The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King - Chapter 5
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 5: Discharge and the Free City of Gurye
I thought about just leaving like this, but that would make me a deserter. I don’t want to be chased by the Imperial Military Police.
I need to wrap things up properly.
So I returned to Seorak Mountain Outpost.
Starting with a meeting with Company Commander Captain Hwang Jae-cheol.
“…Is this really true?”
“Yes.”
“Sergeant Go Young-ho tried to kill you?”
“He kicked me off a cliff. I barely survived by getting caught on a tree halfway down the cliff.”
“Ugh.”
Hwang Jae-cheol felt like he was going crazy at Tae-ju’s sudden report.
Of all things, an insubordination incident.
“Don’t say anything and just wait in the barracks. When Go Young-ho and the squad members return, I’ll investigate what really happened.”
“Yes, understood.”
Could it be true?
It better not be true.
The outpost headquarters would hold him responsible for command failure, and his promotion would be out the window.
‘I need to cover this up somehow. But where the hell did that bastard Jang In-dong go?’
The next day.
Finally learning about Lieutenant Jang In-dong and five squad members’ failure to return to base. And the corpses discovered by the search team.
Rumors spread throughout the base.
Traces of death presumed to be caused by orcs in their breeding season.
Dog tags found, bloodstains and flesh fragments.
Eventually, this incident left the company commander’s hands.
In the process of reporting to higher command, the story of Second Lieutenant Kim Tae-ju and Sergeant Go Young-ho came up, and naturally the outpost military police conducted an investigation.
Tae-ju being interrogated by a military police investigator sergeant.
“I’ve heard the circumstances… but how did you return? Especially given your poor health.”
“Do mana rejecters not have the strength to move around? I carefully climbed down from the cliff and returned straight to base.”
“Why didn’t you report directly to the military police?”
Tae-ju snickered and said.
“A mere sergeant tried to kill me. He even hinted that he was taking orders from someone. In this situation, who can I trust?”
“…”
“Honestly, I don’t trust the military police either.”
The military police investigator frowned slightly and asked.
“Then what evidence do you have that Go Young-ho tried to kill Second Lieutenant Kim Tae-ju?”
“How could there be any? Unless Sergeant Go Young-ho survived? Then we could at least conduct a confrontational investigation.”
“Sigh, do you really not know how Lieutenant Jang In-dong and the squad members died?”
“How would I know that? I was also shocked to hear they were killed by orcs.”
The military police investigator couldn’t understand it at all.
Go Young-ho and the squad members aside, Lieutenant Jang In-dong was an awakened one.
He shouldn’t have been easily defeated by orcs.
At minimum, he should have been able to escape.
For now, Second Lieutenant Kim Tae-ju doesn’t have the ability to kill soldiers.
A mana rejecter with pathetic physical abilities that can’t even match ordinary people.
And he’s not even awakened.
Actually, the biggest problem isn’t the death of five soldiers including an awakened one.
It’s the testimony from the person involved that a mere sergeant tried to kill a general’s son and Imperial Forces officer.
If this report goes up to higher command?
It won’t be a matter for the outpost military police to handle.
Army Headquarters will send down investigators directly, Military Prosecution will step in, and everyone involved will be stripped of their positions one by one.
The investigator also knows that Tae-ju’s testimony isn’t absurd.
The Paju Domain successor, new wife, half-siblings, power struggles over the domain, people who wish for Second Lieutenant Kim Tae-ju’s death.
‘The assassination attempt might actually be real.’
It has credibility.
Kim Tae-ju was an administrative officer.
But suddenly he was assigned a reconnaissance mission by Squad Leader Jang In-dong.
This is something even the company commander didn’t know about.
Jang In-dong wouldn’t have handled this independently…
“But Second Lieutenant’s testimony isn’t certain either.”
“I know. There’s no evidence.”
Tae-ju pretended to think for a moment before continuing.
“That’s why I don’t want to make this incident public.”
“…What?”
“Let’s just cover it up.”
“Ah, are you really sure about this?”
“As the sergeant said, there’s no evidence. I won’t go around talking about it either. Sergeant Go Young-ho is dead anyway.”
The military police investigator’s expression brightened.
This was what higher command wanted too.
After some time passed, the deaths of Lieutenant Jang In-dong and his squad members were actually processed as deaths in the line of duty.
