[ Blacksmith’s Debut (1) ]
“Mister, Mister, Mister!!”
As soon as I rounded the corner, I ran into Yerim, who had just stepped off the elevator. She had mentioned she was going to tackle a B-rank dungeon, and it seemed like she had already finished. Her hair was still damp, and she was dressed casually in a light short-sleeved and short-shorts training outfit, probably after a shower in the maintenance room.
“That’s the new monster you brought!”
“Yeah, this is Blue, a Golden Griffin.”
“So cute! Can I hold it?”
Peace would probably hate it, but Blue should be fine. He was already eyeing Yerim with curiosity.
-Screeech!
I lifted Blue out of my arms, and he eagerly flapped his wings, heading toward Yerim on his own. Yerim opened her arms wide and hugged Blue tightly.
“So~ cute! His fur is so soft! And he smells like ice cream!”
Well, he did just finish devouring a whole tub of it.
-Screech! Screeech!
“Peace had gold-colored jelly, but this one has pink jelly! Look at these paw pads, I just want to bite them! Blue~.”
As if Blue knew he was being praised, his tail began to wag furiously, spinning like a fan. Despite being part lion and eagle, he acted like an affectionate puppy.
“Honestly, your naming sense is so… old.”
“…What?”
“Peace I can understand, but Chirp? And now Blue? You are calling the Unicorns White and Black. You go with names like some countryside dog— such as Whitie and Blackie. Total old man vibes.”
“It’s… simple, intuitive, and easy to remember.”
Simple and convenient—those are the best names… or maybe that really is an old-man way of thinking. But I wasn’t even thirty by the time of my regression!
“So, where were you headed? The training room?”
“I’m meeting someone from the Hunter’s Association.”
“Ah! Then I’ll come with you! These days, I only ever go out with the Guild Leader! I’m supposed to be the one protecting you, Mister.”
“Well, you’ve been busy clearing dungeons.”
And it’s only going to get busier for her from here. She has to form her own S-class team. I should help her out more.
After entrusting Blue to today’s assigned hunter, we headed downstairs. When I came face-to-face with Yuhyun, I couldn’t help but feel like he hadn’t been doing much lately compared to Yerim. Especially when it came to the crucial task of dungeon conquests. When we went together, it was more like a leisurely outing for him than a real challenge.
“Haven’t you been avoiding dungeons lately? Don’t you need to manage the S-class ones?”
If the strategy for an S-class dungeon was fully laid out, an A-class team could handle it, but otherwise, an S-class hunter would be required. While Haeyeon’s S-class dungeons are still relatively few, it’s not like he should be slacking off this much.
“I was planning to head into one within the next ten days.”
Yuhyun looked at me with concern in his eyes.
“Once I start an S-class dungeon, I’ll be away for at least a week, so I’ve been postponing it as much as possible. The last time I distanced myself from you was also largely because of the S-class dungeon periods. Once I’m inside, I can’t look after you.”
Even with proper strategy, an S-class dungeon takes at least a week. If it’s a first-time run, it can stretch over a month. And if there’s a bad affinity, it can take more than two weeks even with full information.
Having to regularly leave for such long periods was one of the biggest weaknesses of guilds with S-class hunters as guild leaders. Not only the guild leader, but even the elite higher-ranked hunters would all be away at the same time. No communication, no leaving mid-dungeon. Eventually, once guilds grew larger, they’d have at least two S-class hunters, which would cover this weakness, but for now, it was still an issue.
“Now that I’m here, you can go in without worry, Yuhyun.”
Yerim clung to my arm and smiled.
“I’ll take good care of Mister. You’ve been busy enough with dungeons, so why not take a ten-day break and stick with me? You can check out my skills, too. How about we go to a dungeon together? Or maybe a trip to an escape room? I’ve always wanted to go, but it was too expensive.”
An escape room, huh. I’ve never been to one either.
“Yuhyun, have you ever been to one?”
“…What’s that?”
…A twenty-year-old who doesn’t know what an escape room is? I’m about to cry. Isn’t this when you should be keeping up with trends?
“Why don’t you come with us?”
“But I wanted to go with just Mister!”
“He’s never been to one either.”
“…Fine. It’s not like we’ll only go once. Should we go today if nothing comes up?”
“If all goes well, sure.”
I nodded lightly and got into the car.
