A Life of Riches Awaits (1)
The room was filled with the stench of decaying organs and the heat of decay.
My hands moved without a pause.
I didn't care if slime coated my palms, or if some unknown liquid made my face throb.
I was completely immersed.
This was what people meant when they said they had entered the zone.
My brain seemed to channel every resource into this single task.
Right after I glimpsed the monster's byproducts, the Alchemy skill had flooded my mind with countless recipes. That overwhelming flow of information had turned into inspiration, driving me forward.
I finally stopped only when the work was complete.
Looking at the potion's vibrant color, I felt a surge of joy.
“Ah…”
It was happy news that the long, intense work had succeeded.
But the result being extraordinary was just as wonderful.
The potion made from the monster's byproducts had effects far beyond anything I'd created before.
Unlike the early potions that only required mana-infused herbs and purified water, this one needed more varied ingredients and complex processes.
In other words, it took a lot of time and labor to make.
The quantity I managed to produce was also pitifully small.
It wasn't exactly ideal for my plan.
My goal wasn't to become rich as quickly as possible and escape this refugee apartment, right?
‘In a situation like this, is it really the right choice to be making this? It is the right choice.’
To achieve both product diversity and high mastery of Alchemy, this work was necessary.
Since I wasn't worrying about tomorrow's bread anyway, it made sense to invest time and effort in research now.
‘Just a little longer. I can endure it.’
I hadn't been here a day or two. I was already used to the moldy walls and the leaky faucet.
The chronic hunger that had been the worst part was finally gone, and that had brought some mental relief.
After buying a warm loaf of bread from the auction house and eating it, I opened the bulletin board.
In the corner, the monster's organs were rotting, but my nose was numb, so I could stomach it somehow.
I scanned the board, looking for useful information or any mention of the potions I'd sold.
Because the deal had been for a million credits, I expected people to notice.
But there wasn't a single post about it.
A million credits wasn't a small amount, yet auctions and private trades brought in deals dozens or even hundreds of times larger. People probably didn't care.
Instead, I found one piece of useful information.
It was about the Hunter Association's consignment sales system.
‘They take a fee, but it's worth it, right?’
The system where the Hunter Association evaluated the item's value, set a fair price, and handled the sale.
It was useful for both sellers who didn't know the worth of their goods and buyers who wanted to confirm accurate information.
The fee might be a burden if I used it often, but it seemed useful for checking exact prices.
I would probably use it someday.
I didn't know when, but that was my thought.
While I was thinking that, I heard a knock.
“Are you there?”
The sound of knocking on the front door and the unfamiliar voice froze me in place while I was still eating the bread.
After awakening, the one thing I worried about most was contact with anyone.
In a situation like this, someone coming to look for me was enough to make my heart drop.
Countless thoughts raced through my head.
Maybe someone had seen me while I was out eating herbs?
Or had they come because of the stench from the monster's byproducts?
Or... had they come to take the credits I had?
I hesitated for a moment, then swallowed the rest of the bread.
I couldn't just stay inside.
Even if this was the relatively better part of the refugee apartment, it was still a proper slum.
Disruptions would only attract attention, and attention brought nothing good.
I hesitated, then gulped down the finished potion.
I steeled my resolve and headed for the front door.
“Ah…”
When I opened the door, what I saw was a woman with luxurious blonde hair and blue eyes.
She looked about twenty years old?
Facing someone I hadn't expected, my resolve shattered in an instant.
Neat and tidy outfit.
A faint scent of perfume.
A confident posture.
Even without that pretty face, she didn't belong in a refugee apartment.
Since I'd come prepared for a fight, the shock hit harder.
To me, she offered a gentle smile.
“Nice to meet you. I'm Ha Yun, the leader of the Yeomyeong Clan. Could I have a moment to talk?”
Yeomyeong Clan.
I'd heard that name too.
One of the top three in the country, they said.
A sudden encounter, the name of the Yeomyeong Clan, and the title of clan leader.
My mind spun with unfamiliar information, but I still opened my mouth to introduce myself.
Then suddenly a brake engaged in my head.
What name?
Could I use the one I'd been using?
If I used a male name, wouldn't they think it was strange?
For now, I probably needed to use a fake name here.
What fake name should I use?
What female name would be good?
A tangled mess of worries.
That was why...
“Ah, that is...”
No words came out.
What should I say?
The more I tried to speak, the stranger the other person's gaze became.
I couldn't stand that look and looked away.
Because I'd looked away, I worried they might think I was strange.
The worry made me unable to recall what to say.
It was the completion of a bot-like cyclic behavior.
“...”
And in the end, I gave up speaking.
An eternity of silence descended.
*
Ha Yun was bewildered.
The person who had opened the door was a woman of similar age, or perhaps she expected the pungent stench that greeted her at the door.
