Drug-Eating Genius Mage
Chapter 17

“Your name will be registered on the deep web.”

“what?”

Lennok, who was about to drink whiskey, hesitated at Jenny’s sudden words.

“What do you mean?”

“Thanks to Ban’s work so well, the tedious process started to be taken care of quickly. Sometimes this happens when the client’s satisfaction is high.”

As Jenny said that, she began mixing the cocktail with her skilful hands.

I hadn’t noticed it because I always watched Jordan mix drinks, but she also seemed quite skilled as a bartender.

“By the way, where is Jordan?”

“Originally, I leave my seat once every two weeks. There was something I used to do, but it seemed like I was going to help for a while.”

It’s been a while… Lennok remembered the first time he caught a bounty and handed it to him.

Considering how he pulled out all sorts of information even after examining the corpse, Jordan’s work would not be so smooth either.

“It’s a pretty regular schedule, and I and Jordan knew it from the time we set up the bar. Thanks to that, sometimes I… have to work like this.”

She sighed deeply, finished the task quickly, and tossed a cocktail at the customer sitting next to Lennok.

“Eat and search, you idiot.”

“Oh, that looks very delicious. Hehehe.”

Dylan, a tall man wearing a mask, let out a sinister laugh as he drank the cocktail in one gulp. Jenny, who was staring at the scene

on the deep web

like a disgusting insect, struck Dylan on the head with the shaker she was holding in her hand.

Quung!

“Keep!”

Jenny let out a roar of rage as Dylan smashed his head into the cocktail he was holding.

“Are you going to get drunk after failing the request so stupidly, you idiot!!”

“I couldn’t help it either!! How do those fuckers put ridiculous conditions on the client in the first place!”

Lennox sighed secretly at the quarrel between the two, which quickly turned the quiet bar into a riot.

Apparently, Dylan took the request arranged by Jenny very seriously, and both of them seemed to have a lot to say about it.

I heard that Jenny is cold with the high commission, and Dylan is given as a reward for success of the request…. Guido? It seems that they were caught by the equipment called, but neither of them seemed to do anything well.

Lennok watched the two men growl and argue for a while, then opened his mouth again just as Jenny passed out from exhaustion.

“So what happens when you register your identity on the deep web?”

“There is no particular risk. However, it has the advantage of being able to pick out a lot of requests that had to be handled verbally until now more… neatly.”

“For example?”

Jenny thoughtfully organized her thoughts for a moment and continued her explanation.

“First of all, half of your career is recorded on the network, and when you receive a request, you can accurately name the desired pay or kind? In addition, if there is a theme for the quest you want, you can actively reflect it through the client.”

“Oh, that’s what I heard from our boss.”

Dylan interrupted the conversation, wiping the cocktail off his face with his leather jacket.

“A year after I entered the office? From then on, if there was a request, they said to tell the connector separately. I knew my name was registered on the deep web, but that was the story.”

“okay. Originally, it would take at least 10 months for your name to go up on that network, no matter how fast it is. Because it is a structure that allows clients to view only freelancers whose skills and credit have been thoroughly verified, there is no way to do it due to the procedure.”

“But I was registered exceptionally quickly?”

“okay. According to rumors, it seems that other clients put their requests to the Deep Web first. Customers who do not have a direct connection with me are in trouble because there is no way to request you.”

“After all, that means he wasn’t your doctor.”

“Of course, we shouldn’t ignore someone who has asked for only the requests our wizard wants.”

At Lennox’s sharp point, Jenny quietly protested.

“It’s probably not thanks to the greedy woman trying to monopolize a great wizard.”

At Dylan’s muttering words next to him, Lennok involuntarily burst into laughter.

Lennok asked again, lowering his head slightly to avoid Jenny, who picked up the shaker and swung it at Dylan.

“The word ‘registration’ itself doesn’t sound good, but is there any particular risk?”

According to Jenny, it seems that it was not her intention to have her name listed on the deep web in the first place, but it was necessary to point out the danger.

“If it’s about information leakage, you can rest easy. The security level is ridiculous because it is used by opening a back door to the main integrated network used by the city government. In effect, they are protected in the same place as city government documents.”

