"By the way, how was the haul this time? Made a lot of Kohl, huh~?"

  "Hmph, haul~?"

  Scarface sneered and shot a glance at Zev.

  "Why don’t you ask him?"

  The one-eyed man looked taken aback, glancing between Scarface and Zev before exclaiming in surprise:

  "No way?"

  "You messed it up—"

  Zev’s face darkened. "It was an accident!"

  "An accident~? Hehe~!"

  The one-eyed man clearly didn’t buy it, speaking teasingly:

  "No wonder the boss sent me a message telling you to report to headquarters right after returning. I was confused earlier—what great merit did you pull off that the boss wants to reward you in person? Turns out~, it’s such a ‘merit’ huh~!"

  Hearing this, Zev’s eyes widened, his face turning ashen, and his legs began to tremble uncontrollably.

  "N-no...... You’re joking, aren’t you?"

  "Heh~!"

  The one-eyed man scoffed,

  "To quote him just now—when have you ever seen me joke about the boss?"

  At these words, Zev collapsed onto the floor.

  "T-the boss...... Is he really going to kill me?!?"

  "Hehe~!"

  Scarface chuckled maliciously:

  "Don’t worry. You still owe the organization money— the boss wouldn’t bear to kill you. At most, he’ll skin you alive~! Hahaha~!"

  The one-eyed man burst out laughing too.

  For a moment, the room echoed with laughter, except for Zev, who sat on the floor in utter despair.

  Seeing Zev still dazed, the one-eyed man said: "Alright, how long are you going to sit there? This isn’t a confessional. Word of your return has probably reached the boss by now—are you sure you want to stay here~?"

  Zev jumped up in terror.

  "I’ll leave right away! I’m heading to headquarters now!"

  With that, he darted out of the room in a panic.

  After leaving the three-story building, Zev turned a few streets and boarded a cargo cart.

  "To the docks!"

  In his anxiety, Zev failed to notice that after he climbed onto the cart, a moving shadow slipped under it along the surrounding shadows.

  "Moo——!"

  With a low growl from the beast of burden pulling the cart, it began to move.

  The cart traveled through streets and alleys for over forty minutes before reaching a wide canal. Following the waterway for a few more minutes, a dock stacked with goods and dotted with ships came into view.

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  Upon arriving at his destination, Zev jumped off the cart in a hurry, entered the dock, and weaved through its interior before reaching a side door of a large warehouse. He paused for a moment, took several deep breaths, then pushed the door open as if making a firm decision......

  Bang——!

  After the side door closed, a shadow moved to a nearby dark corner a short while later.

  The shadow flowed continuously, and Hulim’s figure slowly emerged from it. She stared at the warehouse, her expression remaining completely unchanged.

  "——Found it."

  ......

  ......

  Inside the warehouse.

  Zev walked nervously along the dim corridor toward the interior.

  Before long, he reached an inconspicuous corner and knocked on the wall in a specific rhythm.

  Boom!

  A stone door slowly slid open, revealing a new corridor.

  Taking a deep breath at the entrance, Zev stepped inside.

  Boom!

  Shortly after he entered, the stone door behind him closed again, blending back into the wall—no trace of it was visible from the outside.

  No one noticed that a shadow was seeping into the corridor through the gap......

  "Yo, Zev~! You actually made it back?!?"

  "Haha, heard you made a total fool of yourself this time~!"

  "Tsk, damn it! I bet he’d run away, but I lost the bet......"

  The underground space was far larger than it appeared on the surface, and a crowd of people had gathered there.

  When they saw Zev, they mocked him one after another.

  "Damn...... These bastards!"

  Zev cursed under his breath, his face growing even darker.

  Before long, he reached the boss’s room.

  The guards at the door didn’t even ask questions when they saw him, opening the door directly.

  This sight only worsened Zev’s mood.

  Bang——!

  The sound of the door slamming shut behind him cut off Zev’s last chance to escape.

  Gathering his courage, he walked to the center of the room and bowed his head.

  "B-boss Silabain...... You summoned me?"

  Flip~, flip~......

  No one responded to him in the spacious room—only the sound of Silabain flipping through documents echoed.

  "......"

  After a long while, just as Zev was sweating profusely and could barely hold on.

  Silabain finally stopped reading, casually tossing the documents onto the red-lacquered wooden table with gold trim in front of him, and stared at Zev with a cold, indifferent gaze.

  "Zev."

  "Yes!"

  Zev shuddered, dropping to his knees and kowtowing repeatedly to apologize.

  "I’m sorry, boss! I’m truly sorry!"

  Silabain remained unmoved.

  "If saying sorry worked, our organization would be running a charity."

  "I heard you lost to a student of Manacos? A teacher is one thing, but a student? I entrusted you with an important task, and this is how you repay me?"

  "I...... I......"

  Zev was so frightened that he stammered, barely able to get the words out.

  "B-boss, you don’t understand! That kid is really abnormal—she’s definitely not an ordinary student!"

  "Hmph. Whether she’s ordinary or not, I’ll send someone to deal with her later. As for you——"

  "You’re relieved of your current duties. Hand over all the remaining trivial matters in your hands, disclose all those key contact channels, and then head to the black cell."

  Zev’s pupils contracted sharply—they were stripping him of all his value in one fell swoop!

  No, that wasn’t the most important thing right now. What mattered was——

  Zev slowly lifted his head, trembling.

  "B-boss...... I still owe the organization money...... I-if I go to the black cell, who will repay it......"

  "Oh, that?"

  Silabain stroked his chin,

  "It’s rare for you to think so much about the organization. Don’t worry. Interest will continue to accrue while you’re in the black cell, and you can pay it off slowly after you get out."

  After hearing this, Zev’s vision went dark, and he almost collapsed.

  "Why—— do you seem to have an objection?"

  "N-no! No objection!"

  Zev shook his head frantically,

  "No objections at all!"

  "Since you have no objections, go on. Reflect on yourself for the next ten months."

  Zev, who had just claimed to have no objections, went weak at the knees again.

  T-ten months?!?

  Will I even survive......

  Zev stumbled out of Silabain’s room. Although he held some leverage, he was stripped of everything without any resistance when facing the boss. But he had no choice—their strength was vastly unequal. In the law of the jungle that governed the underground world, trying to negotiate with leverage would only lead to a fate worse than death.

  Not that the black cell was any less deadly......