Chapter 448: Ally or Enemy (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 448: Ally or Enemy (2)
The force of winter, which had been unleashing one record-breaking cold snap after another, finally broke.
The sub-zero temperatures slowly began to rise, and with the gradual arrival of spring came something else.
“Ah… the semester’s already starting.”
It was that time of year when a university student’s will to fight is at its strongest.
At first, I was just happy.
I was getting to experience the college life I’d been forced to give up just to make a living.
But now that two years had passed and I was entering my third, well…
“It’s a pain.”
My magic and swordsmanship had already reached a level of their own, so there was nothing left for me to learn at the university.
By the end of last semester, the professors were the ones walking on eggshells around me.
Well… I guess that makes sense.
The professors at Korea University were A-rank Hunters in their prime.
So, of course, they’d be on edge with a current A-rank Hunter sitting in their class—a rising star who had shaken the world on several occasions, no less.
“The other classes aren’t that interesting either…”
At one point, I tried turning my attention to something other than magic or swordsmanship.
Things like Curses or Enchanting.
The more minor branches of magic, and other skills that might be useful.
I felt they would certainly be helpful to know, but I never delved deep into them.
As talented as this body is, mastering anything takes a significant amount of time.
I realized it was far more beneficial to deepen my mastery of my current skills than to spend time learning new ones from scratch.
In short, I chose to select and concentrate, deciding what to keep and what to discard.
No matter what else I learned, magic and swordsmanship would always be my main weapons.
In fact, mastering both at the same time would have been impossible if not for my unique history.
“…Maybe not completely impossible.”
Just as I was about to dismiss it as impossible, I realized there was one exception.
Son Seo-yeon.
That girl was talented in both magic and swordsmanship without ever having switched bodies like me.
And she was growing well without giving up either one.
Some might belittle her achievements, saying she was just lucky to have inherited good genes from her parents.
“They’re not wrong.”
If she hadn’t inherited that talent in the first place, she would never have even dreamed of walking two paths at once—paths that one might never reach the end of even after a lifetime of dedication to just one.
But her ability to handle both so brilliantly was entirely due to her own effort.
Looking at it that way, I can’t help but think what a bold choice she made.
Even I, with all my talent, wasn’t sure I could handle both simultaneously. How did she ever come to think of it?
“She’s really something else.”
Anyway.
On the cusp of a new academic year and a new semester, we made a momentous decision.
Graduation.
It was a given for me, having been promoted to S-rank, but it had also been a long time since there was anything left for my A-rank teammates to learn in depth at school.
So, we chose to graduate.
Not right away, of course. We decided to attend for just one more semester.
There was a lot to do.
We had to find a guild hideout, hire staff to handle miscellaneous tasks…
And even if we were leaving, I had to at least scout this year’s freshmen for talent before we went.
There might be a precious gem hidden among them.
“Sigh.”
A sigh escaped me just thinking about having to handle all this within one semester.
My teammates wouldn’t be much help with this kind of thing.
Ju-yeon might be of some assistance, but it would still be a difficult task for just the two of us.
“I wish I had someone to help.”
I needed talent.
The kind of talent that would take care of things perfectly with just a word from me.
But even that was no easy task.
Truly desirable talent is usually already in someone else’s pocket.
And any talent that isn’t is hidden away in a place that’s just as hard to find.
“I guess I’ll just have to take it one step at a time…”
Just as I was mentally prioritizing the tasks ahead.
“Do-jin, come down for dinner!”
Jeong-hee’s cheerful shout came from downstairs.
“Is it that time already?”
I immediately got up, opened the door, and headed downstairs.
At the dining table, Yu-jeong had already snatched the seat next to mine, and in the kitchen, I could see Jeong-hee tasting the food while Baek Hyeon-a helped her.
It was a familiar scene now.
But one thing bothered me.
“How is it? Does it taste okay?”
“It’s great, Unnie.”
“Hoho, that’s a relief. I was so worried since it’s my first time making this dish.”
The expression on Baek Hyeon-a’s face as she talked with Jeong-hee wasn’t very good.
She didn’t seem to be upset about anything… just a little down.
I didn’t need to ask to know what was wrong.
What was eating away at her was probably her situation and her younger sibling.
I had made her a promise.
That I would give her back the life she wanted, to repay the debt I owed her.
But months had already passed, and I hadn’t been able to give it a moment’s thought.
Of course, I hadn’t intentionally ignored it; things just kept happening, causing delays. But it was true that I hadn’t been able to help.
I needed to start looking into it before it was too late.
A way for her to get her life back.
And if possible… a way to cure her sibling.
*
Kim Do-jin thought.
Between her former life and a cure for her sibling, which did she desire more?
The answer came as soon as the question formed.
‘She’d want to cure her sibling more.’
Congenital Mana Deficiency.
It was a disease where one is born with a severe lack of mana in their body.
It wasn’t a problem in childhood, as a small body required less mana. But tragedy struck when the body grew too large for its mana supply to sustain.
A body unsupported by enough mana quickly loses its vitality.
What comes at the end is death.
In an effort to conquer it, pharmaceutical companies all over the world competed to develop a cure, but none succeeded.
The solution to Congenital Mana Deficiency is simple.
Forcibly increase the amount of mana in the body.
Thinking of it that way, one method came to mind.
‘Wouldn’t an elixir work?’
In fact, attempts to cure the condition with elixirs were made frequently.
They all failed.
And through those results, the true problem of Congenital Mana Deficiency was discovered.
‘The core that stores mana is itself too small.’
Mana is stored in a core near the heart and moves through circuits that spread throughout the body like blood vessels.
This is true even for ordinary people who cannot consciously use mana.
