Chapter 180

Hyeon Jinseok, who returned to the village, immediately headed to his house.

"Oppa, I was worried about where you went."

"I'm sorry. I had urgent business for a moment."

"Did you perhaps go outside the village?"

"Can I tell you the details later? More importantly, hurry and drink this first."

"Eh?"

Hyeon Juhui asked while fiddling with the healing potion Hyeon Jinseok handed her.

"Is this perhaps…… an item from beyond the barrier? Oppa, you know what kind of punishment you receive if you bring such a thing in. If the teacher returns, he will surely be angry."

"That may be so, but I'll take the punishment alone, so hurry and drink it."

"What kind of water is this?"

"It's not water, but medicine. Medicine that treats sick people."

"Mmm……."

A bit of suspicion.

However, Hyeon Juhui was not so cold-hearted as to refuse her brother's request.

She swallowed the potion immediately.

As soon as she drank it, a subtle energy spread through her entire body, and a warmth she had never experienced stabilized her mind and body.

She also gulped down the potion she had left half-finished out of suspicion.

"How is it? What does it feel like?"

"Uh……. That is……. It's nothing."

"Eh?"

"The pain is gone. I mean, me! I don't hurt at all right now! I don't have a fever, my stomach is comfortable, and, and!"

Hyeon Juhui realized she could not explain the feeling with words and immediately got up from the bed.

Then she moved her body here and there vigorously and active through the house.

"Juhui?"

"It's true! My body is so light!"

"Really?"

"Yes! Oppa, exactly what is that red medicine? Did those people from beyond the barrier give it to you?"

"Ah, that's……."

Hyeon Jinseok was about to answer but stopped.

Because although his sister had luckily stood up, concern that it was dangerous for her to move perfectly fine now when the alchemist was away took precedence.

Furthermore, what Ji Seokhyeon had said earlier bothered him.

The words that the villagers are all dolls and would become sacrificial offerings without a set time as research subjects for the alchemist.

Simply put, it meant his sister or he himself would again be poisoned by the Moon-Shadow Herb and catch the Ssaet Disease.

When that time came, there would be no red medicine from Ji Seokhyeon, and if he was unlucky, he would be abandoned in a warehouse without a single ray of light, like the dolls he had seen earlier.

Of course, Ji Seokhyeon had said he would deal with the alchemist, but it was impossible to shake off the alchemist's shackles that had already permeated deep into the village.

In the first place, could Ji Seokhyeon, who was his peer, even face that great alchemist?

"Oppa……? What are you thinking so deeply about?"

Is this life truly right?

Will he have to watch his sister suffer again?

Hyeon Jinseok spoke after a long while.

"Juhui, do you want to leave our village?"

"Eh?"

"I mean…… going somewhere else and having new experiences. We've lived in this village for quite a long time, haven't we?"

"But the teacher is here. If we go outside the village right now, monsters are teeming, and what if we encounter humans from beyond the barrier?"

"Gangneung! How about going to Gangneung? There might be people like us surviving there. We could live while helping each other there. Since it's our hometown."

"Oppa, why are you suddenly talking about this?"

"I-I just suddenly got excited since you said you're all better……."

"I really can't do anything about your curiosity, can I? Fine, I understand. Let's ask the teacher once he returns. Whether we can go and visit even a nearby place."

Hyeon Jinseok shouted.

"No!"

"Eh?"

"I-I just thought it might cause unnecessary worry."

"Is that so?"

"And it would be better to lie quietly on the bed and wait until the teacher comes. You might have only temporarily recovered right now, after all."

"I suppose so? Thank you. I really would have been in big trouble if you weren't here, Oppa."

"It's nothing……. Then I'll go out again."

"Where?"

"I was supposed to escort the teacher back to the village, after all. Since you're a bit better, I should go back to doing my job."

"Yes! I understand. Don't get hurt by monsters and be careful!"

"Of course."

Hyeon Jinseok left the hut.

His heart was heavy.

Perhaps because of that, it was difficult to move his steps.

Guilt.

His sister had recovered according to his wish, but he could not shake off the guilt in his heart.

Because he knew she would suffer again, and he knew that she and the villagers would be used.

'What should I do now?'

His mind was complicated.

Perhaps he did not want to admit that he had already died once.

Perhaps he found it difficult to believe that everything he had done in the village was false.

Whatever it was, he resented Ji Seokhyeon for giving him such anguish.

Exactly what had he wanted from him?

"I am…… I mean, I am……!"

Having to pretend not to know about the scheduled pain of the villagers.

Perhaps Ji Seokhyeon had not given him an option, but had threatened him?

After realizing that he would not be able to ignore the wicked secret occurring in the village.

"Bastard!"

Before long, Hyeon Jinseok moved his feet with a firm heart.

Again, following the path he had taken to return to the hut just a moment ago.

The workshop of the alchemist Victor.

Park Chaeshin and I took turns sighing as we looked at the Broom of Gluttony stuck in the ground.

And for good reason—we were in the position of the fox looking up at the grapes beyond the wall.

"How did he think of using the broom as a power device, Senior?"

"Don't try to understand it within the category of an ordinary person. In the alchemy world, they call those kinds of fellows geniuses."

"Genius aside, is such an attempt even possible?"

I, the original author, was surprised to this extent.

"That's why he's a genius. But aren't you also a genius?"

"Me? I'm just exceptional in a few areas."

"What an arrogant brat."

"Anyway. If we destroy this, Gangwon-do will be in an uproar."

