Chapter 169
Translator: penny
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: Kidnapping (2)
'Ah damn, my head...'
My head was spinning like mad. It felt like I'd ridden a roller coaster hundreds of times in a row. Nausea surged up violently, and my stomach churned.
'Where...?'
I barely managed to calm myself and sit up, looking around. The alleyway where I'd been just moments ago was gone. Instead, my eyes took in the dim, musty interior of some building.
'Fuck. What the hell is this? Forced teleport?'
It was the same disorienting sensation I got whenever Vivian used her space magic to send me to meet her. Come to think of it, that woman I'd seen earlier... I could've sworn I felt Vivian's mana coming from her ring. A magic tool?
'A magic tool that can use space magic? What the...'
It was absurd, but first things first—I checked that all my limbs were still attached. Then I scanned the room. The witch who seemed to be behind sending me here was nowhere in sight.
'What kind of bitch does this?'
One minute she's hearing about Vivian and suddenly goes off the rails, teleporting me to some weird place? She called Vivian by name casually and had her magic tool. Could Vivian be behind this?
If this really was Vivian's doing, just wait until I get my hands on her. I still had that "reward" chance left—I'd pound her ass until it was twice as loose...
"Um..."
"!!!"
I was grinding my teeth alone when a voice came from behind me.
I frantically raised my guard and tried to pull my longsword from my inventory, but for some reason, it wouldn't open.
'This is insane. What's going on now?'
For the moment, I clenched my fists and stared into the darkness. A small boy who seemed to be the one who'd spoken flinched when he saw my fists and crouched down.
"Eek...! Don't hit me..."
"........."
What the...? [Appraisal] picked up no hostility, and he didn't seem particularly strong.
Had he been starving for a while? He was skin and bones. Recent beatings, maybe? Even with potions and holy power available, his skin was covered in small scratches. His appearance... like a middle schooler? Short, flat, no muscle.
And...
'Black hair?'
Black hair and brown eyes—rare in this world. Pale skin that you wouldn't see outside of elves. His hands were calloused, but his skinny body suggested he hadn't done much manual labor. And looking at his face stirred some inexplicable sense of kinship deep inside me...
'...No way.'
The moment a possibility flashed in my mind, the trembling boy looked up at me, then at my black hair and eyes. With a glimmer of hope, he spoke.
"Uh, are you Korean?"
'...What the hell.'
Why was I running into fellow countrymen so often lately? I hadn't seen a single one in three years at the clinic.
The boy's name was Han Yuseong.
"You're really Korean, right? I mean, you look like it..."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He looked pitiful, but I had no idea where this place was or what this Han Yuseong kid was about, so I denied being Korean. Instead, I brushed off his question and examined the room.
'Monster corpses? Weird clumps of grass... and what look like potion bottles. Some kind of alchemy workshop?'
Shackles were locked around Han Yuseong's ankles, as if he were openly imprisoned here. Starved for conversation, he kept talking even as I silently scanned the room, looking a bit scared but persistent.
"Um, how did you get in? The door won't open... Did the witch send you?"
"Witch?"
I'd planned to ignore him, but that word caught my ear, so I shot back. Han Yuseong met my eyes, flinched for a moment, then explained.
"A woman with purple hair. She said she was a witch... About a year ago, I grabbed her hand, and suddenly I was moved here..."
Teleported the moment he took her hand. Exactly like what happened to me. With my growing eye for magic from hanging around Vivian, I pieced it together from his story.
'A magic tool that teleports targets to engraved coordinates? Forcing it without consent... Insane device. Vivian must've made it.'
Noticing my interest, the conversation-hungry boy spilled his story without me even asking. Needing info, I listened while rummaging through the room.
This Earth boy, Han Yuseong, looked middle-school age but was actually a high schooler. About a year ago, he'd been isekai'd here.
(Even after I denied being Korean, he didn't hide that he was from another world.)
Worse, he'd landed in the eastern district of Labyrinth City.
"The scenery suddenly changed, and I was panicking when these creepy old guys said I looked pretty and grabbed me..."
