A young man entered the courtyard.
“You’re the tenants of this house?”
“That’s right.”
Renn nodded.
The young man said, “The Whale Gang has already wiped out the Shark Gang. All previous agreements are now void. If you want to continue living here, you’ll have to follow the Whale Gang’s rules.”
“What about the three months of rent I already paid?”
“We’ll investigate. If you really did pay three months in advance, we’ll let you stay here until those three months are up. But after that, your rent will have to be paid to the Whale Gang.”
“Fine.”
Renn had expected the Whale Gang to forcibly drive them out.
He hadn’t expected them to honor the three-month lease he had signed with the Shark Gang.
Still, it made sense.
In Meteor City, it wasn’t easy to find a large number of people wealthy enough to afford living in a residential district.
Driving all of them out would actually be a poor decision in the long run.
And it could easily provoke widespread resentment.
The young man looked toward Uvogin and Nobunaga.
“You two were hired by our boss, weren’t you?”
“That’s right.” Uvogin nodded.
“We’ve already finished the job your boss hired us for. Have our payment delivered here later.”
“Fine.”
The young man nodded and prepared to leave.
Renn suddenly called out to him.
“Wait.”
“Is there something else?”
A trace of displeasure appeared on the young man’s face.
Renn said, “I have a business proposal I’d like to discuss with your boss. Take us to him.”
“You want to discuss business with our boss?”
“That’s right.”
The young man frowned.
“Our boss doesn’t have any business to discuss with you.”
“You can’t be so sure,” Renn said.
“The Whale Gang has taken over this residential district, but the fighting must have reduced quite a few places to ruins.”
“There are corpses, bloodstains, wreckage, and all kinds of filth everywhere. You can’t have people move in immediately.”
“Give me three days, and I can clean up the entire residential district. There’s no way your own people could work that quickly.”
“Every day earlier you finish cleaning the place is another day you can start earning money from it, isn’t it?”
The young man’s eyes flickered.
“I’ll ask our boss.”
“Good.”
Strictly speaking, Renn wasn’t particularly interested in cleaning up the ruins left by the battle in this residential district.
What he truly wanted was to take jobs from the Council of Elders—especially cleanup work involving battlefields where Nen users had fought.
But first, he needed a successful example to prove what his team could do.
And this residential district was the perfect opportunity.
Before long, the young man arrived before the leader of the Whale Gang and repeated Renn’s proposal.
“Uvogin and Nobunaga are both there?”
“Yes.”
“How do they treat that man?”
“Very respectfully. It seems like they defer to him.”
The Whale Gang leader’s eyes flickered.
“Uvogin and Nobunaga may not be the sharpest tools in the shed, but they’re both quite strong. I’ve tried recruiting them into the Whale Gang several times, and they refused every time.”
“That man clearly isn’t ordinary.”
“In that case, bring him here.”
“Yes, Boss.”
The young man soon returned to Renn’s courtyard.
“Our boss would like to see all of you.”
Renn nodded.
“Machi, Uvogin, Nobunaga. Let’s go together.”
A middle-aged man had taken over the former residence of the Shark Gang’s leader.
It was the largest courtyard in the entire residential district.
Quite a few people stood nearby, the thick scent of blood still clinging to them.
“I’m Victor, leader of the Whale Gang.”
“I’m Renn, captain of the Cleaners.”
It wasn’t particularly impressive, but its meaning was immediately obvious.
Renn gestured toward the other three.
“These are my team members: Machi, Uvogin, and Nobunaga.”
Victor’s gaze lingered on Uvogin and Nobunaga for a moment.
According to what he knew, the two of them had still been unaffiliated freelancers in Meteor City yesterday.
That meant they had most likely joined Renn’s team today.
“He actually managed to get two brainless Enhancers to join him. Renn might be stronger than he looks.”
Victor smiled.
“Renn, would you and your team be interested in joining the Whale Gang?”
“Mr. Victor, let’s stick to business.”
Renn didn’t particularly care whether he belonged to an organization or not.
He simply didn’t think much of the Whale Gang.
Victor’s pupils contracted slightly.
“You really think you can clean up the entire residential district within three days?”
With a thought, Renn summoned his ability.
“Disassembler!”
The Disassembler appeared.
Renn said, “This is my ability. It can disassemble almost anything and make it disappear.”
“I can’t guarantee that I’ll clean every corner of the residential district from top to bottom.”
“But as for all the obvious debris and waste outside, three days is more than enough.”
Victor’s eyes lit up.
Just as Renn had said, every day sooner the residential district was cleaned meant another day sooner the Whale Gang could start making money from it.
“How much do you want?”
“Three hundred thousand Jenny.”
Among the people at the bottom of Meteor City, barter was still the most common form of trade.
But among the upper levels, Jenny was hard currency, no different from the outside world.
“That’s too much.”
“It isn’t.” Renn had already done the calculations.
“If you don’t hire us, Mr. Victor, you’ll lose at least six hundred thousand Jenny more than necessary.”
“But if you hire us, the Whale Gang can bring in an additional six hundred thousand Jenny.”
“And you only need to pay half of that—three hundred thousand Jenny—to us.”
“That’s a very worthwhile deal, isn’t it?”