82 – 82. Master
At this point, a sudden presence came to mind.
Choi Hee-joon, my father from a past life.
He started playing with stocks since the Dotcom Bubble.
But Choi Hee-joon didn’t start out specializing in stocks. In his mid-20s, he worked as a private tutor and even distributed study dru*gs for those who excelled academically.
The product, of course, was ADHD medication.
Nowadays, everyone takes it with a prescription, but back then, customs inspections were lax, so he openly imported it. With the abundant capital and connections he acquired at the time, he was able to expand his operations and engage in loan fraud, pre-sale scams, and stock manipulation.
Even the study dru*g had such profitability.
And what about a dru*g that aids swordsmanship training?
How would the existence of such a dru*g be perceived in the Academy, where only the most ambitious individuals in the Empire gathered?
This was a situation I hadn’t anticipated.
…
Hundreds of eyes stared at me as if they couldn’t believe it.
It was obvious what doubts filled their minds.
Did Mongmong and Beolleong create the Master? Was Leon’s journey a smallpox for him to become a superhuman in a short time? To find out if it was true, I would have to ask Allen Maydof, but would he honestly answer?
My guess could be wrong.
But one thing was certain.
No matter what I said, there was a high possibility of them misunderstanding.
They had already witnessed the birth of the youngest Master in history and even heard from the person themselves, “If it weren’t for the medicine, I wouldn’t have made it this far.”
Whether I affirm or deny, I’ll believe as I want to believe.
The signs were already there.
“No, everyone! Wait…! Leon had exceptional talent from the start. Don’t make hasty judgments without hearing an accurate explanation from him…”
“That friend used to be a student struggling at the bottom until the first year, right?”
“Huh?”
“…And back then, didn’t the professor suggest to Leon to transfer to the military department, saying it would be better to try becoming an officer? …But now, saying he was originally a genius is quite a convenient way of thinking, isn’t it?”
“Don’t speak, don’t speak so recklessly.”
The professors were already growling among themselves. Probably distorting Leon, who suddenly rose to prominence in the second year, as a born genius.
If left alone, they might even grab him by the collar soon. Students nodded or sighed, saying things like, “Oh, I see” beside me.
It seemed like a reasonable suspicion to me as well.
In the first year, Leon was a struggling student on the ground, and in the second year, he made a name for himself. Even if he was just a creation of the creator… there was some credibility in extracting talent with the help of medicine. It could easily explain explosive growth. Pointing out the timing issue would be useless.
Whatever I said would only fuel more suspicion.
Let’s just leave.
Right after making up my mind, I informed the principal, who was staring blankly in this direction.
“The Academy’s slope. Congratulations, Principal. I’ll leave now.”
“You’re leaving like this? What’s that about?”
“What’s the use of me trying to persuade? Although it’s a joyful occasion that my junior has reached the level of a master, I haven’t become a master myself.”
“Well, even so.”
“Then, would you force me to stay?”
Only then did the chief and the professors awkwardly step back.
The students were no different. They only looked at me with expressions filled with curiosity.
The fact that I, the human who brought down the elf with heroin, and the knight with the infamous 2nd princess trailing behind, didn’t seem to bother them.
Soon enough, even if I didn’t know it, I would likely resort to bribery and threats with our employees. Even if it meant using the prestige of the family they belonged to.
The situation demanded swift action, even if it was to devise a countermeasure…
But the dru*ggie Leon didn’t just stand by and let me escape. He flashed a gum smile and extended his hand.
“Heroin!”
“I’ll deliver the morphine to you by the end of today, so just wait quietly in your sleep.”
“What about the ball? It’s meaningless if we don’t take it together!”
Unjust feelings appeared on Leon’s face, but I simply ignored it and raised my head.
“Leon Loaderdale. The only thing I promised you was morphine. It was just a few days ago, don’t you remember? I promised to provide you with Morfin, or ‘Drowsy,’ if you proved your achievement. There was no mention of ephedrine.”
“Oh…!?”
“Keep your promise.”
Actually, I never made such a promise. It was just something made up on the spot.
If I completely cut off the dru*gs, it would be a big problem. In that case, it was best to feed him tranquilizers to keep him quiet.
“Oh, right.”
With a sigh, Leon began to clutch his head.
Why did I do that? Even though he’d be happy if we took it together. Regretting an unwarranted verbal contract he made with a lost expression.
I left that sight behind and immediately left the scene.
**
Why did they make such a foolish promise?
Not even a fool would do that, why?
Leon Loaderdale let out a sigh with a hopeless expression.
Feeling so depressed, he swallowed all the pills he would take for dinner at once.
“Yes. We definitely made a promise.”
He had momentarily forgotten, but now the memory was clear. He had made a contract with a man named Bono, who was standing next to CEO Allen earlier.
