WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Alyo
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving Among the Anomalies ◈
Chapter 48: The Forgotten Alchemist’s Potion Belt
──────
“Ugh, morning!”
James Ron, a doctor at the hospital responsible for Zone 7 of Foundation Headquarters, stretched as he watched three dimensional suns rise overhead. With his Friday shift nearly over, all he could think about was getting home as quickly as possible, taking a shower, having a light drink, and getting some proper sleep.
“Good work.”
“You all worked hard. Still, compared to a while ago, this was manageable, right?”
“Haha, compared to then, this is heaven.”
James and the other medical staff recalled the long, dark period when the Foundation had nearly collapsed.
“The lights never went out for even a moment. At least it was bright day and night.”
“Burn victims, missing limbs, curses, Mental Contamination, even living corpses came flooding in.”
“That was the first time I ever took a special stimulant just to keep working.”
“Ah, me too. I’d only heard rumors, but I never thought I could last a month without sleeping. Why don’t they commercialize it? They’d make a fortune.”
“Has the Foundation ever struggled because of money? Even now, they probably have more than they know what to do with.”
Thirty minutes before the end of the shift, a new hire who had joined two weeks ago spoke up.
“It’s quiet.”
“……”
The new hire drew glares for uttering the emergency room taboo, “It’s quiet.” Realizing the mistake too late, they awkwardly smiled and pointed toward the entrance.
“Come on, it’s all superstition. Look! There isn’t a single...”
“Emergency patient!”
The emergency room doors flew open before they could finish.
“Check the vital signs! Injuries and symptoms!?”
“Grrrraaaagh!!!”
“Heart rate 250! Brain waves unstable! Mostly bruises and abrasions! Severe foam in the airway! Suction! Suction!”
“No, no! Brake! Brake! Aaaaah!”
“Ghk, the patient is convulsing! Hold him down!”
Everyone rushed in to restrain the patient as James checked his information.
‘Kim Dong-uk. C-grade agent. Twenty Safety Grade missions, fourteen Danger Grade missions, one Destruction Grade mission. Thirty-five Anomaly-related missions completed in total.’
A veteran.
After suctioning the foam from his mouth with a machine, James barely managed to insert an airway tube.
“Are the brain waves still unstable!?”
“Yes! It appears to be severe post-traumatic stress disorder!”
“Damn it, what could a veteran like this have possibly gone through!?”
There was no doubt he had repeatedly crossed the line between life and death while suffering through horrific Anomalies no human should ever face.
“Accelerate! Don’t accelerate! Thump! Ghhk! Steering wheel! Guh! Please! Aaaah! Gah! Gear! Geeear! Blegh!”
“Administer a sedative!”
“Administered! No response!”
“Double the dose!”
“Dose doubled! No response!”
“Oh, God! Forgive my arrogance, bring peace to this world, cut off that wicked bastard’s legs so he can never drive again...”
“Are the brain waves still unstable!?”
“Yes! They’ve gotten worse!”
James made his diagnosis.
“We can’t rule out Mental Contamination.”
“Then...”
“He must have received a Cognition-Alteration Vaccine. He’s an agent, after all. That can fend off most Mental Contamination, but if he’s in this condition... there’s only one thing we can do.”
He made the declaration in a solemn tone.
“Bring the memory eraser. We’ll delete his memories until he stabilizes.”
＊＊＊
The hospital lobby’s smoking room.
Lee Seung-hoon smoked there while waiting for Kim Dong-uk.
“Excuse me, are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“You should receive treatment...”
“I’m waiting for someone. I’ll get treated once I’m done.”
Several people spoke to him after seeing his torn clothes, bruises, and abrasions, but he politely declined.
“Are you Mr. Kim Dong-uk’s guardian?”
“Yes.”
About thirty minutes later, James came out and found Seung-hoon.
“Oh, the guardian is injured as well. Please receive treatment right away.”
“Rather than me...”
“The patient has stabilized. This way, please.”
As James treated him, Seung-hoon asked, “Is Mr. Kim all right?”
