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Chapter 575: The Black Zone (7)

The Black Zone.

A marketplace for criminals beyond the reach of universal law.

The fact that the transaction accident rate was a staggering 58% said everything you needed to know about how lawless the Black Zone truly was.

‘Maybe I should be more shocked that 42% of transactions actually succeed…?’

Perhaps that was the more surprising part.

They weren’t even inside the Black Zone yet, and swindlers were already running rampant.

‘And charging someone a ridiculous markup probably doesn’t even count as an “accident”… right?’

Yeongwoo glared holes into the one-eyed guide walking ahead, but the guy just carried on, calm as ever.

After about five minutes of walking, the mountains of scrap metal gradually thinned out, and in the distance appeared a massive dome-shaped, ash-colored structure.

Scattered around it were various “vehicles” that looked like scrap heaps themselves.

“That must be the shop.”

When Yeongwoo muttered this, Kejen nodded.

—See how there are metal plates under all the junk?

“Yeah.”

—Those are emergency retrieval pads. So try not to stand on them if you can help it.

“Why? Isn’t the ground only supposed to swallow things when there’s a serious emergency?”

Yeongwoo—and Jeonggu—still hadn’t drawn their weapons, following the implicit rules of the place.

Kejen only shrugged.

—You never know. Maybe the shop suddenly changes its mind and decides to trap us underground. Can’t hurt to be careful.

“…It’s that bad?”

Even the locals couldn’t relax anywhere in this world… Yeongwoo was honestly stunned.

‘Holy… maybe I’m not a villain after all. Compared to this place, I’m basically a saint.’

As Yeongwoo was thinking that, Jeonggu pointed at the “vehicles” and asked.

“You’re not saying we’re going to ride one of those, are we?”

Swish.

The ones he pointed at were lined-up vessels with peeling paint, holes in the hull, and whole chunks missing.

They were scrap.

Pure junk.

“What the—this is way worse than I thought. I doubt these things could move on the ground, let alone fly.”

Even Yeongwoo was speechless at how much worse the selection was than expected.

Kejen looked almost disappointed in them.

—You really are rookies. Something like this is supposed to fall apart the moment it lands.

Muttering, he added.

—When you’ve only ever flown above your station, of course you wouldn’t know what real fieldwork looks like.

“Even Mantero wouldn’t ride these.”

—His belly’s gotten soft too, so yeah, probably.

Just then, the one-eyed guide finally stopped and pointed forward.

—Here. This guy will take you from here.

The “guy” ran over—a fuzzy, fluffy ratman.

“What, is this place owned by your kin or something?”

Yeongwoo asked, glancing at Kejen.

Kejen immediately shook his head.

—Technically speaking, that one’s not my species. More like a close subspecies.

A ratman subspecies.

To Yeongwoo, they all looked the same.

“Well, still, you feel at least a little kinship, no?”

—Do you feel kinship with every creature that has two eyes and hair on its head?

“…Okay, fair.”

—I picked this shop simply because it’s close to the Black Zone.

“But we have to stop by your hideout too.”

Kejen spread his arms lazily.

—That’s close as well.

Then he showed three fingers to the approaching scrap dealer.

—Three passengers, one small porter. Budget’s twenty million.

The ratman’s whiskers twitched.

—Twenty million…? Then you won’t be able to land.

Meaning: a four-person vessel at that price wouldn’t even have the minimum durability required to survive touchdown.

Kejen casually poked his right palm with his left index finger.

—Planning to fall into the lake. Should be fine.

Lake.

Another unfamiliar slang term, like “scrap.”

But the dealer nodded and gestured rightward.

—Let me show you the thirty-million range.

Step.

Just like the one-eyed guide earlier, he walked ahead first.

Yeongwoo leaned toward Kejen.

“Okay, what now? ‘Lake’? Another coded phrase?”

—Not slang.

“…Huh?”

—There’s an actual lake outside the Black Zone’s outer wall. And “optimized” visitors often use it as a landing zone.

“Optimized…?”

—The ideal scenario is for your ship to die the moment you arrive at the Black Zone.

