Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 34

There might come a time when I need someone to clear their throat beside me.

It’s important to become strong enough to cut that leash myself and survive alone… but no one can guarantee the future.

Preparing for that day, I plant a small seed in this greedy old man today.

No one knows how it will sprout and cast its shadow.

#

I submit the sample to the patent office and finish the work.

Fortunately, Amnak Pharmaceutical had prepared the related documents in advance, so Lenok only needed to submit the sample and have it verified.

After receiving a much more courteous send-off than the district office staff in District 49, Lenok, with his tired body, headed straight to the orchard in District 31.

He wanted to report the commission status to Jenny and go rest right away, but replenishing his dwindling supply of cigarettes was far more important.

It was a very precious item that allowed Lenok to forget his fatigue and move his body like ordinary people.

Just being able to dilute the penalty even for a short time was worth investing a large portion of the money Lenok earned.

“Well, well, who do we have here? A very precious guest has arrived.”

The slovenly old man, squatting on a chair, grinned at him.

He was still holding his pipe as before, and he tapped his knee while looking at Lenok.

“I was rude last time, not recognizing a distinguished person. Now I see you’re a very talented magician.”

“Shopkeeper, is there something you don’t like?”

The old man chuckled at Lenok’s dumbfounded question.

“No, honestly, I was a bit surprised. If the rumors have reached my ears, it means you’ve managed to adapt to this place to some extent… I couldn’t quite imagine it.”

The old man’s eyes, spewing purple smoke, flashed eerily for a moment.

“I didn’t think that idiot who didn’t even know what he was smoking would still be alive.”

“……..”

Lenok let out a hollow laugh without a word.

He was smiling cheerfully on the outside, but thinking such things on the inside; it seemed like everyone here lived with a knife in their belly.

Well, fine.

It was better than just grinning and hiding their true intentions until the end.

“So, are you not going to sell me the goods?”

“Oh my, what are you saying? Our shop is always wide open.”

Watching the old man instantly change his expression and rub his palms together, Lenok silently bought 100 Cashburn cigarettes at once.

“I misjudged people! I was rude not recognizing such a solid and promising young man!”

After paying close to 8 million cells, the old man came out from behind the counter, beaming, and started recommending other items.

“If you’ve made so much money, you should have said so sooner. How about this instead of Cashburn? It’s a bit addictive, but the effect is amazing. The side effects aren’t much different either. I’m not saying you should buy a lot, but it wouldn’t hurt to try a few.”

“…As long as the dependency isn’t too severe.”

Lenok had no intention of settling for the current cigarettes just because he liked them.

If there was a drug with fewer side effects or one that suited his body better, he was willing to switch at any time.

In that sense, accepting the old man’s recommendation and buying a few more was not a bad idea.

The excited old man recommended some more expensive items, but Lenok firmly refused from that point on.

He needed to save money and build up a lump sum, except for a few necessary expenses.

Lenok was planning to use all the money he had saved up to bid on the elixir Stemonia soon.

A bid price of 100 million. An additional 20 million cells were needed to be cautious.

Of course, he couldn’t expect a big effect at that price, but at least he could see if it could improve Lenok’s weak body.

If he could confirm that, it would be enough.

He always felt like he was running out of time, but he wasn’t cornered enough to throw away all his options yet.

If he grew stronger, increased his power and reputation, and accelerated his money-making, there would come a time when such expenses wouldn’t be a waste.

For Lenok, gaining that certainty was very important to keep running towards that moment.

“That’s 8.95 million cells. Live long and use this old man’s orchard for a long time.”

In the end, after picking and choosing from the things the old man recommended, he ended up paying close to 9 million cells.

After leaving the orchard, Lenok immediately went into a secluded alley and opened the newly bought cigarettes and put one in his mouth.

He had been holding back earlier to conserve cigarettes, but now that he had replenished his supply, it was important to relieve his immediate fatigue.

He leaned against the cold concrete wall, blankly letting out smoke, and fell into thought.

