Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 55

“If we clash, they won’t be easy opponents. I recommend cooperating with Dyke to match their numbers appropriately.”

Gangs, gangs, huh…

I’ve taken on various requests against corporations, mercenaries, criminal organizations, and scavengers, but dealing with gangs is a first, except for back when I was with Amnach Pharmaceuticals.

Unlike others who follow some rules and fit into the order of the underworld, they are outlaws from birth, addicted to the stimulation of violence.

How much of a burden should I expect when facing them?

What are the chances that support from Dyke will be helpful?

Regardless of Lenox’s resolve, it’s always wise to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Assuming that Panoa’s support is completely cut off and he has to face Siger Bang alone, he needs to start preparing little by little now so that he can respond rationally even in unexpected situations.

That had to be done at least before Dyke’s second request began.

While Lenox was organizing his thoughts and reaching for his whiskey glass, Jenny brought over a laptop and turned the screen upside down.

“Take a look at this for a second.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve compiled about five requests, including anonymous ones targeting mages and designated ones targeting you. Check them out.”

I wasn’t planning on taking any jobs yet since I was still recovering… If Jenny is saying this, it must be for a reason.

Lenox immediately grabbed the laptop and scanned through the list of requests she had compiled.

Two from corporations. One from an agency.

The first three requests are common in this industry, requiring the firepower of a mage in typical disputes.

The fourth was another request from the scavengers, looking for a skilled detection-type mage to volunteer for a sewer exploration.

And the last one. Lenox paused, recognizing a familiar name, and looked up at Jenny.

“…”

Sebastian.

The name of the broker who gave him his business card last time was written there.

Considering that it’s a designated request specifically for Ban, it’s likely the person is indeed him.

“Is this how brokers do business these days?”

“I don’t know. But judging by the amount offered, it’s not just a simple sales pitch.”

The down payment Sebastian offered to hire Lenox was a whopping 22 million cells.

At this level, it was hard to believe that it was just to get Lenox’s attention.

“It seems like he really wants to hire you for something. Don’t you think this could be helpful?”

“Hmm…”

Lenox rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought, but on the other hand, he couldn’t help but be curious about the appearance of a client he hadn’t expected at all.

According to what Jenny had told him before, many of his clients were wealthy individuals rather than organizations.

And among those clients, there must be quite a few who are familiar with the inner workings of corporations.

If he could get a glimpse into the internal affairs of such corporations, especially Dyke, through Sebastian…

It could be a good deal.

“Are you sure about this?”

“I don’t care. If you were going to work with that guy, you would have gone to him already. And…”

“And?”

“My name is already listed as your broker on the Deep Web.”

Lenox couldn’t help but laugh at Jenny’s playful smile.

It hadn’t been long since they had seen off such a brutal guest, and she was already making jokes like this. She was quite thick-skinned.

And Lenox didn’t find her personality too bad.

“Okay. Then I’ll go check it out.”

“If you put in an acceptance request, he’ll call you right away. Do you know how much Sebastian bothered me when I was called in for the last summons?”

Was he already working behind the scenes without him knowing?

Lenox just smiled in response and left the bar.

#

District 45.

A small downtown area where Sebastian’s office was located.

District 40s had relatively less development, so they didn’t receive much benefit from the city government in terms of public safety or welfare, but it was still nothing compared to the completely abandoned District 50s.

It was hard to say that the members of this street were good citizens, but even if they lacked a bit of ethics, it was still a place where people lived.

In that sense, Sebastian’s office was very unique, and in a way, it matched his first impression.

Instead of an ordinary building, it had an abstract design that looked like it was designed by an architect.

Sebastian was standing in front of the building with a soft, curved shape that would have been acceptable if it were located inside District 10, with a friendly smile.

“Welcome. It’s been a while since we saw each other at the bar, hasn’t it?”

“…Is this your office?”

“Would I have called you to someone else’s office? Come in and let’s talk.”

After passing through a lavish lobby that resembled an art museum and climbing a spiral staircase, an office decorated with a cozy atmosphere against a backdrop of pure white marble came into view.

A man who had been lingering in front of the office door stood up and awkwardly greeted them.

“Ah, nice to meet you.”

A man with a worn suit and graying hair, who looked quite old.

He looked more like an ordinary office worker than someone who belonged in this industry… Would Sage from the pharmaceutical company look like that if he got older?

The bruise on his lip was noticeable.

Sebastian introduced the man very naturally.

“This is Mr. Madison, who came to my office for personal reasons. And this is the mage Ban. A very skilled freelancer.”

I don’t know when we worked together, but there’s no reason to refuse when he’s praising me.

Lenox let the man named Madison enter the office first, then whispered to Sebastian.

“The down payment you put on the Deep Web, it was for this guy, not you, Sebastian.”

“Did you notice?”

He was waiting for Lenox outside the office door, but if there was a new guest, the story was obvious.

Sebastian used this trick to double-hire Lenox, just because he wanted to hire him.

Even with Lenox’s remark, he didn’t change his expression and skillfully opened the office door, replying.

“It’s a common method used among brokers. It’s very cumbersome to change the broker registered on the Deep Web, and it’s much easier to temporarily borrow a client. We give each other compensation anyway, so it’s not a big problem.”

“I haven’t said I’ll take the request yet.”

“You can decide after hearing about it, can’t you?”

After Sebastian prepared three cups of coffee and sat down, Madison spoke with difficulty.

Blueprints.

