Chapter 148

 

“Let me go! Let go of me! Do you think you’ll get away with this?!”

The moment I went out to the garden while grabbing the struggling guy from his neck, I met two people who were about to enter the workshop.

“…Boss?” 

“Oh my, what’s happening here? It seems like I missed something interesting.”

It was Cheong and Zero. Their gazes fixed on the man I was holding.

I had called them because I needed materials for research, and the timing was perfect.

“Good timing. Take this bastard and throw him out.” 

“Just throw him out? We can offer additional services too.”

Zero smiled slightly while placing his hand near his waist. The man who had been struggling wildly in my grip hesitated.

“That’s enough. Just drag him far away from the workshop and kick him out.”

I waved my hand and handed him over. While Zero grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him away, Cheong looked back with concern and said.

“Boss. It would be better to root out guys like that completely.” 

“What could possibly happen? If he comes again next time, I’ll deal with him then.”

As I went back into the workshop, I came face to face with Su-cheol, who was hesitating at the door.

“Um, Boss…”

“Don’t worry about that bastard. Go upstairs and take a short break.” 

“That’s not it. That person left this behind…”

A card was held in Su-cheol’s hand. It was the card that the man had thrown at Su-cheol earlier.

“Give it to me.”

I should return it now to make sure he doesn’t use the card as an excuse to come back. I took the card and quickly followed Zero. Outside the wide-open main gate, I could see the man who had been thrown out.

“Everyone saw it, right? You saw how they assaulted a customer at Kang Eui-jin’s workshop! Please record a video!”

Wherever the man reached out his hands while shouting, people retreated like the ebb tide. Zero, who was dusting off his hands and turning around, paused when he saw me.

“Boss?”

I walked past him and went through the main gate. As soon as I left the domain of Elf Neck, the surrounding air changed as if I had stepped into a different space.

“I-it’s Kang Eui-jin!” 

“He looks angry… Must be because of that man.”

Among the murmurs, I could hear the clicking sounds of cameras. I glanced around quickly. Feeling the numerous crowds and the gazes pouring toward me, I suddenly realized this was the first time I’d come outside the workshop since its opening.

The man sprawled on the ground glared at me. I snorted and threw what I was holding in my hand. The card hit the man’s chest and fell.

“Show your face again and you’re dead.”

***

[Info] I compared Kang Uijin’s potion with other potions (73) 

[Chat] Can’t we just climb over the workshop wall? (3) 

[News] Jeju Island dungeon stalled for 3 days… any solution? (123) 

[Chat] My experience after failing Kang Eui-jin’s workshop ticket reservations 5 times (11) 

[Chat] Finally entered Namsan dungeon lol (48) 

[Meet/Quest] Forming a Namsan entry party (C-rank or higher) (33) 

[Chat] Any citizens near Kang Eui-jin’s workshop right now? I heard there’s trouble there? (32)

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[News] Breaking/Potion Master Kang Eui-jin’s assault dispute (537) 

[News] Identity of ‘Kang Eui-jin’s assault victim’ is a potion maker… “I was just a genuine fan.” (293)

 [News] ‘Show your face again and you’re dead.’ Even a murder threat. The ugly side hidden behind the Master’s radiance (238) 

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[Chat] I was at the scene (766) 

I failed at ticket reservations again today so I just went there on impulse. Thought maybe they’d let me in if a reservation holder didn’t show up lol. Turns out about 150,970 people had the same idea. Of course, there were no empty spots.

I didn’t want to just leave empty-handed (I took the freaking hours long train to get there, dammit) and I thought maybe I could at least catch a glimpse of Kang Eui-jin’s face, so I was waiting and chatting with other people when suddenly someone gets thrown out of the workshop;;;;; 

He was yelling at the top of his lungs that Kang Eui-jin beat him up. Just by looking at him you could tell he was trouble…. Everyone was cursing him out, but he asked people to record a video of him getting beaten up;;; Of course, nobody took out their phones.

I was also thinking I hope that noisy bastard would disappear quickly when suddenly Kang Eui-jin comes out from inside ㅠㅠㅠㅠ They say even troublemakers have their talents

People who didn’t budge at the troublemaker’s words all took out their phones to take pictures, and the puppy (Kang Eui-jin) looked around once, said something, and he was just so damn handsome…….

As Kang Eui-jin was awkwardly greeting people and about to go back inside, some brave guy asked if that troublemaker was a reservation holder, and since one reservation spot opened up, couldn’t he pick someone from here to go in lol. 

Kang Eui-jin said ten people could come in, but we had to decide ourselves who gets to go, so we played rock-paper-scissors and ten people went in.

Of course, I lost and I’m on the train home now. People who were inside the workshop said they even saw people badmouthing Kang Eui-jin, I’m so jealous ㅠㅠ Anyway, I tried to write about the scene as objectively as possible.

Comments(766)

• Maybe he was trying to prevent competition? Jealousy lol 

└ Why would an S-rank master try to prevent a lower rank?

