Chapter 169 : Chapter 169
Chapter 169
After Ji Seokhyeon left Jang Incheol’s workshop.
Jang Incheol moistened his throat for a moment, then immersed himself in his work again.
On an ordinary day, he would not have received a guest in the middle of forging.
Nor would he have arranged such a sudden appointment without a special reason.
‘Still, it was not a meeting that wasted time.’
He could not explain it precisely, but the simple fact that he had helped Ji Seokhyeon filled him with quiet satisfaction.
Of course, providing the fruits of one’s labor to a suitable person was always rewarding.
And if, like Ji Seokhyeon, the other party recognized that labor, it was all the more gratifying.
‘He has astonishing promise. Perhaps the greatest among the awakened beings I have ever met.’
To be of help to talent that belonged to the future.
His hammer, which had been striking the anvil, came to a stop, and he recalled the past.
It was an incident from decades ago, involving a man he had met when he was still an apprentice blacksmith.
‘It has already been so long….’
Jang Incheol had not been a gifted blacksmith from the beginning.
If anything, he often dragged down the colleagues who had trained alongside him, and so all the workshop’s menial tasks were pushed onto him.
If one compared it to Hunters, he was at a level where his combat aptitude was so lacking that he would struggle even to join the Hunter Association.
Naturally, he had even considered abandoning blacksmithing altogether and looking into another academy.
It was a time when anxiety about the future kept him from sleeping in peace.
Then, one day, an awakened being in a bizarre state visited the workshop.
A man who wore a coarse Cloak bearing the traces of a long journey, kept his hood pulled deep to conceal his identity, and came asking to have a broken sword repaired.
None of the workshop’s colleagues recognized him.
Neither did Jang Incheol, but astonishingly, the sword the man brought was a weapon Jang Incheol himself had forged months earlier.
That weapon.
The one his colleagues had said had no value as merchandise, and which he had, in bitter resignation, stuck into a bargain rack labeled “100,000 won per blade.”
Naturally, he had forgotten it without even knowing when it sold.
Until the man came in person to request its repair.
“I wish to meet MASTER FE, the name written on the tang here.”
A childish pun using Fe, the chemical symbol for iron.
At the man’s words, the workshop’s colleagues all turned their eyes to Jang Incheol.
“I-It is a sword I made.”
“Ah, that is convenient. If you do not mind, would you repair it for me?”
“That sword? It is already broken…”
“Is it a difficult request?”
“N-No! I can do it if I must, but repairing a sword that cost only 100,000 won is somewhat…”
“Hm…. I truly wish to repair it. It fits my hand rather well, far more than other expensive swords.”
“It fits your hand?”
“It is not the finest sword I have ever held, but it is the easiest to swing. To be honest, I was surprised. You are far too young to be the maker of a sword like this.”
“……”
Unbelievable words.
Even so, there was no greater waste than repairing a cheap weapon that was not even worthy of supplying to an academy.
Jang Incheol thought the man was playing a joke.
His colleagues also laughed at the request behind their hands.
But the man’s serious attitude stirred responsibility in Jang Incheol.
Even if it was only a 100,000 won sword, this was a customer who had come in person to have Jang Incheol’s own work repaired.
In other words, regardless of price, it had proven useful.
“I will begin at once. The metal is not of good quality, so it will likely take two days. Where should I have it delivered?”
At Jang Incheol’s question, the man hesitated.
“Ah, that long….”
He had apparently expected it to be repaired quickly.
He must have been accustomed to using swords of fine quality.
Soon, the man spoke in a careful voice.
“District 10, if you would. You may address it to Kim Yuseong.”
“K-Kim Yuseong!”
When a name known to every person in the awakened world was spoken, the atmosphere in the workshop changed in an instant.
“That name! Does it mean the Sword Saint?!”
“T-To think the Sword Saint would visit our workshop…!”
“Shh! Stop making a fuss and return to your stations!”
The workshop buzzed without pause.
Yet ironically, the Sword Saint Kim Yuseong’s swords were not famous.
