Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 917

“Be careful moving the iceboxes! Don’t you know maintaining the temperature is crucial for cryo-items?”

“Curse users, come clean this up! The talismans you threw down have blocked off half the hallway!”

“Pharmacists, hurry! If you keep the ingredients at room temperature for too long, they’ll spoil quickly.”

Shouts echoed from all directions.

People of various races and species, young and old, were bustling up and down the vast tower’s staircases.

The tower’s facilities, damaged by the battle with Gyeollyeo, were being restored, and collaborative businesses were starting to move back in, one by one.

The once-quiet tower was bustling and noisy again.

During the tower’s downtime, businesses had also been busy bringing in new products and items, working hard to establish their places.

And Lenok, sitting in the top-floor office prepared for the tower lord, was watching the bustling tower.

“……”

Pharmacists were busily carrying stacks of medicine in sturdy packaging.

Movers were transporting learning device tablets pouring out of the factory.

Managers from research institutes and businesses were checking quantities, holding ledgers and moving about.

Among them, the number of mages from other towers, which had been noticeably small, had increased significantly.

Despite the notoriety and rumors surrounding Gyeollyeo, the market’s enthusiasm, once ignited, did not easily die down.

Rather, the incidents he had caused were used as an excuse for new influxes.

Beep.

As Lenok leaned back in his office chair, looking out the window, the cell phone he had left on his desk vibrated.

-Gyeollyeo. I’ve copied and sent the search engine algorithm as promised.

A message from Rakta Sha Samir, the administrator of the Deep Web.

-I doubt it’ll be of any use now, but I’ve processed it since you asked. If you’re willing to participate in the search engine restoration, I’ll contact you again later…

Thud.

Lenok, having closed his phone, turned on the large TV hanging on the office wall with a glance.

As soon as the screen lit up, news channels were reporting new stories.

[Professor Evan Bailen has broken his long silence and announced the schedule for the fourth public magic update.]

[Following luminescence, variability, and fusion, the development of [Ignition] magic has been newly updated on the research institute’s website…]

[Various columns are being published in academia regarding whether the basic principles of elemental magic, once considered the exclusive domain of the magic towers, have been deciphered-]

Click.

Lenok turned off the TV and leaned back in his chair.

“……”

The lighthouse keeper’s journey, which had caused such a stir throughout the city, the schedule for the hearing to address it.

Even Evan Bailen’s research results, which had been postponed, were progressing smoothly for the time being.

At least for a few months, they would be too busy focusing on the public magic [Ignition] that Lenok had announced.

However, while handling the postponed tasks of the tower and the research institute simultaneously, Lenok’s thoughts were elsewhere.

The administrators of the Deep Web. The Ars Nova search engine he had obtained at their request.

And the information about the leader and the cult leader that he had finally managed to obtain through it.

The series of facts he had confirmed through the search engine were so unexpected that Lenok had not been able to easily draw a conclusion.

‘The 1st Apostle of the cult is a sealed Ascended being….’

He knew that the 2nd Apostle, considered the leader among the apostles, was the most powerful and perfect, but he had never paid attention to the 1st Apostle, who was ranked higher.

He had simply thought that the strength of the apostles was not just a matter of numbers, and it was difficult to obtain specific information about the missing apostles.

But could it be that the first apostle who followed the cult leader was none other than an Ascended being who had reached level 9? [Ascended beings are individuals who have reached the highest level of power in this world.]

He couldn’t hide his astonishment at the absurd fact, but at the same time, he found himself accepting it.

A failed savior who had transcended two endings and arrived in this world.

If he was once a failed god who had reigned at the pinnacle of the world, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have even a monster like an Ascended being as an apostle.

At least in Lenok’s mind, the cult leader was an unfathomable monster with such status and causality.

‘I found information about the cult leader, so it was strange that information about the 1st Apostle was also searched.’

The performance of Ars Nova’s search engine was a power that could not be compared to any other program or software.

It was a miracle that it could accurately retrieve the desired keywords from the trash of broken and abandoned external networks.

He had endured the overload of such a search engine to find information about the cult leader, so was it really a coincidence that he had learned the identity of the 1st Apostle?

