Genius Blacksmith’s Game - Chapter 2

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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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The Genius Blacksmith’s Game

 

 

 

 

Still Want to Create (1)

 

 

 

Hyeon-su’s father was called the world’s greatest Master Craftsman.

Like father, like son—Kang Hyeon-su also loved making weapons.

Swords, bows, spears, shields. He made anything without discrimination, and creating things was the most enjoyable thing in the world to him.

His father even said he might be addicted to crafting at this point.

However, the doctor sitting across from him now said:

“It’s been three years since the accident, but Blacksmith Shop work is too much for you.”

The doctor looked at Hyeon-su’s hands. His right hand trembled slightly.

There had been a fire at the Blacksmith Shop. It wasn’t Father’s mistake.

The cause was determined to be sparks from electrical wiring.

That day, Father had been sleeping in the inner room, and he himself, who had been out, rushed in to save his father.

In the process, steel beams collapsed and crushed his right hand.

He barely managed to get Father out of the Blacksmith Shop, but Father, who was taken to the Hospital, was ultimately diagnosed as being in a vegetative state.

And Hyeon-su became unable to do Blacksmith Shop work like this, with severe burns covering his entire body.

“How about looking for other work?”

Hyeon-su’s lips pressed tightly together.

Though he had graduated from high school, he had only done Blacksmith Shop work since he was young.

Yes, there wasn’t much Hyeon-su could do.

“Finding a job with this body won’t be easy.”

Hyeon-su’s right hand had no trouble with daily activities.

The problem was the burns.

Burns that covered his entire body.

Anyone would frown at the sight.

The doctor couldn’t hide his bitter expression.

“About 3 billion won would be needed to remove the burns.”

Modern medicine had improved greatly.

Enough to cleanly remove any burns. The problem was that the cost was too expensive.

“Our Hospital is also looking for ways to help you, Hyeon-su, but it’s not easy.”

The attending physician knew Hyeon-su’s situation.

Soon Hyeon-su smiled bitterly.

“Thank you for your concern.”

After Hyeon-su left, the doctor sighed.

With an expression full of regret for not being able to help the unfortunate young man more.

 

 

 

Hyeon-su bought a few cans of beer and returned home. His original house had burned down completely, so this was a shabby Studio Apartment.

While drinking beer, he turned on a TV program rerun.

The title was a documentary called ‘Restoration of Haemosu’s Dragon Light Sword.’

“Oh.”

Hyeon-su smiled seeing his father appear on the TV screen.

The narration began.

 

-The cleanly restored Dragon Light Sword. In 2040, when everything has become mechanized, Kang Hyeon-tae still crafts weapons by Handcrafting as a Master Craftsman.

 

The Dragon Light Sword that Haemosu had used was commissioned for restoration by the National Museum.

A Broadcasting Station employee was captured interviewing with admiration.

 

-Amazing, to perfectly restore that Dragon Light Sword that was rusted and on the verge of breaking.

 

Father didn’t continue speaking for a long time. Hyeon-su knew the reason best.

At that time, Father had reached a point where he couldn’t do Blacksmithing work because his right arm had lost strength from long hours of hammering.

Therefore, it was actually Hyeon-su who restored the Dragon Light Sword.

Hyeon-su had helped with Father’s Blacksmith Shop work since he was 10 years old, and at some point had become a blacksmith comparable to his father.

Hyeon-su had asked him to say that Father did it. He had made excuses to Father about being embarrassed, but that wasn’t it.

At this time when it was known that only one Master Craftsman remained in the world.

He wanted to protect Father’s pride.

 

-You’re too kind.

 

Father, who hadn’t answered for a while, smiled bitterly.

Soon various scenes passed again, and a Broadcasting Station official threw out a provocative comment.

 

-I understand you’re called the last Master Craftsman remaining in the world. Some say it’s because there aren’t many blacksmiths, what do you think about this?

 

It could have been a rude question.

But it was already a proven answer.

Also, Father was full of confidence, and the Broadcasting Station knew this.

 

-Won’t the Finished Product prove it?

