Genius Warlock - Chapter 600
Genius Black Magician – Chapter 600
600. The Changing Landar (1)
In a street in the T district where the workers of Landar lived, there was a hotdog stand.
Because of the nature of his job, he was called the hotdog vendor more than his fancy name, Shaun, but he didn’t mind.
That was because he loved and was proud of his job.
It may have been a small achievement that some may laugh at, but Shaun was sincere.
It wasn’t easy for someone like him, who could only put forward sincerity, to start with nothing and get a hotdog booth, and no matter what, he was feeding his family with this.
Why should he not be proud?
In addition, Shaun felt a sense of accomplishment in his work by satisfying the hunger of the workers who came to work every morning, and at the same time, he enjoyed observing people.
He even felt a little thrill when he matched the customer’s personality and occupation through their speech, behavior, clothing, shoes, etc.
It seemed that his eye for people and his abilities as a human being had grown.
‘But I have no idea about this customer.’
Shaun thought as he glanced at the customer who was eating his fifth hotdog.
A skinny, dark-haired man. He was a bit, no, more than a bit, unusual customer.
He looked ordinary, but his atmosphere was different. Was it heavy?
When he first met him, he felt a heavy pressure for a moment that made him forget to breathe.
‘A gang member or a fixer?’
Shaun guessed as usual. Judging from the clothes he was wearing, it was quite possible.
In the T district, only gangsters or fixers who had the opportunity to touch money could wear expensive clothes. However, his outfit was not excessive for a gangster or a fixer.
Usually, gangsters or fixers wore excessively expensive clothes to show off their money, but the customer in front of him was the opposite. He was appropriately modest and had a subtle dignity.
A type that was rarely seen in this neighborhood.
There were other strange things as well.
Despite eating food cleanly, he looked like he had been starving for several days, and yet, he kept thinking about whether to eat more.
Unable to overcome his curiosity, Shaun spoke to him without realizing it.
“If you don’t have enough money, just take one. You can sell me one later.”
Shaun used his regular line that he had used for over 10 years as a hotdog vendor.
It was a technique that he only used for some honest customers, and if he was lucky, he could make a loyal customer who bought hotdogs every day.
It was no exaggeration to say that he had been able to eat and live in this place for 10 years thanks to this technique.
“Thank you. You’re kind.”
The man greeted him politely.
“But it’s okay. I don’t have any shortage of money, so don’t worry.”
As if to prove his words, the man took out his wallet, and a bundle of bills that could make his jaw drop was neatly inserted.
He was rich after all.
Shaun was glad that his judgment was not wrong, but at the same time, his doubts grew.
What the hell does he do for a living to be this rich?
Thanks to the Forest Restaurant, there were cases where rich people came from other districts, but the guests there didn’t come to this kind of place.
However, Shaun soon pushed the question aside.
He observed the guests to work happily, but he didn’t put his hobby ahead of his work.
He couldn’t bother the guest who had eaten five hotdogs and even gave him a tip.
Shaun tried to take only the necessary money without making the guest feel uncomfortable and send him off with a smile.
Maybe he’ll visit again later?
“Excuse me, sir? Is that a radio?”
The guest was about to leave and then stopped as if he had found something and asked carefully.
He looked in the direction the finger was pointing, and Shawn’s eyes found the priest radio, Savory Radio, that he had just barely managed to get. Well, it was only a radio in name, and in reality, it was closer to something like that.
After looking around twice, Shawn put his finger to his mouth.
“Shhh… I’m telling you this because you even gave me a tip, but in reality, more than a radio, it’s closer to an alarm device. It’s set to the emergency signal frequency of the Landa Police Department wireless communication device, and it’s a device that lets you know when a big fight is reported.”
“Do you need that?”
“These days, yes. There are a lot more fights between the superhuman beings called the New Class. This radio is a gadget that lets you know when such a fight occurs. It makes a sizzling sound-”
-Sizzle!
As if making a joke, while Shawn was explaining, the radio made a sound like coarse cloth rubbing against each other.
[-Crackle… T-Zone… Crackle… in the street… Right now… Fighting…!]
Since it was cheaply made illegally, the radio sound quality was poor, and it was impossible to hear exactly where in the T-Zone the fight was taking place.
Fortunately, such curiosity did not last long.
Kwang-!
That small warehouse building in the distance collapsed, sending up dust. Fragments of concrete and rebar were scattered everywhere, and in the meantime, a huge iron ball flew towards the hot dog booth.
