Chapter 17

"We need to get out of here!"

Jeong-Hoon grabbed Bleo and fled the building.

Boom! Boom!

The continuous explosions sent Bleo into a panic.

"My, my research...!"

"First, let's take care of those things."

"...Please do."

Whatever Bleo had mixed into the cure, it was reacting violently and exploding.

The aftermath shattered the cylinders containing Bleo's experimental toxins, transforming the lab mice into monsters.

'So it was real.'

He had dismissed Min Jin-ho's claims as nonsense, but they had come true.

[Defeat all 'Lv.32 Mutated Mice'.]

Mutated mice.

Was it because they had consumed Crusher's inner core? Their levels were quite high.

Leaving Bleo outside, Jeong-Hoon entered the building alone.

The shattered toxin cylinders had filled the air with poisonous gas.

'I won't use holy power.'

To resist the poison when facing Crusher, Jeong-Hoon had completely refrained from using holy power.

He had only used healing to restore his health.

The same applies now.

There was no need to use holy power in this perfect situation to level up his poison resistance.

[You have been poisoned.]

[Poison Resistance strongly resists.]

[The rate at which your health decreases is slowed.]

Despite having Poison Resistance as a passive ability, he was still affected by the poison.

[Poison Resistance level increases.]

[Unbreakable Body level increases.]

Good.

Poison Resistance had risen to level 6.

Unbreakable Body had also leveled up.

That meant the physical damage from the poison was considerable.

Let's focus on leveling up.

"Squeak."

A mutated mouse, having caught the scent, appeared.

The mouse, once smaller than an adult's palm, had grown to over a meter in length.

Its face was grotesquely deformed due to the poison.

"It looks even more hideous than Crusher."

Jeong-Hoon, who had remained unfazed even when facing Crusher, frowned slightly.

'Underworld King's Fist Technique.'

First priority was to eliminate them.

Jeong-Hoon stepped forward and threw a punch at the mutated mouse.

Although the mutated mice had leveled up, they were still in an unstable state due to their recent transformation.

Their rapid growth had left their bones brittle.

Based on his experience with similar monsters, their weak point was their heads.

"Squeal!"

Jeong-Hoon's punch sent a mutated mouse flying.

His Underworld King's Fist Technique swiftly followed, taking down the 20 mice within sight.

'Wasn't I supposed to collect green mana stones from these mice?'

Min Jin-ho, the poisoner, had discovered that the answer lay within these green mana stones.

Since he had mentioned it himself, it must be true.

Jeong-Hoon used his dagger to cut open the mice's innards, collecting the small green fragments near their hearts.

"Squeak!"

Deeper inside, more mice were lurking.

"There are so many."

Jeong-Hoon clicked his tongue and began hunting them down.

* * *

Outside the building, the alchemist Bleo was biting his nails anxiously.

"Why? Why did it fail? My calculations were perfect..."

He couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong.

When the solution had turned lime green, he was certain that the cure was complete.

But instead of stabilizing, it had gone out of control.

"Ah... shit, that's it."

Bleo finally realized his mistake.

He should have used the entire inner core instead of just extracting the medicine from it.

The poison within Crusher's inner core should have neutralized any remaining toxicity.

"Damn it..."

He was furious.

His hair loss started when he was a child.

At the young age of 17, he was completely bald.

As a result, he had endured all sorts of humiliation from his peers.

'Did you shave your head on purpose?'

'It's so shiny.'

And it wasn't just that.

'Oh my... dear Lord...'

'I'm sorry... but baldness is a bit of a dealbreaker...'

Even the women he had a crush on had rejected him because of his baldness.

It was around this time that he had developed an extreme aversion to people.

As an adult, Bleo had dedicated 10 years to researching not only his specialty, poison, but also a cure for his damn hair loss.

And yet, he had made such a ridiculous mistake at the very end.

"Shiiit!"

If only he hadn't made that mistake! If only he had double-checked his calculations!

If only he hadn't lost his rationality in his excitement over Crusher's inner core!

The hair loss cure should be safe and sound.

"What are you yelling about?"

Jeong-Hoon emerged from the building, his hands full of green mana stones.

"What are those?"

"I found them inside the mice."

"May I take a look?"

"Yes, that's why I brought them."

"Thank you."

Please.

Bleo examined the stones with eager eyes.

Soon, his eyes filled with joy.

The stones had stabilized somewhat, likely due to mixing with the Crusher poison during the explosion.

It seemed he could use them to quickly create the cure.

"Looks like you found a way?"

"Yes!"

As expected, he succeeded.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Bleo openly wept.

"Thank you so much! This is a token of my gratitude!"

He went to the basement and retrieved an old book.

"What's this?"

"It's a skill book I completed while living in the capital. Please accept it."

So this was the skill book for Poison Attack.

"Thank you, I'll gladly accept it."

[You have completed a hidden quest.]

[You have acquired 'Poison Attack'.]

As Jeong-Hoon received the skill book, it glowed briefly and then disappeared.

Yes!

With this, he had obtained all the opportunities available from the alchemist in the village of Beginning.

[Poison Attack]

-Type: Passive

-Level: 1

-Grade: Normal

-Low chance to inflict 5% additional poison damage on a designated target upon striking. (No level penalty)

-Low chance to inflict 1% poison damage on a designated target upon being struck. (No level penalty)

Normally, damage decreases significantly when there's a large level gap, but Poison Attack is unaffected by level penalties.

This was truly a remarkable skill.

However, despite stalling as much as possible while defeating all the mutated mice, his Poison Resistance had only reached level 8.

But it was fine.

He still had a chance to reach level 10.

Now that I've leveled up and completed the job change quest, is that all I need to do here?

'Phew, I'm exhausted.'

He had rushed through everything without a break.

