Chapter 13

“First, please set up a blacksmith shop in a very quiet location.”

“A blacksmith shop?”

“Yes. There are parts I need to do entirely by hand, so having a place like that would be good.”

“I see. Understood. I’ll have it fitted with the latest equipment.”

“And please procure various byproducts for me. The rarer, the better.”

“That goes without saying.”

“Also, please keep my identity a secret for the time being.”

“For the time being?”

“Yes. I’m not yet at the level where I can survive alone against the world.”

“Hmph, just looking at that weapon, I’d say you could afford a bit of arrogance.”

“I only have one life, don’t I.”

“Well, understood for now.”

“And lastly.”

“Go on.”

“Please find me people who know a lot about guns.”

“Guns?”

“Yes. Bows are…… a relic of the past, aren’t they.”

“……I see. With that skill, you could make guns capable of killing monsters too.”

“To do that, I need some relevant knowledge myself. For now, I’ll leave that to you.”

“Understood. I’ll find them. If possible, I’ll also get you blueprints and such.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

As the conversation came to an end, Jaeha tried to get up from his seat. But at that moment, Herb Gramps grabbed him urgently.

“Hold on.”

“Yes?”

“You remember what I asked you about over the phone last time.”

“Ah, you mean about the chairman of Blue Dragon Corporation?”

“Right.”

“Yes. What about it?”

“Take a look at this.”

With that, he pulled out a photograph and a small bottle from his breast pocket. At that, Jaeha sat back down.

He then looked at what was handed to him. In the photo, an old man lay reclined. The man was extremely emaciated, and his complexion was the color of dirt.

And what was contained in the small flask was dark crimson blood. Jaeha turned the flask around, examining the blood.

‘The color of the blood is extremely dark. It has a reddish tint, but it’s close to black. And it’s so thick that blood circulation wouldn’t work properly—since the blood can’t flow. The organs must be nearly dead too.’

“I can’t determine anything definitive. The best I can guess is that it’s the blood of a half-dead person. Well, not half—more like three-quarters?”

“Is that so……”

“Yes. No matter how you look at it, old age or some disease wouldn’t make blood turn out like this. It seems he was hit by some kind of poison.”

“Poison?”

“Yes. Most poisons have the effect of coagulating a person’s blood. That’s how they kill in an instant. Looking at this blood, the consistency is almost like soft tofu.”

“Hmm.”

“And yet he’s still alive—that’s impressive.”

“They say they keep filtering the blood. They remove the clotted parts and transfuse a set amount.”

“And despite that, he remains in this state?”

“That’s what they say.”

“Then it’s definitely a poison parasite.”

“Why?”

“Well, there are several types of poison parasites, but most of them live inside the body and, like parasites, draw nutrients from the host to produce poison.”

“I see. Since it’s practically impossible to keep feeding poison from outside.”

“Yes. But if the poison is produced inside the body, it’s possible.”

“Hmm, can’t it be removed through surgery?”

“Surgery as modern medicine defines it?”

“Yes.”

“It’s possible. However—”

“However?”

“If several dozen of the world’s top healers were on standby, it might be worth attempting.”

“Why?”

“You told me last time. That while receiving healing, he’s fine, but otherwise he reverts to his original state.”

“That’s right.”

“From that, I’d guess that healing doesn’t kill the poison parasite, but while he’s receiving healing, it can’t produce poison, and it removes some of the poison in the blood. However, the poison parasite is essentially a living creature with extremely high intelligence. Though it does belong to the lowly category of parasitic organisms.”

“So if healing continues, he’d be somewhat okay?”

“But realistically, it’s going to be difficult. Healing doesn’t do much against illnesses, you know. I imagine it’s the same when it comes to neutralizing poison. And surgery is no different. As I said, the poison parasite is an incredibly clever creature—if you cut him open, it’ll just flee. And even if you manage to find and remove it, that chairman will still die.”

“Why?”

“The poison parasite mostly lives in the brain. Brain surgery itself isn’t easy to begin with. And if the parasite goes darting around inside the brain, the brain is bound to get damaged.”

“I see. So the reason you said to have a healer on standby is to recover in case the brain gets damaged?”

“No. The brain isn’t that simple an organ. Even if a damaged brain is restored, the information stored in it isn’t necessarily restored along with it. In most cases, the brain loses its function.”

“So surgery is out of the question?”

“That’s right. Even for a healthy person, the odds are at most around 3%.”

“Huh.”

“That chairman is advanced in years, and judging by how thick his blood is, it’ll be difficult. He’s been sick for a long time, so his stamina won’t be good either. Realistically, the chance of success is less than 1%.”

“Surgery won’t work…… So finding someone who possesses that Yanggo you mentioned earlier is the only way?”

“That’s how I see it.”

“This is serious.”

“May I take my leave now?”

“Then can you treat him with your own power?”

“Hard to say. I can’t say for certain, but as I mentioned before, it’s possible if there’s a legendary elixir.”

