These Lunatics are Obsessed With Me

"You…?”

Only then did Lee Chae-jin look at me. His eyes swept over me, and then he smiled strangely. Apparently, he knew who I was. After all, with all the commotion around, even the most oblivious Lee Chae-jin must have seen me once or twice. Still, he likely didn't know my name, and since we were meeting for the first time, I decided to introduce myself first.

“My name is Han Yi-jin, dispatched from the Odin Guild. This is Eden.”

"…"

He doesn't seem to care much about people's names. With a small groan, he opened his mouth and asked.

"How did you know I was looking for a golden starfish?"

"That's…"

I looked at the item in his hand. It wasn't much different from the items held by the other members of the collection team. The black, elongated object was an item to find the ‘Mermaid's Tears’, in the sea.

The Mermaid's Tears is a pearl with a special shell. It was an incredibly rare and valuable material. Most of the members of the collecting team had gathered here to search for it.

However, the alchemist Lee Chae-jin had no need for the Mermaid's Tears, which were only used for equipment items. What he wanted were the starfish, especially the golden ones, that were attracted by the Mermaid's Tears and gathered in the vicinity.

And with a high probability there would also be rainbow-coloured coral reefs. I approached Lee Chae-jin because of the rainbow coral reef that Sim Dante had requested for.

"If you find a mermaid's tear using that item, there would likely be other materials around as well. But the only material you want is a starfish. The others are materials for equipment or support items."

"…."

Lee Chae-jin nodded slowly at my words. Then, he looked at me with a strange expression in his eyes.

"You know who I am."

"Well, that's because… You're so famous."

Haha, I laughed and scratched my head. I knew this from reading the novel, but actually Lee Chae-jin was a renowned alchemist. He was more infamous than famous at this point.

But that's the story for now; later on, he would create incredible potions and become a billionaire. So, there was a high chance that he had the potion to cure the poison in Sung Yoo-bin's body.

Lee Chae-jin's eyes narrowed.

"What do you want there?”

I answered, hiding my true intentions for now.

“Ah, I’m looking for a rainbow coral reef.”

"Well…”

Rainbow-coloured coral reefs are as precious as the Mermaid's Tears, so if I team up with others, there will likely be competition. Lee Chae-jin nodded, understanding why I chose him.

"Still, I don't intend to team up with anyone else. I think I can manage on my own."

Lee Chae-jin was an eccentric person who entered dungeons to personally collect materials for potion-making. He was allowed by the Freya Guild to collect as much as he wanted instead of brewing his own potions.

With his self-righteous personality, he had always collected materials alone without forming a group with anyone.

At first, mercenaries like me, who were eyeing the distribution of materials, approached him a few times, but they soon got tired of his dour personality and left.

Even now, I could see that his temper was about to flare up, and there was a menacing glint in his eyes. I immediately smiled and opened my mouth.

"Still, having us with you could be quite helpful."

"Helpful?"

"Yes."

I held something out to him as he looked at me suspiciously. His eyes widened when he saw it.

"This is..!"

In my palm was a small pouch. I unwrapped it a little and showed it to him. Inside the small pouch was a pile of powders of mysterious colours.

"Are these… fairy wing powder…?"

"Yes."

It was Fairy Wing Powder, one of the items I had robbed from Sim Dante. Places sprinkled with it are much easier to explore. Moreover, it has a good compatibility with the Mermaid's Tears, which increases the probability of being discovered. Lee Chae-jin's eyes were tinged with greed.

"Besides, he's a wind ability user, so he can scatter the powder further. Since the collecting areas are divided among teams, you can use the powder without worrying about it.”

"…"

I poked Eden beside me. However, Eden, who had to delude Lee Chae-jin by using his wind power, did not budge.

"I don't like that bastard."

"What?"

Eden was saying this crap. I looked at him in surprise.

"Hey, are you crazy?"

"Can't we just do this between us?"

"Ugh, seriously."

I'm trying to win his favour and get the potion, but he's a very calculating person, and if he doesn't see any benefit in helping, he'll cut ties without hesitation. Somehow, I have to exchange the potion with the golden starfish he wants.

Unbeknownst to me, Eden was behaving like a sulking child. How should I handle this situation? Then I heard a questioning voice beside me.

"I don't remember doing anything to him yet?"

Lee Chae-jin tilted his head and looked at me and Eden alternately. His eyes were filled with doubt rather than displeasure.

