Chapter 28

“How much cash did we get from the ATM earlier?”

“Between what we withdrew before the card was frozen and my emergency stash… around twenty-five million won.”

“Let’s use that to deal with the rats first.”

“You mean the information brokers?”

“Yeah. We need fake IDs, and we need to carve out a route to reach DUST.”

Ihyun added with feigned nonchalance,

“And while we’re at it, track down the bastard who used this house. We need to collect the back rent, too.”

“…What?”

Juwon narrowed his eyes at Ihyun.

Resting his chin on one hand, Ihyun put on an unusually serious expression.

“Listen carefully, Juwon. Getting rent paid on time is all well and good, but when you’re dealing with squatters like that, the best strategy is to extract a massive security deposit all at once.”

“Hyung-nim, aren’t we supposed to be heading to DUST to meet Han Taeyoon right now? Is rent really what matters?”

“Well, no…”

Ihyun trailed off.

“I’m just saying we should take care of it while we’re at it.”

But Juwon knew better.

Right now, Ihyun cared far more about the bastard illegally squatting in his villa than he did about Han Taeyoon.

Juwon rolled his eyes in disbelief before his expression suddenly turned serious.

“Hyung-nim, but if we’re dealing with back-alley information brokers, won’t they just sell wanted fugitives like us straight to the Supernatural Bureau?”

At Juwon’s worried question, Ihyun stood up with a malicious smile.

“We just need to grab them by their dirty laundry before they can sell us out.”

Ihyun grinned.

“Information brokers always have something to hide.”

The world had turned to ashes, becoming a crucible of chaos.

The government’s administrative authority functioned only within the capital and a handful of key strongholds. Outside those areas, abandoned sectors had become breeding grounds for black markets steeped in filth and crime, sprouting like poisonous mushrooms.

The first place the two set foot in was a slum known as the Circuit Waste Zone.

It was the final dumping ground for people who had suffered mana runaways or developed chronic mana-related illnesses and could no longer function as Espers.

No trace remained of the once-thriving city.

People dressed in rags staggered between crumbling, shattered buildings.

A commotion broke out beside a pile of rotting food waste.

A grime-caked hand desperately snatched up a moldy piece of bread.

“Hand it over! It’s mine! I saw it first!”

“Piss off, you rotten bastard!”

Vicious fistfights erupted amid shrill screams.

One man in rags stuffed the bread into his mouth as he rolled through the dirt, only for another man to stomp him down, wrench the half-chewed scrap from his hands, and sprint into the darkness.

Furious screams followed him.

It was nothing short of hell on earth.

People collapsed on the pavement, begging for scraps.

Others lacked even the strength to watch the desperate struggle for survival, staring blankly into space while intoxicated on some unknown substance—whether alcohol or drugs.

People who had once cleared Gates and been worshipped as humanity’s hope were now scattered across these streets, treated as worthless garbage simply because their mana circuits had burned out.

Ihyun bit his lip at the gruesome sight and turned his head away.

The world I knew wasn’t like this.

Before he died—or at least until his final moments—it had never descended into this degree of pandemonium.

The government had monitored the back alleys and maintained at least a bare minimum of welfare.

Was the rebel resistance the spark that started all this?

Or had the rotten structure simply revealed its true face after my death?

“…Is that person…?”

Juwon suddenly stopped.

His gaze had fallen on a man slumped against a wall, his body covered in dark-blue mana boils as he groaned in agony.

“Hey, are you… Kang Cheolmin?”

Juwon’s voice trembled.

“Cheolmin, is that really you?”

Faint memories stirred in Ihyun’s mind as well.

Cheolmin had been a promising prospect at the training center—a young Esper Ihyun had personally encouraged because of his unmatched diligence.

At Juwon’s trembling voice, the man slowly raised his head.

“Lee Juwon-seonbae…?”

He looked around in confusion.

“Why are you in a place like this…?”

His body was emaciated to the point of looking skeletal.

Even so, Cheolmin recognized Juwon and forced a faint smile before violently coughing up blood-stained phlegm.

“What about you?”

Juwon’s voice shook.

“Why are you stuck here like this? You were assigned to Sector U-05!”

“Cough… hack…”

Cheolmin struggled to breathe.

“I entered a Gate… and had a runaway. It ended up like this.”

He lowered his head.

“The Supernatural Bureau threw me out immediately once I became useless.”

“What about treatment? Didn’t they treat you at all?”

Anger and misery strangled Juwon’s voice.

Cheolmin gave no answer.

He simply lowered his head as his body trembled from the pain.

The runaway had already torn his mana circuits apart.

The damaged circuits were slowly rotting inside his body, and in a condition like this, inhibitors and circuit reconstruction treatment were far more urgently needed than Guiding.

He ended up like this protecting the country.

At the very least, shouldn’t they have given him basic treatment?

Ihyun bitterly reached for the stack of cash in his pocket.

But Juwon firmly caught his wrist.

“We can’t, Hyung-nim.”

His voice was quiet but resolute.

“I understand how you feel. But if we start handing out cash now, rumors will spread immediately. We’re being hunted.”