It was an iron ball whose size and weight had been increased by magic, and in front of the iron ball was a man stuck to it like a fly.
Judging from the fact that he had endured a head-on hit from the iron ball, he was also a superhuman, and as if to explain, he cast black magic on his body and fell away from the flying iron ball.
Puck!
It was something to celebrate from his point of view, but the direction of the iron ball did not change. At this rate, Shawn’s lifetime achievement would be smashed by a huge piece of iron.
Like the saying goes, when whales fight, shrimp get their backs broken. It was nonsensical.
Unable to avoid it, Shawn closed his eyes tightly and hugged the booth.
He couldn’t give up the product of his life’s work.
Thud!!
Along with the ground-shaking vibration, there was a loud noise as the iron hit.
A tremendous sound that made the bottom of his stomach tingle.
Shawn touched the hot dog booth and his own body. It seemed to be intact despite being hit by an iron ball.
‘Wait, it’s too intact?’
“Are you okay?”
The customer’s voice. He seemed to be too intact as well.
Shawn slowly opened his tightly shut eyes, and he could see the black curtain spread out before his eyes and the customer who had spread the curtain as if it were natural.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes. Th, thank you?”
Shawn answered haltingly at the unbelievable sight.
“That’s good. I ate the hot dog well… I’m sorry, everyone.”
The customer greeted Shawn and immediately spoke to the front.
Beyond the black curtain, more than ten superhumans were fighting, scattering blue magic light and black smoke from black magic.
The group of superhumans who had been watching the fight while lightly blocking the iron ball reinforced with magic stopped fighting for a moment and looked.
“What the hell?”
A large man with a chain as thick as an arm wrapped around his shoulder and an iron ball the size of a human body in one hand asked.
His voice was as oppressive as the brute force that lightly swung the iron ball, and the customer responded as casually as before.
“I have to go that way, can you let me pass?”
“What?”
As the customer pointed to the path where a dozen superhumans were facing off, the large man asked back as if he were dumbfounded. He thought it was funny, and it was no different for Shawn.
Ignoring the opponents he had been fighting until just now, the large man strode towards the guest.
“Just who the hell are you to be so presumptuous- Huh······.”
When the guest flicked his hand and dispelled the black curtain, and picked up the quarterstaff that had been propped up to one side, the large man gasped and cut himself off in mid-sentence.
It wasn’t just the large man. The black magicians who had strengthened and transformed their bodies with dark magic, and the street magicians who had reinforced their swords and guns with magic, all felt a heavy sense of pressure, just like Sean, and stopped talking for a moment.
Thanks to that, the surroundings became very quiet for a moment, and Dave, the troubleshooter from the T district, was able to ask again.
“Can we pass?”
“······.”
Silence was the reply, and Dave, interpreting this as consent, gave a brief thanks and tapped the hard quarterstaff against the ground as he passed between the superhumans and disappeared.
The street magicians with their muscular bodies and the black magicians whose bodies had changed into those of beasts did not fight any longer, even though Dave had left.
They simply stared silently at the path Dave had taken.
The path that Dave, who had become a new finger, had passed through.
***
Clang-
-Thud.
Forest Restaurant, located in 30th Street of the T district.
As Oliver opened the door and entered, the bell on the restaurant door rang, and then the chatter that had been going on inside stopped simultaneously, as if on cue.
It was an alien and bizarre sight that would have made a first-time visitor shudder, but Oliver was not particularly surprised.
He had already had similar experiences several times while coming to this place from Empty City.
That didn’t mean he was used to it, though.
‘The reactions are even stranger than I thought?’
Oliver thought, looking around at the guests in the restaurant.
Sometimes, when he had solved a big case and visited the restaurant, there would be a brief silence, but that was only for a moment. Soon, they would start talking among themselves and mumbling softly.
Guessing what Oliver had done, the background and hidden meaning behind his actions, and what Oliver would do next.
However, there was no such small whispering now.
They just stared at Oliver in silence.
Oliver was even more bothered by this attitude.
That was because, beyond curiosity and admiration, he could even see emotions such as fear and awe. It wasn’t a feeling he liked very much.
“Mr. Dave?!”
While looking around, he heard Al’s voice.
Al, a competent employee who worked at Forest Restaurant and had told him about the restaurant’s jokes.
Oliver turned his head towards the direction of the voice.
“Al······ssi?”
