Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 276

Suho nodded at the captain of the guard’s final words.

“Chairman Woo... No wonder the association was taking so long with North Korea. So this is why.”

Before Suho had come here himself, he hadn’t even considered the possibility. He had assumed Jinchul was solely focused on clearing out magic beasts, but in reality, he had been dealing with villains as well. Jinchul could never have pictured fully formed cities of villains either.

Back in South Korea, there were many who resented Woo Jinchul’s prolonged absence. That sentiment was no surprise—the man who had essentially built the association was always gone.

Moreover, one of the hunters he took to North Korea was the S-rank hunter Choi Jongin. That was really the biggest problem. Had Jinchul left Jongin behind—or better yet, made him chairman of the association in his stead—there wouldn’t have been as much dissatisfaction. The presence of a walking weapon like an S-rank hunter was that significant.

Even the bureaucratic hoops Suho had been forced to jump through to gain permission to come here were a direct result of Jongin’s absence.

But from South Korea’s perspective, cities like this pose a far greater threat than magic beasts, Suho thought. Beasts’ actions are dictated purely by instinct.

The existence of a villain metropolis right above South Korea’s head was a threat, one even greater than when North Korea was a functional nation before the Great Cataclysm. From Jinchul’s perspective, it was only natural to wipe out every villain city he found.

And no matter how many villains might be living in the cities, they wouldn’t pose much of a challenge to Jinchul. He had Choi Jongin with him, after all. Suho had been burning down Elvenwoods, and Jongin was similarly an S-rank fire mage. He could easily turn an entire Elvenwood into an inferno if he wanted to.

Thinking about them raised a question in Suho’s mind.

“Why is this city still standing, then?” he asked Yeongjoon.

“Because Woo Jinchul hasn’t found it yet,” the captain replied. “That’s what the executors do, you see. They rebuild the cities in places where Jinchul will not find them. And the walls of this particular city are stronger than any other.”

Suho nodded in understanding.

No matter how powerful Jinchul was, it was impossible for him to monitor every corner of North Korea. The thick blue mist made satellite cameras useless as well. It would not have been difficult for executors to venture into regions that he had already cleared and rebuild the cities there, effectively avoiding detection. As long as the executors were safe, cities like this would continue to form.

“Jeez. What are they, cockroaches?” Suho muttered.

[Querehsha perks up her ears.]

“Go away. I wasn’t talking about you.”

Ignoring Querehsha’s presence, Suho thought about what he should do next based on what Yeongjoon had just shared.

Beru, eyes gleaming with malice, offered a suggestion. “How about this, Young Monarch? You may continue burning things down as usual, and I will lead our soldiers outside to track down anyone trying to escape.”

“No. We don’t even know who the executors are. We need to consider the possibility that they might not be in the city at all.”

If nobody knew who they were, he wouldn’t get an answer even if he killed and extracted every villain here.

“So this means I have to force them to come out on their own...” He paused and looked back at Yeongjoon. “Hold on a second. What did you say their job was again? Maintaining order in the city?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“There’s my answer,” Suho said with a mischievous smile. “I’ll simply give them a reason to step in and maintain order.”

His grin widened. For a lawless city, this place was remarkably well-organized. And he had plenty of ways to shatter that order.

“Hmm. Where to start?”

If one excluded the executors, there were three powers publicly controlling the city: the bank, the Huntsman Guild, and the Free Market Coalition. It was obvious that the easiest target was the coalition, composed loosely of the city’s traders and debtors.

“The coalition seems like a good place to start shaking things up,” he declared.

Having settled on a course of action, he turned to Sirka with a grin. “Sirka, you must be tired. Let’s get some rest.”

“Where do we sleep?” she asked, tilting her head.

Before Suho could answer, Yeongjoon moved without being called. The shadow soldier pulled a coin pouch from his own corpse’s pocket and politely presented it to Suho.

“It’s not much. But it should be enough to pay for a night’s lodging.”

“Ah, always so kind,” Suho responded, taking the money with a smile. “I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t need a place to stay.”

With that, he produced the Key to the Shadow Dungeon.

“I like to be comfortable when I sleep. Besides, I haven’t done today’s daily quest.”

[You have entered the Shadow Dungeon.]

Suho and Sirka vanished into the shadow gate.

***

Meanwhile, back at the bank, the employee who had been leisurely awaiting news about Suho suddenly stiffened.

“What...?”

He had just heard the report of what had befallen the captain of the guard.

“He was found... dead?”

“Yes. Every enhanced human with him was killed as well. And the entire alleyway was...”

“Covered in ice?”