“He was given a memory eraser and is sleeping now. We successfully removed the Mental Contamination by deleting twenty-four hours of his memories, so there’s no need to worry.”
After the treatment was over, James took Seung-hoon to Kim Dong-uk.
“Your partner is safe now.”
After confirming that Dong-uk was sleeping peacefully, Seung-hoon left the hospital.
“Guardian, no, Agent, thank you.”
James saluted him as he left.
“Humanity has survived this long because people like you work on the front lines for the peace of the world.”
“……”
Seung-hoon nodded and left. He stopped before a door inside one of the buildings. After taking a deep breath, he pulled the handle.
“...Phew.”
Beyond the door was a vast city.
No, something that had once been a city.
He smiled bitterly as he looked at it.
“How did it end up like this?”
Skyscrapers collapsed in flames, smoke dyed the sky gray, and intermittent explosions shook the air with thunderous roars.
“Ah.”
Then came a flash, followed by a mushroom cloud rising behind it.
“There it is.”
Having come to retrieve his vehicle, Seung-hoon spotted it soaring above the mushroom cloud and into the sky.
“The energy it absorbed must have burst out all at once. So metal that absorbs energy creates a mushroom cloud once it reaches saturation.”
He quietly closed the door.
“At least there’s no radiation...”
This incident had taught him one thing.
“If I get the chance, I should ask for an Anomaly that makes me good at driving.”
＊＊＊
“Here are the items you requested.”
The day after the horrific driving lessons ended, I finally obtained the Anomalies I had wanted.
“The Forgotten Alchemist’s Potion Belt and the Void Pocket.”
“Thank you very much.”
“There are no particular precautions for the Void Pocket, but please make sure to read the manual for the Forgotten Alchemist’s Potion Belt.”
“All right.”
The person who handed me the items was Seong Yu-ra.
“Ah, how did driving training with Dong-uk go?”
“Yes, very well. I even gained a valuable realization from it.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“You haven’t contacted Dong-uk, have you?”
“There’s no creature more evil than a superior who contacts a subordinate on a day off, right? Unless it’s an Anomaly-related emergency, I make a point of not contacting them over trivial matters.”
Would Dong-uk even be able to talk about it?
I had visited him that morning, but Dong-uk had still been asleep.
“Ah, I have an urgent call... Another agent will escort you out. I’m sorry I can’t see you off.”
“No, it’s fine. Take care, then.”
With the help of an unfamiliar agent, I returned to Earth.
“Thank you for the ride.”
I ate the pork bone hangover soup I had bought on the way as breakfast, then read the Void Pocket’s manual.
[This pocket is connected to an imaginary dimension and can hold an infinite number of objects. Only objects smaller than the pocket’s opening may be stored inside. The opening will not expand even under great force, so forcibly widening it is pointless.]
The opening was large enough to fit a watermelon when pulled open, making it suitable for storing gold bars.
[If the entire body of a multicellular organism is placed inside this pocket, it will be moved to a random location within ten meters. Single-celled organisms and viruses do not fall under this condition.]
So living things couldn’t be stored inside.
I went down to the basement and put every gold bar there into the pocket.
‘So this is how it works.’
[If you wish to retrieve an item, insert your hand into the pocket past your wrist. That is sufficient.]
Following the manual, I inserted my hand up to the wrist. A strange sensation arose in my mind, and I naturally gained the ability to retrieve the items I had stored.
‘It feels like using an inventory in a game.’
As a test, I took out a gold bar and put it back in.
‘This will make trading with the Golden Omnipotence Corporation more convenient.’
I finished testing the Void Pocket.
“Finally, this.”
I went up to the living room and stared eagerly at the belt on the table.
“The Forgotten Alchemist’s Potion Belt.”
The belt, made of leather about five centimeters wide, had three storage compartments. Each held a bottle containing black, gray, or white liquid.
‘Let’s read the manual first.’
I immediately opened it.
[The Forgotten Alchemist’s Potion Belt is a Safety Grade Anomaly. It contains three storage compartments, holding the black 「Weakening Potion」, the gray 「Purification Potion」, and the white 「Enhancement Potion」.]