Lenok was even thinking that it might be the cult leader’s intention to hide his own purpose.

If the information about the 1st Apostle was revealed instead, it was the cult leader’s intention to use him to hide his own traces.

If he had prepared for someone else who would be hot on his heels someday.

At least, given the nature of the cult leader that Lenok had encountered, it didn’t seem impossible for him to do such a thing.

‘The cult leader and the leader seem similar, but there are quite a few contrasting aspects. If that itself is somewhat intentional….’

Unlike the cult leader, who tries to hide himself in the memories of others, the leader does not try to hide himself.

He does what needs to be done, where it needs to be done, at the necessary moment.

In that process, mixing deception or lies would be meaningless to him.

That was all because of the ‘origin’ that the cult leader and the leader fundamentally symbolized-

“……I don’t know.”

For days, Lenok had pondered the meaning of the information he had obtained, but he could not come to a clear answer.

He thought he knew enough and understood enough, but he still could not reach the crucial essence.

That was probably because even though Lenok was aware of their essence in words, he could not truly understand their meaning.

Was Lenok feeling the same way as he chased after them, as others felt when they looked at him?

Certainty and speculation mixed, making even what he knew unclear.

What floated in his mind were countless abstract thoughts and concepts, but there was something that did not change.

It was still unknown how this world would end.

Just as the cult leader’s answer and the leader’s answer were different, there was only a vague conviction that Lenok’s answer would not be the same as theirs.

But, unlike the cult leader’s information, the leader’s news was, of all things-

Knock, knock.

A knock on the office door was heard, and then Jenny peeked her head in.

“Ban, are you finally coming to your senses?”

“……”

“I know you’ve been exhausted from all the recent work, but come out for a bit. There’s a problem.”

“……A problem?”

He had never shown it outwardly, but had she somehow sensed Lenok’s mood?

At Jenny’s words, Lenok smiled wryly and got up.

With a wave of his hand, he summoned the staff that was standing in a corner of the office and grasped it.

As soon as he limped out of the office, he heard someone shouting from the first-floor lobby below the tower’s staircase.

“I already confirmed that your complexion is as stiff as a corpse, and you’re still trying to play dumb?!”

“Well, that’s not the case… Please calm down.”

Amidst the piles of various materials and medicines, an elderly woman was standing with her hands behind her back, shouting.

And in front of her, a young man with a pale face was constantly bowing.

However, the elderly woman did not care about the young man’s humble reaction and continued to shout relentlessly.

“I don’t want to hear it!! I can’t stay in the same space as a sinister being like you, so get out of here!!”

“……Apothecary?”

Yanushika Greenway, the level 7 apothecary who had dramatically cured Lenok’s mana poisoning.

She was one of the few people who had treated Lenok’s condition in exchange for resolving his grudge with the drug lord.

Aside from the vampire doctor Murphy, she was the first person Lenok had entrusted with his own treatment.

After the tower had stabilized, he had recruited the apothecary to oversee the medicine business department, but what had gone wrong?

“It seems that among the movers who are bringing in new materials for the tower, there’s someone the apothecary doesn’t like.”

Jenny said, pressing her temples with a troubled expression.

“She’s been trying to kick that man out since earlier, stopping all other work.”

“……”

At Jenny’s words, Lenok listened for a moment to what the apothecary was shouting.

Sinister being. Unpleasant aura. Stiff complexion and pulse?

“If we’re talking about sinister, the curse users and shamans staying in the tower are no less so.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Why is she picking on a mover instead of the other sorcerers?”

Jenny sighed.

“I want to mediate, but the apothecary’s status in this field is considerable, and she’s someone you brought in yourself, so….”

“You mean it was difficult to intervene arbitrarily. I understand.”

Lenok said, and immediately snapped his fingers.

Fzzzt…!!

Immediately, a faint current flickered from the tower’s ceiling, teleporting Lenok and Jenny to the middle of the lobby, dozens of meters below.

“T-Tower Lord…!!”

The appearance of Lenok in the center of the tower lobby in the blink of an eye caused a stir all around.

“Is it something that Gyeollyeo himself has to deal with?”