We drove for a while and arrived at a place that wasn’t the Hunter’s Association, but rather the Awakening Center, which hadn’t opened yet. Unlike the association building, this place was located on the outskirts of Seoul, designed to take over the association’s functions in case of emergencies.
The round dome-shaped Awakening Center and the building attached to it essentially served as a second Hunter’s Association. Technically, the Awakening Center came later, but to the public, it’s still known as the New Hunter’s Association.
“I’ll look for a good cafe while you’re in there!”
Yerim waved us off cheerfully as we left.
Standing under the bright sun, gazing at the sleek new building, I felt a bit unsettled. There weren’t any good memories here. Just bad ones. The smooth steps, barely worn, were eerily familiar. There were no crowds, no fluttering banners, no gathered reporters.
It was quiet.
“Why aren’t you coming?”
Yuhyun looked back at me, confused when I stopped.
“Just taking a look.”
I answered casually and kept walking. I had never wanted to come back here, but it wasn’t as unpleasant as I thought. Maybe it was because the events of the past never happened, or maybe it was my fear resistance skill.
“By the way, I told you to be good to Myungwoo, but why did you start picking fights with him?”
I asked as we climbed the stairs. What if he refuses to make weapons for us?
“I wasn’t picking a fight. I was testing how he felt about you. There’s something you’ve been hiding from him. If it’s something he could resent you for, we can’t just leave that alone.”
“You were quick to agree when I told you not to touch him.”
“His skills are too good; that makes him dangerous.”
“Myungwoo’s not that kind of guy, and I’ll come clean to him soon.”
“If things go wrong, make sure you tell me right away. Don’t keep it from me.”
“…Okay.”
I didn’t think our relationship would ever deteriorate to the point of hostility. But if, by chance, things went terribly wrong, Myungwoo could indeed be dangerous.
It should be fine… but I should’ve treated him better.
I opened the door and stepped inside. The interior was completely empty. The long desk was still covered in plastic. If it was going to be like this, why didn’t they just meet me at the association’s main building? There was only one person standing near the hallway leading deeper into the building.
We joined them and walked down the corridor.
“This is the core of the Awakening Center, the Awakening Room.”
After walking down a long hallway, the guide stopped in a circular lobby. There were five doors surrounding us, not counting the entrance. It felt small back then, but now that it was empty, it seemed quite spacious.
The Awakening Room inside was still incomplete. After looking around, we headed to where the Hunter’s Association president and other officials were waiting.
“The A-rank and B-rank hunters you sent have successfully awakened.”
The vice president, who looked younger than the president, said as he handed me the profile data of two hunters.
While searching for someone with special skills, I had also sent A-rank and B-rank latent combat potential hunters to the association. This was to prove my skill and secure cooperation regarding the Awakening Center.
Looking at the data, the A-rank hunter had gained two out of the three optimized skills, while the B-rank hunter had gained all three. As expected, combat aptitude makes it easier to awaken optimized skills.
“As you can see, five out of the six skills you mentioned in advance were successfully awakened. Following your advice, we predicted the abilities based on the skill names and created matching scenarios. Though it’s unfortunate we couldn’t get the B-rank skill for Kang Donghoon, I must say we’ve witnessed firsthand the capabilities of your unawakened status-checking skill.”
“So, I can expect a positive response, then.”
I threw the bait, offering elite hunters. It’s time to see what I get in return.
“If you manage to safely awaken a special skill as well, we’d have no choice but to cooperate.”
The president added.
“In fact, we’d welcome the idea of only allowing access to the Awakening Center after a status check by you, Hunter Han Yujin. How about turning it into a facility for confirming latent aptitude?”
“That seems… a bit excessive, don’t you think?”
Are you planning to work me to the bone?
“I can’t handle large numbers due to my current stats. My skill level may be high, but my stat grade is low. If you impose a restriction where people can only access the Awakening Center after I check them, I’ll be the one getting blamed… You’re not planning on making that your goal, are you?”
“Haha, of course not.”
The president waved his hand dismissively, but I couldn’t fully trust him. If it were left as an option, or a private service, I might avoid getting cursed out for handling only a hundred or two people a day.
“We just don’t want to waste potential on people who might awaken incorrectly.”
“Well, it’s their choice in the end. We can’t save everyone.”
I’ve done enough at this point.
Aside from the fact that they tried to dump more work on me, the association was cooperative. It felt like they’d reminded me a hundred times not to break anything in the escape room. Yerim and Blue were starting to blend in my mind—though at least Yerim can understand when I talk to her.
