The narrow alley beside the main road. As the girl turned into it, the four men who had been following her also entered. This was their agreed meeting spot.

“H-here’s today’s tri-tribute.”

The girl pulled out 10 coins from a pouch she had already prepared and handed them to the men before her. Since non-Superhumans didn’t have an inventory, they had to carry their coins directly on their person. That was why the girl had tucked the coin pouch deep into her clothes to keep it hidden.

“This isn’t everything, is it?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know, you bitch.”

The hairy man scowled and approached her.

“Kyaa!”

Unfazed by her scream, the man shoved his hairy arm into the girl's clothes.

“Heh heh, it’s heavy, huh.”

“Damn, we hit the jackpot. Looks like it's worth a few hundred coins?”

“Open it up and count it, quick.”

The men chuckled as they looked at the coin pouch they had yanked from the girl’s chest.

“P-please… give it back.”

The girl pleaded tearfully. But the men didn’t so much as blink in response to her begging.

“You want this back? Are you insane, bitch?”

One of the men scoffed in disbelief and glared at the girl. Peeking inside the pouch, it looked to contain no less than a thousand coins.

And she dared try to keep this all for herself? This bitch really had some nerve. Clearly, they hadn’t educated her properly lately. She must’ve gone off the rails.

“Looks like someone’s overdue for a lesson.”

The man scowled and stepped toward the girl. He intended to teach her a proper lesson, to remind her of her place.

That was how people were by nature—creatures of forgetfulness. That was why all slaves, not just this girl, had to be constantly re-educated to reinforce their place in society.

That was when the girl’s eyes grew as wide as lanterns. She was staring toward the entrance of the alley. The men were facing away from it, their backs turned, while the girl alone was looking at the entrance.

Which meant she was the first to see Sungshik enter the alley.

“Uh, uhh…”

As the girl uttered a flustered sound and looked past them, the men naturally turned around to see what she was staring at. And there, they saw him. The sucker who had given the girl a thousand coins.

‘What the hell, he followed us?’

Zhang Ziyun, the leader of the group, looked at Sungshik and chuckled. The guy had approached them without a shred of fear.

But the closer Sungshik got, the more Zhang Ziyun’s expression stiffened. At first, he thought this was just some lucky fool who had happened to gather a lot of coins. He knew the faces of all the top Superhumans in Tsufeng City like the back of his hand.

Sungshik’s face wasn’t among them, so he had assumed the man was a nobody.

‘But… what is this?’

There was something strange about the presence he gave off—it was far from ordinary. Zhang Ziyun felt like a helpless herbivore in front of an overwhelming predator he could never hope to challenge.

Shudder.

He was so tense that his body trembled instinctively, trying to release some of that pressure.

The reason Zhang Ziyun could sense even a fraction of Sungshik’s aura was because Sungshik was currently a bit irritated. Seeing the girl reminded him of his own miserable past, and the exploitative scene before him greatly soured his mood. That annoyance caused just a trace of his presence to leak out, which Zhang Ziyun had caught.

“Is it just me, or is it kinda spooky right now?”

“You feel it too? I just got goosebumps down my arm.”

Even the subordinates murmured uneasily, sensing something was off. But unlike Zhang Ziyun, they couldn’t fully grasp what they were dealing with. The aura faintly leaking from Sungshik wasn’t enough to crush them—but it did make them uneasy.

Their levels were only at the tail end of 2-star or the early stages of 3-star. Only Zhang Ziyun could comprehend how dangerous this person was.

‘Shit.’

In that instant, the thought crossed his mind that they’d stepped in it. Zhang Ziyun immediately adopted a deferential posture and spoke to Sungshik as politely as he could.

“Is there… a problem, sir?”

Fortunately, his subordinates weren’t entirely clueless. Sensing the strange atmosphere and seeing their leader Zhang Ziyun bow his head, they quickly followed suit.

‘Filthy bastards.’

But Sungshik’s eyes were ice-cold. He remembered all too well how these kinds of trash had exploited him before his regression. He knew exactly what kind of vermin they were. People like them didn’t even see non-Superhumans as human.

