Chapter 84: Confirmed

There was something quite important in the daily reports Hans submitted, so I gave him a call.

The call connected almost immediately.

The usual unreadable smiling face appeared on the screen.

“It’s really impressive how you managed to secure such broad rights.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“But is it true that, as written here, there was an unofficial request to delay getting the Grade A license as much as possible?”

It’s not about getting the Grade A license as soon as possible.

It’s about getting it as late as possible.

“Yes. As I wrote in the report, they requested that I delay acquiring the Grade A license as much as possible.”

In the report, I speculated on why the Alchemy Center and the government made such a request.

As always in a capitalist society, this time it’s about money.

It’s because the state benefits if I stay as a Grade B alchemist.

If it were any other alchemist, they’d want to become a Grade A alchemist as soon as possible.

Just the fact that there’s a Grade A alchemist in Korea would greatly boost the prestige of K-Alchemy.

But I’m different.

Even without a Grade A license, I already enjoy enough fame as an alchemist.

And I’m not an alchemist who makes one-of-a-kind items for Hunters, but one who does mass production.

Safety inspection, 5%.

For alchemy potions, after putting them into a large drum, you test 5% of the batch and divide the remaining 95% into smaller portions.

But when inspecting alchemy tools, things get complicated.

If you make 20, you discard one of them.

What if you make 10? Still one.

What if you make 2? Still one.

The safety inspection is 5%, but in reality, 50% of the products get discarded during the safety inspection.

If you make only one, you have to rely on overseas inspection institutions.

Since I produce Slimes in the hundreds of thousands, 5% comes out to a nice whole number.

And the discarded alchemy products can just be recycled by feeding them to my children.

Plus, I have to bear the loss of the 5% that gets discarded.

If production volume were absurdly low, even the discarded amount would be a waste, but now both I and my kids are producing quite a lot.

Besides, having a certain production limit is actually beneficial diplomatically, compared to having an oversupply.

Legally, safety inspections are mandatory, so I can’t just cut ties with the Alchemy Center.

Hiring safety inspectors also helps lower the unemployment rate.

The cost of inspecting, packaging, and shipping my Slimes is less than 10% of sales.

“It’s Sole Alchemy again.”

“Well, they are the world’s largest alchemy company.”

I heard the Alchemy Center also signed a large-scale contract with Sole Alchemy.

They regularly import large quantities of safety inspection reagents and are also buying quite a lot of other potions.

If I become a Grade A alchemist, most of the safety inspection reagents will just end up in storage.

Since it’s a long-term contract, huge amounts will keep coming in and all become excess stock.

But they can’t just suddenly break the contract, either.

And the Alchemy Center staff they hurriedly hired because of me will become redundant.

Plus, the safety inspection is a kind of leash.

If I fall out with them, they could halt safety inspections and block Slime logistics.

Right now, that would be almost like suicide for them, but once Slime Land starts full operations, it would be quite a blow for me too.

And one last thing.

Do they really inspect the entire 5% of the batch they take for safety testing?

Or do they sneak a few out?

No comment on that question.

For these reasons, it’s better for the Alchemy Center and the Korean government if I stay a Grade B alchemist.

Of course, if I can’t become a Grade A alchemist for too long, my name value will drop, but I’m still a first-year alchemist in my early twenties. Even if I stay a Grade B alchemist for five years, I probably won’t hear much about being a bubble, hitting my limit, or becoming obsolete.

But all this is just from the perspective of the Alchemy Center and the Korean government.

For me, the faster I raise my rank, the more I benefit.

And the World Alchemy Organization still hasn’t withdrawn their offer to issue a Grade A license if I deal with ten dead lands.

From their perspective, I could become a Grade A alchemist anytime I want.

If it were before I coughed up my first curse, they might have just tossed me a couple of Class A artifacts and called it a day.

But now I have Hans as my joker.

Maybe because they were overwhelmed by his glinting eyes behind those slitted lids, the Korean government offered me the rights to develop the underground.

I’ll have to dig even deeper than the subway, and there are plenty of areas I can’t develop, but I can still dig ant nest-like Slime tunnels beneath Seoul and Gyeonggi-do.

What I like best is that I can connect the Alchemy Center and Slime Land with an underground passage.

In Seoul, besides the Seoul Central Alchemy Center where I first did business, there are four more in the east, west, south, and north.

I can connect all of these with underground passages.

That would make transporting Slimes much faster.

I could even buy land here and there and use them as stations.

If I make Tunnel Slimes for high-speed travel, it’ll solve a lot of the transportation problems for Slime Land visitors.

It’ll be like Mother spreading roots everywhere, just like the world tree in a novel.

But isn’t it risky to give underground rights to a single person?

Well, even if a 200-meter-deep tunnel collapses, I doubt it would affect the surface.

Plus, there are required materials like rebar and concrete, and a lot of inspections like precision safety checks.

Maybe they just want to throw some work to construction companies?

Not interested.

Why make humans do dangerous, time-consuming work like tunnel construction?

Mother can do it much safer and faster.

“Please find us a tunnel opening specialist. Also, look for a company that can handle precision safety inspections.”

“Yes. I already have some people in mind.”

If I leave the tunneling and wall coating to Mother, she’ll take care of it.

But in the end, a human expert has to sign off before we can use the underground passage.

It’d be good to have someone to keep reporting and managing things.

“Why don’t we just hire an expert? It’ll take quite a while to dig the tunnel anyway.”

I have a feeling there will be a lot more underground passages to dig in the future.

“Understood.”

Hans went on to explain how he’d divide up the departments of AlchemySlime Company.

I didn’t listen too closely.

Well, I’m sure he’ll handle it fine if I leave it to him.

Good. Everything is progressing step by step.

***

Family relationships are truly mysterious.

