Chapter 273

"…" Suho was speechless. What was the first impression of the city that unfolded before his eyes?

'…Chinatown?'

Of course, there were various Chinatowns, but this one was quite scruffy and dark. Colorful neon signs. A chaotic and disorderly street. Shabby walls covered in mold. And the people gathered in the corner of the stone wall, puffing out cigarette smoke, had somewhat haggard expressions.

"Oh, right! I had the same expression!" The guard captain chuckled again seeing Suho's face.

"Why? Are you surprised? Everyone who comes to this city for the first time has the same reaction."

"…" As if taking pride in this city, the captain explained things Suho might be curious about without him even asking.

"To put it simply, this is a kind of Chinatown. There are South Koreans, North Koreans, Chinese, and even Russians living together."

As he said, the people walking around this chaotic city had a variety of appearances. Not only their looks but also their nationalities were diverse. The reason why there were people from other countries here was obvious. This place in North Korea was adjacent to China, Russia, and South Korea. But that aside, there were two things that Suho noticed. One…

[My liege, all the humans here have magic power.] Suho nodded silently at Beru's whisper.

'A city of Awakened ones' It was only natural, wasn't it? Could non-Awakened people even survive in North Korea until now? Most would have been killed by magical beasts, or eroded by magic power and burned to death as Mist Burns. The journey to reach this city would have been difficult even for Awakened ones. But this wasn't surprising. The second thing that caught Suho's attention was the problem.

"You're curious about the collars on their necks, right?" As expected, he understood.

"…Yes." 

The guard captain grinned as he saw what people Suho was looking at. Among those smoking, there were individuals wearing 'bomb collars.' But their shapes were slightly different from the one Sirka was wearing. 'Numbers' made of LEDs were flashing on the surface.

"That collar is different from the one we lent to your summon. It's a modified version with the magic restraint function removed, leaving only the bomb."

"The magic restraint function is gone?"

"Yes. Of course, it still explodes upon impact, so if you carelessly take it off, your head will be blown off."

"…?" Suho had a puzzled expression. They removed the magic restraint function from the device meant to restrain villains? Then what was that thing for?

"The purpose is completely different. It's called a 'Credit Choker'."

"Credit Choker? Credit… necklace?"

"No, a loan necklace."

Grin. The guard captain's smile, which had been friendly until now, turned cold for the first time.

"Those wearing the choker are all debtors. Those who haven't paid back their bank loans."

"Bank loans?"

"Yes. Are you confused? You'll get used to it soon. You'll need money to survive here anyway." 

Just then, a substantial building appeared before them. A large signboard was attached to the front. The guard captain personally guided Suho and Sirka there.

[Paradise Bank]

"…Bank?"

"Yes, this is a place where people live, so you'll need money to at least buy food, right? And you'll need money for lodging if you want to sleep."

'Ah, so that's how it is.' Suho finally realized the identity of the inconsistency he sensed since entering this city. Despite his rough appearance, the guard captain was quite friendly to him. Except for the first encounter, the atmosphere was welcoming to the point of being overly friendly to an unknown outsider. Strange for a gatekeeper guarding the walls.

But now he understood… The original purpose of the high walls surrounding this city was to defend against magical beast invasions. But if it wasn't magical beasts, but people, Especially Awakened ones with enough power to come this far, this city had no choice but to welcome them.

"Other countries' currencies are useless here. Transactions are only made with coins that are used exclusively in our city. So those who come here for the first time, like you, have to borrow money from the bank first." Suho nodded.

"So we become debtors from the start."

"Right. But don't think too peculiarly about it. Everyone starts that way. Don't worry, you can pay back the debt quickly."

"…?" He was curious about how to repay that debt, but the question was soon resolved.

"Hey! Newbie alert!" The guard captain cheerfully threw open the bank door, and one of the employees inside, who was doing paperwork, recognized him and smiled brightly.

"Oh, Mr. Park Young-jun! Are you on guard duty today? You brought a new customer?"

"Hahaha! Yes, you punk! Give me my referral fee now!"

"Yes, sure. I'll give it to you right away. You're lucky. A newbie came on your shift." The employee's gaze quickly swept over Suho and Sirka standing beside the guard captain. And then, with a bright smile, he held out two documents to them.

"Welcome to Paradise! Here's the form for citizen registration, and the other is a loan agreement for your settlement funds."

"…"

Glancing at the documents, they were translated into Korean, Chinese, and Russian. For the citizen registration, he just had to write his name. The problem was the settlement funds. He understood that they were lending, not giving, the settlement funds, but the problem was the interest rate.

'The interest rate is crazy. Even loan sharks wouldn't charge this much.' An absurdly high interest rate. A bank that blatantly demanded such a rip-off loan. But considering the environment outside the city, it was only natural. If you didn't like it, you could just leave…. The proof was the reaction when Suho asked the employee after carefully reading the documents,

"Can I borrow the money later?"

"Yes, of course! We never force loans!" 

Suho caught the employee's brows briefly furrowing, despite the friendly tone. But he quickly put on a bright face, glanced at the guard captain who brought Suho, and said in an apologetic tone,

"It's common for those visiting our city for the first time to feel repulsed by the Credit Choker. But don't worry too much. You'll be able to pay back the settlement funds quickly if you just complete a few requests from our bank."

"Requests?"

"Yes. In game terms, quests…? Hahahahaha, it seems like it's easier for young people to understand when I use games as an example. You get rewards for completing quests."

"Ah, give me my reward first!"

"For your information, guiding an outsider like this to the bank also grants a reward."

