Chapter 463: Elixir (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 463: Elixir (1)
Those who had lost consciousness after being freed from the brainwashing soon came to their senses.
There were some individual differences.
The longer they had been brainwashed, the more time they needed to wake up.
The awakened individuals remembered almost nothing of what they had done while under control.
Some recalled fragmented memories, like single snapshots, but only in pieces.
As a result, they had to endure a jarring sense of dissociation.
In a way, it was only natural.
Just think about it.
How would you feel if you thought you’d only blacked out for a moment, only to be told that hundreds of days, or even several years, had passed?
Worse, they were told that they hadn't just been unconscious, but had been running around committing all sorts of sinful acts at the command of another. The mental shock was not something they could easily endure.
Thus, the government and the Association quickly reclassified them as victims and arranged for psychiatric treatment.
They announced this at an official press conference, simultaneously stating their intention to actively support the victims' swift return to their normal lives in an attempt to boost their public image. However, the public's attention was elsewhere.
“But who did it?”
Who were the main figures who had taken down the Church of Light hiding in Daejeon?
Unable to carelessly reveal the Guardians' name, they introduced the Vatican's Orthodox Church as the main force behind the raid.
It wasn't a lie, as the majority of those who participated in the operation were paladins dispatched from the Vatican.
If they had stopped there, the Association and the government might have faced another round of criticism.
“The Association and the government, what the hell were they doing while a villain was hiding in South Korea?”
…is what people would have said.
But they had a countermeasure.
The Koreans who had participated in the operation alongside the paladins of the Vatican's Orthodox Church.
Kim Do-jin and Son Seo-yeon.
The moment their names were revealed, a torrent of praise poured down on them.
“Kim Do-jin, you again?”
“Son Seo-yeon… isn’t she Hunter Son Si-woo’s daughter?”
“The mother, the father, and now the daughter… truly a family of heroes.”
The praise for Kim Do-jin was expected.
The feats he had shown so far surpassed even those of Son Si-woo in his youth.
But the one whose name came up the most from this incident was, without a doubt, Son Seo-yeon.
“Wow… she’s not only skilled, she’s also incredibly beautiful.”
“She could put most idols to shame, right?”
“I can’t take my eyes off her picture…”
While her record was slightly less impressive than Kim Do-jin's, her career was still brilliant.
An A-rank Hunter in her early twenties.
And the major incidents she had handled since then.
The accomplishments she had steadily built up were brought back into the spotlight by this incident, giving wings to her career.
And thanks to her achievements, the names of her parents, Son Si-woo and Han Ju-hee, were also being mentioned.
People said everyone should learn from their parenting methods, as their daughter's success stood in stark contrast to the spoiled, troublemaking second-generation kids born to other heroes.
Son Seo-yeon, who had gained popularity rivaling Kim Do-jin's overnight, was flustered as she saw articles about herself plastered all over the internet.
“Wow… what is all this…?”
Her name was on every portal site.
Online articles, popular search rankings, and even online communities where posts were made on every imaginable topic.
It was all about her.
“…Ah.”
A whirlwind of different emotions swept over her.
She felt happy, embarrassed, and scared all at once.
As she struggled to rein in her seesawing emotions and scrolled through the articles one by one…
A single comment caught her eye.
ㄴWaitingForYeonJin: Aren't Kim Do-jin and Son Seo-yeon fucking perfect for each other? A total power couple;;
The comment, with hundreds of upvotes, made her heart feel warm and fuzzy.
“Couple…”
A couple, they said.
That she and Kim Do-jin looked so good standing together.
Most of the replies to the comment agreed.
Why was it…
“…Hee.”
…that this one comment felt better than the dozens, even hundreds, of articles praising her?
‘Yeon’ from Son Seo-yeon and ‘Jin’ from Kim Do-jin.
The ‘Yeon-jin Couple,’ a name created by taking the last syllables of their names.
And the ‘Waiting for Yeon-jin Couple Squad,’ who were hoping for it to become a reality, gave her strength.
“It’s happening just as I thought…”
Her mom and dad.
She’d heard they started getting linked together just like this.
They fought like cats and dogs, but their teamwork was so good that they worked together as a team for a long time.
As they did, their names naturally started being mentioned together, and they became one.
She felt that she, too, was following that same path.
“Sh-should I ask him to dinner next…?”
Just as she was getting excited, imagining a fancy dinner with him, she heard a roar.
“Son Seo-yeon! You went and did something that dangerous again without telling your mother!”
It was the furious voice of Han Ju-hee, who had learned of her daughter’s dangerous escapade through the news.
“Eek…!”
She dove under the covers, waiting for the raging storm to pass.
* * *
Elixir.
It was known as, both in name and reality, the greatest elixir in existence, and at the same time, the least researched one.
The reason was simple.
There was no supply.
Because there was absolutely never enough for researchers to fully savor—to chew, tear, taste, and enjoy.
Even if you managed to get your hands on a single bottle, it wasn't enough, no matter how sparingly you used it.
Because…
“This is the Elixir.”
“……”
The amount was just that small.
