Drug-Eating Genius Mage
Chapter 9

“A new thing?”

District 49. Jenny’s Bar.

It’s already been 15 times since I’ve been to her place of work.

Gradually, the lobby of this gloomy pub was starting to become familiar.

Lennok, who was sipping the whiskey Jordan had handed him, repeated what Jenny had said.

“okay. Van You’re not coming here with the intention of continuing to chase bounties, are you? To be honest, if you want to become a bounty hunter, there are many places with better conditions than here.”

“Hmm….”

“I know you love this job, but to be honest, even high-risk criminals with a murder order have a certain amount of pay as long as they don’t get caught alive. Or do you really want a job chasing those psychopaths?”

“It’s not like that.”

The worst criminals who are directly wanted and pursued by the Balkan government may receive a huge bounty of hundreds of millions of cells, but that is not Lennok’s goal.

If you are capable enough to commit a crime without being caught even after enduring a city-scale chase, there is a high possibility that even Lennok has a difficult and powerful power in his hands that is difficult to predict.

There was currently nothing to be gained by fighting such monsters head-on.

When Lennok showed signs of listening, Jenny continued without missing the moment.

“Of course, I’m not a bad bitch enough to forcefully stop you from doing what you want to do. But, as you said the other day, you will need quite a lot of money to renew your identity.”

“……..”

“With your magic, there are many things you can do to make money more comfortably. Could it be that you still keep in mind my nonsense about testing my abilities?”

Lennok, who had been quietly listening to Jenny’s words, let out an involuntary laugh.

The skill of teasing the tongue is quite good.

It was obvious that he was trying to sneak Lennok into a more expensive job, but I don’t feel bad about her words with a good mix of praise and provocation.

From her point of view, she probably wants to deal with something that can earn a little more commission.

In the end, Lennok, who was worried, nodded.

“good. What would you like to recommend?”

In fact, as she said, it is true that in addition to the 20 million cells needed to establish an identity, more money is needed to expand activities into more diverse areas.

You can’t stay in the narrow hotel forever, so you’ll have to prepare a place to stay, and various efforts to make your body healthy will cost you money.

It’s just that until now, while repeating the work in District 49, he had taken time to learn the atmosphere around him and not to be noticed hastily.

Be careful.

If Lennok made a slight mistake, his talent would immediately begin to stand out, and even if he didn’t like it, he would attract attention.

Of course, being recognized for one’s abilities by others is a good thing, but that only came after Lennok had enough strength and preparation to defend himself.

Still, Lennok couldn’t be sure of his own safety in the 40th District, where all sorts of criminals roamed.

At Lennox’s words, Jenny widened her face and grinned.

“Good idea. Do you know how many jobs wizards need on this floor? Ban, you just have to pick something.”

With that said, she immediately led Lennok to the back of the bar.

It’s not a story that can be told in a brightly open place.

The huge cavity behind the bar you found when you brought Taylor Evans’s body.

After sitting face-to-face at a table in the corner, Jenny immediately brought out a file book and held it out in front of Lennok.

A report that was densely embroidered with small letters in a format completely different from that of bounty badges.

Lennok picked it up and read it quickly.

Jenny opened her mouth on the other side as his eyes moved quickly through the papers.

“This time, the newly completed cosmetics manufacturing plant of Charlotte Corporation in District 42. Since 80% of the construction cost was spent on city government subsidies, there was a controversy about collusion, especially since there are testimonies that the skin lotion that was scheduled to be manufactured at the factory went through a large amount of human testing, so there is a lot of talk.”

“A human experiment?”

“okay. As you can see on page 8, there is a content that the human face skin was peeled off whole in the 4th review stage to construct the most perfect environment for regenerating dead skin.”

Lennok’s brow furrowed inadvertently as he turned his gaze to the page Jenny had mentioned.

This is because the information contained in the report was not only simple text, but also very vivid photographic data.

“Isn’t this enough to reveal the truth already? I don’t know what more I need.”

“What are you talking about?”

At Lennox’s words, Jenny rather frowned.

“Because of authenticity or anything like this, Charlotte Enterprises will never leave the factory. It’s a business that has even been poured in with government subsidies, so should we care if there are rumors about it going bad?”

“……..”

“It wasn’t the city government that planned this event, it was the Baritz company. I recently started trying my hand at the cosmetics business, and I want to check Charlotte’s expansion beyond this.”

Baritz.

Even Lennok, who had just entered the Balkans, had heard of the company.

Even if you go to a mart or market right now, there are numerous products with the Baritz brand, and the familiar wing-shaped logo is also displayed on the front and rear of cars roaming the streets.

It is probably one of the leading octopus foot companies in this megalopolis.

“When Baritz asked an agency like us for a request, there were two conditions. One is to destroy the manufacturing plant to a level that cannot be regenerated. The second is to secure the production process algorithm data of the lotion they produce. 50 million cells for the first condition. I bet 300 million cells on the second condition.”

350 million cells if you add up the success fee. That’s a huge amount.

It’s hard to even imagine the pay you get for doing just one job.

But Lennok had no difficulty figuring out the meaning of the hidden words.

“You mean you can get paid if either one succeeds?”

“That’s how it is.”

“…It would be correct to say that the second condition is virtually impossible to succeed.”

