Chapter 51
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Unknowing Guardians
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“Don't just stand there. Go check on O Bongsu's condition.”
“O Bongsu? Who's that...?”
He looked around, then froze when he saw the boy sitting under a tree.
Something about him was familiar. Manager Kim's expression turned to one of surprise as he searched his memory.
“Isn't this the kid? The one who gives directions in the slum square.”
He didn't know his name, but the boy knew so many people that he'd seen his face often.
“Why is this kid inside a Gate...?”
“He was used by Hunters. I'll tell you the details later, so check on him first.”
At the word "used," Manager Kim's expression darkened. That alone was enough for him to guess the general situation.
Though his field was different, he was also an A+-rank ability user.
He'd heard plenty of the industry's dirty secrets in passing.
‘Those bastards. What did they do to a child?’
The O Bongsu he remembered was a good kid.
A child who, despite having nothing himself, would try to share a piece of bread with another hungry child. That same child was now dying before his eyes.
“If his ability was amplified enough to cross a Gate... there's nothing that can be done.”
Manager Kim said with a devastated look. No matter how many high-grade potions he made and poured into him, it would be useless.
A forced amplification strong enough for an F-rank to cross a Gate and remain unharmed.
With this level of amplification, the moment the ability wore off, he would surely shrivel up like a mummy.
Manager Kim's expression grew grim, as there were actual cases like this documented in literature.
“Who on earth did this?”
“Those guys up there.”
Cheon Doun pointed to the sky. When Manager Kim looked up, his jaw dropped.
“A... a Parrot-Poison Bird...”
In the sky, a Parrot-Poison Bird was flying, flipping its body acrobatically.
A long thread hung from its talons. About a hundred people were tied to it, dangling helplessly.
What Nam Giseok had endured at the waterfall was nothing in comparison. Even from a distance, Manager Kim felt like he could hear their screams.
“Your job is to extract the mana holes from them.”
“Huh...? Extract what?”
“Their mana holes. To be precise, the bio-energy contained within them. Extract it and inject it into this kid.”
Manager Kim's face went blank. He couldn't comprehend what he had just heard.
As if expecting that reaction, Cheon Doun broke off a long branch. He began to write something on the ground with it.
“Analyze this formula and activate it. That's why I called you.”
“What do you mean... I don't understand... Hm?”
Manager Kim's expression hardened as he watched the formula being written on the ground.
His eyes widened. His mouth fell open. What Cheon Doun was writing was a formula used by alchemists.
Complex diagrams and formulas that no one outside the same class of awakened beings could understand.
“I've... I've never seen a formula of this type before. What in the world is this...!”
An unheard-of type of formula was being laid out endlessly.
“I think this is how it went. I copied it a long time ago, so I'm not entirely sure myself.”
“C-Copied?”
“Something like that. There might be missing or incorrect parts. It's up to you to analyze it and fill in the blanks.”
Manager Kim stared at Cheon Doun, looking completely stunned.
What on earth was this person's identity? How could he so calmly write a formula that only alchemists knew?
Manager Kim examined the formulas Cheon Doun had written.
His expression changed from moment to moment, and eventually, all the color drained from his face.
“Th-This is... a formula that kills an awakened being.”
“Really? They didn't die.”
Physically, they didn't die.
“Ah, right. I guess they die as an awakened being. It's a formula for removing the mana hole, after all.”
“This isn't something to speak of so casually. A dangerous formula like this could be considered a state secret.”
Manager Kim said, his face pale with fear.
“This is data that isn't even in the Association's library. Where on earth... How did you learn this?”
“I came across it by chance.”
An illegal research institute, now long gone. A piece of knowledge chanced upon there. Cheon Doun recalled his childhood.
The chaotic period only twenty years after the Gates first opened.
Cities were being rebuilt and new laws were being enacted, but it was a time when illegal activities were rampant in the shadows.
The field of alchemy was particularly so.
Depending on the formulas they created, the fields they could branch into were limitless.
As such, many couldn't resist their curiosity and dabbled in illegal experiments.
At the time, Cheon Doun was fifteen.
That day, the research institute was noisy from the morning. Seeing a crowd of people in the lobby, Cheon Doun approached out of curiosity.
“Isn't that him? The serial killer from the news.”
One of the gathered instructors said. In the center of the circular crowd stood a man holding a gun.
“You're right. The guy who boasted about killing seven people in an interview. They said he escaped from prison and his whereabouts were unknown. Looks like he was caught and brought to our institute.”
“What an unlucky bastard. Why'd he have to escape prison.”
The instructors and researchers were calm, even with a gunman in front of them. Having involved themselves with an illegal organization, they were unfazed by such events.
The man with the gun, his eyes bloodshot, screamed.
“Give me back my mana hole! What did you do! Give it back!”
“What's he talking about?”
“An alchemist-class researcher joined recently, right? Looks like he succeeded in creating a technique to extract mana holes.”
“Is that even possible?”
“How would I know? But seeing him rampage like that, it must be true, right?”
Mana hole extraction. To be precise, a technique that converted the awakened being's aura within it into bio-energy and extracted it.
“Apparently, you can inject it into others.”
