Chereads / The Monster Who Levels Up / Chapter 14 - Chapter 14: A Spirit Beast, the Divine Wolf (3)

Chapter 14 - Chapter 14: A Spirit Beast, the Divine Wolf (3)

– What the!! Hey, did you get that? Oii!! I said, did you film

that sh*t?!

The loud shouts of the TV crew could be heard.

– Were you able to witness that? Around the wolf, several

strange ghost lights have started appearing one by one, as if the

creature can manipulate Mana... huh?

Next, it was the turn of the reporter to shout out aloud beyond

the scope of the camera lens.

But not minding that, the wolf turned around and lightly

hopped down from the mountain top. The camera hurriedly

chased after it, but by then, it was gone without a trace.

"Hmm...."

Hazeline frowned slightly as she watched the hologram

display projected from her mobile phone.

A Spirit Beast, the divine creature. A being of mystery that a

person may or may not get to see even once in his or her entire

lifetime.

When she was 25, she got to see a Spirit Beast, the "Black

Turtle". Even though it was massive, because of its laid back

nature, it didn't enjoy moving around too much. Found

originally in Eastern China, it was a creature that would have

lived its days in a lazy stupor and barely moving one of its legs,

but in the end it was murdered because of a child of some

wealthy personage from the Middle East who suffered from a

deadly illness.

The child suffered from the Mana Overflow. To cure this

worst kind of Mana-related inflictions that couldn't be cured by

any known potion to man and subjected its sufferers to a hellish

torment before killing them, the Black Turtle that had lived for

400 years or more in various worlds out there was turned into a

medical ingredient in a single day.

*knock knock*

The sound of knocking on the door brought Hazeline back to

the present from the reminiscence of the past and she took a

glance at the watch to confirm the time. It was now 11:50. It was

also the time for the appointment with that alchemist after

finally getting one phone call through to him.

"Please come in."

The figure entering through the gap between the smoothly

opening doors was a robe-wearing man.

"Welcome back."

"Yes, it's good to see you again."

The two shared a handshake and sat down on their seats while

gazing at each other.

"Have you been well? You...."

Hazeline tilted her head in confusion. Something was

different about him.... Soon, she was able to figure what that

difference was after she sniffed the air.

"I see you bought a perfume..."

The subtle yet pleasant scent coming off of Sae-Jin tickled her

nose. Not too light, nor too gaudy, the odour settled in the air

rather wonderfully. She ended up unconsciously closing her

eyes and savoured this scent before regaining her senses, and

made a fake cough.

"Heuhm. It's nice. If it's not much trouble, can I inquire as to

where you purchased this perfume?"

Hazeline possessed a very sensitive nose making her very

interested and knowledgeable towards the topic of perfumes.

It'd be difficult for her to ignore this wonderful new scent at all.

She just had to have it ready in her home or she'd never be

satisfied.

"I didn't use one. It's all natural."

Sae-Jin just smiled and shook his head.

Hazeline's brows wiggled a tiny bit. There definitely wasn't a

scent like this the first time they met. At the time, he had no

body odour. So why was he trying to sell such an unconvincing

lie?

"Ah, is that so~ You have a... very nice natural odour."

But Hazeline could only perform the "Capitalist Smile" for

now. As he currently held all the cards in this transaction, she

just could not afford to make him unhappy. (TL: this is the

second time I encountered the phrase 갑을관계 which as far as I

know there isn't a direct translation available. So ended up

changing it to mean roughly the same thing. Sorry.)

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

Sae-Jin swallowed his saliva while feeling complicated, and

replied to her. He could pretty much tell what she was thinking

right now. She probably thought that he was lying through his

teeth. But he was helpless to fix this misunderstanding. The

Scent of a Wolf was a passive skill that couldn't be switched on

and off at will.

"Haha, well then, is it okay if we end the prologue here?"

When Sae-Jin nodded in agreement, Hazeline pulled out a

paper from one of the drawers in the desk. It was a regular A4

paper with nothing on it.

"This is?"

