“Hmm?”
Kang Hanul was having his equipment inspected in preparation for the Grade 4 Yeongdeungpo dungeon when he noticed a message that had arrived while he was busy.
“Oho!”
It was the reply he had been waiting for so eagerly.
“Something happen, Team Leader?”
Han So-mi, the youngest member of Team Two, tilted her head as she asked.
“Heard from a little brother of mine!
Haha!”
“A little brother?
Is that really something to get so excited about?”
“Of course it is!
Absolutely!”
Just then, another message from Gyuseong informed him that he had arranged to meet Choi Yeongseong at a café near Mount Obong.
Hanul immediately began preparing to leave.
“Team Leader?
What about our operation briefing?”
“Canceled for now!
See you this evening!”
“But we’ve all got our own plans this evening…”
“Then we’ll do it tomorrow morning!”
“T-tomorrow we’re supposed to have a joint briefing with Team One…”
Thump!
As the team member continued protesting, Vice Team Leader Lee Haesol casually raised an arm and rested it on the person’s shoulder.
The startled team member turned to face him.
“It’s all right.
There’s nothing to worry about.
You trust our team leader, don’t you?”
“O-of course I trust Team Leader Kang Hanul.”
“Then everything will be fine.”
Lee Haesol smiled amiably, and the team member obediently stepped back.
Despite his mild, gentle-looking face, his unreadable, half-closed eyes and peculiar charisma somehow brought everyone around him under control.
He was Team Two’s vice leader, known as Shadow Lee Haesol, one of Ara Hongryeon’s hidden talents unknown to the public.
“Wahahaha!
That’s my Hae-song!”
“It’s Haesol.”
“Hae-song?”
“Haesol.”
After putting on a little comedy routine, Kang Hanul flashed a broad grin at the others.
“Since we’ve settled that, Hae-song will handle today’s briefing!
No complaints, right?”
“A-all of a sudden?!”
As the youngest member cried out in surprise, Kang Hanul thoroughly ruffled her hair and departed without another word.
“Uh…”
“Well, that’s how things stand.
I’ll conduct the operation briefing this time.
I don’t know all the details myself, but he left us the materials, so I’ll manage somehow.”
“…”
Lee Haesol delivered those words with his customary gentle smile.
Behind that expression, however, his mind was racing as he tried to uncover the hidden meaning of the situation.
‘…Is he finally preparing to hand Team Two over to me?’
Kang Hanul was forty-three this year.
As a combat-oriented Awakened, he hadn’t experienced the physical decline normally associated with aging.
Still, given how dangerous his work was, it would hardly be strange for him to start thinking about his successor.
And Lee Haesol was a vice leader handpicked by Hanul himself.
Back when Haesol had been wandering between small parties without joining a guild, it was Hanul who had personally recruited him.
Appointing the newcomer directly as Team Two’s vice leader had caused an enormous stir at the time.
‘I won’t let you down.’
An intense gaze hidden beneath those narrow eyes followed Kang Hanul’s retreating back.
Of course, all of this was a conclusion Lee Haesol had reached entirely on his own.
Kang Hanul, who hadn’t given the matter a single thought, suddenly found his ear itching and scratched it.
Then he hummed merrily and shouted to himself, “It’s great that Haesol is taking care of all that bothersome work!
Wahahaha!”
* * *
“My ability is Liquid Synthesis.”
I got straight to the point.
It wasn’t an especially remarkable ability.
The only reason I hadn’t told people about it was because I found it embarrassing, not because it was something that needed to be kept secret.
Naturally, I’d still conceal the fact that I’d awakened a second time.
“Liquid Synthesis?”
“Yes.
In simple terms, it combines liquids.”
But because it was an awakened ability, it didn’t merely mix one liquid with another.
Yeongseong hyung had bought and sold my potions for years, so he probably had some idea how it worked already.
“Not long ago, I tried extracting juice from carrots and tomatoes and synthesizing them.
To be completely honest, making that was part of one of my quests.”
“Ah, so that’s why…”
He seemed to have figured out why I was spending my time growing things like tomatoes.
“But what came out of that experiment was…”
I took out the notebook I’d used to record the results and showed him the effects of the fruit and vegetable juice.
[Mana-Infused Incomplete Fruit and Vegetable Juice LV.1]
Ingredients: Tomatoes, Carrots
The limited number of ingredients has resulted in an incomplete product.
Upon consumption, the user can partially view information about monsters within their field of vision for 3 seconds, depending on their mana reserves.
