Chapter 607

Only then did Zeon realize his mistake and sit down in front of the bartender.

The bartender pointed at the hat Zeon was wearing and said,

“Isn’t it uncomfortable to keep that on?”

“I was just about to take it off.”

The bartender watched Zeon remove his hat with his usual sharp gaze.

A stranger who had suddenly appeared in the pub. On top of that, he had been wearing his hat pulled down low, hiding his identity.

Anyone would find him suspicious.

Not just the bartender, but the customers and guards in the pub all closely observed Zeon’s face.

When he took off his hat, his face was revealed.

But it wasn’t his original face.

His drooping eyes looked dull, his blunt nose and face carried a reddish hue.

He looked like a typical alcoholic.

Seeing that, the bartender relaxed his guard.

It wasn’t strange for a drunk customer to come to a pub.

Zeon spoke to the bartender.

“Got any good liquor?”

“Of course. But good liquor is expensive—got the money for it?”

“Is this enough?”

Zeon pulled out money and placed it on the table.

It was more than enough to buy several bottles of the finest liquor at the bar.

A smile spread across the bartender’s face.

“That’s more than enough.”

He promptly took out the best liquor in the bar and poured it into a glass.

“It’s called Dragon’s Breath. It’s strong, so you’d better take it slow.”

“Just looking at it makes me feel heated.”

Zeon joked as he brought the glass to his lips.

The strong scent numbed his sense of smell.

As the bartender said, it wasn’t just strong—it was extremely potent.

Zeon drank calmly.

He didn’t like alcohol, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t drink.

One glass was nothing to him.

As he held the liquor in his mouth, he thought,

‘So it works.’

The face he had now wasn’t real.

It was a fake face created using Exion.

He formed a thin layer over his real face using Exion within his body and altered it to resemble real skin.

He had only imagined it before and wasn’t sure if it would work, but it perfectly mimicked real skin—enough to fool the bartender and the customers completely.

‘I can use this for disguises in the future.’

Just discovering another way to use Exion was a significant gain.

Pretending to drink, Zeon carefully observed the situation inside the pub.

He saw the man he had followed chatting with a prostitute and receiving a bottle containing drugs.

“Fuck! I tried what I gave my wife, and it’s incredible.”

“What’s so good about it?”

“It stands straight and doesn’t go down.”

“Wow! Your wife must’ve had quite the night.”

“She went crazy from how good it was. Heh-heh!”

“See? I told you.”

“Yeah! You’re the best.”

The man pulled the prostitute into his arms and kissed her deeply.

If there hadn’t been people around, he looked ready to lie down right there. But no one said anything.

This was that kind of place.

On the upper floor of the pub were the prostitutes’ rooms.

If people hit it off here, they would immediately go upstairs and have sex.

In fact, some couldn’t hold back any longer and went upstairs with the prostitutes in their arms.

As Zeon watched the scene closely, the bartender spoke.

“What, you need a woman? Want me to call you one?”

“No, it’s fine. I’m not in the mood today.”

“Why?”

“It’s not working so well…”

“Ah!”

The bartender looked at Zeon’s lower body with a sympathetic expression.

Zeon drank and grumbled.

“What’s the point if she’s pretty? If it doesn’t work.”

“Damn! That won’t do.”

The bartender reacted as if it were his own problem.

After glancing around carefully, he pulled out a small bottle.

“I’ll call you a prostitute, so take this and give it a try.”

“What’s that supposed to be?”

“You know City Hall, right?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“This was developed in a secret lab at City Hall. It’s an excellent stamina booster. If a woman takes it, her skin gets smoother…”

“Fuck! There are tons of things like that. I’ve tried all the so-called good stuff, and none of it worked.”

“This one’s different.”

“How is it different?”

“You’ll know once you take it. It’ll heat you right up.”

“Eh! None of that stuff works.”

“Hey! Just take it like I said. If it doesn’t work, I’ll pay for your drinks.”

He looked ready to force it down his throat if he refused.

If he didn’t take it, it would definitely raise suspicion.

With no other choice, Zeon took one pill and brought it to his mouth.

“Fuck it. I’ll take it and see.”

“You’ll be surprised the moment you do.”

The bartender watched Zeon’s mouth closely.

He wanted to confirm that he actually swallowed it.

It seemed impossible to fool his eyes.

In the end, Zeon put the pill—presumed to be a drug—into his mouth and swallowed it.

He closed his eyes and focused on the reaction inside his body.

First, his tongue tingled.

It felt like his entire tongue was going numb.

Then his throat heated up, and a burning sensation spread into his stomach.

The heat quickly traveled downward.

His body reacted immediately.

The speed was incredible.

‘My nerves are going crazy.’

From the moment the pill dissolved, the nerves throughout his body reacted wildly.

With excessive dopamine secretion, his whole body felt like it was floating.

