Chapter 374. The Story That Shouldn’t Have Existed (9) (2/2)

Taken aback, Rachel turned on her smartwatch, wondering if she was missing something.

But she couldn’t find anything unusual - only a message from a connection who was set as a VVIP friend.

Right, the message was from Yoo Yeonha.

Chae Nayun, who was watching curiously, asked.

“…What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“It looks like that woodpecker wants you to check your smartwatch. Did you get something?”

“I received a message from Yeonha, but that’s it….”[1]

“…Yo, can you choose between polite speech and casual speech instead of mixing the two together?”

Rachel blinked her eyes as she often did and stared at Chae Nayun. Then, she lowered her gaze without a reply and read Yoo Yeonha’s message.

In the next instant, her face stiffened. It wasn’t just her face, though. Her body became as hard as a rock, almost as if she fell into deep thought.

Chae Nayun perked up her eyebrows and asked.

“What? What is it? Did something happen?”

“…”

Rachel didn’t answer.

“Hello? Can you hear me?”

She ignored Chae Nayun no matter how many times Chae Nayun asked.

Slightly offended, Chae Nayun furrowed her brows and turned on her smartwatch.

She had countless new messages.

Among them, Yoo Yeonha’s message stood out.

Chae Nayun clicked on it without much thought.

Immediately afterwards, Chae Nayun made the same shocked expression Rachel had.

Her thoughts stopped, and so did her body.

Only her eyes slowly moved up and down, reading a ‘certain word’.

“….”

The ‘certain word’ was an ordinary name.

But at the same time, it wasn’t so ordinary.

The text message Yoo Yeonha sent had someone’s name on it.

Chae Nayun didn’t remember this name.

However, it felt familiar to her eyes.

Chae Nayun subconsciously clutched her necklace. Then, she slowly raised her head. Rachel, who seemingly received the same message as her, was staring back.

When their eyes met, Rachel asked.

“…This Kim Hajin… who is he?”

Chae Nayun couldn’t answer.

They both needed time for deep reflection.

**

—A month has passed, yet the trial is still ongoing. Kim Sukho and Yi Yukho are still claiming to be innocent, receiving criticisms from the public. On the other hand, Yoo Jinwoong has admitted his wrongs and has been convicted of multiple charges. Chae Joochul stands at a slightly unique position. Taking into account how he was one of the whistle-blowers in this case, the contributions he made during the war against Orden, and his worsening physical health due to his age and participation in the Great Devil War….

“…Things sure are changing quickly.”

I was still staying in my cabin by the Alps’ cliffside, watching TV as I munched on some cereal.

The month-old [Hero Association Corruption Gate] had yet to die down in the news cycle.

“Huu.”

In any case, it didn’t feel so bad looking at a world progressing towards a ‘story that shouldn’t have existed’.

In fact, I was quite happy. Not only did this world escape from the adversity known as Baal, but it was also on the brink of eliminating the cancerous tumor that was the Hero Association.

But this setting that the Association’s executives colluded with Djinns to maintain their authority….

No.

I should stop referring to things as ‘settings’. I shouldn’t even use that word.

After all, it only made me sad.

Tok, tok—

At that moment, someone knocked on my door.

A guest?

I turned the smartwatch off and got up from my chair.

Although the world was turning rather rapidly, I was still living a life of leisure.

Tok, tok—

Today’s first guest seemed to be quite impatient.

I was about to open the door but paused for a moment. With my hand tightly holding onto the doorknob, I let out a faint breath.

I couldn’t help but think, ‘Could it be?’ But soon, I laughed and shook my head.

I was mocking myself.

For the past month, I had been anticipating something in the corner of my mind.

That they would remember me and come find me — an empty hope.

But now I knew that wasn’t possible.

So, I opened the door, not expecting much.

Kiik—

The wooden door creaked open, revealing two people standing beyond it. They were blonde, blue-eyed women. As expected, they were strangers.

The woman on the right gulped before opening her mouth.

