Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 537

Thud!

Even the slow footsteps echoed like thunder in the silent chamber.

Lenox walked through the vast, seemingly endless hall where no one was to be seen.

Felix and Ilya looked around with curious expressions. Gyeolbaek, with his hands behind his back, slowly led the way.

It wasn’t hard to understand why they were so quiet.

The giant statues lining both walls of the chamber were easily over ten meters tall.

A grand hall of fame where dozens of giants were displayed in various poses.

The four of them were visiting the unofficial exhibition hall located in District 5.

“Adachar Ivago, commander of the civil war. Tavi Holgren, head of the city development expansion plan. Madrich Onion, former Chief Justice. Riyad Hammer, Grand Marshal of the Allied Forces…” Felix murmured, looking around calmly.

“They are all great figures who have left their mark on Balkan’s history.”

“…”

“Azlan, does this mean that someone higher than the Senate is waiting for us here?” Ilya sighed softly at Felix’s words.

“It seems like they value formality quite a bit. I think we should be prepared for it to take a considerable amount of time.”

“No, there’s no need for that at all,” Gyeolbaek, who had been listening quietly, chuckled softly. “If anything, you could say they are very far from formal.”

“Huh?”

“The fact that this place was chosen as the meeting point today is solely due to his will.”

“What on earth does that…”

While the others blinked, not immediately understanding the meaning of his words, Lenox quietly looked around at the statues.

Armor, uniforms, old robes, and research gowns—their attire, age, appearance, and demeanor varied greatly.

If there was one thing they had in common, it was that the statues were all incredibly large.

Lenox, who had been gazing at the giants sculpted and displayed in various forms, regardless of gender or age, made eye contact with one of the statues that was staring at him.

“…”

“…”

Lenox tilted his head with a blank expression, while the statue’s lips twitched.

Ilya, who turned around to look at Lenox, was startled by the sight of the statue and began to gather her magic power.

“In, intruder…!! Ah, no, is it a statue?”

“Yes, that’s exactly the reaction I wanted!” Kooong!!

Only then did the statue, sounding satisfied, begin to move.

No, it wasn’t a statue.

It was just a giant, incredibly tall, who had been hiding among the statues, holding his breath as if he were one of them.

A middle-aged man with a height of over 5 meters, a large belly, a bushy beard, and a grinning expression.

However, his physique and weight were so enormous that even if all four of the others were combined, they would not be a match for him.

Thump, thump, thump!!

With a light step, he stood in front of the four of them, and the sound of his footsteps alone seemed to make the entire hall echo.

Only then did Felix and Ilya, belatedly grasping the situation, gape in astonishment.

“A, a giant race!!”

“How can a race that was said to have gone extinct decades ago be in the central district of a megacity…!!”

“Hahaha!! Yes, that’s normal. I chose this place because I wanted to see that expression!!” Gyeolbaek, not at all surprised by the giant who was shouting in a booming voice and patting his belly, nodded his head.

“Lucinder, please understand. It has been too long since the people of this era have directly witnessed a being like you.”

“What? That’s not what I wanted to say. To be discovered first by such a boring guy, damn it!!”

“It wasn’t exactly hiding, you were being too obvious,” Lenox, who had been listening to the giant’s grumbling, retorted calmly. “If you wanted to be discovered at the right moment and see the reaction, you should have chosen your target well. You have a strange hobby.”

“Huh, you’re even more arrogant than I thought,” the giant snorted and retorted. “How was I supposed to know you were such an emotionless blockhead? I just wanted to play a prank on the humans I was meeting after a long time!!”

“…”

It wasn’t that he was emotionless, but that he had noticed it since entering the exhibition hall.

However, this made it clear that the other party was a skilled individual who could even deceive Felix and Ilya’s senses.

Even Lenox, who was looking at him directly, found it difficult to gauge his potential and power, as he possessed an elusive aura and vitality.

“Since you don’t know each other, I’ll introduce you,” Gyeolbaek turned his back to the giant and turned his gaze to the others, opening his mouth. “Lucinder, no surname. A survivor of the extremely rare giant race that was thought to be extinct, and a member of the Giant Soldier Corps that has existed for over 200 years. A disciple of the Ascended…”

Gyeolbaek paused for a moment before continuing. “And a member of the Council of Elders who oversaw all the gates of the entire city.”

The Council of Elders.

Lenox knew that this was the name of the institution and organization that existed above the Central Council that Gyeolbaek had mentioned.

Meyer had also mentioned them, saying that the Council of Elders was the one who decided the mayor’s position.

A mysterious organization shrouded in secrecy. The true giants of the light who had been with the city in every moment of its establishment, development, expansion, and glory.

