Rustle- rustle-

I walked through a messy grass path. Weeds that grew abundantly tickled my knees, and the rocks that were littered everywhere stuck to my feet like magnets. Every time the wind blew, countless leaves fell on the ground, and the sun shone its blazing light down on them.

This steep mountain that could never be chosen for a stroll or hike was called ‘Yaksi Mountain’. This tall mountain located in North Hamgyeong Province revealed the roughness of nature in its entirety.

Due to the ‘Great Change’ that occurred in the past, it had reached a height of 2650 meters, and because of its high magic power density, it was famous for having many herbs grow there.

I thought about the Alps for my first destination, but as I didn’t even have a passport, I decided to come here. I planned to stay here until my passport was issued. Well, that was as long as this mountain’s owner didn’t discover me.

Yaksi Mountain was a private property. To be precise, it belonged to Chae Joochul. Naturally, I had infiltrated this place secretly. Perhaps, a part of me was hoping to be discovered.

However, today marked the seventh day since I have practically been living on this mountain. No one had discovered me yet.

There weren’t even patrols, which private properties often had. Wondering why this was the case, I looked up the reason on my smartwatch. The biggest reason was the war against the devils, but apparently, Chae Joochul had mostly abandoned this mountain.

Once I found out, I happily roamed the mountain and looked for all sorts of herbs.

To harvest a ‘Lion Leaf’ growing on the edge of a cliff, I climbed a steep precipice. To search for a ‘Creon’, I crossed a habitat full of wild beasts. And to protect a ‘Memory Apricot’ I managed to obtain with great difficulty, I fought with monsters.

Although I was physically exhausted, I was able to maintain great mental health. This was because I fell asleep exhausted, and thus could not dream....

“...Oh?”

While I was roaming the mountain in search of an herb just like always, a shining herb entered my eyes.

I quickly darted in the direction of the light. There, I came across a beautiful flower. A flower emitting blue light with a bud that was surrounded by white petals.

I didn’t know whether this flower was an herb or not. I didn’t even know this flower’s name. However, my smartwatch knew.

I took a photo of the flower with my smartwatch and searched for it on the [herb Encyclopedia].

===

[Cloud Seeker]

—An ordinary flower. While its appearance might cause one to mistakenly think it is an herb, no detailed effect has been recorded from it. It induces a stomach ache upon consumption.

===

Although this was what was written on the smartwatch, I had to try it to be sure. I changed Aether into the shape of a trowel and dug up the Cloud Seeker from the root. Then, I chomped down on it without hesitation.

“Argh, my stomach.”

Immediately, I felt a slight pain in my stomach. But when I closed my eyes and savored it, I felt like I knew the hidden effects of this herb.

I opened my notebook.

It was filled with several herbs I found in the mountain.

[Macorong — Memorization Progress: 100%. This herb alone has no effect, but when mixed with other herbs, it has the potential to cure various illnesses.]

[Creon — Memorization Progress: 60%. An addictive herb. Sharpens the five senses. Helpful for battle.]

[Sorrowful Sunlight — Memorization Progress: 100%. Can easily cure external injuries.]

[Lion Leaf — Memorization Progress: 50%. Increases testosterone levels for two hours. I felt like I became a lion, just like the herb’s name suggested.]

[Magic Power Forget-Me-Not — Memorization Progress: 100%. Has excellent effect in stopping bleeding and piercing wounds.]

[Memory Apricot — Memorization Progress: 95%. Effective at recovering memories and brain cells. Has a high chance of being used to treat dementia.]

I added [Cloud Seeker] to the list.

[Cloud Seeker — Memorization Progress: 30%. Has an effect related to ‘purification’. I would have to eat about three more to be sure.]

It was then.

Rustle, rustle—

I sensed a presence. I took out my Desert Eagle and aimed it in that direction. Soon, two men and a woman appeared from the bushes underneath the slope. They were teens who were in their late 10s or early 20s.

The moment they saw my gun, they screamed and raised their hands into the air.

