Chapter 245. City of Anarchy (2)

Darkness bit a chunk out of the sunset-dyed sky, scattering the orange hue into oblivion and blanketing the world with nighttime.

Seol Jihu blankly stared at the city left in the darkness of the bygone sunset.

‘This place…’

Where was it? And why was it in such a visible mess?

Seol Jihu stood in place for a long time before moving forward, staggering as though he was dead drunk.

All sorts of scenery flashed by his eyes. A dirty mother and daughter, sitting on the side of the street with a small tin can in front of them, and Earthlings walking by them with indifferent looks.

A mother feebly looking up at a passing Earthling, a boy begging on his knees pleading to a man to give something back, and the Earthling kicking him away in disgust.

An old woman flailing her arms in the air while being dragged out by an Earthling pulling on her hair.

An Earthling screaming at a woman to pay off her debts, Earthlings harassing a Paradisian woman calling for her mom.

Earthlings standing in front of a show window, ignoring the ruckus around them and commenting on the soulless women on display.

Paradisian women already sold to customers, enduring dirty looks and inappropriate groping.

“!”

Seol Jihu suddenly stopped in place. He turned his gaze to a dark alleyway, his eyes immediately filling up with doubt.

A small corpse was spilling out of a trash can that fell to the floor.

Seol Jihu’s eyes trembled. No matter how he looked at it, the corpse couldn’t have been alive for more than a few months.

Suddenly, a splitting scream rang out, followed by loud slapping noises. But no one paid any attention to the horrible sound.

In fact, the sound of giggling only grew louder. They were disregarding even the stench of a rotting corpse, enjoying the madness of nightlife.

Seol Jihu felt like he was dreaming.

‘What?’

There were no morals or basic human rights.

‘What am I looking at?’

There was only self-indulgence masked as freedom.

“Just what the hell…!”

Seol Jihu raised his voice before unknowingly shutting up. It was because he remembered Kim Hannah telling him that not all royalty were competent.

Seol Jihu feigned a smile as he watched an Earthling successfully solicit another Earthling to enter a building. He was dumbstruck.

That couldn’t be the reason that they were given the building. That couldn’t be the reason they entered Paradise. Yet… these things were happening in front of his eyes.

“There’s a simple reason that Eva is a popular city among Earthlings.”

It was Kim Hannah’s voice.

“Because it’s a comparatively safe city. It isn’t close to the Parasites’ territory, and the famous Tigol Fortress is acting as a line of defense. Though, the fortress was conquered once.”

“….”

“There’s less threat of an invasion, so Earthlings are flocking to it after Scheherazade. Not to mention, they can also see the Federation.”

Seol Jihu fell silent. Kim Hannah continued with a monotonous voice.

“This is Eva, a city where several organizations are working together to blind the immature queen’s eyes and squeeze out benefits.”

“…These people.”

Seol Jihu clenched his teeth.

“Why… why did they enter Paradise…?”

His voice trembled.

Kim Hannah turned her gaze. She saw the crawling boy…

“You can plunder money.”

…saw the old woman screaming and yelling on the ground…

“You can steal money.”

…and saw the collapsed Paradisian woman being dragged by her hair.

“And you can earn money.”

Next, she turned to Seol Jihu and shrugged.

“For the record, most of the people ran away when the royals issued that mandatory conscription order for the war.”

“If they entered Paradise—!”

Seol Jihu shouted. A light flickered in Kim Hannah’s eyes, though only for a moment.

In truth, the response she was expecting was, ‘There’s no reason for them to go this far!’ But Seol Jihu’s response was far from it.

‘…If they entered Paradise.’

This was what infuriated Seol Jihu. The Earthlings abandoning their duty. It was less that he felt pity for Paradisians and more that he detested seeing a wonderful city in this state.

‘I guess it doesn’t matter.’

Kim Hannah had achieved her intended goal.

There was a reason she brought him out on his first day here. This city of anarchy, overflowing with unsightly virility and entertainment, was under the tight control of Eva’s eight organizations. It was obvious that they wouldn’t spare a seat for Seol Jihu.

Of course, Seol Jihu didn’t come to Eva just to take a single seat. No, he came to devour everything. And to do that, he needed to push the eight organizations aside.

Meaning, he had to consider them his enemy.

‘This should be good enough, but…’

Kim Hannah decided to urge him on a bit more. She knew of a place that directly contradicted what Seol Jihu was trying to achieve in Eva. There shouldn’t be a better place to incite his emotions.

“Let’s get a move on.”

Hearing this, Seol Jihu stared at Kim Hannah fixedly. His expression was frighteningly stiff.

“We came all the way here. We might as well buy something.”

“Kim Hannah.”

