alongside each other as massive villain syndicates.
Geumyong Pavilion was one of the Blood Ghost Alliance's legitimate fronts.
Hidden behind the kitchen were an office and medical facilities where organ extractions and illegal transplants mainly took place.
Two Blood Ghost Alliance members in surgical scrubs were chatting in a sealed room.
"What's today's order?"
"A set of mana compatible kidneys."
"Fuck, the client isn't a regular, right? Why the hell does he want mana compatible organs? They're hard enough to get as is."
"This guy's had a mana compatible liver transplant before. Says his ultimate goal is swapping out all his organs for compatible ones."
"Heh heh heh. Thinks that'll turn a regular into a compatible?"
"Apparently it works pretty well."
They slipped on surgical gloves and masks while talking.
"Grab a log. Won't put up a fight, right?"
"A guy so doped up he can't control his own body? Let's just slice him open and yank the two kidneys."
"Just the kidneys?"
"Yeah. Hook him to dialysis after, keep him breathing."
In that instant!
Flutter, flutter.
Two butterflies flew into the operating room.
"What the?"
"Butterflies?"
"Where'd they come from?"
"Catch 'em quick. Contamination risk."
They were red-tinged butterflies.
A Blood Ghost thug swung his arm wildly to grab one.
"...Uh? Uhhh?"
The butterfly dodged lightly and landed delicately on his eyelid.
One antenna pierced straight into his eyeball.
Pfuk!
"Aaaagh!"
Thud!
The other one too.
"G-get away!"
Could he dodge it?
Hunwon Musang Dokryeong Gong 9th stage Blood Butterfly.
Pfuk, thud.
They dropped dead on the spot.
Sss.
Taeju entered the illegal operating room with Ilbaek.
"Here, sniff around."
Sniff sniff.
"Nyaaah..."
"Normal, right? Leave these guys. Wasn't planning to kill 'em, but after hearing their bullshit, I couldn't help it."
They weren't mines.
Neither awakeners nor compatibles.
Just your average vile regular villains.
"Follow me."
"Nyang!"
Taeju left the operating room and headed to a room thick with the stench of demonic qi.
That's where the smell was coming from.
He ripped off the locked iron door handle and forced it open.
Creeeak!
"Hey there?"
"Nyaaang?"
Yang Chung stared in bewilderment at the young guy and cat who barged in.
He was a Blood Ghost executive managing the organ trafficking and extraction ring.
"Who the hell are you? Do you know where you are?"
But the intruder ignored him completely.
"See? Smells, right? Filthy, disgusting stench."
"...Nyang!"
"That's what we call a mine. Crush 'em without mercy."
"Nyaaah?"
"No eating. Zap it, zap."
"Nyaaaaang!"
Yang Chung was floored.
And startled at the same time.
Straight-up calling him a mine?
How'd he know?
Cops? Or Imperial Audit Office?
Grab him first, then ask questions.
Grrrrr!
Crackle!
He beastified in an instant.
"I'll kill you... huh?!"
Swoosh!
The young guy was suddenly right in front of him.
Wh-what?
Grab!
His throat was in the guy's hand.
"Gurk!"
Yang Chung couldn't move.
His strength drained the moment he was grabbed.
He'd definitely beastified.
And the energy surging through his throat.
"Ughhh, wh-why?"
Taeju circulated his poison qi, scanning the mine's body thoroughly.
The first mine found in Chinatown—did this one have gu poison in his head too?
...There it is.
The gu poison tried to flee.
The poison qi relentlessly pursued the bug.
Taeju wasn't letting it go.
Might as well burn it now that he'd found it.
"Gaaaaahhh!"
But then,
Bam!
An explosion from inside the mine's skull.
"Damn!"
Couldn't control the force.
Anyway, confirmed the gu poison's presence.
Now the remaining question.
Did all mines have gu poison?
Time to find out.
Taeju pulled three scent leads from his infinite space.
