Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 130

The man chuckled at the giant’s words.

‘I was originally planning to just hide in the back and watch things unfold, but there’s something I wanted to ask.’

‘What is it?’

‘If you were involved in this, you must have met him. There was a rather cocky mage, wasn’t there?’

‘Settlement (2)’

‘A mage…? Ah, I see.’

Croken quickly realized who the man was talking about, but instead, he tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

‘There was a young punk I wanted to crush. But he shouldn’t be someone you, Myeong, would care about.’

Though he called him a punk, the giant roughly knew the level the man before him had reached as a black mage.

A grand mage who had gone beyond the level of pioneering his own ‘domain’ [a mage’s personal space where they have enhanced control over magic] and had begun to interfere with the laws of physics.

A feat Croken accomplished through his bare body and martial arts, achieved by the power of spells.

In terms of level, he was a monster nearing the end of level 7, or perhaps already knocking on the door of level 8.

To catch the eye of such an old monster, Lenok was too young and too weak of a mage.

However, the man, Myeong, shook his head with a chuckle.

‘I’m planning to recommend that young one to Pandemonium [a powerful organization of mages]. You should also cast a vote.’

‘…..What?’

‘During this operation, I threw him a few puzzles for fun. But he followed along much better than I thought. He’s got passion, he’s smart, and his potential is great. He’ll be a very useful asset soon.’

‘Hmm…’

At the unexpected proposal, Croken silently stroked his chin, lost in thought.

‘I don’t like it, but…’

Who would have imagined that the punk who was struggling in the factory would grow this much?

Even for Croken, who had been through all sorts of dirty and vile battlefields, his growth rate was rare. It must be even more so for Myeong, who was also a mage.

It wasn’t unreasonable for him to take an interest.

After much deliberation, Croken chuckled.

‘Sounds interesting. Fine.’

‘It’s decided then.’

Myeong finally got up from his seat and dusted off his thighs.

‘There’s a gathering in six months. I’ll wrap things up before then.’

‘Do as you please. That’s not my concern.’

With a nonchalant reply as he rose, Croken looked down at the man.

A massive physique that far exceeded that of a human.

They only shared the category of being the same creature, and no one would think that Croken was the same species as a frail human.

‘To be honest, I came here today thinking I’d have a go at you.’

‘That’s unexpected.’

Myeong replied with a smile.

‘Well, I wouldn’t mind. I was curious about the sound of a crocodile’s cry anyway.’

‘No, it’s fine. Seeing you take an interest in a young one like an old man has killed my mood.’

‘………’

Leaving Myeong speechless, Croken chuckled.

‘It’s fine to look after the kids, but you should be careful. If you go around blabbing about the secrets of the world… you might attract the unnecessary attention of the Ascended [beings who have transcended mortal limitations].’

‘Do you think transcendent beings who have attained enlightenment would move for something like this?’

Myeong laughed.

‘Even the Heavenly Eye, who pitied humans, only let go of his dirty attachment right before his death. They have no interest in this world anymore.’

‘Heh heh heh… I’m not interested in philosophical debates. There’s only one thing that matters.’

Croken turned his back with a sneer.

He had no interest in grand ideals, logic, or the secrets of the world.

Now, as always, there was only one thing that Croken Asilrus wanted.

With heavy steps, his massive body slowly disappeared back into the darkness.

‘If you don’t want to be devoured by the mysteries of ascension, keep your promise.’

Myeong silently stared at his back for a long time before turning his head.

A brief moment passed when the starlight was obscured, and no one was left in the ruins.

A week had already passed since the collaboration with the agent ended.

During that time, Lenok had been focusing on resting his body without moving from his house.

‘Ugh…!!’

He spat out vomit into the sink and washed it away with water.

It wasn’t just because of the aftereffects of mana poisoning.

‘That Dray bastard…’

The elixir Headlock, which was said to help with internal injuries.

As it was said, it seemed to help to some extent in treating the aftereffects of pumping his body with mana, so he continued to take it, but the fatally bitter taste was unbearable.

He was taking the fourth dose of the medicine Dray had given him as a gift, but he couldn’t get used to it, and he had just spat out the bitter liquid that came up.

‘…..No matter how I think about it, it seems like he gave me this medicine on purpose.’

Lenok glared at it with a mix of annoyance, then went back to his bed after leaving the bathroom.

Compared to the one-room where he used to sleep with just a blanket, he had come a long way.

While feeling proud of what he had achieved, he also felt tired at the fact that he still had a long way to go.

But for now, it was time to rest comfortably.

The operation with the agent was exhausting in many ways, and Lenok had used a considerable amount of his energy to finish the job smoothly.

He hugged a soft pillow and picked up his phone.

The message box, which was empty when he first opened it, was now full of contacts he had built up without realizing it.

More than ten emails had already arrived in his message box while he was asleep.

[Jenny: Hey. Are you awake? The agent side contacted me about the operation’s performance settlement. I want to hear your opinion before we start negotiating, so please contact me when you wake up.]

[Chen: I owe you a lot from this operation. It’s no exaggeration to say it was thanks to you. I want to buy you a meal, so contact me when you can. I’d also like to introduce you to the business I’m doing.]

[Evelyn: You better answer the phone before I go to that woman’s bar again. She’s refusing to settle the accounts without you, so what are you relying on?]

[Dylan: I found a good job, are you interested in doing it together? I’m not saying I’ll pay your price, but an acquaintance of mine wants to hire you.]

