210 times
Newspaper Villain
210 ? Newspaper Villain #2
“…Hassan, what should I do? I think the Alchemist’s Guild has misunderstood me… .”
Luna, who escaped from the Red Potion Shop, couldn’t come to her senses as if she was anxious.
So, when I lightly pressed the Shinmun point on Luna’s wrist, the task score came in along with the message “Mild panic”.
“How are you, have you calmed down a bit?”
“No! I think the Alchemist’s Guild misunderstood me! Now that I have a clear head, I understand! This is really serious!”
It was clear that she had a mild panic attack. Luna’s anxiety symptoms grew even more. Perhaps because she was panicking, she was less tense because she couldn’t judge the situation.
After you become more conscious, you can see the situation with a clearer mind, so you worry even more.
It’s not a feat to be able to change the status at any time.
I began to understand why people drink alcohol to forget their fatigue. Sometimes, it seems like they want to avoid reality by clouding their reasoning.
“Hassan, the Alchemist’s Guild is a successful manufacturer. I don’t understand why they do this to me!”
“Does anything catch your eye? Like fighting the alchemists? Anything like that?”
“None at all!”
Luna seemed clueless.
But I don’t think something like this could happen without a reason.
The reason the problem occurred was largely due to materials.
I’m talking about money.
I know best that Luna’s elixir works. There’s probably no one in the world who’s drunk more than I have.
If you find fault with something by saying, “It doesn’t taste good!”, then disparaging it by saying, “It doesn’t work!” is truly slander.
Although I don’t know much about this world, I do know a lot about how the world we live in works.
In order to prove your innocence, you must go to the Alchemist’s Guild and reveal the ingredients and manufacturing process.
This seemed like nothing more than an attempt to steal Luna’s recipe.
“If I fall out of favor with the alchemists, my elixir-selling career in the city will be over. That’s why I tried to be close to Sister Vinas…”
Luna could only mutter regretfully.
If I were to compare this situation to myself, it would be like Hassan, who was doing well as an adventurer, suddenly being targeted by Actaeon and Hippolyte, gold-tier adventurers, and his very position becoming jeopardized.
When I think about it that way, it is indeed daunting.
While I was wondering how I could help, Luna mumbled for a while and then said something as if she had made up her mind.
“I should go see Sister Vinas. She might have a solution!”
“Binaus? By Bainaus, you mean that rich alchemist?”
“Yeah, yeah! That older sister would help me! She even said that I felt like a younger sister to her!”
Vinas-.
I’m sure he was a successful alchemist who was around the same age as us and even had his own laboratory.
It is said that she was the one who bought Luna the most elixirs. It is also said that she was the one who showed a sense of closeness to Luna, saying that she resembled her younger sister from her hometown.
Although I had never met him, I felt a little more secure knowing that I had someone I could trust in the face of the tyranny of a huge corporation.
So this is why people have to stretch out in many directions.
“Do you know where that older sister lives?”
“I’ve gone with Paranoia to deliver elixirs a few times! I don’t know if it’s okay to suddenly come here like this. Anyway, let’s go!”
We walked with the feeling of having found a rope in the flowing river.
So we headed to an alley somewhere near the bustling market area of Sodomora’s south gate, the bustling market street.
Bubbling-.
Cheeeeek-.
All around, there was a boiling sound and white smoke was seen rising from every chimney.
“Hey, that’s not it either!”
Choaak-.
The stones on the floor are wet and shiny, perhaps because of the occasional thugs who spray an unidentified liquid outside the windows.
This is the potion workshop complex, the street of alchemists that boasts a strong influence in Sodomora, where broken beakers and empty potion bottles are scattered about the streets.
The smoke coming out of the chimney was probably all sorts of ingredients being heated and boiled. Perhaps because of this, the street itself was a bit damp and muggy, and I felt a musty smell clinging to my body.
When I think of my days at the health center, I feel a bit nostalgic and even anxious.
“Over there, number 5, you need to go to the building on Blue Bird Alley.”
Luna walked along this street, which looked the same to me, without any obstructions. I followed behind Luna like that.
Eventually, Luna stopped in front of a small cabin-like place between large buildings.
The colorful paint on the pointed roof and the cloud shapes decorating the windows and entrance are enough to make you think of a wizard’s house from a fairy tale.
When I heard the words “alchemist’s private workshop,” I pictured a sinister basement with a gas-masked man heating up fluorescent substances.
Looking at this, I guess I had some preconceived notions about alchemists.
“Are you here?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Then knock on the door.”
“But you came without an appointment. What if you get angry? What if you say you’re rude and won’t help me?”
Luna was extremely anxious. She worried excessively, as if she couldn’t keep her composure because it was related to her business. But she couldn’t just stand there forever.
So when I was thinking of knocking on the door instead.
“No, that’s not it either-.”
The brown painted wooden door opened and suddenly a white hand and something like yellow liquid were poured towards me from inside.
Choaaaah-.
“Eww, hot! Eww-!”
It was so unbelievably hot that I couldn’t help but scream in surprise. What the hell is this sudden shower of hot water? I was really shocked.
“Eww, what’s that smell! It’s gross!”
“Hassan, Hassan, are you okay!? I, I’ll blow on you! Hoo-! Hoo-!”
So, as we were desperately trying to cool down our bodies, the door blocking our path suddenly opened and someone appeared.
It was a woman of small stature.
Her body, covered by a light blue robe, looked like a child’s, with small breasts and pelvis.
It seemed like he wasn’t really a young child, just a little bit underdeveloped.
With her short blue hair and glasses, she looks quite picky, and reminds me of a petty girl you often see in elementary school.
“Sister!”