Upon consumption, the user can detoxify poison for 3 seconds, depending on their mana reserves.
The effects were straightforward.
The moment Yeongseong hyung saw the section describing detoxification, his eyes widened and he shot to his feet.
“Gasp!”
“I can’t promise it’ll cure your wife, hyung.
But I think it’s worth trying.”
“No.
I think there’s a real chance this could work!”
He studied my notes with trembling eyes, then grabbed my hands.
“Can you make it for me?”
“Of course!
I just told you I’d help.”
The problem was that I couldn’t make it immediately.
“Hmm.
Then I’ll stay somewhere nearby tonight, and we can meet tomorrow.”
“Yes, I think that’d be best.”
“And there’s something else…”
Yeongseong hyung tapped at his phone.
A moment later, mine chimed with a notification.
Ding!
[20,000,000 won has been deposited into your account.]
“Wait, hyung!
What’s this all of a sudden?”
“Payment for the tomatoes, for now.”
“Of course I was going to charge you something, but this is way too much!
It’s only two kilograms!”
“Then let’s say I’m including payment for using Liquid Synthesis too.”
“Even then, this is…
Thank you.
I’ll gladly accept it.”
My attitude changed in an instant, and I gratefully took the money.
I’d spent practically all my savings buying that mana-infused fleeceflower root, so I was desperately short of cash anyway.
It still felt like far too much, but from another perspective, we were talking about treating his wife, whose illness had resisted every treatment for years.
To Yeongseong hyung, twenty million won might amount to almost nothing if there was a chance to save her.
‘Gyuseong, you’re going to make sure she’s cured, right?’
I’d do it no matter what.
If these crops didn’t work, I’d keep creating and synthesizing slimes until I eventually got one with a healing ability, and then I’d use that to treat her.
Of course, that last part was nothing more than a ridiculous fantasy at the moment.
Our conversation ended, and we got up to go our separate ways.
Just then, a car came speeding toward us from a distance.
“…Kang Hanul?”
“Oh, right.
I told Mr.
Hanul we were here too.
I completely forgot because we were talking about your wife.”
“Tsk.”
Yeongseong hyung clicked his tongue but waited.
Hanul parked his car and climbed out.
“Hey!
You have no idea how happy I am to see you!
Wahahaha!”
“We saw each other yesterday.”
Even the normally easygoing Yeongseong hyung turned curt whenever he met Kang Hanul.
After getting a taste of the man’s personality for myself, I could understand why.
“By the way, why’re you standing outside?
Ah!
You must’ve been waiting for me!”
“We finished our conversation and were leaving.”
“What?
What about me?”
That was when I quietly cut in.
“Mr.
Kang Hanul, could you wait just a little longer?”
“Wait?
For what?”
“I don’t have anything to give you right now, but I think I’ll have some by tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, huh?
Hmm…”
As Hanul considered that, Yeongseong hyung let out a sigh.
“Hey, Kang Hanul.”
“Huh?”
“Gyuseong gave me some tomatoes.
Let’s split them in half.
I reserved them first, so I don’t actually have to give you any, but I don’t want to put him in an awkward position.”
“Oh!”
Technically, Yeongseong hyung hadn’t reserved them first.
But given how close we were, and everything that was happening with his wife, I couldn’t help putting him first.
“Ten million won, though.”
“What?
Why so expensive?
How much are we talking?”
“Half of what I’ve got, so one kilogram.
I paid twenty million for the whole lot.”
He conveniently neglected to mention that the twenty million also covered something else.
I stood frozen beside them, unable to find a good opening to explain.
“Really?
Fine by me.
It’s not like I’ve got much to spend money on anyway!
But Choi Yeongseong, you’re reselling something right in front of the person who sold it to you.
Is that allowed?”
“It’s fine, right?”
“Yes, it’s fine.”
Once I nodded, Yeongseong hyung divided the cherry tomatoes into two portions and handed one to Kang Hanul.
He immediately popped a tomato into his mouth, and the expression on his face was something to behold.
“That’s it!
That’s exactly the taste!
Wahahahaha!
Ten million won?
I’ll pay that gladly!”
Seeing how delighted he was made me feel proud too.
Then he turned back to me.
“Any chance you’ve got carrots?”
“The carrots might be ready by tomorrow, I think…”
“Hmm.
I could really use some carrots.”
As Hanul rubbed his chin, Yeongseong hyung asked him, “The tomatoes taste fantastic already.
Why are you being so greedy?”
“No, it’s not that.
Since carrots improve eyesight, I thought they might help somehow.”