"Today's quarry."
"Niang!"
He handed them one by one to Ilbaek, Ibaek, and Samback.
"Remembered the mine scent?"
"Yaong!"
"Then go wild."
Poof!
The three heads vanished in a flash.
Taeju moved as well.
Mines were generally known to spawn naturally like beasts.
Once awakened as mines, they devoured compatibles and regular awakeners to grow stronger.
But the higher the rank, the higher the chance of going insane.
Eventually losing control, rampaging uncontrollably.
But what if there were controllable mines?
Invaluable tools.
Especially for villain organizations, their value was immense.
Far stronger than same-rank awakeners, perfect for inter-org wars, assassinations, kidnappings, territory grabs.
As long as their mine status stayed hidden.
Black Forest boss Kwak Guyang and Blood Ghost leader Ho Cheongban weren't mines themselves.
Just regular expert-level villain awakeners.
But each commanded ten mines under them.
How could they command mines stronger than themselves?
Someone helped.
A "handler" from a group called the "Association."
He taught them to artificially create mines and ensure obedience using blood gu poison.
The price? Money, of course.
70% of their business earnings as tribute.
Big deal?
Black Forest and Blood Ghost, once the bottom-feeders of Chinatown, rose this far thanks to the handler's gu poison.
At the top-floor sky lounge of Fortune Citadel—the tallest building in Chinatown—Kwak Guyang and Ho Cheongban met the handler from the Association.
"...Clean everything up and withdraw?"
"Yes. The situation's changed. Even our Association is liquidating exposed mines and pulling out of business."
Kwak Guyang couldn't wrap his head around it.
He got that the emperor's recovery changed things.
But liquidation?
Abandon all their Chinatown foundations and go underground?
"W-we need time. Gotta liquidate real estate, extract hidden slush funds..."
The handler licked her ruby lips with a sinister smile.
"Black Forest plans to defy my orders?"
"N-no, ma'am."
She turned to Ho Cheongban.
"Blood Ghost?"
"...We'll comply."
Only then did the handler look satisfied.
"Just hold on a bit. Once it quiets down, you can return to Chinatown."
The "Association" the handler belonged to was a secret society researching mines for nearly 200 years under the Chairman's orders.
Unbeknownst to all, there were three types of mines.
First: System-error spawned mines, called natural mines by the Association.
Second: Artificially created mines.
Made by the Association.
Artificial mines born from studying system errors and mine awakenings.
Even regulars could be turned into mines.
Cost a fortune, though.
Third: True demons graced by the Chairman—true mines.
People only knew of the first type, natural mines.
No one could imagine artificial mines or true mines existed.
Not when even spotting regular mines was hard.
But artificial mines nearly got exposed.
Two Association-made mines, Sergei and Daigo, got nabbed by the Imperial Audit Office.
Planted in Leaders Club and Hapbin Prison for villains.
They'd left them at first.
Knew the blood gu in their heads meant they'd never spill key info.
They knew opening their mouths meant death.
Even useful to have them embedded in agencies for later.
But things changed.
The emperor, on the brink thanks to the Vice Chairman (the Chairman's disciple), reappeared stronger at the victory ceremony.
Artificial mines might get found out.
A grand master could detect the blood gu.
"Uh, so where do we go?"
Ho Cheongban asked the handler.
"To the Heat Islands."
"Ah!"
The sunken remnants of old Japan.
"Best place to escape imperial eyes. Close too."
"Yes, we'll lead our men right aw—huh?!"
Ho Cheongban froze mid-sentence.
"Th-this..."
The handler asked curiously.
"What is it?"
"Yang Chung's gu poison just exploded."
"...What?"
Blood gu divided into child gu (in mines) and mother gu (held by Kwak Guyang and Ho Cheongban).
One mother controlled ten children.
They could sense their status.
Mine death didn't burst the child gu.
It just fled the body underground.
Yang Chung's child gu bursting means... either mother issued self-destruct, or someone tampered.