Judging by Luna’s reaction, I think this woman is probably the alchemist Bainas.
* * *
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. What should I do?”
The alchemist’s workshop had everything from heating equipment to personal shower facilities.
If you consider Luna’s Cabin a cheap inn, this place feels more like a hotel on the outskirts.
Thanks to this, I was able to wash the nasty liquids off my body and clothes.
However, it wasn’t exactly neat and tidy, and looking at the piles of unidentifiable books, materials, and broken pieces of glass here and there, it seemed like this person wasn’t the type to be very organized.
This is similar to Luna. Is this a characteristic of people who make potions?
“I didn’t think there would be anyone in front of it. That’s why I even put up a sign telling people not to stand in front of the door.”
Vinas adjusted his glasses and said apologetically. I was too out of my mind to know if there was any text in front of him, but I could tell that it wasn’t intentional.
But I started to wonder what on earth was sprayed on my body.
“It smells terrible. What did you spray?”
“It’s a new prototype that we’re currently making. It’s just meant to be used to chase away monsters. It seems like adventurers are getting attacked by goblins a lot these days, so a lot of people are looking for it.”
It was indeed a potion meant to ward off evil spirits.
Even I think it smelled so bad, like a worn-out sock, that any monster with a sensitive nose would have run away right away.
“More importantly, what brings you here?”
“Sister, we’re in big trouble! Alchemist’s Guild-! Alchemist-!”
“alchemist?”
Luna sat on the sofa in the living room and explained in detail why we had come to see her.
Although Luna stuttered a bit because she was excited, the alchemist seemed to be quite smart, as he quickly understood what Luna was trying to say.
“So, you’re saying that someone framed Luna for her leap?”
“That’s right! How could this happen? You must know that my elixir works!”
“Yes, of course I know it well. The taste is a bit strange, but the effect is incomparable to that of existing vitality potions.”
“right!”
Luna’s face lit up as if she was relieved that there was someone on her side. Then, Bainas added one more word.
“But, that happens a lot in this industry. Alchemists have to sell their products and achieve results. It’s common for them to put others down.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but if you are included in the Alchemist’s Guild, you can prove your innocence by analyzing the ingredients internally without having to reveal the recipe or anything. Luna is not a member of the Alchemist’s Guild-”
“What should I do? Can I join the Alchemist’s Guild?”
“Perhaps, it won’t be difficult. You need to have completed at least five years of regular training at the city’s pharmacy academy. Or at least five years of apprenticeship under a professional pharmacist to enter the guild.”
“Huh, then what should I do?”
Luna was crying as if something really big had happened. Was there a brief silence like that? Just then, Vinas added a word.
“It’s not like there’s no way. Luna, you become my apprentice. And I’ll put the elixirs you’re selling up as my products.”
“What, what does that mean?”
“Let’s just change the brand. Luna, you can keep making potions, which is good. I, Luna, can help you, which is good. Of course, I’ll give you all the profits. Then, after five years, Luna, you too will open a workshop as an alchemist.”
Isn’t there something really weird about the content?
Is that really the only way?
For a moment, I had a bad thought.
A graduate student whose hard-worked thesis was taken away by his professor.
Graduate students who, out of desperation, include their professor’s children or the professor’s name as co-authors.
I don’t know if it was just my imagination, but I had a feeling that this woman was trying to sneak in some extra cash for Luna’s leap forward.
After all, what I have always thought to be true is that there can be no such thing as gratuitous kindness in the world.
This woman’s suggestion to Luna and her taking her side must be for her own benefit.
I don’t know if Luna noticed it, but judging from the fact that she was hesitating and unable to give an easy answer, it seemed like Luna was also taken aback by this suggestion.
I am the moment.
Unhappily, a bad thought occurred to me.
So I broke the brief silence and opened my mouth.
“It’s only natural for successful people to be subject to jealousy, envy, and slander. Since Luna’s elixir is effective, those who are jealous of it write articles about it. The person who first wrote such an article, the Potions Master, must be a loser, right?”
“Potion Master?”
Vinas, who was leaning back on the sofa, adjusted his glasses, as if he was interested in my story. Thinking this was an opportunity, I held out the article I had cut out in advance to the table in front of me.
“I looked through several newspapers for articles. The first one to start was this kid. The Potions Master. So, I looked through other articles this kid had written. They were all slandering other people’s potions and elixirs.”
I thought back to an impressive YouTube video I saw a long time ago.
People sometimes envy and are jealous of successful people.
The mere existence of such a being acts as evidence of one’s own failure. So it seems that they want to remove it from their sight, whether by dragging it down or slandering it.
“This kid is definitely an alchemist. And a bad alchemist at that. That’s why he’s probably trying to boost his self-esteem by slandering others. That way, he’ll be proven right. For now, I think it’s a priority to find this kid and make him apologize.”
I ended the story with that. With a slightly pounding heart, I was slightly frowning as to what was going to happen next.
Vinas says, his glasses flashing.
“Is that so? I subscribe to the Red Potion Daily, so I’ve read about the Potion Master. He doesn’t seem like someone who would do anything like that. He’s surprisingly professional in his words, and the articles he writes seem to sell well.”
Vinas continued to talk in a defensive manner about the so-called Potion Master. Luna looked at him with a puzzled look.
Having spent a long time browsing Internet communities and become accustomed to anonymity, including nicknames, I felt as if I had finally discovered the true identity of the face scribbling on the back of the newspaper.
Gotcha, you bitch!
[Work Review]
I don’t know anymore… Today is the 4th time… Tomorrow I’ll have to write all day ㅠㅠ… I think the content was too boring for 2 parts, so I just let it go…!!!
