[T/L: For latest updates, follow my website: https://revengernovel.com/]
Free City of Gurye had fairly solid urban infrastructure, but there were still things it lacked.
The most representative example was hospitals.
There were not many hospitals.
Because there were not many doctors.
Even outside Gurye, doctors could make money practicing medicine in safe cities, so why would they go out of their way to come to this dangerous place?
Most of the doctors here were either incompetent or people who had fled after causing medical accidents, so hospitals were not trustworthy.
Instead, drug shops and pharmacies were scattered all over the city.
In Gurye, it was acceptable for pharmacists to prescribe medicine.
So business was quite good.
Rather than going to an untrustworthy hospital, it was far more rational to buy medicine with proven effects and take it.
Early in the morning, Taeju went to a medium-sized drug shop in the city that had a fairly decent reputation.
The pharmacy's name was Baek's Drug Shop.
The owner there was Baek Hongpyo, a man in his fifties with patches of white hair.
"Welcome. What can I get for you? Instant hemostatic? mana recovery potion? General antidote ... or maybe painkillers or stimulants?"
In principle, they were supposed to sell only medicine approved by the Imperial Food and Drug Administration, but the Free City Autonomous Committee sometimes issued separate approvals.
Clinical trials?
They were extremely simple.
If the effects were good, what could they not sell?
They even sold drugs, after all.
"I didn't come to buy. I came to sell."
"... Pardon?"
Baek Hongpyo wore an uncomfortable expression.
There were plenty of people like this.
They would come in from somewhere carrying strange medicine, claiming it was effective, or saying it was some miraculous elixir good for the body.
"I'm not interested, so please leave. Judging by the look of you, it seems you haven't been here long. If you want to make money, go to the labor market and—"
Taeju pulled three small 10 ml vials from his pocket and placed them on the counter.
Thunk!
"Mutant three-striped mosquito antidote."
"I'm not buying it, so just go. Antidote or miracle elixir, whatever it is ... Huh! W-what did you say? Mosquito?"
"The method of use is oral. You can even drink it beforehand. The effect lasts up to ten hours."
"M-mosquito antidote? Hah, you seem perfectly sane! If you're going to scam someone, at least pick your target...."
"Test it, and if you're interested, contact me."
Taeju placed a slip of paper with his phone number on it as well.
"You have until midnight tonight. If I don't hear from you by then, I'll hand it over to another pharmacy."
With that, Taeju walked right out of Baek's Drug Shop.
Baek Hongpyo was dumbfounded.
Three vials were sitting on the counter.
'Mutant three-striped mosquito antidote?'
Where did this kind of bullshit come from?
The hardest medicine in the world to make was precisely antidotes.
This shop also sold antidotes.
A broad-spectrum general antidote.
But rather than detoxifying poison, it merely suppressed it for a certain period, buying time for the patient to receive proper treatment at a hospital.
Of course, there were also medicines that could completely neutralize specific poisons.
Targeted antidotes were naturally very expensive.
Besides, how many poisonous herbs, venomous insects, and poisonous Magical Beasts lived in Jirisan?
At present, there were more poisons that could not be cured than ones that could.
"Seriously! This is unbelievable."
It was early in the morning, so the employees had not come in yet, and he had been minding the shop alone.
A mosquito antidote that even the best pharmaceutical companies in the Samhan Empire had failed to create, and that guy had brought it in so confidently?
To magical beast raiding parties, mutant three-striped mosquitoes were extremely troublesome pests.
When they bit you, they interfered with the condensation of mana and scattered it.
A bite or two was supposedly not a big deal, but if you kept getting bitten, it became serious enough that you had to give up the hunt and return halfway through.
What good was taking a mana recovery potion?
Even the mana being generated was scattering away.
It would disappear naturally with time, but you would waste a whole day, or in severe cases two days.
Fortunately, there were no mutant three-striped mosquitoes in Gurye City.
Mosquitoes were also Magical Beasts.
Unless something unusual happened, the Magical Beasts of Jirisan did not leave their territories.
Of course, it was a different story if a Magical Beast wave broke out.
'What if this really is a mosquito venom antidote?'
Baek Hongpyo quietly picked up one of the vials.
He pulled out a drug identification kit from beneath the counter and dropped a few drops of the liquid in the bottle onto it.
If there were ingredients harmful to the human body, the test strip would turn red.
But.
'The color stayed the same.'
The result said it was safe to drink.
Picking up the vial again, Baek Hongpyo went into the compounding room.
Inside the compounding room was a steel cage containing one long-tailed s*x rabbit.
It was such a weak creature that it occupied the very bottom of the ecosystem.
Not every plant and animal turned into a monster from mana mutation.
The long-tailed s*x rabbit had mutated in a slightly different direction.
