Chapter 397 – Alchemist Hyunjoo Lee (1)

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I felt an ominous feeling as I followed where Kaori guided me, saying that this was the address Lee Hyun-joo had given me.
This was a place where there were many factory buildings that are no longer used.
If I lived a normal life, I wouldn’t call a place like this home to my friends.
Besides, he told Kaori that he was not in a situation where he could go to Seoul right away.

I thought it was a good idea to come to Busan with Kaori on purpose.
I don’t know what the situation was, but it was clear that it was not a situation that Lee Hyun-joo could solve alone.
Besides, Kaori is Japanese, and her ability is a bit peculiar, so there were restrictions on her ability to use it.
It’s not good to get caught up in an incident in a neighboring country where hostility toward Japanese hunters is at its peak.

“I hope nothing special happens.”

Kaori said that with her uneasy expression.

“Have you tried contacting them?”
“Yes, the phone is off and not answering. I don’t know what’s really going on…”
“Have you been in contact often in Japan?”
“No. About once or twice a year. I was not in a situation where I could comfortably communicate with outsiders. I regret it now. I should have taken better care of my friend.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not Kaori-san’s fault. The reason I’m alive so far is because of Kaori-san’s help.”
“Yeah… Then it’s fortunate.”

We arrived at the address.
Among the crumbling factories, this place had maintained its shape at least.
Some traces of life were also visible.

“Let’s go in.”

I parked my car and entered the factory.
I tried calling someone inside, but the door was already open.

We went into it

Then, a loud noise came from inside.

“Fuck you! When are you going to pay me back? I trusted him because he was a hunter, and now I’m cheating!”
“Doesn’t the dog-like bitch even answer? Do we look good enough?”

I could tell what the situation was just by hearing a few words.
Before I could say anything, Kaori ran quickly towards the sound.

It was already too late to dry.
She knows Korean well, so she must have figured out how things are going.

Where Kaori rushed in, her thick fog leaked out.
Then came the screams of men.

“Ahh!”
“Aaaaagh!”

It was already too late to dry.
Perhaps all the men who seemed to have lent money to Lee Hyun-joo were dead.

I stepped into the place where the fog had begun to subside.

Then there were two women hugging each other.

“You shouldn’t have told me in this situation!”
“After receiving such great help, how can you ask for help again? I thought you were in Japan.”

Lee Hyeon-joo was a relatively thin woman with long black hair.
She is mid 160 cm tall.
Perhaps because of her hardships in life, the clothes she was wearing were shabby.

The bodies of the two men were quickly found.
Both had their throats cut and were rolling on the floor.

I thought it was fortunate that this place was far from Seoul.
Because the death of Han Cheol-gwan and the death of the present corpses were very similar.
The clean cut of the neck could have been found on Ryota’s corpse as well.
I’m not sure what happened to his body.

Still, I decided to get rid of the bodies.
It was easy to know that they were bad guys who would be put off by the voices heard.
Seeing how they feel mana, they are hunters.

I used witchcraft.
He floated an amulet containing fire magic and burned the corpses along with their heads.

Roaring-

Only then did Kaori and Lee Hyun-joo look this way as the two intense pillars of fire soared.

“Ah!”

Kaori said to Lee Hyeon-joo, who was surprised.

“Don’t be surprised. You are the same as me. The one who told you.”
“Ah…”

Lee Hyun-joo said “Ah” To me twice, but the nuances of the two “Ah” Were obviously different.

“Hello.”

I had only heard of it, but this was the first time I had actually met him.
She was a modest woman in her mid-to-late 20s, but it only seemed that way because of her difficult life recently, and I thought that she was actually hiding a considerable amount of beauty.

This was the result of judging by my radar, which had recently been dating a ridiculous number of women, and the top 1 percent of beauties.
Anyway, now was not the time to judge Lee Hyun-joo’s appearance.

