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Chapter 93: The King and The Group (Part 4)

Their actual numbers were less than a hundred, but given their high-powered weapons, that was plenty for the purpose of controlling the free city.

‘They look just like a real army.’

Although the Reavers looked like themselves on the outside, they were not acting like their normal selves.

“Damn, I’m so sick and tired of only eating potatoes.”

However, the complaints they blurted out from time to time revealed that they weren’t completely cut off from their desires, but that they were merely suppressing them.

They were tired of not eating meat, and by meat, they meant human meat.

An army consisting of time-bombs was a rather radical sight.

The Reaver who brought Zin went inside the building while Zin waited outside.

Looking closely, the situation appeared ideal. The psychos were tamed and were being used to protect the citizens. Apparently, the Reavers were just carrying out their assigned duties and not harassing the citizens.

‘I might be witnessing the world’s first successful case of a devil hunter’s deviant plan.’

Every plan up to now had failed, but that didn’t mean that it would be like that forever. SoSeoLan might be a unique case of success.

There was no way to tell why the Group had left the Eastern Land or why there had been a change in their leadership, but it seemed to have had a positive effect.

They seemed to desire to rule rather than to destroy, and as a result, the Group was not engaging in any senselessly cruel acts. Based on everything he had seen at Shane so far, the city looked like a free city with a formidable army.

The Reaver returned and said, “The City Administrator wants to see you. Follow me.”

As Zin followed him, he thought, ‘City Administrator?’

That wasn’t such a weird term for someone who managed the city, but addressing a Reaver by that title seemed strange and awkward to him.

————-

Inside the Administrator’s office, was a well-built Reaver with bulging muscles. He was sitting at a desk with papers and ledgers in front of him.

‘Ha! I never thought I’d see something like this…’ Zin could not believe that he was seeing a Reaver, who at one time must have feasted on human flesh, doing paperwork.

“Are you the hunter?”

“Yes, I am.”

The Reaver stacked the papers, pushed them to one side, and then pointed his chin toward an old couch across from him. What was happening was like seeing a death-row inmate suddenly become the mayor, and seemingly doing an excellent job. He looked pale, like someone who had been buried in drudge work. He seemed to be in good health, though, and had a stoic expression on his face.

“First, let me introduce myself. I’ve been appointed by the King as the City Administrator,” said the Reaver as he extended his hand. His voice and his facial expressions were full of pride.

“As you already know, I’m Zin…” The moment Zin’s hand touched the Reaver’s hand, he froze. ‘Why is his hand so cold?’ But without showing his surprise, he continued, “…the hunter.”

After the brief handshake, Zin was left momentarily speechless as he reeled from the astonishment and tension dripping down his back. The Administrator’s face looked pale. At first, he had thought it was because he was overworked, but that wasn’t the case. He talked and moved like a human, but he didn’t have any body heat like a normal human being.

Others might have thought that the Administrator was sick or in poor health, but not Zin.

‘He’s a corpse.’

The Reaver in front of him was a corpse.

————–

“One day, we’re going to rebuild the Family.”

Leona had been hanging out with the children. To be accurate, she was just engaging in their private conversation. They talked about revenge, and how the Group was going to pay for having humiliated them.

During the process, Leona learned about Shane’s history and how it came to be controlled, and what the life was like for the citizens afterward.

It turned out that they were not just some children playing at being street lords, but the actual members of the Skull Family, one of the three gangs that used to control Shane.

Once the three gangs were broken up, everyone in the Family had to become a member of the city. The Group outlawed all group activities, so the gangs either had to stay quiet or find something else to do in order to survive.

The children of those gangs couldn’t stand a situation like that. That was the reason why the children had organized themselves into three groups, while the adults stayed silent. Leona, of course, thought the children—with their half-formed brains—were merely playing mobsters, but she went along with it anyway.

It just so happened that when a group shared a common goal, they didn’t talk to each other about it much. The best thing in that situation was being an ignorant outsider.

If you started asking questions, they would start telling you this and that to convince you or themselves. All Leona had to do was ask.

“Why do you need to get it back?”

“Getting it back is not what’s important.”

“What then?”

The boy spoke with a stiff expression on his face, “Those bastards tarnished the Family’s reputation. This is not about getting our territory back. It’s to clear our name.” Shuddering at the memory of submission, the boy’s eyes glinted in anger. His reaction made the other boys turn somber as well.

The Family’s new leader had to kneel down in front of Asura and bang his head on the ground… Until she said stop.

The pride of the three gangs was obliterated at that moment. The group’s history—the constant fighting, or the fighting they believed would end only when their opponents were wiped out or crushed—was over as if it had been a lie.

The three gang leaders had to stand in line and bow to the King nine times. The citizens rejoiced, and the gang members realized that everything they had built until then had been a sham, but the children refused to accept that reality.

“We have to lay low for now, but one day we’re going to get rid of the Group and the other two as well, and the Family will rule Shane once again.

The would-be gangster was burning with passion.

