The Hero Returns

Gulp—

Gwon Jang-hyuk swallowed his saliva at Su-hyeun's question.

The awakener association had already banned the usage of drugs like Blending in the 31st floor's world. It's just that there was no sure way to stop the sales of the drugs and therefore the practice was largely left alone for now, which led to the law being declared but not policed openly.

That's why he never thought it was too dangerous.

But now, the situation had changed.

"If it turns out that you weren't merely satisfied with smoking Blending and decided to join hands with Petro's dealers to sell their crap..." Su-hyeun watched Gwon Jang-hyuk cautiously picking up the bundles of Blending off the ground and spoke up. "Well, I wonder if it's okay to carry out a summary conviction right here?"

A chill ran down Gwon Jang-hyuk's entire body.

The association didn't have a way to interfere in the 31st floor's matters. However, Su-hyeun was an awakener and he was currently on this very floor. On top of that, he even knew who Gwon Jang-hyuk was. He knew there was a South Korean citizen named Gwon Jang-hyuk living in Anyang city.

Basically, he had the latter completely trapped. No paths of escape were left open for Gwon Jang-hyuk.

"B-b-but..." Gwon Jang-hyuk stammered pitifully.

"Cooperate or else."

Su-hyeun smirked meaningfully. On the other hand, Gwon Jang-hyuk became teary-faced.

* * *

After entering the pub, Gwon Jang-hyuk began chugging down beer nonstop. His mouth was dry and his innards were burning up, so he just couldn't help himself.

Su-hyeun spoke while watching him hurriedly knock back the beer. "Don't be so nervous."

"Y-yes!"

Signs of nervousness were still too obvious to see. It seemed that he was fearful of being stigmatized as a criminal.

"...Alright, then. Let's summarize what you told me so far."

Su-hyeun summarized what Gwon Jang-hyuk, sitting stiffly upright and looking back at him, had said just now.

"So, you're basically just a part-timer. Is that right?"

"Y-yes, that's correct."

"You don't have any link to Petro to speak of, and your role is to simply deliver the daily allotment of goods to designated customers. After you're done distributing, you get your own share of Blending. Right so far?"

"Yes, that's the structure."

"Does that mean there are a fair number of awakeners smoking Blending who aren't deeply connected to this whole racket, just like you?"

"Y-you're correct. Not deeply connected."

"Hmm."

"I-I'm being honest. I'm not really deeply involved."

"...That's not what's important, is it? Should I just hand you over to the association, then?"

"I-I'm sorry...."

Su-hyeun spat out a long groan at Gwon Jang-hyuk's words and began drumming on the table with his fingers.

<<But then again, why would someone like Petro involve himself with a punk like this guy?>>

Even if Petro did whatever he pleased within the 31st floor, he was still an existence right at the heart of this city. So, he probably wouldn't have personally met with a weakling greenhorn who only managed to get here by selecting the level one difficulty.

"But, uhm...just what's wrong with Blending, anyway?" Gwon Jang-hyuk asked.

"You've been smoking it, yet you can't tell?"

"Eh? About what?"

"Blending's been slowly infiltrating Britain recently. Well, not just Britain, but other countries back in the real world, too." Su-hyeun reached out and grasped a handful of Blending Gwon Jang-hyuk had been carrying around and continued on. "All of this has been smuggled out of here using the achievement points earned through selling Blending in this place. The drugs that landed in Britain got there through the dimension order forms and end up in the hands of the wealthy. It might be as common as grass in this place, but to them...."

"...They must think that they're also now enjoying the special privilege that only the awakeners got to enjoy."

"Well, you aren't a complete dumbass, it seems." Su-hyeun nodded his head. "To them, this is no different from using money to purchase awakener's special privileges. The drug's addictive nature is simply a bonus. The real problem in this equation, though, is the wastage of achievement points on something completely unnecessary."

One Property of Dimension order form cost 50,000 points.

For the current Su-hyeun, that number might not be all that expensive, but for regular awakeners yet to reach the 31st floor, that was a massive tally of points.

The number of achievement points wasted on smuggling out Blending had reached past several billion by now.