Now that the tension was gone, fatigue washed over him.

Jeong-Hoon immediately logged out.

* * *

"All done."

Aren finished cleaning the general store and came downstairs.

[Juokkangte7 has donated 10,000 won.]

-Hey, Chilchil! Why are you cleaning when everyone tells you not to?

"Ten thousand won! Thank you for the donation, Juokkangte7."

[I really don't understand why he's doing this]

[Chilchil... that's why your IQ is 77]

[It's embarrassing to watch ㅠㅠ]

[What are you even going to do with the title...?]

The chat was filled with messages telling him not to proceed with the quest.

But Aren, captivated by the martial artist's sincerity, was oblivious to their words.

"Just wait! I'll show you that all of this has meaning!"

[Seriously... what is this guy so obsessed with?]

[There must have been something... he did this during Unan too ㅆㅂ]

[Didn't he regret it after two months of grinding back then? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Chilchil is insane for doing it again after failing once!]

Idiots.

Aren ignored the chat and headed towards the counter to receive his reward from Ten.

But there, a mage wearing a robe embroidered with gold patterns was standing.

He was clearly a high-level player.

[Player Information]

-Nickname: Jin-ho

-Level: 371

-Class: Poisoner (4th Class Change)

The player information revealed him to be a level 371 Poisoner.

And he was the leader of the renowned guild, Poison.

"Oh my god... if he's a Poisoner, isn't he Min Jin-ho from Poison?"

Aren muttered in a daze.

The chat was already on fire.

[Holy shit, it's Min Jin-ho!]

[What's a 5th awakened Poisoner doing there?]

[Wow, this is the first time I've seen a Poisoner. I'm getting goosebumps.]

[Chilchil! Go ask him! I'll give you 50,000 won if you do.]

Someone offered 50,000 won to anyone who could strike up a conversation with Min Jin-ho.

[50,000 won and I'll add another 100,000!]

[100,000 won and I'll add another 200,000!]

The money kept piling up.

In less than a minute, the mission to talk to Min Jin-ho had a reward of 1.02 million won.

Aren approached Min Jin-ho and cautiously spoke to him.

"Excuse me... are you really Min Jin-ho?"

"Yes, I am. Why?"

Min Jin-ho tilted his head in curiosity.

Contrary to his profession as a Poisoner, which dealt with toxins, his impression was very gentle.

"Wow... but why are you here at the general store in the village of Beginning?"

Outside the store, players were swarming.

They had all gathered to catch a glimpse of Min Jin-ho.

"Oh, I had some business to take care of."

Having finished his task, Min Jin-ho began cleaning the general store.

'Someone who studies poison? Hmm... there is one, but it will be difficult to find him. He's extremely wary of people.'

News of the Poison Crusher's appearance had finally surfaced on World Com.

He had received a hint related to Crusher during his 2nd Poisoner job change quest, but he never imagined it would be residing in the village of Beginning.

As a result, he had canceled all his plans and hunted Crusher about 600 times.

"Hiss... p-please stop..."

Crusher finally coughed up its inner core.

Now, all he had to do was find an alchemist who could handle the inner core, and they would grant him the perfect skill for a Poisoner.

'If he's wary of people, I just need to break down his walls.'

If he repeatedly showed goodwill in the village of Beginning, wouldn't the alchemist's guard be lowered a little?

In New World, it was certainly a possibility.

"M-Min Jin-ho is cleaning!"

"Gasp!"

The players were shocked.

Min Jin-ho had appeared in the village of Beginning and was suddenly cleaning?

He must be doing a village quest.

"Huh...?"

Aren blinked in surprise.

[No way! What the hell?]

[Chilchil! Explain this!]

[Is there something else in the village quest?]

[There's no way Min Jin-ho would be cleaning otherwise!]

What was going on?

Aren couldn't understand the situation.

[Seriously, this idiot...]

[This means your cleaning might not have been pointless after all!]

Oh? So that meant he had correctly interpreted the martial artist's sincere gaze?!

Aren, suddenly full of himself, straightened his back.

"See, I was right! Anyone want to argue with me now?"

[Kekekeke Chilchil's arrogance is off the charts.]

[If you don't want to die, ask Min Jin-ho why he's cleaning.]

* * *

Jeong-Hoon, having returned home early for once, fell asleep early in the evening.

He slept so long that he didn't wake up until the afternoon of the next day.

"Are you feeling better?"

Worried because he couldn't reach him, Ha-jin had come to his house.

"I slept well, so I feel refreshed."

His head was a bit heavy, but most of his fatigue was gone.

'I should be fine for now.'

He had pushed himself hard in the village of Beginning, so it was time for a break.

However, he needed to quickly level up and complete the job change quest to move on to the next village.

But before that, he had to attend an event hosted by Genesis.

"You've leveled up enough, right? You must have completed the first job change."

Jeong-Hoon had muted even Ha-jin's whispers to fully focus on the quests.

He didn't want any distractions.

That's why Ha-jin had no idea how much Jeong-Hoon had leveled up.

"I haven't done the first job change yet."

Jeong-Hoon's words were shocking.

"Huh...? What do you mean? You haven't even done the first job change?"

"Yeah, I was too busy with the village quests."

"Crazy! So all this time, you were busy with village quests?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god... what am I going to do with this frustrating guy..."

Jeong-Hoon's current level was 24.

He was still 6 levels short of the first job change quest.

"I'll start leveling up now."

"You're participating in the event, right? Are you really trying to come in last?"

Jeong-Hoon shrugged in response.

Three days remained until the event.

Since it was hosted by Genesis and open to players below level 50, the first job change was essential to aim for the top ranks.

If he couldn't even meet that basic requirement, he should be worried about being at the bottom.

'Winning first place is easy.'

But that didn't apply to Jeong-Hoon.