Lenox was now meeting a member of the Council of Elders for the first time.

…I never dreamed that the giants of the light would actually be giants.

“Just call me a fat old pig who’s only getting fatter. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?” The giant, Lucinder, retorted indifferently, complaining to Gyeolbaek.

“Anyway, Claude, you’ve gotten strange as you’ve gotten older. You’re paying attention to unnecessary formalities. Are humans all the same in the end?”

“Please understand. I don’t even remember which faction or organization you belonged to anymore,” Gyeolbaek smiled wryly, shook his head lightly, and spoke again. “Lucinder holds a special position as the gatekeeper in the Council of Elders. He is also the only person who can temporarily grant us access to the restricted area.”

“…”

“This operation is a designated order issued through the authority of the Council of Elders, not the Central Council. This is the first time since the Fall of Paradise, and the first new operation related to the project in 20 years.”

‘Fall of Paradise?’ Lenox frowned inwardly at those words.

He was beginning to get an idea of what incident Gyeolbaek was referring to.

However, Lucinder cut off Gyeolbaek’s words as soon as he heard them. “I don’t know what Claude was talking about, but the Council of Elders is not some superior organization to the Central Council.”

“Huh?”

“Most of the guys who were trying to step away from the front lines have retreated to the back, do you think they’d care about how the city is running now?”

“…”

“In the first place, the fact that things have come to this is our fault too… Ah, never mind. I’ve roughly confirmed your faces, so let’s finish this quickly.”

He picked his teeth with one hand, and with the other, he grabbed a handful of his bushy beard.

Lucinder pulled his beard down and opened his mouth wide, then suddenly stuck his finger down his throat.

“Ueeeeegh!!”

“…”

While the others were speechless at the bizarre sight, Lucinder’s antics continued.

The moment he lowered something that was covered in saliva from his throat, an unknown array of ancient characters began to swirl in the air above his thick finger.

Faaaat!!

With a mysterious blue glow, the array of characters self-assembled in the air.

Lucinder gestured indifferently to the other four. “All four of you have entered District 6 at least once, right? Make sure, because there could be a rejection reaction.”

While it was true for Lenox and Ilya, had Felix and Claude also entered the restricted area once in their own ways?

Indeed, even Lenox would not have been able to enter District 6 without the help of Palad O’Con, the Deputy Director of the Agency.

As the four of them touched the array of characters floating in the air, an unknown pattern like a barcode was engraved on the back of their left hands.

Chik!!

Lucinder, having confirmed it, picked up the array of characters again and swallowed it.

Lucinder burped loudly and grumbled, smacking his lips. “Damn it, it always feels disgusting. Why do we have to make the emergency access to the districts a biometric code and go through this crap? Am I really still working at this age?”

“…”

The gatekeeper who held the access rights to all the gates of the megacity.

Absurdly, the way he stored it was by swallowing it directly into his stomach.

Perhaps the capacity of the access rights made up of biometric codes was so vast and complex that ordinary humans could not handle it.

Since he held the temporary access rights to the city’s gates, including the restricted area, in his stomach, the term ‘gatekeeper’ was not at all wrong.

Only then did Lenox understand why the special organization called the Council of Elders could exist in a different position and status from the Central Council’s organization.

Special knowledge or authority that could not be inherited within the order established by the city’s founders.

Those who preserved and managed the legacy of the old era, which was close to being obsolete, even though they should have retired or died a long time ago.

Perhaps that was why they could coexist with the powerful figures of the Central Council, while not interfering with each other.

“Well, even if it looks like that, it’s still a real living code… Go into the district quickly before I die. You’re all ready, right?” Gyeolbaek, who had been staring at the biometric code engraved on his hand, nodded his head.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Lucinder. It must be a considerable burden for you as well.”

“Enough with the useless flattery. If it weren’t for the requests of others, I wouldn’t have started this in the first place…” Lucinder muttered indifferently, his gaze sweeping over the other four before stopping at Lenox.

“I also wanted to see the face of the guy who killed Onion.”

“…”

Despite the giant’s gaze suddenly turning cold, Lenox was not surprised.

Madrich Onion. An 8-level military mage.

Lenox also knew that he was a former Chief Justice and a participant in the project decades ago, and that he was acting as an agent of the Council of Elders.

Since they had met a member of the Council of Elders, he had expected that this topic would come up at some point.

“Yes, I thought you wouldn’t have ordinary talent to kill that stiff-necked judge… but this is definitely beyond my expectations,” Lucinder mumbled, scratching his beard with a strange look in his eyes. “There’s a strangely similar feeling. I can see why the others are concerned.”