“That makes sense… ah.”

Lennok, who was about to say that the assumption itself of creating a back door to the main network does not hold true, realized something and stopped talking.

Actually, if you think about it, it was a very simple story.

Jenny answered with a grin, probably understanding Lennok’s feelings.

“okay. It would be impossible to even attempt it without the cooperation of the city government in the first place.”

“……”

Not surprising.

The reason why the area of outlaws scattered in the 40th division can be maintained so intact.

The reason why this street, filled with gunshots and blood every day, escapes the eyes of city agents and police.

It would be rather surprising if the high-ranking Balkans were not involved behind all the causalities.

As expected and beyond imagination—-

it was a rotten city.

“So, when you receive a request, do you have any requirements to fill out? Less specific items, or simple categories are fine. Since your name is registered anyway, isn’t it better to use it properly?”

“Ummm……”

Lennok fell into deep trouble at Jenny’s words.

Right after escaping from the factory, Lennok had seldom faced it properly, even though he had clearly set his goals.

It was always clear what he wanted, but he lived hiding his true feelings while suffering from the risk of his life and vigilance.

Because he thought that revealing his goals to others was both an advantage and an exposure of his weaknesses.

But is it time to move on?

It is already approaching half a year since he settled down in a megalopolis and started to walk a tightrope between the sun and the dark.

I always told myself that I shouldn’t rush, but I can’t just hang on to the reality forever.

They want more than just taking care of their health and taking their medications.

Lennok’s wishes could not reach anywhere unless he reached out his hand directly beyond what he wanted and looked at.

Thinking that far, the words came out of Lennok’s mouth involuntarily.

“……Unique magic.”

“what?”

“Please write that you want a very rare type of unique magic… or a valuable artifact or elixir comparable to that.”

I can feel the eyes of Jenny and Dylan looking back at us.

For the first time since waking up in this world, Lennok felt afraid of those gazes.

It was scary and not easy to reveal what he wanted, but

it was something that had to be done someday.

Even if someone noticed that this was Lennok’s wrath.

Lennok had to keep moving forward.

The moment that should have come at any time was just now.

“Are you okay? A request to give such things as a reward is, um… no matter how famous you are, it won’t be easy.”

“That’s none of your business, Jenny.”

Dylan said in a low voice.

“…..what?”

“I told you to tell me what you want, so I was just being honest. Don’t you think Van would have thought of that?”

“For me to accept a request like that in the first place… No, it was definitely presumptuous. I’m sorry Van.”

An impatient Jenny was about to fire a shot at Dylan, but hesitated, then sighed and shook her head.

It seemed more like he remembered something while looking at Dylan, rather than looking at Lennok.

Lennox understood them.

It’s obvious, but everyone has circumstances.

“It’s not that I’m only going to accept requests from those people, it’s just that I set my preferred reward or related theme that way. That’s all.”

“good. okay. First of all, I’ll put a registration information change application on the deep web… Can you tell me roughly what kind of series you want?”

“……Time or space. Or a very strong regeneration line.”

“Wow, it’s not easy.”

Lennox knows it well. It’s because I’ve already searched enough to get tired of related knowledge.

To the extent that even Dylan whistles, the magic of this series is a rare series that is far too far away to even come into direct contact with.

In this rare series, there were few people who were even sure of its existence, let alone a separate mage tower.

But even knowing that, Lennok couldn’t stop.

After tapping the keyboard on the bar a few times, Jenny said.

“Once I put in a change request. Applications from this side are processed a little late, so it will probably take about a week. In the meantime, I recommend not carrying out the quest.”

“what? Why?”

“Because the difference between the ransom offered to you and half after you have properly registered is quite large. No matter how low you set it, you will lose more than 10 million cells.”

“That’s…”

Even thinking about it, Lennok wasn’t wrong.

According to Jenny and Dylan, listing your name on the deep web itself can be seen as a step toward being recognized as a freelancer.

However, the problem was that Lennok, who needed an immediate supply of money, could not just wait for the ransom to rise.

Dylan, who was watching him from the side, asked casually.

“Do you need money right now?”