‘Dependency… even if I’m careful, can I escape it?’

The magician’s powerful reason and mental strength were always warning him about the smoke he was inhaling, but he also understood that it was a necessary evil to survive.

No matter how careful and thorough Lenok was in managing his dosage, he couldn’t help but become a little addicted.

Still, he thought he had been doing well enough without relying on strong drugs, but could he continue to do so in the future?

He continued his endless tightrope walk in this cold and fierce street.

He had been walking steadily without faltering, but he would stumble at some point.

At that time, Lenok wasn’t confident that he could withstand it without collapsing.

“……..”

It was useless to worry about something that hadn’t happened yet.

He forced down the bitter taste rising in his chest and headed to Jenny’s bar.

He had stayed up all night for the first time in a long time, so he planned to rest well for a while after this commission.

Before that, it was better to sort out the necessary procedures.

“Our magician has arrived. I heard the news.”

She smiled and raised her glass.

“I heard you completely wrecked that gang? The residents there were complaining about fireworks in the middle of the night.”

“………”

Lenok smiled wryly, realizing what she was talking about.

Cars exploding and jumping around was certainly a rare sight.

“I submitted the sample to the patent office. Contact the pharmaceutical company.”

While Jenny immediately picked up the phone, Lenok organized his thoughts.

Wasn’t there something he needed to tell her and ask for advice on the way here?

“Isn’t he completely crazy?”

Jenny said with a dumbfounded expression after hearing about his encounter with the councilman.

“I’ve heard that there are many obsessive people among the old hags who have jumped into politics, but this is beyond imagination.”

“Do you think they’ll make any additional moves?”

“Well… from what you’ve told me, it doesn’t seem like it. Considering how clingy they are, their response was very clean. If they approach you again, it’ll probably be…”

Jenny grinned.

“After you have a much better title than you do now. If he’s really interested in your abilities, that is.”

“He seemed to desperately want a magician.”

“Knowing a couple of political figures isn’t a bad thing. Instead of listening to their annoying complaints, they can provide various conveniences. It’s off-putting when you don’t know anything, but once you work with them, there are many convenient aspects.”

“……..”

A vivid answer as if she had experienced it herself.

Clearly, there was a concrete conviction in it that was far from simple speculation or delusion.

Reunion: This is free up to this point.

Lenok stared at her profile as she took a sip of her drink for a moment, then turned his gaze away.

She must have her own story.

In the first place, who among those rolling around in these dirty streets doesn’t have their own circumstances?

Jenny, who had established a respectable employment agency at a young age and worked as a broker for various companies and organizations, couldn’t have lived an ordinary life.

It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t curious about the details, but Lenok refrained from speaking rashly.

Just as Jenny didn’t ask Lenok anything, Lenok also needed to be considerate of her in the same way.

At least if he wanted to maintain this relationship for a long time.

The time to wait for the success fee from the pharmaceutical company wasn’t long.

They must have already confirmed that the new drug sample was registered under the name of Amnak Pharmaceutical at the patent office.

Once the tests conducted by the patent office itself were completed and the new drug was officially registered, they could start selling it in earnest.

“The payment has been made. Should I send it to your account right away?”

“Do it.”

The fee, excluding the commission, was deposited in an instant, and Lenok got up from his seat.

As Lenok was about to say goodbye and leave, she said as if she had just remembered something.

“By the way, Ban, you haven’t found any other sources of income besides this, have you?”

“Are you talking about what you mentioned last time?”

“Yes. It’s good to create multiple sources of income in advance to avoid suspicion. Commercial banks might be happy to recommend various things when a large sum of money comes into your account, but the city government’s financial supervisory authority will be different.”

Certainly, wasn’t the purpose of creating an identity to secure a plausible position in the public eye?

Because it was a cheap identity, it was difficult to dedicate himself to it more than a part-time job, and he still had to rely on this side as his main source of income since he had to keep making money.

Jenny was saying that creating such a source of income itself was important.