I took out the three bottles and arranged them on the table.
[The Weakening Potion weakens the target on which the potion is dropped.]
[The Enhancement Potion strengthens the target on which the potion is dropped.]
[The Purification Potion restores weakened or strengthened targets to their original state.]
[One milliliter, or one drop, is enough to apply the potion’s effects. Using more will not produce any changes.]
[Weakening does not work on targets that have already been strengthened, and strengthening does not work on targets that have already been weakened. Therefore, if you wish to test the same target again, you must reset it with the Purification Potion.]
It was the same as I remembered.
“It’s no different from the game.”
I continued reading the precautions.
[The potions do not affect living creatures. However, weakening or strengthening effects may cause nonliving objects to transform into living creatures.]
[The Purification Potion has no volume limit. It was suspended upside down and allowed to drip for thirty days, yet no observable change occurred in the externally visible liquid level.]
[The Weakening Potion and Enhancement Potion each hold ten drops. Once all ten drops are used, they must be returned to the belt. After thirty days, they will be replenished to ten drops. Unused drops do not accumulate.]
[The bottles have openings suited to dispensing the potion one drop at a time, so unless they are forcibly shaken, there should be no difficulty using the proper amount.]
I read the next paragraph.
[Weakening and strengthening ordinary objects do not endanger the user except in certain cases, such as weapons, bombs, and vehicles.]
[However, when using these potions on Anomalies, they must be used in a safe location.]
It was a paragraph listing precautions for using them on Anomalies.
[Some Anomalies are affected by the potions, while others are not. The reason for this has not been discovered, and there is no way to distinguish them except by testing the potions directly.]
[When used on an Anomaly, one of the following results will occur.]
[1. No change.]
[2. A direct change to the Anomaly.]
[3. A direct change to the Anomaly, but the potion’s effect disappears over time.]
[4. A Derived Anomaly is created.]
[No reactions other than those above have been observed.]
[Experiments on Danger Grade and Destruction Grade Anomalies are strictly prohibited.]
After reading the entire manual, I brought a tumbler from the kitchen.
“WK Special Tumbler.”
I dropped one drop of the black Weakening Potion onto it. The potion was immediately absorbed into the stainless steel tumbler.
“No outward change.”
Then what about its function?
I poured zero-sugar cola from the refrigerator into the tumbler.
“...It’s bland.”
It was a freshly opened can, yet not only was there no carbonation, the cola was lukewarm.
“This is the worst.”
When I dropped in Purification Potion, the lukewarm, flat cola inside returned to normal.
“Next is the Enhancement Potion.”
I dropped in the white potion and poured cola into it again.
“...!?”
The instant I drank it, an extreme sense of refreshment unlike anything I had ever felt enveloped my body.
“Ah...!”
Dopamine surged through me along with the sensation of my body floating. It was not the cheap dopamine of drugs or sex, but a pure, sacred happiness on a higher level.
“It’s incredibly good!”
I had never tasted a carbonated drink this good in my life.
“So this is the strengthening effect...”
After waiting an hour, I poured another carbonated drink into the tumbler and drank it.
“Whew! It tastes even better than before.”
The WK Special Tumbler’s strengthening effect seemed to be permanent.
‘This is why I wanted it.’
The Forgotten Alchemist’s Potion Belt could weaken or strengthen specific Anomalies, just as it had done now.
‘The very idea of weakening and strengthening targets to make them display different qualities is interesting.’
Unfortunately, the wiki had very little information about it.
There were only a few lines of test results, and perhaps because it had been difficult to create every interaction in the game, it could only be used on five Safety Grade Anomalies.
“But things are different now.”
This was no longer a game.
That meant I could use it on everything before my eyes.
-Quack!
“Right, I can use it on you too.”
That included the Otherworld Transfer Book, other Anomalies, and ordinary objects.
“I still have nine uses left.”
I happily emptied the tumbler and grasped the potion bottle.
“Time for some intellectual amusement.”
Footnotes:
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