The Tower

Contrary to the surrounding structure, the Dumo tower has maintained its shape. It is a white tower so tall that you cannot see the top of it.

The truck stops and the hunters get out of it.

"Kids get out now! Benzo, wake up! "

A "hunter" is what people refer to when doing a job that includes going to the ruins or hunting wasteland monsters. These come in many different forms, like relic hunter or monster hunter, but in general, if you're risking your life in the ruin for money, you can call yourself a hunter.

Escorting requests is one of them. This job pays differently in every circumstance. If you could escort a high-ranking target, the price would be up in the millions, but if you escort a bunch of slum kids and gang members, you could only expect average pay.

Ezmo is the one who took the job to look after the young hunter from Frenzy. Due to some complications, their veteran hunter couldn't attend, so they let him do it.

Despite being a veteran hunter, Ezmo didn't have a lot of wealth. Mostly because he doesn't take a risky job like hunting a bounty monster or going on a ruin expedition. He often accepts an escort request like this to keep supporting himself and his friend.

Clack clank

The mechanical arm of his percusses together in a clapping motion. This is not an uncommon sight in this world. People in this job are consistently in danger and given enough time, you will mess up somehow.

"Are you guys ready?" I'll be supervising the Frenzy hunter while you look over the Frankie gang, OK? "

"Yeah, yeah, always leave the boring part to me."

"That's what we agreed on."

"Alright."

At the front of the tower, the group is preparing to separate. The Frenzy gang's young hunters come here to practice ruin exploration, while the Frankie gangs are here for relic collection and "accidentally" leaving people here.

"Hello, what's your name?" Hayato walks up to Vero while Coal is busy preparing safety measures for himself.

"I... I'm Vero."

"I knew that you had a name! Come on and join our gangs! We will treat you better! "

Vero is startled by how straightforward Hayato is. This attitude is not common in the slums, aside from his long-gone friend. Thinking about it hurt Vero's heart, and it showed on Vero's face.

"S...Sorry, if you don't like that. "

"No... It has nothing to do with you."

"Then would you like to go with us? My friends over there would like to have you! "

Hayato then points to two of his female friends waving at him happily. Vero thinks that this is another shot at getting out.

"Not so fast, blondie!"

"Tch... He didn't even like your gang. Just let him join me. "

"Well, this guy right here is in debt with my gang. You have to pay us the amount he owes to get him."

"How much? I'll pay. "

"15,000,000 tels"

"What!?"

"If you don't have the money, then back off."

This is, of course, a lie. Vero didn't owe them any money aside from Fran stealing the money to buy the medicine, which cost around 5000 tels. His number has been overblown by Coal to scare away Hayato from saving Vero.

The bluff worked on Hayato. It seems that he's not someone from the slums who takes everything by force. Hayato is upset about this situation.

"Get ready! We don't want to stay here for long! "

Ezmo urges them to finish their business. Making Hayato go back to their team. Coal smiles at his victory. The most disappointing one was Vero, who couldn't do anything. In his mind, trying to speak up would be suicide, so he stayed put.

The team quickly organized itself, with Coal as a leader and Benzo as a hunter to supervise it. Their objective today is quite simple. Use the addicted people to gather some relics and discard them.

The hunters have been informed of this beforehand, so they try to separate the young hunter from their shady activity.

"Alright, you guys can do whatever you want, just don't go to the left side of the ruin, OK? Here's a walkie-talkie. Call me if there's any trouble. I'll be sleeping in the car. See ya."

Benzo walks off and gets into the truck. He is supposed to go with Frankie's gang, but he judges that the ruins are super safe and babysitting is not that exciting. So he will be sleeping in the car.

Hayato's group has already left, so Coal's group has been left to their devices. This put a smile on Coal's face because there was no one to stop him from doing anything now. He quickly orders his playthings to grab one bag each and follow him in a crawling motion.

The group went into the tower through a sliding door. Greeting them is an empty receptionist table and a two-door beside it. Coal takes the right door as advised earlier, otherwise, he would be following Hayato.

Coal does want to tease the righteous-looking guy more, but he can't fail the job that he's given. If he finishes his job flawlessly, he would gain more trust from Frankie's gang and, in addition, bring him closer to his goal.

Tormenting someone is a sick hobby that he picks up along the way. Once he reaches his goal, he will clear his name.

While Coal was thinking, they reached an office area where he ordered the group to pick up some relics. This place is almost empty of relics without anyone restocking them. The hunters before them did a great job of cleaning this place. Only leaving cheap relics for the Coal group to collect.

Vero follows Coal ordered obediently, but in his mind, he's trying to figure out how to get out of Coal's hand. Due to the drug addiction kicking in, Vero can't concentrate on this plan and come up with the same thing again. A surprise attack.

It'd likely work a second time, right?

Deep in his conciseness, he knows that this wouldn't work, but a few months of narcotics dump down his brain to a worrying degree.

As he was thinking, Vero picked up a white wristband and put it in the bag. Before it gets in, the thing latches on to Vero, sending him into a panic state, trying to get the wristband off.

The wristband sticks like a part of him. No matter how hard he pulls, he can't get it off.

"Number 15, you're lagging"

Vero, hurry and catch up to the coal group. He decides to put this matter down for later.