And Tae-ju immediately submitted his discharge application.
No one tried to stop him.
If the assassination threat was real?
Second Lieutenant Kim Tae-ju is a time bomb that could explode at any moment.
It’s better to get him out of the military.
The application was immediately approved.
* * *
General Kim Woong-bang, ruler of Paju Domain, leaned back in his chair as if tired and rubbed his eyelids with his hands.
His son’s discharge, which he heard about out of nowhere.
But there was no other news.
He tried calling, but only got a message saying the number didn’t exist.
What could be the reason for deciding to discharge?
His aide answered that question for him.
“It’s not confirmed information, but there was apparently an assassination attempt on Master Tae-ju.”
“…Assassination?”
“Yes, while going on reconnaissance to an orc village with a sergeant named Go Young-ho from the same company…”
“Wait! A reconnaissance mission? Wasn’t he in an administrative position?”
“Well, there was suddenly a position change order…”
“…”
General Kim Woong-bang frowned as much as he could.
Even if he’s a mana rejecter, he’s still his son.
That’s why he arranged for him to be an administrative officer.
“Who the hell? Who gave the order?”
“When we checked with Army Headquarters, they said they never issued a position change order… Upon verification, there was indeed no such order.”
“Then who gave the reconnaissance mission order?”
“Lieutenant Jang In-dong, who worked with Master Tae-ju.”
“You’re saying that bastard pulled something? For what reason?”
“Actually, there are some suspicious aspects.”
“What?”
“We’ve determined that Lieutenant Jang In-dong has been in contact with Japanese officers within the Army General Staff recently.”
Japanese officers?
A person suddenly comes to mind.
His wife, Honda Mitsui, the mother of Taepyeong and Taecheon, Tae-ju’s half-brothers.
If it’s his wife, she has both motive and capability.
The Kyushu domain is larger and wealthier than the Paju domain.
He himself receives a lot of help from his in-laws.
Paju domain.
A place that once bordered the Demilitarized Zone, a dangerous area filled with magical beasts.
His Majesty the Emperor of the Samhan Empire personally granted this domain.
To subjugate magical beasts and protect the empire’s citizens.
But the domain’s circumstances weren’t good.
The byproducts from hunting magical beasts were woefully insufficient to operate the domain.
How much money does it take to train and organize private soldiers?
He had no choice but to ask his new wife Mitsui for help.
For that reason, his wife’s power in the domain continued to grow.
‘Could it be that my wife…’
Had he become that much of a threat?
That son of his who’s a Mana Rejecter?
Well!
He’s still alive and holding on even at 29.
She must have been anxious.
She would have wanted to pass the Paju domain to a child from her own womb.
“I’ll investigate this matter further separately.”
His feelings are complicated.
His mind is jumbled with all sorts of thoughts.
But in times like this, simple is best.
“No, forget it. Let’s end it here.”
“Pardon? B-but…”
“What’s the point of digging further? My son is alive and has even been discharged. I’ll handle that problem myself.”
“Understood.”
There’s nothing more to investigate, nor any need to.
His son has been under a death sentence from long ago.
The fact that his son didn’t die is enough.
Moreover, he applied for discharge without even giving him a heads up.
He hasn’t returned to Paju, and contact has been cut off.
‘Does this mean he wants to sever ties?’
Or perhaps he suspects his stepmother.
‘Sigh, yes, maybe it’s better that he doesn’t show himself.’
29 years old – young if you could call it young.
He was both a sore thumb and his own shame.
People’s gaze toward his son was that of a tiger father with a dog son.
The father is a tiger, but the child is a dog.
How could a Mana Rejecter be born from a Master Awakener?
Still, he had resolved to love his child to the end.
He had actually cherished and cared for him like a precious jewel.
The situation began to change after his new wife Mitsui bore him two sons in consecutive years.
Taepyeong and Taecheon are Mana Adapters.
Though they haven’t awakened yet, Mana Adapters can be artificially awakened anytime.
While his eldest son Tae-ju’s death is regrettable, the heir to inherit the domain would be Taepyeong or Taecheon.
“Don’t we know where Tae-ju went?”
“His whereabouts have been unknown since he left Seorak Mountain Outpost. Should we search for him?”
“No, forget that too. Don’t look for him.”
He decided not to mention Tae-ju’s matter to his new wife Mitsui either.
