The Buffs I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 8
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 8.
Seoul Awakener Management Bureau.
Basement Level 4.
The air here held an oddly sharp chill, and the atmosphere was bleak.
Among the Bureau’s staff, it was known as the underground detention room.
“Baek Yul-heon, Guild Master of the Baekryeon Guild.”
“…Yes.”
Baek Yul-heon wiped cold sweat from his palms and glanced around the room.
He felt like a criminal trapped in an interrogation cell.
‘All this fuss over a single promotion examination?’
This was far from a standard proceeding.
Ordinarily, a single written review would have closed the matter.
Being summoned to a place like this was extraordinary in itself.
‘Damn it.’
Baek Yul-heon studied the man across from him.
Jung Cheong-un.
Director of the Seoul Awakener Management Bureau.
The way he lounged with a mid-sized guild master in front of him made him look like a common thug—
but his actual competence was beyond question.
‘Clumsy lies don’t stand a chance against him.’
“Hmm…”
Jung Cheong-un, who had been fidgeting with the documents for a moment,
finally spoke after a brief silence.
“Let’s begin the supplementary interview for the large-scale guild promotion examination.”
* * *
Two days earlier.
Jung So-hyuk’s rooftop room.
“Ma… na?”
“Mana!?”
At Jung So-hyuk’s words,
the two of them could not help but cry out.
Mana.
The efficacy of the tower plant that Jung So-hyuk had mentioned.
As both a businessman and the Guild Master of Baekryeon, he could not suppress his astonishment at the information.
“So… did you test it yourself, So-hyuk?”
“No. They’ve only just fully ripened today.”
Even as he conversed with Jung So-hyuk,
his gaze remained fixed solely on those lustrous blue fruits.
The potential contained in a single melon-sized berry.
Demand.
Profit.
‘How can something like this exist in a place like this?’
Every Awakener would covet such a thing.
Conflict between guilds could erupt over this alone.
And yet this object
grew in the rooftop room of a dilapidated villa.
‘What a waste.’
The first thought that crossed Baek Yul-heon’s mind
was simply: what a dreadful waste.
This man’s talent.
‘A gift like this should not be left to rot in a place like this… I wouldn’t trade it for dozens of S-Rank Buffers.’
With a more organized environment.
With proper support!
“Then shall we test it right now?”
“…Pardon?”
“Let’s eat it.”
“Eat… it…?”
Clink.
An object worth tens of billions of won—a true gold nugget—
Jung So-hyuk picked up with such casual ease.
“Ah……! P-please be more careful……!”
“Ha, don’t worry, I won’t drop it. So anyway, do you think this thing is edible?”
Jung So-hyuk tossed the fruit up and caught it repeatedly in the palm of his hand.
Each time he did, Baek Yul-heon’s heart seemed to lurch along with it.
‘Why is he so calm about this……?’
If he had cultivated something like this himself.
If it had grown in his own yard.
‘My hands would be trembling too much to even touch it…….’
Perhaps he simply had no concerns at all.
Or perhaps it was the confidence that he could produce something like this without any difficulty.
“Come on in. Shall we cut it open and try it?”
“A…… yes, all right.”
Jung So-hyun followed along beside her brother, who was carrying the fruit toward the kitchen.
She drooled openly in anticipation.
“What do you think it tastes like?”
“I have no idea…… and honestly, I’m not even sure how we’re supposed to eat it…….”
That much was certain.
The blue liquid sloshed inside, filling about half the fruit.
When they cut it open, it might spill everywhere.
“Hmm…….”
Jung So-hyuk stood in the kitchen, knife in hand, his brow furrowed.
He poked at the outer surface gently.
He tapped it with his palm.
Then.
“Ah, forget it.”
Crack!
He split it cleanly in half.
“Oh!”
A sweet fragrance burst forth in that instant.
Baek Yul-heon rushed forward in shock.
“This is……!”
The fruit’s interior, now cleaved in two.
The liquid inside had not spilled out at all.
It had not shattered like glass either.
A pristine cross-section of pale blue.
Several small seeds embedded here and there throughout.
It looked just like the inside of a watermelon.
“Wait, the liquid inside……?”
“……It seems like it only looked that way from the outside. The inside is quite ordinary, actually.”
“Wow, what on earth is this smell……?”
Jung So-hyun, who had been waiting at the table, rushed into the kitchen to see the fruit for herself.
‘It really does have the character of something from the Tower.’
A small laugh escaped him at the unexpected nature of the fruit’s flesh.
Grateful that his worst fears hadn’t come to pass.
Jung So-hyuk began preparing it.
“I’ll cut it like a watermelon.”
Chop, chop, chop, chop!
His blade moved with practiced speed.
Before long, the fruit had been transformed into something that looked like a watermelon you’d find in a rural village in midsummer.
“It’s blue…….”
“A blue watermelon…….”
Baek Yul-heon and Jung So-hyuk stood holding the sliced fruit, momentarily lost in thought.
Worrying about poison, side effects, and most importantly, what it would taste like.
“Let’s eat.”
Without a moment’s hesitation.
It was Jung So-hyun who moved first.
“Mmm.”
“”!””
Baek Yul-heon and Jung So-hyuk’s gazes snapped toward her at once.
Crunch!
Blue juice splattered outward.
Slurp.
The remaining two watched with sweating palms as Jung So-hyun chewed the flesh.
