How a D-Class Alchemist Avoids Death

I had been lost in thought, observing Seo Taeju for a while now. And for a good reason – the change in his demeanor was so drastic it was hard to comprehend with a normal mindset.

Could this kid possibly have some sort of mental illness? How could a person change so drastically in a blink of an eye?

‘Why did that bold and foul-mouthed brat suddenly turn so mellow?’

Could it really be due to the contamination?

While being pulled along by Seo Taeju, I checked the contamination level floating above his head.

[Seo Taeju – Contamination 64%]

While it was quite high, it wasn’t at a severe level.

He had been restless at not being able to capture me when it was at 79%, so 64% couldn’t possibly hold any special significance.

‘Argh, I don’t know.’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out the reason.

Shaking my head a few times, I decided to focus on purification since I had the opportunity, and summoned Salt.

“Hmm, Salt.”

Salt, which had been flying in circles above my head, landed on top of my head with a beep.

[Seo Taeju – Contamination 44%]

[Seo Taeju – Contamination 24%]

[Seo Taeju – Contamination 4%]

[Seo Taeju – Contamination 0%]

The contamination was quickly purified as we left the cave.

Seo Taeju’s pale face quickly relaxed, so he seemed to be in a better state. Seeing that the purification speed through me is faster than Salt’s direct purification, it seems one of my passives enhances the purification effect.

‘But how long do I have to hold onto him?’

It wasn’t as dragging as the day I met Michael, but being dragged around by another man’s hand, no matter how good the relationship, felt a bit off.

I called out to Seo Taeju who was leading the way. “Hey, wait a moment!”

“Hyung?”

He turned his head at my call. Seo Taeju’s face was still tear-streaked.

‘Is he going to cry all day? What did I do?’

Before Seo Taeju could misunderstand, I quickly got to the point, “I have something to take from here.”

“The items dropped by the monsters will be handled by the collection team…”

“Not that.” I shrugged off the weakly held wrist.

Seo Taeju’s expression changed to one of despair, but I ignored it and headed towards the shimmering cluster of crystals at the entrance.

My lovely golden geese that will turn into gold in the future. I would be an idiot to leave you guys behind. Why would I leave them?

“Hyung? Do you need that? Then let me get it for you.”

Seo Taeju, who quickly approached, tried to pick up one of the crystals.

“Hey! Don’t touch it!”

“Hyung?”

“Don’t touch it, just come here.”

Fearing that he might break one, I grabbed Seo Taeju’s hand and placed him beside me.

Seo Taeju, who had been stiff for a moment, suddenly chuckled.

‘This guy is definitely nuts. I might need to take him to a mental hospital.’

That’s when I heard the voice again from behind.

“Seo Go-woon-ssi? What are you doing there?”

Unlike me, who was almost running to get out of the dungeon, the lady and Kang Do-hoon, who had been pressing me earlier, arrived leisurely.

“I, sniff, know. He, sniff… sniff. He said there’s something there, sniff.”

Is he still crying? He’s not a child, but an adult. How can he have so many tears? Tsk tsk.

Both Seo Go-woon’s parents and his must’ve had a tough time for different reasons.

“What’s in the crystal?”

Instead of answering her question, I continued mining the crystals.

There’s no need to tell her about the crystals that will turn into flesh and blood by the time I return to my world, especially since she’s not a guild leader.

By the time I finished mining until my bag was full and turned around, Seo Taeju, as if waiting, grabbed my wrist again.

This kid has some dirty habits. He’s not a detective, yet he’s always grabbing my wrist?

“Hyung. Let’s go now. Noona. Please find a healer.”

“Why do we need a healer?” 

The woman who was referred to as “noona (sister)” by Seo Taeju tilted her head and asked.

That’s right, why do we need a healer? There’s no one injured, is there?

“Well, hyung might be injured.”

What? Me? Why a healer, I checked thoroughly, there’s no need for a healer.

“Hey, I’m not injured.”

“We can’t be sure of that.”