"As I've mentioned over the phone yesterday..."

Hazeline spoke as she handed over a pen. On a side note, it

was only yesterday that Sae-Jin belatedly realised he could

actually receive phone calls directed to his home via his bracelet

TV.

"...Please write down all the ingredients you'd like to acquire.

We'll source them for you. As long as it's not something like a

heart of a person or a fang of a Sabre-tooth Tiger, it's possible to

procure them within a month. One of the roles the Alchemy

Houses perform is the circulation of medical ingredients, you

know. Ah, you don't have to feel burdened about this. It's not a

free service so you'll have to purchase them from us. But we'll

be able to sell you at cost. It'll probably be about half of what

you'd pay for in the open market."

"Oh, right. Thank you."

Sae-Jin picked up the pen and thought hard about what to

write when his eyes inadvertently caught the images floating up

from the hologram display above her desk.

It was the scene of the Ebony Wolf framed by a full moon, the

one where he deliberately showed up for the TV cameras as a....

bit of a service.

At the time, it was one of those nights that made his emotions

go a bit hot headed, so he ended up creating this mess..... but

now that he got to see his actions in the broad daylight, his face

got all reddened up.

"Ah, Spirit Beasts are a no-go."

Misunderstanding the reasons for his gazes, Hazeline raised

her index finger and waved it side to side while making a serious

face.

"Hunting down a Spirit Beast is morally and legally

prohibited, you see. We have no idea if the Spirit Beast has a

direct influence in the area it resides in. There might be a big

disaster like a landslide occurring if we hunted down that

Wolf."

That was what happened back when the Black Turtle was

killed. As soon as it died, the Mana dwelling deep within the

ocean floor that lost the focal point overflowed and resulted in a

massive tsunami wave sweeping up the entire Eastern Seaboard

of China.

"Right. No, definitely not. We should never kill such a cool

wolf."

He swallowed the rising laughter back down and genially

spoke in a natural manner. While obviously unaware of Kim

Sae-Jin being that very wolf, Hazeline looked at the display and

continued with her speech.

"Yes, well. It is a cool creature, what with its somewhat

dependable appearance, and also its personality of helping

people out, too. But most of all, I love those eyes that resemble

the full moon. It's really understandable why all the girls are

going crazy in the social networking sites nowadays. Honestly,

even I shared a couple of posts on the Profile Book. Oh, by any

chance, do you also do Profile Book?"

(TL: 프로필북 literally profile book. After a short Googling, I

think it generally means Facebook-ing, twitting and posting

social media comments. At least, that was the impression I got.

Left as is.)

"Heuheup... No, no. I don't do social media."

Seeing Hazeline giggle like that, even Sae-Jin ended up

leaking out a mysterious smile. She looked at him with eyes full

of questions but he pretended that nothing was wrong and

started writing down on the paper.

A Goblin's Kindness was impossible without the fangs of the

Sabre-tooth Tiger, so he wrote down ingredients for other

potions. He even thought of their names in advance. The potion

to strengthen the stats of the drinker would be called "A

Goblin's Rage", and, and....

"If you can find these, I'll be grateful."

When he handed over the paper, she studied every word in

detail, even though she was acting disinterested by the contents.

It was a normal list of ingredients that didn't seem to differ

from what other alchemists would have asked for.

"Alright. As soon as we procure them, I'll give you a call. Oh,

and... if it's okay with you, will you be partnering us on your

next batch of potions as well...?"

"Yes, let's."

Sae-Jin spoke without a hint of hesitation. In all honesty, he

couldn't really go anywhere else anyway, because he could only

remain as a human for 2 hours a day.

"Wah, Really? You truly are wonderfully decisive, sir.

Normally, other alchemists would be reluctant to choose but Sir

Alchemist doesn't..."

"It's Kim Sae-Jin."

He told her while studying her eyes. He could see the surprise

in her jewel-like eyes at his sudden self introduction.

"And my race is human."

Sae-Jin reached out with his hand. Hazeline stared at the

hand for a moment in a daze, before breaking out in a smile and

shaking it.