Explosive reproductive power.
All it ever did was eat and mate.
If a pair of s*x rabbits settled in a certain area, they would increase to a hundred in barely half a month.
But their survival ability was the absolute worst.
A little poke, and they died.
These were creatures that would pass out even if you fed them something as mild as painkillers.
That was why long-tailed s*x rabbits were widely used for animal testing.
Baek Hongpyo poured the vial into the water dish inside the cage.
The s*x rabbit sipped the water.
After waiting about an hour.
'It's perfectly fine.'
Even a s*x rabbit that would grow weak and collapse after drinking only a little water mixed with disinfectant was fine.
Lastly, he dropped the liquid remaining at the bottom of the vial onto his palm and lightly touched it with the tip of his tongue.
'Is it just plain water?'
There was no reaction at all.
If you were going to scam people, you should at least make it convincing. He could have mixed in some fragrance before bringing it. This was nothing but plain water.
That was when it happened.
"President Baek! You're open early this morning?"
A customer entered the shop.
"Welcome, Pro Park Jinsu. Looks like you're going hunting again today."
"Pro" was mainly a title attached to Awakeners.
"Can I afford to loaf around? I have to keep earning diligently. Two bottles of mana recovery potion, please."
"Understood. Here...."
Park Jinsu was a regular-grade Awakener.
He depended on medicine so heavily that his nickname was Junkie.
It was that Park Jinsu whose eyes fell on the vial sitting on the counter.
"President Baek, what kind of medicine is this?"
"Ah! This? Don't worry about it. Some lunatic brought it in claiming it was mutant three-striped mosquito antidote, but it's completely plain water."
"Huh? Wow! That lie was way too much."
"Right?"
Park Jinsu stared silently at the vial.
How great would it be if this were a real antidote?
Those damn mosquito bastards.
If only those things were gone, hunting efficiency would double.
Park Jinsu casually picked up one of the vials.
Seeing that, Baek Hongpyo laughed and said,
"I even fed it to a s*x rabbit, and it was totally fine. Normally even ordinary medicine gets a reaction out of those things."
"So you're saying it's plain water?"
"I drank some too. It had no taste at all."
"Hmm."
Pro Park Jinsu thought deeply.
"My throat happens to be dry, so would it be all right if I drank this?"
"Ahem, just drink some water from the purifier over there."
"Should I pay you?"
"Oh, come on, do you think I'm greedy for money?"
"Then you're saying it's free?"
"I'm going to throw it away anyway."
The moment Baek Hongpyo finished speaking, Park Jinsu popped open the vial and gulped it down immediately.
"Good grief! You drank it? Honestly, if you keep taking medicine so carelessly—"
"It's fine. You said the s*x rabbit was perfectly okay too."
"That is true, but."
Baek Hongpyo took a bottle of medicine from the shelf and handed it to Park Jinsu.
"Take a bottle of general antidote too. Just in case something goes wrong later."
"Hahaha! Nice. I drink a glass of plain water and end up getting a general antidote too."
As Park Jinsu gathered the general antidote and mana recovery potions, he said,
"President Baek, take care. I'll come back and give you feedback after the hunt."
"Pro Park, don't trust medicine too much, and make sure you wear your protective suit against insects."
"Yes, sir! I hope you strike it big."
Baek Hongpyo did not have even the slightest expectation for the medicine.
Honestly, how could he believe it?
The very medicine that countless pharmaceutical companies had tried and failed to develop was mutant three-striped mosquito antidote.
After Park Jinsu left, Baek Hongpyo threw the one remaining vial into the trash can.
"Boss, I'm here."
"Me too."
"Good, good morning. Come on in, all of you."
The employees had arrived at work.
Baek Hongpyo greeted them with a warm smile like a father.
Customers also began to trickle in one by one.
He completely forgot about things like mosquito venom antidotes.
***
To be honest, Park Jinsu did not believe in mosquito antidote either.
He had only drunk it on impulse because even the s*x rabbit had been fine.
So he put on a thick insect-proof suit and went hunting.
He had wrapped up his whole body tightly.
Since Jirisan's mutant three-striped mosquitoes were also Magical Beasts, the piercing mouthparts they used to suck blood were fairly strong.
They were even long.
So insect-proof suits made of weak material were quickly pierced through.
Even if there was only one tiny hole, a mosquito's proboscis would come through it.
Even the large Magical Beast species living here had evolved because of these mosquitoes.
Some had grown long fur capable of blocking mosquito mouthparts, while others had thick hides.
A way to block mosquitoes?
It was possible for an Awakener of junior expert or above.
Because mosquito mouthparts could not pierce their skin.
But were experts really that common?
