Chapter 345

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 345

"Ha! So the reason they’ve been letting cockroaches loose lately was to secure a high-ranking healer?"

Xiao Lun, the ruler of the Southern District, wore an incredulous expression.

He had indeed been receiving reports about unfamiliar faces appearing more frequently in the Southern District lately. But he hadn’t found it particularly alarming.

The Southern District wasn’t some specially walled-off zone. Multiple routes connected it freely to other parts of Neo Seoul, so people could come and go as they pleased.

So it wasn’t unusual to see strangers entering the district.

After all, awakened individuals and civilians based in the Southern District often crossed into other zones for work.

The issue was that these frequent visitors were fanatics from Dongdaemun.

They hadn’t come directly from Dongdaemun, though.

They were originally Neo Seoul citizens who had been converted and become followers of Johan. These people now operated inside Neo Seoul in the name of Johan.

The ones now appearing in the Southern District were precisely such individuals.

Neo Seoul natives who had become devout followers of Johan.

The problem was that it was impossible to know how many of them there were.

That was why Xiao Lun referred to them as cockroaches.

He asked one of his subordinates,

“If it’s a high-ranking healer, how strong are we talking?”

“From what we’ve gathered, she awakened as an A-rank from the start.”

“Ha! No wonder those Dongdaemun cockroaches are losing their minds. At that level, I’d believe it if they claimed she was a saint.”

A chilling light glimmered in Xiao Lun’s eyes.

There could never be enough Awakened.

Especially when it came to rare types like healers.

Healers were so rare they might as well be an endangered species.

Very few awakened as healers to begin with, and even then, raising them required immense time and care.

And even after all that, their efficiency wasn’t great.

Despite being raised like treasures, most of them ended up as only C or D-rank.

The healers in the Southern District also fell into this range. Still, they were treated like precious gems.

Even C or D-rank healers could pull someone back from the brink of death. That alone made them invaluable.

So whenever news broke of someone awakening as a healer, every district scrambled to secure them.

But this time, it was an A-rank healer.

An ultra-high-grade healer who started out as A-rank.

At this level, S-rank was practically guaranteed.

The subordinate added,

“If an A-rank healer ends up in Dongdaemun’s hands, their influence will grow massively.”

“Their expansion isn’t really my concern. What matters is if another district gets her first.”

“Then we should also…”

“Secure the A-rank healer. I’ll provide whatever support is necessary.”

“Understood.”

“Remember this. If it seems like we can’t secure her, then make sure no one else can either. You understand what I’m saying, right?”

“Of course.”

The subordinate bowed his head and responded.

Xiao Lun waved his hand, dismissing him.

Left alone, Xiao Lun muttered to himself,

“Something that valuable should belong to me. And if I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it so no one else can.”

* * *

Jeong Sangmo was an awakened individual from the Eastern District.

A D-rank martial type.

The most common class there was.

If you gathered every awakened in the Eastern District, D-rank martial types like Jeong Sangmo would probably make up the majority.

That’s why he was never held in high regard.

There were so many people who could replace him that he was always given run-of-the-mill tasks.

Jeong Sangmo had always resented this.

He believed he wasn’t being treated according to his true worth.

That was when Dongdaemun’s believers approached him.

Moved by their words, Jeong Sangmo willingly became a follower of Dongdaemun.

Dongdaemun provided him with generous support, and in turn, he quickly rose to a prominent position within the Eastern District.

Recently, Dongdaemun had sent him a secret order.

Find the Saint.

If he secured the Saint, his status in Dongdaemun would rise even further, and he would gain greater influence in the Eastern District as well.

Blinded by ambition, Jeong Sangmo roamed all over Neo Seoul with several other believers in search of her.

At first, he focused on the Eastern District, where he had the most sway. But when that yielded no clues, he began expanding his search area.

Before he realized it, he had entered the Southern District. And now, he found himself surrounded by awakened individuals from the Southern District.

One of them mocked him.

“Well, well. What’s an awakened from the Eastern District doing here in the South?”

“Why shouldn’t I be here?”

“If you’re just visiting, then no problem. I swing by the Eastern District often, myself. But if you’re here looking for a healer—or should I say, the Saint—then we’ve got a problem.”

“How did you…?”

Jeong Sangmo’s pupils trembled.

He was so rattled, he forgot to even feign ignorance.

Seeing his reaction, the awakened from the Southern District grinned in amusement.

“Heh… Just as I thought.”

“Damn it!”

Jeong Sangmo finally realized his mistake—but it was too late.

The awakened from the South smirked.

“Seathen Price will love to hear about this. His subordinate turned out to be a Dongdaemun fanatic, working on their behalf.”

“Shut up!”

“Why would I?”

“You bastard!”

Jeong Sangmo, unable to hold back his anger, lunged at the mocking man.

Swish!

His sword slashed toward the Southern District awakened’s neck. But the man wasn’t a pushover either.

He drew an axe and struck down Jeong Sangmo’s blade.

Clang!

With a metallic clang, Jeong Sangmo’s sword was knocked aside.

Flustered, he shouted to his men,

“Kill that bastard!”

“Take them all out!”

