The Cursed Blacksmith Who Regressed - Chapter 56

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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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Episode 56

 

Awakened Specialist Hospital.

 

It’s known to have skilled healers stationed there, and if you have the money, they can treat almost any kind of damage.

 

After asking at the desk, I was able to reach the hospital room where the alchemists who had been kidnapped and confined were staying.

 

They were in a 6-person room, deliberately placed together in one room.

 

As I opened the door and entered, the gazes of all six alchemists immediately poured onto Choi Hyun.

 

And.

 

“Oh…!”

 

One of the men recognized Choi Hyun.

 

“Are you by any chance Choi Hyun?”

 

“Yes, that’s right. Hello?”

 

“Don’t you all remember? He’s the one who gave us Bacchus!”

 

“Ah?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Oh!”

 

At the mention of Bacchus, everyone finally lowered their guard and stood up from their seats to greet him.

 

Choi Hyun smiled and said.

 

“How is everyone? Are your bodies feeling a bit better?”

 

“Ah, yes, thanks to you we escaped and received intensive care, so we were barely able to recover.”

 

The name of the man speaking as their representative was Kang I-hyeok.

 

Besides him, there were Yun Dae-woo, Son Gang-won, Lee I-hyeon, Kim Yeon-ho, and Park Dae-yeong.

 

They were all students on leave from Korea University’s Chemistry Department and classmates who had all awakened together one day, and after much deliberation, all chose to change to the alchemist class – a very unusual case.

 

‘And in my previous life, they met a very tragic death.’

 

These people died early in my previous life.

 

Because they were trapped underground working as usual when a fire suddenly broke out and they couldn’t escape, dying in the flames.

 

However, despite dying that way, their deaths weren’t actually revealed to the world until much later when Hak-geum Seong was arrested by the Special Division and his ledgers were released to the public.

 

In the center of the 6-person room was a long communal table like in military barracks, and when Choi Hyun approached, they naturally offered him the head seat and everyone sat down.

 

Among them, Kang I-hyeok, who was the eldest despite being a classmate, spoke.

 

“We’ve heard a lot about you. Thanks to you, we were able to survive. We were actually planning to contact you, but we only recently recovered properly and were too busy to get in touch.”

 

“Not at all. I came to visit after hearing you had recovered. By the way, when I first saw you all, everyone looked to be in bad condition, but are you really okay now?”

 

“Yes, thanks to you. Honestly, we wondered if we’d ever be able to live normal lives again, but high-level healers really are different. We never dreamed that even our minds could be healed.”

 

That’s how the Awakened Specialist Hospital is.

 

While there are regular doctors, it’s basically staffed with healers and numerous alchemists who make recovery potions.

 

So frankly speaking, if you have the money, you can treat almost any problem.

 

‘Of course, they still can’t regrow severed limbs or anything like that.’

 

Kang I-hyeok said.

 

“Thank you once again for saving us.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“We’ll never forget this kindness for the rest of our lives.”

 

“Thank you so much.”

 

They bowed as they spoke.

 

Choi Hyun smiled and said.

 

“I’m glad to hear you’ve all recovered. Every single one of the Daerim Faction thugs will go to prison without exception, and all evidence of their illegal business has been captured, so they probably won’t see the outside world until they die. And since you’ve been proven to be victims, you won’t face any punishment. Our legal team will make sure of that.”

 

“Ah, thank you so much. How can we ever repay this kindness…”

 

“It’s not really a kindness. It just happened by chance when I stopped by. Have you heard about the arrest process?”

 

“Yes, we heard everything. That you got into a conflict with those bastards and it led to that… And embarrassingly, we only learned after receiving treatment that you’re such an amazing Hunter. While you were active, we were confined underground and knew nothing about what was happening in the world.”

 

“That’s understandable. Speaking of which… this is something our legal team was curious about, but may I ask you something?”

 

“Yes, of course.”

 

“I heard that all six of you are from the same school and same department, even on leave, and you all awakened almost simultaneously, became alchemist class together, and got your Hunter licenses in the same batch. Is that correct?”

 

“Yes, that’s correct.”

 

“But how did people like you all end up kidnapped and confined by Daerim Faction at the same time? It’s not just one or two people, but six with so many commonalities all in the same situation, so the Special Division finds it a bit strange.”

 

Special Division.

 

The place within the Association that handles awakened crimes and various other special duties.

 

Naturally, punishment for awakened crimes is also carried out here.

 

At Choi Hyun’s question, Kang I-hyeok bit his lip.

 

“You’ll need to explain this part well. Because while I and our legal team see you as simple victims, the Special Division investigates with many possibilities open, so they might be considering the possibility that you weren’t victims but were employed by Daerim Faction from the beginning.”

 

“Em-employed?”

