Solo Leveling- Ragnarok-Chapter 273

Suho was at a loss for words. His first impression of the city before him was difficult to describe.

Is this... Chinatown?

Of course, there were many different kinds of districts called “Chinatown” in South Korea. Compared to those, this place had a distinctly rough and seedy atmosphere. Neon lights flickered over cluttered, disordered streets and grimy, mildew-covered walls. People loitered on street corners, cigarettes dangling from their lips, their faces tired and worn down.

“Oh, I know that look! I reacted the same way my first time here.”

The captain of the guard snickered at the look on Suho’s face.

“What? Surprised? Everyone who comes to the city for the first time reacts just like you.”

Grinning, the man took it upon himself to explain before Suho could even ask. He was seemingly proud of this chaotic place.

“To put it simply, this place is kind of like most Chinatowns in South Korea. You know what they’re like, right? There are Koreans, North Koreans, Chinese, and even Russians here.”

He was right. The crowds moving through the streets were a mix of ethnicities, and their appearances were just as varied as their nationalities.

The reason why only those four countries were represented here was obvious. It was most likely because North Korea was adjacent to China, Russia, and South Korea.

That aside, however, two facts caught Suho’s interest.

“Young Monarch, every human here possesses mana,” Beru whispered.

Suho nodded silently.

This was a city of the awakened, which also made sense. An ordinary person couldn’t have survived long in a wasteland like North Korea. Most people would have been killed by magic beasts or turned into mist burns, consumed by the mana and incinerated. Even reaching this city would have been a near-impossible journey for an average hunter.

Yet this wasn’t the part that truly shocked Suho. The second thing he noticed was far more concerning.

“Are you curious about the collars around their necks?” asked the captain.

“Yes...”

The man had hit the nail on the head. He smirked, noticing Suho’s gaze as they walked.

Among the people smoking on the streets, many wore the bomb necklaces, but they looked slightly different from the one Sirka wore. Instead of a plain exterior, these had glowing LED numbers displayed on them.

“Those collars are different from the one we lent your summon. They don’t inhibit mana. They’ve been modified to remove that feature. The only thing intact is the bomb.”

“So these can’t inhibit mana at all?”

“No. They’ll still go off with the right amount of shock, which means their heads will be blown off if they try to remove them.”

Suho grew puzzled. These devices were originally made to keep villains in check, so why remove the mana suppression function? What were they for now?

The captain continued, “Their intended purpose is completely different, of course. We call them ‘credit chokers.’”

“Credit chokers?”

“In other words, loan necklaces.”

The man, who had been nothing but friendly to Suho so far, suddenly displayed a cold smile.

“The people wearing those are all in debt. They borrowed from the bank and couldn’t pay it back.”

“The bank?”

“Yes. Confusing, huh? Don’t worry, you’ll adjust soon enough. You’ll also need money to live here, after all.”

At that moment, they arrived at a massive building.

—Paradise Bank

The building’s sign loomed over them. The captain had personally led Suho and Sirka here from the gates.

“A bank...?”

“That’s right. This is a human city like any other. You need money to survive. If you want food, you buy it. If you want a place to sleep, you pay for lodging.”

So this is how it works.

Suho finally realized why this city had felt so wrong.

Despite the captain’s rough appearance, he had been surprisingly kind to Suho. He welcomed him in as if he were a valuable guest for no apparent reason. It was an especially strange attitude for a guard at a city’s gates.

Now Suho knew why. The walls around this city were meant to keep out the magic beasts, not other people. In fact, if a hunter was strong enough to reach this place, the city would welcome them with open arms.

“Other countries’ currency is worthless here. We only use our own local coins for transactions. Anyone entering this place for the first time has to start by borrowing from the bank.”

Suho nodded. “So I start off in debt.”

“Exactly. But don’t overthink it. Everyone begins this way. It’ll be easy enough to pay it off, so don’t worry.”

Suho was curious about how he was supposed to pay it off, but that question was answered soon enough.

“Over here! We’ve got a new one!”