Even for someone like Lee Chae-jin, it seemed like it was the first time he had seen someone he had never met before express displeasure so blatantly.

"Haha, Hunter Lee Chae-jin, well… He's in a bad mood today."

"I'm in a great mood though."

"Shut up a bit."

"Ouch."

Eden frowned when I secretly pinched his back. When I gave Eden a questioning look as if asking what was wrong with him, Eden seemed to think about something for a moment and lowered his head.

"Tell me, Yi-jin-ah."

"Yeah?"

"If I put up with that bastard and helped him, what would you do for me?"

"What?"

What would I do for him? More than that, his sweet breath that tickled my ears was unpleasant. As I tried to step back, Eden reached out his hand and grabbed my waist.

"Hm? What will you do for me?"

"Haa…"

Eden, who was right in front of me, was smiling mischievously. He was undoubtedly excited to get another chance to bother me.

However, the situation on my end was more urgent, so despite his persistent teasing, I frowned and asked.

"What do you want?"

"Hmm."

"You know I don't have any money, right?"

"Come on, don't be like that. What is money between us?"

With a twinkle in his eyes, Eden chuckled and whispered in a low voice.

“Then, you'll have to do as I tell you later.”

"No, I already know you…"

"So you don't need my help?"

"Damn it."

I had a bad feeling about this, but now I had no choice. Lee Chae-jin started looking suspiciously at us. I whispered to Eden, while looking at Lee Chae-jin.

"Okay, I got it! Hurry up and help me with this!"

"Sure."

Eden nodded with a satisfied face as I urged him. Immediately, Eden used his wind ability to lift some of the powder slightly and spread it around. Lee Chae-jin looked at it with interest.

"I see, fairy wing powder with wind ability…"

Actually, the Fairy Wing Powder item wasn't widely known yet. It was because it wasn't easy to come by, and people didn't know how to use it properly, hence it didn't gain much fame. The time when the Fairy Wing Powder would become a famous item was still in the future.

Lee Chae-jin already knew about fairy wing powder. It was natural. In the original novel, he was the one who used Fairy Wing Powder to gather rare materials.

I only knew the information because I read the novel. I glanced at Lee Chae-jin's face, which looked a little excited.

"But expanding the collection area like that might lead us to encounter monsters…"

“This one is an S-class dragon.”

"Kkyaa!"

"…"

Yong-sik in my hand screamed loudly. Lee Chae-jin was completely speechless and looked at Yong-sik. He soon finished calculating and extended his hand towards me.

"Please take care of me. Hunter Han Yi-jin."

"Me, too."

Lee Chae-jin and I looked at each other and smiled.

We arrived at a large area with seawater at the end of the cave. It was definitely too vast for the collecting team to explore it. It seemed even wider, at low tide.

Baek Ha-neul, who had briefed the collecting team members on the precautions, approached me.

“Hunter Han Yi-jin and Hunter Eden can collect as much as you want in the designated area. There's no limit on the quantity, as vicemaster-nim said.”

"Really?"

"Yes. However, make sure to return before high tide. It could be dangerous."

"Understood."

Baek Ha-neul glanced anxiously at Lee Chae-jin behind me for a moment. There were countless times where he had gotten into trouble with the mercenaries who came to collect materials. I smiled reassuringly and waved my hand at Baek Ha-neul.

"I'll see you later, then."

"Yes… Be careful."

I wasn't sure what to be careful of, but I nodded my head. As Baek Ha-neul turned to return to her teammates, she kept looking back with a worried expression.

As expected of Lee Chae-jin. He really doesn't gain any trust from others.

I smirked and looked back at Eden.

"Let's get started."

"Yeah."

Eden nodded at my words and used his ability. The Fairy Wing Powder escaped from the pouch on my hand and spread out in the wind. Lee Chae-jin quickly activated his item.

"…I've detected it!"

"Oh!"

The item began to glow with red light. The Mermaid's Tears, which contained mermaid magic, had a special aura from the sea, and this item was meant to detect that aura.

However, since there were only a small amount of rare materials scattered over such a large area, it's usually difficult to detect them, but I didn't expect to find them so easily with Fairy Wing Powder. We excitedly approached the detected location.

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T/N: Advanced chapters will be posted on foxaholic18 again. Sorry for the inconvenience 🙏

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