“Yes. There were traces of considerably powerful ice magic everywhere. Whoever used it must be A-rank, at least.”

“A-rank? I thought he was a summoner.”

The employee laughed incredulously after hearing the report delivered by a choker-wearing debtor.

Despite his laugh, his eyes were glowing with more malice than ever. The friendly, welcoming demeanor he had shown Suho earlier had vanished.

“Then what about the elf? Are you telling me she wasn’t a summon, that he actually captured and tamed her? Or was that the result of a completely different skill?”

Doubts ran rampant in his mind, and possibilities filled his head.

It wouldn’t be a problem at all if he was a simple A-rank villain. He’d need money to survive here, anyway.

Newcomers weren’t required to take on debt, but turning them into debtors was a long-standing routine. These ambushes also served as a test, allowing the bank to see where a newcomer could be best used and what skills they possessed.

In any case, it really wasn’t all that concerning that the captain of the guard had ended up dead despite having enhanced humans with him. There were plenty of people in the Huntsman Guild who could replace them.

What truly bothered the bank employee was the gut feeling he had the moment he met the newcomer. From the very beginning, something about the young man seemed off. There was a sense of complete relaxation in his expression and attitude, something that could not be written off as a bluff. It was rare for anyone to act like that in the apocalyptic country of North Korea.

The employee’s gaze fell to his desk where the signed citizen registration form lay. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

His name is... “Beru?”

“Tsk. What a silly alias. Makes him sound like a middle schooler. What is this, a video game handle?”

Kids these days.

It was obvious this guy wasn’t worth worrying about. Everyone in this city used false names, but if this was the name he chose to use from that point on, he clearly lacked creativity.

However... What if even this was a calculated move to make people underestimate him? Why would he do that?

“What is the possibility that he’s one of Jinchul’s?” the employee asked the debtor.

It was the worst possible scenario, but the moment the employee voiced it, the debtor shook his head.

“Impossible. If he were, he wouldn’t have drawn this much attention to himself.”

“I suppose. In any case, I don’t like this kid. We’ll have to keep an eye on him for the foreseeable future. This... ‘Beru.’ Where is he staying tonight?”

“Well... Nowhere.”

“What? What do you mean, nowhere?”

The bank employee’s icy glare bore into the debtor, who stammered out a panicked reply.

“I-I mean nowhere! I don’t know where he’s gone. It’s like he vanished into thin air. His tracks stopped completely in the alleyway where the bodies were found.”

“Find him! He stole the captain of the guard’s money! He can’t be sleeping on the street!”

“I swear, sir, I’ve had my men searching everywhere. There’s no sign of him—”

“You useless fools! I don’t care if it takes all night. Find him!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The bank employee’s furious order sent the debtor scurrying out of the bank as though he was being chased.

Throughout the night, men scoured every corner of the city, combing through alleyways and buildings in search of Suho.

Their efforts, unfortunately, were for nothing. Suho turned up at the heart of the market the next morning.

“W-we found him, sir! He’s been spotted at the market—”

The bank employee cut the man off, seething.

“You didn’t find him. He showed up on his own. If you think this counts as finding him, you can forget about ever repaying your debt.”

The debtor’s face paled at the weight of that sentence. Debt was a terrifying thing.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the only information he had to share.

“A-about this ‘Beru’... He started selling something in the market this morning.”

“What? He just suddenly set up shop?”

The bank employee looked puzzled. The first thing newcomers usually did was sell off the things they had brought from South Korea, but for some reason, he had a bad feeling about this too.

“Where is he? I need to see this for myself.”

“Right this way, sir!”

The debtor took the lead, brightening at the thought that his debt might be reduced even a minor amount.

After arriving at the market and catching sight of “Beru” selling his wares, the bank employee was rooted to the spot.

“Wh-what the hell is all that?”

It was ridiculous. Actually, it made absolutely no sense.

The market in this city was massive. Citizens bartered relentlessly, fighting to escape debt or to avoid falling into it in the first place.

But where did their wares come from? The goods in this city were always limited to those brought in from South Korea, and even then, it usually took less than half a day for them to sell out. Once supplies ran dry, as they inevitably did, traders had no choice but to risk their lives beyond the city walls, scouring the wasteland for anything they could sell.

“Where in the hell did he get all of this?!”

The employee couldn’t help but be astonished.

All around him, people gasped in wonder, happily exclaiming that they hadn’t seen such food in ages. There was even a cake with whipped cream for sale.

Beru—or rather, Suho—was selling South Korean food in the middle of the market. It was an entire shop’s worth of goods, as if he had dragged one department of a fully stocked supermarket straight into the wasteland.