 

There weren’t many blacksmiths, but the world was overflowing with appraisers.

The reporters and appraisers from overseas Broadcasting Stations who came to cover the story also admired Father’s work.

After the broadcast ended, he muttered while drinking beer.

“What am I going to do for a living?”

Actually, he could probably make a living doing anything, but the scars were the problem.

Also, though he was one of the few blacksmiths in the world, blacksmithing itself was hard to make money from.

People wanted legendary things passed down as decorative items, not just any Sword made by someone.

This was especially true in this country where weapon ownership had become illegal.

Therefore, he used to make a living from restoration requests from museums and such.

’30 billion won, they say…’

The cost to remove the scars.

On top of that, he needed to maintain Father’s Hospital fees, so even more money was needed.

Just then.

“Hey, Hyeon-su.”

Someone knocked loudly on the door.

When he opened the door, his friend Ji-hoon was waving a bag of chicken.

“You bastard, were you getting depressed?”

“You came?”

His friend Ji-hoon was someone he was grateful for.

After that incident, he consistently came to visit his house.

He knows it’s to keep him from being lonely.

“Cheers.”

They cheerfully clinked their beer cans together. His mood improved now that the guy was here.

As they drank beer in a warm atmosphere, Hyeon-su started rambling about his life story.

“Sigh… What am I going to live on from now on? The future looks so bleak…”

“Shh. Just shut up for a bit.”

“…Your friend is going through a hard time and instead of comfort, you tell him to shut up?”

Ji-hoon was a true friend.

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say.”

Even though he talks like that, whenever he calls to complain, Ji-hoon comes running right away.

Ji-hoon, who had quieted him down, looked at the TV.

“It’s today.”

“What is?”

“You know Han-ul, the Kendo gold medalist, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Today he’s challenging the Wooden Dummy breaking.”

“Wooden Dummy?”

“Yeah.”

Ji-hoon connected the Paprika broadcast to the TV.

Soon, a man with a determined expression was pounding on a Wooden Dummy.

One hit, two hits, three hits.

Even to him as an ordinary person, the pounding looked extraordinary.

The Wooden Dummy shook greatly with each strike.

By around the ninth hit, it looked quite damaged.

But…

“Ah, another failure!”

Even on the tenth hit, it ultimately didn’t break.

“Damn it, those evil bastards at Pureum Corporation, why did they put in something that can’t even be broken?”

Ares, the game that captivates people worldwide.

Unfortunately, Hyeon-su couldn’t afford to play it.

“If it doesn’t work, just don’t do it. Why is everyone making such a fuss?”

At Hyeon-su’s words, Ji-hoon wagged his index finger.

“Why? If you break that thing, they give you a 50 million won capsule.”

“5, 50 million won?”

For Hyeon-su, who was only 23, it was an astronomical amount of money.

“Yeah, man. That’s why people were challenging it, but now breaking that thing is almost like earning a medal.”

“A medal even?”

“All the world’s renowned geniuses couldn’t break it. Kendo geniuses, archery geniuses, martial arts geniuses, all of them.”

“If all abilities are the same, isn’t it obvious they can’t break it?”

It was a common thought for Hyeon-su, who was thinking of online RPG games.

“You game novice, special people are a bit different in virtual reality. Did you see the white light that burst out every time that Kendo genius hit it?”

“Yeah. Why is that?”

“That’s called a Critical Hit, and it only triggers when you strike very precisely. Ordinary people might trigger it once out of ten times, but those guys trigger it once every two times.”

“But they still can’t break it?”

“Yeah, they still can’t break it. They just made it so it wouldn’t break.”

“Hmm…”

Hyeon-su stroked his chin.

“Then couldn’t you just make something to hit it with?”

“Hey, I just explained it to you. That’s the Beginner Zone, so there are no jobs available, so you can’t change to Blacksmithing. That’s why making artifacts is impossible… huh?”

Ji-hoon soon made a puzzled expression.

“…Can you make one?”

“If the crafting process is the same as in reality, I could definitely make it, right?”

After saying it himself, Hyeon-su’s eyes widened.