“Is that man the legendary archmage?”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen his face. He’s much younger than I thought….”

Businessmen and mages of the tower who were seeing Lenok for the first time couldn’t help but whisper quietly.

“The woman standing next to him. She’s not a mana user, but she used spatial teleportation with him.”

“There was no sign before they appeared. Has he already mastered teleportation magic?”

“I can’t read the pattern. It doesn’t even seem to be mana….”

Tap, tap.

As Lenok walked out, tapping his staff, the surrounding voices disappeared as if washed away.

In the silent lobby hall, only the sound of the staff echoed between the apothecary and the young man.

“Yanushika Greenway.”

Lenok, standing between the two, asked in a low tone.

“Is there a problem?”

“……Gyeollyeo. It’s good that you came.”

The apothecary glared at the young man with a stern expression.

“This man, he must be kicked out of the tower immediately. He’s a sinister being. The longer he stays in the tower, the more harm he’ll cause.”

“H-Harm? That’s harsh!.”

The apothecary shouted even louder at the young man’s protest.

“You! I don’t know what you did, but you’re good at talking after playing such a creepy trick! If you don’t leave the tower immediately, I’ll kick you out myself!”

“No, at least you have to tell me what the problem is!”

“T-That’s….”

The apothecary was about to say something, but then closed her mouth with a troubled expression.

At that attitude, the young man spoke with a more confident air.

“I’m just here on a business trip to move materials to be transported to the tower. If you act like this, I’ll have no choice but to formally protest through my workplace-”

“Enough.”

Lenok, who had silenced the young man with a single word, nodded.

“Jenny. Which business does this man belong to?”

“The Gulag Merchant Council. They were selected as a collaborative business last month and are merchants who are moving in for the first time today….”

“Give the workers from that side double pay for today.”

Lenok said, and started walking towards the young man.

“Since other workers will have to work more because this man is gone.”

“Huh? W-Wait a minute. What do you mean-!!”

Before the young man could finish speaking, Lenok tapped his staff lightly.

At that moment, the young man’s figure disappeared from the spot as if washed away.

Whoosh!!

“H-He disappeared….”

“Wait a minute. Could it be teleportation magic…?”

The expressions of the people who belatedly realized that Lenok had banished the man out of the tower turned bewildered.

“He used spatial teleportation on a complete stranger with a single gesture.”

“Even a slight miscalculation could turn him into a lump of meat.”

“Do you think that man would care about that?”

“Didn’t you see the hearing? Still, he wasn’t completely unreasonable….”

Lenok, ignoring the words coming from all directions, turned to the apothecary.

“Yanushika.”

“Gyeollyeo, I’m sorry.”

Only then did the apothecary belatedly realize the situation and apologize with an embarrassed expression.

“To others, it might seem like I was being unreasonable for no reason. I wouldn’t have anything to say even if I looked like a senile old woman.”

“I understand the situation.”

Lenok replied calmly.

“I’ll take care of his matter separately.”

“I don’t mind, but your reputation will be….”

Only then did Lenok realize what the apothecary was worried about, and he chuckled.

“It’s okay.”

In fact, the emotions and reactions directed at Lenok now were far from fear or disgust.

He knew that what Lenok had said during the hearing had caused a great impact, but seeing this situation, it seemed that Lenok’s perception had changed a little.

He had changed from a crazy mage who couldn’t be reasoned with to a crazy mage who could be reasoned with, so should he call this a gain?

However, the apothecary did not notice the meaning and nodded with a gloomy expression.

“……I’m ashamed. Still, thank you for believing in this old woman’s words.”

“If I don’t trust the people I brought, who else would I trust?”

“Oh….”

At Lenok’s words, Jenny was impressed, but Lenok ignored that reaction and immediately returned to his office.

Jenny, having confirmed that the transport work had resumed in the lobby, followed Lenok up and said.

“The reaction isn’t as bad as I thought? Maybe it’s because it looks like you’re taking care of your own people. You did a good job for once.”

“I didn’t do that to side with the apothecary.”

“What? But from giving the workers extra pay and smoothing things over-”

“The man’s role in the transport work must have been significant. I just paid more for the effort.”