“...Who are you guys?”

“D-Don’t shoot! We’re from a village nearby. Um, we’re here to harvest herbs.”

“Herbs?”

I furrowed my brows and examined them. The only thing that could be used as a weapon was the shovel and the scythe they hung on their waist belt. Their clothes were ragged and shabby as well.

Although we were only at the foot of Yaksi Mountain, they were nowhere close to ready for climbing this mountain.

“With those weapons?”

“...We, we, uh, we don’t have any weapon like the one you have.”

The trio trembled in front of the gun.

I continued to investigate without letting my guard down.

“What do you need herbs for?”

“Um, our mother is sick. We’re brother and sister. Our mother got poisoned by demonic energy. The doctor said there is no way to treat her, and Heroes won’t pay attention to small villages like ours. So, we, uh... we wanted to....”

Ebebebe—

The one who seemed to be the oldest of the group got tongue-tied and paused talking.

I couldn’t blame them. This gun did look quite intimidating, after all.

“...Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and lowered my gun. Immediately, the trio plopped down on their butts. It wasn’t as if I fired it. Did they have to be so scared?

“Your mother got demonic energy poisoning?”

“Yes? Ah... yes.”

This time, the girl spoke.

I fell into thought. Of the medicinal herbs I had memorized so far, the [Cloud Seeker] had a ‘purification’ effect.

“Hm... There was a flower that could purify demonic energy poisoning.”

“Ah! Really?!”

The trios’ eyes widened.

Feeling a bit guilty, I continued.

“But I ate it.”

“...Ah... ah....”

A hard-to-describe disappointment surfaced on their faces. I chuckled before fixing my posture and staring at them directly.

“But I have a medicine that might help. Do you want to try it?”

“Medicine? Y-You are a doctor?”

“Well, I guess you could call me a pharmacist.”

“....”

The trio fell silent. They exchanged glances with each other, seemingly mulling over what to do.

It should be a pretty easy decision though.

As I kept my eyes on them, I began to ‘assemble’ the medicine effect in my body. Separating and extracting the medicinal effect memorized by my body and creating a medicine by only taking components that helped with ‘demonic energy purification’.

Next was releasing it outward.

I concentrated the medicinal effect onto my palm and ‘manifested’ it outside of my skin. A stem sprouted up from my palm, which quickly grew and formed a fruit-like pill.

However, this process used up quite a bit of my stamina. Just making two of these pills made me sleepy and making four made me faint.

In any case, my body was now a natural pharmacy. I had developed this method of using my Physique. Since this was my only special ability, I had been thinking a lot about it and came up with different ways to use it.

“Take it.”

I threw the flat, circular pill at the trio. They jumped in a startle but still caught it before it touched the ground.

“It’s only a prototype, so it’s not perfect. But it will be better than going up this mountain and getting eaten by wild beasts. At least, your mother won’t be left to die alone.”

“...Ah, yes, thank you. We understand.”

“Good. By the way, do you guys do social media?”

I asked, suddenly curious.

The trio stood in a daze before quickly nodding their heads.

“Ah, yes, we have our smartwatches, so uh... we do social media.”

“What’s your ID?”

“...Excuse us?”

“What’s your ID?”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

I took the Starstagram[1] ID of the trio’s oldest brother, who only knew how to say ‘yes’.

“Good. I’ll remember this ID. Post something once your mother is cured. I need to know whether the prototype worked.”

I suddenly remembered the past. Back then, I did something similar to earn ‘SP’. After all, social media was an excellent source to obtain SP.

“...Oh, a post?”

“Yep. Write this.”

I continued with a grin.

“That a handsome, mysterious pharmacist helped you.”

**

The preparation for the revolution was well underway.

Chae Nayun first focused on her Hero work and received ‘evidence’ from Jin Seyeon about the Association executives’ corruption, hired assassination, and other illegal activities.

Chae Nayun stored them away safely. Her job was to amass all the evidence and bring them to Chae Joochul.