• I didn’t think Kang Uijin was like that, what trash ㄷㄷ
• Wow that’s seriously scary!
• Where did the people above come from? Your way of talking lol
• What’s with “puppy” in the middle? You call this objective? lol 

└ This is my version of objective, got a problem?

• I knew it. Image making. From Nox background. What do you expect. Interviews are fake too. . .

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• Why are there so many comments for something so trivial? 

└ The writer posted a photo then deleted it because people suspected it was fake

• Can you post the photo again? 

└22 

└333 

└He was so damn handsome 

└444444444

• What’s with all these comments asking for photos of Kang Uijin when there’s a victim here lol Your sensitivity is dead 

└ Enough of that, just give us the photo

• People who want the photo reposted (1/∞) 

└ (2/∞) 

└ Me too 

└ 444444 

└ I’m not going home if you don’t post it (5/∞) . .

• Original poster/ I’ll upload it one last time then delete it

***

My ear felt itchy all of a sudden.

‘What’s this. Is someone talking about me?’

I casually brushed my ear with my hand and focused back on the documents.

Looking at the profits earned over the past week, I couldn’t help but smile. Potions were selling as fast as they were made, and contracts with commission fees worth hundreds of millions of won were flooding in with desperate pleas to accept them.

Among the request forms piling up daily, I hadn’t accepted any yet. Now that the workshop was running systematically, I was thinking of starting my personal research.

‘Someone else could figure this out without me, and this one is a bit tricky.’

Unlike the thought that I could do anything, the absence of the recipe research skill <Encyclopedia of Heaven and Earth> was significant. The skill gap could be filled by investing money and time, but the problem was the lack of time.

While pondering, my eyes drifted to a pile of documents set aside. They were requests related to the Tower.

After 11 countries entered the Tower, all kinds of information and new items were pouring out. The whole world was excited about the Tower, but for some reason, I felt uneasy thinking about it and was consciously avoiding anything related to it. The same went for requests. I wanted to develop regular potions, but most recent requests were Tower-related.

‘Should I try that first…?’

After briefly considering, I cleared away the request forms I was looking at and pulled the pile of documents forward. While I was flipping through them one by one and looking at the new information, Seung-yeon entered the office.

“Eui-jin nim. I just posted the notice. From tomorrow, twenty people per time slot, and the workshop will only operate until 3 o’clock. Despite increasing the total number, there wasn’t much pushback.”

“Good job.”

“And also…”

I finally looked up when his voice trailed off. Seung-yeon was anxiously glancing out the window.

“Is he back again?”

“Yes. He’s still lingering outside the workshop… He even made eye contact with me but won’t leave. Should we, should we report him?”

“If even you noticed him, he probably wants to be seen. Don’t worry about it. He’ll leave soon.”

After Seung-yeon left the office with an uneasy expression, I got up and approached the window. Looking outside, sure enough, a suspicious man was standing outside the wall, staring in this direction. Judging by his behavior, he was just an ordinary S-rank as I had expected.

The man waved at me when our eyes met. I showed him my middle finger before slamming the window shut.

This kind of thing happened occasionally, with S-rank guys coming to see me. So far, I had caught five of them. Their suspicious appearance initially made me think they might be from Nox or some cult, so I had Zero investigate them. However, the investigation revealed they were simply S-rank idiots curious about their own quests.

“What’s the big deal about a quest…”

“Meeeeeeeeh!”

Thinking I called him, Cloud jumped out and rubbed against my legs. When I stroked his soft fur, his eyes like black glass marbles stared up at me. Looking back at him, I couldn’t resist his cuteness and picked him up, holding him tight.

The constellation protection quest that appeared for S-ranks. While our country had me and Cloud, I had been curious about what S-ranks in other countries, where the constellations had died, were supposed to protect. Recently, I learned that their quests were different.

Their mission wasn’t protection, but search. They had to actively look for traces of constellations that might be somewhere out there. It could be a person, an animal like Cloud, or perhaps not even a living being at all.

I’d heard that everyone envied the S-ranks of countries that still had constellations, since searching for clues that led to more clues was incredibly tedious.

‘If other countries also find their constellations again, would the Tower disappear too? Damn, that means I have to stay hidden like this until that day comes.’

“Meeeeeeh!”

Cloud rubbed his head against my chest. Stroking his fluffy fur between my fingers, I mumbled.

“Can’t be helped, I guess.”

Though it was disappointing not being able to move around freely, I’d never really been free throughout my life anyway. Under Tae Jae-heon, at the Center, and even during those brief moments of freedom, I had to use a fake identity to hide being a desertion guide.

‘Enduring a bit longer is a piece of cake.’

Still, it was a big deal with so many things to protect. The workshop, the people.

Hugging Cloud tighter in my arms, I said:

“Cloud. We’re a team. I’ll protect you.”

“Meeeeeeeeeh!”

“Yeah, just trust me.”