“That is correct. After all, you’re a wizard, so your brain works well, right?”

The difference in reward between the two success conditions for one quest is too great.

From the client’s point of view, judging the gap in pay and the difficulty of the work, breaking through the security of Charlotte Corporation is probably dozens of times more difficult than destroying the factory.

Jenny shrugged as she took the file back from Lennok.

“Actually, it makes no sense to ask them to take out algorithm data. They say that they have to infiltrate the server in the system management room of the factory and get data through the firewall of Charlotte Corporation. To save a hacker or engineer with that level of skill, they would need more than 500 million cells? This was just a trick from the Balitz side because they wanted to use a hacker for a cheap price.”

“Are hackers paid that much?”

It was a fresh shock to Lennox that the labor cost of those who work in cyberspace exceeded 500 million cells per case, no matter how talented they were.

Start of work

“It varies greatly depending on the skill level, but if it was a Charlotte company, they would have replaced engineers who were known to be good at building firewalls. If you are a skilled person who can break through such a strong security net and extract data without damage, it is only natural that you take hundreds of millions of cells.”

“I see…”

Lennok nodded seriously.

When he seemed to have roughly understood everything, Jenny relaxed and waited for a decision.

Lennok didn’t know that the questions he was asking her now were very basic and close to common sense, but Jenny patiently explained them in detail.

It happened because she mistook Lennok for a wizard who had been training in a place far from the world.

Wizards who learn traditional magic that are very old are often concentrating on training in remote areas rather than borrowing the help of modern civilization, and Lennok thought that he was one of those wizards.

In particular, in the case of elemental magicians, they often do not appear in the school until they reach a certain level, so it was not strange that Jenny and Jordan were so mistaken.

After much thought, Lennok nodded slowly.

“good. It seems possible as long as it destroys the factory.”

While catching wanted criminals, he was mistaken for a while, but what he does is not an apostle of justice to eradicate unethical criminals.

It’s all about taking my share in the world of corporations and criminals where profit and loss and resentment come and go.

In the meantime, whether or not morality and values can be maintained depends entirely on Lennok’s choice.

At Lennox’s words, Jenny grinned and said.”

“Then, since we’ve reached a rough agreement, let me introduce you to a colleague to work with.”

“what?”

“come in!”

With those words, the side door at the back of the joint opened and someone came inside.

He is a man with a well-trained body that can be seen that he is muscular even though he is wrapped in a dark leather jacket.

He wore a mask of unknown meaning resembling a professional wrestler on his face, and all sorts of metals were attached to his back.

Jenny introduced the man to Lennok with a calm face.

“Dylan Ocasey. He’s a mercenary belonging to the Antares Office. He is a very cheap man who works by being called here and there.”

“Jenny, what would you think of me if I said that to a partner I’m seeing for the first time today?”

“well. A psychopath wearing a professional wrestler mask?”

“Hahahaha!!”

Dylan, who laughed out loud despite Jenny’s cold words, came up to him and shook his hand.

“Dylan Ocasey. is a mercenary He’s a colleague who worked with you on this project. So you’re from a wizard?”

Lennok replied, shaking hands with him.

“…Half. It handles lightning-type magic. But what does partner mean?”

“It is literally. It seemed like a daunting task to do alone, so I was looking for another person.”

“What is this annoying woman saying you can’t do it alone? He said he might be able to catch one today, so I was waiting.”

“……..”

Dylan’s unpretentious words instantly turned the atmosphere cold, but Lennok calmly dismissed it.

“From now on, I want you to tell me which partner is waiting for me.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

Although he had an unexpected partner, Lennok was not very dissatisfied.

What he’s doing now is like looking for a job at a human resources office.

In a way, it was not surprising that I did not know what I would be able to do that day and who I would be working with in the field.

If you think you’re going to catch your ankle, just cut it off neatly and that’s it.

It wasn’t strange at all, even if Dylan was thinking the same thing.

“Then, is the 50 million cell success rate split neatly 5 to 5 between the two of you?”

At Lennox’s words, Dylan scratched his mask.

“Should we take a fee from this woman?”

To that, Jenny quickly responded.

“This time, since I didn’t tell Mr. Ban that I have a partner, I won’t take any commission. There weren’t many orders from Balitz, so I felt a bit impatient. I will apologize.”

Dylan whistled in silence.

Lennok’s eyes narrowed at the sight of her neatly giving up and stepping back, even though the fee was not insignificant if it was 10%.

Make a mistake and quickly rectify it on the spot.

Although desirable as a coping mechanism, Lennok did not believe her outright that she had accidentally made a mistake.

In this way, he must be experimenting little by little to see how far he can cross the line while taking Lennok’s reaction little by little.

If Lennok had worked up his magic while getting nervous here, she might not have even mentioned the word partner in this kind of thing again.

In a way, it’s like letting Jenny keep her current attitude, but it’s not a bad thing.

It won’t be a loss in the long run to show some goodwill on this side and maintain a proper relationship.

It was even more so from Lennok’s point of view, who intends to solve the financing in this way for the time being.

If she really crosses the line, it’s not too late to deal with it then. The initiative in this relationship has already been slowly passing to Lennok.

As if she knew Lennok’s intentions, Jenny changed the topic after touching her palms once.

“Then let’s take a look at the factory blueprints in Area 42.”