“Are you talking about Madrich Onion?”

“…No, I said something unnecessary,” Lucinder said that and slowly got up from his seat.

Thump!!

With a heavy step, Lucinder, who had instantly raised his line of sight, spoke. “However, you should remember that someone has to bear the burden of Onion’s karma, Ban.”

“…”

“It is our duty and right to rectify the failure of the project. Getting close to that secret means that you must also share the responsibility.”

A declaration that was completely different from before, rigid and heavy.

It felt like the weight of a judge’s verdict and sentence, a proposal that should be accepted as truth.

“Know that leaving you room in this matter is also an extension of that.”

Thump, thump!!

The giant’s voice echoed through the silent hall as he walked out without a care.

His figure disappeared into the darkness with indifferent steps, not caring about the gazes around him.

Only Lucinder’s last words echoed quietly among the inorganic statues. “Perhaps even all the people related to you.”

“…”

Until the giant had completely disappeared, no one dared to open their mouths.

The intense will he had scattered at the last moment was so powerful that it seemed to press down on the entire space.

It was not the kind of will that a being who had lived as a gatekeeper or a high-ranking official could possess.

It was proof that the fat, old, and bearded giant was once a warrior who had been more perfectly trained than anyone else.

“That giant, you said he was a disciple of the Ascended,” Lenox turned his gaze to Gyeolbaek. “Whose disciple was he?”

“…If he doesn’t say it himself, it’s not something I can tell you,” Gyeolbaek, who had quietly refused to answer, glanced at the biometric code engraved on his wrist and nodded his head. “As Lucinder said, we don’t have much time. I’ll guide you to the gate.”

* * *

Tuk!

The sound of a broken brick rolling down as he slightly misstepped.

Even after a long time, the sound of the fallen brick hitting the ground could not be heard.

Instead, what pierced their ears was the grand sound of water, echoing endlessly.

Kwaaaa!!!

Due to the constant downpour of water that was adjusting the water level, mist was rising from all directions, obscuring their vision so much that it was difficult to see even a foot ahead.

Only the huge pipes that could be seen sporadically through the mist as they walked along the boundary line of the waterway allowed them to guess the scale of the dam.

“It’s truly an enormous scale,” Felix said.

“It is said to supply 40% of the water resources of the 20th district alone, so its scale must be beyond imagination,” Ilya replied, adjusting her backpack slightly. “The existence of this dam is said to affect the climate of the 22nd district, so it must be having an impact beyond what we can see.”

The multipurpose gravity dam in the 22nd district.

At the very end of the facility that boasted an overwhelming size and scale among all the facilities in the megacity.

Gyeolbaek had been walking along the boundary line of this huge waterway with the other three for a long time.

“But I don’t know how there could be a way to enter the restricted area from here,” Felix said. “Wasn’t it supposed to be a way to enter the inside through proper procedures, since we were granted authority?”

“That’s not wrong,” Lenox, who had been listening quietly, said. “What do you mean?” Felix asked.

“I mean that the path we are heading to is the proper procedure.”

At that moment, the water pouring down incessantly above the four of them began to split to both sides.

Kugugugu!!!

The heavy waterfall, which seemed to easily weigh over thousands of tons, split to the left and right, revealing the wall of the dam.

The waterfall, which had changed direction, crashed down on the four of them, but no one was knocked back by the impact.

They simply stood there, facing the split wall of the dam, while being hit by the raging torrent of water.

Felix, who had opened his mouth blankly and raised his head, murmured. “…It was hidden in a place like this.”

The shape of a huge gate, with yellow and black stripes overlapping, was surrounded by a warning pattern that was nearly tens of meters long.

Red warning lights were flashing incessantly from the ceiling, signaling danger, and a shockwave close to a roar was erupting as the gate slowly began to open.

Kugugugu!!!

A person walked out of the slightly opened gap in the gate, which was just wide enough for one person to pass through, and bowed his head.

[Welcome to the Kurvas Multipurpose Gravity Dam.]

His entire body was covered in an unknown gray suit, and he wore something like a huge gas mask on his face.

A bizarre design that did not reveal any skin on his genderless body.

He, who was staring at the group with a gas mask shaped like a dragonfly, slightly moved his body and opened the way to the gate.

[The administrator is waiting for you. I will guide you.]

“…There was an administrator in this dam,” Ilya said, slightly surprised.

Lenox turned his head at those words. “Is there a problem?”

“It’s a term that refers to the highest public official rank, excluding the Central Council of the City Government,” Felix said. “You’re saying that the person in charge of managing the dam is one of the top 100 most powerful people in this city.”