He felt happy for no reason and wanted to laugh.

‘It’s definitely a drug.’

However, it was heavily diluted, so it didn’t show a strong addictive effect right away.

To others, it would feel like a highly effective stimulant.

Of course, that didn’t change its addictive nature.

Once taken even once, a person would keep seeking it.

The second time, they would want something stronger.

The third time, something even more powerful.

In that way, they would fall deeper into addiction, eventually unable to escape.

The bartender smiled slyly.

Since Zeon had taken it, he was certain Zeon would come back.

Snap!

He flicked his fingers and looked toward the stairs leading upstairs.

Then a woman with heavy makeup approached from above.

“Molina!”

“Yes, oppa!”

The woman called Molina replied with a smile.

The bartender pointed at Zeon.

“Show this customer heaven tonight.”

“Hoho! I’m the gatekeeper of heaven. I’ll open the gates wide for you tonight.”

Molina smiled seductively.

She linked arms with Zeon.

“Let’s go, oppa!”

“Yeah, let’s go. Fuck it!”

Zeon shouted boldly as he stood up.

If he didn’t go along after taking the drug, it would surely raise suspicion.

As Zeon went upstairs with the woman, the bartender muttered,

“Another sucker caught. There’s no business sweeter than this. Heh-heh.”

In the past, he would be wary of unfamiliar customers.

But now, there was no need.

Once they took the drug, they could never betray him.

The first time was the hardest, but once they tasted it, they would come crawling back on their own.

The bartender was confident Zeon would never escape his grasp.

＊＊＊

As they went upstairs, moans echoed from all around.

There was no need to see what was happening—it was obvious.

Molina opened a door.

“This is the room, oppa!”

The heat still lingered inside, as if something had already happened there.

It made him feel nauseous, but Zeon stepped inside.

The moment the door closed, Molina clung to him.

“Take off your clothes first, oppa!”

“Wait a moment…”

“Aren’t you in a hurry?”

Her voice turned cold.

She had sensed something strange about Zeon.

Women who lived such rough lives often had sharp instincts.

Molina, in particular, was especially perceptive.

She immediately realized Zeon wasn’t an ordinary customer and became wary.

“Tch.”

Zeon clicked his tongue, no longer intending to keep up the act.

At that moment, Molina tried to shout to call the guards outside.

“Hey—!”

But she couldn’t finish.

Whoosh!

Because she saw flames ignite in Zeon’s hand.

If she said one more word, those flames would burn her.

“Shit!”

“You made the right choice.”

“What are you?”

“What I am isn’t important. What matters is what this place is.”

“You bastard! What are you curious about that you crawled in here?”

“The drugs you’re distributing—who supplies them?”

“Drugs? Don’t be ridiculous. That’s a stimulant. You took it and still don’t know?”

“I took it, so I know even better.”

“So what, you’re here to wipe out drugs out of some sense of justice?”

Molina scoffed.

As someone who had spent a long time in the brothel world, she was tough.

She wouldn’t be intimidated easily.

Zeon silently looked at Molina, who glared at him fiercely.

For a moment, she flinched.

With her keen instincts, she realized his gaze was different.

It wasn’t the dull look from before.

It was sharp like a blade, yet heavy with pressure.

She stammered without realizing it.

“W-what?”

“Will you be okay?”

“W-what do you mean?”

“You won’t be able to endure it.”

“What? Fuck!”

“You’ll have to grit your teeth and endure it. It’ll be quite painful.”

“What, you’re going to torture me?”

“That’s right.”

“And you call yourself a man? Torturing a weak woman?”

“Before being a woman, you’re a drug dealer. I don’t treat drug dealers as people.”

What made drugs terrifying was that they destroyed everyone involved.

Anyone who touched them could never return to normal.

Zeon did not consider those who spread such things as human.

“Fuck! Go ahead and try. You think you’ll be fine? You took the drug too. Once is enough—you’re done. You’ll come crawling back to us in less than a day, begging on your knees for more. You’ll regret it then, so you’d better let me go now. Hohoho!”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Fuck! Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“I won’t regret it.”

“Hey—!”

The moment Molina shouted, Zeon grabbed her wrist.

“Ah!”

Her face turned pale instantly.

A burning energy surged into her through the wrist he held.

It was a technique that compressed the power of flames as thin as a wire and injected it into the opponent’s body.

Fire Wire.

A skill inspired by Sand Wire.

As the scorching wire tore through her insides, Molina screamed.

“Aaaagh!”

She screamed at the top of her lungs, but no one outside heard her.

Zeon had created a mana barrier to block the sound.

“The longer you endure, the worse it’ll get, Molina.”

“P-please… I-I’ll talk!”

She couldn’t endure even thirty seconds.

No matter how tough she acted, she was just an ordinary woman who couldn’t withstand pain.

With tears streaming down her face, she spilled everything she knew.