She had been through all sorts of situations as a hunter, after all.
But the other person's reaction—frozen, then suddenly shutting up—had been completely unexpected.
‘Was it too sudden?’
Ha Yun examined the person in detail.
Heavy dark circles and bread crumbs at the corner of the mouth.
At the same time, a faint smell of refined medicine lingered.
Ha Yun thought she had come to the right person.
‘Her condition must be bad after working all night. I should make an appointment and come back later.’
It seemed she wasn't a bad person, which only made Ha Yun's desire to recruit her stronger.
Ha Yun felt something and turned her gaze.
The woman in front of her also turned to follow.
Someone else had apparently heard the conversation and stuck their head out from another apartment, looking this way.
All of them had eyes full of lost hope.
And a suspicious atmosphere.
It was bothering Ha Yun, so she decided to speak.
“Visiting so suddenly is sorry. I'll come back another time...”
Kwa-jik
“...!”
The handle of the front door the other person was gripping had crumpled.
Fingers made of bone and flesh had dug into the metal handle.
Ha Yun's eyes widened in rare surprise.
“Ah...!”
The other person looked just as startled.
As if they hadn't expected this of themselves either.
Ha Yun knew that expression.
It was the look of someone who couldn't properly handle a newly awakened skill and was flustered.
Bang
Ha Yun stared at the now-closed front door for a moment, then slipped her own business card into the gap.
“Coming out of nowhere is sorry. If you'd like to talk, please contact me here.”
After saying that, Ha Yun turned and walked away.
Even as she moved, Ha Yun kept replaying the moment.
That power just now.
It was at a level that even melee combat classes couldn't match.
She had come for the potion-making ability, but she had seen something even more.
“...”
That was why Ha Yun felt uneasy.
She seemed to know what the other person was afraid of to react like that.
Ha Yun immediately called someone.
*
“Ah, aah.”
The only word filling my head right now was one.
‘I’m screwed.’
I really was screwed.
I thought everything was going smoothly, but it had twisted out of control.
The bigger the money you were going to make, the more painful the fall would be.
And that's exactly what happened now.
I had been excited about making big money and enjoying the fun and fulfillment of potion creation.
Thanks to that, my mood had been going through the roof until this unexpected event suddenly sent me plummeting.
‘They must have thought I was some weird person?’
The silence after I couldn't answer properly and just babbled while coming over.
For a while, there wouldn't be a lack of material for blanket kicks.
But that was a minor issue compared to the others.
It was embarrassing, but it wasn't a problem.
The real problem was that I had shown my face to the other residents.
I had revealed that a young woman lived here.
The refugee apartment was the relatively better option, but it was still a slum.
People who had given up on hope lived here.
That's why it was dangerous.
People gathered who might do anything at any moment.
Even if the front door had a lock, it couldn't guarantee absolute safety.
What if someone broke in through the window right now?
The lock and bars were only minimal precautions; they didn't provide absolute safety.
And I had broken even that minimal protection with my own hands.
[Strength Potion (Low Grade)
Gains 5-level strength increase for 2 hours.]
It was the effect of the potion I had taken before meeting Ha Yun.
From the description, you could tell it would make you stronger, but I never imagined I'd be able to crumple iron with my bare hands.
But thanks to that, I knew this could become a means to protect me.
The quantity was pitifully small, that was the only problem.
Even after hanging on for two days, the Strength Potion I produced was only two bottles.
I needed to make more of this potion before anything else.
But right now, there was something more urgent.
‘I’m sleepy.’
The moment I finished making the Strength Potion, many things happened and I hadn't realized it, but the two days of continuous potion creation had exhausted most of my mana.
Even in a tense state, my eyes were closing.
For the sake of preparing for whatever might happen, I should manage my condition now.
Thinking that, I closed my eyes.
Drip, drip
As I slept, I heard some sound and woke up.
It looked like I had slept until night fell.
Until I realized that, the dripping sound hadn't stopped.
And when I realized it was coming from the direction of the front door, I froze.
‘Did I mistake the house?’
I reflexively reached for the potion beside my head.
While preparing it in case I needed to drink anytime, I carefully sat up.
Should I turn on the light?
Then the intruder would stop trying to open the door and leave?
Would the person who had decided to break in turn around when they saw it?
They might already be gone?
But I couldn't rely on help from other residents either.
In the end, the only one who could protect me here was myself.
Thinking that, I was about to drink the potion when—
Kung
A sound like something hitting, and the dripping stopped.
After that, no sound came.
“...?”
To check what was going on, I approached the window.
I had steeled my resolve not to be startled even if the intruder was looking through the window.
As I approached silently and slightly lifted the curtain to look at the front door, what I saw was...
A tiger's face staring down at me from outside.
“Roar.”
I fainted right there.