Chapter 2

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 2

Chapter Title: Alchemy Gallery

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When I came to my senses, I was back in front of the monitor again.

"…Ah."

My character on the screen was sprinting down a path inside the dungeon.

Left hand on the skill hotkeys, right hand on the arrow keys.

Amid the flashing skill effects, the boss's health bar flickered precariously.

...Why was I doing this again?

Last night, I'd definitely felt a sense of crisis and tried to go to sleep early.

Starting tomorrow, things would be different.

But once I lay down, all sorts of random thoughts flooded my mind, I tossed and turned, and ended up falling asleep around my usual time.

Today, I woke up around sunset again, cracked open a cup of instant ramen and ate it haphazardly, then plopped down in front of the computer…

Tap, tap tap—

Even as I thought that, my fingers were busy moving.

The final skill landed with a bang, the massive boss let out a scream and collapsed, scattering items everywhere.

"…Oh."

Among them, one treasure chest in particular was emitting a particularly iridescent glow.

My character approached without hesitation and pounded on the chest.

Thud, thud, thud. The chest's color shifted gradually from pink to gold, then from shimmering turquoise to rainbow hues.

Pow—!

With a burst of brilliant light, a single item dropped.

"Whoa! This is it!… No, wait!"

I hastily swallowed the cheer that had burst out unconsciously.

"…Hoo."

A short deep breath. As the thrilling excitement subsided, a wave of reality crashed over me.

"Ughhh…."

I buried my face in the desk. The cold glass seemed to soothe my messed-up mind.

This wasn't okay. I needed some drastic remedy.

"…Yeah."

With my resolve hardened, I reached for the computer tower. Yeah, today I'd go for a walk outside or something.

The moment my fingertip touched the power button.

A small notification blinking in the bottom right of the screen.

"…Huh."

A guildmate who'd always been in the top ranks of contributions for years. His name, who hadn't logged in recently, was glowing bright green.

'Thought he'd quit.'

I decided to put off shutting down the computer for a bit.

We'd played together for years; it wouldn't be polite to log off without a word. Yeah, just one quick greeting and then shut down.

I opened the guild chat and tapped the keyboard.

Her usual reaction made me burst out laughing without thinking. This was why I loved teasing her.

"Hehe."

The silly conversation after so long lifted my mood considerably.

But I couldn't just keep joking around forever. I decided to ask what I'd really been curious about.

The chat went quiet for a moment at my question. Had I asked something I shouldn't have?

I thought that was the end of it, but then.

Her casual tone left my mind blank for a moment.

"……."

At my naive question, she replied as if I was ridiculous.

Healer dragons. It was a new term to me, but I could guess what it meant.

Pretending to be nonchalant, she steered the topic back to the game.

The conversation continued for quite a while after that. She explained the new boss patterns, we trashed the director for the bad patches, and eventually she logged off first, saying she was tired.

The moment the notification appeared, the room fell back into silence.

The bustle from moments ago felt like a lie. I stared blankly at the spot where her name had vanished.

"Hm."

The words she'd tossed out casually—"neurotoxic poison"—lingered in my mind.

Poison. And medicine.

At that moment, a forgotten memory surfaced.

'Alchemy.'

The mysterious gallery that had first appeared on the day I received my F-rank judgment from the Hunter Association.

"Ah."

I focused my mind, recalling it. And then.

"……."

I'd completely forgotten about it for over a month. How was that possible?

I pressed my throbbing temple and scanned the gallery's posts.

It looked familiar. From everyday chit-chat to posts sharing some kind of info.

A jumble of various things, no different from real-world community sites.

As I scrolled down, one post with a particularly vicious title caught my eye.

'That bastard?'

Drawn in by the raw hatred in the words, I tapped the post like I was possessed.

"……."

Goosebumps rose all over my body. Clutching my trembling heart, I started checking other posts.

From perverts enjoying their changed bodies, to guys thrilled about weird new abilities, to those experimenting on themselves.

Returning to the gallery main, an explanation I'd glossed over before caught my eye.

This wasn't just some weird community.

It was a mental hospital where victims like me gathered.

Any sense of camaraderie washed away by the bizarre posts, replaced by fear that I might end up like them.

I hurriedly tried to close the window.

"……."

But then, Roughly's words flashed through my mind.

'Neurotoxic poison… aftereffects….'

This den of crazies was, true to its name Alchemy Gallery, also a place where tons of info was shared.

'…Maybe.'

A chance to verify if the info was real, if I could trust them.

I opened the search bar.

After a brief loading, dozens of posts filled the screen.

I scrolled down, searching for the info I needed.

'What was it again? Swamp viper?'

How much time passed? As my concentration bottomed out, one post containing that term appeared in the results.