The Cursed Blacksmith Who Regressed - Chapter 10

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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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Episode 10

Returning home, Choi Hyun immediately checked the Totoland website.

The warning had worked properly—Choi Hyun’s name was not registered for the second practical exam.

‘At least they didn’t run away.’

He had worried they might even shut down the site, but it seemed they had some pride left.

Choi Hyun couldn’t hide his smile.

“A hundred billion if I win.”

It was the first time he had ever looked forward to tomorrow this much.

Just then, Jang Hae-hyeon called.

“Yes, President.”

– Could you spare some time? It’s about a consultation matter.

“That’s possible. Where should I go?”

– If possible, could you come to headquarters? I’ll have a lawyer on standby again this time.

“Understood, I’ll come right away.”

As expected.

Just as he had anticipated, Jang Hae-hyeon was seeking Choi Hyun’s help again.

Choi Hyun immediately called a taxi and headed to Daesan Guild Headquarters.

As he got out of the taxi, the Secretary Manager who had been waiting escorted Choi Hyun directly to the President’s Office.

“You’ve arrived.”

Choi Hyun nodded slightly in response to Jang Hae-hyeon’s greeting.

As mentioned on the phone, a lawyer was already waiting in the room.

Choi Hyun spoke.

“Did you resolve the Shirai Guild matter well?”

“Yes, following your advice, when we pressured Jendero through Inagawa Guild, they immediately released the Shirai Guild president’s family members and normalized the contract schedule.”

Was that all?

The Shirai Guild president, feeling deeply grateful to Jang Hae-hyeon for this incident, lowered the unit price of the materials they supplied to much less than the previous contract.

‘Thanks to that, he must have gained more than the one billion he gave me.’

“What did Sumiyoshi say about it?”

“They’re firmly claiming this incident was a deviation by Jendero, their subordinate guild.”

“That’s wise. It would be troublesome if they got deeply involved.”

Would it just be troublesome?

One wrong move and it would lead straight to war.

That would be quite a burden for Sumiyoshi as well.

“I’m glad it worked out well. Is Inagawa the problem now?”

“…How did you know?”

“Actually, orthodox yakuza tend to be more thuggish in some ways.”

Choi Hyun was right.

Inagawa intended to use this opportunity to properly entangle themselves with Daesan Guild, a major corporation.

‘They might even look down on us a bit since we came to them first, bowing our heads and asking for help.’

But Jang Hae-hyeon, from an Independence Movement Family, didn’t want to get any more involved with yakuza.

Jang Hae-hyeon said.

“They’re making many demands using this incident as an excuse. From the atmosphere, it seems they’ll target Shirai Guild now.”

“You must have many worries. But it’s fine. This matter will be easier than dealing with Sumiyoshi.”

“How so?”

“We need to stimulate their pride.”

“Their pride?”

“I don’t mean to scratch it unpleasantly. Inagawa values pride in legitimacy as much as Yamaguchi, the industry leader. We’ll target that aspect.”

“…?”

Seeing Jang Hae-hyeon’s confused expression, Choi Hyun added further explanation.

“For example, suppose there’s a scoundrel. But one day, if someone suddenly tells that scoundrel they’ve always respected them for their upright character, at least that scoundrel won’t act like a scoundrel in front of that person. Being respected by others is quite a high level of recognition.”

“Hmm.”

“Of course, this strategy doesn’t work on everyone. For this, you need to choose someone who cares about others’ opinions, has a strong desire for recognition, and has some power within Inagawa.”

“Who would that be?”

“Shall we write up the contract at this point?”

“Ah?”

When he cut off the advice at such perfect timing, Jang Hae-hyeon couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

No matter how he looked at it, this wasn’t the depth of a twenty-year-old.

Jang Hae-hyeon swallowed his hollow laugh and had the lawyer proceed with contract preparation. While the contract was being prepared, Jang Hae-hyeon asked.

“By the way, how should I address you?”

“Please call me whatever is comfortable for you. Since I plan to get a hunter license soon, if there’s no suitable title, you can simply call me Hunter.”

“Ah, I see. I happened to hear some news—I heard you got a perfect score on the written exam this quarter. Congratulations.”

“I was lucky.”

“Haha, I heard the hunter exam written test isn’t that difficult, but getting a perfect score is really hard. That’s impressive.”

“Thank you.”

“Then are you planning to take the second practical exam right away?”

“Yes, tomorrow.”

“Then perhaps…”

After thinking for a moment, Jang Hae-hyeon spoke.

“Have you decided on your future plans after passing the hunter exam?”

“I have plans.”

“Might guild membership be among those plans?”

“I don’t have plans for that yet, but I’ve been thinking about it, so I plan to look into it slowly after passing.”

Jang Hae-hyeon’s eyes gleamed at the mention of looking into it slowly.

“Then since it came up, how about our Daesan? If you join us, I promise the best treatment in the industry.”