The captain of the guard threw open the bank’s doors, striding inside.

A bank employee, seated behind a desk stacked with documents, looked up and smiled in recognition. “Oh, Park Yeongjoon! So you’re on duty today! You’ve brought us a new customer?”

“Hahaha! That’s right! Now give me my referral fee!”

“Yes, yes, of course. You’re lucky. You happened to be on duty when a fresh one walked in.”

The employee quickly scanned Suho and Sirka as they stood beside the captain of the guard. Beaming again, he produced two pieces of paper and showed them to Suho.

“Welcome to Paradise! One of these is your citizen registration form. The other one is a promissory note which will allow us to loan you some money to get you started in the city.”

Suho glanced at the papers. They were written in Korean, Chinese, and Russian. For the citizen registration form, all he had to do was write his name, but the promissory note was different. He could understand that a loan was necessary for the starting funds, but the interest rate was downright criminal.

These interest rates are insane. I don’t think even loan sharks would demand something this high.

This was basically extortion, and yet this so-called bank was demanding such predatory rates without a hint of shame. Still, considering the world outside this city, it made sense.

Anyone who refused to take the loan was free to leave. The proof was in the employee’s reaction after Suho read the documents slowly and asked a question.

“May I borrow the money another time?” Suho asked.

“Yes, of course! We never force anyone to take a loan!”

The clerk’s smile remained, but for a fraction of a second, his eyebrows twitched. He quickly resumed his bright smile, however, then glanced meaningfully at the man who had brought Suho.

“It’s natural for those who visit our city for the first time to feel put off by the credit chokers,” he said, seemingly offering justification. “Don’t be too worried, however. All you have to do is fulfill a few requests from our bank, and your debt will be paid off in full.”

“Requests?”

“Yes! Think of them like quests in a video game. It seems like younger people find that analogy easiest to understand. If you complete a quest, you’ll receive a reward.”

“And you owe me mine!” the captain, Yeongjoon, protested.

“Right, finding an outsider and referring them to the bank is also something that warrants a reward,” the employee said.

Yeongjoon had been pestering him for his finder’s fee for some time now, so the employee handed him a few coins.

“There. Happy?”

The employee looked back at Suho. “It’s hardly anything, but you don’t have debt with us. Anyway, you can come back for a loan later. Just sign here before you leave.”

Yeongjoon looked thrilled. Standing at Suho’s side, he said, “You can write a false name if you want, by the way.”

Suho looked at him questioningly.

The captain grinned. “What? You aren’t stupid enough to actually write your real name in a place like this, are you?”

Suho’s eyes widened, but not because of the boldness of suggesting that he falsify his name in front of a bank employee. It was what he said directly afterward.

“If you do that, Woo Jinchul will show up under your bed!”

Suho stared at the captain, stone-faced.

“Heh. You don’t think that’s funny? Damn, kids these days.”

However, he finally realized something as he listened to the terrible joke.

Beru whispered, “Young Monarch, this place is...”

Yes.

Now he knew what this city really was. This was the final settlement of the villains who had successfully escaped from Jinchul and fled to North Korea.

Then the Chinese and Russian residents must be villains who fled from their own countries too.

“We must kill them all immediately,” Beru whispered. “But we need to have Harmakan on hand if you are to gain experience from them...”

The shadow ant, who had been quietly hatching a plan for mass murder, suddenly deflated as he realized Harmakan was not present. Killing the villains was one thing, but they had to have the demonic spirit turn the region into an instance dungeon for Suho to gain experience from the deaths.

They had temporarily left Harmakan in South Korea, but if he were here, they would already be burning the place down, starting with this bank—loans be damned.

“By the way, you’re quite lucky, sir. Where did you manage to capture the young elf?” the bank employee asked, eyeing Sirka as she stood meekly beside Suho.

Suho did not say another word. He simply handed in his registration form before turning to leave.

