Long, long ago Gwangyang, Jeollanam-do.
In a village where reeds grew thick and tall, there was a family that had run an apothecary for generations.
“Do not turn away from the suffering of the weak and the sick.”
The apothecary performed countless acts of kindness, and the family became a distinguished household in the region.
However, fate was cruel. This family fell victim to an attack by a villain organization.
From the near-annihilation, only one survivor remained: a boy whose left leg had been severed.
When he woke up in the hospital, the boy vowed revenge.
He would find them and avenge his family, no matter what.
But as a ruined apothecary and a single leg, revenge seemed impossible.
Eventually, the boy touched the forbidden secret that a physician should never meddle with.
"Medicine and poison are like two sides of the same coin; they are originally one."
Thirty years later, 32 corpses were discovered by police raiding a ship attempting to escape.
Blood flowed from their bodies, limbs twisted, 206 bones crumbled beyond recognition, and joints melted.
These were corpses that suffered agony worse than death itself. Later, it was revealed that they were members of the villain organization that had led the massacre in Gwangyang.
— From the story of “Choi Family Apothecary”
________________________________________
Was it because of the GM’s complex game mechanics?
The GM community was always alive with debate.
This was quite a heated topic at the time.
Does Korea have potent poisons?
If so, what is the strongest poison in Korea?
Poison: a substance that harms living beings or causes death.
In the GM game, the Korean faction was the weakest in terms of poison among the three East Asian countries.
Come to think of it, Korea had no notable poison school.
China had the familiar Sichuan Poison Sect in martial arts novels, Japan had the ninja Koga clan, but Korea?
There was nothing that stood out.
Korean players were frustrated by this.
Who are we? A nation that dies of joy when a thumbnail says “XX was shocked and XX was amazed!”
In unison, Korean players demanded the GM:
“We don’t ask for the best! Just give us a poison school representing our nation!”
Was it because they were tired of the “Crazy Korean” stereotype, or was it because it felt unjust?
The notoriously tight-lipped GMs responded unusually to this demand.
To cut to the chase, the GMs succeeded. The moment the answer came, the noisy Korean players went silent.
[Already have.]
Already have? Was that true?
The community exploded.
From that day, players searched frantically for the poison school the GM mentioned.
But it wasn’t easy. If it were easy to find just because it existed, they would have discovered it long ago.
Exhausted players sought the ultimate solution: they sought “that person.”
The grandmaster and legendary veteran among GM players.
If anyone could provide the answer, it would be this teacher.
And their expectations were correct.
Lee Shin did not betray them.
[It’s the Choi Family Apothecary.]
A peculiar apothecary that sells poison under the title of a pharmacy.
If the medicine was excellent, the poison was not only the best in Korea but also among the world’s most unique and powerful.
But this apothecary did not open its doors to just anyone.
[Raise your guild to League 2 and complete villain-hunting missions to obtain the quest item ‘Poison Master’s Memorandum.’ This contains the map showing the location of the Choi Family Apothecary.]
In short, this takes at least a month; if unlucky, up to half a year.
And yet, it was still not enough.
The Choi Family Apothecary was a hidden piece: if conditions weren’t met, trades, dialogue, or even options wouldn’t appear.
[Among epic items, if you look closely, some have the description ‘One-Legged Poison Master.’ I won’t tell you the exact number, but if you find them all, the option will appear.
Be careful here. Five stars. If you press the wrong one without knowing, it’s over.]
Five options. Only one chance.
Press the wrong one, and your connection with the Choi Family Apothecary ends.
The choice to open the doors of the apothecary, Korea’s representative poison school.
The cipher left by the Poison Master reads:
[Medicine and poison are like two sides of the same coin…]
•
•
“…They are originally one.”
The woman sitting in front of Lee Shin was visibly shaken.
“How do you know that cipher…?”
A woman dressed in black mourning clothes, like one would see at a funeral.
Her head completely covered by a hat, her right arm wearing a band indicating the chief mourner.
This extraordinary woman was the great-granddaughter of the One-Legged Poison Master, who had succeeded in revenge, sought atonement for murder, and had secluded herself in history. She was now the head of the Choi Family Apothecary.
The place Lee Shin arrived at in search of the poison for Lee Hye-jeong was the Choi Family Apothecary.
“The more I hear it, the more I like it. ‘Medicine and poison are like two sides of the same coin; they are originally one.’ It feels like it penetrates the world itself.”
“If you don’t answer my questions, I won’t speak either.”
“I heard from the late Poison Master. He said to take good care of you.”
“Nonsense! How could you…with my great-grandfather?”
“Oh! Right. I should mention that too. Three years of mourning is foolish. What era are we in?”
“Hey!”
Opening the hidden piece, the Choi Family Apothecary, has three main steps:
1. Obtain the ‘Poison Master’s Memorandum’ from villain-hunting missions to find the location.
2. Collect 13 epic items with the word ‘Poison Master’ in the description.
3. Choose the correct option from the five that appear.
Once all conditions are met, you are treated as the Successor of the Poison Master and gain full cooperation from the Choi Family Apothecary.
But think differently.
Could Lee Shin, a veteran who had seen that cipher hundreds of times, not know it?
Of course he knew.
Then why, in the game, did one have to collect the Poison Master’s items every time to use the Choi Family Apothecary?