“Ah… um… are you… the Cliff’s End Pharmacist?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

I spoke casually on purpose.

It didn’t seem realistic or charismatic for a mysterious pharmacist living on the edge of a cliff in a rough mountain to speak politely.

“Ah, I see! Wow, really, we finally….”

The two women cried while hugging each other.

“I’ll chase you out if you keep crying.”

“N-No! We’ll stop crying!”

I led them inside as soon as they stopped crying and asked about the symptoms of the patient.

They said it was poison from the venomous Albahara Snake.

Even in this world, where both scientific and magical knowledge of medicine existed, the Albahara Snake’s venom was an untreatable poison that led to unavoidable death.

Although the death wouldn’t be instantaneous, an afflicted victim would suffer for 3 to 14 days before finally dying.

To my knowledge, there wasn’t an antidote.

“Do you have that snake’s venom or its tooth?”

“Ah, yes, just in case.”

The duo were well-prepared. From their bag, they took out the snake’s venom, multiple teeth, and even its scales.

“We canceled our qi reinforcement after killing its mother and was ambushed by the baby that was hiding nearby. We let our guard down.”

“I see.”

“Yes. The Albahara Snake has weak teeth, so as long as you maintain your qi reinforcement at all times—”

“Yeah, yeah. Alright, you can leave.”

“…Pardon?”

I retrieved the materials and sent them outside.

“I don’t like showing people the manufacturing process.”

“Ah, yes, understood!”

As soon as I saw the two women leave, I swallowed the Albahara Snake’s venom.

In truth, detoxification happened automatically if I analyzed poison. Detoxification was one of the simplest ways of utilizing the [Medicinal Memory Physique].

“…Auu, it hurts.”

After about three minutes, the [Medicinal Memory Physique] stored the Albahara poison’s antidote. I immediately materialized the antidote in the form of a pill.

Holding the pill in my hand, I shouted loudly.

“Oi! Come in.”

The two women quickly came in, and I handed them the antidote.

They didn’t doubt my pill in the slightest. They simply cried and handed me an expensive jewel - a blue diamond.

““Thank you!””

After bowing 90 degrees, they left my cabin.

“…Yeah, take care.”

After sending them off, I sat back down on my chair and turned on my smartwatch.

—On the other hand, Essence of the Strait’s Chief Officer Yoo Yeonha announced her retirement, but the guild’s Heroes’ fierce dissuasion has made her retract her statement. Many people are sending Yoo Yeonha and Yoo Jinwoong’s family words of encouragement and sympathy….

The watch had a TV projection functionality.

But the news wasn’t all that interesting.

I stared at Yoo Yeonha having a press conference before changing the channel.

—The Kwang-Oh Incident is a key subject in this matter….

“Ah.”

I immediately turned the watch off.

Kwang-Oh Incident.

To be honest, I was hoping that the Kwang-Oh Incident would help me. Although the memories of me were wiped from everyone’s minds, I was hopeful that someone would regain their memories once they heard the Kwang-Oh Incident. But that didn’t happen.

A month passed, but no one came to see me.

But that goes without saying.

It was proper for false relationships built up through the power of the author to disappear.

After all, this world wasn’t a novel anymore.

I was no longer the novelist Kim Hajin, but an insignificant Kim Hajin.

“…Ehew.”

Tok, tok—

As I sighed, another knock rang out.

It was already the second visitor.

“Lots of visitors today, huh.”

I got up from my chair and walked to the door.

The visitors this time seemed even more impatient than the last. Or perhaps, they were more urgent than the last ones.

“Alright, alright…”

Thinking this, I opened the door without hesitation.

Whish—

Black hair fluttered in the Alps’ cold wind. A dazzling sunset shone down, and one person was looking down at me from the orange-colored sky.

The scenery was truly beautiful.

It was so unbelievably beautiful that I couldn’t think about anything.

1. Rachel mixes polite speech and casual speech here. The nuance doesn’t really translate to English.