The Buffs I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 9

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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 9.
‘Jung Cheong-un…….’
Baek Yul-heon glanced sidelong at the man before him.
Dark sunglasses and a languid posture.
While he himself was tense, weighed down by the atmosphere, this man radiated an ease that seemed almost careless.
‘……Is this your home field, then?’
Baek Yul-heon’s lips curved into a slight smile.
‘I didn’t come unprepared either.’
He had to deceive the man standing before him now.
The director of the Seoul Awakener Management Bureau.
That was the first step.
The first means of proving his trustworthiness to Jung So-hyuk.
‘Failure is not an option.’
“Hmm…….”
Baek Yul-heon, who seemed to have steeled his resolve.
Jung Cheong-un regarded him from a distance, as if looking down on him.
After a brief pause, he spoke.
“Shall we talk about something personal for a moment? Baek Yul-heon.”
“……Pardon?”
‘Personal……conversation?’
He couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
A scenario he hadn’t anticipated at all.
Jung Cheong-un’s mouth corners lifted noticeably.
“Ah, you must be feeling quite pleased. A rising star who was suddenly stopped at the 50th floor, yet you’ve broken through it yourself. Impressive!”
“Ha ha…… yes, well.”
“The first in Korea, isn’t it? An Awakener who couldn’t climb a single floor in a year, then suddenly surged forward. Even abroad, that’s not a common story, I imagine?”
“……It’s simply gratifying that it’s an Awakener of Baekryeon.”
While maintaining focus on the conversation with Jung Cheong-un,
Baek Yul-heon strove to discern his true intentions.
He already knew that Jung Cheong-un wasn’t the purely administrative type.
But he hadn’t anticipated him opening up the conversational floor quite so abruptly.
‘What’s his angle…….’
First, he needed to pinpoint Jung Cheong-un’s objective precisely.
In a situation where every word had to be measured carefully.
He had to lock the purpose of this exchange into his mind.
By Baek Yul-heon’s estimate,
his first objective would be
‘to uncover Jung So-hyuk’s true identity.’
The Unconfirmed S-Rank that the Bureau suspected.
Through what appeared to be a casual, light conversation, he was trying to find a thread to pull.
‘I have to erase anything about Jung So-hyuk from my mind.’
Next, his second objective.
‘This one’s a bit murky, though…….’
Likely regarding the Unconfirmed S-Rank’s ability.
From the fact that Jung So-hyun’s ability had been elevated, they’d already inferred that it was a Buff—
but the manner in which the ability functioned,
what type of Buff it was,
‘Well, because you couldn’t resurrect an Awakener who’d been broken twelve times with just a simple Buff.’
Baek Yul-heon met Jung Cheong-un’s eyes.
Snake-like eyes visible beyond the dark sunglasses.
‘He’s probably dying of curiosity on the inside.’
The attitude to assume was clear.
“I’d like to meet him too, actually. Jung…… So-hyun, was it? I’m curious how he grew.”
As if executing a self-defense technique,
deflecting his response as smoothly as water flows.
“Ha ha, our Awakener is quite shy. I rarely get to see his face myself.”
“……Is that so?”
A back-and-forth disguised as casual conversation continued.
Jung Cheong-un, feigning innocence while probing at sensitive points.
Baek Yul-heon, maintaining his poker face while deftly evading direct answers.
“……Tsk.”
No matter how many questions he pressed, no real clues emerged.
Jung Cheong-un was the first to concede.
“Oh dear! Look at the time—I’m terribly sorry. It’s just been so long since I had a conversation this enjoyable, I got carried away.”
“Ha, not at all. It’s been a good chance for me to unwind as well.”
‘I won.’
Baek Yul-heon exulted silently to himself.
But his triumph was short-lived.
“Well then, shall we move on to the real business?”
“…….”
Jung Cheong-un’s smile vanished entirely.
What had been playful banter moments before now shifted into something cutting—an interrogation.
“I’ve reviewed Jung So-hyun’s dungeon records. Floor fifty: the Lycanstrop. He was always losing in strength contests, calling it quits just before taking a fatal blow. Isn’t that right?”