‘Yet, all you guys do is play gangsters in an alley.’

Leona thought they were at least ten times more foolish than average fools. She wanted to say something, but forced herself to keep her opinions to herself.

What she had learned would be enough as far as her mission was concerned. As Leona was getting up to leave, the boy asked, “Hey, you’re Leona, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Didn’t you say that your teammate is a hunter?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you guys leaving soon?”

“Uh… We’ll be leaving in a few days.”

“Is that so? Hmm… I think the fact that you’re here could be our opportunity.

“An opportunity?”

“Tell him, Turian, the heir of the Skull Family, wants to talk to him.”

Leona’s eyes widened with surprise.

“I have a proposal.”

Leona was no longer laughing at them. They weren’t just children playing gangsters. They were quite serious. And if they were that serious, she shouldn’t laugh at them. The boy was young, but he was a crucial member of one of the gangs that used to rule the city.

———-

Having completed their missions, the team returned to the room at sunset. Everyone shared what they had learned with each other. There were some overlapping stories as well as new information. Cho-yul had information on how the Group was controlling the city, and he was the first to share, “This city was initially under the rule of three different gangs. They mainly fought over the control of the drug trade. When the Group took over Shane, they confisticated all types of drugs and destroyed them, leaving every person in the drug business in the surrounding areas without jobs. A few of them are making fake beer and selling it, but that doesn’t seem sustainable.”

“Why did they confiscate the drugs?” asked Zin.

Cho-yul smiled bitterly and said, “I was told that Asura said, ‘The citizens do not have the freedom to dirty their bodies and minds with those things.’

It was Asura’s orders. That sort of business being the only thing they knew, the ones in the drug trade had turned to fake beer.

The gangs first lost their land, and then lost their financial resources when drug manufacturing and trafficking were completely cut off. Something like chain-reaction bankruptcies were happening in Shane.

Once the Group cleared the drugs from Shane completely, they flogged anyone caught illegally manufacturing drugs. The reason why the surveillance was so heavy in Shane was not only to prevent the gangs from reorganizing, but also to prevent drug deals from happening in the dark corners.

What Ramphil found out was similar.

“I don’t know about the gangs, but the citizens are really happy about the gangs being broken up. They fear the Reavers, but they breathe easier knowing that they only have to pay taxes to one group.”

“Wouldn’t drugs create outlaws?”

Those addicted to drugs turned into outlaws. As a city, having a widespread drug issue would be a serious problem, so it was weird to Leona that the gangs would take that chance and distribute drugs in the city.

“It seems that the gangs were incarcerating those who were heavily addicted in order to prevent them from turning into outlaws, and then using that as an excuse to take their chips or create debt.”

When the drug addicts became a problem, the gangs took care of them and requested chips in payment. If someone didn’t have chips to pay them, they had debt to pay. Then, the addicts would have to work hard in order to repay the debt, but when things got better, they would eventually shoot up again. So the vicious cycle continued. In other words, once someone touched drugs, they would be the gang’s slave forever.

“Wow, they sure are smart m-fuckers,” blurted Leona, feeling amazement and disgust at the same time. She suddenly realized what a ballsy kid that boy, Turian, was.

“Once the gang disappeared, all debt became meaningless. There were no more gangs, and the elite’s assets were seized, so no wonder the citizens were happy.”

“I see,” said Leona as she nodded in agreement.

It was like one problem was being substituted for another, but they had to just wait and see.

Ramphil added one last bit, “Regardless of how the citizens feel about it, I don’t understand how the Reavers can suppress their instincts and get used to the Group’s system. I can’t say for sure whether Asura is that powerful, but… there’s a rumor that she rules over life and death. If that fear is what’s driving the Reavers to obey, I may be able to make sense of it somewhat.”

“That is somewhat true,” said Zin.

“That’s true?”

“I don’t know about life, but she certainly does have power over death. I might have an idea of how Asura is controlling them.”

Just a moment ago, Zin had received a small payment of chips in exchange for meeting with the City Administrator and teaching him how to manage and deal with the ghosts. It was a rather lengthy process that required verification procedures to see if the method actually worked. Asking directly would raise suspicion, so Zin had asked about what was going on in Shane to get a sense of how things were being controlled. What he found out wasn’t all that different from what the others had said.

The Group controlled Shane as one city. When necessary, they collected materials and chips from the citizens. Their long-term goal was to expand their energy base by creating production facilities and manufacturing plants, but that wasn’t going to happen for a while.

He found out something more important than that, however.

“Asura is using the Dead Spirit spell.”

Leona and Ramphil only tilted their heads, but Cho-yul knew what it was and abruptly stood up from his seat, “No, that’s ridiculous! She wouldn’t dare such a thing!”

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes, so sit down.” Zin began to explain calmly, “Shane`s City Administrator, sent by the Group, is a corpse that has been revived with the Dead Spirit spell.”

Upon hearing this, not only Cho-yul’s, but also Leona’s and Ramphil’s jaws dropped.