Just livestock. That was the extent of their regard.

‘How pitiful.’

The girl staring wide-eyed behind the men had probably lived her entire life being treated like that.

“Give that coin pouch back to the girl.”

At Sungshik’s coldly delivered command, Zhang Ziyun immediately lowered his head further and answered:

“Y-yes, of course. I’m terribly sorry.”

Zhang Ziyun was quick on the uptake. He realized that if he had talked back to Sungshik without reading the mood, they would have faced a disaster on the spot. He could feel that Sungshik was looking at them like insects. One wrong move, and they would have crossed the River Jordan.

But Zhang Ziyun was quick to grovel and tried his best to appease Sungshik. He returned the coins along with fever medicine and food to the girl and sent her back.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

The girl, teary-eyed once more, expressed her gratitude to Sungshik, and Sungshik gently comforted her before sending her off.

“This feels… like we’re screwed.”

“Who the hell is that guy?”

“Why is the boss acting like that?”

“I don’t know either.”

The men whispered quietly behind Sungshik. They too lived off of reading the room, and instinctively sensed that something was terribly wrong.

Sungshik chuckled faintly as he listened to their whispers. They thought he couldn’t hear them, but at this distance, Sungshik could catch even the sound of ants crawling.

He turned and looked at them with a numb expression.

“Now then, shall we have a little chat?”

At those words from the expressionless Sungshik, Zhang Ziyun felt an even greater sense of terror than when he had faced Cerberus not long ago. All he could do was nod frantically in response.

“Hmm.”

Sungshik had been in need of information about this city anyway, and now he had gathered everything he needed from the men in front of him.

“This is worse than I thought.”

First off, this city was indeed Tsufeng City, but the situation here was far worse than Sungshik had expected.

“They hand over more than half the coins they earn as tribute, huh…”

He was speechless. Just like that girl earlier, ordinary people who barely made any coins in a day were forced to pay a fixed amount in tribute. The amount was high enough to endanger their livelihoods.

The coins collected from every person in the city were funneled upward like a pyramid scheme, all the way to “Kurhin,” who ruled the city.

If they had been collecting coins like this for six months, the amount must be enormous.

“What the hell is he using all those coins for?”

It puzzled him. The goods sold at the “Coin General Store” were limited.

Then one thought flashed through Sungshik’s mind.

“Maybe… just maybe.”

There might be a special item being sold at the “Coin General Store” here in this city. That would explain things. Occasionally, the Coin General Store did sell special items that were only available at certain branches. It was possible Kurhin was squeezing out coins just to buy one of those.

Even so, the current system was excessively exploitative. At this rate, it was clear that all non-Superhumans would soon face ruin.

“I’ll need to fix this.”

Sungshik made up his mind. He never had any intention of letting Kurhin live from the moment he learned the man belonged to the Revolutionary Knights. The only reason he hadn’t gone after him immediately was to determine whether Kurhin’s role as a member of the Revolutionary Knights was sustaining the non-Superhumans’ livelihoods.

If Kurhin had been a necessary evil, Sungshik had planned to consider a way to maintain the system. But now, after confirming the reality, he saw that the city would be better off without him.

Now that he even had a legitimate justification to take him out, there was no reason to hesitate. After coming to that conclusion, Sungshik turned to the men in front of him who were sitting stiffly, hands together, as if dead silent.

“Shit…”

Meeting Sungshik’s gaze head-on, Zhang Ziyun felt like he was going to die.

“Should I say now that we’re directly under Quan Chou, Kurhin’s right-hand man?”

The words were right at the edge of his throat—if they touched him, Kurhin’s right-hand man, Quan Chou, who ruled this city, would come after them. But in the end, Zhang Ziyun didn’t speak them aloud. He had a powerful feeling that he absolutely must not provoke the man in front of him.

A natural disaster. That was how it felt. Like provoking him would unleash a calamity no human could hope to withstand.

Even the city’s ruler, Kurhin, whom he had seen on occasion, never gave off such a feeling. Kurhin, known to have reached 7-star rank, didn’t bother hiding his presence, so every time Zhang Ziyun saw him, the pressure and aura were overwhelming.