“Who knows what’s going to happen in the future?”

Kim Hannah scanned Seol Jihu from top to bottom.

“Shouldn’t you at least get yourself a nice set of armor?”

Hearing the intent behind her words, Seol Jihu swallowed his own words.

“You don’t need to worry about money. With my name, they won’t mind putting it on the tab. We can just pick out any item we want.”

Kim Hannah threw her handbag up and smiled sweetly.

“Do you remember what I told you in Scheherazade?”

*

Kim Hannah cut through the night street, leading Seol Jihu to a shabby building on the outskirts of the city.

The place looked like a haunted mansion from the outside, but it was really an auction house. It wasn’t an official auction house, but a VIP auction house that was used for black-market dealings.

When Kim Hannah approached the building, the two guards standing at the entrance walked forward.

“Our apologies, but the entrance is closed for the day. The auction is already underway.”

“I know.”

Kim Hannah smiled, retorting, “We’re not here to participate in the auction, but to meet someone.”

With that, she put her hand into the handbag and took it back out. She seemed to show something to the guards, but Seol Jihu couldn’t see it clearly as he was standing behind her.

What he did notice was that the guards’ attitude changed completely.

“Excuse me. Who should I say it is?”

“Tell him the fox is here.”

The two guards shrunk back, but only for a moment.

“What brings you to…”

Kim Hannah whispered quietly.

“…Please wait just one moment.”

One of the guards distanced himself, calling someone with a communication crystal before nodding his head.

He came back, then spoke.

“He said he would meet you.”

“Where should I go?”

“Ah, if it’s okay with you, can you wait 30 minutes? He’s in the middle of training.”

“Training, huh.”

Kim Hannah snorted.

“I don’t see why not. Ah, can we watch the auction for a bit? Standing around for 30 minutes is awfully boring.”

“If you’ll only watch, then yes. Should I guide you in?”

“It’s fine. I’ve been here a couple of times before.”

“Then I’ll come back in 20 minutes.”

The guard bowed. Kim Hannah grabbed the dazedly standing Seol Jihu’s hand and pulled him inside.

Hot air filled the building’s interior. Every time they took a breath, they felt a strange heat stinging their nose.

Soon, they pulled back on black curtains and entered, the source of the heat revealing itself.

There were dozens of people sitting on the stairs of an amphitheater in front of the stage. They were drinking wine, eating food, or cheering quietly. Everyone was wearing a mask and a hoodie.

The auction was already well underway, just like the guard said.

“Here is the next item—!”

The auctioneer standing on the stage raised his arm, his voice resounding in the closed space.

Next…

“It is— a Sky Fairy!”

Seol Jihu doubted his ears. He widened his eyes in shock as he saw the ‘item’ being moved to the center of the stage.

“I will save the long explanation. Males are rare among Sky Fairies. I’m sure you all know that adolescent male Sky Fairies are treated as treasures even amongst their own race!”

The auctioneer’s words didn’t enter Seol Jihu’s ears. His eyes were fixed on the young Sky Fairy, shackled around his ankles and neck, crying with his head dropped.

One person shot their hand up. From the thin, slender arm, one could guess she was a woman.

When she made a beckoning gesture with her index finger, the auctioneer pushed the Sky Fairy forward. The woman’s hand caressed the fairy’s body, causing him to shrink back in tears.

The more the ‘item’ reacted in disgust, the more excited and bold the woman became, cackling loudly.

At that moment, a stumpy man raised his hand.

The laughter stopped. The two of them then called out bids in intense competition before the auctioneer brought the Sky Fairy away.

The woman spat on the floor and sat back down angrily.

Having watched the entire scene unfold, Seol Jihu’s mouth widened. His soul seemed to have left his body.

He had witnessed a slave trade for the first time in Paradise.

“Kim Han—”

“I’ve come to guide you.”

Seol Jihu’s sentence was cut short by the guard’s timely return.

“Yes, let’s go.”

Kim Hannah smiled and linked arms with Seol Jihu.

Seol Jihu could feel a furtive pressure on his arm. Kim Hannah was hinting him to stay put.

Seol Jihu couldn’t take his eyes off the stage, but had no choice than to leave with Kim Hannah pulling him.

The moment he passed through the black curtains again, he realized his breathing was much rougher than before. His heart was also beating several times faster than normal.

Seol Jihu gritted his teeth while trying his best to collect his breath. He now had a good idea what kind of a place Eva was. He didn’t think he could be surprised any more than this.However, this thought was thoroughly crushed the moment he followed the guard into the basement.

“He’ll be right out after putting on his clothes. The training just ended.”

The guard bowed before taking his leave. However, Seol Jihu didn’t notice him at all.

The odor of chestnut flowe