"Your name will definitely be engraved in history. As the person who indirectly killed the most humans in history."

"I'm glad we found the magic tool for now, but I'm not exactly happy just watching it like this."

"But can you even destroy it in the first place? What will you do if a repulsion occurs after you touch it for no reason?"

"Of course I can't destroy it. Just discovering the location like this is a huge achievement. The moment the plan to find the Cone Hat of Pride goes wrong, I'll have to come and pull out the broom."

Park Chaeshin clicked his tongue and spoke.

"That won't work."

"What won't?"

"Pulling out the broom. According to the data from the alchemist Victor that I examined, the broom has already eroded deep into the ground. It seems he also researched how to move the broom for the plan of Manyeong and the demonic beings for quite a long time, but all of them were listed as negative conclusions."

"Wait, what does that mean?"

"It means exactly what I said. That Gangneung has already absorbed all the mana of the broom. No, should I say it has become synchronized rather than just absorbed?"

What?

"Senior! Why are you telling me that now!"

"Eh? I-I naturally thought you would know."

"Forget it! So does this broom have no ability at all?"

"It's just a simple example. The broom is still like the core of this land. If the broom is destroyed or pulled out, the monsters will lose their reason and go into a frenzy. Of course, the power from beyond the rift that eroded Gangwon-do won't change."

Synthesizing Park Chaeshin’s words, it meant that the magic tool Broom of Gluttony had its strength taken by the land of Gangwon-do.

Truly an absurd claim.

It was a completely different setting from the original work.

A magic tool had its strength taken?

However, I could not point out that his words were entirely wrong.

Because as he said, the mana of the ground near the broom was very smoothly connected.

Furthermore, Manyeong and the demonic beings were those who wanted to pull out the broom more than anyone else.

The fact that they produced such research results meant it was truly skeptical.

Above all, what bothered me was that they intended to carry out the plan even though they knew they could not utilize the broom.

Exactly how?

The Great Rift cannot be opened without the magic tools being gathered in one place?

Of course, the fact that all magic tools must be gathered is also the setting of the original work.

"Shit, really……!"

In the end, was this expedition a fool's errand?

No, as long as the Cone Hat of Pride is still in Gangwon-do, it has meaning.

Because even if the Great Rift opens and monsters pour out, they won't be able to rule the monsters without the cone hat.

"Well, anyway. Did you get anything here, Senior?"

"I don't know about getting anything, but I clearly realized that I have no talent."

"Still, it's strange to say you have no talent when you're being pursued by Camellia."

"Everyone becomes helpless when they meet an untouchable genius. And I didn't start alchemy because I wanted to."

I suppose so, since Park Chaeshin also started it to lead his family.

Even though misfortune swallowed him.

"Anyway, let's finish this work quickly and go to Gangneung……."

At that moment, Bruno, who was ambushing outside waiting for Victor, returned.

"Hey, we have an unexpected guest?"

Guest?

The person Bruno brought was none other than Hyeon Jinseok’s sister, Hyeon Juhui.

Based on her moving perfectly fine, it seemed the healing potion had worked properly.

More than that, she was breathing heavily, as if she had run from the village to here without stopping.

It seemed as if something urgent had happened.

But how did she know we were here?

Before long, she blurted out the main point.

"O-Oppa……!"

"……Hyeon Jinseok?"

"Please save Oppa!"

The entrance outside the village.

The alchemist Victor looked down at Hyeon Jinseok.

"Is this true? That you contacted humans from beyond the barrier, is it true?"

"I, I……."

Hyeon Jinseok was bound.

He had intended to head to the cave where Ji Seokhyeon was, but he was caught by several villagers who were monitoring him, and happened to be brought before Victor, who had arrived at the village at just the right time.

The pretext was the impure reason that he had contacted humans from beyond the barrier.

"I saw it. This fellow was plotting with the humans who crossed the barrier!"

"Me too! I clearly saw him sneak outside even after we expelled them. And a moment ago, he entered the hut with red medicine!"

"……Red medicine?"

"That……. It seemed to be an item called some kind of potion from beyond the barrier!"

"I see……. So those bastards are in my workshop?"

"Yes! He must have guided them!"

Cold-hearted reactions.

However, it cannot be called betrayal.

Because it was Hyeon Jinseok himself who had crossed the line.

Victor spoke while wrinkling his face.

"It seems the Ssaet Disease has broken out."

"The Ssaet Disease?"

"Yes. While the probability is low, the Ssaet Disease sometimes impairs the judgment of the patient. Still, thank goodness. Since you've met me, even if it's late."

"I-I see! As expected of you, Teacher!"

"First, we'll cancel entering the village. Half of you take him and follow me. And the rest go into the village and relay that we will now issue 'Code Goblin One'."

"If it's Goblin One…… don't tell me?"

"Burn the village and erase the traces. The rats that snuck in don't seem like ordinary ones."

"I understand!"

Victor lowered his posture, gazed closely at Hyeon Jinseok, and spoke.

"Our Jinseok, this teacher will give you a thorough examination to see where it hurts."

"……."

"Heh, hahahaha!"

New Terms:

현주희 - Hyeon Juhui [She/Her] (Doll)

빅터 - Victor [He/Him] (Alchemist/Manyeong member)

샛병 - Ssaet Disease (Condition)

고요의 숲 - Forest of Silence (Location)

고블린 하나 - Code Goblin One (Code name)

현주 - Hyeonju [She/Her] (Nickname for Hyeon Juhui)