According to rumor, the moment a sword broke, he would simply draw a new one.
Of course, his followers sometimes repaired broken swords and boasted that they were the Sword Saint’s blades, but a sword that came from a man who had snapped hundreds could not possibly command high value.
Knowing that, the people of the workshop naturally stared at the two of them in shock.
The Sword Saint had come to repair a sword…
And he liked it.
A so-called bargain-bin item, no less.
Ignoring the reactions around him, Kim Yuseong continued.
“Forgive me for causing a commotion. But I truly like this sword. I do not ask that it be restored perfectly. Simply demonstrate your skill properly.”
“Ah, o-of course! Naturally…!”
Whatever the workshop’s reaction, Jang Incheol was seized by an indescribable sense of awe.
A blacksmith’s purpose could be many things, but the ultimate purpose was to provide weapons to the greatest Hunters.
Kim Yuseong’s visit planted hope in the heart of Jang Incheol, who had been cynical about the future.
It was no exaggeration to say that incident made him who he was today.
‘What if I had given up and chosen another path?’
It was a meaningless question.
He ended the recollection and moved his tools again.
But at that moment.
“…!”
The flames of the workshop surged violently, and in an instant, a tremendous light of mana began to radiate.
A sight even Jang Incheol had never seen before.
‘Wh-What is this?’
It was an immensely powerful fire, yet it did not feel threatening.
More precisely, it could not harm Jang Incheol, who was already surrounded by flame.
‘What in the world is this…?’
A blaze that seemed ready to swallow the entire workshop.
He had to warn those outside immediately, and yet, for some reason, his feet would not move.
Instead, he swung his tool toward the item on the anvil.
‘In this state, I feel as though I can create a masterpiece!’
The moment he summoned a high degree of focus, the flames subsided, and strange environmental mana filled the workshop.
A concentration so dense it felt as though he stood beyond a rift.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Each time anvil and tool met, the metal produced a beautiful resonance.
Drunk on that sound, Jang Incheol soon lost all sense of time and sweated at the anvil for a full twelve hours until the item was completed.
No matter how physically superior an awakened being was, maintaining such concentration for that long was difficult.
As he traced the finished work with his fingers, Jang Incheol sighed.
“Hah… this thing…”
Having crafted countless items, he could feel it instinctively.
The item on the anvil was at a level his own skill could not reach.
It was like looking at a Dwarf’s work, something passed down only in legend.
Like the Platium shield his guild, Ironflame, possessed, a thing whose very existence was mysterious…
‘With this feeling… I might be able to handle Platium!’
Having reached that thought, Jang Incheol tried to rush out of the workshop like a madman.
But as he was about to pass through the door, he arrived at a fundamental question.
‘For whom would I hammer Platium?’
The Platium shield said to have been made by a Dwarf.
Simply hanging it in the guild displayed tremendous prestige.
It was part of the reason Ironflame was treated as the greatest blacksmith guild.
Why would he strike it, even at the cost of sacrificing that relic…?
‘Is it merely because I feel confident that I can?’
It could not be.
Jang Incheol did not craft items without purpose.
The reason he had purchased the Platium shield at great expense in the first place was to use it.
To forge, for the Sword Saint who had given him a chance to steady his resolve as a blacksmith, the greatest, and final, sword.
Of course, Kim Yuseong was no longer in this world.
However, there was someone else to whom he wished to pass it on.
‘Ji Seokhyeon.’
Whenever he faced Ji Seokhyeon, for some reason, he saw the lingering shadow of Kim Yuseong.
‘Surely the Sword Saint has a direct heir elsewhere.’
Rationally, it was nonsense, but his anvil had already inscribed the next objective neatly into his heart.
To forge Platium equipment for Ji Seokhyeon.
Even if seeing the Sword Saint’s shadow had been a mistake.
Even if the strange flames had driven him into flawed judgment.
‘…I will act as my heart moves.’
He felt certain that no regret would remain.
***
Seoul’s outskirts, dawn.
