I Became the Final Boss in the Game

Chapter 74 : Chapter 74

Chapter 74. Territory of the Mountain God (1)

Joseph reached out for a handshake and said to Riman.

"Then I will see you again."

After Joseph left like that.

Bart, who had been quiet by the side, asked in surprise.

"By the way, how do you know Joseph Han?"

Bart was amazed by the fact itself that Riman was acquainted with Joseph.

It meant that Joseph was a celebrity in this field to that extent.

Riman answered.

"I saved his life during this incident."

"Ah?!"

Anyway, things worked out better than expected.

Not only did he catch the escapee, but he also made a connection with a skilled Solver like Joseph, and even received money.

Furthermore, it was a lucky day for Bart as well.

Because he could indirectly appeal his existence to a celebrity in this field called Joseph.

Of course, there was no immediate profit visible just from that.

But for a Broker, connections are assets.

Bart knew better what kind of profit extending branches of connections one by one like this would return later.

"Heave-ho."

Riman got up from his seat.

He felt a pleasant weight from the money bag in his hand.

Bart asked.

"Are you going?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, right. A request for Demonic Beast extermination came in, how about it? I think someone like Mr. Leman could easily solve it."

Riman shook his head and said.

"I'm going to avoid combat for a while."

"Is your body not feeling well?"

"My physique isn't good."

"Physique……?"

He felt it keenly in the battle against Gong Jae-byeok.

That this weak physique was slowly becoming a hindrance to combat.

‘I need to make the medicine first.’

A medicine that would restore Riman's skinny body to an average state.

Riman decided to obtain the ingredients for that medicine first.

* * *

Screech-

After parting with Riman.

Joseph stopped his car by the roadside.

Soon, a young man naturally opened the passenger door and got into the car.

There seemed to be quite an age difference with Joseph, but there was no hesitation in his actions.

That attitude itself revealed the informal relationship between him and Joseph.

Joseph said to him.

"You're here, Knox."

"Thanks for the ride, brother."

"Well, I was passing by this way anyway."

This young man named Knox who just got in was none other than the Protagonist.

The original Protagonist of the game .

Knox asked Joseph.

"By the way, brother, do you look happy? You didn't look so good when you went to the hospital the day before yesterday."

"I got my hands on a pretty decent connection."

Joseph told Knox about Riman.

Even about what he gave to Riman.

Knox's eyes widened upon hearing the story.

"You gave all that money?!"

"It's okay. I just passed on the money I received, so there's no loss for me."

"No, still, the amount is……."

"This is cheap for opening a personal connection with a Mage."

Riman had never revealed to Joseph that he was a Mage.

Even Riman's public profile was an Enhanced Human.

Yet Joseph had accurately seen through that Riman was a Mage.

Meanwhile, a look of doubt crossed Knox's face.

"But is that person really a Mage? Honestly, I still can't distinguish well between Superhumans and Mages."

"Distinguishing them is inherently difficult. Since magic itself is a product that came from attempts to imitate the superpowers of Superhumans in the first place."

"Then what did you see in that person named Leman to think he was a Mage, brother?"

"A Mage's mana is much more organized than a normal Superhuman. There are some individual differences, but generally, that's the case."

"Hmm."

"Well, it's something distinguishable only with detection ability at my level."

"Hmm, means someone like me wouldn't know even if I saw……."

"Well, but it doesn't matter even if Mr. Leman isn't a Mage."

"Eh? Then isn't that a big problem?"

"Big problem, my foot. That power is real."

"Ah……!"

"A Mage isn't an object of awe simply because they are a Mage. They become an object of awe because they have power."

At least, the only downside of Riman in his view was his body.

A body so skinny it was doubtful if muscles even existed.

In other words, Joseph thought that if only the body could be fixed somehow, Riman could become much stronger.

‘Well, he’ll figure it out.’

The car moved forward vigorously across the road.

* * *

The next day.

"Oh, Mr. Leman. Is your body okay? I heard from Bart that you slept for two days straight."

Ji Byeong-seo received Riman's call early in the morning.

Riman asked about a certain medicine, and Ji Byeong-seo asked back.

"Ah, you mean ?"

An elixir that could increase the body's muscle mass and stamina without side effects, Physiquesio.

For reference, it was purely Ji Byeong-seo's original potion that had never been released in any market.

And now, it was the medicine Riman needed more desperately than anything else.

A medicine that strengthens the body relatively safely and in a short period.

Only Ji Byeong-seo could make something like this.

"Ah yes, of course, it is fully possible to manufacture it here."

The place where Ji Byeong-seo was currently located was a workroom within Doban Brewery.

Behind the desk where he was sitting, various pharmaceutical facilities including a distiller were placed.

An environment much better than when he was in the cramped apartment.

Thanks to that, there was no medicine he couldn't make due to facility issues for now.

The problem was…….

"But… there's one ingredient I absolutely cannot find."

"You mean the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower?"

"Yes. It's not in the market, and even looking into it separately through Bart, there's no place handling it."

"Hmm……."

After saying he understood for now, Riman hung up the phone.

Riman thought.

‘Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower… seems there is still no volume in the market.’

A fruit that blooms from a plant called the Eye-opening Flower.

It was an absolutely necessary ingredient to make the potion.

And the problem was, it was an ingredient one couldn't obtain even with money.

Usually, lack of volume in the market meant one of two things.