***

“Now that I’ve shown you the bank and explained the credit chokers, I’ve earned my pay. But let me give you some advice,” Yeongjoon said as he showed Suho around the city on the way back to the gate. “There’s no city hall here. It’s a lawless place. You can do whatever you want, and no one will stop you. But don’t get too cocky, or you’ll end up dead in your sleep. Even a hunter is helpless when unconscious.”

He pointed down the main street that ran through the center of the city.

“On one side is where the Chinese live. The other side is occupied by the South Koreans. The North Koreans and the Russians live over there. There isn’t too much division based on nationality here, but it’s safer at night if you’re with people from your own country. That’s mostly a psychological thing, though.”

This was not just a city of criminals, but one completely without laws. There was no one to protect a person from a malicious visitor in the night.

“Watch out for the ones wearing credit chokers. The higher the number on their collars, the more dangerous they are. You saw the interest rates, right? The numbers are going up for them even now. If they don’t manage to pay their debt off, their heads will eventually blow.”

“So if they want to stay alive, they have to do whatever the bank asks of them.”

“They can run their own businesses if they don’t want to pay the fees. And if they don’t have any debt, sometimes bartering is easier.”

Suho was reminded of the many job requests on the bulletin board set up next to the bank employee. The board had featured all sorts of jobs, but the most common ones had been something like the following:

—1. Elf hunting

2. Magic beast hunting (edible beasts only)

3. Acquiring and delivering furniture and home appliances from outside the city (based on request)

Most jobs weren’t directly issued by the bank itself, but commissioned by the city’s residents. The bank acted as a middleman, taking a cut of every transaction.

Suho was the most curious about the “elf hunting” job.

Why do they hunt them? At least I gain experience from taking down elves. What use do they have for them?

Suho asked, “I noticed that the jobs for hunting elves had the highest reward. What’s the reason for capturing them?”

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Yeongjoon answered casually, pointing to the Elvenwood rising in the center of the city. “Nothing fertilizes the soil and grows Álfheimr better than elf corpses.”

Suho clapped his hands over Sirka’s ears without realizing it. She wouldn’t have understood anyway.

He turned to look at the Elvenwood again. There was something that noticeably set it apart from the nine he had taken down earlier—its size. This city’s Elvenwood was at least twice as thick and tall as the others he had seen.

Don’t tell me that’s because...

“It’s quite common to find elves here in North Korea. Burying them in the soil makes Álfheimr thrive,” Yeongjoon said.

“Álfheimr? Is that the name of the tree?”

“Ah. I take it you’re not too familiar with mythology?”

“I know a little.”

If Suho recalled correctly, Álfheimr was the name of the home of some mythical elves. It was a fitting name, given how the elves were responsible for its growth in a way.

But the name wasn’t what mattered. There was something in what the captain of the guard had said that bothered him.

“You said you’re ‘fertilizing’ the tree. Does that mean you’re cultivating it intentionally?”

“Right. If we offer it fertilizer and help it grow, it produces fruit. We don’t have any healers here, so we eat the fruit when we’re injured. It restores our stamina and maximizes regeneration. And it can even do that.”

The captain pointed to a shady alleyway where some men with chokers were gathered. The figures standing in the shadows didn’t seem entirely human.

Suho, Sirka, and even Beru stiffened as they looked.

“Their arms...”

Only high-ranked healers could fully regenerate a severed limb. There were no healers here, even of the lower-ranked variety. So what could the residents do if their arm was cut off? An ordinary person would bleed out and die.

Some of the people Yeongjoon was pointing at stood out. They had massive magic beast arms where their human ones should have been.

“Incredible, isn’t it? If we eat the fruit, we can graft magic beast body parts onto our own bodies.”

Suho finally began to see the true nature of the city. In the deep shadows, beneath the glowing, nightclub-like neon signs, there lurked a far greater darkness. The villains here were ragtag scum who had survived by grafting monster parts into their own bodies.

“We call those ‘enhanced humans.’ The patchwork people,” said the captain. “Once you’re injured badly enough, you’ll end up at the bank, too. You’ll need to buy a fruit.”