“Uh…?”

Ji-hoon stood up from his seat and looked down at him.

“Th-this is totally a cheat character!”

Hyeon-su looked up at Ji-hoon with trembling eyes.

“Do people spend real money on Ares too…?”

“Of course!”

“Then do they spend real money on items too?”

“They can’t buy them because there aren’t any!”

Hyeon-su looked at the TV screen for a moment. The 50 million won capsule flickered in his mind.

“Could I possibly make money from games too?”

Ji-hoon couldn’t give a definitive answer to that.

He didn’t know what unknown variables there might be.

Most importantly, they still didn’t know.

Whether his Blacksmithing skills would apply in the game too.

“Should I try it once? Ares.”

For Hyeon-su, whose path in life was uncertain, there were no other options.

 

 

 

The next day.

Hyeon-su headed to the Capsule Room with Ji-hoon.

Last evening.

Having decided to try Ares, Hyeon-su had thoroughly researched it.

“Just the basic capsule costs 10 million won…”

While the VVIP Capsule was very expensive, even the Standard Capsule was considerably pricey.

Hyeon-su didn’t have that kind of money.

“I’m definitely going to get that capsule.”

“Oh… If you get the VVIP Capsule, let me use it too. The VVIP Capsule has a sync rate of almost 99.9%.”

Depending on the sync rate, the game feels more like reality. But even the standard version reaches 85%.

Actually, the VVIP Capsule isn’t necessary, but it’s essentially a luxury for the rich.

The two completed their payment at the Capsule Room.

“Have fun!”

Ji-hoon and Hyeon-su still had a long way to go before meeting in the game.

Ji-hoon slipped into his capsule first, and Hyeon-su also entered the capsule in front of him.

Whoooosh-

The capsule door closed.

Soon, wires attached all over his body and goggles came down to cover his eyes.

Hyeon-su’s heart was pounding.

Actually, there was another reason his heart was pounding.

Today too, despite the hot summer day, Hyeon-su had come wearing long sleeves, long pants, a hat, and a mask.

It was because of the scars covering his entire body.

Because of this, he had forgotten what his true appearance looked like.

His usual self was covered with raised burn scars that looked like hundreds of earthworms crawling all over his body.

 

[Accessing character creation screen.]

 

White text appeared in the darkness.

The screen immediately switched.

Hyeon-su couldn’t say anything for a long while.

Because there was a mirror right in front of him.

A mirror for customization.

He couldn’t find any scars anywhere on himself standing before that mirror.

Not even the reddish-purple scar that wrapped around his left cheek.

Not even his left eyebrow that had stopped growing.

Even those that had covered his arms completely had all cleanly disappeared, revealing his true appearance.

He looked down at his right hand.

His right arm, which would tremble slightly even when still, wasn’t shaking.

Soon a notification was heard.

 

[Change character appearance…]

 

“Pass.”

 

[Character nickname…]

 

“Hyeon-su.”

He preferred to use his real name as it was.

Suddenly, a conversation with his father came to mind.

‘Dad, why did you quit the Corporation you were doing well at to become a blacksmith?’

‘Because it’s fun.’

‘Geez, you should have been born during the Joseon Dynasty.’

Father said after giving him a knuckle rap.

‘Then why are you doing it? A guy with such a bright future should be studying. Why are you trying to do blacksmithing, which is looked down upon?’

‘Because it’s fun.’

At that time, father and he looked at each other and laughed.

‘Actually, I harbor a small dream.’

‘What kind of dream?’

It was a dream that was hard to realize.

‘A dream where people need the finished products I make and are genuinely happy when they receive them.’

A dream that could never be realized in modern times.

Father, who had said such words, placed his hand on his shoulder.

‘Hyeon-su, you crafting addict. Whatever you do, as long as you find it fun and are happy, isn’t that enough?’

He pondered over those words.

Right, whatever I do, as long as I find it fun and am happy, that’s enough.

 

[Starting connection.]

 

So Hyeon-su decided to try Ares.

Another Master Craftsman born from a Master Craftsman had logged into the game.

—————
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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