Because without collecting them, the options wouldn’t appear! You couldn’t click them!
But here, in reality, even without an option, you can speak the cipher.
Why?
“Because you have a mouth. You can speak!”
Exactly.
What Lee Shin was doing now exploited a loophole in the system.
Similar to using information to help hunters grow.
Of course, skipping the process comes with some caution, but Lee Shin trusted:
Would a character be stubborn enough to observe three years of mourning…
“…really ignore the last wishes of the great-grandfather she revered?”
The answer: No.
As always, Lee Shin’s faith was correct.
“…Very well. I will trust you for now.”
“Haha, you won’t regret it…”
“For now! For. Now.! I said! I’ll be watching from now on!”
Of all people…
The woman quietly muttered, reaching to extinguish the flame of the incense. She then handed Lee Shin dandelion tea.
“This candle was made from paralyzing mountain wax. It slowly numbs the body. If you drink this dandelion tea, it will detoxify quickly. I apologize if it offended you. The world is harsh.”
“Wow…!! So this is how it proceeds!!”
“Hey! I’m talking right now!”
“Sorry… Sorry. I got excited because it’s a hidden piece.”
“Ha… What are you saying?”
The woman decided that, for the sake of her own mental health, she had to get rid of that lunatic.
“So, exactly what do you need?”
“I need a beginner’s poison.”
“Understood. Come back in three hours.”
Who would use it? How would it be made?
The order ended without a single common question.
It was so absurdly simple that it felt almost hollow, but Lee Shin did not doubt it.
If that woman said it was about poison, then it was about poison.
Compared to the spectacular process, the transaction almost ended ridiculously easily.
If only Chae Dong-ha, who had been waiting, hadn’t burst in urgently.
“Re-representative! This is serious! The potion—the potion factory—says they’re terminating the contract!”
Chae Dong-ha cried out in shock. Tears were literally welling in his eyes.
Yet the so-called representative, Lee Shin, remained calm.
On the contrary, he smiled at the woman.
“Did you hear that?”
“Wh-what?”
“We need potions too.”
“...You really do have a way of doing things.”
I just want this to be over quickly.
Although hidden beneath the straw hat, fatigue weighed heavily on the woman.
______________________________________
On the highway back to Busan, after neatly finishing the potion contract for Lee Hye-jeong poison.
The potion issue, which had been postponed, was now resolved.
“Did you check it out?”
“Check it out? There’s nothing to check. The factory unilaterally informed us that the contract was canceled.”
What is the most important consumable in a raid?
If you stop a passing hunter and ask, a hundred out of a hundred would give the same answer: Potions.
From basic potions like health and mana recovery to antidotes, poison potions, awakening potions, and buff potions—various special potions.
Potions have become an essential consumable in raids for both performance enhancement and the safety of the raid team.
Maybe that’s why potion supply is treated as extremely important within the guild.
Can you buy at least 300 potions per raid at retail?
When the league starts, we go on raids at least once a week, and sometimes twice a week if the schedule is tight.
Moreover, as mentioned, it’s not just one or two types of potions. Special gates require unique potions as well.
Guilds devised a solution for this problem: supply contracts with potion factories.
“Honestly, if you hadn’t set up a deal with this pharmacy, it would’ve been hell.”
“Hehe, we almost sent them empty-handed to the sixth-round raid the day after tomorrow.”
“Just thinking about it gives me cold sweats.”
Chae Dong-ha’s reaction wasn’t an exaggeration.
Potion supply is a serious matter in the guild.
“What’s their reason? If they canceled a perfectly fine contract, there must be a reason.”
“Personal privacy.”
“Eh? Privacy?? Did they really say that?”
Even Lee Shin, who rarely lost his smile over shocking news, was dumbfounded this time.
“I also doubted my ears when I first heard it. A contract is not a matchmaking date, how can privacy even be reasonable?”
“Hmm, that’s extremely abnormal. The penalty fee? It’s not small.”
“Actually, I just got a call from the guild. They confirmed the penalty just now.”
This is definitely not a normal situation.
Just as a potion contract is crucial for the guild, it should be a weighty matter for the factory as well.
At the very least, this is not the kind of thing that should be canceled carelessly.
“Moreover, this is Busan.”
In this narrow market, reputation is a serious issue. And yet, they threw it away along with a huge penalty fee? Even with a business partner they had worked with for 20 years?
Sniff sniff, I smell something foul. The stench of a sinister, dirty conspiracy.
“Who could it be?”
There are two things to check.
First: the penalty paid in a lump sum.
Second: whoever would profit the most if the Mir Guild fails.
“Ah…!”
I see.
Lee Shin’s serious expression melted into a mischievous one.
Through the rearview mirror, Lee Shin looked at the woman in the driver’s seat. She seemed aware, and their eyes met.
A silent exchange of glances.
“Right?”
“I believe so.”
Answer: a family feud.
“We’re really doing well, huh.”
“Excuse me? What do you mean all of a sudden?”
“It seems my dear cousins are starting to pay attention to us.”
I don’t know exactly who, but they must be getting worked up. Oddly enough, even starting a catfight.
But how unfortunate. They picked the wrong opponent. They woke up a mad dog in this world: me.
“You started this fight. Endure it with sheer will.”
Lee Shin’s eyes reflected in the car window, shining with a menacing light.
