The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 22: Giant Panda Bear Hunt (1)

The building that Tae-ju had purchased was currently under major construction.

Since he had created a company, he needed at least a headquarters building.

Construction was also underway on the extra vacant lot he had bought along with the building.

This place was planned to be used as a pharmaceutical production factory.

For this reason, the site was always bustling with noise.

Baek Seo-yeon was using the basement shelter with completed interior work as a temporary office.

“Soon-cheol! It’s your sister, are you still working as a hunting supporter? Where, Geochang? Then come over to Gurye right now. Let’s work together. What kind of work, you ask…”

“Mi-jeong, how’s the beauty salon going? Haa, this sister is having such a hard time. We’re so short-staffed. I’ll match double the monthly salary you get at the beauty salon… Huh? You’re coming now?”

“Hello? Is this Young-gil… What? You got fired from your company? You’re just hanging around? No way, who doesn’t recognize our Young-gil, come to your sister right now!”

She made calls here and there to hire people.

When asked why she didn’t hire people formally through public recruitment.

“I’m not a skeptic, but this is Gurye. It’s a neighborhood where all kinds of strange people gather… I have no choice. I can only hire people I know and have worked with.”

That made sense.

Of course there would be good people too, but filtering them out in Gurye would be no easy task.

Mr. Baek was also busy running Baek’s Drug Shop, no, Taehong Drug Store.

“Awesome! First place!”

“How many are we popping today? We should stock up as much as possible.”

“Mr. Baek! You can’t close the shutters now.”

“If anyone tries to pick a fight, tell me first.”

“Me too! I’ll be the first to run over. But when will the spore poison antidote be available?”

Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical company sales representatives who had arbitrarily taken away medicines came back.

“Mr. Baek! You’ve reopened. How much medicine should we stock? Business is going well, so we’ve prepared about twice the quantity as before. Shall I display them for you?”

They spoke sweetly with bright smiles.

As if they hadn’t stolen medicines before.

Their shamelessness was extraordinarily thick.

However, Baek Hong-pyo had no intention of accepting them.

“Go back.”

“Excuse me?”

“We won’t accept medicines from your company.”

“Wh-what are you saying…?”

“Medicines from other pharmaceutical companies will be coming in. At least in our pharmacy, we’ll never sell medicines from your company.”

Taehong Drug Store with the highest sales.

It was a pharmacy that sold not only antidotes but also other medicines the most and fastest.

But now they wouldn’t accept their products.

The pharmaceutical company sales representative clung to Baek Hong-pyo with a flustered expression.

“N-no! If you suddenly do this… it’s unfair. I was just following orders too.”

“Why are you doing this, orders? Wasn’t it the manager’s decision? I have eyes and ears too.”

“…I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have done that, we won’t do it again. Please accept them.”

But Baek Hong-pyo was firm.

“Get out!”

The bank branch manager who had demanded early loan repayment also came back asking to reopen business relations.

“Ahem, this was my oversight. You don’t know how much Jo Hun-seok threatened us…”

“I see.”

“As an apology, I’ve created special benefits. 0.5% higher deposit interest rate than before…”

“Branch manager.”

“Yes, Mr. Baek, please speak.”

“We won’t have any business with your bank in the future. Don’t waste time and look elsewhere.”

After being demanded early loan repayment, just letting it slide would make him a pushover.

If he had been a decent person normally, it might have been different.

But this bank branch manager had always looked down on people with a high-handed attitude.

“I-I told you. It wasn’t intentional, Jo Hun-seok…”

“When you notified us of early loan repayment, our relationship already ended.”

“N-no! Please, just once more…”

Taehong Bio had become the number one company boasting the highest sales in Gurye.

Soon it would suck up Gurye’s money like a vacuum cleaner.

But they had made the wrong choice.

‘If they had any shame, they shouldn’t have come looking.’

On the other hand, the competing bank that had attracted Taehong Bio’s funds through reaping benefits was currently in a festive mood.

Troops had also arrived from the Jirisan Masu Defense Corps.

Tae-ju greeting them.

“Attention! Major Do Min-su and 19 others report that we have been dispatched for Taehong Bio security duty.”

“…Ah, welcome. But we’re currently under construction, so there’s no place to stay.”

“It’s fine. We brought field camping equipment. We can pitch tents and live there.”

How embarrassing was this?

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

“I’ll serve you gorani bone soup later.”

“…What? Really?”

Anyone would go crazy for hot soup.

It wasn’t like Tae-ju was any different.

He began making antidotes using materials sent from the military.

Processing materials was relatively fast since there were people helping, but the final preparation was Tae-ju’s responsibility.

