Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: The All Master Who Regressed to Bronze
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Led by Baek Seong-hun, the group soon arrived at a massive rest facility located in the middle layer.
An extraordinarily ordinary rest facility.
Of course, it was impressive as a rest facility so perfectly equipped that it was hard to believe it fit into just one building, but with not a soul in sight, it instead exuded a profoundly eerie, desolate atmosphere. Shin-hyeok tilted his head there.
"Is Baek Hyo-rin here?"
"...To hide someone, you have to hide them among people. Besides, hardly anyone would suspect a secret space in a place like this."
"Fair point. I couldn't even imagine she'd be here until you mentioned it. That's why the middle layer looked narrower than it should."
"I had to keep Hyo-rin close by, not too far from where I was."
"Yeah, I heard all about how you imprisoned your own daughter and turned her into an alchemy slave."
"Kuh..."
Surprisingly, this lounge was the space where Hyo-rin was hidden.
Well, Baek Seong-hun didn't exactly look like a great guy for locking up Hyo-rin and forcing her into alchemy, so Shin-hyeok's sharp jab made Seong-hun quickly approach a wall adorned with an expensive painting. He tapped around the frame.
Clank! Rattle! Grind!
Before long, mechanical gears whirred and clicked from beyond the wall. The wall split open, revealing a door.
"A trap mechanism."
"Some kind of trap mechanism."
"What's that?"
"Since Dimension Arena appeared, there's been a flood of mana-based security items. This is the analog counterpart—security that evades mana-detection abilities."
"Whoa... talk about dedication..."
"...Ahem."
Su-ah shot Seong-hun a half-lidded glare upon realizing he'd gone to such specialized lengths just to imprison his daughter—something most people wouldn't even know about unless they were experts.
He said nothing, but feeling the sting anyway, Seong-hun hurriedly approached the door.
Separate from the mechanical concealment, the door itself was plastered with high-tech locks.
Iris scan, mana pattern recognition, voice authentication, and more.
Shin-hyeok whistled softly as Seong-hun breezed through the security protocols.
"You really locked her down tight. No wonder we couldn't find her. Could Hong the director have tracked her down if he'd really tried?"
"...It would've been tough. The analog setup filters out the first wave, and even if someone found that, the biometric door stops them cold. Worst of all, mess up opening that door, and it explodes for sure."
"Matches what I thought. This guy's not letting Hyo-rin go easily."
A fortress blending analog and high-tech defenses seamlessly.
Ridiculous that it existed just to hold his daughter, but that wasn't the point.
The door's open. Finally meeting Baek Hyo-rin.
A gate designed never to open, now unlocked by its creator's own hand.
Stepping through the wide-open door, Shin-hyeok faced a bizarre contradiction.
It's filthy. But also obsessively clean. How do you even use a single space like this?
The place where Hyo-rin was imprisoned doubled as her alchemy workshop—and it was grotesque.
The workshop seemed perfectly bisected: one side overflowing with food waste and alchemy refuse, the other spotless to an extreme degree.
It perfectly illustrated her terrifying obsession with what she cared about—and utter disregard for anything else.
There, immersed in her own world and focused on alchemy, sat a woman.
Tall and slender.
Pale skin, ghostly white from lack of sunlight.
Long, ebony-black hair in stark contrast.
Capped off by deep, dark circles under her eyes.
All of it combined to paint Hyo-rin's image in shadowy, gloomy hues.
Noticing four people enter her space, Hyo-rin, lost in her alchemy, tilted her head and glanced at the group.
"Hm? Dad? Who's that with you—friends?"
"Th-there's no way. These people are, well..."
"Here to find you, Baek Hyo-rin. Away from Baek Seong-hun, who's been treating you like an alchemy machine, locked up and slaving away."
"Hmm..."
Hyo-rin casually shook a beaker and flask of alchemy reagents while chatting, then set them down and scratched her chin with long, pale fingers.
"I'm pretty satisfied with things as they are... They bring food on schedule... Plenty of alchemy gear, and the materials aren't bad either..."
A voice dripping with lazy drowsiness.
An attitude that seemed utterly indifferent to her imprisonment or use as an alchemy drone. Seong-hun lit up.
"Exactly! So come away with your dad! I'll build you a workshop just for you. Bigger! Flashier! And no more of this garbage food—every meal will be gourmet delicacies!"
"Eh. Nah."
"...What?"
"Moving sounds like a hassle. I just wanna stay here forever, same as always..."
"No, but... I can give you even better stuff!"
"Too much hassle..."
His excitement didn't last.