“Alchemy can do all sorts of things. So, does the person who receives the power become an awakened being?”
“They say no. It's just a lump of energy. But it's supposed to be very effective if injected into a weak person. I heard it can even save a patient on the verge of death.”
Amidst the instructors' murmuring, the man began to fire his gun wildly.
The instructors used their respective abilities to dodge the bullets. In the confusion, the man lunged forward.
His target was the weakest-looking person in the crowd. A child. A mid-teen boy standing right in front.
The man wrapped his arm around Cheon Doun's neck and aimed the gun.
“Ah...”
“Why him of all people...”
The instructors looked at the man with pity. The man faltered at their strange reaction but paid it no mind.
“Right, so hostages won't work on you people!”
He had eyes and ears. He knew he'd been dragged to an illegal research institute.
He could also see that the child he'd taken hostage was wearing one of the lab's uniforms.
His value as a hostage was zero. Still, he'd grabbed him because he needed a companion to take with him on the road to hell.
“You bastards. I'm not dying alone! Everyone just die!”
He shot at Cheon Doun's head. Or he intended to, but Cheon Doun twisted his arm first.
After snatching the gun, he shot the man in both legs.
Two gunshots. Cheon Doun handed the gun to a nearby researcher.
“What an eyesore. Don't let things like that wander around in the morning.”
“Uh...? R-Right. Got it.”
The researcher, answering in a daze, looked bewildered. He tilted his head as he watched Cheon Doun, who had already left the lobby.
“Sometimes I wonder if he thinks this place is his living room.”
“Leave him be. He's Number 17.”
The instructors and researchers approached to move the fallen serial killer.
Meanwhile, Cheon Doun headed for the researchers' rooms. He took an ID card from his pocket. It was the card he had secretly swiped from the researcher while handing over the gun.
He used the ID card to open the lab door and went inside.
It would be fun if I could extract the instructors' mana holes.
He looked through the documents on the lab desk. Not being an alchemist, he couldn't understand what he was reading.
If I learn it now, a day might come when I can use it.
Cheon Doun placed his hand on the papers. His palm turned squishy and began to swallow the pages.
The time it took to devour all fifty-odd sheets of A4 paper was just over a minute.
Once he had swallowed all the paper, the formulas surfaced in his mind.
The copy is complete.
He held his other hand out over the desk. The documents he had just swallowed poured out from his palm, rolled up.
The mud monster known to Hunters as a Doppelganger. Using its ability to replicate objects, he had copied the entire formula into his body.
He had done it thinking it would be fun to use on an instructor someday.
Come to think of it, that researcher discarded the formula himself instead of releasing it to the world.
The reason was the risk of it being misused, wasn't it? Cheon Doun looked at Manager Kim.
“Don't ever make this formula public. That was the wish of its creator.”
He couldn't care less about the wishes of someone who worked in an illegal research institute.
But Cheon Doun agreed with the opinion that it would be misused if released to the world.
If it became known that the power of an awakened being could be converted into life force, it was obvious what would happen.
Countless awakened beings would disappear without a trace, becoming health tonics for the rich.
“After this is over, I'm going to erase your memory. Just so you know.”
“Ah, I understand. I'd be grateful if you did. I don't want to know such a dangerous formula.”
Merely knowing such a thing could put one's life in danger. For Manager Kim, who lacked the power to protect himself, it was knowledge too heavy to bear.
“Ah, but if we're going to heal this kid, wouldn't it be better to do it after we return to the human world? Just staying here must be a burden on him.”
“No. We do it here. If he passes through a Gate again in his current state, he won't survive. Restoring his lost life force comes first.”
“Ah... right. That makes sense. Then the only thing left is to find someone to extract the energy from their mana hole...”
An innocent person couldn't be sacrificed. If he had to choose a candidate, it would be a heinous criminal.
“No need for that. There are plenty of ingredients right there.”
Cheon Doun pointed to the sky. There, about a hundred Hunters were being dragged around by the Parrot-Poison Bird.
“Extract enough from their mana holes to downgrade them to F-rank.”
“Ah...! I-I'll try.”
“And for the two I designate, extract their energy until their mana holes themselves shatter and disappear.”
The amplification ability user and the puppeteer.
An ability that drove a perfectly fine child to their death was better off gone.
‘Still no mercy.’
The watching Yu Beom siblings smiled quietly.
The average time it takes to reach A-rank is twenty years. Ten years, at the fastest.
If all that effort were to disappear overnight, anyone would be driven to despair.
“He's really not someone you want as an enemy.”
In that respect, was this kid lucky? Yu Beom thought, looking at O Bongsu.
He was suffering now, but today's events had put Cheon Doun in his corner. On top of that, he had formed a connection with an A+-rank alchemist, a rare ability user.
Having become an awakened being himself, his future was as good as set. The siblings smiled, looking at O Bongsu.
“I wonder what he'll say when he finds out. I want to see his reaction when he wakes up.”
“But he's under the puppeteer's ability right now. Will he even remember what happened here?”
“Who knows. If he doesn't, I'll just tell him. That would be fun in its own way.”
Yu Beom said with a grin. Coming from the same slums, the two of them secretly hoped for O Bongsu's success.