Honweonmusangdokryeongong that had reached 4 stars.

He could mix and purify poison energy more delicately and quickly to produce high-quality concentrate.

But the process was complex and difficult.

Unlike the mosquito poison antidote that detoxified relatively weak poison, the Spore Poison Antelope Deer antidote had to detoxify extreme poison.

Also, due to the nature of spore poison, topical medicine had to be made together to protect skin exposed to the outside.

In other words, external and oral medications were one set.

The price would be correspondingly expensive.

This would also have tremendous demand.

For hunting gorani?

No, rather than that, anyone living in Gurye should have at least one as emergency medicine in preparation for waves. And Spore Poison Antelope Deer weren’t only in Jirisan, were they?

‘Minimize the process steps.’

While people could delicately process materials according to Tae-ju’s instructions, machines could handle boiling, steaming, or grinding.

The method would be to mix the prepared materials by portions and have only Tae-ju do the final preparation.

So they would bring in machines and build a factory.

It would cost quite a lot of money and time.

‘The money going out might be more than the money coming in.’

Until equipment was ready, spore poison antidotes for military delivery would be made by hand.

‘Should I unavoidably add one more medicine?’

How about an elixir instead of an antidote this time?

Not essential, but an elixir with quite a lot of demand.

A kind of luxury medicine, you could say.

The power of awakeners or compatible ones ultimately comes from mana.

Medicine with highly concentrated mana helps compatible ones awaken, and awakeners also take elixirs to raise their rank.

Then what materials are needed to make elixirs?

Where could there be objects with highly concentrated mana?

Naturally, energy crystals from inside masu bodies were the core materials.

Energy crystals were also called mana crystals.

Common crystals are easy to come by, but to be used as ingredients for elixirs, crystals from ‘Elite’ monsters are absolutely necessary.

But Elite monsters are difficult to catch.

Setting aside their strength, their numbers aren’t that many.

Moreover, they’re very clever and rarely appear before humans.

Also, let’s say you’re lucky enough to catch an Elite monster.

Do crystals always drop?

The probability of Elite mana crystals dropping is much lower than regular monsters.

That’s why elixirs are precious and expensive.

‘But there are plenty of alternatives.’

Comparing Earth and Gangho Murim, while Gangho falls behind in science and technology, there’s one field where it’s far superior.

That’s the method of handling qi .

Humanity on Earth has only encountered the intangible energy called mana for 300 years.

But Gangho has been handling an intangible energy similar to mana called internal energy for thousands of years.

That essence was contained in Tae-ju’s mind right now.

‘It’s worth trying.’

Elite crystals aren’t necessary to make medicine.

Because he planned to make elixirs using Gangho Murim’s alchemy methods.

What materials in Jirisan right now could be used as elixir ingredients?

There’s one.

‘The Giant Panda Bear’s gallbladder.’

It’s sufficient as an elixir ingredient.

Depending on the gallbladder’s size, he could roughly make 6-8 elixirs.

He had memories of catching spirit bears in Gangho Murim too.

The Snow Mountain White Bear that lived in the Northern Sea Ice Palace territory.

He had made elixirs with the white bear’s gallbladder too.

‘If the panda bear and white bear gallbladders are similar, I need to handle the initial processing well.’

This is the most difficult part.

If done wrong, all the medicinal effects would disappear, leaving just an empty shell.

The reason people still can’t properly utilize the Giant Panda Bear’s gallbladder.

‘Then I need to catch it first…’

Honweonmusangdokryeongong 4th level probably isn’t enough.

I need to reach the 5th level, which could be called the pinnacle.

In the end, building strength is the answer.

The only way is to honestly accumulate poison energy bit by bit.

‘I won’t even have enough time to sleep.’

Let’s go for 5th level.

Then I can easily kill the panda bear or Lee Jeong-hak.

Master?

Honestly, it’s nothing special.

The criteria for Master is simple.

The difference between being able to use mana blade or not.

Mana blade.

Compressing intangible mana and overlaying it on a sword.

So it has the power to slice through even hard swords like titanium.

In Gangho Murim, there’s something called sword energy .

At first glance, they seem similar.

But there’s a fundamental difference between the two.

Mana blade learned through the system, and sword energy that can only be learned after reaching the transformation realm through harsh training and real combat experience.

Which would be stronger?

‘Hmm, though I also gained this enlightenment easily…’

How about it?

Anyway, aren’t Danggumak and Kim Tae-ju the same soul?

So Tae-ju is already an enlightened person.

He just lacks the power to manifest sword energy.