“You’re insane.”

—If the ship’s truly optimized, atmospheric entry will kill it anyway. So you can’t land on solid ground. Angle your descent right and splash into the lake—that’s the best case.

“…Or—and hear me out—you could just spend more money and buy a functional ship.”

Yeongwoo was growing progressively allergic to Black-Zone logic.

Kejen shook his head again.

—That soft attitude won’t keep you alive here.

Still, by pretending to be the kind of person who would want an “optimized death-ship,” they’d probably get a lower price.

—Listen carefully. The Black Zone respects only two things.

“Two? What are they?”

Kejen held up two fingers.

—Strength. And—

“And?”

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—Guts.

“What.”

—If your guts are impressive enough, deals that should’ve gone bad work out smoothly.

Then his whiskers twitched.

—Though plenty of fools die showing off their guts.

“…So it’s not that the world respects guts. Just… applauds your corpse.”

—Those who meet death boldly are honored.

“What’s the point if you’re dead? I thought this place was a criminal den. Actually it’s an asylum.”

As they exchanged this deranged conversation, the scrap dealer stopped.

—From here on, you’ll like the selection.

But Yeongwoo and Jeonggu saw absolutely no difference from the earlier pile of junk.

Yet Kejen walked forward with purpose—apparently he did see something he liked.

“What? There’s actually something usable here?”

Ships with giant holes in the hull, both wings missing, or fuselages riddled with bullet-like holes… no sane person would pick a space-faring vessel from this lineup.

“Y-Yeongwoo… is this actually okay?”

Even normally composed Jeonggu looked terrified.

This was suicide.

“These look like they’d explode in the middle of space before even reaching orbit…”

“I agree, honestly.”

But ironically, this proved something.

If sellers right at the entrance of the Black Zone were offering these, it meant locals actually did travel in and out using these junk heaps.

“Insane as it is, we won’t get another chance to try something like this.”

And Kejen himself would also be riding it.

A freshly escaped criminal wouldn’t throw his life away.

That meant these ships—while horrifying—were at least usable.

“Just trust a thief’s greed. If he wants to sell the Seal, he needs to arrive alive.”

As Yeongwoo said this, Kejen finally stopped before a piece of scrap with huge claw marks.

—This one looks good.

BANG!

He kicked the hull and looked at Yeongwoo.

“We’re paying thirty million for this?”

It was a small rectangular craft with long wings on both sides.

But… one wing was partially torn off and dangling, and the right side of the hull was shredded with three massive claw marks.

Like a space dinosaur had attacked it.

—A dragon, probably.

“A dragon? This damage?”

—Yeah. It must’ve been pretty high up when something with claws this big took a swipe. So—dragon’s the most likely.

“What kind of lunatic flies close enough to a dragon to get hit like this?”

—You have to respect that courage.

“No, for fucks sa—stop respecting the courage and check the condition!”

Yeongwoo reached instinctively for his waist, but Kejen motioned for him to calm down.

—Look. It took a direct blow from a dragon and didn’t break apart. That means its frame is sturdy. Very sturdy.

THUMP.

Kejen kicked it again, then pointed upward at the broken wing.

—And see? The original wing is still there—even if it’s mangled. Weld it a bit and it’ll last until we reach the Black Zone.

“What about the hull? You’re going to weld that too?”

Yeongwoo pointed at the shredded claw marks.

Kejen turned to the dealer.

—You guys can patch that up, right?

Meaning: could they do some temporary repair?

The dealer’s snout twitched.

—We’ll slap something on it. Should be fine.

Then he tapped another scrap hull beside them.

Thump, thump.

—Probably use this one.

Meaning: he’d rip the side panel off this one and slap it onto the dragon-damaged one.

“…Holy shit…”

At last, Yeongwoo understood why every single item here was missing at least one major part.

Every piece of merchandise was also a supply of spare parts.

They were basically constructing one-flight ships out of junkyard leftovers.

Flick!

The dealer stuck a blue tag on the chosen vessel and the one next to it, then pulled out a small device.

—Payment is this way.

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