Chapter 4

Xiaoyu stuck his head out the car window and looked up at the sky, but he couldn't see the moon or even the stars. The only thing illuminating the surroundings was the neon signs of the shops.

He wondered if the southern district, which had once resembled the Warring States period, had really been cleaned up, as some of the general stores and food shops still had intact windows. The southern district was a place where crazy fur thieves ran rampant, and Xuyun had always tried to avoid it as much as possible.

His body felt limp from the long time in the car. Whenever this happened, Xuyun would roll down the window to clear his head.

The car continued to head towards the outskirts even after entering the southern district. Although he hadn't heard that Jiangshan, who was driving, had a license, it wasn't a world where the usual laws applied.

"Drop me off anywhere here."

"Late-night snack?"

Chahaya, who had been sleeping with his arms crossed, opened his eyes.

"I never said I would eat."

The homeless people sleeping in the alleys didn't budge as the car passed by them. Only the old newspapers above them flew around in the wind.

"Feeling at home here?"

"With what?"

"Planning to naturalize in this hell?"

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for jokes?"

"I'm serious. You seem to have no intention of returning to Seoul."

Xuyun's eyelids twitched at Chahaya's unexpected words.

"If there's a way, I would have left long ago. Stop talking nonsense."

"The gate at the intersection has opened."

The car stopped in front of a building so shabby that even the homeless wouldn't live there. Xuyun was about to get out and go his own way, but Chahaya's words were more powerful than a spider's web.

Gate...

The passage that forcibly sent the Manseong to this hell and the culprit.

He had never heard of it opening again...

Of course, he hadn't talked to anyone, so it was possible that information had been cut off.

"Xuyun, get out. I'll take your luggage."

Jiangshan pointed his thumb back at the building.

The building, with its paint peeling off to reveal the bare walls, surprisingly had intact windows. After Chahaya got out, Xuyun also put his feet on the ground.

<The escape master 'Elephant Shrew Xuyun' detects a variant in this area. The shrew is in trouble. The southern district will be safe for the next two days.>

Xuyun thought it was quite fast to detect it after entering the southern district.

As Xuyun followed Chahaya, Jiangshan stuck close behind, seemingly watching to see if he would run away. Although Xuyun didn't say anything, he followed into what looked like an office. He wanted to disappear again, but even a rotten mackerel has its uses. If the gate had really reappeared, getting information from them would be faster than from others.

The first floor seemed to have been used as a meeting room or lounge, with a large whiteboard in the center of the wall. The shelves and cabinets were packed with drinks and snacks. Xuyun's gaze naturally turned to the whiteboard.

[Tachun Guild]

The large letters exuded arrogance.

Below it, the writing was a chaotic mix of humility and ridiculous drawings.

[Xuyun, come back! From today, I'll beat up the kids who bullied you and give them 500 lashes.]

／⌒ヽ

/;´༎ຶ ۝༎ຶ`ヽ

＿ノ ヽノ ＼＿

`/`/ ⌒Ｙ⌒ Ｙヽ

( (三ヽ人 /|

|ﾉ⌒＼ ￣￣ヽ ノ

ヽ＿＿＿＞､＿＿_／

｜( 王 ﾉ〈

/ﾐ`ー―彡ヽ

/╰U╯／

｜/ ﾉノ

[Donghee, you're just a fake hell window, and only a real one in your dreams 'U']

[Deputy Guild Leader, waaaaa, can't you come back?]

[How did you control these guys all this time? We forgot we were a group of idiots.]

. .....::::::･''･::::::....

::Xuyun, come back::

:Wish: Stone:

:: ::

'''::::::･,,･::::::'''

∩∧_∧∩

(･ω･)

/ﾉ

しーU

[I chased away all the kids who talked crap. –Yuchan-]

[↑Yeah, you first↑ It was dirty being with you all this time.]

[We are the Fallen Angels. The lost Fallen Angels without our Deputy Guild Leader.]

"Look, bro! I didn't know I'd see you today, so this couldn't have been planned, right?"

Jiangshan tapped the whiteboard with his hand, as if to show that he really missed his brother.

[Cleaning Schedule]

Mon: Jiangshan, Yuchan, Abdulraziz

Tue: Exile, Exile, Exile

Wed: Exile, Exile, Exile

Thu: Exile, Exile, Exile

Fri: Chahaya, Donghee

Sat: Exile, Exile, Exile

Sun: Exile, Exile, Exile

In one corner of the whiteboard, the cleaning schedule was written, with "Exile" being the most common name.

Originally, 'Tachun' was a small, elite guild, but now only 'Jiangshan, Yuchan, Abdulraziz, Donghee, Chahaya' were left.

Looking at the dusty office, it seemed no one had actually cleaned.

Xuyun, who didn't change his expression, picked up an eraser and started erasing the strange drawings and words. The only thing left was the guild name [Tachun]. Jiangshan soon looked dejected, thinking Xuyun's heart was deeper than he thought.

"Do you grow cacti?"

Xuyun, sitting on the sofa in front of the table, frowned.

"Cacti? I don't grow them."

