CH 263

Chapter 263

“How am I supposed to drink this?”

“Who told you to get sick?” Woo Ragi simply shrugged his shoulders, unconcerned since it didn’t involve him.

It felt like drinking this would worsen the disease rather than cure it. I felt like throwing up just from the scent–did this make any sense?

However, when I placed the flask on the side table, Woo Ragi clicked his tongue and threatened me. “Drink every last drop.”

“Are you serious?”

“Kim Olim told me to make you drink it even if I have to do it by force.” With that said, he cracked his knuckles; a cold shiver ran up my spine. It was clear that the man would break my neck to feed me the entire potion.

“Nngh…” Faced with no choice, I covered my nose and poured a spoonful into my mouth. The taste was even worse than the scent–it was surprising how much worse it was.

‘Why is the texture like runny boogers…?’

I couldn’t control my expression because of the sticky texture and musky taste. My entire face frowned as I looked towards the swordsman; the potion wouldn’t go down my throat.

However, Woo Ragi didn’t stop with his blood-boiling comments even when he saw my tearful face.

Rather, he was even smiling openly, as if he was pretending to ignore my suffering. Perhaps I should say he was appreciating my distorted expression to the fullest. Unwilling to look at his face any longer, I tightly shut my eyes.

He said, in a smooth voice, “They say that bitter things are good for your body.”

“……”

“Did you really think you’d die from this?”

Anyone could see he wasn’t worried and instead found delight in my discomfort. However, there was no way to avoid this situation, so I barely managed to swallow.

[Alchemist ‘Choi Kyung-sik’s’ potion has restored 0.1% of the cracks in your soul.]

A strange alert manifested before my eyes.

“Cracks in my soul…?”

“……”

It was so strange. I observed the flask everywhere until I discovered a small label on the bottom. As soon as I found that label, a system message popped up.

[Potion to recover your injuries]

Type : Potion

Durability: 1

Level Restriction: None

Special Skill: Soul Recovery

Description:

A potion created for a special purpose by the Alchemist ‘Choi Kyung-sik.’ This potion is optimized for the User ‘Choi Lee-kyung.’

It’s a potion that restores the soul of a User that has been exposed to a serious psychic attack. Though it may taste horrible, its effect is excellent.

Magic Resistance +1,800

Nightmare Barrier +2,500

Curse Resistance +15,000

This potion has a certain effect against sleepwalking. (However, you must drink the potion for at least 30 consecutive days)]

—

After reading the system message, I asked the swordsman in a trembling voice, “No way… I’ll have to take this continuously for 30 days?”

“No? According to Choi Kyung-sik, it’s only useful if you drink it for 60 straight days.”

“…What?” Just one mouthful made my eyes water. I’d have to drink something like this for two months? My hands shook; I wondered if there was anything I could do to get out of drinking this.

‘Should I pretend to accidentally drop it?’

However, before I could even implement my plan, someone warped into the hospital room.

“Did you sleep well?” It was Seo Dawon, carrying a drooping lackey by his side.

* * *

“What’s happened to Lackey?”

“I took good care of it, of course,” Seo Dawon said mischievously, smiling as he handed over the drooping, limp skeleton. What a horrible personality.

At first glace, Lackey seemed exhausted. When I reached out to it, its finger twitched, but that was all. Its eyes remained closed, heavy and tired.

‘Just what on earth happened…’

When I hugged Lackey, half-worried and half-investigatively, I was surprised. Normally it was quite cool to the touch, but the skeleton was freezing, like someone had left it in the freezer for a day.

I looked at the Mage with questioning eyes. However, Seo Dawon was in the middle of an incomprehensible conversation with Woo Ragi in the far corner. “Kim Olim dragged him away.”

“Don’t let him come around for a while.”

“It seems you have a lot of complaints, huh?”

After that was said, their conversation ended unnaturally, as if they could sense my attention. Then Woo Ragi got up from his seat and said farewell only to the Mage. “Then, I’m going now.”

“Yeah.”

Before I could get a sense of what was happening, Woo Ragi’s body melted into the surroundings and vanished. Then, the Mage approached me.

“What were you guys talking about?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you after you finish drinking that flask.”

“Ah…” I frowned and looked at the remaining potion.