"More importantly, awakeners deciding to stay on 31st floor because of Blending is proving to be another major issue. For now, it may only be a small portion, but once Blending's existence becomes widely known, then their numbers will gradually increase."

In the current year 2021, one out of every ten awakeners chose to stay on the 31st floor.

However, that figure would jump all the way up to five out of ten in the future. They would never return to reality, instead choosing to settle in the tower while utterly addicted to the drug.

If that drug didn't exist, then no awakener would choose to stay behind on the 31st floor, and billions of achievement points wouldn't be wasted unnecessarily, either. The very existence of Blending was a hindrance to humanity getting stronger, in other words.

Most importantly...

<<Petro. That insane bastard is the real problem.>>

Blending was created out of a type of grass commonly found on the 31st floor's world. However, Petro used that fact to his advantage and created the current drug cartel, causing the ever-worsening abuse of Blending.

To make matters worse, Petro wasn't doing this — the distribution and sale of Blending — simply out of greed over money.

Su-hyeun's gaze shifted over to the bundles wrapped up in white cloth currently resting on the table. He pondered something for a little while before opening his mouth. "For now, I'll be taking them with me."

"Eh?"

"What do you mean, 'eh?' You thought I'd let you go on your merry way with these drugs in tow?"

"B-but, if you do..."

"Besides, you have another job." Su-hyeun had thought up of something good just now. He picked up one of the bundles and addressed Gwon Jang-hyuk. "Looks like you'll have to sell my name from now on."

He smirked deeply and looked at the latter's scared eyes.

* * *

Petro was the king of the 31st floor's world.

No, more correctly, he lived a life fitting for a king: money, women, sweet, sweet drugs, and followers basically worshiping him.

He was living a life that anyone would dream about at least once.

Inside a residence located somewhere in the city, Petro was leaning back by its front yard and lighting up a joint of Blending. He sucked in the smoke of densely concentrated drug — then, his vision yellowed and the whole world felt dreamy and soft as if he was sinking into the sea of blissful intoxication.

"Fwoo-woo—"

He sucked in and savored the smoke for a while before breathing it out. He opened his eyes to reveal yellowed irises. A topless man of a hulking physique with yellow hair and yellow eyes lied down completely on his back.

Petro brought the rolled-up Blending joint near his eyes and muttered out. "Even this has become too weak."

More specifically, his body had developed resistance against Blending. With the passage of time, the drug began to hit him less and less. Although the addictive nature remained, the sense of satisfaction was nowhere close to the past.

Petro got up from his spot. A guest had come seeking him out.

"What is it?" he asked while putting on the sunglasses resting to his side.

The guest was a friend he had been partnering up with for the longest time, Luke. He looked at Petro lighting up yet another Blending joint and asked, "Aren't you using it too often lately?"

"This drug is freaking everywhere, so who cares?"

"Blending eats away at the magical energy in us. If you keep smoking that crap..."

"The moment you get here, you start nagging? I ain't gonna go up to the higher floors anyway, so what does it matter?"

Petro glared at Luke with burning eyes.

Then again, if such nagging worked on him in the first place, then Petro would've kicked his drug habit away a long time ago.

Exactly one month after he started using Blending, it became a drug he just couldn't stop.

Luke spat out a long sigh before changing the subject. "A couple of days ago, someone snatched away a batch of Blending earmarked to be shipped out. You heard about it, right?"

"Yeah, I did. What a ballsy bastard."

Petro snorted derisively.

Just one word from him, and at least one thousand awakeners residing on the 31st floor would be mobilized. But a punk fearlessly snatching his Blending away had appeared within his kingdom.

"A newbie distributor of ours, a Korean awakener named Gwon Jang-hyuk, came to us with information."

"What kind of info?"

"He says he knows who stole our Blending shipment."

"Oh, really? Who's the bastard?"

"Kim Su-hyeun. South Korea's S-rank awakener."

Petro, leisurely putting on his shirt while listening to Luke's report, hurriedly pushed up his sunglasses over his head. Blending's effects that lulled him in intoxication up until a second ago felt significantly weakened by a story shocking enough to wake the dead.

