TRPM 263

chapter 263

Except for Kim Eun-yeon and the Association staff, all the other women calmed down once I handed them satiety potions.

Ah, of course, I didn’t just give them away for free.

The ingredients for a satiety potion are quite expensive, and using them for dieting is purely their personal indulgence.

Even if they had wanted potions to grow stronger, I still wouldn’t have given them out for free.

Anyway.

I decided to sell the potions at the same price as in my previous life, and charged the women who wanted them.

‘Most of them are fairly well-off anyway.’

Rachel had Arthur, who could earn all the money she needed. Elena might not get much allowance immediately, but she could always ask her family in England for funds.

Kang Garam—judging from that mansion I saw before, her family is extremely wealthy. Lee Ha-eun, as an archmage, could earn plenty of money if she wanted to.

Kim Eun-yeon, being a rare alchemist, already made money from potions, and the Association employee assigned to her looked like an elite—so his salary should be quite high.

‘Lastly, Ryu Ah-young… her family isn’t rich, but…’

She had her patrons—implementation users around the world who doted on her and regularly gave her pocket money. So she probably never worried about money either.

After sending the women off with their potions, only Eun-yeon, the Association employee, and I remained in the lab.

So I asked Eun-yeon, who still hadn’t left:

“Eun-yeon, are you going home now? Or do you want to make more potions?”

I didn’t ask the Association employee—because I knew he couldn’t leave until Eun-yeon did anyway.

“… I want to research more… potions…”
“Research?”
“Yeah… honestly… I understood the principle… but I still don’t really get… what role each ingredient played….”

Even after hearing my explanation and watching me make the potion, there were parts Eun-yeon couldn’t grasp, so she wanted to study further.

Well, the satiety potion wasn’t created by the present Eun-yeon, but by her future self.

She had developed it because she was too lazy to cook meals while researching—but the alchemy behind it would be difficult for the current Eun-yeon to fully understand.

“And also…”
“And also?”
“I decided what kind of Philosopher’s Stone… I want to make.”

In other words, as an alchemist, she had chosen her life’s goal.

“Really? What do you want to make?”
“A diet potion!”
“……”

Both the Association employee and I fell silent.

To think her life goal as an alchemist was… a diet potion.

“… I just made you one though?”
“The one you made, Gun-woo, only makes people feel full temporarily. What I want is a potion that actually makes you lose weight just by drinking it.”

She wasn’t stuttering.

Normally Eun-yeon spoke with stammers, but sometimes, when she was especially serious, she didn’t. This was one of those times.

Which meant—she was dead serious about the diet potion.

“Oh, of course, I don’t just mean simply losing weight. That part is easy.”

That’s true.

Although it comes with side effects, simply reducing body mass can be done by accelerating metabolism. Plenty of such potions already exist.

“What I want is a potion that transforms the drinker’s body into their most ideal form. Not just outward appearance, but internally too.”
“Hm…”

A word popped into my mind:

Rebirth.

In my past life, Yeon Mirae had experienced this phenomenon thanks to my help—her body purged impurities and transformed into a state most suitable for martial arts cultivation.

‘… If Eun-yeon really succeeds in making such a potion…’

It could hardly be called a diet potion anymore.

It would be more like an elixir that triggers rebirth with just a sip.

At that point, it would deserve the name Philosopher’s Stone—or Elixir.

“Well, it’ll be difficult, but… work hard on it.”
“Mm!”

Eun-yeon beamed and nodded brightly.

“……”

Had she ever smiled so brightly in either my past life or this one?

I don’t think I’d ever seen it.

‘… Seems just deciding her path makes her happy.’

So this is why alchemists choose their own Philosopher’s Stone.

I told Eun-yeon and the Association employee, See you tomorrow, and left the lab.

“……”

As I stepped out, a thought struck me.

‘Am I… an alchemist?’

I had studied alchemy, so in a way, yes.

But then—

‘What is my Philosopher’s Stone, my Magnum Opus?’

What is it I’m aiming for?

The eradication of the Black Fog?
Preventing humanity’s destruction?
The downfall of the Oracle and the Organization?

‘Could those really be called a Philosopher’s Stone… or a life goal?’

Of course not.

Those could be called objectives, but not the life goal.

