*
My godfather collapsed.
Right after healing magic was cast on him, he would seem to improve for a short while, but after three days, his condition would worsen again. The cycle repeated.
‘A textbook case of malaria.’
Should I call it fortunate, at least?
In my hand right now was the medicine to treat malaria.
I immediately used quinine on my godfather.
“Yulian… that medicine…”
“It’s a remedy for southern fever. Its effects have been verified on the other soldiers, so please rest easy.”
“So all this time… you were making something like that.”
With those words, my godfather closed his eyes.
He had not passed away; he had simply fallen asleep because he no longer had the strength to speak.
I immediately began the quinine treatment on my sleeping godfather.
After giving him the medicine, I stayed up all night in a corner of the sickroom.
The healer cast healing magic at regular intervals,
and the servants took turns wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Between those moments, I counted my godfather’s breaths, checked his pulse, and recorded the trend of his fever.
Like that, three days passed.
Before, around this time, his fever would soar again.
But this time, it did not rise.
Nor did it rise after the next three days, or the three days after that.
The symptoms of malaria no longer appeared.
‘It worked.’
On the morning of the ninth day.
My godfather sat up on his own and asked for water.
The head butler hurriedly brought him a glass, and the healer came running.
From the corridor, I heard someone burst into tears.
Amid that commotion, I quietly took a step back.
My godfather recovered safely and rose from his sickbed.
At that moment, as I turned away, my godfather spoke to the back of my head.
“Yulian. Thank you. Is there any reward you wish to receive?”
“I know you must be exhausted, but may I ask one favor?”
“Speak.”
“I would like to supply this medicine to the merchant guild using your name, Godfather.”
“…Is that all?”
“That is more than enough.”
Thanks to that, I was able to neatly resolve the problem of quinine distribution.
‘As expected, since this is a misunderstanding story, things are going smoothly.’
*
After my godfather was revived thanks to quinine.
As promised, he made a contract with the merchant guild under his own name.
The merchant guild immediately began selling quinine, and within just a few months, the medicine began spreading throughout the entire south.
The military responsible for the southern front also began paying attention to quinine.
Originally, the military had been forced to face both malaria and monsters at the same time.
But with the appearance of quinine, they could now focus their full attention solely on the monsters.
As a result, news came from the merchant guild that the military had decided to sign a large-scale contract for quinine.
And a few days after that.
‘Today is the day the results come out.’
The day those results would be revealed arrived.
Early in the morning.
As soon as I woke up, I stood in front of the mirror to tidy myself.
Standing before the mirror, I saw a gloomy boy with the face of someone who had already seen all there was to see in life.
Strange black hair with a blue sheen like crow feathers.
Cold gray-blue eyes visible beneath it.
Drooping eye corners and half-lidded eyes.
As I tidied the boy’s messy hair in the mirror, I tried to guess what kind of character he had been in the original work.
‘Judging only by appearance, I feel like I would have been a quiet and gentlemanly character in the original.’
Perhaps a composed, dignified genius character who looked like he had some tragic backstory.
Or maybe not.
In any case, that was the direction I chose for the character of Yulian.
Calm, gentle, and always speaking softly and politely—a kind of church-oppa character.
‘…Good. This should do.’
Since I had been doing it since I was four, it had practically become second nature by now.
I made a face that was somewhat gloomy, yet did not lose its kindness, and turned away from the mirror.
After finishing my routine in front of the mirror, I was changing clothes when—
Knock, knock.
A knock sounded from outside the door.
“Young master, did you sleep well?”
It was the head butler’s voice.
“Yes, I’m awake.”
“The family head is waiting in his study. He asked if you could stop by briefly before breakfast.”
The study, first thing in the morning.
I had a sense of what this was about.
It had been several months since I began selling quinine with my godfather’s help.
It was about time for the results to come out.
“Understood. I’ll go right away.”
*
My godfather treats me like a real son.
Of course, he sent me to an annex where the only servant was a single butler and left me there in a state close to neglect,
but even so, perhaps because I was the son of his dead friend, he bought me the books I asked for and made sure my allowance was never lacking.
A young master with a home in the capital region, all essential education provided, and a steady allowance?
At this point, it was safe to say my godfather truly treated me like a son.
Or maybe not.
In any case.
My godfather summoned me to the study in the main building.
When I opened the study door and entered, I saw my godfather sitting at his desk, with the head butler standing beside him.
He looked gaunt, perhaps because the aftereffects of malaria still remained.
Or maybe it had something to do with what I had once seen my godmother muttering in front of his door—that an only child really did make her uneasy.
“Yulian. About the medicine you made.”
“Yes, do you mean quinine?”
“That’s right. You asked that quinine be supplied cheaply to the military. I have something to say regarding that matter.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“The order from the military was far larger than expected.”
My godfather picked up a document from his desk.