“…You’re telling me to just walk away after seeing this?”

Murderous intent flickered in Ihyun’s eyes.

But Juwon shook his head firmly.

In the end, Ihyun clenched his fists and had no choice but to turn away.

They passed through the slum and ventured deeper into the black market.

A sickening chemical stench immediately stung their nostrils.

Inside narrow iron cages, a row of Guides stood lined up.

“Guiding for sale!”

Beyond the vendor’s shouts, Ihyun saw them.

Young Guides with thick needles embedded in their arms, their eyes unfocused as they floated in drug-induced stupors.

Machines were hooked up to their bodies, forcibly extracting their Guiding energy.

Some looked completely broken.

After absorbing an Esper’s runaway with their own bodies, they simply drooled blankly, their minds seemingly gone.

They were nothing more than disposable consumables—drained of everything they had and discarded once there was nothing left.

When one of the Guides inside a cage met Ihyun’s eyes, they reflexively spread their legs and beckoned him closer.

Ihyun’s face went pale.

“Hyung-nim.”

Juwon’s voice was low.

“This is the true face of the Supernatural Bureau. The Director never lets things like this reach the news.”

He looked around the filthy streets.

“They abandoned cleanup operations here because this place has no economic value.”

A worn promotional flyer floated through the muddy water at their feet.

WE PROTECT YOU

The words were smeared with dirt before disappearing into the gutter.

“Protect, my ass.”

Ihyun turned away.

Ihyun headed toward Rat Hole, an information broker shop he had relied on for cleanups back when he was Lee Seunghyeon.

Deep in a back alley where flashy neon signs blended into layers of filth, it looked like an ordinary junkyard from the outside.

In reality, however, it was a safehouse encased in thick iron plating.

“Juwon, pop the door.”

“Yes, Hyung-nim.”

Mana gathered in Juwon’s hands.

The heavy iron door crumpled inward with an ear-splitting shriek of twisting metal.

“W-What?! Who the hell is it?!”

The startled broker’s henchmen immediately pulled out their weapons.

Juwon kicked the dented door.

BANG!

It slammed into the henchmen and sent them flying in every direction.

The office was turned upside down in an instant.

The squat, tubby information broker, Kang Taesik, tumbled backward out of his chair.

Juwon hauled him back up and dropped him into the chair before using metal manipulation to wrap thick chains tightly around his body.

“Ugh! Ugh! Who are you people?!”

Kang Taesik struggled against the restraints.

“Supernatural Bureau bastards? Or DUST?!”

Ihyun stepped lightly into the room with a smile.

For a moment, Kang Taesik froze.

It was almost as though the dingy junkyard office had suddenly become brighter.

“President Kang.”

Ihyun smiled.

“Has it been five years? Still doing well in a foul-smelling hole like this, I see.”

“Who… who are you?”

Kang Taesik stared at him.

“How do you know me?!”

“That’s none of your business.”

Ihyun casually walked closer.

“We’re a little tired from being hunted by the government right now. We need you to cook up fresh, squeaky-clean identities for the two of us. Identities nobody knows about.”

Kang Taesik’s gaze bounced between Ihyun and Juwon.

A flicker of bewilderment crossed his face.

“Wait…”

His eyes widened.

“No way…”

He stared at the two of them.

“The traitor and the kidnapped young master?”

His expression twisted in confusion.

“What the hell is going on between you two?”

“I told you it’s none of your business.”

Ihyun smiled.

“Why do you keep asking? So, are you doing it or not?”

He chuckled dryly as he pulled out the stack of cash Juwon had brought along.

Then he tapped the bundle against Kang Taesik’s cheek.

The moment Kang Taesik spotted the money, his eyes wavered.

“Am I crazy enough to help two guys with top-level wanted notices on their heads?”

“Right. I figured you’d say that.”

Ihyun smiled pleasantly.

“President Kang, did you ever resolve that little issue where you got caught raiding the Allied Forces armory?”

Kang Taesik froze.

“Or are you still being hunted?”

His face instantly went ashen.

The truth was that Kang Taesik had barely survived after raiding an Allied Forces armory and had been living in hiding ever since.

“How… how do you know that?!”

“You don’t have time to think about whether you want to help.”

Ihyun’s voice turned cold.

“If you don’t forge our identities right now, I’ll hand you over to the Allied Forces exactly as you are.”

He smiled.

“Tied up and all.”

Kang Taesik swallowed hard.

“Handing you over and negotiating to have our wanted bulletins removed sounds like a pretty good deal for me, don’t you think?”

Faced with Ihyun’s chilling threat, Kang Taesik’s lips trembled.

“…Fine.”

He raised both hands.

“Fine, fine! I’ll make them!”

Ihyun gave Juwon a satisfied nod.

Juwon loosened the chain around Kang Taesik’s body and shifted it down to his ankles instead.

Kang Taesik looked down at the chain wrapped around his feet and clicked his tongue.

He waddled over to the computer and logged into the system with his stubby fingers.

The hurried clacking of keys echoed loudly through the quiet office.