The guard captain, who had been asking for a referral fee, was getting impatient. The employee nodded and handed a few coins to the captain.

Clank.

"Okay, okay, here you go. It's not even that much for someone without any debt. Anyway, come back later for the loan. For now, just write your name on the citizen registration document and you can go." As the guard captain happily received the referral fee, he said to Suho,

"By the way, fake names are also allowed."

"…?" When Suho looked at him, the guard captain grinned and said,

"What, did you really come all the way here to foolishly write your real name?"

Suho's eyes widened at those words. It wasn't because he was told to register with a fake name in front of the employee, but because of what he said next.

"Woo Jinchul will come chasing after you and gobble you up."

"…"

"Tsk, no reaction? Kids these days." 

Listening to that unfunny dad joke, Suho finally realized.

[My liege, this place…]

'Yes.' The true identity of this city. This was none other than the last settlement for the villains who successfully escaped to North Korea to avoid Association President Woo Jinchul.

'Then the Chinese and Russian people here must be villains who escaped from those countries.'

[Let's kill them all... Ah, but before that, we need Harmakan to get experience points from them…] Beru, who was quietly planning a massacre with wicked eyes, was disappointed to realize Harmakan's absence. 

It wasn't a matter of just killing the villains they found. They had to have him surround the area with an instance dungeon first to gain experience points from them. If Harmakan, who was temporarily left in South Korea, were here, he would have burned down this bank before even getting a loan.

"But you're really lucky, customer. Where did you catch that young elf?" The bank employee also showed curiosity towards Sirka, who was obediently following Suho, as they were leaving the bank.

"Well, now that I've told you about the bank's location and the Credit Choker, I've done my part for the referral fee… I'll just give you some advice." After leaving the bank, on the way back, the guard captain showed Suho around the city and said,

"There's no city hall here. First and foremost, it's a lawless zone, so no one will say anything even if you do whatever you want. However, if you act recklessly just because you have power, you'll vanish without a trace. Even Awakened people are defenseless when they sleep." He pointed to the main street that ran through the center of the city.

"On one side of this main street, the Chinese live, and on the other side, the Koreans live. The North Korean and Russian areas are over there. It's not that this place is strictly divided by nationality, but it's safer to sleep if you live with fellow countrymen. Of course, it's just a matter of feeling."

A lawless zone that was neither illegal nor unlawful. This meant that if someone suddenly attacked and tried to kill an individual sleeping in their quarters, no one could protect them.

"Be extremely careful of the debtors wearing chokers. Those with high numbers are really dangerous. You saw the interest rate, right? Their debt is constantly increasing every moment. And if they can't pay it back, they go boom!"

"So, if you don't want to die, you have to carry out the requests from the bank."

"If you don't want to pay a commission, you can trade directly. Barter is often more convenient if you don't have any debt."

Suho suddenly recalled the numerous request forms that were next to the bank employee. The contents varied, but to summarize, they were roughly like this:

– Elf hunting

– Magical beast hunting (edible)

– Retrieving appliances or furniture requested by the client from outside the city

Some of them were requests directly from the bank, but most were from people living in the city asking the bank for things they needed. And the institution received a commission in between. But what he was most curious about was the 'elf' part. Why were the people here hunting elves?

'I get it for me, but these people don't even get experience points, so why?' Suho asked the guard captain,

"I saw that the reward for catching elves was the highest, why do you hunt them?"

"Why? It's obvious…" The guard captain replied casually…

Pointing at the Elvenwood standing tall in the center of the city,

"Because there's no better fertilizer than elf corpses to grow that…"

"…!"

Suho instinctively covered Sirka's ears with his hands. Although she probably wouldn't have understood because it was Korean. And he turned his gaze back to Elvenwood. Come to think of it, there was one noticeable difference between the nine Elvenwoods he had found so far and the one here. It was the size. The Elvenwood growing in this city was twice as thick and large. Could the reason be…

"Strangely, you can find quite a few elves in this North Korean land. If you catch them and bury them in this land, Alfheim loves it." Suho asked,

"Is Alfheim the name of that tree?"

"Ah, are you weak in mythology?"

"I know the basics."

Alfheim.

He seemed to recall that the land of elves appearing in mythology was called that. …Perhaps it was named that because it was effective for growing that tree. Well, the rationale behind the name wasn't important. More critically, Suho couldn't help but be concerned about one part of the guard captain's words.

"But what do you mean by growing that tree?"

"If you offer fertilizer to Alfheim and make it grow, it bears 'fruit'. There are no Healers in this city. So when we get hurt, we eat that 'fruit'. It greatly increases vitality and regenerative abilities. It can even do this."

The guard captain pointed towards a dark alley where debtors wearing chokers were gathered. And there… was a sight that was hard to call human. Suho, Sirka, and even Beru's expressions hardened.

"An arm…"

"…!"

[…]

It was only high-ranking Healers who could completely heal a severed arm. Moreover, there weren't even any low-ranking Healers living in this city. Then what should they do if their arm was cut off? An ordinary person would die from the bleeding alone. But among the debtors that the guard captain pointed at, there were those who stood out. Humans with giant magical beast arms attached to their shoulders where normal appendages should be.

"Amazing, right? If you eat the 'fruit,' you can even transplant magical beast body parts onto yourself." Suho finally saw the true nature of this city. The deep darkness that lay beneath the colorful neon signs that adorned it like a club district. The villains here were patchworks who prolonged their lives by transplanting monster parts onto themselves.

"We call those patchworks 'Enhanced Humans.' You too will probably go to the bank yourself and get a loan when you get hurt. To buy the 'fruit'."