Xuyun pointed to the ashtray filled with cigarette butts. The butts were stuck in it like cactus spines. Jiangshan, forcing a smile, opened the window to ventilate.

"What about the other guild members?"

He wasn't really curious; he just found it strange that the other three were not there.

"They went to the intersection."

Chahaya, who had put his sword on the table and taken off his mask, replied.

On the table, there was another sword with a handle wrapped in snake skin, which he had never seen before.

"First!"

Jiangshan suddenly ran in front of Xuyun and shouted loudly, then knelt down without giving him a chance to react.

"I'll start with a proper apology! Bro, I'm really sorry. Please look at me once. We were all mentally broken back then."

Jiangshan's words had some truth to them. Xuyun had left the guild because of the sharp words spewed by people who were mentally cornered.

Xuyun, the deputy guild leader of Tachun, had awakened in the first year when the variants and Manseong appeared.

At first, Xuyun thought all awakened people had similar abilities. However, it didn't take long for him to realize his own abilities were far superior to others.

Killing a variant as big as an apartment building was a bit of work but not difficult. After dealing with a few such variants, the area around him started to get crowded.

Brokers who offered money to kill variants and recruitment offers from so-called large corporations started coming in. They seemed to want to create Manseong teams to represent their companies, like soccer or baseball teams.

However, most awakened people formed their own organizations to represent their interests. No matter how excellent their abilities, independent survival was difficult, so they banded together to form guilds.

Xuyun didn't join a guild until a year after awakening, and it was 'Tachun,' where Chahaya was.

At the time, the guild leader of Tachun was Chahaya's uncle, and Chahaya was already a famous top-tier Manseong.

It was the uncle who suggested that Xuyun become the deputy guild leader of Tachun. Xuyun spent six months in the guild with Chahaya.

Manseong who could kill variants were saviors and uncontrollable time bombs at the same time.

Just as there are various types of people in the world, the same was true for Manseong, who were originally humans. The problem was that it was difficult to impose legal sanctions when Manseong committed crimes. They generally enjoyed extraterritoriality even when they caused incidents.

As Manseong gradually became a privileged class, they suddenly disappeared as suddenly as they had appeared.

January 1st of this year.

Manseong were separated from variants and isolated in this hell.

Manseong didn't know why they were isolated, and all guilds fell into chaos, including Xuyun, who had been in Tachun for six months.

Power was position for Manseong. Xuyun was the deputy guild leader because he had that much power. However, after being isolated in this hell, he lost his abilities and became 'Elephant Shrew Xuyun.' He couldn't lead to resolve the situation. Literally, a single touch from the guild members' swords would mean death.

Seeing Xuyun not taking the lead, the guild members began to voice their dissatisfaction. Eventually, they even suggested that if he wasn't going to do anything, he should hand over the deputy guild leader position to Chahaya. Moreover, the accumulated dissatisfaction was poured out, and Xuyun felt like the ground beneath his feet was collapsing.

'Honestly, Deputy Guild Leader, you've also benefited from Chahaya, haven't you? The deputy guild leader position was also given up by Chahaya, right?'

'Chahaya is out trying to figure out why we're in this situation, while the deputy guild leader is holed up in his room, eating. Does that make sense to you?'

'Go out and hunt variants. Other guilds are fighting to claim their territories, but we're just sitting here? Damn, even DK and Tugon were under us when they were in Korea, and now we're losing face!'

When Jiangshan, with his large build, pressed in, a danger signal went off in Xuyun's mind.

<'Elephant Shrew Xuyun' dies if touched by a Manseong's power-infused pencil!>

So he fled in the middle of the night.

Honestly, he didn't think the guild members would look for him, and as for Chahaya... he wasn't sure.

In high school, he thought he knew the guy well, but after entering college, they hadn't met. His father hated Chahaya, and he was busy with his freshman college life, so they naturally drifted apart.

He reunited with Chahaya after joining the guild.

It was the summer of his 22nd year, so it had been almost three years since they last saw each other.

Before being isolated in this hell, they had a distant but not bad relationship, at least until he lost his power.

Chahaya took out jerky and snacks from the shelf and laid them out in front of Xuyun.

"Your father asked about you."

"Did you meet my father?"

Xuyun, who had been ignoring the kneeling Jiangshan, suddenly stood up from the sofa.

This hell was supposed to only have variants and Manseong. Could his father have awakened as a Manseong?

"I told you, no jokes,"

"Bro, it's not a joke. We all went to Seoul."

"!"

Xuyun looked down at Jiangshan. Although the gate had opened, he never imagined they could move to their original place.

"Can you travel between this hell and Seoul?"

"Yes. As soon as the gate reappeared, everyone found a way to return to where they lived."

It felt like being hit on the back of the head. He could understand the feeling of a soldier who had been hiding in the mountains for decades, unaware that the war had ended. Of course, his actual escape life was only about three months.

"But there are conditions for using the gate."

"What are they?"

Unlike the anxious Xuyun, Chahaya slowly opened a bag of corn chips.

"Hunting variants."

As if saying, "Do you still like this?" Chahaya held out the snack bag. It was the smell of civilization he hadn't smelled in a long time.