Every person who collapsed from Congenital Mana Deficiency had a small mana core.
So small that it couldn’t even hold enough mana to sustain the body.
After the cause was identified, another wave of active research began, but to this day, Congenital Mana Deficiency remains an incurable disease.
‘There’s no way to forcibly expand the core.’
Medicine, procedures, surgery.
None of these methods could enlarge the core.
The current consensus is that Congenital Mana Deficiency is an incurable disease beyond human conquest.
Even someone like Kim Do-jin couldn’t conquer a disease that pharmaceutical companies worldwide had given up on in a short amount of time.
So he contacted the person who seemed most likely to have an answer.
-“Congenital Mana Deficiency, you say…”
“Yes… I was wondering if you, Saintess, might know of a way.”
Sophia Saintess.
The pinnacle of all healers, said to be able to make even those on the verge of death rise again.
I thought if anyone knew, it would be her.
-“There was a time in the past when I and my fellow priests gathered to research a cure for Congenital Mana Deficiency.”
“There was a time, meaning…”
-“Yes, regrettably, we too were unable to find a definitive cure.”
“I see.”
The Saintess and the priests of the Vatican Orthodox Church were all experts in healing.
For them to have gathered, researched, and failed was tantamount to a final verdict.
A declaration that Congenital Mana Deficiency was an incurable disease that lay beyond the realm of human conquest.
“If even you failed, Saintess… then I suppose there’s no hope.”
It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I wanted to solve her biggest problem, especially since I owed her my life.
It was just as he hung his head in disappointment.
-“…There is one method.”
Kim Do-jin’s ears perked up at the voice coming from beyond the screen.
“There’s… a method?”
The woman, sitting demurely and looking his way, nodded.
-“I once heard a story about someone who was cured of Congenital Mana Deficiency.”
Hearing this, Kim Do-jin’s eyes widened.
“Is that really true?”
He couldn’t help but be surprised.
Until now, there had not been a single recorded case of the disease being cured.
She continued.
-“I heard they kept it a secret because they didn’t want to attract public attention.”
“Ah…”
-“And it’s a method no one else could attempt even if it were known.”
Kim Do-jin’s eyes narrowed.
“Is it… a dangerous method?”
-“No. I heard that person’s Congenital Mana Deficiency was cured with an elixir.”
“An elixir…? But I thought experiments already proved them to be ineffective.”
-“Most elixirs are, yes. With one exception.”
Most of the elixirs available on the market had been used in experiments by pharmaceutical companies.
That meant there was an elixir not available on the market that could cure Congenital Mana Deficiency.
“Ah.”
At that moment, a name flashed through Kim Do-jin’s mind.
“…The Elixir.”
The Saintess responded to the name he’d muttered to himself.
-“That’s right. That person… resolved their Congenital Mana Deficiency with the Elixir.”
Now it all made sense.
Why she said it was a method no one could attempt even if they knew about it.
‘The Elixir… that’s completely convincing.’
The Elixir.
A legendary potion said to cure all diseases and wounds of the flesh with a single sip, and to reconstruct the body into its ideal form if the whole bottle was drunk.
‘Yes, with the Elixir, it’s possible.’
Reconstructing the body with the Elixir’s power would surely expand the core as well.
That would increase the amount of mana the body could accept, curing the Congenital Mana Deficiency.
After a brief moment of soaring hope, Kim Do-jin came back to reality and smiled bitterly.
“…It would have been better not to have heard that.”
The price of an Elixir was estimated to be in the tens of billions.
The cost was a problem, but it was an item you couldn’t buy even if you had the money.
The supply had completely dried up a long, long time ago.
Some even whispered that the Elixir no longer existed in this world.
As he despaired over the hope that had swelled only to be instantly extinguished, the Saintess’s voice came down from above.
-“Hunter Kim Do-jin.”
“Yes.”
-“Do you want to save that person so badly? Enough to use the Elixir if you had it in your hands?”
“Hmm, let’s see.”
He thought for a moment.
If he had the Elixir, and he could use it to save her sibling.
Would he be able to use it without hesitation?
‘It would be a waste.’
A huge waste.
But.
“I’d hesitate for a bit… but I think I’d end up using it.”
After a long moment of deliberation, Kim Do-jin knew he would have used the Elixir.
The reason?
It was nothing special.
“I just can’t stand living in debt.”
Especially if it was a life debt. He wanted nothing to do with carrying that kind of burden.
He knew all too well that there was nothing else that could weigh down a person’s heart and make it so murky.
Sensing the sincerity in his answer, she smiled gently from behind her veil.
-“You’re a truly unpredictable person.”
“Am I?”
To her, he truly was.
Just when she thought she had a grasp on him, he would shoot off in a completely unexpected direction.
It had happened so many times now that she’d lost count.
And so, she became curious.
If the Elixir were actually in his hands, would he act as he just said he would?
Or… would he go back on his hypothetical word and use it to satisfy his own selfish desires?
-“Hunter Kim Do-jin.”
“Yes, Saintess.”
-“I have an Elixir.”
As Kim Do-jin stared blankly at her sudden declaration, she continued.
-“I happened to have a favor to ask of you, Hunter Kim Do-jin. This works out perfectly.”
“A favor…?”
-“There is something I would like you to do as a member of the Guardians.”
Guardians.
If he remembered correctly, it was the protective organization formed by the Seven Heavenly Virtues to stand against the Seven Deadly Sins.
-“I told you, didn’t I? That I would be sure to reward you for the duties you perform as a Guardian.”
She had certainly said that.
That she would make sure he was compensated for his efforts, at the very least.
-“If you carry out this mission for me, I will give you the Elixir as a reward.”
“……!”
It was an offer that was incredibly hard to refuse.