They’re more like intermediate steps toward achieving my true purpose.

So then, what is my true goal?

‘At least I can clearly state what my goal was before regression.’

To create martial arts unique to myself.

I had completed it at the final moment, just before being killed by a doppelgänger.

So I had no regrets then—I never thought I’d regress anyway.

But after returning to the past, new goals arose.

‘Preventing my mother from living in pain and dying like before. Protecting the world I lived in.’

And also—

‘Not dying alone.’

Even though I had died content the first time, once I thought about it after regression… the fact that I had lived alone and died alone weighed heavily on me.

So now, my life’s true goal was to not die in solitude.

“… Enlightenment, huh.”

I had always known it deep down, but facing it this way made it sink in.

It was enlightenment, and so my Harmony Divine Art responded.

Not long ago, I’d gained another enlightenment—that by channeling ether into my body with the help of the Awakener system, I could accelerate my cultivation.

Now, another realization.

Of course, enlightenment doesn’t instantly raise one’s cultivation in a dramatic leap.

“Since I realized this thanks to Eun-yeon… should I gift her a future-style alchemy kit as thanks?”

I mused as I headed home.

That evening.

“Gun-woo, Ha-eun told me you made some kind of diet potion? Do you have one for me too?”
“……”
“……”

My mother asked this while preparing dinner.

Across the table, Yeon Mirae and Sophia, who had come to eat with us, stared at me silently.

So after dinner, I had no choice but to clear a nearby slime dungeon, buy some ingredients at the market, and brew three more satiety potions.

The next day.

I submitted a leave note to the school and left.

“Ah, you’re here?”
“Yeah.”

Arthur was waiting outside.

Come to think of it, it was strange.

Why would Arthur, an Aura Master, come all the way to Korea just to see Elena and Elliot?

Ah, not that he shouldn’t.

‘Back in middle school, Arthur had come with Rachel to Korea to watch a school exchange tournament, so…’

Knowing that, it wasn’t uncharacteristic of him to come.

But this time was different.

He hadn’t come just to meet those two. He had another purpose, and meeting them was incidental.

So what was his real reason for coming to Korea?

“Sorry for troubling you…”
“No, it’s fine. It’s not your fault.”
“But this happened because I lost him, right?”
“If someone managed to escape you, Arthur, then they’d have escaped most others too.”

Apparently, a British criminal had shaken off Arthur’s pursuit and fled to Korea.

Of course, Korean police, and guilds that specialized in criminals—like Night Eagle and Iron Blood—were already searching for him.

‘Other than the short times we saw him yesterday, Arthur said he’s been helping with the search nonstop.’

But since this man had evaded Arthur of all people, the search wasn’t going smoothly.

And…

“What was the guy’s ability again?”
“Shadow Element Control—in Korean, I suppose ‘Shadow Manipulation.’”

The name alone screamed stealth. No wonder he was hard to find.

The only fortunate part was that he wasn’t a particularly heinous criminal.

According to Arthur, he had only committed theft and been sentenced to community service.

However, instead of ordinary work, he was ordered to clear a dungeon. Being an Awakener who had never once entered a dungeon in his life, he panicked, refused, and fled.

“Sigh… if he didn’t want to clear a dungeon, he could’ve just done regular community service. But anyway, during his escape, dozens were injured—including guards and bystanders.”
“……”

I wasn’t sure how one’s escape could injure dozens of people, but… fine.

Arthur said he’d tried to capture him, but despite being timid, the criminal’s ability was formidable, and he slipped away.

The fact that Arthur realized only belatedly that the man had stowed away in the cargo hold of a flight to Korea was nearly a miracle.

“Still, why Korea?”
“Maybe because it’s one of the safest countries. He looked like a coward.”

Hm… but was that really all?

If Korea has the best public safety, that also means it’s where criminals get caught fastest. Didn’t he think of that?

“Anyway… you’ll help, right?”
“Yeah, fine.”

I stopped my musings at Arthur’s words and got into the waiting car.

It wasn’t just any car.

A police car.

“Where to, sir?”

After Arthur joined me, the officer in the driver’s seat asked.

Seems the police had assigned someone to help us move around freely.

“First, the airport please. We need to check the cargo hold of the plane he stowed away in.”
“Understood.”

The officer started driving toward the airport.