Chapter 11: Why are you doing this to me?

“Alchemy Slime-nim has become Grade E.”

Lee Mingyu smiled contentedly, saying he knew it would happen.

Achieving Grade E Alchemist in the first month.

This is an achievement.

Depending on whether you achieve this or not, the evaluation is completely different.

Some people say, isn’t it just buying 2 million won worth of sales yourself? What’s so great about that?

That’s a story from someone who doesn’t know anything.

Even if you use any kind of trick, there’s something you can’t avoid.

It’s the safety inspection.

Basically, 30% is sent to the disposal site.

It’s that harsh safety inspection that sends up to 100% to the disposal site depending on the number of defective products.

No matter what trick is used, the fact that dozens to hundreds of products passed the safety inspection doesn’t change.

Becoming a Grade E Alchemist in the first month means having the ability to reliably create safe products, at the very least.

And people call someone with such ability a professional alchemist.

Products made by professionals and products made by amateurs.

It’s natural that the level of trust people feel is worlds apart.

It’s also natural that there’s a difference in sales.

<Insole Slime> -Sold Out

Lee Mingyu’s face darkened slightly.

“I wonder if you’ve prepared enough.”

Currently, the rating for <Insole Slime> is 4.9/5.0 (120).

It was deducted because the stock was too low, making it difficult to buy.

Even so, it’s an absurdly high rating.

Because Alchemy Shop is a shopping mall where ratings are routinely deducted for reasons like ‘the effect didn’t meet expectations’ or ‘something went wrong.’

The sold out sign that’s almost always there.

A product page that rarely shows such effort.

A high rating of 4.9 and reviews that are all positive.

An absurdly cheap price compared to the effect.

The category of alchemy tools, which are less off-putting than alchemy potions.

Grade E achieved in a short period of less than two weeks.

All the conditions for demand to explode have been met.

“There’s a rumor that the higher-ups are trying to increase the usage rate of Alchemy Shop.”

For low-level employees like Lee Mingyu, life doesn’t change much even if the product they were in charge of is a big success.

But the higher-ups are different.

The position you can reach changes depending on your results.

“If supply keeps getting delayed, they’ll pressure him to share the manufacturing method or take on disciples.”

Since alchemists are in a position of power, they can’t be pressured too strongly.

But there are also alchemists who get stressed by the constant contact and disappear.

Besides that, alchemists collapse for various reasons.

Alchemists who try to apply the improvements mentioned in comments to their product and end up creating something that’s neither here nor there.

Alchemists who try to increase production capacity but the quality deteriorates, failing the safety inspection and getting discarded, then become more desperate and fall into a vicious cycle of even worse quality.

Alchemists who arbitrarily raise prices and get ignored.

There are plenty of traps that rookie alchemists, who are no longer rookies but still inexperienced, can fall into.

“Will he be okay?”

***

“Yay~! Grade E achieved!”

When F is attached, it feels like failing, so it makes you feel bad.

But E is different.

It’s not failing!

Moreover, the place where products are displayed in Alchemy Shop is different.

Grade F category and Grade E category.

It’s natural that the number of clicks is different.

The average sales volume is bound to be different.

Furthermore, from Grade E onwards, the safety inspection rate decreases from 30% to 20%.

The commission is also 50%!

With just this, the money received, which was 28%, significantly increases to 40%!

If 500 pairs are sold per day, 20% are discarded due to safety inspection, so 400 pairs are sold.

Since it’s still the first month for me, the commission is waived.

800,000 won per day.

“24 million won per month?”

From the middle of next month, 50% will be gone as commission, making it 12 million won, but still, the annual income easily exceeds 100 million won.

And there is a very special benefit for alchemists doing business at Alchemy Shop.

Money earned through Alchemy Shop is excluded from comprehensive income tax reporting!

Tax exemption!

The money that came into the bank account doesn’t go out!

Honestly, if you think about the commission, it’s like ‘giving three in the morning and four in the evening,’ but doesn’t it feel good when you’re told you don’t have to pay taxes?