Seo Taeju firmly cut off my words.

“Ugh, too overprotective,” she grumbled at Seo Taeju’s behavior, but the latter pretended not to hear and led me all the way to the gate.

Upon opening my eyes that had been closed due to the blinding light, I saw an entrance surrounded by concrete walls.

“Where did you park your car? Let’s go to the guild together.”

“We’re going without a car.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Is he going to walk? The guild is quite a distance from here, isn’t it?

Before I could express my doubts out loud, Seo Taeju pulled out a long crystal.

“You’re not going to use that, are you?”

“Let’s go.”

With a crack, the crystal shattered, and for the first time in my life, I experienced motion sickness.

“Ugh.”

I feel nauseous, as if I could throw up any second. I’ve never read about this side effect from a return crystal, why now?

“Ugh.”

The healer who was holding my hand and casting heal flinched away from me.

“Vice Guild Master-nim. I’m sorry, but motion sickness can’t be cured by healing.”

“We should at least try something!”

I grabbed the hand of Seo Taeju, who was unnecessarily getting angry, and waved the other hand fiercely. The healer, understanding my gesture, ran out of the office. As soon as she left, I laid down on the sofa, groaning.

I don’t even have the energy to argue with Seo Taeju. If I knew it would be like this, I would have gone straight home instead of coming to the guild.

“I’m going to die.”

“Are you okay? I’m sorry, I forgot that first-time users often get motion sickness.”

Every time I hear that guy’s apologies, it feels like my nausea gets worse. Ah, I’m really going to die. If I travel by return crystal again, I won’t be Kim Hae-ah but Seo Go-woon, Seo Go-woon.

“Have some cold water.”

A moment later, unlike us, the perfectly fine Kang Do-hoon and the woman entered Seo Taeju’s office and naturally offered us water. After gulping down the cold water that was cool enough to condense on the glass surface, my stomach started to feel a bit better.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, but what’s with the crystal?”

Wow, she’s really curious, isn’t she? To the point of following me here and even bringing water?

Looking at her, she smiled and sat down on the sofa.

She wouldn’t leave until I answered, huh? What a persistent woman.

“In that case, could you call the guild master for me?”

“The… guild master?”

At my request, she and Kang Do-hoon wore a startled expression for a moment.

‘Why do they look so shocked?’

Is there a reason why it would be problematic if Seo Go-woon looked for the guild master? I was about to ask Seo Taeju when the problem occurred.

‘This guy has the same look as Kang Do-hoon.’

Is there something strange about Seo Go-woon looking for the guild master?

Unable to understand their reaction, I was about to ask Seo Taeju when he spoke first, “Hyung.”

“Huh?”

“Noona here is the guild master. The guild master of Sunset Guild, Seo Moon-no-eul.”

“What?”

That woman is the guild master of Sunset Guild? I knew her name, but I didn’t know her face, so I had no idea that the person who has been interrogating me was the guild master.

As I looked at her in surprise, Seo Moon-no-eul wiped off her startled expression from a moment ago and gave a pleasant smile. “Haha, since you didn’t sign the contract with me, you wouldn’t know. I just realized this is the first formal introduction I’ve made. I’m the guild master of Sunset Guild, Seo Moon-no-eul.”

“Ah. I’m sorry.”

How embarrassing. I felt like one of those troublesome customers who yelled for the manager.

But why on earth did the guild master rush to the dungeon because a guild member was in danger? I thought she was just a member of the trainee team at best. Not even imagining that she could be the guild master resulted in this disaster.

‘If you’re meeting me for the first time, you should have introduced yourself.’

Feeling my face grow hot under her scrutinizing gaze, I hurriedly pulled out one of the crystal clusters from my bag.

And then I looked around. To alleviate this embarrassment, I needed to shift the topic of conversation as quickly as possible. The most suitable topic happened to be the crystal of this Balrans. As I diligently examined the surroundings to demonstrate how to utilize the crystal, Seo Taeju, who seemed significantly more relaxed than before, asked me a question:

“Are you looking for something?”

