Chapter 98

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!!!

Following the massive hole that had formed underground, the labor camp collapsed like a giant sinkhole.

It was only natural that the factories and parking lots on the outskirts, along with the nameless old vehicles, were swept away.

The surviving workers, supervisors, and the homeless people who had gathered in the area looked on with despair at the scene of the collapsing labor camp.

Built shoddily, it crumbled all too easily.

The human relationships formed here were no more than the kind that would disappear just as easily.

If Renok had known this, he might have escaped this place more easily than the day he first opened his eyes in the factory.

While the others were searching for bikes, Renok, who had been waiting in the nearby ruins, turned his head upon sensing someone nearby.

He thought that all the members of Palshion's organization would have fled by now, but perhaps some stragglers remained.

"The factory has collapsed..."

"The supervisors? Did they all run away?"

"Are we free now...."

No wonder I couldn't feel any magic at all; it seems the workers who were working in the labor camp couldn't escape and remained.

Now that the ground tremors have subsided, there shouldn't be any particular danger, but they will have to find their own way to survive from now on.

Renok was about to lose interest when he noticed a familiar face among the workers and hesitated.

".........."

It was the very person who had given him his first cigarette while he was pretending to be on the verge of death.

The worker who had given him a cheap cigarette as a parting gift for the afterlife was right there.

His name was clearly Ban.

Because he remembered that first act of kindness, he had chosen that name as his alias in the back alleys.

It was a strange coincidence.

Without realizing it, Renok got up from his tired body and approached him.

"He, he's coming this way...."

"Isn't he a magician? Can't you do something?"

"Fuck, you do it.... What do you want me to do?"

Ignoring the murmuring workers, Renok found Ban sitting with a weary face and squatted in front of him.

Ban glanced up at Renok's face, but he didn't look particularly frightened.

He averted his gaze from Renok's and spoke curtly.

"Do you have some business with me?"

"......No."

Renok smiled faintly and took out a cigarette from his pocket.

The cigarette held between his thin fingers was not just one.

"Want to smoke one?"

I don't really know why.

Perhaps he just wanted to repay this small debt of gratitude that he had been thinking about for a long time.

If it hadn't been for that cigarette he had given him back then, Renok might not have been able to escape from that factory.

Ban, who had been staring blankly at Renok, smiled.

"Well, I don't mind."

"That's enough."

The two of them sat in silence, smoking.

The cigarette smoke, swirling between their tired eyes, spread through the cold winter air.

...Vroom!!

Hearing the sound of a bike from a distance, Renok stood up.

Ban looked up at Renok's back silently.

There was no farewell.

Ban wouldn't know who Renok was, and Renok had no intention of telling him.

They would just pass each other by, not knowing each other's circumstances.

Just like how they first met.

And just like how they parted.

That was all.