You’re not that close, but you’re still related by blood, so you’re not that distant either.

Maybe that’s why.

You end up being compared to each other a lot.

And every time you meet, the comparisons get upgraded.

So-and-so got into a prestigious university.

So-and-so got a job at a big company.

So-and-so got married.

So-and-so bought a house.

And then they always follow up with something like this.

Which university did you get into?

How are you going to get a job?

You have to get married, you know.

Even if nothing else, you should at least have a place to live.

This is how they scratch at your dignity.

Right now, I’m not really in a position to hear things like that.

Prestigious university? I have a Grade B alchemist license, which is better than a degree. I could even get into a world-class company like Sole Alchemy.

Big company? I’m the president.

Marriage? I’m more famous than most celebrities, so I can’t just get married on a whim.

House? I live in a building called Emergency Rations that’s probably worth over a hundred billion won.

But I can’t exactly reveal any of this, can I?

If I suddenly declared, “I’m the Alchemy Slime!” the atmosphere at that place would turn into a total disaster.

There’s a reason they say you get jealous when your cousin buys land.

If you don’t fill that jealousy with money and Slime, it’s bound to cause problems.

I did say I wanted to be the kind of human who reaches out first and trusts people.

But I have no hobby of pressing the bomb switch just to see what happens.

So I’m passing on this holiday too.

As long as I hand my parents the expensive gifts they’re taking with them and see their smiles bloom, that should keep the pointless comments at bay, so I don’t really have to worry about that.

More than that, Gisu is the problem.

My friend Gisu, who has the phrase KILL THE MONSTER stuck in his head, is coming over.

Well, I’m not really worried about Gisu coming to my house.

He’s already been here three times, and there’s never been a problem.

The real dilemma is what food to prepare.

That guy. Ever since he buttered up his tongue, his taste buds have gotten weird. He’s become someone who won’t be satisfied with just plain tteokguk.

Still, tteokguk is a traditional dish, so I don’t really want to make it too strange.

Maybe I should just make the side dishes a bit fancier.

First up, bulgogi.

Next, seasoned fried chicken.

Fried chicken isn’t a side dish? Sure it is. It’s delicious with rice.

Next, tteokbokki and soondae. Those are great with rice too.

I took out the grill and got some galbi and pork belly ready next to it.

The theme for the side dishes is Korean food that foreigners like.

If I want to satisfy a silver-haired, American-tongued Korean, this is the only way.

Not long after I finished setting the table, ding dong, the doorbell rang.

I opened the door.

Gisu put his hand on my shoulder.

A golden aura rose from Gisu’s hand.

“….”

“….”

“What are you doing?”

“Checking.”

“Checking what.”

“If you’re a monster.”

“Why?”

“When my aura touched the Wig Slime, it died.”

“You kill every low-quality alchemy product you touch.”

“But the ones you make aren’t low quality.”

“Hey, do you know how many Slimes I produce in a day? Of course I compromise on quality. Am I supposed to craft each one with the care of a master? Are you crazy?”

“What about this one?”

There was a burn mark left where the flame had touched.

“Hey. This is my everyday wear. I put more effort into it than the Slimes I sell, but it’s still just my regular clothes. Do you only wear luxury goods every day?”

“Is that so.”

Gisu took his hand off my shoulder.

“Ugh, you left a mark.”

“Change your clothes.”

“Wow. I thought evil consumers were just a myth, but here you are. Just because you’ve been to America, are you going to sue me like, ‘The manual for this Wig Slime says nothing about it dying when touched by monster-slaying energy!’?”

“No.”

“You’re banned from using my Slimes from now on.”

“Wouldn’t use them even if you told me to.”

Gisu handed me a paper bag he was holding.

“What’s this?”

“Apology gift.”

“Hey. You apologize with words first.”

“…Sorry. I went too far.”

Even though his tone was stiff, his face really looked sorry, so I decided to forgive him.

That guy almost never says sorry, after all.

I took the bag and looked inside, and instead of edible apples or a smartphone, there was a strange tool.

“What is this?”

“Class A artifact.”

“Hey, are you trying to pay me off after roasting your friend?”

“I didn’t roast you.”

He’s not wrong.

That aura doesn’t negatively affect humans.

“Still feels terrible, though?”

“That’s why I brought you something to cheer you up.”

“Sheesh…. Fine. Come in.”

I brought Gisu inside and we ate together.

Maybe his worries had eased, because Gisu was more relaxed than usual.

He even smiled more often.

“I’m heading out.”

“Yeah. Come by again.”

After Gisu left.

I used [Control+] on the mask, wrapped it around my right arm, and took the whole right arm off together with it.

Ash spilled out from inside the Slime mask. The part of the mask that had touched the lingering flames slowly turned to ash as well.

To others, it probably just looked like he’d put his hand on me, but the flames had burned pretty deep.

I gathered everything the fire had touched with the [Control+] skill and removed it with my right arm.

Gisu’s flames couldn’t be put out or absorbed.

The Slime mask I’m wearing is linked to me.

I quickly swapped out the part that had touched the fire from the inside, so it wouldn’t show on the outside.

Thanks to that, I didn’t get caught, but it was pretty dangerous.

If Gisu had been serious and I’d held onto those flames any longer, I could have taken some real damage.

But Gisu wasn’t serious, and a massive Slime like me isn’t so weak that I’d get completely incinerated by a little fire like that.

I regenerated the arm I’d removed.

No problems with my body.

Still, that Gisu guy.

He really is a natural enemy of monsters.

All this from just a touch of his flame.

No wonder he’s considered one of the top Hunters at such a young age.

And me….

I really am a monster.

There was at least a sliver of a chance I was just a human in Slime form.

But now it’s certain.

“I really didn’t want to confirm I’m a monster like this.”