"........."
I'd been lucky with my transfer. Who'd expect to spawn in the criminals' den of the east side?
Anyway, transferred to the east side with no temple folk to save him like me, Han Yuseong's youthful looks and pale skin nearly got him sold as a boy prostitute. Desperate, he yelled out cliché terms like "status window" until he discovered his [Skill Window] and learned about his skill [Universal Pharmaceutics].
"Basically, it lets me make drugs with whatever effects I want..."
Not even asked, he lit up when I looked puzzled at the skill name and boasted about its power. Spilling skill details to strangers... Whatever.
'What the hell? That broken skill?'
Make potions with any desired effect? Beyond simple healing—insane buffs, multiple effects in one bottle, instant craft with a thought, and even side effects controllable via a sub-skill?
Isekai skills were all cheat-level. Not that I could talk.
Once he grasped his skill, Han Yuseong desperately proved his worth to avoid getting his ass reamed. The slavers, figuring it was worth a shot, gave him cheap herbs and monster scraps. He whipped up potions and powders to demonstrate.
Realizing his value, the slavers drooled and found a use: drugs.
"They made me produce addictive drugs..."
The clan, mainly in slave trading, branched into drugs using his ability. With instant results from any materials, their new venture boomed.
But the east side had its rules, even in the lawless vibe. Drugs encroached on other clans' turf, so the small clan got smashed in a raid.
In the chaos, Han Yuseong bolted from the building. But with no athletic background, how could he outrun superhumans with skills? Caught quickly, he was about to get recaptured.
"That's when the witch appeared."
She introduced herself as Beatrice and offered to get him out if he grabbed her hand. No choice, he did—and ended up here.
Grateful at first, he thanked her. But she showed her true colors.
"She told me to make a cure for insensitivity..."
"........."
A bit weird, but okay.
Since she'd helped, he tried using his skill, but his level was too low. When he told her...
'Oh? Then just level it up.'
She locked him in this room, absorbed the drug gang that chased him, supplied materials through them, and forced him to craft nonstop.
When funds ran low, she had him make more drugs to sell, cycling the money back into materials to level his skill.
Recently, at level 5, the drug he made was the infamous "Angel Dust"—one that ignored holy power.
Hard to believe such a drug existed, but this kid made it.
'Come to think of it, those junkies at the clinic...'
They'd mumbled about "big sis." Was that Beatrice the "big sis," hunting me for beating her goons and handing them to the guards?
'But she didn't mention underlings—just rambled about Vivian and snatched me...'
Anyway, this was a building in the east side. Han Yuseong was stuck making drugs for them. Why she sent me here... Revenge? Not sure.
While listening, I finished searching. Hardtack and some water—probably for him. Piles of monster bits and herbs. Door locked from outside.
'Why send me here? I can just leave.'
Weird, but no time to hesitate. No witch showed, but staying felt wrong. Time to bail...
"Um, but how did you—"
"Step back."
Having spilled his guts, he curiously asked how I got here. With all the info I needed, I shoved him aside and swung at the door.
-Boom!
"Eek...!"
'Hm?'
The door didn't budge. My [Physical Resistance] hand was fine, but the door... tougher than expected, and...
'No mana flow?'
I'd infused mana, but it didn't activate. Tried again—no mana stirred. None at all in my body...
'What the hell?'
Panicking, I introspected, but [Mana Manipulation] and [Mana Breathing] were dead. Non-mana skills worked, but... what?
"Uh, if you tried using mana, you can't in this room. Something about extreme low mana affinity..."
"........."
Fuck. Explained the inventory too.
'Vicious setup. Magic tool teleports to a mana-suppression spot.'
Perfect for kidnapping. But...
"That true, what you just said?"
"Y-yeah. The witch said it when she locked me here."
"No—explain properly. Does it seal 'mana' itself, or 'mana affinity'?"
"Huh...? Aren't they the same? I think it was the second one..."
Totally different. If it's just affinity suppression, not mana seal...
'This skill'll do.'
Sensory Release Lv. 5