“Mister, let’s come again next time! Just the two of us!”
Don’t be ridiculous.
We headed back to Haeyeon and, before going up to the dormitory, I stopped by the training room where the unicorns were. Yerim eagerly tagged along.
“Hey, Whitie, Blackie, how’ve you been~? Which one’s the girl?”
“The black one.”
“This one, huh? She’s so pretty. Come here.”
Yerim extended her hand toward the black unicorn—no, Blackie. Whatever. Anyway, the little black unicorn perked up its ears and bit Yerim’s outstretched hand.
“Haha, it tickles! Blackie~.”
“Don’t let her bite or it’ll become a habit. Sure, it’s just ticklish for you, but a non-awakened person would lose a finger.”
“Oh, right. No! Bad, Blackie!”
-Snort!
At Yerim’s light flick on the head, Blackie recoiled in surprise and backed away. She looked around, then scurried over and hid behind me. The white one followed suit.
“Hey! Why are you hiding? That Mister is weaker than my pinky!”
That was too much. I may be weak, but not that weak.
After feeding the unicorns, I checked on Blue. The hunter watching him looked at me with a sympathetic gaze and said, “You must have a lot on your plate.” I was just relieved I didn’t have to worry about money anymore—if we’d been struggling financially, I might have cried.
“Peace, Chirp, you guys doing okay?”
-Bark!
-Chirp!
As Peace let out a dignified bark, Blue fluttered out of my arms. Well, at least Blue was learning something.
After bringing Yerim the side dishes she’d requested, feeding the animals, and having dinner, I noticed that Myungwoo still hadn’t shown up. Even after Blue and Chirp fell asleep, and Peace started nodding off, there was still no sign of him.
‘I can’t even contact him.’
The Golden Forge must have some kind of spatial barrier, like a dungeon, because my phone doesn’t work when he’s inside. Unless he comes out on his own, I have no way of reaching him.
He’s probably still in the forge, right? Sometimes he pulled all-nighters, but he always came out to eat. He needs to eat properly, especially with all that physical labor. Why isn’t he coming out?
I tossed and turned all night in worry, and by morning, Blue was crowing like a rooster, waking me up. Just as I was debating whether to find a way to contact him inside the subspace, Myungwoo finally appeared.
“Hey! If you’re going to stay in the forge for that long, at least let me know! I was worried something might have happened to you!”
“Sorry.”
He said sorry, but his face was lit up with joy. Despite the dark circles under his eyes, his expression was bright. I could tell something good had happened.
“I couldn’t stop in the middle.”
As he spoke, Myungwoo pulled something out of his inventory. A spear, about two meters long, its blade and shaft radiating a cold blue aura. It was no ordinary weapon.
“Is that…”
“Here.”
As I took the spear from him, an item description window popped up.
[Farmine’s Icewood Spear ? S-rank
A spear crafted by a skilled artisan from an ancient icewood branch. It holds a powerful chill.]
An S-rank weapon.
The percentage increase wasn’t much for my stats, but a new skill was added.
[Ice Attribute Enhancement (S)]
Ice attribute enhancement. And it’s S-rank. When I focused my “My Kid Is the Best” skill on Yerim, she got A-rank ice attribute enhancement, yet this is S-rank.
…Has Yerim been saving up a lot?
“You finally made an S-rank weapon!”
I sent Myungwoo a look full of admiration, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“Luckily, I succeeded on the first try. It was a tough all-nighter, but it’ll be easier from now on.”
“I didn’t expect you to grow this fast. At this rate, you’ll be making SS-rank weapons in no time.”
“That might be tough. Ismuar can only assist with weapons up to S-rank. But I do have something else in the works.”
I figured SS-rank would be difficult. Still, this was more than enough. Truly impressive.
“There’s no reason to hold back anymore. It’s time for you to debut.”
Originally, we planned for him to debut as a blacksmith after making an A-rank weapon, but Myungwoo had refused, saying he’d wait until he could craft S-rank weapons.
“Yeah. I’m ready now.”
Myungwoo nodded with a smile. As I smiled back, I remembered something I had been putting off.
I should come clean before it’s too late.
“Myungwoo, there’s something I haven’t told you.”
“What is it?”
“Well, the truth is… we didn’t originally know each other. I think I was mistaken.”
I tried to explain, adding a bit of an excuse.
“Is that so?”
Myungwoo replied. And that was it. Wait, hold on. That’s your reaction?
–TL Notes–
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