Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 8

Only then did Lenok extinguish his magic power and pick up his glass again.

‘As you can see, I’m quite confident in my skills, so I’d appreciate it if you could introduce me to some decent work.’

‘….For someone who came looking for work at the crack of dawn, you’re a pretty good customer. I like you.’

Jenny replied with a smirk.

‘But it’s impossible for us to entrust you with important work right away. After working together a few times and building some trust, we can connect you with good clients. In that sense, the work you can do for the time being will be limited. Is that okay?’

‘Understood.’

‘Good. Then let’s draw up a contract.’

Once the two had reached an agreement, things progressed smoothly.

After drafting a superficial employment contract that didn’t bind either party to any real freedom or responsibility, Jenny brought a thick file from behind the bar.

‘Shall we get started? Since you’ve crawled all the way here, I trust you’re not too picky about the work.’

‘As long as it doesn’t involve harming civilians.’

He wanted to avoid getting chased by the police or military for harming innocent people.

Jenny shook her head as if that was out of the question.

‘You can rest assured that won’t happen. Take a look at this first.’

She opened the file and pushed the documents inside towards Lenok.

Various papers with profiles recorded on them. Dozens of photos of people, both men and women, were attached to each page, with large, unidentifiable numbers printed in the middle.

Lenok stared at them for a while before realizing what the numbers meant.

‘….Bounties?’

‘They’re easily accessible, easy to evaluate, and the rewards are paid out immediately. There’s a reason why bounty hunters exist.’

Jenny said, pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it to Lenok.

‘It’s a very suitable gateway for weeding out the riffraff. Are you interested?’

‘I haven’t been in the city long… I’m not in a position to be picky.’

Lenok said, carefully examining the face of the person in the photo.

A young man with dull skin and a nervous expression. He had his faded brown hair cut asymmetrically and was smoking a cigarette.

‘His name is Taylor Evans. He’s from the Scavenger group, and he’s accused of attempting to steal security equipment from Achilles Corporation at the 31st district port three days ago.’

Tracking.

‘Does that mean it was unsuccessful?’

‘There’s no way the trash lurking in the sewers could have breached Achilles’ security. All the other Scavengers who planned the crime with him were killed, and only this guy managed to escape. Achilles has washed their hands of it, leaving the trash disposal to us.’

Judging by her words, the power gap between the corporation called Achilles and the organization called Scavengers seemed enormous.

‘The Scavenger branch he belonged to has already pulled out, so you can be a bit rough without any major issues.’

‘Hmm…’

‘The bounty is three million cells. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s not bad for catching a rat. What do you think?’

Three million.

It was an absurdly large sum for Lenok, who had been struggling with a shortage of tens of thousands of cells just a week ago, but he hesitated to accept it right away.

‘It’s too vague.’

Having spent a week in this city, Lenok had a rough idea of how vast and diverse it was.

Even this 49th district, where the entertainment district was located, was a completely different world from the bustling downtown area where the library was.

Trying to find someone with just a photo in a place like this seemed like too much work. While searching through the file for useful information, Lenok found something and pointed at it.

‘It says here that a blood sample was taken.’

‘Oh? Well… we do have it.’

‘Can I have it?’

‘I can give it to you, but… it won’t be of much use.’

Jenny, with a reluctant expression, had the old man retrieve the sample from behind the bar.

A torn piece of clothing with bloodstains on it.

As Lenok put it in his pocket and got up, she said,

‘What are you going to do with that?’

‘It’ll be helpful.’

‘You should forget about going to a blood mage. They’re money-grubbers who charge over five million cells per job, so you won’t even break even. But if not, that sample is only useful for identification.’

Achilles didn’t just hand it over for no reason, she said, shrugging her shoulders. Lenok ignored her and walked out of the bar.

She had mentioned blood mages, but Lenok had no intention of seeking their help.

Lenok knew a fair amount about blood magic. It was a type of magic that was quick to prepare and powerful, but it had strong backlash, and those who used it had to live with the risk of shortening their lifespan.

It was no problem in the game, but it would be a completely different story in reality.

Since it was magic that used life force as a price, it was understandable that blood mages charged so much.

However, there was no reason to borrow their hands just to catch a thief.

Lenok, avoiding people’s eyes, found a secluded spot and crouched down, placing the torn piece of clothing on the ground.

‘…..[Bloody Chase].’

With his will focused, he poured magic power, and a magic circle about one meter in diameter began to form on the ground around the piece of clothing.

Whoosh!

The magic circle, glowing with a bright red light, sucked up the bloodstains on the clothing and vibrated faintly, then turned into a red thread and began to crawl along the ground like a snake.

Lenok watched it and got up, following the thread.

This common magic was mainly used by hunter-type professions who used magic, mainly to locate or track lost prey.

Its duration was short, and proper tracking was impossible if bloodstains were mixed in. It only indicated direction rather than distance, and it could be nullified with simple interference magic, but the target didn’t seem to have such means.

After walking for a while in the direction the thread was pointing, the people thinned out and the air became thinner. Next to an unnamed construction site where the smell of people was faint, a closed-off railway area came into view.

On the rusty rails, people in shabby rags were lying down instead of trains.

None of them had normal complexions, and a strange smell penetrated his mask, as if they were defecating and urinating indiscriminately around them.

It looked like a place where the outcasts, unwelcome in both the light and shadow of the city, went to sleep.

Among them, Lenok confirmed that the thread was fixed on a man leaning against a wall in a corner of the railway and slowly walked up to him.

‘Taylor Evans?’

‘………’

Lenok sighed as he looked down at the man who was as still as a corpse.

Maintaining a safe distance, he took out the cutter he had taken from the thugs.

