Chapter 82

At this moment, a figure suddenly came to mind.

Choi Hui-jun, my father from my previous life.

He began dabbling with stocks during the dot-com bubble. However, Choi Hui-jun wasn’t always a stock specialist. In his mid-20s, while working as a private tutor, he also allegedly distributed a drug for improving focus.

Of course, the product in question was an ADHD medication.

Nowadays, people take it with a prescription, but back then, due to lax customs enforcement, it was openly smuggled in. Thanks to the substantial capital and connections he procured at the time, he was able to escalate his schemes to include loan fraud, pre-sale scams, and stock price manipulation.

Even study drugs had this much business potential.

How much more so for a swordsmanship-enhancing drug?

What would the Academy, home to the most ambitious individuals in the Empire, make of such a drug?

This was a situation I hadn’t anticipated.

…

Hundreds of eyes were staring at me in disbelief.

Their doubts were obvious.

Could Monglongyi and Bulongyi really have produced a master? Were Leon’s bizarre behaviors merely trials on his path to becoming a superhuman? If we wanted to find out the truth, we’d need to ask that Alan Medoff fellow, but would he honestly answer us?

I might have been wrong.

But one thing was certain.

Anything I said would likely only fuel their misconceptions.

They had already witnessed the birth of the youngest master in history and heard from the individual himself that “if not for the drug, I wouldn’t have made it this far.”

They’d believe what they wanted to, no matter whether I confirmed or denied it.

Already, the signs were there.

“No, everyone! Just… Leon has always possessed extraordinary talent. Don’t speculate before hearing the full explanation…”

“Didn’t this guy used to crawl on the floor until first year?”

“Huh?”

“…And didn’t the professor even suggest he switch majors? Said it’d be better for him to join the military as an officer? …But now you claim he was a genius all along? That’s quite the convenient explanation, isn’t it?”

“That’s enough out of you.”

Already, the professors were bickering. Some were questioning why Leon, who supposedly exploded in potential during his second year, was now being called a naturally gifted genius.

If left unchecked, they were on the verge of grabbing each other by the collars. Meanwhile, the students either nodded in agreement or gasped in astonishment.

I could understand their doubts.

Leon was a slithering on the floor in his first year but skyrocketed to success in his second year.

In reality, he was a character created by the Creator, but even if I claimed the drug unearthed his latent talent, it would still hold some credibility. After all, it provides an easy explanation for his explosive growth. Pointing out the timing wouldn’t change anything.

Whatever I said would only add to their suspicions.

It was time to leave.

After making my decision, I informed the dean, who was staring blankly at me.

“A joyous occasion for the Academy. Congratulations, Dean. I’ll be leaving now.”

“Leaving? What do you mean?”

“What good would my staying serve? It’s a great thing that a junior has reached the master’s rank, but I myself am not a master.”

“Still, even so…”

“Would you forcibly detain me then?”

Realizing their awkward position, the professor and the dean reluctantly stepped back.

The students were no different. They gazed at me with curiosity on their faces, as if the fact that I was the man who used heroin to defeat the elves or that I was a knight under the notorious Second Princess meant nothing to them.

In the near future, our employees will likely be bombarded with pleas and threats. If necessary, they may even wield the authority of their affiliated families.

With this situation, I needed to act quickly to prepare a strategy…

But drug addict Leon Rothe Dale wouldn’t let me escape so easily. Showing his crooked smile, he extended his hand.

“Medicine!”

“I’ll have morphine delivered to you today. Just wait quietly.”

“What about Bulongyi? It’s meaningless without it!”

Leon’s face clouded with frustration, but I ignored him and shook my head.

“Leon Rothe Dale. My promise to you was for morphine only. You remember that, don’t you? Just a few days ago, I promised that if you achieved success, I’d encourage you by giving you Monglongyi—morphine. There was no mention of ephedrine.”

“Wha—!?”

“Promises are meant to be kept.”

Truthfully, I had never made such a promise. I was just making it up on the spot.

If I cut him off completely, he might go berserk. Hence, it would be best to give him just enough sedatives to keep him calm.

“Oh, that’s right.”

Leon sighed and started hitting his head.

Why did I do that? We’re supposed to take it together to be happy. With a lost expression, he ranted about a verbal agreement that never existed.

Leaving his lament behind, I immediately left the scene.

—

Why had I made such a foolish promise?

How stupid of me.

Leon Rothe Dale exhaled dejectedly.

So melancholic that he swallowed all his evening medications at once.

“Of course I made the promise.”