"Yes, Sir Alchemist Kim Sae-Jin. I'll do my utmost best to

make sure you won't regret choosing Yoseon Alchemy House."

As the handshake ended, the two stood up from their seats.

"It's just about lunch time, but have you eaten yet?"

"Yes, I have already."

"If that's the case, why don't we, together... eh?"

At Sae-Jin's reply, Hazeline tilted her head in confusion,

wondering if she'd heard wrong.

An Elf like her was not at all accustomed with rejections such

as this. And from a man, no less.... it was obviously the first

time in her life. Even if it was a gentle no.

"I already had lunch."

"But, but it's only now 12?!"

"Ah, I usually eat my meals a bit early. My apologies."

Of course, he had his own unfortunate reasons for doing this,

but the deeply shocked Hazeline could only nod her head after

blinking repeatedly in disbelief for a while.

"Ah, yes, well, yes, well.... Of course.... Of course it is, of

course it has to be...."

"Yes. Well, when we have the time later. Then, please excuse

me."

His last words landed the decisive blow.

Hazeline's mouth hung loose. She just could not figure out

this situation no matter what. He said when we have the time

later, but she was the one saying that, usually. She was not the

one on the receiving end. It was a kind of unwelcome shock to

her system that she could never, ever grow to understand.

She watched the back of Sae-Jin leaving her office in a daze

and totally crumbled into her seats right after.

"....."

And she remained in that position for 10 minutes, looking like

as if her soul had been sucked out.

*sniff, sniff*

By sheer accident, she ended up smelling the air around her.

The scent was gone now. She felt a bit regretful.

*sniff, sniff*

She thought that she had become a Soo-in (beast man) but it

really could not be helped.

There was a trace of that scent lingering inside her nose,

making her miss it even more now. Even though it had been

only 10 minutes.

"I should've just asked..."

If it could make someone miss another with only its scent,

then it was without a doubt, an excellent perfume.

If it was at this level, then she should have found out what it

was even at the risk of annoying him. She muttered slowly, her

face full of regret.

She continued to sniff the air for a while, before finding

herself browsing the Internet for men's perfumes.

***

Sae-Jin could often overhear people talking about the Spirit

Wolf Beast everywhere as he walked. Students, Knights, even

magicians – it seemed like every resident living near or on

Gangwon Province had talked about the wolf at least once. And

more flesh was getting added to the story of the Spirit Wolf

Beast, just like that.

Since now he could remain a bit longer as a Human, Sae-Jin

chose to walk into the Monster field the official way, through

the Reception area by the entrance. This was the place where

the Hunters and Knights could take a short respite before going

on a hunt or after completing it.

It wasn't originally a quiet place to begin with, but now, with

the numerous reporters mixed in, trying to get more stories on

the Spirit Beast, it was a lot more chaotic than usual.

"Ah, now that I think about it, that thing's cry was like,

there's a Monster up ahead, so don't go~ That's what that

meant, right? It was a real smart thing to turn back then, after

feeling uneasy of that howl."

"Does that mean you Mister Hunter also got to see this Spirit

Wolf Beast?"

".....Eh? Ah~ well, no. But, but, I really did hear it with these

two ears of mine, I did!! It was going Awoooo and everything.

Ya also know well, that wolves in the Monster field never cry,

right? Seriously, when I was thinking, did I go in too deep~?

This wolf cries out and I got so surprised, I just bolted right

outta there."

"Does that mean, this Spirit Wolf Beast has helped people out

before?"

"Yep, that's right. I'm telling ya right now, ya really can't see

a cleverer creature than that guy. Oi!! That man over there,

that's the Hunter who got help from that Brown Wolf – hey, hey

Mister Kim Tae-Jo!! Come over here. This reporter wants to ask

ya something..."

Sae-Jin smiled in satisfaction while hearing all these

conversations.

To him, it looked like the momentum of the story would

continue to gather for a while longer as those people wanting

some attention ended up telling tall tales and outright lies.