“The important thing is the pretense, the pretense. They can’t investigate the tens of millions of people living in this city one by one, so the city government often limits tax audits to those who are unemployed but handle large sums of money.”

“I understand what you mean. I’ll look into it when I get back.”

Of course, it wasn’t that Lenok had completely forgotten what Jenny had said.

If what she had said was really the top priority for Lenok, he would have dropped everything and knocked on the door of a hamburger shop.

It was just that he had judged that it was important to increase his reserve power even while taking such risks.

In the meantime, he had been too busy with commissions to do anything else, but now that today’s work was over, it wouldn’t be bad to look into related matters.

“I’m not urging you to get a job right away. It’s okay to just try to find a job, so at least give it a try.”

He left the bar, leaving Jenny waving goodbye behind him.

He headed home with his tired body. After finishing his work and getting confirmation about the payment, all he could think about was resting.

#

For a week.

Lenok rested without leaving his studio apartment, to the point where he felt it was excessive.

Except for the meals he made himself, he spent his time without getting up from his seat.

He didn’t move except for doing simple stretches to keep his body from stiffening, and he tried to normalize his biorhythm by calculating his sleep time.

It was the first time he had stayed up all night working since escaping the factory.

He was used to not being able to sleep due to insomnia, but considering that his body’s rhythm had been disrupted due to his irregular lifestyle, he needed to carefully regain his balance.

His body was unnecessarily delicate and fragile like glass.

It was annoying, but on the other hand, Lenok was adapting to this low-quality body to some extent.

During his rest, he tried to find a part-time job that Lenok could do, as Jenny had said, but there wasn’t much success.

Most places required consistency of about 3 days a week, and especially for adult men like Lenok, the hours they could work were often at night or early morning.

If not, the work was physically demanding or dangerous, and either way, it was difficult for Lenok.

“To have to put so much effort into choosing a part-time job…”

Lenok muttered to himself and nervously turned off his phone screen.

He had registered his profile under the name Evan Bailen on the job search site, but it seemed like it would take some time to find a job that was suitable for Lenok’s circumstances.

As he began to feel a bit of energy returning to his body, he went out for the first time in a while.

The giant city of Balkan moved slowly but surely, without paying any attention to the presence of a single person.

People moved busily through the pouring sunlight. The bustling advertising music coming from between the buildings and structures created a rustic vitality.

Lenok walked slowly through the streets so as not to get mixed up in the heat.

He received a call from Jenny for a moment, but after sending a reply that he needed to rest a little more, he arrived at the library.

In fact, the places Lenok went to while resting were somewhat fixed.

Despite having activated his phone, Lenok was used to obtaining information through the library’s vast books and data.

Especially, knowledge about magic was often organized in an analog way in specific places rather than being scattered randomly on the internet.

Today, Lenok, who had arrived at the floor where books related to magic were located, began to browse the catalog with familiar movements.

In the past, he had come here hoping to find knowledge that could vaguely hint at his magic research, but today he had a more definite purpose.

“Summoning magic, spirit formulas, homunculus… should I include necromancy too?”

He muttered to himself, took out the books according to the remembered book numbers, piled them up, and began to examine them one by one.

His commission with Amnak Pharmaceutical. Lenok had also realized something from the battle against the werewolf and the magician at the same time.

‘What if I could create a vanguard to use in battle?’

Although Lenok had lost all the mind games and the match was decided in an instant, the tactics that the two had tried to use against him were simple.

The werewolf stood in front, and the magician provided firepower from the rear.

With strength and speed that could not be compared to ordinary warriors, Gail drew attention, and the magician suppressed the space with firepower that could not be compared to firearms.

A tactic that was too simple to even grasp, but extremely effective.

There were only three ways to deal with this from the opposing side.

Either crush them in a head-on power struggle with extraordinary abilities and talents like Lenok, come up with the exact same tactics and gradually gain an advantage, or suppress the long-range firepower first.

Lenok had never felt lacking in his abilities and talents, but he was gradually feeling dissatisfied with the fact that the options he could choose were limited.