And for comprehensive income tax, the tax rate increases as income increases.

As sales increase, the commission actually decreases because the alchemist’s grade goes up!

It’s a bait, a bait.

A bait to prevent competent alchemists from leaving for other countries.

But bait or whatever, as long as it tastes good!

Grade E Alchemist is the best!

“…………Ha.”

It’s hard to get hyped up.

Achieving Grade E Alchemist.

Something he would have been happy about normally.

Now he’s troubled.

What if I don’t reach 2 million in sales in the first month?

Should I focus on WTube?

It’s hard to make a lot of money with WTube.

He had this thought.

Actually, it’s difficult to make a lot of money from WTube with just views.

You need to receive sponsorships and advertisements.

But to receive sponsorships, I have to tell the other party my address.

And to receive advertisements, there’s a high possibility of having to meet face-to-face and talk.

So I hid my contact information itself.

To think that the address I’ve hidden could be revealed because of Alchemy Shop.

How on earth should I solve this?

Should I stop selling <Insole Slime> even now?

But there was a reason why this wasn’t suitable either.

There’s something called ‘Specially Managed Product’.

Seeing that the items I sent passed inspection in an instant, it’s clear they’ve been designated as this.

Why is this a problem?

Rights are followed by obligations.

The ‘Alchemy Technology Leak Prevention Act’ is strongly applied to products managed in this way.

It’s a newly established law because alchemy personnel and technology kept leaving overseas, and it’s a double-edged sword that protects me while also cutting me.

Even if it’s a product I developed, if I try to leak the manufacturing method overseas, I can be accused of industrial espionage.

If I show a lukewarm reaction like suddenly reducing production volume, I might incur suspicion like ‘Isn’t this guy trying to run away overseas?’

‘The carrot and the stick’ is a traditional method used when dealing with humans.

Even if they don’t actually intend to punish me, they could summon me to pressure me.

Refuse the summons and not go?

They might come looking with a warrant.

If that happens to me, I’m finished.

“Seriously, what should I do?”

It’s good that it’s selling well, but it’s selling *too* well.

Thinking of getting advice from Makina, I picked up my smartphone but put it down.

Because it feels like I’m blaming Makina for how things turned out.

Makina, who recommended I sell things at the Alchemy Shop, probably didn’t have any ill intentions.

There’s a large-scale workshop operated by the state.

There are also rental apartments near the workshop.

Both places have thorough security, and if I could get in there, all my problems would be solved.

“But I can’t get in.”

It’s as tough as cross-dressing and infiltrating an all-girls school.

It’s also the same in that if my disguise is peeled off, my life is ruined.

Maybe I’m just overthinking things.

12 million won a month.

That’s a lot of money.

It is a lot of money, but is it enough to lay a hand on an Alchemist who is being closely watched by the government?

And they say they can backtrack using logistics, but that probably isn’t an easy task.

The government isn’t stupid; would they manage things so carelessly?

Thinking calmly, the possibility of any problem exploding right now is small.

There is still time.

But in the current flow pushing my body, there lives an alligator.

If I don’t build a raft quickly, I’ll be eaten.

For me, the raft is skills like [Transform], [Camouflage], [Mimicry].

“Is this a mobile game? Do I have to get a ride through a random draw?”

If I level up like crazy and hit 15, won’t a solution appear?

If not, I’ll raise it to 20.

If it still doesn’t appear, the only way is to raise it to 25.

And the way to level up like that?

Just pour money into it.

And that money is given by the <Insole Slime> that’s selling like crazy right now.

“Giving the disease and then the cure?”

If the <Insole Slime> sales continue at the current pace, 20 million won will accumulate before the first month is over.

If I pour 20 million won into food for a month to level up, won’t something come out of it?

What if the current trend doesn’t continue?

Even better.

Because people targeting me will disappear, judging that my momentum has died down.

I immediately went into the shopping mall.

I searched for plastic rolls.