It was said to be a modified product from Dyke. When he pressed the two buttons on the front and back of the handle at the same time, a bluish light popped out of the cutter.

‘Oh, this is…..’

It was like a small lightsaber.

Just as Lenok was about to stab the light into the man’s thigh, admiring it, the man, who had been motionless until now, suddenly turned his body and started running away like crazy.

‘……..’

Lenok shook his head as he watched Taylor run away without looking back.

He had been fully prepared to counterattack if he attacked, but he never expected him to run away without even resisting.

Despite looking skinny, he was quite fast, and he seemed like he would soon disappear from sight.

Lenok’s mind raced quickly in a short time.

The situation was completely under Lenok’s control, and there were many options available.

He could chase after him directly, or he could cast a silence spell and shoot him as he had done before.

But running with this body required the help of cigarettes, and he wasn’t sure if he could hit him properly with a gun at that distance.

Therefore, Lenok chose the third method.

He raised his magic power, causing it to surge greatly, and then swung it into the air. A clear thought and strong will spread out from his left hand, and a hazy wave unfolded.

[Sound Wave]

Bang!

With Lenok’s incantation, an intangible shockwave rippled forward like a wave through the medium of air.

The speed at which it traveled through the medium was the speed of sound.

The intangible shockwave, which had spread out with terrifying force, quickly caught up with the fleeing man.

Thud!

It took less than three seconds for Taylor, who had been running like crazy, to lose his balance and collapse.

Lenok slowly walked towards where he had fallen.

He had been walking for quite a while since leaving Jenny’s bar, and his stamina was starting to run out. If he didn’t regulate his breathing properly, he would have to rely on cigarettes again.

After smoking continuously while researching magic, he was now down to his last five cigarettes.

He would have to ask Jenny about how to get these things after this job was over.

Taylor Evans was convulsing, covering his ears with both hands.

Red blood was streaming from between his fingers.

The common magic [Sound Wave]. It was a magic used to explore the surroundings like a bat through sound wave vibrations, but if the output was increased, it could create such power.

When he was a magic gunner, he couldn’t even attempt anything other than the prescribed methods, but with Lenok’s talent, it was enough to simply materialize the image when using magic.

His eardrums, as well as his cochlea, were probably completely shattered.

He wouldn’t be able to hear anything, let alone walk properly.

‘Hmm.’

Lenok was lost in thought as he looked down at Taylor, who was completely subdued and trembling.

After completing his research on common magic, the first thing Lenok thought about was protecting his own body.

He knew how important it was to protect himself from various attempts to endanger his safety, not just physical attacks.

If he couldn’t properly protect his senses, Lenok could end up in the same situation as Taylor.

His fragile body wouldn’t be able to withstand such an attack even once.

Thinking that, he grabbed the ankle of the fallen Taylor and turned his body around.

Bang!

A gunshot was heard, and a magical barrier around Lenok flashed and shattered.

The barrier magic that Lenok had prepared in advance had reacted to a shot that had come from somewhere.

It was a type of barrier that could be applied continuously with a single activation, so it was weak enough to be shattered by a single bullet.

But it was more than enough to buy Lenok a moment to react to the attack.

Because the moment the barrier shattered, Lenok’s thoughts and magic moved simultaneously, creating a new barrier.

The time it took to complete a barrier that was dozens of times stronger than before was only a split second.

At this level, it could withstand a tank rocket for a moment.

The moment he was sure of his safety, Lenok put a cigarette in his mouth and quickly spread his magic power in all directions to find any signs of life.

He forgot the fatigue that had been slowly accumulating in his body, and his body felt much lighter.

Even though he had been sniped in the blink of an eye, Lenok’s mind was calm.

The complex worries about the future and his life also cooled down in the face of a life-threatening situation.

Pushing aside emotions and fear, his reason and strong spirit as a mage rose to the surface and filled Lenok.

‘Nothing.’

He had unleashed his increased magic power to scan an area within a 1km radius, but he couldn’t sense anything other than the vagrants.

Either the sniper had attacked from a greater distance, or they had used a method that was good enough to hide their presence that it couldn’t be detected by simple magic detection.

Either way, it was tricky.

But was this man, who was trembling with his ears covered, worth that much?

Lenok’s eyes, which had been circling around the fallen Taylor, suddenly fixed on his head.

‘Come to think of it, the shot was fired at the lower part of the barrier. At first, I thought it was just to subdue me, but…’

What if it was actually aimed at the head of someone who had fallen?

The moment he set up a reasonable assumption, the reasoning followed immediately.

The conclusion was reached in an instant.

‘They tried to silence Taylor Evans.’

It was probably the Scavenger organization. Was there a follow-up story that shouldn’t be heard by Achilles Corporation in his head?

If so, it made sense that the sniper had attacked after Lenok found Taylor.

If a target was eliminated while a bounty hunter was following them, most hunters would simply take it and boast about their achievement.

Even the fact that the Scavengers had tried to silence him would be buried and disappear.

But Lenok had no intention of letting the sniper who had openly tried to shoot him go.

From the moment he started a job, he had to be decisive and ruthless in his work.

At least, that was how Lenok intended to make ‘Ban’. The more he was known as a ruthless and cold person, the fewer people would interfere with his money-making.

As soon as he made up his mind, Lenok took out his pistol and shot Taylor in the head.

Bang!

With a loud gunshot, Taylor, who had been twitching, died instantly.

Jenny had said that she preferred capture if possible, but that also meant that he didn’t necessarily have to be alive.

Of course, if this happened, the ‘follow-up story’ in Taylor’s head would be buried forever… but Lenok wasn’t interested in such secrets.

What was important to him now was to find and punish the sniper who had pointed a gun at him.

All of this was just a process for him.