Genius Wizard Takes Medicine Chapter 6
Mega City
As soon as he escaped the factory, a vast plain stretched out before him.
Lenoch focused his mind and quickly surveyed the barren landscape through the car window.
It was the first time he had seen the world outside the factory since waking up in that old room.
He needed to figure out what kind of place this area was and get away as quickly as possible.
As he sped along the road running over the low hills, Lenoch’s gaze darted frantically from side to side.
Judging by the buildings scattered around and the people moving about, this did not seem to be some uncivilized wasteland
On the contrary, in the direction Lenoch was driving, he could see a massive city.
Towering skyscrapers rose like a giant forest, forming the silhouette of a true mega city.
Sensing that the longer he hesitated, the worse things would become, Lenoch continued to push the car faster.
The faster he drove, the closer the mega city drew, and the scenery around him began to change dramatically.
Only after more than an hour of driving did Lenoch finally reach the outskirts of the city.
Neon signs flashed from every direction.
Colorful billboards filled his vision, and cheerful advertisements played lively music through the streets.
[Welcome to Balkan, the leading city of advanced industry and the future of magical engineering.]
“…The city is called Balkan?”
To Lenoch, who had a rough idea of what the Balkan Peninsula was on Earth, it was undoubtedly a strange name.
Seeing airships drifting lazily through the sky, streamlined bikes passing by, and unfamiliar characters written across the signs, Lenoch clicked his tongue and muttered,
“I knew this wasn’t Earth, but…”
He hadn’t expected it to be so different from WORLD.
Could this be the setting planned for version 3.0?
The scenery looked somewhat more advanced than the civilization he knew on Earth, yet far more chaotic at the same time. Looking at it left Lenoch with complicated feelings.
In a world that had built a civilization close to the near future, he could not tell whether possessing magical talent was a blessing or a curse.
After driving for a while and entering the city’s outskirts, Lenoch finally eased off the accelerator and slowly turned the wheel.
‘If I’ve managed to escape this far, it should be enough.’
He had continued checking for any signs of pursuit along the way, but so far, he had noticed nothing unusual.
Perhaps they had no time to chase him because they were still busy dealing with the union members.
Maybe they hadn’t had time to chase him because they were busy dealing with the union members.
Thinking back on it, choosing the day of the union members’ visit to make his escape had been a wise decision.
As he entered the city, the roads grew wider, and traffic began to thicken.
Only then did Lenoch look around at the vehicles near him and realize that the two-seater car he had thought was strangely designed was actually rather ordinary compared to the others.
The various devices attached all over the car were apparently not the supervisor’s strange taste, but part of this world’s common design style.
Though it had not been his intention, if he had driven that old gray van here instead, he might have stood out even more.
The deeper he entered the city, the more vehicles appeared, and the slower traffic became.
Once Lenoch had calmed down somewhat and the car had nearly come to a stop, he took a cigarette from his pocket and began observing the people passing by.
There were many people walking along the sidewalks on both sides of the road, and they looked very different from each other.
While their outfits weren’t particularly unusual, but there were quite a few people who openly exposed parts of their bodies or chose unusual hairstyles.
Some had replaced an arm with a prosthetic. Others carried ghostly entities that looked like spirits. There were also ordinary humans walking around with nothing unusual about them at all.
Judging by the relaxed expressions on their faces, public order seemed to be maintained to some degree in the busy district.
For Lenoch, who had vaguely imagined a chaotic, lawless city after his experience in the factory, this was unexpected.
‘And now that I look more closely…’
Things that he had missed while rushing through the city began to catch his eye, Lenoch was able to observe his surroundings with a more analytical gaze.
The signs and characters displayed on the walls of the buildings.
The faint lights shining between the passing machines.
The colors glowing from the phones in people’s hands.
All of them shared a single common element.
‘There’s mana mixed into them.’
It had only been two days since Lenoch had become aware of mana, yet the power was already unmistakably familiar to him.