“……There are circumstances.”

Lennox silently nodded at Dylan’s words, and Jenny’s face turned serious as well.

If Lennok, who seldom talked about himself, expressed his intentions first, it would not be such a light situation.

Jenny, who quickly looked at Lennok’s notice, opened her mouth right away.

“No, well… it’s not like you shouldn’t make a request. If money is urgent right now, it’s a ransom, it’s nabal, and you have to get a request. However, if clients replace out that the market price is different after being registered on the deep web, a claim may come in…”

Dylan, who was biting his lips as he watched Jenny babble something close to an excuse, said as if he had suddenly remembered it.

“Oh, how about this?”

“what.”

“These days, mercenaries sometimes do things to earn pocket money. how is it?”

“……It’s not enough to just have pocket money. No matter how much you need at least 20 million cells.”

“It’s okay because it’s not necessarily a fixed amount. If you have the ability, you can pull over 10 million cells in one day. Are you interested?”

“…….”

At this point, it was hard for Lennox to ignore Dylan’s words.

Please don’t lie about this.

As Lennok looked at him and straightened up, he could feel him grin through his mask.

“You know that there are undeveloped districts outside the 50th zone, right?”

“okay.”

“Because of the contaminants that appear there, the city government has offered a subjugation reward. Because of them, the outcasts living there seem to be dying like crazy lately.”

“……..”

“The corpses piled up and rotted, and only useless animals were gathered for no reason, and later turned into pollutants, causing a vicious cycle.

“What about subjugation rewards?”

“One million cells per bird. It’s like you can catch 10 of them and get 10 million cells as a reward. All you have to do is pluck out the pollutant’s eyeballs and submit them to the city government’s Environment Agency.”

It’s a million cells per bird… It’s cheaper than the amount of catching one bounty, but if you think about consuming half a day for bounty hunting, it might be better to get money in a short time.

Lennok began to estimate how much effort it would take to catch the taint for that amount of money.

Normally, it would not be burdensome to think of spending an entire day catching a bounty and getting a sum of money around a million cells, but it bothers me that I have to go replace the contaminant myself.

When bounty hunting, it was possible to actively use tracking magic such as [Bloody Chase], but it is questionable whether a similar method would work against contaminants.

Jenny also shut her mouth tight when Lennok seemed to be seriously worried and started shaking the shaker.

Even though the order hadn’t come in, it seemed that Lennok wanted to put off the request this time.

It’s not that she doesn’t understand her feelings.

If the unit price Lenok accepts goes up, so does the commission she earns.

‘Yeah… not bad.’

The date that the elixir Stemonia auction ends is approximately next week.

It is not too late to judge after visiting an undeveloped district for a day or so.

At that time, if the income does not come out as expected, it is enough to accept the request.

After careful consideration, Lennok nodded with difficulty.

“I would like to hear a detailed explanation.”

Undeveloped district

Undeveloped district.

It refers to the grandiose ruins that stretched across the second half of the 50’s and the ‘outside area’ that didn’t even have a number.

It was designed with an ambitious plan to greatly expand the residential area for city residents along with the rapid expansion of the megalopolis of Balkan in the past.

After failing to control the 40th district, which was first created due to corruption and profiteering, the 50th district was treated as an abandoned child in the city government’s policy.

Dusty concrete and rebar. Abandoned construction equipment without even knowing when it would resume.

An area full of emptiness, as if it had been broken rather than built.

Organizations that make this their home base are known for being quite insane or malicious enough to be unable to set foot inside the city.

A hell where vagrants and madmen who lost their self-sustainability and were driven out of the city lost their way.

And it was also the place Lennok chose for this activity.

“No. 484. remember the number If you look at the electronic signboard, I will send you in in groups of four, so I’m waiting until then.”

The receptionist handed Lennok a ticket without even looking at him properly.

The 5th guard post of the District Management Headquarters under the Environment Agency of the municipal government installed in District 50.

It is a place to register and manage the identities of various mercenaries heading to the undeveloped district after receiving a subjugation request from the city government.

Rather than blindly going inside the undeveloped district and asking them to catch the contaminants that appear, they are surprisingly concerned about safety, such as sending mercenaries in teams of four.