However... Chae Nayun was eventually found out.

Not to a stranger, but her close friend and guild superior, ‘Yoo Yeonha’.

Not even Chae Nayun knew how she was discovered. Only Yoo Yeonha knew.

“...That’s why I’m here with Yeonha.”

In the Chameleon Troupe’s cabin, Chae Nayun finished explaining why she brought Yoo Yeonha there. Of course, the explanation really was ‘I don’t know. She just knew.’

Jain and Jin Seyeon stared at Yoo Yeonha with dumbfounded expressions.

Yoo Yeonha spoke while sipping on a cup of coffee.

“You don’t have to rob Essential Pharmacy. After all, I am in a similar situation as you all. But there’s just one problem. Copying the side-effect cure is too difficult. Unfortunately, many of our researchers have been lost during the previous war.”

The recent great war had caused 1.5 million casualties in Korea. A huge wave of sorrow had swept the peninsula.

“So you can’t make the side-effect cure?”

Jin Seyeon asked.

“We’re not sure. We are looking for talented individuals, but that will take a while. Making Chae Joochul regret his misdeeds might take a while, so I suggest toppling Kim Sukho first. He already knows about our plans to attack.”

Yoo Yeonha used the word ‘our plans’. This meant she was seeing herself as a part of the Chameleon Troupe. This made Jain tilt her head.

“

Our

plans?”

“Yes. Kim Sukho is also trying to bring me down with you. Something about Essence of the Strait getting too over its head. It’s a good thing we secretly recorded him. Anyways, he will attack us soon.”

Yoo Yeonha smirked as if he found Kim Sukho’s attempt laughable.

Cheok Jungyeong asked.

“Attack, you say. When?”

“I can’t be sure, but it will be soon. Kim Sukho will put out irresistible rewards that will attract guilds and even the New Evils.”

At that moment....

Sploosh—

Something swayed like water.

Startled, Yoo Yeonha turned around. The man who introduced himself as Cheok Jungyeong was making a frighteningly sinister smile, as his muscles twitched crazily.

Yoo Yeonha couldn’t imagine a more perverted scene.

She fell into a momentary daze, but soon, she realized that his excitement was caused by a competitive spirit.

“...But remember this. You can not kill the Heroes. The New Evils, fine. But you cannot do anything that might make you look like the villain. Only then can we bring Kim Sukho down.”

“Ha, really. Why is everyone telling me not to kill? Don’t you guys know that the real fun of a fight is—”

Jin Seyeon blocked Cheok Jungyeong’s mouth.

Cheok Jungyeong barely held himself back from biting Jin Seyeon’s hand, while Jin Seyeon bowed her head politely.

“We think the same way. There’s no reason to kill Heroes who are oblivious to the truth.”

Cheok Jungyeong looked dissatisfied, but when Jin Seyeon added, ‘You can fight the New Evils as much as you want’, he finally nodded his head in satisfaction.

**

Korea’s capital — Seoul — the home of the world’s most famous guilds and the center of Hero business and state-of-the-art magic engineering. This place, which was the ultimate destination for the richest and the most powerful men on Earth, was currently focusing on reconstruction.

—We are finished with repairs here.

—How are things developing?

—The restoration process is going smoothly, but the architecture is lacking. We need time to rebuild the structural magic functionality.

Devils and demons had practically destroyed Seoul’s numerous skyscrapers, but the restoration process was satisfactory and quick. It was thanks to magicians and Agents joining hands to use Gifts related to construction and restoration.

“...Where is that guy?”

On the other hand, Jin Sahyuk was floating in Seoul’s sky, looking down on the city. She wasn’t watching the restoration process but scouring the streets for someone.

The one she was searching for was, of course, ‘that man’.

She hasn’t seen him in recent days. As if he vanished into thin air, she couldn’t find a single hair that belonged to him even when she followed the people he was close to. What was worse was that they acted like they didn’t know him. Almost like he didn’t exist in the first place.

