<Episode 99>
Seoul OO University Hospital.
After receiving the call, I rushed over and found Shinhye talking to a doctor with an anxious expression.
“…It appears to be simple overwork, but I recommend visiting a hospital specializing in Hunters for more thorough examinations.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After the doctor left, I approached Shinhye, who was staring at the floor with a serious expression.
When she noticed me, her face brightened slightly.
“Shinhye, how is Hunter Yoon Kanghyuk doing?”
“For now, they say there’s nothing seriously wrong. They’ll need to monitor him a little longer, though. Whew… I was so shocked.”
Shinhye let out a sigh of relief as she rubbed her chest.
Apparently, while they were on a date, Yoon Kanghyuk hadn’t returned, so she went looking for him and found him collapsed on the ground.
“…He keeps saying he doesn’t want the Management Bureau to know he’s sick, so he refuses to go to a Hunter-specialized hospital no matter what. Honestly, I can’t deal with him.”
“He’ll be okay. The doctor said there wasn’t anything seriously wrong, right?”
I patted Shinhye’s shoulder comfortingly.
She had been so excited for a date after such a long time, only for her boyfriend to suddenly collapse. She must have been terrified.
“…I’m going to wash my face and come back. Go into the room first.”
I nodded and carefully opened the hospital room door.
Yoon Kanghyuk, who was already awake, smiled awkwardly when he saw me.
“Shinhye was really worried, wasn’t she…?”
“I was worried too. What happened? Why did you collapse?”
“Haha, I’ve always been confident in my stamina, but work has been piling up lately. Keep this a secret from the Management Bureau! If word gets out, I’ll be too embarrassed to face my team members.”
I studied his face as he joked.
I hadn’t noticed from a distance, but up close he looked much more gaunt than before.
‘For simple overwork, something feels suspicious. He seems anxious too.’
After checking our surroundings, I pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down.
“Hunter Yoon Kanghyuk. Please answer me honestly. Are you… sick?”
“Huh? No! I’m just a little tired, but I’m perfectly healthy!”
Crossing my arms, I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Then what about those pills you were taking? What are they?”
“P-Pills? W-What are you talking about? I don’t really…”
He cleared his throat and hurriedly grabbed the water bottle on the bedside table, gulping down several mouthfuls.
That reaction only made him seem more suspicious.
“I happened to see you the other day. You were hurriedly swallowing pills in a secluded corner. Are you hiding an illness on purpose?”
Could he have some kind of incurable disease?
As I was entertaining increasingly ominous thoughts, Yoon Kanghyuk let out a low sigh.
Scratching the back of his head, he opened the bedside drawer and pulled out a handful of opaque medicine packets.
“So you saw these. They’re more supplements than medicine.”
“…Nutrafill? But this packaging is different from the one I know.”
The logo on the opaque packet didn’t match what I remembered.
Looking more closely, I saw the word “Renewal” written prominently above the Nutrafill logo.
‘A renewed version?’
Examining the package, I asked:
“Were you taking Nutrafill before too?”
“Hmm, occasionally. Now that I think about it, I’ve been taking it more often since they renewed it.”
He scratched the back of his head.
“It gets rid of my stomach discomfort. It has a sweet taste too, so it’s better than eating bland regular food. Haha, saying it out loud makes it sound like no big deal!”
My eyes widened.
“You can taste it? Have you already eaten the side-effect treatment item I made?”
“Oh, no. The waiting list is too long, so I’m still waiting. But strangely enough, I can taste the renewed Nutrafill too. It’s only a faint strawberry flavor, though.”
Just as I was about to ask more questions, the hospital room door burst open.
Despite having washed her face, Shinhye immediately burst into tears the moment she saw him.
“Waaaaah! You scared me! Why did you suddenly collapse?!”
“I’m really sorry. Please don’t cry, okay? I was wrong.”
Yoon Kanghyuk scrambled out of bed and wiped away her tears.
The moment Shinhye saw that he looked completely fine, anger seemed to replace her worry, and she began thumping his solid chest with her fists.
‘…I swear I hear things cracking somewhere.’
After watching them for a moment, I quietly closed the door and left the room.
Leaving a message for Shinhye saying I was heading home first, I made my way to a nearby pharmacy.
“Do you have the renewed version of Nutrafill?”
“One moment. Would a thirty-day supply be okay?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Carrying a box labeled:
[(NEW) The Perfect Meal Replacement Supplement for Hunters!]
I returned home.
