Chapter 108 – Action (1)

Tomer read the reply as she bit her fingernails.

[Fernin Jesus changed his name to Agus Benjamin and smuggled himself to Korea in 2020. For unknown reasons, he entered a retirement center rather than starting a new life and died in 2024 at the age of 53. He was cremated through standard procedures and his remains are located at a memorial. The following is the name of the retirement center he stayed in…]

Tomer’s face stiffened. Dead at the age of 53. She couldn’t accept the words written on her smartwatch.

“Bullshit.”

Tomer bit on her fingernails until they bled.

“Dead? What right does he have to die?”

Her heart filled with anger. The trash who killed her mother and abandoned her already died. She shot up with tearful eyes filled with resentment and glared at the information before storming off.

The retirement center wasn’t far away. Tomer ran there as quickly as possible. The magic power inside her formed a special sequence that amplified her physical abilities. She only needed 15 minutes with the spell called haste.

[Sunshine Haven]

Tomer took a deep breath in front of the sign. She wiped away her tears and slowly turned the doorknob. Kiiik— A faint smell of medicine tickled her nose, but it didn’t smell as bad as a hospital. Tomer walked up to the counter. The nurse also spotted her and asked.

“Do you need something?”

“Um… I’m here to find a patient. His name is Agus Benjamin.”

“Who?”

The nurse tilted her head as though she never heard that name before.

“Agus Benjamin. He’s Latino like me, and old.”

“Ah, the Latino man.”

The nurse recalled since a Latino seemed to be rare.

“I remember now. He was extremely shy and quiet, but…”

The nurse’s face darkened.

“I believe he passed away already. About 2 years ago.”

Tomer felt her heart drop and her throat tightened. Was he really dead? On his own, so peacefully in such a calm place? Her hands trembled, and her heart surged with rage once more. No, it was still too early. She refused to believe until she saw definitive proof.

“Um, this person—”

Tomer rummaged through her pocket for a bundle of photos, but she lost her strength as the photos fell to the floor. The nurse came around to help pick them up.

“T-Thank you.”

“No, it’s fine. Ah, that’s him. He looks younger, but that’s definitely him. I remember clearly since he looked different.”

The nurse explained as she looked at the photos. Tomer could hardly maintain her sanity, but managed to endure the anger and asked.

“Then… what kind of a life did he live here?”

“I’m not sure. He didn’t talk much to any of the nurses or other elders.”

“Did he leave behind a will or any inheritance?”

“Yes? Ah… um, I’m not sure. Even if I did, I would need to know your relationship with him…”

Tomer took out her wallet and showed the nurse her magician license. [2 star Magician Jamer] The nurse’s eyes widened. Magicians were even more rare than heroes. Only 900 magicians graduated every year from the world’s number one Korean Magic Academy.

“I’m Jamer Jesus. This man’s real name is Fernin Jesus. He’s… my biological father.”

Tomer explained as best as she could. The nurse became more compassionate after hearing this.

“I see… but I really don’t know much. I’ve only seen him a few times while passing by.”

“Do you know anyone who would know something about him?”

“Mm… if I remember correctly, a volunteer student often talked to him.”

“Ah, really?”

The nurse nodded.

“Yes, I can’t remember too well, but they seemed to be close. He even came by recently.”

“Oh, ooh! Can you tell me who that student is?”

“Well, I’m not too close with him either. The head nurse is, but she’s away on a foreign volunteer trip.”

“Ah! You have a computer, right? Don’t you have some record of it?”

“Oh, you’re right. Hold on a minute.”

The nurse began to tap on the keyboard. Tomer’s smartwatch suddenly rang.

[Tomer, your mission has been terminated. We will deploy a new agent, so return. The disciplinary committee will decide on your punishment.] [Congrats on your demotion.]

“Fuck that.”

“Duck?”

“Eh? Ah, never mind.”

Tomer sneered at the djinns who cared so much about hierarchy. She only entered djinn society because she thought that bastard became a djinn. She could care less about the mission or the disciplinary committee now that she had found what she was looking for. She didn’t care about anything else anymore. Tomer pulled off the smartwatch provided by Wicked.

“Ah, found it. It wasn’t recorded in the computer, but in the guest book.”

The nurse muttered as she held up a notebook.

“Really? So what’s his—”

“Kim Hajin.”

“Ah, Kim Ha… Kim Hajin?”

“Yep, Kim Hajin. It’ll be hard to meet him since he was admitted to Cube. He’s an aspiring hero.”