JIn Sahyuk tried to search for him using private investigators and the Violet Banquet, but all records related to him had been purged mysteriously. Nothing. Not a single trace remained as if one threw hundreds of disinfectants to wipe the record clean.

Although Jin Sahyuk caused a scene, asking them to find him, the professionals in this field only refused her request.

In truth, the problem was with Jin Sahyuk.

Thinking about it now, she didn’t know a thing about him other than his name. She had never tried to find out. She didn’t know what kind of a life he led, where he lived, and what background he had.

That was why she couldn’t do anything. Because she was bad with words, she couldn’t even draw a portrait for investigators. There was a person who could look into her head using Psychometry or something, but she refused to let someone like that into her brain.

“Son of a bitch. You hid because you really thought I was going to kidnap you and bring you back? What a coward.”

“...Who are you searching for so much?”

At that moment, a red-haired magician floating next to her asked.

It was Shimurin.

Rather than going back to her homeworld, this master of dimensional magic had stayed in this world.

According to Shimurin, she was traveling ‘simply out of curiosity’.

Jin Sahyuk had hired her, thinking ‘Perfect!’ After all, Shimurin’s dimensional travel magic would be of great help to Akatrina.

Jin Sahyuk glanced at Shimurin and twisted up the corner of her mouth.

“There’s this guy.”

“Do you have to meet him?”

“I don’t

have

to, but I want to before I leave. You see, he taught me a valuable lesson I can never forget.”

With the humiliation of a thorough defeat, this man had broken a ‘wall’ that stood fixedly in her heart. This was the most important lesson in Jin Sahyuk’s life, and one she never would have learned without him.

As such, Jin Sahyuk wanted to say something before she left.

A conversation without ulterior motives... wouldn’t be the right way to put it. To be honest, she wanted to hear everything there was about ‘Kindspring’.

If Kindspring was within Kim Hajin’s inner mind just like Puharen was inside Morax, she wanted to take Kindspring with her and live the rest of her life with him.

“A man who taught a valuable lesson to a tyrant.... I’m curious too. Then are you saying you’ll wait until you find him?”

“No, I won’t delay the plan just because of him.”

The time for her to return to her homeworld was approaching.

Puharen was still scratching her heart, and the Dimension Stone Baal gave her was nearing its expiration date.

Once the time came, Jin Sahyuk would return to Akatrina with the food and weapons she had amassed. There would not be a shred of hesitation. She would not look back.

“...Hm, but Shimurin, weren’t you related to him too? Don’t you have to talk to him too?”

At that moment, Jin Sahyuk suddenly remembered something.

She had heard about Shimurin’s relationship with that guy. To be precise, she heard that Kim Hajin played a pivotal role in completing the dimensional magic.

“Hm?”

However, this Shimurin woman seemed to want to claim the achievement for herself, as she didn’t mention a thing about him.

“Who are you talking about?”

Like so, she only fiddled with her hair and pretended not to know.

“About Kim Hajin.”

Jin Sahyuk muttered his name as if she was dumbfounded. But Shimurin still looked confused.

“...Kim Hajin? Did I meet someone by that name?”

“What are you talking about? Kim Hajin is the one who completed your dimensional magic....”

Suddenly, Jin Sahyuk stopped talking.

A bolt of lightning seemed to strike her head.

Jin Sahyuk stared at Shimurin, then looked down at Seoul from the sky.

In the next moment, she became convinced. What had been a faint, fog-like thought became a hard brick that filled her head.

Kim Hajin had not hidden from her. Thus, Kim Hajin’s friends weren’t pretending to not know either.

This entire world had forgotten about the existence known as ‘Kim Hajin’.

When she realized this, Jin Sahyuk naturally found out why she wasn’t affected by this.

It was a simple reason.

It was because of Kim Hajin’s secret that only she knew.

Another existence who was the same yet different from Kim Hajin.

She was the only person who knew both ‘Kindspring’ and ‘Kim Hajin’....

1. Basically Instagram