He was the team leader of the development department at Otterble, a well-known car company in the Balkans, and he was in charge of a new model project that the company was betting everything on.

The problem was that the blueprints of the completed model were stolen by a group of freelancers of unknown origin while being transported at the end of the project.

The wound on his face was caused during a scuffle with the robbers in the process.

“I want to recover the blueprints as intact as possible, but if that’s not possible, I want to hire you on the condition that you completely eliminate the leaked blueprints.”

Sebastian gently comforted Madison, who was fidgeting even while telling his story, as if he had been through a lot.

“Don’t worry. Mage Ban has never failed a single request so far. He’s a very capable person. He will definitely be a great help.”

“…”

Lenox looked at him with an absurd gaze at his ridiculous guarantee.

It wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t right either.

He had been living quite diligently so far, but there were less than ten major jobs that could be called requests in the first place. What good would it do to say such things?

However, Madison seemed to have gained a lot of comfort from those words and quickly regained his composure.

After that, Sebastian very carefully coaxed and persuaded Madison, extracting the information needed for the request, and eventually succeeded in sending the very calm office worker back home.

Sebastian, watching Madison’s silver sedan drive away, silently took out a cigarette from his pocket.

A lighter floating in the air lit itself, and smoke rose.

Lenox quietly watched the scene and sipped the rest of his coffee.

Watching that scene, he could understand the hardships of the service industry to some extent.

After standing silently for a while, he turned his head and asked Lenox.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Lenox replied indifferently.

“Besides the fact that Madison is lying, is there anything else you can tell?”

“…If you knew that, there would be no need to talk for long.”

Sebastian, with a satisfied smile, took the seat of honor where Madison had been sitting and nodded at Lenox.

His gaze was filled with a sense of pride, as if he was not disappointing expectations.

“The wound from fighting the robbers who tried to steal the blueprints was just a bruise on his lip, what a load of bull… It was almost unbearable to listen to.”

Otterble’s new project.

The robbers who knew about the existence of the blueprints and came to steal them openly revealed their traces, and Madison was left unharmed?

Even after a fistfight, he only got a bruise on his lip and was sent back home safely, it didn’t make any sense.

The ecosystem of the Balkans that Lenox knew was not such a kind and friendly place.

“There are two possibilities we can think of.”

Sebastian, taking out a wine from under the table, skillfully filled two glasses with the contents and said.

“Madison is lying in collusion with the robbers. Or—”

“He colluded and was betrayed in return.”

“Exactly.”

If he had simply colluded with the robbers to do this, there would be no need to come to Sebastian.

In this industry, there are only people who can’t even play a supporting role in acting as a good victim.

But if he had decided to steal the blueprints and was betrayed by his group, the story would be different.

A secret that he couldn’t tell the company or the robbers.

A situation where a freelancer was needed to solve it alone.

It was a field where the help of a broker like Sebastian could reach.

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m sorry for Mr. Madison, but I have a pretty good relationship with the president of Otterble.”

Sebastian replied, raising the smartphone in his hand.

“All the conversations I had with him are recorded and will be sent to the president’s mailbox. Mr. Madison will probably have a hard time going to work tomorrow because he’ll be meeting with the police.”

“…”

He was smiling brightly on the outside, but he was truly a person who fit the description of having a knife in his belly.

In Lenox’s opinion, Sebastian’s appearance seemed closer to the image of a typical broker than Jenny’s.

As if he had noticed Lenox’s thoughts, Sebastian quickly changed his words.

“Of course, I would never think of pulling such a trick on our mage. Showing you this in front of you is also to reveal my hand and gain trust. Am I crazy to wave electronic devices around against a mage?”

…The way he spoke so fluently was similar to Jenny in another way.

In any case, if Madison was really trying to steal the blueprints and was betrayed in return, then the task was clear.

“In the end, what we need to find is not Madison’s confession, but the whereabouts of the robbers.”

“It’s time for the bounty hunter, Ban, who used to catch wanted criminals like it was a meal, to show his skills. Do you plan to accept the request?”

Why did he call him to take on this job? It must have been a decision based on Ban’s career as a bounty hunter.

Of course, he didn’t know how Lenox tracked down the wanted criminals, but it was quite a sharp judgment.

At least, it meant that he had thought about what situation Madison was in and how to solve the request before thinking about calling Lenox.

If he was such a cautious and decisive broker, it might be okay to work with him.

Sometimes, it’s not the content of the request but the person that makes you decide.

Lenox made a decision.

“Okay. But I want to receive something else as a reward, not cash.”

“Hmm, customers who want something other than money are usually difficult. But let’s hear it.”

Sebastian said that, but he replied as if he knew Lenox would make this request.

‘How much should I say…’

He didn’t plan to reveal all the information to Sebastian right away, but at least he had to mention that there were corporations trying to get involved in this game for the story to progress.

Of course, Dyke was likely to dislike this behavior, but… frankly, that was none of Lenox’s business.

After designing the operation like this from the beginning, Lenox had already lost trust in Panoa.

It would be foolish to keep his mouth shut to keep his word in this state.

Rather, Lenox was planning to actively slip Dyke’s name and use them as a shield.

So that people like Beck from Siger Bang, whom he had encountered this morning, would focus on the background instead of trying to vent their anger on Lenox.

Even though he was willing to take on the grudge, there was no need to endure unnecessary trouble in the process.

Especially with a partner who couldn’t even do their job properly.

Sebastian slowly rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought, after Lenox’s explanation, which had summarized the situation appropriately.