“…”

That was probably not a person who was dispatched only to manage this dam. Felix and Ilya realized that fact as soon as they heard the word ‘administrator’.

The four of them immediately followed the person wearing the strange gas mask and walked into the gate.

As soon as they entered the gate, a hangar with an overwhelmingly large volume that matched its size came into view first.

People covered in suits and wearing gas masks were walking around, managing something that was piled up in the hangar.

The guide ignored his colleagues and led them to a secluded passage above the hangar.

Ilya looked down at the people walking around below with a somewhat curious expression. “They’re all covering their bodies and faces. Is there something that requires hygiene or disinfection?”

“But if that were the case, there would be no reason not to have us wear similar items near the hangar,” Felix said.

“It’s not a matter of disinfection or hygiene,” Lenox, who had been quietly looking around, opened his mouth at Felix and Ilya’s words. “If anything, it’s a matter of survival.”

“What?” At Lenox’s words, the guide, who was walking in front, seemed to flinch slightly.

“The internal magic power inside the gate is being divided and split very finely,” Lenox said, lightly taking off his glove and stroking the back of his hand.

His extremely sensitive magic power sensing ability had already recognized how the magic power in this space existed.

“A completed superhuman would be fine, but if an ordinary person were exposed to it for too long, their internal organs would be damaged. The suits they’re wearing seem to be a measure to protect against that.”

“That’s…”

“Are you saying that a phenomenon close to radiation exposure is occurring inside this space?”

“Radiation exposure… that’s the most accurate way to put it,” Lenox chuckled. “The reason they’re wearing such large gas masks is probably for a similar reason. If this kind of radiation exposure enters through the respiratory system, there’s no way to survive.”

“It’s hard to believe that such a phenomenon is occurring inside the Kurvas Dam…” Ilya said with an astonished expression. “The 20th district is where nearly a third of the people in the megacity live. Is it really possible that such dangerous radiation exposure is occurring at a dam that manages the water resources of such a district…”

[It is not that radiation exposure is occurring at the Kurvas Dam,] At that moment, the guide, who had been walking ahead, quietly opened his mouth. [The Kurvas Dam was built here to prevent the radiation exposure of magic particles.]

“What on earth does that…”

[It seems that you, Kyunryeon, have already guessed. I’m surprised. The rumors were not unfounded.]

Lenox did not bother to respond to the flattery.

He simply nodded his head slightly with a blank expression.

However, the guide seemed to like Lenox’s attitude even more, and chuckled softly.

[The fact that the prohibition laws have been lifted and the boundary between light and darkness has collapsed is not entirely a bad thing. No one could have predicted that such a powerful and fascinating mage would exist in the darkness of the city.]

“…What did you say?”

[Let me introduce myself again.] Click!!

After passing through a dark passage and corridor, they arrived at a secluded room.

The door closed as the group entered, and he slowly took off the gas mask he was wearing.

Pshhhhhh!!

As the lights turned on in the room, gas and spray containing disinfectant burst out, soaking the guide from head to toe.

Only then did Lenox realize that the room they had entered was a passage close to a sterilization room.

The guide, who had swept back his wet hair, opened his mouth. “Kigan Grimes, First-Class Administrator of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy.”

A young man who appeared to be around Lenox’s age smiled faintly and turned his head.

“I am in charge of guiding you, including Claude Azlan, to the restricted area in this operation.”

“…”

At that moment, a faint change in the presence of Felix and Ilya, who were standing behind, could be felt.

The other side of the young man’s face, who had turned his head, was that of an elderly man who looked to be well over eighty years old.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen your face, Grimes,” At Gyeolbaek’s words, who had been watching without saying anything, Kigan smiled wryly and extended his hand.

“Azlan. It’s nice to see you. It’s been a while since the main meeting 20 years ago, hasn’t it?”

“It’s truly regrettable to meet in a place like this.”

“It’s alright. It was my decision to accept the position of administrator of this dam,” Kigan maintained a faint smile and pointed to a spacious conference room visible outside the sterilization room. “We don’t have much time. Can we get straight to the point?”

The administrator’s gaze, which was fixed with a mask-like smile, seemed to be shaking anxiously.

“In order to ‘launch’ you within the hour that the restricted area access is activated, we will need to make several preparations.”

Grimes’s message was deeply meaningful.

However, Felix, who had been listening to those words, asked with a serious expression. “If you’re talking about launching, does that mean we have to fly?”

“No, it’s a bit different from that…?”

“That’s a relief. It’s been over 30 years since I forgot how to fly…”

“…”

Does that mean he could fly before? Everyone forced themselves to suppress the question that naturally arose in the back of their minds and headed to the conference room.