If I didn’t already know what it tasted like, I would have gulped it down in one instant, but… I wasn’t ignorant. My mouth refused to open. Just imagining drinking the liquid made my stomach upset and flip over.

“About Choi Kyung-sik… He definitely hates me…”

“Really?”

“Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made this taste so gruesome…” Afterwards, I clamped my mouth shut–the Mage opened the lid of the flask. Seo Dawon sniffed at it and frowned slightly–as expected, he couldn’t stand the disgusting scent either.

Even with his brows furrowed, Seo Dawon still leaned the flask towards his lips and took a sip. Startled, I stared at him; something more astonishing happened afterwards.

With the potion still in his mouth, the mage approached me and grabbed my chin. Then, he grabbed my cheek.

“Wait, wai–…”

“……”

The mage’s lips stopped just short, as if he were pretending to listen to me, but the Mage soon smiled and kissed me.

The repulsive scent brushed past my nose first, but it soon ceased to be a problem. As soon as his lips opened and his tongue pushed past mine, all unpleasantness was neutralized. Despite the terrible taste, the Mage started to lick my mouth; my blood boiled with excitement.

Strangely elated, my fingers and toes began to curl. I wanted to hold back my groan, but soon my ears and the small hospital room filled with my embarrassing, gasping noises.

Seo Dawon willfully violated my tongue until I pushed him away.

However, that wasn’t the end.

“W-Wait…D-Don’t drink that…!” I swallowed the liquid in my mouth. Seo Dawon casually brought the flask up to his lips, as if he were going to take another sip and tilted his face towards my mouth.

I grabbed his wrist in a hurry and tried to plead with him.

The Mage shrugged his shoulders, as if he couldn’t see what was wrong. “You said you couldn’t bear to drink it, though?”

“No…. It’s not…” I was going to say that wasn’t the problem, but the blanket began to slip off from my movements. I rushed to grab the blanket; that was the last bastion of defense to cover what was between my legs…

The problem though, was that my attempts to hide myself were so blatant. With flushed cheeks, I shouted at the grinning Mage, “I-I’ll drink it by myself! I’ll drink it right now!”

“Well, that’s alright by me…”

I ripped the flask away from the Mage’s hand, ignoring his amused voice.

Then, I closed my eyes tightly, blocked my nose with a hand, and drank it in one shot. I could only manage to drink the rest of the potion by shoving the potion down my throat, suffocating myself to the point of vomiting. I was exhausted from drinking it all and sprawled onto the bed.

Seo Dawon stared at my languid body and pushed at the skeleton in my arms. Normally, the Lackey would have growled at the mage, but today it blinked once before closing its eyes, as if it were falling asleep.

“…What did you do today?” I asked, fiddling with my hair.

Seo Dawon swept my bangs in a strange direction before responding in a dry and flippant tone, “I doted on Lackey a lot before coming here.”

“You didn’t abandon it in a freezer?”

“Oh, good idea. I’ll take that into consideration for the future.”

I glared at him in lieu of answering.

When Lackey heard my voice, it made the arduous effort to turn its skull towards me. Anyone could see that he was seriously bullied by the Mage for half a day.

I tried to pry more information out of the Mage but gave up when it seemed like he wouldn’t budge. Instead, I stroked Lackey’s skull to try and soothe the hardships it went through.

“Huh?” However, as I touched and observed the skeleton, I found a hitherto unseen accessory on its neck: a gold choker with a large ruby in the center.

“What’s this?” I asked the Mage as I touched the ruby. He smiled softly.

At that moment, Lackey began gnashing its chin in its characteristic clacks.

[Clack Clack.]

[Master.]

The red ruby momentarily glittered alongside the skeleton’s chin’s movements, like neon lights flickering in their tubes. Then, I heard a mechanical sound coming from that jewel.

“Huh…?” I couldn’t understand what I had just heard, so I stared at the skeleton again. Lackey looked at me with its hollow eyes and gnashed its teeth again.

[Clack Clack.]

[Master.]

“H-How?” I looked at the skeleton in shocked amazement before whipping my head around to the Mage.

Seo Dawon replied nonchalantly, “I suppose I took some inspiration from ‘Bowlingual.'” 1