Declaration of Extra Strike

The people who were getting off at the next floor were throwing me a lot of disgruntled looks because I had been holding the elevator for a very long time. Yeon Seung-yeon appeared to notice and shrank significantly.

As soon as the elevator stopped at the fourth floor, I got out. 

I couldn’t stand the smell of familiar ingredients and potions that came out as soon as the door opened.

“What are you making?”

“I will get off…I’m sorry. I will get off.”

I leaned over the window of the lab that caught my eye. Yeon Seung-yeon, who finally managed to break through the crowded elevator, ran in fright and shouted.

“Y-you can’t! It is greatly disrespectful to see other people’s work….”

“There’s nothing to see.”

The dissatisfied look of the researcher poured out the window. I disregarded him and attempted to enter the next room, but Yeon Seung-yeon stopped me.

“L-let’s go to my workroom! At this rate, we’re really going to get kicked out…….”

Yeon Seung-yeon dragged me to the door of a laboratory in a remote corner. I asked more questions such as entering a password, etc.

“Are you also an awakener? A member of the center?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. I’m an awakener in the production world. I don’t belong to the center. I’m a government official, who has access to the center site.”

“Do productionists live in the center, or commute? You said this is an island.”

“That…… There is also a workshop outside the center, so commuting is possible. But most researchers stay at the center…………. They provide company housing and it is easy to supply and demand materials.”

“Commuting? There’s a bridge?”

“No, there’s an hourly flight.”

“What? A flight?”

I was wondering if there was an easy way to get out of the island, but as expected,………….my hope is gone. When I sighed in disappointment and looked around, Yeon Seung-yeon opened the door of the lab and said,

“C-come in. If you sit down for a second, I’ll give you tea-”

“I won’t drink any that have been used.”

“Maybe there’s j-juice, If I just look for it,……”

Looking at Yeon Seung-yeon’s backside, searching through the refrigerator, I slumped down on the chair. But a sweet, brain cell-stimulating scent flowed from somewhere. It’s the smell I know. 

I raised my head,

“This……!”

***

Although he was a very strange person, he was the first customer to come to my little lab.

Thinking that he should treat him well, Yeon Seung-yeon took out juice, snacks, and even a cake that was in the refrigerator yesterday.

“I-it’s an orange juice, so are you okay with……”

Yeon Seung-yeon, who turned his back with a tray full of food, jumped up and down in amazement at the sight in front of me.

“What are you doing…………! Y-you can’t touch it recklessly!”

That strange guide is wandering around my lab, touching this and that!

The laboratory was full of things that ordinary people should not touch. If they touched it accidentally, they could have been seriously injured, and the potions they were working on were sensitive.

On top of that, this Joo Ho-hyun was looking down at the solution of the last task that I had prepared for months, practically living in the lab at one point.

“I-I’m coming so don’t touch anything……”

I was so surprised that I couldn’t move my tongue well. The moment I put down the food tray, Joo Ho-hyun sniffed the liquid in the test tube by capacity and poured it into the boiling pot.

“What are you doing!!”

An unusual magical reaction was taking place in the experimental pot with a bubbling sound. Yeon Seung-yeon shouted as she rushed over the glass wall dividing the space, grasping the spirit of bewilderment.

“No……! No!”

If the potion production failed, the first thing to be wary of was the explosion. 

Thinking that he might get hurt, Yeon Seung-yeon tried to get Joo Ho-hyun away from the lab by any means. But at the sight of the reagents reacting in the pot bubbling and emitting pink smoke, he stopped.

“This……by any chance,”

It was something I shouldn’t be able to see right now.  No, it shouldn’t have been seen.

A system window appeared in front of Yeon Seung-yeon, who had been staring blankly at it.

You have got an incredible amount of help!

Potion crafting progress 99.9%

Please proceed to the last step.

▶Stir.

▶Put the lid on.

Flopped.

Unable to withstand the shock, Yeon Seung-yeon flopped down onto the floor and asked with trembling lips.

“H-how did you……?”

“Are you stupid? Why did you leave it like this? If air bubbles start to rise before boiling, the reagent should have been added. Damn it, you threw all the pills away. 

Oh and you! Did you get an alarm? Just in case, I say ‘stir,’ and you are not ready, you will fall behind.” 

Joo Ho-hyun looked at him and bluffed, but to Yeon Seung-yeon, Joo Ho-hyun’s every voice sounded like an angel’s serenade.

The potion Joo Ho-hyun had just succeeded in was the only antidote that could detoxify the Tarantula Queen’s poison.  

The Tarantula Queen is the boss monster of the dungeon owned by the center, and it was a tricky monster that no one could kill except for the very first clear.  

Due to the terrible poison, many espers and guides lost their names in the records, and even the war that suffered too much damage was almost sealed.