Of course, this wasn’t very good news for Lennok, who was planning to move alone.

First of all, I decided to follow the receptionist’s words and quietly wait for my turn.

As I was sitting on a nearby chair and looking around, other mercenaries who came to participate in the subjugation of the pollutants caught my eye.

Their appearance was different, but all of them had an indelible expression of fatigue on their faces, so it was clear that they were people working here.

‘This is the first time I’ve seen so many mercenaries.’

I have worked with the Krimgal Mercenary Office, but the scale of the office there is not that large.

Unless you worked together, how many times would you encounter mercenaries on a regular basis?

Even the number of mercenaries gathered at the post now seemed to be over 30, so Lennok hid his expression and began to look carefully at the mercenaries.

The equipment used is quite diverse, even considering the type of mercenary.

Usually, if the body was trained, it seemed that they did not mind cold weapons, and even if they did not, it was common for everyone to carry at least one firearm in their arms.

In a way, it is natural. This is a real world different from the game, and we won’t impose unnecessary penalties for carrying multiple weapons.

If Lennok could properly apply enchantments to things, it would be much easier to store and store than now…

Looking around, it seemed that it took a little while for Lennok’s turn to come, as there were few people who came alone and there were many who worked in teams.

When I went out in front of the display board, I saw three mercenaries looking around.

The man in the lead, who met Lennok’s gaze, strode forward and offered to shake his hand.

“hello. Are you number 484? My name is Miguel.”

A face whose expression is difficult to understand on dark skin. The hand that asks for a handshake has hard calluses, and the forearm is strong.

The weapons used are short spears and submachine guns. It’s an unbalanced combination, but if it was a mercenary rolling on the floor, it wouldn’t have looked pretentious.

A cool smile hung on his lips, but Lennok didn’t miss Miguel’s gaze as he looked up and down at him in that brief moment.

Lennok politely shook hands and greeted the rest of the group behind him.

Two men and one woman, including Miguel.

The man is Eriksen. The woman was called Claria.

Is it a method of two men standing in the vanguard and a woman supporting firepower with a rifle in the back?

I lightly raised magic and looked at their appearance, but I only know how to use the minimum amount of magic to strengthen my body, but it doesn’t seem to have any special ability.

After a brief maintenance with the three of them, Lennok left the post and started walking.

The distance from here to the undeveloped district is not too far.

It wouldn’t be easy to meet the pollutant just by heading out of the city right away, but I liked the fact that I didn’t have to wander far.

Perhaps the three of them had known each other from the beginning, so they skillfully continued their conversation so as not to feel awkward even with Lennok between them.

It’s hard to remain silent while working together, so should this be considered an experience?

“It must be very difficult for people who work outside the Balkans. Although it is quite recent that the prevalence of contaminants has increased, you always have to go to and from the city with such a risk.”

“So if you dig up factories or buildings built outside the city, they say that they often have poor results. It means that only those who commit absurd things that the lax city government can’t tolerate go outside. Ah, can this also be called prejudice?”

Those words reminded Lennok of the factory he had first awakened from.

The factory where people were caught, exploited, and black magicians made corpse shredders and sold them to the union… It certainly wasn’t a healthy working environment.

The three of them continued the conversation while chatting sparsely, and Lennok would occasionally add a word to the conversation.

The story flowed smoothly, and before we knew it, we were heading towards introducing how each other fought.

“One million cells as a reward for defeating one pollutant. It’s not easy, but it’s not common to have a quest that can be accepted at any time. For mercenaries like us, the existence of an undeveloped district is not necessarily so reluctant.”

“My shotgun helps a lot, especially when it comes to catching and slashing them.”

Eriksen smiled kindly as he pointed at the shotgun strapped to his back.

“By the way, Mr. Ban seems to have only one revolver. Do you have any other equipment you use?”

Claria’s question passes by as if passing by very lightly while asking about each other’s current situation.

But Lennok couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the three of them exchanging glances in that brief moment.

It seemed like he was trying hard not to show it, but it was obvious.