Although it slipped my mind for a moment, the memory was now crystal clear. I had verbally agreed with a guy named Bono, who was standing next to Mr. Alan, that in exchange for attaining superhuman status, I would receive four free morphine tablets daily.

Why had I agreed to such a foolish deal?

“Am I stupid?”

Monglongyi and Bulongyi were only meaningful when taken together.

At first, I thought “taking them together would be better,” but now I clearly understood why they should be consumed together.

Taking Monglongyi alone brings a sense of relief and happiness but simultaneously a feeling of sensory numbness. On the other hand, Bulongyi alone makes one exhilarated and good but also subtly anxious.

However, taking them together cancels out these downsides!

Only the benefits remain.

“Taking them separately is genuinely idiotic.”

At least, I had secured Monglongyi in abundance, which was fortunate.

Now was the time to figure out how to get my hands on Bulongyi as well.

Could I just buy it with money? Mr. Alan reportedly massacred elves for profit, so it’s likely he’d sell me the drug if paid.

The only problem was, I didn’t have much money. If it’s expensive, that could be a real problem.

As Leon was thinking fiercely about this, someone interrupted.

“Um… Leon? First of all, congratulations. Just checking, but did the morphine and ephedrine really help greatly with your training? If they did, would you mind explaining how they worked?”

An annoying professor who had once scolded him for quitting drugs.

Ignoring the question due to irritation, but the professor wouldn’t let go.

So he answered anyway.

That the medicine was what kept him going in life, that without it, he would have abandoned the sword long ago, and that he’d probably be rolling around in a former hotel turned opium den with drop-outs in Illing District…

“I see. So it was thanks to the medicine that you broke through your barriers.”

“They must be taken together to have meaning!”

“I see. And one more thing–”

“That’s enough.”

No more questions.

Leon waved around either his sword or scabbard to send all the old professors who were lurking around scurrying away.

Then he headed toward the dormitory to research ways to procure Bulongyi.

“Hurry up.”

Before he finished speaking, he was already in his dorm room.

But danger lurked even in the dorm.

A few old friends from his failing student days had come to visit. They showered him with questions, but Leon ignored them.

He also ignored the female classmate who tearfully begged to be as strong as him and the senior who desperately knelt before him on the verge of graduation.

There was, however, one question he couldn’t ignore.

“Hey Leon, isn’t health syrup also amazing? Right?”

Someone dared to utter such an abhorrent statement. A nasty guy who used to sell syrup at exorbitant prices on campus back when it was trendy.

Leon had liked syrup once, but that was before he knew the real thing.

Health syrup was nothing more than disgusting, overly sweet junk food. After encountering the true drug, he couldn’t bear to consume it anymore, so he had transferred it to a friend.

“Isn’t that trash?”

“But, well, it’s still better than nothing, right?”

“Sure, but…”

“Still, amazing!”

Get out, please.

When Leon threw a shoe, the students finally shuffled out.

Alone, Leon sighed heavily as he stared at the ceiling. He was filled with resentment towards himself for making such an unintelligent deal and towards Medoff Pharmaceuticals for other reasons. His thoughts swirled in turmoil.

However, his contemplations soon faded as the medication he had taken early started to kick in.

—

I thought I’d have some time, but it came sooner than expected.

“Mr. Alan? It seems your health syrup is still circulating. On my way to deliver morphine to Leon Rothe Dale, a student grabbed me asking questions. He took the health syrup while training but felt nothing.”

“Why would that… Never mind, forget it.”

It seems someone mistook the discontinued health syrup for Bulongyi and consumed it.

While that’s understandable, the problematic part here was the “bought” part.

It hadn’t been long since the incident at the training ground, but already there were students capitalizing on the hype. While I knew there were drug dealers in the Academy, this was shockingly fast.

The inevitable aftermath would hit me soon.

As I was pondering how to handle it, someone summoned me.

“Sir Alan. Her Highness Princess Victoria requests your immediate presence.”

Princess Victoria. She reacted even faster than the students, which wasn’t surprising.

If anyone had a vested interest, aside from myself and Siena, it was her. She had even once commissioned an awakening drug to combat the elves.

“Come to think of it, didn’t Victoria give up because she saw Leon’s state? But now Leon has become a master.”

I decided I’d willingly respond to Princess Victoria’s summons.

If the Empire faces disaster, it wouldn’t benefit me either. To minimize the repercussions as much as possible, or at least eliminate the burdens that might fall on me, I had to see her first. My approach would depend on how she approached the situation.

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