In terms of the value of the potion, it was currently one of the most urgent researches for the center, but due to the successive failures of the doctoral team, everyone refused to entrust it, saying that this was impossible and that it would not be possible to make it unless it was Nox’s Kang Eui-jin. 

The conundrum that I had been procrastinating for so long had come to a terminal researcher like me.

A recipe for a troublesome potion that no one expected to be successful. I never dared to imagine that I would be able to see its success………

“You did it!  You have succeeded!  The antidote to Tarantula Queen’s paralysis poison was a reagent that no one except Nox’s Kang Eui-jin had succeeded with!”

Joo Ho-hyun’s body trembled at the sudden cry. However, Yeon Seung-yeon, who was filled with tears of emotion, did not notice this.  

Joo Ho-hyun’s attitude and tone of speech, which he had thought was strange at first, came to be justified. A halo-like light was shining from his back, illuminating the entire laboratory.

It was a moment in Yeon Seung-yeon’s life when he was blinded by a 1m long bean pod.

“You’re really impressive! You’re a guide yet, you managed to do  something this impressive……..This will be a ray of light in the history of our production world!”

‘Hmm, sure.’

It was already the light.

As soon as I woke up, I was surrounded by annoying people, but when I met a guy who can talk a little, the corners of Ho-hyun’s lips twitched a little excitedly.

‘The squirrel is a little timid, but I don’t think he’s stupid, so should I help him a little?’

***

“Hey, this idiot!!”

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The horrific tragedies playing out in front of my eyes ruined the nice mood.

“What is all this! You ruin these precious ingredients like this?”

My chest was tight and I was struggling to breathe. I could save them if only I had skills!

Joo Ho-hyun’s body had many limitations, so he could not directly participate in the potion production.  

Fortunately, the situation was right for the tarantula queen’s antidote, but after that, there was nothing I could do other than basic assistance, so I had to stay quiet.

“Are you insane? Where is this bile when this ingredient has a sleeping scent? You didn’t mean to put it in, did you? Huh, what’s this? Why is Siren’s hair put in the lower mana potion?” 

“It’s just one… It’s better to use up all the money than to save up when I’m getting support funds anyway….”

‘These people don’t know how precious these ingredients are…………. This is how you spend my taxes? You tax thieves!’

Bloody tears came out when I remembered the amount of taxes I had paid when I was Kang Eui-jin.

I jumped up and hit Yeon Seung-yeon with a lump of paper next to me, but Yeon Seung-yeon couldn’t stop smiling and feeling touched.

I walked around as a last resort and pointed out what’s wrong with this and what’s wrong with that as I couldn’t preserve the potion on my own. While following me about with his notepad, Yeon Seung-yeon was busily taking notes.

Both significant and minor flaws were found in all the reagents in the lab, and only after thoroughly examining them all did I fall down on the sofa.

The way Yeon Seung-yeon refers to me has now changed to a very respectful title.

“Hohyun-nim, please have some juice.”

“Orange? I only drink apple juice though.”

“I’ll get it right away!”

Yeon Seung-yeon immediately ran out and went around the research facilities to find the apples. Fellow researchers were surprised to see Yeon Seung-yeon for the first time, but in his mind, only Joo Ho-hyun, who was waiting in his lab, was important.

Yeon Seung-yeon, who somehow managed to get apple juice, asked carefully, wiping off his sweat.

“How does Hohyun-nim know all this information?”

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“Um…”

“Oh, do you study about the production world, other than the guiding skill? How come you know so much about potions, but you still took guiding…?”

Yeon Seung-yeon, who was drumming his fingers and making a conclusion by himself, soon remembered that the center would try to catch him if they knew he only had guiding skills and blurted out the end of his words.

While sitting at the head of the table, crossing my legs and drinking the cake and juice brought by Yeon Seung-yeon, I tapped my toes and answered casually.

“Don’t try to know too much.”

‘I’m going to run away anyway.’ He murmured to himself as if determined.

Yeon Seung-yeon, who had been examining the notepad in his palm with heavy eyes, abruptly closed them and yelled after debating for a long time.

“Ho, Hohyun-nim!”

“Why.”

“…Y-you can’t just tell others things like this.”

He had already listened to everything he heard, followed Ho-hyun’s footsteps, and even took notes on golden advice, so Yeon Seung-yeon’s conscience was stabbed. But he couldn’t stand it because he was worried.

“Why?”

“This kind of information is valuable information that money can’t buy. And if they knew that Hohyun-nim had this ability, there would surely be people who would use it for bad things.”

I looked at Yoon Seung-yeon, who hesitated and continued to speak, and asked,

“How about you?”

“Yes?”

“If you put it that way, you didn’t get the information either. How are you going to pay for it?”