The number written there was… one, two, three, four…
Oh my. How many digits is this?
I had thought I would earn a lot, but this was beyond imagination.
At this rate, couldn’t I live off the interest alone for the rest of my life without working?
‘Isn’t it a good thing if there are this many orders?’
Why was this a problem?
Could it be that the military was trying to seize the patent rights?
As I was worrying about that, my godfather continued.
“If we accept all of it as is, it seems you will suffer no small loss in the share you were originally supposed to receive. How about reconsidering it?”
Ah. So that was what this was about. He was talking about my distribution.
“Must you really reduce your own share?”
“…”
In truth, when I introduced this medicine, I made one contract with the merchant guild.
In exchange for giving up part of my share, they would sell it to soldiers at half price.
“Of course, in places like the Demonlands, mosquitoes kill as many soldiers as monsters do. I nearly died from it myself. But I wonder if this is truly something you need to go this far for.”
“Godfather. But if the medicine is too expensive, the soldiers won’t be able to buy it. Not every soldier is a noble.”
“…”
“The merchant guild said they couldn’t lower the price any further, so I should give something up.”
No matter what world or country you went to, soldiers’ wages were always stingy.
They said the cost of quinine would be quite a burden as well.
So I made this contract partly to build a favorable image among the soldiers.
‘I can earn money later. With quinine, I need to build my image first.’
My goal was not to become some nouveau riche man of wealth.
Since I had become the protagonist anyway, my goal was to become the greatest doctor in the empire, one whose name would remain in history.
‘And soldiers never forget people who treated them well.’
The fact that after serving in the Republic of Korea military, I kept looking for the same razor was proof of that.
Though honestly, I think it was just because I had gotten used to it.
‘And this is what a protagonist should do.’
More than anything, in a misunderstanding story, doing things that did not make money was actually how you ended up making more money.
This choice, too, would ultimately return as even greater profit.
“It’s all right. Please proceed as planned.”
“Yulian. You may still be too young to grasp it, but two percent of the distribution is by no means a small share. You may come to regret it later.”
“It’s all right. Money can be earned later, but human lives cannot.”
“…”
My godfather was silent for a moment.
The head butler standing beside him seemed to have stopped his hand that was holding the notebook as well.
‘Looks like that landed pretty well.’
But the silence was longer than I expected.
Was their emotion that deep?
To give them enough time to savor that emotion, I calmly waited for the two of them.
At last, my godfather took off his glasses and pressed his eyelids, then let out a sigh.
“…Very well. I will proceed as planned.”
“Thank you.”
“You may leave now. Study hard today as well.”
“Then, if you’ll excuse me.”
I bowed respectfully to my godfather and walked toward the door.
“Ah, Yulian.”
Just as I was about to place my hand on the doorknob, my godfather called me to a stop.
“Today is your birthday, isn’t it? Congratulations on your tenth birthday. If there is anything you want, tell me.”
When I turned around, my godfather was smiling faintly.
They were words I felt as though I had heard somewhere before.
As if… I had heard them even in a dream.
“…Thank you.”
I did not try to grasp the feeling that something was about to surface.
Instead, I bowed my head once more and left through the door.
As I walked, it suddenly occurred to me where I had heard those words.
‘Come to think of it… I feel like it had something to do with the nightmare I had this morning…’
But as though a thick fog had settled over it, the contents of the dream would not become clear at all.
I shook my head and hurried my steps again.
Ever since I made quinine, I had had a lot to do.
I was not idle enough to cling to a dream I could not even remember.
=======================
▽▽▽ This is a story that will be forgotten. Or perhaps, a story that had been prepared. ▽▽▽
There was a boy.
A boy who wanted to become the sun, who wanted to be loved, and who wanted to save the world.
At one time, the boy was called gifted.
But shining first did not mean rising higher.
For even when the night deepened and the stars climbed to the very top of the sky, the boy merely hovered among the grass.
The boy was not a star.
A lowly flying insect that could only shine by borrowing the darkness of night.
He was a 「firefly」.
*
To the firefly, the world was cruel.
The parents who should have given him love left the world before he even formed memories.
The new parents who tried to give him love left the world before they could bestow that love upon him.
And to the falling boy, no one extended a hand.
All that remained to him was a single revolver and one cheap lead bullet.
The boy opened the cylinder and, with dirt-stained hands, pushed the bullet inside.
Then, with trembling hands, he brought the muzzle to his temple.
If, at this moment, someone who loved him still remained in this world.
What words would they have said to the boy?
After agonizing over it again and again, the boy murmured the words he had wanted to hear.
“Happy… tenth birthday, Yulian.”
Bang—!
With a single gunshot, the boy’s body collapsed onto the grave.
The city did not react to that gunshot.
And so, the boy’s story seemed to come to an end.
“…Huh.”
The boy who had closed his eyes let out an exclamation with a cold breath.
===============================