"Who did you say it was?" Petro asked.

"Kim Su-hyeun. Haven't you heard? He's on the 31st floor at the moment."

"No, what I want to know is why that motherf*cker decided to stay in this place. Didn't he climb the tower without taking a single break until now?"

"Who knows. But one thing's for sure: Su-hyeun has shown his interest in Blending, which is completely out of our expectations."

"Goddammit...."

Petro did hear the news of Kim Su-hyeun reaching the 31st floor. However, he didn't pay much heed to that. Just like before, that S-rank awakener would challenge the 31st trial right away, meaning he'd not be able to return to this floor ever again.

But then, that bastard chose to stay on the 31st floor, instead.

"Him showing interest in Blending means he now knows about its taste, right?" Petro asked.

"Most likely."

"Son of a bitch. Pretending to be a knight in shining armor and sh*t, yet he's behaving like a damn thug."

Su-hyeun snatched a Blending shipment in the middle. That meant he wasn't planning to pay for them using achievement points as currency.

"How should we proceed? Should we scout him? Or negotiate with him while providing a fixed amount of Blending?" Luke asked.

"Are you mad?" Petro's expression crumpled unsightly at Luke's suggestion. "Of course we wage war."

* * *

"...That's what they said?"

Gwon Jang-hyuk delivered the news coming from the higher-ups. His new orders were to report immediately if he spotted Su-hyeun somewhere, and keep the target there until everyone else showed up.

"They want you to keep me occupied, is it?" Su-hyeun asked back.

"Yes. It seems that they want to hunt you down, Mister Su-hyeun. Sir."

Gwon Jang-hyuk was nothing more than a gopher working for Petro's organization. Yet, ordering someone like that to keep Su-hyeun occupied? That's basically telling him to go kill himself.

Of course, those bastards wouldn't care about such a thing, to begin with.

"So, they wish to hunt me down, is that it?" Su-hyeun muttered while forming a meaningful little smile.

Gwon Jang-hyuk saw that somewhat ominous smile and hurriedly asked a question while completely forgetting about his tea getting cold. "W-what are you going to do now, sir?"

"Go and tell them."

"A-about?"

"That I'm sitting right here. That'll surely bring them over here, no?"

The two of them were currently sitting in a pub. Other than simple dishes and some tea, nothing had been ordered and so far, no one had recognized them yet.

"A-are you insane? You want to clash against them without any plan?"

"What's wrong? If I die like this, wouldn't it be a good thing for you in the end?"

"Eh?"

"I haven't told anyone about you. Not one word about how you are involved in Blending's distribution or the fact that you live in Anyang city."

Gwon Jang-hyuk's brain kicked into gear at Su-hyeun's words.

In that case...?

"As long as I die, all the loose ends will be taken care of."

That was the perfect scenario for Gwon Jang-hyuk. If that happened, then he'd be able to stay here as long as he wanted and live happily ever after while using Blending.

"If you get it, hurry up and leave. You'll probably have to work extra hard to have me killed off from here onwards."

"Y-yes, sir!!"

The moment Su-hyeun finished saying that, Gwon Jang-hyuk hurriedly pushed the chair back and shot up. He then dashed outside to a certain destination.

Despite only passing through level one difficulties to get here, he was still an awakener, so his speed was rather fast.

Su-hyeun leaned back and leisurely enjoyed his tea.

<<When will they show up, I wonder?>>

Ten, twenty minutes wouldn't be sufficient enough, probably.

Petro would no doubt mobilize a combat force powerful enough to face an S-Rank. However, it'd not be that simple to organize a troop of that size and scale even if it was him.

Su-hyeun was actually hoping for Petro to try to negotiate with him. If that happened, he'd have been saved from going around a longer, harder road and would've faced that guy directly.

Still, it didn't matter too much.

<<I'll meet him sooner or later if I keep going forward, anyway.>>

He didn't need to get too worked up about this. Su-hyeun stayed put and patiently waited for his guests to arrive.

Not too long afterward, dozens, then hundreds, of awakeners descended on the near vicinity of the pub he was in.