But even Kurhin’s presence felt weaker than the man in front of him. That was the kind of being Sungshik was.

“And judging from the questions he asked us, it’s like he’s never even been to Tsufeng City before.”

The man had asked things even someone living here would consider common sense. As if it were his first time stepping foot in Tsufeng City today.

He hadn’t noticed it while answering questions in a daze, but now that he thought about it, something felt incredibly off. The man really was here for the first time. He didn’t seem to have any companions or a group he was moving with.

Once his thoughts reached that point, Zhang Ziyun was struck by an outrageous possibility.

“No way. Did he really break through this place alone? From the outside?”

He forcibly closed his mouth that had dropped open on its own.

Unless it was someone like the Sword Emperor or the Martial Emperor—considered the world’s strongest Superhumans—it was unthinkable to break through this place alone from the outside. A glance to the side showed that the others seemed to have reached the same conclusion, their expressions unable to hide their shock.

Gulp.

The sound of someone swallowing rang loudly in his ears. If they’d crossed someone, it was someone they really shouldn’t have.

Now that he thought about it, the man’s face seemed vaguely familiar. But there were only a few videos where Sungshik’s face had been properly exposed, and since both his face and the atmosphere he exuded had changed significantly since then, they didn’t recognize him as the Heavenly Sovereign.

“Uh… is there anything else we can help you with?”

Unable to withstand the suffocating pressure, Zhang Ziyun opened his mouth. He had to do something—anything. If the man judged them to be of no further use, it felt like they would be eliminated. It felt like a mere flick of Sungshik’s finger could take their heads clean off.

That feeling was not wrong. Sungshik had taken control of the space around them, and if he willed it, it could become reality. That was why Zhang Ziyun had sensed it.

“From now on, you don’t have to hand over any more tribute. So don’t ever exploit coins from non-Superhumans again. If I see you oppressing or exploiting non-Superhumans like this again, it won’t be fun.”

They instantly understood that “won’t be fun” meant he would take their lives. They nodded frantically.

The only reason Sungshik let them live was one: however worthless they were, the non-Superhumans could still survive monster threats thanks to them.

On top of that, they hadn’t used girls like the one earlier for prostitution or sexual exploitation. Thanks to that, they were able to keep their lives.

After Sungshik left, they suddenly recalled his words.

“We don’t have to pay tribute anymore?”

Once they realized what that meant, chills ran down their spines.

“Boss, what should we do? Should we report this right now?”

At that, Zhang Ziyun scowled fiercely and glared at the man.

“Are you insane? You saw that man just now and still think that’s an option? As of today, nothing happened to us.”

At Zhang Ziyun’s words, the men all nodded in unison.

That man was a natural disaster that no one in this place could dare touch. If they got even slightly involved with him, they too would be swept away and shredded by a force they could not endure.

The best course of action was to lie low like a mouse and wait for the storm to pass.

“Starting today, we stop collecting tribute altogether. Go into hiding for a while.”

Zhang Ziyun let out a sigh of relief, thinking how fortunate they were to have encountered that natural disaster before it truly began to rage.

He had a feeling a violent bloodbath was about to sweep through Tsufeng City. Thanks to that girl earlier, they might have been spared.

“She said her little sister was sick, right? I should take care of them a bit.”

He acknowledged that he owed the girl. And though he was far from a good man, he wasn’t so rotten that he didn’t repay favors.

Wearing an expression like he had aged ten years, he left the area with his men.

At that moment, Kurhin received a report.

“You're saying Wang Wei, who went out on reconnaissance, lost contact?”

Wang Wei had abilities specialized in stealth and scouting. Hearing that he had gone missing, warning bells blared in Kurhin’s mind.

For a moment, it felt like a strong stench of blood was wafting in from somewhere. Even so, it wasn’t like he could leave this place.

“I should contact Lord Pthos and quickly gather more coins.”

Soon, he would be able to purchase what he’d been aiming for at the Coin General Store.

Kurhin decided to raise the emergency alert level by one tier and report the situation to Lord Pthos. Little did he know how brutally that moment of complacency would come back to haunt him.