Most civilian Awakeners active in the Jirisan jungle were almost all user, beginner, or regular grade.
"F*ck! Sweat's pouring down like a waterfall."
Today was especially hot and humid.
On days like this, mosquitoes were at their worst.
"Ugh, Pro Park! Let's just hunt a little and head back today."
"That's right. It's too hot."
"We're going to get steamed to death trying to catch Magical Beasts."
Park Jinsu, a regular-grade Awakener and the leader of the raid team, encouraged his team members.
"Let's just catch one more and pull out."
"... Tch, fine. We still have to make money."
What they were hunting was the blade-fanged marten.
For a mere marten, it was as big as a calf.
As long as it did not bite you, it was a fairly easy Magical Beast.
The tanker would block its snout with a shield while the dealers stabbed its flank or lower belly with blades, and that was the end of it.
Park Jinsu was a seasoned tanker.
But on a day with this heat and humidity, his concentration was bound to drop.
And when that happened, he made mistakes he normally would not.
"Grrrr!"
He swung his shield into the head of the charging blade-fanged marten.
Thud!
But perhaps he lacked the strength, because the marten deflected the shield strike to the side and bit into Park Jinsu's chest with its fangs.
Crunch!
"Ugh!"
As a tanker, his body was sturdy, and he also wore durable armor.
But the problem was the insect-proof suit.
He killed the marten without delay, but...
"Kehk!"
Riiip!
The insect-proof suit was torn vertically in a long strip.
"Goddammit!"
Maybe because the air was flowing through, his body instantly felt cooler.
But the insect-proof suit was ruined.
And to make matters worse, as if one disaster were not enough piled on another,
the dying marten's scream drew attention, and three more martens appeared all at once.
"Pro Kim, Pro Jang, take one each. The compatibles support the fight too."
The team members rushed forward.
"Get them!"
"Cut their ankles!"
"What are you doing? Support team, fire your guns too!"
And so a chaotic melee broke out.
There was no time to think.
He did not even care whether his insect-proof suit had been torn apart or not.
When forming the raid team, he had brought only three Awakeners.
One beginner and two users.
Because of that, it was too much for them to face a pack of martens all at once.
Even so, Park Jinsu did not retreat.
He was regular grade, after all.
Stab!
"Kyaeng!"
After a desperate struggle, he killed one of them, and they gained a little breathing room.
"Finish it quickly!"
Crunch!
"Kik!"
"Kiiiiing...."
In the end, all three were killed.
But right at that moment!
"Kyaooo!"
"Grrrk!"
Two more martens appeared.
"... Hoo, f*cking hell!"
There was no helping it.
They had to kill them.
The battle resumed without even a moment to catch their breath.
But the insect-proof suits the raid team members were wearing had almost been reduced to rags.
The mosquitoes were not about to miss that.
Focused on the battle, the team members could not even avoid the mosquitoes biting them.
The same went for Park Jinsu.
He had already been bitten so many times that he could not even count them.
'This is bad.'
The movements of the raid team's Awakeners and compatibles were visibly slowing down.
They were probably already under the effects of mosquito venom.
'At this rate .....'
There would definitely be casualties.
Park Jinsu gripped his shield and sword with all his strength.
As the team's leader, he had to fulfill his duty.
Even if it meant dying himself.
Park Jinsu rampaged like a madman.
He smashed with his shield, slashed and thrust with his sword....
But something strange was happening.
'... What is this? I'm not losing strength.'
He had definitely been bitten by mosquitoes.
Even now, a few mosquitoes were sitting on his bare forearm.
Mosquito venom should have been entering his body, so why was he completely fine?
'Could it be...'
Was it working?
That mosquito antidote he had drunk at Baek's Drug Shop?
What other explanation could there be?
Even now, the team's Awakeners and compatibles were sweating buckets while constantly chugging mana recovery potions that had no effect.
But he alone was completely fine.
The power of mana continued flowing without interruption.
'... Let's finish killing them first and then think about it.'
The sword in Park Jinsu's hand shone brilliantly with the energy of mana.
***
And then that evening.
"President Baek, President Baek!"
"Huh? Pro Park."
"A-about the mosquito venom antidote."
"Antidote ... ah! That thing from this morning? But why...?"
"Don't you have any more of it? How much is it? I'll buy all of it."
"W-what did you say?"
If that was true, then...
"Did it work?"
"It worked incredibly well. I got bitten dozens of times by mosquitoes, and I was totally fine! It didn't even itch. This medicine is absolutely incredible. Where in the world did you get such an amazing medicine...."
"Uh, uh."
Baek Hongpyo's eyes shook violently.
It worked?
'Really?'
Baek Hongpyo hurriedly searched through the trash can.
Fortunately, it was still there.
He had to verify it himself.