I looked around.
There was a very impactful event just now, but this place was a space that could never be called ordinary.
Above all, devices that are hard to see were filling the space.
I myself have the mana of an engineer and designer, and through the experience of actually upgrading equipment and weapons with Kim Yeon-hwa and Choi Na-ri, I could see that the things here are not the devices that are used there.

It was clear that it was a facility for experimentation, but I was not familiar with it.

“Maybe this is good?”

Lee Hyun-joo suddenly gave out a voice mixed with lamentation.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Kaori asked, but I thought I knew why Lee Hyun-joo raised her forehead and raised her voice in trouble.

“Those men who just died…”
“Why?”

Kaori still talked as if nothing was wrong.
Usually killing people is a problem.
Hunters too.

“They are victorious hunters. I probably wouldn’t be alone if I knew the gang member was dead.”
“Winner? What’s your name? Are you Yakuza?”
“Yakuza…It doesn’t matter if you say that. Originally, they were thugs, and that’s what became the Hunter Guild.”

“Have you ever borrowed money from them?”

I asked.
Hyunjoo Lee closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.

“Yeah, I didn’t mean to at first. I tried to live quietly experimenting with the money Kaori gave me in Japan. She made and sold medicines as a pastime. However, the medicine I made was so effective that it caused problems.”
“What do you mean?”
“Choi Mok-dong, the leader of the Victory faction, had a son. He’s a five-year-old kid, and he gets into a big car accident and loses a leg. Mok-dong Choi seems to have tried his best to heal his child, but rather, he randomly fed items that only work for hunters, and his body was further damaged. Originally, it was supposed to end with the loss of only one leg, but he was judged terminally ill with only a few months to live.”
“Did you get better after taking Hyeon-joo’s medicine?”
“Yeah, I guess it worked. The disease that could never be cured at the hospital got better after taking my medicine. He came to me with a bag of money. 1 billion in cash. He said he would give you tenfold if you would only heal his son. I said I would have to see the child in person, and the next day he brought the child. I don’t know what the hospital said, but in my eyes, I didn’t look like a child who had to live a terminally ill life. The leg was still a problem, but the rest of it could be cured enough with a good prescription.”

Hyunjoo Lee sighed in the middle of the story.
As if saving Choi Mok-dong’s son at that time was the beginning of everything.
Indeed, when she told me her full story, I could see that goodwill had turned into trouble.
Although she did it for money, it seems that Lee Hyeon-joo had a desire to save her child anyway.

“After treating the child according to the prescription I gave him, he quickly got better. He gave me an additional 10 billion as promised. And this time, it was a different request. What caused the child’s body to deteriorate. In other words, he wanted to heal his leg.”
“Yeah?”

I frowned.
To regrow a missing leg?
It was a story that did not fit common sense.
Of course, if a hunter gets seriously injured in a dungeon, his arm or leg will grow back if he takes action quickly.

However, common sense made it impossible for an ordinary person to regrow a limb that had been severed for a long time.

“Choi Mok-dong suggested it. He said he would give you 100 billion if you just return his child’s legs. And he said he would accept me as a core member of his guild. I thought that with that money, I could live without worrying about money for the rest of my life. I thought I would be able to leave Korea, where I am still unable to move, and go to Europe or South America to live. Having won 11 billion, the condition has already been met, but people are greedy… Besides, I also had a desire to test it. I wondered if I could really grow a child’s legs, and if it didn’t work out that well, if I didn’t get paid, I’d be fine.”

I became very interested in Lee Hyun-joo’s story.
How she thought she could regrow a child’s leg that had been cut off.
She couldn’t have said that she would treat the child without any basis.
No matter how much money you need, you can’t do it.

“Are you…”

Kaori opened her mouth to see if she knew something.

“Did you decide to awaken the child?”

Ah…
After hearing Kaori’s words, I understood.
If you use alchemy to awaken the child.
Then you’ll be able to prescribe the items the Hunter uses.

Hyunjoo Lee nodded.

“Yes…”