Ooyama Jiro, that was, the Demonic Being Gen, stood atop the roof of a large house and surveyed his surroundings.
It had already been two months since he obtained Camellia.
Seoul was already moving toward the final phase of the plan he had designed.
To gain physical influence by using the Psychic Mafia, then, on that foundation, to join hands with Manyeong, who shared a public objective, and reopen the Great Rift.
‘Unless something truly unexpected happens, the ashen sky will pour darkness once more.’
Of course, no matter how smoothly a plan proceeded, there were always problems.
One of them was severing ties with Manyeong.
Reopening the Great Rift together was one thing, but after that, they would split into complete enemies.
The Demonic Beings would move to annihilate humanity, while Manyeong would seek to stand alone above all races.
In terms of results, they seemed to pursue the same ideal.
Yet neither the Demonic Beings nor Manyeong could ever reach the end unless they trampled the other and rose above.
‘Naturally, Baek Dojin must also have that in mind.’
Baek Dojin, rumored to be brilliant, would not fail to see it.
In such a situation, where Gen and Baek Dojin both held daggers for one another, the only variable worth expecting was Lee Eunho.
To Gen, Lee Eunho was a piece to be used against Manyeong.
Through the Ring of Illusions, Gen provoked the inner rage Lee Eunho held, let the Soul of Wrath take root within him, and drove his abilities into frenzy.
‘He must have reached a level where even A-Rank Hunters would be no match.’
He had become an exceedingly satisfying piece, yet this, too, carried a problem.
Lee Eunho’s rage was far greater than Gen had expected.
In simple terms, Lee Eunho had already slipped beyond Gen’s control and begun to act on his own initiative.
Gen could gather the power of the Demonic Beings and stop Lee Eunho, but if he did, Manyeong would take notice. And if he left Lee Eunho alone, an unpredictable variable could reduce the plan to nothing.
‘Perhaps even the resumption of the Great Rift will not be carried out.’
Of course, Lee Eunho was not without a weakness.
There was Ji Seokhyeon, like an Achilles tendon to him.
But Ji Seokhyeon was a trigger that could not be touched.
Given Lee Eunho’s current mental state, there was no telling what he would do if Ji Seokhyeon were harmed.
‘Well, it will be one of two things. He will either rage, or sink into despair.’
If he sank into despair and felt powerlessness, that would be good, but if it instead added fuel to his rage, an uncontrollable situation would unfold.
That was also why Baek Dojin had recently been targeting Ji Seokhyeon.
Even if a furious Lee Eunho ran wild, there was a higher chance his anger would turn on the Demonic Beings than on Manyeong, which was only a human faction.
So long as the underlying intent was not exposed.
‘Baek Dojin… he truly is a man I do not wish to deal with.’
As he thought such things, Lee Eunho, dressed like a Phantom Thief, caught his eye as he vaulted the wall of the large house.
Lee Eunho’s gaze met Gen’s, and in an instant, Lee Eunho moved to Gen’s rear.
The speed was such that, to anyone watching, it would seem as though he had teleported.
“I told you not to concern yourself with whatever I do.”
“A misunderstanding. This body merely wished to feel the night breeze.”
“A ridiculous excuse.”
“To think you still do not understand this body’s sincerity…”
Gen watched Lee Eunho’s expression and asked,
“More importantly, you look unusually bright.”
“I think I have finally reached the truth of Seoul.”
“…The truth?”
“Yes. This society was more rotten than I thought. It is beyond saving. It is so disgusting that it makes my skin crawl.”
Gen instinctively narrowed his eyes.
An aura he could not handle was flowing from Lee Eunho.
“Therefore, I intend to destroy Seoul. I will annihilate every being with superpowers. There will be countless sacrifices, but… I will rebuild Seoul. Imagine it. A new world that will leap into an absolute order where everyone can be happy forever.”
“If superpowers are annihilated, you will be included as well.”
“You do not understand. Naturally, I will lead the order there. Only Seokhyeon and I…”
Cruelty seeped into Lee Eunho’s voice.
“So that we may reign over the new world.”