Not self-destruct.
Kwak and Ho did nothing.
Who...?
In that instant!
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
A massive explosion rocked Chinatown.
What the hell?
The handler rushed to the sky lounge's panoramic window and looked down.
The sight that met her eyes.
"Wh-what?"
A beastified mine burst through a building wall,
Seemingly chased by something.
Looking closer,
...A tiger?
No doubt.
A white tiger.
Not even a three-headed white tiger—a regular one—chasing a beastified mine.
Possible?
The tiger swatted the fleeing mine's back with a forepaw, then bit its scruff.
Crunch crunch!
"In-insane!"
The mine died without proper resistance.
The tiger didn't stop.
It leaped to another fleeing human awakener.
"Grrr!"
Whoosh! It flew and tore off his head.
Crack! Munch!
The head ripped free, the human turning beast simultaneously.
...Ah!
Definitely human before.
Not beastified.
Plenty of other fleeing humans, yet it targeted only the mine.
How?
Did that tiger detect mines?
"GRRRRRRR!"
The tiger rampaged wildly.
Mines beastifying here and there.
Not to fight.
To escape.
But they didn't get far.
The tiger was much faster.
The handler was stunned.
Couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Uhmm..."
Then.
Thud, thud.
Two bodies hit the floor in sequence.
The handler slowly turned.
Kwak Guyang and Ho Cheongban, unconscious,
And a tracksuit-clad man who appeared without a sound.
He spoke with curious amusement.
"Didn't expect this level of jackpot."
"..."
"Tracked the super-strong demonic stench here. But these two aren't mines."
Taeju grinned brightly.
"So it's just you."
He approached slowly.
"Not that I have room to talk... but isn't it weird? No awakening tattoo, yet you're a mine?"
Sss.
A leaf-shaped dagger appeared in his hand.
"Gonna find out starting now."
The words barely left his mouth,
Shrieeeek!
The handler hurled herself through the sky lounge's panoramic glass.
Crash!
"Tch, running won't help."
Taeju leaped after her.
Immortal Realm.
Geomseon, hearing the delivery chime while road-building, appeared at the construction site.
"Hal?"
"An!"
Geomseon looked disappointed.
"Next delivery?"
"No idea!"
Dang Gunak soothed him.
"Come drink and refresh."
Juseon began somac prep.
Forty-odd somac glasses lined a wooden table made by Daemok Seonin.
Clink clink!
A green soju bottle slid across, pouring equal amounts into each.
Taebaek Seonin smiled in satisfaction.
"As I've said countless times, somac is about the ratio. Flavor changes with it. Fill to this line for the golden ratio."
Dang Gunak snorted inwardly.
First time trying it yourself, and talking ratios?
Finally, Taebaek grabbed the beer bottles.
Label: 'Chaos'
Beer that shines in somac.
Pre-chilled to near-freezing with ice arts.
"Geomseon, poke a hole in this cap."
"Not just pop it?"
"Tsk tsk, no dramas? Latest somac method."
Latest my ass.
This somac prep was 300-year-old Earth culture.
Anyway, Taebaek plugged the small hole in the beer bottle with his finger, shook vigorously, then released over the glasses.
Hiss, hiss!
Glasses filled with pristine white foam.
"Ooooh!"
"Saw this in a drama."
"Juseon's the man."
"...Too much foam?"
"Beer's for the foam flavor!"
"Is it?"
"Alright, drink up."
The immortals grabbed glasses without order and chugged.
"Kaaah!"
"Kyaa!"
"Refreshing!"
"Huuah!"
.
.
.
Now sides.
Seasoned fried chicken spread across another table.
"Leg for me."
"Me too."
"Ditto."
"Wings then..."
"Traitors eat the fatty bits. Or necks!"
The Immortal Realm's first chicken-and-beer feast.
New Seoul Chinatown (2) End
ⓒ Kkucchi Kkucchi