First, volume cannot be secured because it is rare or difficult to obtain.

Second, it was eliminated from the market because the performance of substitutes was vastly superior.

However, uniquely, the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower fell under both of these categories.

It was quite tricky to get one's hands on, but it wasn't that it had great use either.

The efficacy possessed by the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower was ‘awakening effect’.

Simply put, it was a fruit that had the effect of preventing sleep like caffeine.

But that effect was hundreds of times greater than caffeine.

Moreover, because of the mana imbued in the fruit itself, it was used quite often in potion manufacturing in the past.

Strictly in the past, that is.

Currently, it was a situation where the production of substitute substances for the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower became possible.

It was a natural sequence that the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower, which was hard to get hands on, almost stopped appearing in the market.

Then, this question could naturally be raised here.

Then can't you just use that substitute substance instead of the fruit to manufacture the potion?

To this question, Ji Byeong-seo had answered like this previously.

"No."

"Why?"

"The substitute substances currently on the market are refined in a way different from what I need. So to obtain the component I want, I need the raw material, that is, the fruit itself."

"Then can't you extract that component from the substitute substances on the market?"

"Hmm, how should I explain this……."

Ji Byeong-seo, who pondered for a moment, said this.

"You can't extract Cheongju from Sake. The reverse is the same. It's that principle."

"Ah……?"

"Rice is the raw material for both Sake and Cheongju. And if poured into a glass, they are almost impossible to distinguish by appearance. Even the alcohol content is similar. But if you taste it, you can know. That the two are clearly different liquors."

"Aha……."

As expected of a person who likes liquor, the metaphor also flowed towards something smelling of alcohol.

"The substitute substance for the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower currently on the market is, to use a metaphor, Sake. But what I need is Cheongju. So I need rice, that is, the raw material."

"Ultimately, there is no choice but for me to go harvest the fruit myself."

"Right. But……."

Hesitating for a moment, Ji Byeong-seo said with a worried voice.

"Wouldn't it be dangerous?"

Danger during harvesting.

That was the biggest problem in harvesting the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower.

Because entering the Eye-opening Flower colony itself was a task that required taking quite a risk.

No, to be precise, if a person with ambiguous specs rashly set foot in there, they would really die.

Ji Byeong-seo expressed concern because he also knew this fact.

But Riman just smiled quietly.

Conquering the Eye-opening Flower colony was certainly a task of quite high difficulty.

Still, it didn't matter.

Because among the tasks in , there was nothing easy in the first place.

"Shall we go."

Riman left the house with Saya.

Vroooom-

Riman rode the motorcycle on the national highway.

The destination was the Eye-opening Flower colony, the goal was the acquisition of the Fruit of the Eye-opening Flower.

Riman rode towards the nearest one among the colonies he knew.

Screech-

An hour later, Riman stopped the motorcycle.

The place Riman arrived at was a quiet rural farming village.

Except for the fact that drones were spraying pesticides and AI unmanned tractors were

plowing the fields, it was a place not much different from a Korean rural village in the 2000s.

Riman parked the motorcycle on the outskirts of the village and got off with Saya.

And walked into the village.

‘I came to the right place.’

A village with scenery similar to what he saw in the game.

The Eye-opening Flower colony was located on the back mountain inside here.

Riman walked across the dirt road toward the entrance of the back mountain.

He just had to go straight up along the entrance of the mountain path like that, but…….

"Hmm?"

A wooden board written ‘No Entry’ was blocking the mountain entrance.

That wasn't all.

"Straw rope……?"

Behind the wooden board, a long straw rope was crossing over the path.

Above the straw rope, small white cloths were tied at regular intervals.

Riman looked closely at the direction of the straw rope.

Unlike general straw ropes twisted in the right direction, a straw rope twisted in the left direction.

Riman immediately identified the identity of this rope.

"It's a taboo rope, isn't it?"

A mark separating the secular world and the sacred area, and a shamanic symbol used to block the intrusion of evil things.

That was the taboo rope (geumjul).

"But why is this strung up here……?"

There wasn't anything like this when I came here in the game?

"…Well, I'll know what the situation is if I go in."

Riman lowered his head to pass the taboo rope.

At that moment.

"Hey! What are you doing there!!"

A shout flying from behind caught Riman.

A man looking to be in his 60s was running while swinging a shovel.

"Can't you see it says no entry there?! You can't go in there!!"

"Ah, that……."

As a disturbance arose, people nearby began to gather one by one.

"No, we clearly put up a sign not to enter there……."

"Can't you see the taboo rope strung up?"

"What kind of trouble are you trying to see by entering there?"

As each person added a word, the surroundings quickly became noisy.

As the situation got slightly twisted, Riman's head started to hurt a little.

Furthermore, since they were all ordinary civilians, he couldn't suppress them with magic either.

Riman asked.

"Excuse me, by any chance… is this private property?"

"Private property? Well… it's not wrong."

The villagers lowered their voices and said.

"…A Mountain God lives in this mountain."

"Yes?"

"We know, it sounds strange. But really? If you enter this mountain rashly, you'll be punished, punished."

Riman went blank for a moment.

‘Mountain God…….’

Of course, spiritual entities did exist in this world.

To the extent that there was a magic lineage called Necromancy.

But…….

‘There shouldn't have been an existence worthy of being called a Mountain God in this region?’

Riman's eyes narrowed.