The familiar name and background matched too well to be a coincidence. Tomer fell into a daze.

***

I walked through the redwoods as Cube’s break ended. They planted many trees at Cube to maintain a certain level of mana. It made these roads a popular date course during this time of the year. Naturally, many couples walked past me. I wondered how bad spring would be when cherry blossoms bloomed if it was already this bad in autumn. Cube lacked disciplinary measures. They technically prohibited dating, but couples could always say they were just friends and no one would care.

Tok, tok. Someone tapped my back while I felt grumpy.

“Huh?”

I turned around and saw a girl staring at me with her arms crossed. Her black dress shone beautifully, and she perfectly maintained her silky hair.

“What’s up?”

“Here.” Yoo Yeonha handed me a document envelope.

“What’s this?”

“What I promised before.”

“…”

Promise? What promise? I tilted my head and checked the contents. It contained 20 carefully wrapped pills and several documents. Then I remembered.

“We made them from refining half of the ginseng you gave me.”

“Half?”

“We needed to keep some to appeal to the market. We’re planning on using the other half in various ways. We’ll give you company stocks to make up for the cost. I’ll give you the other half when things improve in the future.”

“That’s fine with me.”

She spent half of the ginseng as she liked, but I didn’t mind since Yoo Yeonha wasn’t the type to backstab someone. Unfortunately, she was the type to get crossed. She still trusted people too much once they earned her approval. Honestly, that seemed natural for a 17 year old. The internal power struggle of a massive guild was too dark and complicated for a young girl. Ah, that event should be coming up around winter break. The so-called Yoo Yeonha Arrogation Scandal.

“How are they?”

“Oh, are these what I asked for before?”

I took out one of the pills.

“Yes. We made them by condensing the ginseng and mana crystals together. Each pill should be worth at least 100 million won.”

“100 million won per pill?”

I had 2 billion won in my hands.

“Are they actually worth that much?”

“Not exactly. However, people who buy such pills will get suspicious if it’s too cheap. Also, those pills are a bit special. We could’ve made 300-400 other types of medicines with the same amount of ingredients. They have to be expensive to make a profit.”

“Mm.”

I checked the pill’s description with my smartwatch.

[Ginseng Pill] [High-intermediate rank] [Consumable] — A medicine created from neutralizing mana crystal solution with ginseng. A glimpse of a skilled, meticulous technique can be seen. Your strength, stamina, vitality, and magic power stats will permanently increase by 0.001-0.02 over 24 hours once consumed. (Note that the effect will diminish the higher the user’s stats.) Chance of Qi Deviation — 0.5% (Consuming several within 24 hours will drastically increase this chance.)

I felt satisfied. I could raise my stats or modify them for even better effects.

“Eat one a day.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

I returned the favor since I received something good.

“Oh hey, take this.”

I took out a ginseng from stigma’s storage. Yoo Yeonha’s eyes shone like jewels when she saw its faint brown glow.

“Wow, you found another one?”

“Yeah, but Shin Jonghak will be mad if he sees this.”

Yoo Yeonha stared at me. Even I would find it impossible to find a ginseng every time I went to a mountain. However, the Jinsung group privately owned Wind Mountain and no one hardly visited. I whispered to her, “I’ll leave it to your conscience. You can return it or use it.”

“Cough… Well, Jonghak forgot my birthday once.”

Yoo Yeonha understood what I implied and smiled. I also laughed as an accomplice. She held the ginseng that should’ve entered Shin Jonghak’s stomach.

“Then I’ll take off now.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Yoo Yeonha turned back as I continued on my way. Then my smartwatch suddenly rang.

[Um, it’s me, Jamer.]

It seemed she got a new smartwatch since her messenger ID had changed.

[What's up? Are you paying me back already?]

She didn’t reply for a long time. She must’ve gone to the retirement center, so she probably needed some time to collect her thoughts. I decided to patiently wait for her.

***

“Hajin, Hajin. What did you bring back?”

“Meow.”

Hayang and Evandel ran up to me as soon as I returned.

“What? Why are you two so friendly today?”

“Un? We’re always friendly. Right, Kim Hayang?”

Friendly? Yeah, right. And what’s up with Kim Hayang?

“Hajin, Hajin.”

Evandel hopped up and down for me to pick her up. I lifted her onto the couch along with snacks. I brought back a special roll cake today.

“Whoa…”

Evandel’s eyes sparkled at the cake’s white texture. I sat at the kitchen table and swallowed a ginseng pill. Then I checked the official schedule.