“I haven’t proven anything as a hunter yet—isn’t that too generous?”

“You’ve already brought great profits to our guild through two consultations—what more proof could we need?”

“Officially, it’s only been once so far.”

“Haha, this matter will surely be resolved well too. I can tell just by looking at your eyes.”

“Thank you for the good offer. Then I’ll consider Daesan Guild as well.”

“Thank you.”

Soon the paperwork was ready, and the two quickly completed the document preparation as they had before.

The ten billion consultation fee was immediately deposited as before.

After confirming the deposit, Choi Hyun began his consultation.

“There are three lines within Inagawa Guild.”

“Three? Wasn’t it two?”

“No. While Tetsuya’s line and Oroshi’s line are the ones actually working in the field, historically more legitimate and quietly playing the leadership role is Shuzo.”

“Shuzo… I understand he stepped away from field work quite a while ago.”

“That’s right. Just hearing this, you might wonder what power Shuzo could have if he doesn’t even work in the field, but Shuzo gave up the succession competition and instead became a retainer and longtime elder—a quiet second-in-command who can speak up after the Oyabun.”

“Ah… So that’s the structure. This is something we didn’t know.”

“This is something you wouldn’t know unless you know Inagawa quite well. I’ll tell you about a tea house among Shuzo’s businesses where he mainly spends his time. If you go there, you’ll find a bent-backed old man doing tea ceremony in a corner—target that person. That person is the small giant, Shuzo.”

“How should I approach him?”

“Stimulate yakuza pride. Say that yakuza who were once like samurai seem to be acting like street thugs at some point. Of course, you shouldn’t act like you know about him. Go as a customer, naturally ask him to teach you tea ceremony, then use someone to casually mention that you received a difficult contact from Inagawa. Then Shuzo will react to the Inagawa story while pretending not to know.”

“Ah…!”

Jang Hae-hyeon was impressed.

Certainly, doing this would ensure no further entanglement with Inagawa.

Both yakuza guilds would lose interest in Shirai Guild too.

“I’ll deposit the remaining payment immediately.”

“No. Pay me when the matter succeeds. It might fail.”

“Understood. Then I hope you get a perfect score on tomorrow’s practical exam as well.”

“Thank you.”

Choi Hyun gave a brief nod and left the President’s Office.

* * *

The next day, the day of the second practical exam.

Choi Hyun took a taxi to the Association.

Unlike the written exam when people flocked like clouds, the practical exam had relatively fewer people, perhaps because many of the unqualified candidates had been weeded out.

Still, there had to be at least several hundred.

Among them, there were probably mercenaries from Taeseong who had infiltrated hoping for his failure.

Of course, it didn’t matter to Choi Hyun at all.

No matter how many mercenaries Taeseong sent, he would proudly claim the top spot in this exam as well.

Soon, the exam began.

“Next examinee!”

The exam was in full swing.

Since Choi Hyun’s face wasn’t known, no one recognized him immediately, but his name had become famous due to the large betting incident at Totoland.

“Did you see Totoland this time?”

“Choi Hyun’s name suddenly disappeared, right?”

“Exactly, damn it. I was going to bet money on Choi Hyun, but those Totoland bastards got scared and blocked player registration entirely.”

“Those human scumbags and their standards.”

“But Totoland really seems to be huge. Looking at the records, someone bet 1 billion won on Choi Hyun during the written exam.”

“Wasn’t that himself?”

“Could be.”

Choi Hyun was gradually becoming a legend through word of mouth.

Soon, it was Choi Hyun’s turn.

Fortunately, he was called by his exam number instead of his name, and Choi Hyun achieved the feat of passing through various exam processes like a monster.

“Whoa?”

“Who is that person?”

“His movements were extraordinary, weren’t they?”

“I saw on YouTube, isn’t that almost professional level?”

“The world really is vast.”

“So we have to fight people like that later?”

“Ah, we’re screwed, really.”

There were as many sighs as there were exclamations of admiration.

The reason?

It was because of the final exam—the group survival battle.

The examiner said.

“Now, we will have you access the virtual reality training program Infinity through the prepared virtual reality devices.”

The final exam, the group survival battle, was simply put, a brutal survival game where participants killed each other in a Virtual Reality Arena until only one person remained.

Whoever survived until the end would essentially become the top graduate.

Choi Hyun also put on the virtual reality access device and lay down in the capsule.

‘Everything will be decided here.’

Not just anyone could participate in the group survival battle.

The survival battle had 100 participants, and only those who ranked in the top 100 throughout the previous processes could participate in the group survival. In that sense, Choi Hyun naturally held the unshakeable first place.

[ A place where fake becomes real. ]

[ This is Infinity, the premium virtual reality program that will assist your training. ]

After the related notifications appeared, Choi Hyun’s consciousness was soon transmitted into Infinity.

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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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