 

“You haven’t been investigated yet because of your treatment, right?”

 

“Yes, we haven’t received an exact date or anything yet, but they said they’d come ask us various things once our treatment was finished…”

 

That’s why, despite being kidnapped and confined, they were all unable to leave the hospital for the same reason.

 

This was actually the reason they were kept together in one hospital room.

 

Choi Hyun asked.

 

“Then please tell me comfortably. Of course, what I hear here will only be shared with our company’s legal team.”

 

“Re-really?”

 

“Of course. Why would I have any reason to side with the Special Division?”

 

The alchemists exchanged glances with Choi Hyun.

 

They’re quite cute.

 

That’s because their ages were at most early twenties, with the eldest Kang I-hyeok being 23 and the rest being 22 and 21.

 

Of course, Choi Hyun’s current age was twenty, so he was younger than them, but that was only his biological age – considering the years he had actually lived, Choi Hyun was much more mature.

 

Finally, they finished exchanging glances.

 

Kang I-hyeok spoke as their representative.

 

“…Do you happen to know an old foreign drama called Breaking Bad?”

 

“Breaking Bad?”

 

“Yes, it’s quite old… It’s about a school science teacher who gets cancer and starts making drugs, and his former student sells them and becomes a big shot… To be honest, we became alchemists dreaming of something like that.”

 

“…?”

 

What kind of nonsense is this?

 

Choi Hyun furrowed his brow and asked.

 

“So?”

 

“So… to be really honest, we did try making drugs just for fun at first. We didn’t use the drugs we made ourselves, but following what we saw on the deep web, the purity turned out really high. So we tried to sell it by posting it on the deep web again, but then we got involved with the Daerim Faction guys and somehow…”

 

“You were threatened in return and ended up confined and forced to work?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

Their voices trailed off.

 

At the same time, they averted their gazes.

 

Choi Hyun quietly closed his eyes.

 

‘These… were complete lunatics?’

 

Youthful recklessness? Madness? Something like that?

 

Honestly, the Special Division story was somewhat true.

 

To be precise, it wasn’t that the Special Division was suspicious, but from experience, it was obvious the Special Division would come for this kind of investigation, so it was half to help the legal team prepare a response in advance, half curiosity.

 

But who would have thought they had such an absurd story?

 

Even the story itself, if told as is, would lead to inescapable prison time.

 

In our country, then and now, if you directly distribute drugs or make them with intent, you have to serve prison time.

 

‘But these guys even planned to move organizationally, so it would be aggravated punishment.’

 

It was frustrating.

 

Originally, Choi Hyun hadn’t saved them simply because their lives were precious.

 

Ah, of course it’s true that he saved them because their lives were precious, but more importantly, he saved them because he needed alchemist talent to gradually execute other plans.

 

There’s no surer way to recruit talent than saving their lives.

 

But who would have thought that those he assumed were innocent victims turned out to be just thoughtless idiotic troublemakers?

 

Choi Hyun sighed and said.

 

“You absolutely must not reveal this to anyone. It’ll be big trouble.”

 

“…Yes, we’re sorry.”

 

“You don’t need to apologize to me… Just say you went to Chinatown without fear and got kidnapped.”

 

“Yes, I understand. But what if those Korean-Chinese thugs spill everything?”

 

“You don’t need to worry about that. Would anyone believe what they say in the first place? And if solid evidence comes out…”

 

Then I was just planning to crush it with force.

 

Or make a deal with something like Black Area conquest.

 

‘Well, Oh Seok-hyeon will handle things well before it even gets to that point.’

 

In any organization, the HR department has power.

 

But at the Association, the Land Department also has power.

 

And there’s someone involved who can conquer Black Areas that devour chunks of tax money?

 

Then they’d become a free lawyer and provide ironclad defense even more.

 

But for that to happen, one prerequisite was needed.

 

Choi Hyun spoke.

 

“I think I can protect you somehow. But for that to be possible, there’s one condition needed.”

 

“What condition?”

 

“The condition that you all need to belong to our guild?”

 

“…What?”

 

Everyone including Kang I-hyeok tilted their heads in confusion.

 

“Legal battles aside, if things get difficult, we’ll have to fight with invisible things rather than law, and one of those is social influence. Preferential treatment for former officials is a prime example.”

 

“Ah, preferential treatment for former officials… I understand.”

 

“But I happen to be planning to establish a new guild. To be precise, it’s a subsidiary of Daesan, and we need Alchemist Players there. So, how about joining our company while we’re at it? Then I can protect you more reliably.”

 

A sudden job offer.

 

So these people weren’t fools.

 

“I’ll, I’ll do it!”

 

“No, please hire me!”

 

“Please!”

 

“B-Boss!”

 

They began rushing toward Choi Hyun as if they had seen their savior.

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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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