[Aris: Lenok. I’ve selected themes that you might be interested in and placed them in the lab. I’ll be busy preparing for an academic conference, so I won’t be lecturing for a while. If you have any personal inquiries, please come to my office.]

[Hina: I have something I want to ask about the magic you used last time…]

‘They sent a lot.’

The most urgent matter was the settlement of the operation’s performance bonus.

It seemed that Evelyn was trying to re-evaluate the compensation for the freelancers who participated in this operation after the matter of deposing Senator Reisen was somewhat settled.

Although Jenny was acting as Lenok’s agent, it would be difficult to decide on compensation without his consent.

Judging from the talk about negotiation, it seemed that she was planning to give him goods instead of money…

Lenok, who left a reply saying that he would listen to the conditions, got up from his seat and poured a nutritional supplement into his mouth.

He never skipped health supplements and diet control, even when he was busy with work.

He wasn’t at the point of taking a paprika sandwich like before, but he was always considering purchasing portable health foods.

After pouring in the supplements, he took out the meat he had stored in the refrigerator to defrost, then groaned and lay back down.

The aftereffects of mana poisoning were still severely tormenting Lenok.

On top of that, he had smoked Feather Fall, which had worse side effects than the Red Scarlet he used to smoke, so it was no wonder that the pain lasted long.

In the past, he had solved these side effects with Stemona purchased from the auction, but even such elixirs were hard to find through online auctions.

‘There’s a limit to the rewards I get from requests. I have to go out and find them myself.’

Combining the incentives he had received from several operations and the additional amount sent from Dyke, he had accumulated close to 1 billion cell [currency unit].

It was proof that Lenok’s value had risen that much, but it was also proof that he had been recognized for his contribution to the operations.

It was a huge sum that he could not have dreamed of when he first arrived in this city, but it was not enough for Lenok, who had to make continuous investments in his health and life.

‘The VIP auction at the underground auction house. This is the only route I can think of right now.’

Even this was possible because of the connections Lenok had built up in both the dark and light sides.

A party of big shots that was hard to even hear rumors about, let alone approach, with a simple freelancer status.

He needed to set foot in that place where all sorts of rare items and artifacts were traded.

To do that, he had to get his body into a state where he could move as quickly as possible and return to the field.

With tears in his eyes, Lenok took out another Headlock.

‘……If possible, I need to find a medicine that tastes good.’

‘Reisen Azamaha was one of the people who had a great interest in controlling superhumans who had awakened their magic power.’

Evelyn said as she put down the teacup she was holding.

A unique fragrance flowed from the steaming cup, stinging the tip of his nose.

It was probably water brewed from one of the tea leaves she grew. It was nothing to be surprised about.

‘She tried to interfere with all the operations our agents were conducting and tried to cut the budget, but she wanted to use the power we had.’

‘So you took the initiative before she could get you? You made a wise decision.’

Jenny interrupted her with a bored expression.

Evelyn sighed at her blatant gesture.

‘……I know you’re not very interested in this story. I’ve been telling useless stories with a guest here.’

‘If you know, hurry up and give me the catalog. You have to show what Ban can choose.’

Her eyes shone sharply through her ebony black hair.

‘You’re not trying to buy sympathy by calling us here, are you?’

Evelyn silently turned her head towards Lenok, who had a pale complexion.

‘Ban. Now that I think about it, your broker is really annoying and good at her job.’

‘………’

‘Could you ask her if she’s hiding any slush funds? If she has anything to hide, I’d like to dig it up.’

‘Ha, unlike a stupid old man like Reisen, I won’t be arrested for getting caught with my petty cash. Are you trying to be sarcastic?’

Lenok rubbed his temples as the fierce conversation went back and forth.

The war of nerves was so sharp that his head was throbbing.

Jenny understood very well that Evelyn was in a position where she couldn’t easily show off her power, and conversely, Evelyn wasn’t stupid enough to fall for such wordplay.

He knew why Jenny was being so aggressive now.

While the operation was in progress, she had been holding back her words in case something happened, but now it was time to boldly assert how much Lenok had contributed to the operation.

Rather than guessing and expecting how much Evelyn would take care of Lenok, her argument was that if there was something they wanted, they should actively claim it.

Eventually, Evelyn sighed and nodded.

‘You’re being really harsh from the start. Okay, I’ll reveal our conditions first.’

‘You should have done that from the start.’

‘Do you have any thoughts on working as our negotiator? If it’s you, you could squeeze every last penny out of them. It would be a great help in saving the agent’s budget.’

‘Do you think you can afford my salary?’

‘You two, stop it and let’s get to the point?’

It was only after Lenok threw out a word that the war of nerves disguised as a conversation ended, and Evelyn began to explain.

‘We succeeded in bringing down Reisen, but I want you to know that the budget spent to make this operation a success was not small.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I can pay your price, Ban, as per the existing contract, but it’s difficult to pay the incentives for this operation in cash.’

‘………’

In short, it meant that the agent side didn’t have enough budget to pay the incentives in cash.

It wasn’t something that was hard to understand.

If they hadn’t found out about the slush fund in this operation, Reisen, who had realized Evelyn’s intentions, would have retaliated against her.

From Evelyn’s point of view, she would have wanted to make sure this operation was a success, no matter how much money it cost.

‘If you can’t pay in cash, it sounds like you’re going to pay with other goods.’