He could feel it everywhere throughout the streets.
It was enough for him to realize that mana played a role in the civilization built upon this land.
‘It’ll take some time just to learn the basic common sense of this world.’
Even if it appeared similar to Earth on the surface, the story would be completely different if mana and magic had been used throughout the development of civilization.
If he wanted to survive in this world without trouble and prepare for the future, Lenoch would need a considerable amount of time.
Suppressing the complicated emotions rising inside him, Lenoch took out another cigarette, lit it, and inhaled deeply.
Planning for the future was important, but right now, Lenoch did not have much time left.
It was not because he was worried about pursuit he could not even see.
To escape the factory, he had squeezed out every last bit of stamina and mana he possessed.
He was still holding on thanks to the effects of the cigarette, but it would not be long before his body reached its limit.
Over the past few days, Lenoch had painfully learned just how weak this body was and how little stamina it had.
If he lingered too long, it would not be strange if he collapsed right there on the spot.
Before that happened, he had to find somewhere to rest.
As soon as the long traffic jam ended and the road began to clear, Lenoch immediately turned the car toward a secluded alley.
The farther he moved away from the main road, the dirtier the once-clean streets became, and the shabbier the surrounding buildings looked.
Even in a massive city like this, slums existed.
Lenoch stopped the car near an apartment complex that looked as if it might collapse at any moment and focused his mind while still seated behind the wheel.
Fortunately, during the traffic jam on the way into the city, his mana had recovered enough for him to use magic one more time.
He brought both hands to his face and used up every bit of mana he had left.
A burning sensation spread across his skin.
The feeling of his facial muscles twisting made Lenoch’s body flinch.
“Phew…”
When Lenoch opened the car door and stepped out, his face had transformed into that of a rugged, fierce-looking middle-aged man.
He put on the sunglasses he had taken from the break room, got out of the car, tossed the key inside and closed the door.
He could not continue using a vehicle with an intact serial number.
Since he had no intention of underestimating the risk of being tracked, he planned to stay far away from this area after today.
The moment he left the gloomy slum behind, bright sunlight poured down from the clear blue sky.
Facing sunlight for the first time since arriving in this world, Lenoch blinked repeatedly, unable to adjust.
His eyes stung, and his head throbbed.
His hands trembled, and the back of his neck tightened painfully.
After so many nights without proper sleep, his steps lost direction and staggered constantly.
His entire body was drenched in sweat.
He didn’t have much time.
Inhaling the lingering scent of cigarettes from his hand, Lenoch walked quickly and soon found a small hotel on the outskirts of the busy district.
It was clean and tucked away in an inconspicuous location.
The lobby was quiet, and the employee behind the counter looked relaxed.
Both hygiene and safety seemed decent enough.
Lenoch entered the hotel without hesitation.
When he dispelled the magic in the restroom inside the lobby, dizziness washed over him all at once.
Wiping the sweat streaming down his forehead, he approached the counter.
“…I’d like to book a room.”
“It’s 100,000 sel per night.”
The receptionist said nothing about his appearance and merely quoted the price.
Even to Lenoch, who knew nothing about this world’s economy, 100,000 sel did not sound like a small amount.
But he was not in a position to argue over whether the price was reasonable.
He roughly placed the cash he had taken from the supervisor’s wallet on the counter, received the key and headed for the lift.
The moment he stepped inside, he collapsed weakly to the floor.
Nearly crawling all the way, Lenoch reached his assigned room, opened the door and stepped inside.
Then his vision went dark.
The fatigue and tension that had accumulated to the point of collapse, along with the effects of the drug that had forcibly suppressed them, crashed down on Lenoch all at once.
He collapsed at the entrance without even taking off his shoes and fell asleep like the dead.
It was the first peaceful sleep he had experienced since insomnia began tormenting him in this world.