What’s good is good.
Besides, he had two sons who were Mana Adapters.
Reliable and trustworthy sons to replace his eldest, that is.
* * *
It came without any warning whatsoever.
One day in 2023.
The invasion of mana.
Because of this, fatal problems began occurring in people’s bodies.
The cause of mana’s appearance?
No one knows.
Even now, it remains unknown.
2027.
Mana, a strange substance that permeated the atmosphere. This caused serious damage to the natural environment.
People died from mana.
Plants and animals were the same – they either died or mutated.
Humanity despaired.
But it was already too late.
A third of the entire population had already died.
2050.
Nearly half of Earth’s population had disappeared.
There was no escape.
Those with considerable power and money hid in underground bunkers, but even that was useless.
To live, they had to breathe, and mana had permeated the air.
2100.
Survivors: about 30%.
The survivors had an intuition.
Humanity’s extinction would be unavoidable.
2123.
Remaining population: about 20%.
Around that time, change slowly began to sprout.
Humans and other surviving life forms maintained their existence with incomprehensible adaptability.
The beginning of adaptation.
Rather than adaptation, it was change caused by mana.
It wasn’t evolution.
Mana mutated DNA.
In other words, genetic mutation.
This happened to humans, but the change occurred more violently in animals and plants.
New plants, new animals, Earth’s new masters born already adapted to mana.
But dangerous mutations also emerged.
Life forms called ‘magical beasts’ threatened humanity.
And then awakening.
The appearance of the System.
New humanity represented by Adapters and Awakeners.
With the System’s appearance, mana’s emergence was no longer coincidental.
Who exactly?
Either aliens or gods.
2200.
Humanity began to flourish.
The reason humanity could survive: tenacious survival instincts and scientific technology that somehow managed to continue while maintaining its foundation.
Scientific groups invented new technologies based on mana energy.
It was the beginning of a new civilization’s birth.
At first, progress was slow.
But once it reached a certain point, it began to accelerate.
Fortress-like cities were built based on mana science technology, and the world communicated with each other.
The role of Awakeners was significant.
They protected humanity from magical beasts.
They had hit rock bottom.
There was only one way left to go: up.
Humanity regained its strength.
The year 2323, present day.
300 years after the mana invasion.
The once brilliant civilization had been almost completely restored.
Earth’s population was growing explosively.
Besides the mana invasion, there was something else that threatened humanity.
Climate change.
Because of mana, that change accelerated even more.
It also played a part in the extinction of 90% of Earth’s humanity.
The climate had changed significantly from 300 years ago.
Should I say it became warmer overall?
The former Japanese archipelago, now under the Samhan Empire, was nearly half submerged underwater.
Kyushu had become small enough to be considered a small island.
The Korean Peninsula also lost much of its land.
Mainly the southwestern coastal cities.
The eastern coast also suffered damage.
The Seorak Mountain Outpost where Tae-ju had worked was close enough to touch the sea.
For this reason, the current capital of the Samhan Empire was located in the Manchurian region that once belonged to a country called China.
The capital’s name was New Seoul.
It was quite livable.
The Manchurian plains had warm average temperatures and abundant rainfall, making it the granary responsible for the entire empire’s food supply.
Mana rice grew particularly well there.
The original rice varieties had almost disappeared after the mana invasion, and only mutated varieties adapted to the changed world survived.
Except for being infused with mana, it tasted almost identical to existing rice.
All agricultural and livestock products were like this.
Products adapted to mana.
But Tae-ju’s destination wasn’t Manchurian New Seoul.
He headed south instead of north.
His final destination was the ‘Free City of Gurye.’
A city with the humid subtropical climate of the southern Korean Peninsula, one of the regions where the empire’s public authority reached the least, and also counted among the top five most dangerous places in the empire.
This was because of the ‘Jirisan Darkness Forest’ located right above Gurye.
It wasn’t an ordinary forest but a dense jungle where sunlight barely penetrated, making it perpetually dark.
“Finally arrived.”
Let’s establish a base here.
Why else would he come to Jirisan?
To this dangerous place.
The countless varieties of venomous snakes, poisonous insects, toxic plants, and poisonous mushrooms that existed in the Jirisan jungle—wasn’t it truly paradise?
For ‘Jeoldaedokma Kim Tae-ju,’ that is.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