“……That’s correct.”
“Heh, it’s peculiar. An Awakener hasn’t been doing weight training to build muscle, yet suddenly he wins a fight he’s always lost. How curious.”
“…….”
Shuffle-shuffle!
A cascade of documents sprawled across the steel table.
‘This is…….’
The guild’s ledgers.
Training records.
Detailed personal information on every Buff Ability user in the guild.
“Ha, surprised, are you? Well, we’re not just the Awakener Management Bureau in name only.”
“…….”
Jung Cheong-un began working through the documents one by one.
“The ledger’s unremarkable. Expenses, income—nothing extraordinary. Apart from recent earnings from clearing floor fifty, the trend has been a steady decline.”
“……Ha, it was a difficult period.”
The training records don’t show much either. Aside from the recent sharp spike in the graph, it mirrors the ledger’s trajectory.”
“……We’re grateful for everyone’s dedication to training.”
“Finally…… the guild members with Buff Ability types.”
Jung Cheong-un’s gaze fixed on Baek Yul-heon.
“Now this is interesting.”
“……Is it?”
“Half the Awakeners went through guild withdrawal procedures in just the last year. Heh—did they realize that giving Buffs to Awakeners who’ve stopped growing is pointless?”
“…….”
“Your Buffers leave the guild, training yields diminish. How exactly were you planning to grow stronger under these circumstances?”
“…….”
“……You’re not going to answer?”
It was true.
Even guild members had tolerated failures up to the third attempt.
When the fourth and fifth failures mounted, they grew exhausted and left.
Constant recruitment and departures.
No results to show for it.
The situation was bleak.
This one-on-one meeting with the Bureau Director in the Underground Detention—it was a cursed affair in its own right.
In truth, even reaching this point was nearly a miracle.
‘……I suppose some sacrifice is inevitable.’
Baek Yul-heon reached into his pocket without a word.
“……Baek Yul-heon?”
The Director raised an eyebrow at the gesture.
‘Does he have something that could get him out of this?’
But what actually came from Baek Yul-heon’s mouth was nothing like what the Director expected.
“I’ve lost. My shabby lies won’t get me through this situation.”
“……Lost? What do you mean by that?”
“I mean I’m going to confess the truth.”
Clink.
Clink-clink.
“……A cherry tomato?”
What Baek Yul-heon pulled from his pocket was
a single cherry tomato.
“……What on earth is this? Are you joking with me?”
“That’s exactly what it is.”
“What do you mean?”
“The ace up our sleeve—the very thing you’ve been so curious about, Director.”
Jung Cheong-un’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the object.
Baek Yul-heon lifted the Cherry Tomato carefully.
An ace up his sleeve?
‘This is Baekryeon’s secret I’ve been searching for?’
“……Yul-heon.”
“Yes, sir.”
A deliberate test of nerve.
Yet Baek Yul-heon didn’t so much as blink.
At minimum, he wasn’t scheming or playing games.
‘……What’s so special about a Cherry Tomato?’
He held it up to the ceiling light.
He pressed it gently between his fingers.
“Try eating it.”
“……?”
“If you eat it, you’ll understand. You’re an Awakener yourself, Director. One with keen senses, at that.”
The fruit was tiny—barely the size of a thumb’s first knuckle.
Through smell, touch, and other senses, nothing remarkable revealed itself.
Even his instincts, honed by years of training, offered no warning.
In other words, just an ordinary Cherry Tomato.
‘Eat it? Just like that?’
Jung Cheong-un knew better.
There was nothing to gain by eating this now.
Send it to the analysis team, wait for results.
Let those findings decide the matter.
‘That would be the right move.’
Yet something pulled at him.
A gnawing curiosity.
“Ha, if I collapsed after eating this, wouldn’t that be a sight to behold?”
“Perhaps. If that happened, Baekryeon would vanish and I’d be dragged into prison.”
“……Hmph.”
With that final reaction from Baek Yul-heon,
Jung Cheong-un made his choice.
Gulp—
“……You swallowed it without even chewing?”