***
“Mmm…”
Lenoch opened his eyes in the middle of the night, groaning from a thirst that made his throat feel parched.
The room was already swallowed in darkness, and he could not see anything.
Clutching his throbbing head, Lenoch barely managed to sit up. He fumbled along the wall with one hand until he finally found the switch.
The lights flickered on, bringing the hotel room into view.
He staggered toward the small kitchen, turned on the faucet, and desperately gulped down water.
As his thirst subsided, he took a moment to catch his breath and compose himself.
But then a wave of nausea hit him, forcing him to clutch the sink again.
“Ugh!”
Since the only thing he had consumed all day was cigarette smoke, nothing came up except bitter stomach acid.
Holding his head, which felt as though it might split open, Lenoch eventually collapsed back onto the bed in the centre of the room.
His head pounded fiercely and the muscle pain throughout his body felt as though it were tearing every joint apart.
His entire body trembled and his limbs twitched in strange directions.
Abdominal pain and nausea churned through his organs, wringing out his body like a rag.
“…Is this a side effect?”
Considering that even the brutal work in the factory had not tormented him in this way, the answer was clear.
Lenoch had never taken drugs in his life, but he imagined the afteraffects must feel something like this.
Even as the ceiling spun above him, he instinctively understood that he would not be able to give up these cigarettes for some time.
After all, they were the only thing that allowed his frail body to function like that of an ordinary person, even if only temporarily.
When he finally came back to his senses, his stomach cramped painfully from having gone more than twelve hours without food.
“Ugh!”
Since the only thing he had consumed all day was cigarette smoke, nothing came up except bitter stomach acid.
Holding his head, which felt as though it might split open, Lenoch eventually collapsed back onto the bed in the centre of the room.
His head pounded fiercely and the muscle pain throughout his body felt as though it were tearing every joint apart.
His entire body trembled and his limbs twitched in strange directions.
Abdominal pain and nausea churned through his organs, wringing out his body like a rag.
“…Is this a side effect?”
Considering that even the brutal work in the factory had not tormented him in this way, the answer was clear.
Lenoch had never taken drugs in his life, but he imagined the afteraffects must feel something like this.
Even as the ceiling spun above him, he instinctively understood that he would not be able to give up these cigarettes for some time.
After all, they were the only thing that allowed his frail body to function like that of an ordinary person, even if only temporarily.
When he finally came back to his senses, his stomach cramped painfully from having gone more than twelve hours without food.
Lenoch crawled to the corner of the room, opened the refrigerator, and tore into the contents of a can with his bare hands.
The food had an ambiguous taste, like finely ground meat, but compared to the factory food, it was like a feast.
Once his stomach was somewhat filled, drowsiness washed over him again.
The sleepless nights brought on by his insomnia had eaten deeply into his mind.
In the end, Lenoch only woke up the next day when the hotel phone began ringing loudly.
[You have one hour remaining until your scheduled checkout time. Would you like to extend your stay?]
“…Yes.”
[An additional night costs 200,000 Cel. The consommé-flavored canned food you consumed yesterday costs 20,000 Cel. Your total comes to 220,000 Cel. Since you paid 100,000 Cel in advance, please pay the remaining 120,000 Cel at the counter today.]
The fact that a single can of food cost twenty percent of a day’s lodging was ridiculous.
Lenoch let out an empty laugh and tossed the phone aside.
Even after sleeping through an entire day, his body still felt heavy, but compared to when he had first escaped, he was in far better shape.
Lenoch forced himself up from the bed and counted the money he had left.
“130,000 Cel… Once I pay the hotel, I’ll only have 10,000 Cel remaining.”
He had only learned about this world’s currency less than a day ago, but he already had a rough sense of its value.
And he understood just as clearly that 10,000 Cel would get him nowhere.
Realizing that he could not afford to spend another day in this condition, Lenoch immediately pushed himself to his feet.
For the first time since escaping, he had a clear objective.
He needed money.