As soon as I unlocked the door and entered, Hyunwoo-ssi greeted me.
“How was Hunter Yoon Kanghyuk’s condition?”
“They said there’s nothing seriously wrong. That’s a huge relief.”
Taking off my coat, I placed the Nutrafill box on the table.
As I sat down and pulled out the pills, Hanyang hopped off the sofa and approached, sniffing them.
“Blegh! What a weird smell. Where did you bring this trash from, nya?”
Hanyang recoiled dramatically, her fur standing on end.
Then she made a motion with her front paws as if burying the pills.
It looked exactly like a cat covering something with litter after using the bathroom.
‘…It doesn’t smell that strange.’
I held one near my nose.
Aside from a slightly bitter medicinal scent and the smell of paper, there was nothing unusual.
“The renewed version of Nutrafill, I see. Why did you buy this?”
“Hunter Yoon Kanghyuk said he’s been taking it recently. I just have a bad feeling about it.”
Even after reading the ingredient list on the back of the box, I couldn’t find anything particularly suspicious.
‘Just how exactly was it renewed to let people taste things?’
Could it work through a principle similar to my own skill?
Lost in thought, I opened one packet.
‘Seeing is believing. I’ll understand if I try it myself.’
Before, I never would have attempted something like this.
But now I was an SS-rank Hunter.
I had a completely baseless confidence that swallowing something like this wouldn’t hurt me.
Just as I raised the pill with a glass of water…
Tap.
“What exactly are you doing right now?”
A firm hand grabbed my wrist.
Like a child caught playing with fire, I forced an awkward smile.
“I’m curious because he said he could taste things. And now that I’m SS-rank… shouldn’t something like this be okay?”
But Hyunwoo-ssi firmly shook his head and took the pill from my hand.
“We don’t know what’s in this medication. If necessary, I’ll try it instead.”
“No! You can’t. It could be dangerous.”
“The same applies to you. In fact, since you’re a production-type Hunter, you should be even more careful than I am.”
In the end, I could only nod dejectedly.
My plan of eating it to investigate the suspicious effects…
Failed.
“Ugh. No matter how I think about it, this feels suspicious.”
Back in my room, I lay on my bed and thought deeply.
A product suddenly renewed right after I awakened as an SS-rank.
And despite being minor, it somehow possessed side-effect treatment properties.
Even after searching online, all I found were vague claims about “innovative patented technology.”
No one explained the actual mechanism.
‘Nothing showed up in Yoon Kanghyuk’s test results… but it still bothers me.’
Maybe I should have forced him to visit a Hunter-specialized hospital after all.
The fact that Nutrafill’s largest investor was ”NP Investment Partners” in other words, ”Park Seongcheol” made it even harder to ignore.
“I’ll have to investigate this separately.”
“I absolutely oppose you eating it yourself, nya!”
“Don’t worry. This time I’ll use a different method.”
As it happened, I knew exactly the right expert.
I picked up my phone and called Gong Juwon.
‘A pharmaceutical company executive’s connections exist for times like this.’
***
A while later…
“Boss Haneul, it’s been a while since you’ve called. The new products have been selling incredibly well lately!”
“Ah, that’s great to hear. You’ve been busy lately, so how’s work going?”
A shy laugh came through the receiver.
Apparently, he felt more suited to running a store than working at a company.
“By the way, is there a reason for the sudden call? I don’t think this is about the shop…”
“Actually, I have a favor to ask. You know the meal-replacement pill Nutrafill, right?”
“…Nutrafill?”
I explained all the suspicious details I had discovered.
The sudden renewal.
The mysterious technology that stimulated taste.
And the fact that the listed ingredients barely seemed different.
A chilly voice came from the other end of the line.
“Hah. That garbage company really hasn’t changed at all. The investor is NP Partners, right?”
“…You seem to know them well.”
“About eight years ago, our pharmaceutical company went through a major crisis. It was serious enough that everyone in my family except the still-young Juhee devoted themselves entirely to the company.”
It sounded like the period Juhui had told me about before.
The time when her relationship with Gong Juwon had become strained.
But why was he bringing it up now?
He continued calmly.
“The reason our company nearly collapsed back then was because a newly established pharmaceutical company released a product that copied one of our new drugs.”
“Don’t tell me that new pharmaceutical company was…?”
“Yes. The very same pharmaceutical company that now produces Nutrafill.”
After a brief pause, his voice turned colder.
“And behind them was NP Investment Partners.”
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