‘How does it taste?’
‘Will she… collapse or something?’
But contrary to their fears.
“Mmm!! This is delicious!”
“…Phew.”
Jung So-hyun’s expression was brimming with joy.
She smacked her lips, savoring the taste.
The moment she reached for another bite.
“Huh!?”
The half-eaten fruit dropped from Jung So-hyun’s hand.
“S-sister!?”
Jung So-hyuk rushed to her side in alarm.
Head bowed, Jung So-hyun clutched at her chest.
‘…She’s turned blue?’
Her arm was discolored, flushed an unnatural blue.
No matter how he looked at it, something was wrong.
‘Could it be poison?’
If so, it was serious.
An antidote for poison from the tower’s flora was…
“Guild Master!”
“W-wait a moment! I’ll call for support right—!”
“D-don’t…”
“Sister!?”
Jung So-hyun seized her brother’s arm.
Her grip trembled.
But.
“Ugh…!”
‘A-it hurts…!’
Crushing force.
She gripped his arm without any control over her strength.
‘My bones are going to break…!’
As though caught in a frenzy.
Jung So-hyun was not in a normal state.
“G-guild master…”
“This can’t be…!”
Baek Yul-heon rushed over, seeing her convulse in pain, and tried to pry her hand away.
But.
“!?”
‘This is… stronger than usual…!’
Baek Yul-heon had sparred directly with Jung So-hyun from time to time.
Though his days of ascending the tower himself had passed, so they couldn’t truly compete.
Still, he prided himself on knowing the full extent of his guild members’ abilities.
But this was different.
Not merely a loss of power control.
Her body had entered a state of tension, like when entering the tower.
“Jung So-hyun! Hey! So-hyun! Snap out of it! Are you trying to destroy your brother’s arm!?”
“U-ugh… w-what…?”
At Baek Yul-heon’s cry.
Jung So-hyun’s eyes, which had been clenched shut, opened.
“Gasp…!”
She released her grip just before his arm could break.
Jung So-hyuk’s arm bore blue bruises.
“W-what have I done…”
Jung So-hyun clutched her head and stood.
Now, her entire body came into view.
“Sister, your body…”
“My body…?”
Her body’s condition was clearly not normal.
Veins stood out across her entire frame, making her skin bulge and ripple.
But there was no color to her face—it had turned a sickly blue.
“……Are you all right, So-hyun? Does nothing hurt……?”
“I, I’m not sure. My body feels fine, but…… my head is a little…….”
“Just calm down for now. I’ll call the support team, so stay still.”
“Before me, my brother first, ugh……!”
“So-hyun!?”
Thud!
The strength drained from her right leg, and Jung So-hyun collapsed.
“The, the veins…….”
The protruding veins writhed and twisted in unison.
Like serpents.
Crawling up her body toward her head.
Her face flushed a ghastly blue.
The veins convulsing across her forehead gathered and glowed as though they might burst at any moment.
“Uuuugh……!!”
“Sister!!”
Then.
“……Urp.”
It was over.
“……?”
A small belch escaped her lips.
“…….”
“…….”
It was literally that simple.
The writhing veins, the sickly blue skin—
Everything had returned to normal.
The headache had vanished too; Jung So-hyun rose with her face flushed.
“Are…… you sure you’re okay?”
“Y, yeah…….”
Bewildered by it all, Jung So-hyun scratched her head.
What on earth was that, she seemed to wonder.
But then, moments later—
“Oh, oh my……!”
“What’s wrong!”
“It, it went up!”
“……What did?”
Jung So-hyun couldn’t quite close her open mouth.
She simply gaped, as if counting numbers.
Baek Yul-heon, struck by sudden understanding,
asked carefully.
“Could it be…… MP?”
Jung So-hyun looked at Baek Yul-heon.
A small nod of her head.
That was the answer.
“Oh, how much!”
“From my original 3000 MP…… to, to 4500…….”
“What, what!?”
4500.
A figure that far exceeded all expectations.
‘Normally, ascending one floor of the Tower yields between 50 to 100 points…….’
By simple arithmetic alone,
Jung So-hyun had effectively climbed twenty floors of the Tower in an instant.
“Ha, haha…….”
Baek Yul-heon gazed at the appetizing fruit fragments neatly arranged on the table and let out an exclamation.
‘Even one small piece of that…… is worth an S-Rank Artifact or better…….’
“So-hyuk.”
“Yes, yes?”
“For now, let’s not speak of this to anyone in the future.”
“The future…… yes.”
Jung So-hyuk met Baek Yul-heon’s gaze directly.
Not the eyes of a greedy opportunist.
Not the eyes of a gambler seeking one last big score.
Simply the eyes of a guild master willing to invest in his own future.
“……Yes, let’s talk about the future.”
* * *
Jung So-hyuk had accepted the proposal.
He promised to trust Baek Yul-heon and to invest in the Baekryeon Guild.
‘Now it’s my turn to repay that trust.’
As a mid-tier guild of mediocre reputation, I cannot support him.
It would be no different than shackling him.
First, I must take the initial steps.
“Let’s begin the interview.”
“……Yes!”
The Buff I Raised Is Too Strong
Author |
Naengmyeon Hwachae
Publisher |
(주) Samyang C&C
Editorial Director |
Editorial Department
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(주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books
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7F Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260731072
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Submissions |
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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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