“Just having sharper eyesight isn’t going to let you see information about an unidentified monster that you couldn’t see before…
Huh?”
Yeongseong hyung had been muttering along with his own train of thought when he suddenly whipped his head toward me.
“That juice ability you showed me earlier!”
“Oh, you’re right.
It’s only for three seconds, but it lets you view information about monsters…”
“Whaaat?!”
Kang Hanul lunged forward with the force of a tiger and gripped both my shoulders.
“What are you talking about, little brother?!”
“Uh, well…”
I struggled to think of a way to explain it, then settled for a rough description of my ability.
Once again, it wasn’t a top-secret power that I wasn’t allowed to reveal.
I’d hidden it because it was embarrassingly unimpressive for an awakened ability.
“Oho?
You’ve got a fascinating ability like that?”
“All the potions I occasionally supplied to Ara Hongryeon were made by Gyuseong too,” Yeongseong hyung explained.
“Wahahaha!
So that’s how it was!
Those potions have saved my skin more than once!”
Wow.
I had no idea the huge Ara Hongryeon Guild had actually used the potions I synthesized.
Of course, if I’d tried selling them directly, they probably wouldn’t even have looked at them.
That had only been possible because Yeongseong hyung was the one selling them.
“Could you sell me that potion that reveals monster information?
Wait, you called it fruit and vegetable juice, didn’t you?
Whatever it is, can I buy some?”
“Well…”
I glanced at Yeongseong hyung.
I’d already promised him the juice, so things were awkward.
“Your expedition is in two days?” Yeongseong hyung asked.
“That’s right.”
“Gyuseong, how much of that juice can you make?”
The amount needed to activate an item’s effects was such that one use of my ability could produce only one effective serving.
If I made five hundred milliliters of juice in one synthesis, for instance, someone would need to drink at least four hundred and fifty milliliters to benefit from it.
Drinking the remaining fifty milliliters separately wouldn’t do anything.
It’d still taste good, though.
There was no way to exploit the ability by splitting the juice into tiny servings.
In practice, the maximum I could produce was two effective portions per day, and even that meant giving up on synthesizing slimes for the time being.
‘It’s not like my business is only going to last another day or two.
Skipping slime synthesis for one day won’t ruin anything.’
So I told them the truth.
“Two per day.
I can’t make any today, but starting tomorrow I can make two.”
“Oh, then I’ll buy both!” Hanul exclaimed.
“What are you talking about?
I already had an agreement with him!” Yeongseong hyung protested.
“What?
Choi Yeongseong, what do you need a potion that shows monster information for?”
“Because that isn’t its only effect!”
In the end, I had to intervene.
“Since your expedition’s only two days away, I’ll sell one to Mr.
Hanul.
And Yeongseong hyung, you can have all the others as soon as I make them.”
“Hmm.
One is a little awkward.”
I knew what he meant.
Even if he only wanted to test it first, he’d need at least two servings.
But after learning what had happened to Yeongseong hyung’s wife, I couldn’t possibly put the success of a mere Grade 4 dungeon expedition on the same level as her life.
Besides, Ara Hongryeon wasn’t a guild full of fools.
Even with an unidentified monster to deal with, surely they wouldn’t fail to clear the same Grade 4 dungeon twice.
In other words, I was confident they could succeed without my juice.
“You’ll just have to use it carefully.
To be honest, if you’re personally going this time, Mr.
Kang Hanul, I doubt you’ll even need my juice.”
“Hmm!
Well, of course!
If I’m there, the expedition can’t possibly fail!
Wahahaha!”
“Then we’ve got that settled.
I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
“Right!
See you tomorrow, little brother!”
Kang Hanul ate another tomato and headed back to his car.
Yeongseong hyung waved goodbye and went to find somewhere nearby to stay the night.
“…There aren’t enough crops.”
Even without counting what I needed to feed the slimes, those two alone were enough to exhaust my supply.
And I wanted to share them with my family too.
I headed back to the dungeon, resolving to exploit my slimes even harder.
No, not exploit them.
I meant put them to work.
Boing!
“Listen up, everyone!
Starting today, our crop factory is open for business!
We need much bigger harvests!”
I’d barely finished saying it when Ppuu popped up from below.
It wriggled as if greeting me, then helped itself to a tomato.
“Well, I can’t exactly stop you from eating.”
Just then, the new recruit approached and nudged me a few times.
“What is it, recruit?”
Squirm!
“Huh?
Something’s ready to harvest?
No way!”
There was only one thing the recruit could mean.
It was finally time to harvest the Leila.