[Mission Experience] Cadets must select one of the six missions below: — Escort — Tunnel — Field — Colosseum — Group Monster Subjugation — Dungeon

Cadets had to experience various missions like heroes. It would be like combat training. Each cadet had the same six options. If I recalled correctly, Kim Suho and Rachel chose the tunnel. Lancaster also started to act around this time.

Wiing— My smartwatch vibrated.

[Yo, Kim Hajin.] [Which mission are you choosing?] [I’m thinking of going with the tunnel.] [(emoticon of a hamster running around)]

It came from Chae Nayun. A loud shout rang from the living room before I could reply.

“Aaaaang, Hajin, Hajin! Hayang keeps trying to steal my food!”

Evandel held up the cake box as Hayang tried to climb on her to get to it. Just when I thought they became friends…

“Hayang.”

Hayang retreated at the sound of my voice as Evandel looked relieved.

“Hajin gave this to me. You have your own food. Eat the cat food over there.”

Evandel scolded Hayang and set the cake box on the table. I received another message when I was about to reply to Chae Nayun.

[Are you awake?]

Boss had sent it.

[Yes, I’m awake.]

“Ugyak!”

Another ruckus broke out between Evandel and Hayang. I didn’t know what happened, but I figured I’d just leave them to sort things out.

[Little apprentice, do you have a Violet Banquet ID?]

[No, I don’t.]

[lol]

I frowned. Did she just laugh at me?

[Do you wanr onw?] [want one?] [Typo.]

I replied after laughing.

[It’d be great to have one.]

[lol]

She laughed at me again.

“…?”

I raised my head since everything sounded too quiet. Weren’t Evandel and Hayang fighting? I saw Evandel pouting on the couch. — I hate you. You always steal my food. She murmured to herself.

“Hmm.”

Evandel and Hayang had the same amount of whipped cream around their mouths. It looked like they evenly shared the cake, or should I say they evenly stole from each other. Evandel stopped looking at Hayang, but Hayang acted quite strangely.

Meow—

Evandel glanced at Hayang, but immediately turned around and continued pouting. Hayang sneaked up and sat next to her.

“Hmph, who might you be?”

Evandel muttered and scooched away. Meow— Hayang chased after Evandel as she repeatedly moved away and plopped in front of the TV. Hayang purred cutely and rubbed against her. The corner of Evandel’s mouth twitched. It was only a matter of time before she forgave Hayang. Hayang seemed to know and continued being playful.

Boss replied as I watched them with a fatherly smile.

[I thought you’d say that, so I prepared a Violet Banquet ID for you.] [The access code is qkenpwnkWSD394820##3. The ID is Fenrir, password is: ‘youcanchangethepasswordinyoursettings’.]

“…”

The password seemed complex, yet simple.

[Thank you. Why Fenrir?]

[Fenrir. That will be your mercenary code name.]

[Ah.]

Fenrir was a mythical wolf monster that appeared in Northern Europe several years ago. It had devoured hundreds of heroes and caused billions of euros in damage. No one knew whether it was the real Fenrir from Norse mythology. Many also called it the demon wolf.

[That’s quite a grandiose name. Isn’t it too much for me?]

[I think it’s futtinf.] [Fitting. You look like a wolf too.]

[Eh? Where?]

[Your chinky eyes.]

I looked in the mirror. Weren’t my eyes pretty round? If anything, it should be because of my beard.

[Can it be Lobo if it’s based on my appearance?]

[Lobo? Like robot wolf? That’s a weird wolf.]

[No.]

I scratched my neck.

[Lobo. Like the wolf king…] [ref]In reference to “Lobo the King of Currumpaw” by Ernest Thompson Seton.]

“No, wait, why am I talking like I’m an official member? I never said I would officially join Jeronimo Mercenary!”

[Ah, wait, I still haven’t…

“…”

I deleted my reply after thinking about it. Now wasn’t the time to play hard to get. Soon, Chae Jinyoon would wake up as a devil. I had to grow close with Boss as soon as possible. I already considered every other possibility, but killing him was the only way. I felt more complicated the more I thought about it. Finally, I replied.

[Do as you want. By the way, what about that 300 million won item we talked about?]

[I’ll sebf it to yoru Violet Banquet ID.] [Send. Stay online.]

Did she have small fingers? Or was she just bad at typing? She kept sending typos. Then again, Boss was never good with electronics in the original story.

[Yes, I’ll be waiting.]