At first, I suspected the Saintess, seeing just one small bottle sitting forlornly in the center of a large box.
“…You didn’t just pour some out because you didn’t want to give me the whole bottle, did you?”
“How could you think such a thing?”
I still remember it.
The look on the paladin’s face, as if he were looking at a madman.
Anyway.
The quantity is that small.
In terms of volume, it was about 10ml.
It was an amount that would make you scoff, but you would never do so if you saw it right in front of you.
“…This is incredible.”
I could see it.
The texture of the dense mana, concentrated to its absolute limit within.
To use an analogy, it felt like a massive elephant had been crammed into a refrigerator.
That’s how ridiculously dense it was.
“I’ll have to use this carefully.”
The intended recipient was already decided.
Baek Hyeon-a’s younger sister, Baek Hyeon-jin.
Due to a congenital mana deficiency, her core was much smaller than even a normal person’s.
As such, the Elixir needed to be administered with extreme care to prevent the excessive mana from damaging her body.
I had to be careful until the Elixir improved her body and her core grew to a sufficient size.
I carefully placed the sloshing bottle of Elixir back in its box and stood up.
“…Let’s go now.”
Strike while the iron is hot, as they say. I headed straight for the hospital.
Actually, that wasn't the only reason.
“I have to endure, have to endure, have to endure.”
Every time I looked at the Elixir, my stomach made a tremendous noise.
Grruuuuumble!
A hunger as intense as the sound.
This wasn't my body's hunger, but the hunger brought on by Gluttony.
It was screaming, demanding to eat a delicacy that would taste of the heavens.
To stop it, I punched my stomach hard and warned it.
“If you grumble one more time, you won’t even get the scraps I’ve been feeding you.”
Gurgle…
The noise and hunger subsided.
It was a good thing I had already put it in its place once; otherwise, it would have kept acting up.
I arrived at the hospital and went straight to the special ward.
There, in a hospital room, lay a stick-thin woman on the bed, an oxygen mask on her face, looking as if she were dead.
“…What a sorry state.”
She was surviving on a minimum of nutrients and mana.
Perhaps because of that, her body was so emaciated it reminded me of a mummy.
I couldn't think of a better way to describe her than ‘barely breathing.’
“…How pitiful.”
Baek Hyeon-a, who had lived watching her younger sister die.
And Baek Hyeon-jin, who had lost consciousness and collapsed during her prime, barely clinging to life.
Both of them were pitiable beyond words.
Knowing the agony of having a family member, more precious than life itself, be sick, I could empathize with them even more.
But I wasn't entirely sad.
“That ends today.”
Because the long suffering that tormented the sisters would come to an end, starting today.
I lightly pinched her gaunt cheek.
“You should know this is all thanks to your sister, you little rascal.”
This is how much my life is worth.
I took the Elixir from the box I had been carrying so carefully and pulled out the stopper that was sealing the mouth of the bottle.
Pop!
Dense mana flowed out from the opening with a cheerful sound.
“Whoa…!”
I feel like I’m getting stronger just by smelling it.
Suppressing my rising excitement, I temporarily removed her oxygen mask and gently opened her mouth.
At the same time, I tilted the Elixir bottle and let a single drop fall into her mouth.
Drip.
The liquid swirled once inside her dry mouth before disappearing.
Before long, her body began to react.
Swoosh…
The rich amount of mana contained in that single drop swelled up inside her body.
“Uh… this isn’t supposed to happen.”
I was flustered.
The amount of mana in that one drop was several times greater than I had anticipated.
This was dangerous.
“Why does nothing ever go smoothly?”
Did I get a curse on my life as payment for getting a young body…?
“Excuse me for a moment.”
I let out a small sigh and placed my hand over her heart.
Her already small core was full of mana, pounding as if it would burst at any moment.
To stabilize it, I forcibly intervened in the chaotic flow of mana.
Controlling mana was one of my specialties.
As I began to control the flow of mana with my immense command, her body quickly stabilized.
All I had to do now was maintain control of the flow and buy time for her core to grow.
“…That’s one way to do it.”
But I got greedy.
Might as well go all out. Since she was getting a new life she barely managed to obtain, she should live it to the fullest, shouldn't she?
“I’ll just add some interest, I guess.”
Her body was a bit bigger, but her weakened state from the long illness was the same as back then.
Just like Seo-yeon’s body in her childhood, so frail that even the hospital couldn't make any guarantees.
Even if the Elixir cured her congenital mana deficiency in this state, it would take a considerable amount of time for her to recover her weakened body.
I had a secret method to solve this problem.
The Secret Art of Metamorphosis.
The power that had reshaped my weak daughter and this body with its poor bone structure.
“I can do this.”
No, the conditions were even better than before.
The immense amount of mana from the Elixir would support the secret art.
I gently stroked her forehead, which was slowly regaining its vitality, and whispered.
“Just bear with it for a little while. I’ll have you up and running in no time.”
As I finished speaking, I forcibly manipulated her mana.
Crack!
The sound of the first bone shattering into pieces echoed clearly in my ears and throughout the hospital room.