All‑Master Who Regressed to Bronze - Chapter 74

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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All Master Who Regressed to Bronze Episode 074

Sinwha Workshop.

Originally, it was an ordinary(?) workshop that used a single massive high-rise building as its base, but ever since Shin Hyeok acquired it, Sinwha Workshop had been growing in size day by day.

One workshop building wasn’t enough, so they purchased surrounding buildings, and when that wasn’t enough, they began buying up nearby commercial buildings one by one.

As this accumulated, a commercial district formed, and the entire Sinwha Workshop area became a small complex, a small town that revolved around Sinwha Workshop alone.

Of course, even so, the area around Sinwha Workshop’s main building and satellite buildings was off-limits to civilians.

Anyway, Shin Hyeok, who had visited such a place, immediately headed to the basement of Sinwha Workshop.

Originally, it was a place built to store important materials and conduct final inspections of manufactured equipment before they went out, but today was different.

“Uuuuugh!!!”

“Uuuuuuh!!!”

“Kuuuuugh!!!”

A crimson sea of blood.

To be precise, that blood was flowing from assassins in black clothes tied up in the basement.

“You’ve arrived. I was conducting some interrogation before you came. Was that unnecessary?”

“No, we have strong suspicions but no physical evidence, so we need to create some this way. You did well. Salmak. Right?”

“Yes, well. Just looking at the assassination techniques they used, it’s obvious which organization they belong to.”

Secretary Hong, who had been directly torturing those assassins, shrugged lightly in his clean suit without a single drop of blood on it.

From the fact that he could tell which organization an assassin belonged to just by looking at their techniques, one could roughly gauge how high Secretary Hong’s position was in the assassin industry.

‘Grandfather is truly remarkable. To keep someone like this as his secretary. Or maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe Secretary Hong met grandfather and that’s how the current Shadow came to be.’

While thinking about whether his grandfather Choi Cheolho was remarkable for keeping such a Secretary Hong by his side, or whether Secretary Hong was remarkable for being recognized by such a grandfather and staying by his side for so long, Shin Hyeok also threw Jin Zaopin, whom he had dragged from the limousine, onto the floor.

Thud!

“Kuuugh…”

“A leader-class. Huh, I had my suspicions when I saw the guys dispatched to my side, but did you really capture a leader-class, young master?”

“Yes. It was easy. After facing someone like Secretary Hong, dealing with this guy was actually anticlimactic.”

“Haha, you’re really gilding me with praise.”

Secretary Hong, who had instantly seen through Jin Zaopin’s capabilities, was amazed, then smiled broadly at Shin Hyeok’s flattering words.

He knew it was flattery, but he couldn’t help feeling good about it.

Originally, praise was truly meaningful only when it came from those in high positions, from the strong.

In that regard, since Shin Hyeok corresponded to both, it was natural for Secretary Hong to be pleased.

“Should we scrape this guy too?”

“It’s just for show anyway. We’ve roughly extracted the information we need, so now we should hand him over to others.”

“Others, you mean…”

“The Minister of the Player Department. That person we saw recently should be able to handle this sufficiently, right? Ah, since it involves China too, call the National Intelligence Service as well.”

“Are you planning to properly escalate this situation?”

“Yes. Everyone knows about China’s talent drain and kidnapping for naturalization, but they keep it hushed up. But we can’t keep doing that forever. And I think now is the perfect time to blow this up… Do you think differently, Secretary Hong?”

“Hmm… No. It is appropriate timing. The National Intelligence Service and Player Department have been grinding their teeth over China, so they’ll use this incident as a fuse to properly blow things up. Especially if we back them and push forward. The only problem would be the inter-state conflict between Korea and China…”

“National affairs should be handled by those who handle national affairs.”

“Haha, that’s right. Common people like us don’t need to control national affairs. You’re absolutely right.”

Secretary Hong, who had been about to torture Jin Zaopin as well, enthusiastically agreed with Shin Hyeok’s words.

Since many players belonging to Shinwha Group had also defected to China, he too disliked China just as much.

In this situation, they could deal a blow to China?

It was worth accepting some degree of loss.

“And it won’t be a complete loss either.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“In the end, players control everything in this game. Combat and production. It’s the same everywhere. Now, let’s see. Production. Sinwha Workshop and Paracelsus have devoured or are ready to devour Chinese workshops and pharmaceuticals. Combat. There’s an insurmountable difference with the Twin Emperors and Twin Kings, but it’ll be different now.”

“…Don’t tell me, young master?”

“Through this incident, I’ve gotten a clear sense of things. King-class and below are no longer my opponents. King-class is similar too. I can handle everyone below Emperor-class. No, maybe even the bottom tier of Emperor-class might be different.”

Above all, since Shin Hyeok’s power had rapidly increased upon reaching Platinum, there wasn’t really any part that could be considered a loss.

Workshops that produce weapons for players.

Pharmaceuticals that produce elixirs for players.

With these two – Sinwha Workshop and Paracelsus – Korea had suddenly risen to the top tier.

In terms of combat, there was still a huge gap with the Twin Emperors and Twin Kings, but with the addition of Shin Hyeok as a counterweight, the scales tipped toward Korea.

Especially-

“Aren’t you looking forward to when I become Diamond?”

“…Ah. Ahh. You’re still Platinum, aren’t you, young master. Ha, hahahaha!”

Shin Hyeok was still Platinum.

A fresh, brand-new Platinum at that.