They try to obscure its importance by burying it in the flow of conversation, but what they are most curious about Lennok is a law that has been decided from the beginning.

As there was nothing to hide now, Lennok replied calmly.

“I am researching lightning-type magic.”

“…..Are you referring to the pure element type when it comes to electric shocks?”

“You would be right to see that.”

After Lennok answered, he felt something strange and frowned.

The atmosphere of the mercenaries, who had been friendly, had changed in an instant.

Miguel with an embarrassed expression and Eriksen looking at a pathetic person. And Claria with an expressionless face.

Everyone was looking at Lennok as if he were a completely different person.

Miguel said with a small sigh.

“We must have misunderstood.”

“In what sense?”

Lennok replied. It was only natural that the other side’s attitude became strange, so the words were shortened.

“I thought Mr. Ban was a wizard who had learned popular magic such as shock magic. Wizards who usually travel alone work hard to develop the ability to work together with other team members at any time.”

“…….”

It was the first time he had made such an excuse since he started working with electric shock magic at the forefront.

I heard that in the early stages of learning the pure element series, it was relatively ineffective and was not favorably treated, but it was strange to reject them for not having learned the magic of the series they wanted so blatantly.

Did he intend to drop Lennok from the beginning and move separately? It’s understandable if it’s that much of a plan.

While Lennok was lost in thought, Miguel’s words continued.

“At this point, we might have to reconsider doing the Pollution Bounty together. I want to work with someone who can provide ample fire support on our side too…” His

conclusive tone, as if Lennok hadn’t made that effort.

That ambiguous attitude of saying that he doesn’t want to work together now makes me sigh.

I knew there would be time to measure things before we started working together, but I never thought I would change my attitude in an instant like this.

Catastrophe comes quickly.

Even if we were forced to accompany them here, it would be like boarding a ship that was collapsing.

I had no intention of hanging on for too long.

“I only ask you one thing.”

“yes?”

“Does all four of us have to go together when we subdue pollutants and get paid?”

“……I don’t think so. Dealing with the pollutants is not that easy, and there may be casualties, but you have to pay for the right number of people.”

“That’s all right.”

Lennok nodded and turned his back.

“Wizard?”

“If we don’t agree with each other, even if we’ve been together for a long time, we’ll only hurt our feelings. Once the number of people has been adjusted, we have entered the undeveloped district, so it will not be too much to act separately from here.”

Miguel glanced at him and asked.

“……Are you really going to be okay with that?”

He says so, but his voice drips with eagerness.

The expressions of Eriksen and Claria, who were standing behind, also became much more refreshed.

Even if Lennok was really an inexperienced wizard, he wouldn’t be of any help in this subjugation request, but they just didn’t want to share the reward received from subjugating pollutants.

If the number of heads is reduced by even one, the return pie will grow.

Lennox nodded gently.

“It would have been much cleaner if we had talked about it from the time we first formed the team, but it bothered me for no reason.”

“Oh no. I can’t say that outright.”

Miguel’s tone was still polite, but he seemed to have no intention of hiding his true feelings any longer.

“Then let’s break up here for now. In order to achieve satisfactory results from each other, we must keep a reasonable distance.”

“If you do, we are really grateful….. Oh no. I’m sure all of the class mages have their thoughts.”

There was a slight crack in Miguel’s smiling face, but he quickly rectified his mistake.

Lennok nodded and immediately turned his back.

Not all corporations and gangs are bad, and not all mercenaries and freelancers are good people.

If it’s a gain, take it, if it’s a loss, throw it away.

They are just one of those common people.

Of course, I couldn’t help but feel annoyed because I didn’t expect to be treated like this by the mercenaries, but I can’t help but show off my skills by sticking to the mercenaries right here.

It will be self-satisfying by crushing them for a while, but in the end, it will be Lennok who loses the commission money as they go together.

Because Lennok knew that fact very well, he resigned obediently according to the mercenaries’ wishes.

The important thing is not to blow away the money you can earn while fighting pride with them.

It was enough to save face later in front of the settlement office.

Raising his mana and spreading it out in all directions without hesitation, Lennok quickly shook off his thoughts and began to concentrate.