In response to Seo Taeju’s question, I drew a somewhat large semi-circle with my finger and said, “Hmm? Ah, yes. By any chance, do you have a container that can hold water and a lighter that contains fire attributes?”

“Huh? Just a moment!”

Kang Do-hoon, who was tilting his head to one side, surprisingly didn’t make a fuss and brought over a flowerpot water dish that was on the window sill.

“How about this? It does have sand on it, though.”

“Oh, that’s fine. Thank you.”

Why are they all widening their eyes like that? Is it strange for me to express gratitude? Ah, that’s right. I’m Seo Go-woon. It might indeed be strange for Seo Go-woon to be saying thanks.

“And the lighter?”

“Why do you need that? There’s a Hunter here who can produce fire?”

At Kang Do-hoon’s words, this time, the guild master Seo Moon-no-eul waved her hand. “Yes, yes. Here’s a human lighter.”

“Ah.”

“What do you need me for?”

“Yes, just a moment.”

I pulled out a tissue, wiped off the sand from the flowerpot water dish, and placed it on the table.

Then I piled up the crystals on it.

“What? Are you just going to use it as a decoration?”

Of course, this crystal would look pretty even if used as a decoration as Kang Do-hoon mentioned, but would I really use such a precious item for such a worthless purpose?

“Can you melt it with the highest heat you can produce?”

“Melt it?”

“Yes. Just like holding fire to ice.”

As she tilted her head, flames sprouted from the guild master’s hand. The intimidating feeling of the blue flame, not red, suggested it could melt anything upon contact.

“Huh? It’s really melting?”

As soon as it touched the fire, purple liquid began to drop from the side of the crystal.

Melting the pile of crystals with fire was done in an instant. In no time, the sparkling pile of crystals had turned into water with sparkling purple pearls.

+

[Special Hair Growth Tonic]

Description: A hair growth tonic that contains the characteristics of the Balrans. The mucus-like substance melts like water to create a powerful hair growth effect. A very valuable item that instantly gives you abundant hair.

The properties of an alchemist and the effects of powerful fire prevented it from hardening.

※ Effects: Immediate hair growth effect upon application.

+

‘Oh, it worked. But the description seems a little weird.’

The message that had always delivered information tersely now felt somewhat more subjective.

‘Is it my imagination? But that’s not important now! Hair growth tonic! My cash cow!’

It’s not just a hair growth tonic. It’s a hair growth tonic that instantly gives you abundant hair. A highly valuable item that any balding person with a receding hairline would pay big money for.

“Oh my, the color is beautiful. What is this?”

“It’s a hair growth tonic for treating baldness.”

“What? For treating baldness?”

Everyone looks at me with surprised faces.

Yes. I knew they would be surprised. Whether in my world or in this novel’s world; Baldness is an unsolved mystery.

They would naturally be surprised and incredulous at me suddenly melting a crystal and then saying the resulting liquid is a hair growth tonic.

The most definite thing was to demonstrate the effects in person.

“You can try an experiment if you like.”

“Won’t it harden again once it cools?”

“No, once melted, it won’t harden again.”

At my words, Moon-no-eul, who had been momentarily contemplating, spoke to Kang Do-hoon, “Hmm. Do-hoon, go and call No-hyun and Han Jae.”

“Yes!”

As soon as the guild master’s order dropped, Kang Do-hoon immediately left the room. Because of his fluffy-like hair, his appearance reminded me of a puppy that had received a command to fetch.

‘Is it a poodle? No, Pomeranian?’

While I was thinking about a dog similar to Kang Do-hoon, I suddenly heard a knock.

As I turned my head toward the sound, I saw the guild master tapping the table.

Seo Moon-no-eul seemed to have something she wanted to ask me, as she was staring intently at me.

As I met her gaze, Seo Moon-no-eul, as if she had been waiting, opened her mouth, “But how… How did you know about this?”

Seo Moon-no-eul’s voice had become noticeably serious.