Shin Hyeok had shown so much that even Secretary Hong had been mistaking him for a fellow Diamond – that’s how remarkable Shin Hyeok’s abilities were.

If Shin Hyeok, who was already at this level as a Platinum, reached Diamond?

‘There might even be another rank created above Double Emperor…’

The power structure of world players might completely change.

Secretary Hong, who had finished thinking that far, trembled with anticipation for just a moment.

“Let’s call the Minister of the Player Department and the Director of National Intelligence first.”

“Yes. I’ll make them come running on all fours in less than an hour.”

At Shin Hyeok’s quiet words, Secretary Hong nodded with a spirited expression and pulled out his phone.

* * *

Secretary Hong’s words were not an exaggeration at all.

With a clattering sound, the Director of National Intelligence and the Minister of the Player Department, who had literally arrived in the basement on all fours, frowned at the bloody surroundings but soon wore bright smiles as they collected the Salmak assassins.

Because they realized that the cards now in their hands were a winning hand that could be used to beat up China for all the things they had done while pretending not to know.

“Is my brother upstairs?”

“We moved him to the top floor immediately after the attack. Security personnel are stationed throughout the floors below.”

“Hmm, I should go get him myself. I’ll stay here tonight. He might be startled if I try to take him home.”

“Understood.”

To meet Sejin, who was the target of the attack, Shin Hyeok left the basement and got on the secret elevator heading to the top floor.

Arriving at the top floor dozens of stories high in an instant, Shin Hyeok carefully opened the tightly locked workshop door and went inside.

“Oh, Shin Hyeok! Are you okay?”

“Of course I’m fine. What about you, hyung?”

“I’m fine since Secretary Hong, security personnel, and bodyguards protected me. I’m more worried about you who faced them directly.”

Fortunately, Sejin was okay.

Sejin, who had been sitting in the center of the darkened workshop absentmindedly sipping instant coffee, threw down his coffee as soon as Shin Hyeok entered and approached him, feeling around Shin Hyeok’s entire body.

Sejin spent quite a while feeling around Shin Hyeok’s entire body to check if he was injured anywhere before finally stepping away from him.

“Ugh, it feels weird having a grown man feel up my whole body.”

“Hey. Do you know how worried I was? Haa, I was really worried.”

“…Were you that worried?”

“Shin Hyeok. I’ve only known you for a few months, but you’re no different from my real younger brother. Thanks to you, I went from barely being able to hold a hammer in a shack with dripping rainwater in Cheonggyecheon to being able to hammer away without worry on the top floor of this skyscraper.”

“Hyung, that’s-“

“You’d say it would have happened eventually anyway? Yeah, maybe it would have. But thanks to you, that time was drastically shortened. Right?”

“…That’s right.”

“Besides that, there are so many things I’m grateful to you for. Uncle Inguyn and Aunt So-yeon treat me like their real son, and Shin-woo treats me like his real older brother. Su-a and Hyo-rin are like grown-up younger sisters. I really feel like I have a family.”

“…”

“Haha, though I do flinch every time Hyo-rin calls you daddy… Well, that’s pretty fun in its own way too.”

Shin Hyeok, who had been cringing at Sejin’s touch, had no choice but to wipe away his playfulness at Sejin’s serious words.

Sejin’s sincerity that he had never heard before.

Though he wore a smile at the end, it wasn’t enough to dilute the sincerity contained within.

Family.

How precious that word, which made his heart ache just hearing it, must have been to Sejin.

Perhaps the family Sejin had gained through Shin Hyeok was more precious to him than being able to hold a hammer again.

And therefore, Shin Hyeok, who had enabled him to gain this family, was probably the most important focal point and center for Sejin.

The fact that he could have lost such a Shin Hyeok.

Even if that probability was an extreme probability of less than 0.1%, that wouldn’t have mattered to him.

“…Sorry. I’ll be more careful.”

“Good that you understand. But you don’t need to be careful. Sometimes trying to play it safe just leads to getting hurt more. Above all, you know more about being a Player than I do, Shin Hyeok. So I have no intention of giving you advice about that.”

“Hmm….”

But even so, Sejin didn’t force his thoughts on Shin Hyeok.

Family members who worry about warriors going to battle hope for their safety and want them to protect themselves, but that very thing could become a noose that threatens the warrior’s life.

Of course-

“But there are areas where I can give advice. Take out all your equipment. Today, I’m going to upgrade your gear to the maximum extent I can manage.”

“…Hyung?”

“The upgrades you need right now are armor, holy sword, and bow, right? Good. Using the materials you’ve gathered along with the Unique and Legendary grade materials stockpiled in the Sinwha Workshop warehouse, I can definitely upgrade them to Legendary grade.”

“No, wait-“

“Ah, you said your Metallurgy skill grade went up to A when you became Platinum this time, right? Perfect. If I transcend your Metallurgy skill with that Plus Ultra Ring I saw before, it’ll be S-grade. That should be more than enough to match my pace.”

“Hmm….”

Sejin decided to do what he could in his own way.

Namely, crafting and upgrading equipment.

Knowing that he couldn’t stay by Shin Hyeok’s side to help him, Sejin decided to do his absolute best at what he could do.

Thanks to this burst of fervor, Shin Hyeok could only nod with a groan.

Whoooosh!

Flames blazed up in the workshop where the fire had been extinguished.

It was a fire within the skyscraper that illuminated the dark night sky.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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