Hyo-rin shot down every proposal with laziness as her sole reason.
Seong-hun bellowed in frustration, but it changed nothing.
Finally exploding, he reached for Hyo-rin—
Snap!
"I let you lay the groundwork before the game started, but no physical intimidation. Anyway, Baek Hyo-rin. Regrettably, you have to choose: me or Baek Seong-hun, and leave with your pick."
"Do I have to choose? Can't I just keep living here?"
"Of course not. We can't leave you in a place like this. But here's a promise: an even better space, environment, and materials await you."
"You mean...?"
"Just bring yourself. Easy, right?"
Shin-hyeok intervened, blocking Seong-hun's hand, then launched straight into his pitch.
Similar terms to Seong-hun's, but with the workshop coming to Hyo-rin instead of her leaving.
Hyo-rin perked up at that, making the desperate Seong-hun start glancing nervously at Shin-hyeok.
Shin-hyeok chuckled at the fidgety man, like a dog desperate to pee.
"Why look at me? Give it your all. Mr. Hypnotist."
"H-how do you know my villain name...!"
"Does it matter? Pitch time's over—choice time now."
"Kuh...!"
Villain name: Hypnotist.
Seong-hun's job. Knowing it made his eyes tremble like aspen leaves, but with the clock ticking, he gritted his teeth and began a full-throated pitch to Hyo-rin.
"Hyo-rin, come to the Villain Alliance with Dad. They've got tons of test subjects for you there. Your alchemy skills will skyrocket. Just trust your dad, Hyo-rin. Do all the alchemy you want. Those people with him? Sure, they'll give you a lot too. But think about it—I'm your dad. Family. Nothing's more precious than that. So come with your dad, okay?"
"...Hmm."
A machine-gun barrage of words.
But the real power lay in what those words carried.
Villain name: Hypnotist. Trait: Gaslighting. That combo is irresistible to players Gold or below. Maybe even Platinum.
The Hypnotist job paired with the Gaslighting trait.
Seong-hun had committed countless crimes with it.
He'd mesmerized innumerable people, sold them to the Villain Alliance, and forced low-rank alchemists from the Alchemist Korean Branch into labor.
Naturally, he'd done the same to Hyo-rin since childhood.
It's even stronger on kids or the elderly. The longer the exposure, the better it works. In that sense, Hyo-rin's been under steady hypnosis and gaslighting since childhood—she's fully under Baek Seong-hun's control.
A situation inevitably tilted toward Seong-hun.
Shin-hyeok knew it all and still proposed the game.
By now, Seong-hun finished his work and stepped back with a smug grin, certain of victory. Shin-hyeok stepped forward in contrast and began his real pitch.
"Heard about the legendary craftsman born in Korea?"
"Uh, yeah? Someone like that?"
"Yep. Master of my workshop. Follow me, and you'll use gear he made himself. Exciting, right? One-of-a-kind custom pieces just for you, Baek Hyo-rin."
"...Whoa."
First: custom alchemy tools made solely for Hyo-rin.
"And that's not all. I'm Shinwa Group's third-gen heir, son of the Shinwa Distribution president. I can supply any material on the market flawlessly. I can show you a bottomless well of resources."
"...For real?"
Second: material support surpassing the Alchemist Korean Branch.
"Finally, that thing you're working on now. For the material mix you're stuck on, try blending hornbeam tree roots with Nemeta's horn dust."
"...Y-you know what I'm making?"
"No name yet, so no. But from the ingredients, it's a mana elixir. A top-end one for Diamond tier or higher players, right?"
"...Hold on."
Third: advice from future knowledge only the regressed Shin-hyeok could provide.
He'd consumed so many elixirs that he could identify ingredients and needed additions at a glance.
Plus, to ingest them without side effects in the past, he'd mastered alchemy himself—making it even easier.
Hearing Shin-hyeok's advice, Hyo-rin went wild-eyed, her ebony hair flying as she madly rummaged through her workshop.
Soon after finishing synthesis, she gazed ecstatically at the shimmering pill in her hand, stroking her cheek.
"Ahh, ah, aahhh!"
"Success?"
"It worked! A total success! Weeks of agony feel like a lie now. Who... who the hell are you?"
Awe, shock, excitement.
Her pupils swirled with chaotic emotions. Glancing at the dumbfounded Seong-hun, Shin-hyeok smirked and replied.
"The one who'll take you to the pinnacle of alchemy."
"...!"
Hyo-rin's face melted into the rapture of one who'd tasted transcendence as she stared at Shin-hyeok.