Oliver, who saw Al, raised the end of his speech without realizing it. Because-
“You look cool?”
“Thank you. It’s really been a long time since I’ve seen you. Have you been well?”
Al, who had taken off his grass-stained restaurant employee uniform and was wearing a fancy tailored suit, greeted him skillfully. It was an exemplary greeting, but what had changed was not just his clothes and attitude.
His relationship with the people around him had also changed.
Al used to treat troubleshooters and informants like superiors as an employee of the restaurant, but now he was on equal terms with them.
“Did you get promoted by any chance?”
“Ah yes······. To be exact, I was assigned to take over some of Forest-nim’s brokerage work. If you don’t mind, could we go into the office and talk about it? I’ll explain in more detail.”
***
The office inside the restaurant.
When he went in there, Al explained what had happened.
Why Al was wearing a tailored suit instead of a uniform, and why he was dealing with troubleshooters and informants instead of Forest.
The reason was nothing special.
As redevelopment of Area X proceeded, Forest, whose workload had increased, decided to assign some of his real estate agent work to the employee with the best performance, and Al had won and taken charge of it.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t strange. Forest had mentioned several times that he was struggling because he had so much work, and Al was quite skilled at real estate agent work, to the point where he had helped Forest with his work.
Given those two interlocking situations, the current situation could seem natural in some ways.
“That’s great. Congratulations.”
Oliver, who had heard the explanation, congratulated Al. He had fairly won the competition and been promoted.
Al didn’t seem to dislike it and accepted it happily.
“Thank you for your congratulations. I plan to do my best so that I won’t tarnish the boss’s reputation.”
Al beamed with the utmost respect and sincerity.
Of course, even if he had performed well, considering the social status of the red-haired, assigning some real estate agent work to Al was an unusual decision in many ways.
“Oh, then. From now on, should I receive work from Mr. Al and report to you?”
Al shook both hands in surprise.
“No. Mr. Dave will naturally continue to take charge of matters concerning Mr. Dave. I’ll take charge of the more minor matters.”
“I see. Is Mr. Forest in Area X?”
“Yes, the Landa City has begun paying subsidies, so these days he’s not visiting the restaurant and is staying in Area X.”
“They’re already paying the subsidies?”
“The redevelopment of Area X is going better than expected. Thanks to that, everyone’s busy these days. If you don’t mind, may I ask you a question? Is your hair dyed?”
Oliver touched his hair, which had become completely black, and answered.
“Yes, I felt like bleached hair stood out too much. Is that alright?”
It was a fairly convincing answer, but Al felt like something was off.
That was because she knew that Dave wasn’t the kind of person who would dye his hair, even if he might use cologne or dress up out of politeness. If he dyed his hair, there would be a corresponding reason.
However, Al didn’t pry.
Even though she had been promoted to acting real estate agent, she wasn’t in a position to speak casually to Dave. Especially now, more than ever. That would be overstepping her bounds.
All Al could do was answer the questions she was asked. Just like now.
“If the city is giving out subsidies, I imagine the others are busy too? Marie and Joe?”
“Yes, that’s right. Ms. Marie is helping the boss with work in Area X. She’s also personally managing a branch of her own organization.”
“Didn’t Joe take charge of the work in Area X? Since Joe is from Area X.”
“He did until a few days ago, but things have changed somewhat now. Mr. Joe is taking charge of other work now. At the request of the city.”
Al asked for understanding, then quickly pulled out a file from the cabinet and brought it over.
“As a condition of giving the subsidies, Mr. Joe has temporarily joined this place.”
Oliver looked at the yellow document inserted into the file. The words “New Class Union” were written on the document.
A new capitalist class made up of superhumans. Superhumans who had seized wealth with force.
“I guess Joe’s gathered some money?”
“He received a share with Ms. Marie when Area X was redeveloped, and he reinvested the money he earned from working as a mercenary for Crime Firm back into Crime Firm.”
Oliver belatedly learned of Joe’s surprising business acumen. He had known that Joe had a head for business, but he hadn’t realized the extent of it. Still, he didn’t understand.
“But why did the city put Joe in here?”
“There’s an unpleasant rumor.”
Al looked around her. As if the walls had ears. Then she whispered quietly.
“There’s a rumor that some of the New Class Union have connections to the Central Parliament.”
The Central Parliament was the governing body that ruled the United Kingdom.
“The city sees it as a threat to Landa’s freedom.”