Lenok said, opening the door to his office.

“Above all, the apothecary didn’t lie. In fact, that man-”

Lenok said, seeing the young man collapsed in the middle of the spacious office.

“Is a dead corpse.”

“……Huh?”

The young man who had been scolded by the apothecary was already in Lenok’s office, which was strange.

Jenny, who had paused, belatedly understood the situation and was shocked.

“You didn’t banish him, you teleported him to the office. No, but that man is a corpse?!”

“That’s what we need to ask him now.”

Lenok brought a chair and roughly threw the young man onto it.

Sitting on the sofa opposite the young man, Lenok asked.

“Get up already. How long are you going to rest like that?”

“……Resting? That’s harsh.”

At that moment, the young man, who had been slumped over like a corpse, straightened his posture.

Pale complexion, unfocused eyes. A heavy complexion that seemed devoid of color.

“The teleportation magic you used was too clean, so it took me some time to find this body’s location coordinates.”

The young man smiled gloomily at Lenok.

“Well, that wouldn’t have been possible if you hadn’t temporarily opened the tower’s barrier. You knew from the beginning, didn’t you?”

“My eyes haven’t gotten so bad that I can’t recognize a necromancer.”

Lenok said with a blank face.

The young man who had argued with the apothecary was no ordinary mover.

He was a corpse that had long since ceased to live, controlled by necromancy.

As soon as Lenok saw this young man, he recognized him as a tool of the necromancer who had contacted him before for the meeting.

“A corpse controlled by necromancy doesn’t get tired. The idea of entering the tower under the guise of a mover wasn’t bad.”

Lenok scoffed, looking at the young man who had closed his mouth.

“But it seems you forgot that there are many masters of all kinds of magic residing in the tower. Did you think that none of the sorcerers gathered here would recognize a corpse?”

“My necromancy is perfect. Only the apothecary noticed. I should have used the situation where that woman couldn’t properly state my identity to mess with her.”

“The apothecary is in a state where she can’t state her diagnosis due to some circumstances. She tried to kick you out without revealing that you were a corpse, so it’s not strange that people would misunderstand her.”

The apothecary Yanushika Greenway was an apothecary who had reached level 7 using a powerful geas. [A geas is a magical compulsion or prohibition.]

She held a binding that made her completely forget the memories of the patients she had diagnosed.

If the apothecary had revealed on the spot that the young man was a corpse controlled by necromancy, she would have forgotten that fact due to her geas.

That was why Yanushika Greenway, knowing that the young man was a corpse manipulated by forbidden magic, had tried to kick him out without being able to state the reason.

“If you were going to contact me, there would have been other ways. Why did you stupidly crawl into the tower yourself and get caught by the apothecary?”

“Ha! I don’t know who’s talking. You haven’t left the tower for days since the hearing ended.”

The necromancer said with a snort.

“I sent a contact directly to the tower, risking danger, because I had urgent news to deliver, but I’m appalled at this kind of neglect.”

“Neglect….”

Lenok chuckled and nodded.

“Let’s hear what the urgent news is first.”

“I was going to tell you sooner if you hadn’t questioned the apothecary’s actions.”

The young man said, and slowly opened his mouth.

“The schedule for the meeting between the extreme ability users has been confirmed. You have to decide whether to participate within 24 hours, and the gathering will take place within 48 hours, so please refer to the location and contact method.”

“A meeting….”

The meeting that had been planned before dealing with Lapis’s matter was finally being convened.

But the reason Lenok had brought the necromancer into his office was not for that reason.

The information about the leader that he had obtained through Ars Nova’s search engine.

The definitive fact that the head of Pandemonium had manifested somewhere in the world.

At this point, the fact that the leader had started to move meant that it was clearly comparable to the Gye Baek incident. [Gye Baek is likely a reference to a previous significant event or character in the story.]

“And about the meeting, it seems that the scheduled meeting place will be changed.”

The young man, not noticing Lenok’s thoughts, said casually.

“Someone finished manifesting and disappeared in the forbidden ritual site of the Balkans, so the ley lines have become unstable.”

At that moment, Lenok’s whole body froze as if it had been frozen.

“……What?”