‘Later, when I reach Honweonmusangdokryeongong 7th level and overlay sword energy on hidden weapons?’

Just thinking about it is thrilling.

However.

‘Phew, it’s still far off.’

Let’s think about it after reaching at least 5th level.

* * *

The Nogodan Guild Patrol is outside the Castle, but Lee Jeong-hak’s residence is inside the Castle.

In his room, Lee Jeong-hak was covered with thick blankets, sweating profusely while trembling all over.

“Ugh… clatter, clatter.”

Even his teeth were chattering.

This was all because of that damn poison.

The deadly poison on the leaf-shaped dagger that Kim Tae-ju threw.

But it had only grazed him slightly.

Logically, no matter how strong the poison, if the injected amount is small, the effect should be weak.

Even after going to the hospital for emergency treatment and sending someone to the pharmacy to get comprehensive antidotes to pour down his throat, the poison energy barely subsided.

He was good at making antidotes.

Then he must have been an expert on poisons too.

He should have been careful, very careful.

‘Damn it!’

At this rate, he might never get up again.

There aren’t many methods he can choose to overcome this crisis.

First, swallow his pride and go find Kim Tae-ju to ask for an antidote.

But that was out of the question from the start.

He’d rather die than beg that bastard.

He was also afraid of what conditions Kim Tae-ju might impose.

Second, search for awakeners with healing and detox skills and invite them to Gurye. But finding them would be difficult, and even if found, it was questionable whether they’d come to Gurye.

Third, take an elixir and forcibly eliminate the poison with mana’s power.

This is the only method.

The most realistic one.

Actually, elixirs are very expensive.

Moreover, to drive out poison, at least a high-grade elixir is needed.

So he sent Vice Guild Leader Park Jung-tae to New Seoul Mirinae Pharmaceutical, one of the top three in the Samhan Empire.

It had to be done without anyone knowing.

Only Park Jung-tae knew about his illness.

Knock knock.

With the knocking sound, the door opened.

Vice Guild Leader Park Jung-tae entered the room carrying a bag.

“I’ve brought the elixir.”

“How much did they say it was?”

“10 billion.”

“…Sigh. Got it. Good work. Go get some rest.”

His cash balance suddenly dropped by half.

Well, it wouldn’t matter if he sold a few properties.

Lee Jeong-hak opened the bag.

Befitting an expensive medicine, it was a gold-wrapped elixir from Mirinae Pharmaceutical.

It even had a serial number and certificate.

An elixir made from elite mana crystals obtained by hunting the ‘Elite Golden-horned Deer’ magical beast at Myohyang Mountain on a specific year, month, and day.

You could get it cheaper elsewhere, but then you might end up buying a counterfeit.

Expensive, but major corporation products are safe.

‘This should be able to drive out the poison.’

Now that he had reached Master rank, elixirs could no longer help with rank advancement.

Even if he consumed elixirs, the amount of mana accumulated would be extremely minimal.

A brief explosive effect from mana condensation would occur, but most of it would leak out without being stored in the body. You could say there was a limit to the size of the vessel that could contain mana.

But using that momentary explosive mana power to eliminate poison or expel it from the body should be helpful.

Lee Jeong-hak believed so.

So he unhesitatingly took the medicine from his bag and put it in his mouth.

Gulp!

The elixir made from elite mana crystals entered his body.

And shortly after.

Wooooooong!

An enormous amount of mana poured out explosively.

Now he just needed to drive it out.

Lee Jeong-hak operated the mana cultivation method he had learned as a skill.

Mana spread through his bloodstream to every corner of his body.

In that process, the poison began to lose strength and dissipate.

‘It’s working!’

Sticky waste matter flowed out through his pores.

His mind became clear.

Vitality overflowed.

‘As expected, choosing a genuine elixir was the right choice…’

That’s when it happened.

‘Huh?’

What was going on?

The explosively surging mana suddenly died down in an instant.

At the same time, a reversal occurred.

The poison that had been driven back by the mana suddenly gained strength and began devouring the mana.

‘Wh-what the hell?’

It wasn’t unfamiliar.

A phenomenon that any awakener who had been active in Gurye would have experienced at least once.

‘…Mutant three-striped mosquito poison?’

It was similar.

But much stronger than that.

When mosquito poison scattered the mana, other poisons would scatter in all directions and devour the weakened mana.

“Shit, damn it!”

His complexion turned dark and sickly again.

The elixir had expelled some of the poison to the outside, but the remaining poison had become even stronger.

“Cough, cough.”

Lee Jeong-hak’s eyes were filled with despair.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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