I limited leveling up the [Absorb] [Decompose] [Analyze] skills for filming videos to food. But if I’m eating purely to level up, there’s nothing I can’t eat.

***

[Consumed more than a certain amount of PE. Acquired experience decreases.]

[Consumed more than a certain amount of PP. Acquired experience decreases.]

[Consumed more than a certain amount of PVC. Acquired experience decreases.]

“Tch. Guess it can’t be that easy.”

Whether I ate plastic bags or plastic toys, if both were made of PE, they were treated as the same thing.

I thought it would be easy since plastic is cheap compared to its weight.

Can’t I just get it for free?

Would it be a little better if I cooked the plastic?

Ah, right. Since carcinogens come out, maybe it would be a little better?

I really want to push through with sheer quantity, but I can’t.

Money is one thing, but if more items went into the house than its volume and nothing came out, how strange would that be?

If only I could really go outside, I’d go to a junkyard and power level.

Ding-dong.

I waited until the delivery person left, then opened the door.

“It’s finally here.”

When I opened the box, inside were tons of subtly glowing stones.

Lowest grade magic stone.

When leveling up the [Divide] [Control] [Transform] skills, I often lack mana.

Other Hunters would take mana potions made by Alchemists processing magic stones.

Because humans cannot directly absorb mana from magic stones.

But I am a Slime.

I can eat magic stones directly.

Probably?

The moment I put a magic stone in my mouth, my eyes widened.

This is incredibly delicious?

Then I suddenly felt complicated.

Feeling that magic stones, which humans can’t consume, are delicious.

It felt like it was confirming the fact that I had become a being detached from humans.

[Decompose skill level has increased to 12.]

[Absorb skill level has increased to 12.]

[Analyze skill level has increased to 12.]

“Huh?”

Determined to level up quickly, I ordered all sorts of items. I ate everything that arrived faster than the magic stones and barely raised the [Absorb], [Decompose], [Analyze] skill levels to 11.

Just by eating some lowest grade magic stones, it jumped straight to 12?

[Decompose skill level has increased to 13.]

[Absorb skill level has increased to 13.]

When I ate about half of the remaining box, the level went up again.

Is it because it’s a magic stone that the levels go up so well?

Or….

I put the feather Gisu gave me as a gift a long time ago into my mouth.

Don’t be too sad.

The gift you gave me will become my flesh and soon become <Insole Slime>.

Oh? It’s hot and delicious.

Is it because it’s red?

[Decompose skill level has increased to 14.]

[Absorb skill level has increased to 14.]

[Analyze skill level has increased to 13.]

“Ah, damn it. My guess was right. This isn’t good.”

I found a way to level up quickly.

If I eat monsters, it goes up quickly.

What’s the problem with that?

There’s an excuse for buying magic stones in large quantities. Magic stones are consumables used widely here and there. They are sometimes used even by people who aren’t Alchemists.

Monster materials. Ordering large quantities of various monster materials is like advertising that an Alchemist lives here. If the delivery address is a private home, you can just confirm that an Alchemist lives there.

I’m dying of worry that my track will be stepped on.

It’s like my track has doubled, and its length has also doubled.

For now, let’s stop buying monster materials and only buy magic stones.

While eating other things, I’ll mass produce and store <Insole Slime> to raise the [Divide], [Control], [Transform], [Store] skill levels to 15.

And by eating monster materials, I’ll quickly raise the [Decompose], [Absorb], and [Analyze] skills to 15, making the level of [Trait: Slime] reach 15.

***

“Currently, the popularity of <Insole Slime> is scorching. An alchemy product said to eliminate odor, suppress itching, and even cure athlete’s foot, its popularity has overheated, leading to repeated sell-outs within just 5 minutes at the online Alchemy Shop. In response, the Seoul Central Alchemy Center has decided to sell 30 units of the product daily at offline stores so more consumers can get their hands on it. Today, as sales began, the doors opened, and an open-run frenzy unfolded. Reporter Kim Cheolsu has covered the story.”

Why are you doing this to me?