“Then where do you get this so-called legendary elixir?”

“If I knew that, I’d have gone looking for it myself.”

“Damn it.”

Watching the old man mutter a low curse under his breath, Jaeha rose from his seat.

“I’ll be going now.”

“……Fine.”

With that, Jaeha got up and headed straight home. Just before arriving, his cell phone rang, and he answered.

“Yes.”

<It’s me.>

At Herb Gramps’ call, Jaeha paused for a moment before speaking.

“Is something the matter?”

<Later, can you come with me to see that man?>

“You mean the chairman?”

<Yeah.>

“Well, I can go, but……”

<I’m asking you. If you cure him, I’ll grant your request too.>

“That’s not a bad trade Condition. Fine. But I can’t promise a 100% cure. As I said, it’s impossible without a proper elixir. Though if it were Eumyanggo, there’d be another way.”

<I’m not expecting that much. Just figure out the method. If you find the method, I’ll handle the rest. You just need to find it.>

“Well, if that’s how you put it, I don’t mind.”

<Understood. I’ll contact you soon.>

“Oh, I forgot to mention something earlier.”

<What?>

“I need a place to live. Something on the bigger side.”

<A house?>

“Yes. Location doesn’t matter much—just needs to be spacious.”

<How big?>

“How should I put it…… A country house would do. A 64-pyeong place or a two-story house would work too.”

<Got it. I’ll look into it.>

“Thank you.”

Hanging up, Jaeha entered his home.

Chapter 12

“What are we doing today?”

“First, clear the Troll Forest, then…… set up a meeting with a famous streamer.”

“Want me to reach out to someone?”

“Yeah.”

“Got it.”

With that, Jaeha rose from his seat. Then, as if something occurred to him, he turned back to Seungho.

“And I’m looking into a separate place to live.”

“Really?”

“We’ll probably end up with a place way better than you’d expect.”

Jaeha smiled as he watched Seungho’s expression.

“Famous streamers, huh…… Who should I contact?”

Watching Seungho mutter to himself, Jaeha spoke.

“Try to find Hunters if you can.”

“Alright. I’ll look into it.”

“Then I’m off to hunting.”

“Good luck.”

Jaeha left the house and headed straight for the Hunter Shop.

Upon arriving at the shop, Jaeha immediately set about buying arrows. It was true that the ones he’d made himself didn’t break easily and were sturdy, and they held mana well—but making them was just too much of a hassle.

“Arrows are something you just buy and use. It’s not like there’s a huge difference anyway.”

Saying that, Jaeha went around several shops and bought up all the arrows they had. The number of arrows he purchased easily exceeded tens of thousands. After buying out every arrow in the shops, Jaeha headed to a general store.

Entering the general store, Jaeha walked straight up to the counter.

“Welcome. Is there something you’re looking for?”

The owner asked, looking at Jaeha.

“I came to buy something like glass bottles.”

“Glass bottles?”

“Yes, that’s right. I want to store troll blood in them.”

“Ah, I see.”

“How many bottles does one dungeon produce?”

“At least 7 to 8 liters per troll. Just a moment.”

With that, he went inside and brought out a large glass bottle.

“This one would fill up about that much.”

“You said there are about 200 to 300 trolls per dungeon…… Could I get about 300 bottles?”

“300 bottles?”

“Yes.”

“Just a moment. That’s quite a lot.”

“Yes.”

Jaeha waited quietly at that, but when it started taking too long, he went inside himself and helped carry them out. After moving all the bottles, Jaeha looked at the owner and spoke.

“How much will it be?”

“Just a moment. It’s 10,000 won per bottle, so 3,000,000 won total.”

“I’ll pay in full.”

Handing over his card, Jaeha asked the owner the moment the payment went through.

“By any chance, do you have bags bigger than this?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Give me the biggest one you have.”

“How many would you like?”

“Hmm.”

With that, Jaeha thought for a moment.

“Give me all you have.”

“Yes.”

After paying for nearly a hundred bags, Jaeha put the glass bottles into the bags and stored them neatly in his Inventory. Then he left the shop right away and headed straight for the Troll Forest.

* * *

After finishing off the last troll, Jaeha released the bowstring. Then, after glancing around the area, he slung the bow over his back and began walking forward. Since he’d sniped from a distance, the troll’s corpse was quite far away.

Walking slowly toward the troll’s body, Jaeha stopped in front of the corpses. Then he pulled out as many bottles from his Inventory as there were troll bodies. Taking out one arrow, Jaeha made a wound on the troll and collected the blood into the bottle.

After filling all the bottles, Jaeha gathered them up and exited the dungeon.

“Ugh, that’s done.”

Leaving the dungeon, Jaeha immediately handed the footage over to Seungho. Then he started moving right away. Arriving home to find no one there, Jaeha enjoyed the rare quiet house, took a bath, and came back out.