“Ha, my teeth are weak, you see.”
‘So, what comes next?’
Jung Cheong-un sat still, waiting for the result.
The secret method to elevate a trapped Awakener.
Anticipation tinged with the certainty of imminent revelation.
And then—
“Ugh……?”
He understood.
“This—this is……!?”
Crash—
Jung Cheong-un thrust himself from his chair in shock.
As if he’d anticipated this, Baek Yul-heon stepped forward.
“Does that answer your question?”
“You…… Where on earth did you get this……!”
“From the community.”
“……?”
“What you people call the Underground Community.”
The Underground Community.
Hearing those words, Jung Cheong-un’s carefully maintained composure finally shattered.
“Ha! The Underground Community? The Underground Community, you say?”
A possibility he’d never factored in.
The unexpected emergence of something entirely beyond his calculations.
Jung Cheong-un let out a laugh, almost relieved.
“I thought you’d dragged in some foreign mercenary or an Unconfirmed S-Rank, but it was you all along?”
“Could you stop speaking to me so formally?”
“Ha! Why bother with formal speech for someone about to be arrested?”
Jung Cheong-un laughed like a madman.
He pulled a wad of paper from his pocket, crumpled and folded every which way.
“Here—your promotion review application.”
Then.
Bang!
“Take it.”
A large green stamp covered the document.
“……Thank you.”
“Thanks for what.”
Baek Yul-heon gathered the approved paperwork and turned to leave the Underground Detention.
“Baek Yul-heon.”
“Yes?”
Jung Cheong-un, sitting in his chair with his fists clenched and unclenched, called him back.
“There’s no CCTV here, no surveillance device—nothing. Only I know that you people tampered with things.”
“Right, which is why I told you. I’m not so much of a fool as all that.”
“Heh, even without direct discipline, you’ll have plenty of eyes on you from now on. I’ve never seen a guild that lasted long after I touched them.”
“…….”
“Let’s meet again soon?”
“……All right.”
Thud.
“Whew…….”
Leaning against the firmly closed door,
Baek Yul-heon exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
“Managed to pull through somehow…… Things will get a bit annoying, but that’s something I’ll handle.”
Tap, tap-tap.
Baek Yul-heon took out his phone and touched the screen.
“Review…… pass…… send.”
* * *
At that very moment.
The Rooftop Room.
In the quiet apartment with not a single light on,
a cheerful alarm chimed.
“Haaah…….”
So tired.
With sluggish movements, Jung So-hyuk reached for his phone, which had been charging.
One message.
“Mm…… from my sister.”
It was a message from her.
The content: Baekryeon had become a major guild.
“Nice∼ First step to success…….”
He was genuinely happy.
But still drowsy, his voice didn’t come out right.
Having shrieked and screamed so much yesterday because of his sister,
his throat felt a little hoarse.
“Ugh…… thirsty…….”
Shuffle-shuffle.
He walked to the kitchen.
Thinking he’d drink some ice water and shake off the grogginess.
“Oh.”
Then he noticed something.
On the table.
The Azure Breeze, carefully wrapped in plastic wrap.
Items left behind because of his sister’s episode yesterday.
“Hmm…….”
Rip.
He peeled away the wrap.
In an instant, the fragrant aroma spread throughout the entire house.
Growl…
“……Should I eat this?”
Saliva was already gathering in my mouth.
But there was one concern.
The image of my sister in pain.
“Ugh……”
I stood there holding the plate, wavering for a long time.
But soon enough.
Growl—
“……I should be fine, right?”
My body showed no reaction even when I ate Cherry Tomatoes.
This shouldn’t be any different.
With that thought, I took a bite.
Crunch.
“Munch, munch……”
In that moment.
[Item: Azure Breeze]
[Buff Type: Mana]
[Compatible with your body.]
“!?”
What is this.
The Buff I Raised Is Too Powerful
Author |
Naengmyeon Hwachae
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editorial Director |
Editorial Department
Published by |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
Address |
7F Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260731072
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) |
@dreambookss
Submissions |
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – 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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