If he reached the ranks of the giants, he would receive four free morphine pills a day.
Why did he agree to such a foolish condition?
“Am I an idiot?”
It only makes sense if Mongrongi and Beolleongi take them together.
At first, he just thought, “It’s better to take them together.” But now he knew clearly why the two of them had to go together.
When he only took Mongrongi, he felt a sense of relief and happiness, but… how should he put it? It felt like even the sensation of happiness was paralyzed. When he only took Beolleongi, he felt excited and really good, but in return, he felt subtly anxious.
But if he took them all at once, all those disadvantages would be offset!
He could only enjoy the advantages.
“It’s really stupid to take them separately.”
Fortunately, he had secured enough Mongrongi for now.
From now on, he had to figure out how to obtain Beolleongi as well.
Should he just buy it with money? CEO Allen loved money so much that he even slaughtered elves, so he would probably sell the pills if he was given money, most likely.
However, the worry was that there wasn’t much money available. It would be really difficult if it was expensive.
That was what Leon was pondering intensely.
Regrettably, the troublemaker initiated the conversation.
“Uh… Leon, right? First of all, congratulations. I’m asking just to confirm. Does Morphin and Ephedrine really help in training? If it does, can I ask how it helps?”
The professor, who had scolded him in the past to stop taking dru*gs, asked persistently.
Annoyed, Leon ignored initially, but the professor persisted stubbornly.
So, inevitably, he responded.
Not only in training but as a dru*g that sustains his entire life. He admitted that without the dru*g, he would have given up the sword long ago. He honestly confessed that, by now, he would be rolling in the op*ium den created by dropout students in a closed hotel on the Iling Earth.
“Heh. So, in the end, it’s thanks to the dru*g that you surpassed the wall.”
“It only makes sense if you take it together…!”
“I see. And one more question. If you don’t mind.”
“Go ahead.”
No more questions now.
Leon swung the sheath or perhaps the sword in his hand, making the old professors lingering around step back.
And he headed towards the dormitory. To research a way for the Beetle to obtain.
‘Hurry up.’
As he said that, he was already standing in the dormitory room.
However, there was a trap even in the dormitory.
From Noble mtl dot com
Some friends he had been close to since the failing period had come to the room.
They, too, began pouring out various questions out of curiosity, but Leon ignored them again.
He turned away from a girl classmate who was tearfully expressing her desire to become strong like him, and also from a senior who was desperately kneeling before graduation.
But there was one question he couldn’t ignore.
“Leon, isn’t health syrup great? Right?”
There was someone audacious enough to utter such a grotesque remark. It was the scoundrel who used to sell medicine on campus during the health syrup craze.
Leon used to enjoy syrup in the past, but that was during a time when he didn’t know the truth.
Health syrup was a cheap and disgustingly sweet low-quality food. After experiencing real medicine, he couldn’t bear to consume it anymore and ended up giving it to a friend.
“It tastes terrible, though.”
“Well, it’s still better than having nothing.”
“That may be true, but…”
“Exactly…!”
Now, please leave. Please.
Only when Leon threw his shoes did the hesitant students finally leave.
Alone, Leon gazed at the ceiling and let out a deep sigh. He felt a complex mix of resentment towards his foolish contract and, separately, towards Maydoph Pharmaceuticals that came to mind.
But his worries soon vanished.
It was thanks to the effects of the medicine he had taken in advance.
**
I thought I would have a bit more time, but it was faster than expected.
“Mr. Allen? It seems health syrup is still circulating. On my way back from delivering morphine to Leon Loaderdale, a student stopped me and asked why they didn’t feel anything after consuming health syrup during their training.”
“Why are you telling me this, Bonno… No, never mind.”
It seemed that someone had consumed the discontinued health syrup as a minor buzz.
Up until this point, it was somewhat tolerable, but the problem was the phrase “consumed it.”
It had only been a few hours since Leon caused a commotion in the training field, yet there were already rumors of people exploiting its sensationalism for business. I knew there were self-sufficient dru*g dealers in the academy, but this was too fast, even for them.
The aftermath that had already begun would eventually reach me.
As I pondered how to deal with it, someone chose this moment to summon me.
“Alan Kyeong. Her Highness Victoria requests an immediate audience.”
Princess Victoria, the first princess.
Her reaction was as swift as that of the students. It wasn’t anything unusual.
Except for Sierra and me, she was the closest person with a significant connection. There was a time when she even commissioned an awakening potion to defeat the elves.
“Come to think of it, she gave up because of the sight of Leon. But now he’s become the master.”
I willingly responded to Victoria’s call.
If the empire falls into chaos, it won’t be good for me either. If possible, I wanted to minimize the aftermath, or if that proved difficult, at least eliminate any burden on me. My course of action would be determined based on how she approached.