The Southern District’s awakened likewise issued orders to his men.

“Argh!”

“Die, you sons of bitches!”

Boom!

Awakened on both sides clashed.

Blood flew, screams rang out.

Injuries were rampant—and people died.

The real issue, however, was that this fight wasn’t isolated.

Conflicts like this were breaking out all across Neo Seoul.

* * *

The atmosphere in Neo Seoul had turned grim as clashes between Dongdaemun’s followers and awakened from various districts escalated.

To prevent further conflict, City Hall dispatched forces to key areas to maintain order, but they couldn’t cover the entire city.

In places where City Hall’s influence didn’t reach, battles between awakened individuals continued to erupt.

“Sigh. It’s a total mess.”

Mandy sighed.

Whenever Neo Seoul descended into chaos, the ones who suffered most were the City Hall officials.

No matter how big or small the issue, they had to investigate the cause and devise countermeasures. That meant they were always the first to be called and sent into the field.

Mandy had been dispatched in exactly this way.

Being a supervisor didn’t grant her any special privileges.

When there wasn’t a specific task at hand, she was pulled into grunt work like this.

Today, she had been sent to the border between City Hall and the Northern District.

A major clash between awakened had taken place here, leading to many casualties. City Hall had dispatched awakened agents to restore order.

“What the hell? Did everyone just go crazy or something?”

One of the dispatched awakened grumbled.

He’d been dragged out when he should’ve been resting, and his expression was downright nasty.

At least Mandy knew why they were out here. The others didn’t even understand why these conflicts were happening across Neo Seoul.

Naturally, that made them angry.

Mandy chuckled and answered,

“Looks like all the awakened lost their minds at once.”

“But for things to be this bad? Isn’t this terrorism? Shouldn’t we be intervening properly?”

“How exactly would we do that? Let’s just take it easy.”

“Take it easy?”

“Just look at who they sent. That tells you what the higher-ups are thinking.”

“What do you mean?”

The grumbling awakened looked puzzled.

“Come on. If they were really trying to stop these fights, would they have sent us? They’d have deployed elite squads into the streets or issued formal warnings to each district.”

“Ah… now that you mention it…”

“This is all just for show. City Hall’s pretending to be taking action. They don’t really intend to stop any of this. So we just stand here, act like we’re on duty, and go home.”

“You’re so smart, Mandy-nim. How do you know all this stuff?”

The awakened agent looked at her in admiration.

Mandy chuckled.

It wasn’t hard to figure out—at least for those with even a basic understanding of Neo Seoul’s power structure. But most awakened didn’t pay attention to that kind of thing.

If it weren’t for Zeon, Mandy wouldn’t have known either.

It was through him that she’d come to understand the full story behind the current situation—and why City Hall was acting the way it was.

City Hall always sought balance.

They didn’t want any district growing too weak—or too powerful.

They wanted things kept in balance.

That included the slums.

They didn’t want any one faction in the slums growing too dominant.

And that went double for Dongdaemun.

Fanatics were like wildfires—you never knew which way they’d spread.

If left unchecked, their flames could burn all of Neo Seoul. So City Hall kept a close eye on them.

If they could’ve uprooted them entirely, they would have. But religion always grew stronger under persecution.

If Dongdaemun felt they were being oppressed, they’d only band together tighter—and that would make things worse.

So instead, City Hall tried to keep them in check—just enough.

Just like now.

Then—

Boom!

An explosion erupted not far from where Mandy and the City Hall awakened were stationed.

Another battle had broken out.

“Shit!”

“Why here of all places…?”

The agents swore and started to move—but Mandy stopped them.

“Hold on.”

“What?”

“Let’s take our time. No need to get ourselves caught up in it too.”

“Oh…”

“We can show up after the fight ends. All we need is a record that we were deployed.”

At her words, the awakened agents visibly relaxed.

If they ignored a fight happening right in front of them, it would be a problem. But if they showed up afterward, it was fine.

They just had to pretend to help clean up.

“Should we take a break first?”

“I just realized I haven’t gone to the bathroom once. Be right back.”

“Take your time.”

The agents laughed as they chatted.

Mandy smiled faintly as she watched them.

A day earlier, Zeon had sent her a letter through Argos’ Eye.

In a high-tech city like Neo Seoul, it might seem outdated—but when it came to keeping secrets, there was no better method.

The letter explained that the person Dongdaemun was seeking was a newly awakened healer. It also included Zeon’s predictions on how the various factions would move.

The reason Zeon had informed her was simple:

He didn’t want her to intervene too much.

He said City Hall wouldn’t want that either.

‘The Mayor and Seo Tae-ran will probably use this chance to shear some wool.’

Just like that.

Through dungeon raids and business ventures, the districts and Dongdaemun had grown rapidly.

There was no way someone like Jin Geumho or Seo Tae-ran would let them keep rising unchecked.

Amazingly, everything was unfolding exactly as Zeon had predicted.

‘He really is the scariest one of all. Everyone’s dancing in the palm of his hand.’

A chill crept up her spine.

Mandy swore to herself:

‘Ugh! I absolutely must never become that man’s enemy.’

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]