The Cursed Blacksmith Who Regressed - Chapter 20

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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 20

Choi Hyun smiled as he looked at the Item Information.

While the sword’s name itself remained the same, the durability and attack power had increased dramatically due to the impurity removal process.

However, as described in the explanation, the size itself had decreased.

The blade’s surface had reduced by 30% and the length had also shortened by about 20%.

‘Can’t be helped. Even though they were impurities, that much weight was removed.’

But since the weapon’s performance itself had improved, the purpose and essence of disassembly repair had been achieved.

‘Durability 150 and attack power 15. This is the true form of the tutorial sword.’

Moreover, since the trait level had reached 5-star, the enhancement repair buff had improved from 10% to 20%.

Choi Hyun stood up from his seat.

‘I think the repair trait is good enough at this level.’

From now on, it was an area that could only be progressed with leveling, so he decided to stop the proficiency work here.

Choi Hyun additionally put the previous sword and several other repaired swords into his inventory.

In the process, he suddenly noticed the impurities that had fallen off from the sword.

Choi Hyun picked them up and checked their information.

[ Something that fell off from the Tutorial Sword. ]

– Type : Item

# A part that fell off from the Tutorial Sword during the disassembly repair process.

Choi Hyun chuckled as he saw the information.

‘The name and information are really half-hearted.’

It couldn’t be helped.

This was once a material and part of the sword, but during the disassembly repair process, it was treated as an impurity and removed like cancer cells.

‘The material itself isn’t bad.’

It was just an unnecessary existence that didn’t suit the perspective of being a tutorial sword.

Still, all of these could be recycled.

After all, their essence was still material.

But there was nothing he could do about it right now.

He didn’t have the related skills to make these recyclable.

‘Well, I’m planning to get them soon anyway.’

Choi Hyun roughly pushed the impurities to a corner.

Since they weren’t particularly precious materials anyway, he didn’t really care how they were disposed of.

Eventually, he checked the time.

It was already night.

Deep into the night, in fact.

After briefly pondering what to do, he decided to rest a bit tonight for tomorrow.

‘I should wash up, eat, and get some sleep.’

It seemed like he had been awake for over 40 hours.

He didn’t feel extremely tired, but condition management was important, so he decided to take strategic rest.

‘Should I have chicken for once? With beer.’

Since he had grilled meat before.

Choi Hyun called a taxi and headed home.

His steps on the way back were very light.

* * *

The next day.

Choi Hyun received a pickup from Jin Hyeon-geun, who contacted him in the morning, and moved to the warehouse together.

Upon arriving at the warehouse and checking the interior, Jin Hyeon-geun was amazed at the mountain of repaired weapons and armor piled up.

“D-did you really repair all of this in just one day?”

“Not one day, it took about two days in terms of hours.”

“My goodness… I knew you were a blacksmith, but the crafting field is definitely tough. You probably haven’t even leveled up yet, but you went through all this trouble to raise trait experience.”

“It’s not really trouble. I just had to hammer without any technique.”

“Still, that’s not as easy as it sounds.”

Jin Hyeon-geun said this while picking up a nearby item to check its information.

He had picked it up without much thought since it caught his eye.

But immediately after seeing the information, Jin Hyeon-geun unconsciously froze.

“Uh…?”

What did I just see?

Did I see it wrong?

No, he hadn’t.

Even after rubbing his eyes and looking again, he hadn’t seen it wrong.

Jin Hyeon-geun, who was so shocked he was speechless, finally came to his senses and checked other items.

And he was even more surprised.

No, he was shocked.

This one, that one, every single item he picked up and checked was not the quality of equipment he had originally brought in.

Genuinely surprised, Jin Hyeon-geun asked Choi Hyun with his mouth half open.

“Um… Advisor?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sure all of these were junk-grade items, but what kind of magic did you cast?”

“It’s not magic, it just turned out that way due to the influence of the repair skill.”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant…”

It wasn’t that Jin Hyeon-geun didn’t know that when he asked.

Where did Jin Hyeon-geun belong?

Jin Hyeon-geun was from the Secretary’s Office directly under the President of Daesan, which had more crafting guild members than combat ones.

How could someone like him not know such facts?

Rather, he was surprised because he knew too well.

All the repaired items here were results that could only come from the hands of at least a 4-star blacksmith.

‘Tutorial series items don’t make profit no matter how well they’re repaired since they’re originally free, but the rest…’

There would definitely be profit.

No, he estimated there would be quite a lot of profit compared to the cost.

Because originally, junk items were things you had to pay disposal fees to get rid of, but if they were restored this well and even had enhancement buffs as options, they could be disposed of quickly at more than fair prices.

Jin Hyeon-geun gulped.

‘Moreover, from 4-star blacksmiths onward, everyone is eager to recruit them…’

Then he suddenly had this thought.

‘Wait, but how long has it been since the Advisor took the Hunter exam to already show this level of repair quality? Could he really have reached 4-star level?’

Jin Hyeon-geun asked with a “no way” expression.

“Advisor, if it’s not rude to ask, could you tell me what trait level you’re currently at?”

“I just reached level 5 last night.”

“Ah, yes, as expected, 4-star… What? Level 5?”

“Yes, I achieved disassembly repair level and rested well until morning.”

“My goodness…”

“What’s wrong?”

“N-no, it’s not that… Aren’t you surprised, Advisor? Or is it because you don’t know much about this industry?”

“Are you saying that because I reached repair trait level 5 in two days?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, I know that’s quite an amazing achievement. I even received achievement bonuses for reaching 3-star, 4-star, and 5-star the fastest in Player history.”

“What?!”

You knew about it?

You even achieved a new record?

But why are you so nonchalant about it?

Jin Hyeon-geun couldn’t close his mouth for a while, but Choi Hyun paid no attention and gave work instructions.

“More importantly, I’d like to ask you to dispose of the items here. I don’t need them anymore.”

“Yes, I understand. What else?”

“From now on, please fill the warehouse mainly with cursed items.”

“Cursed items? Ah, yes, I understand.”

As expected of Jin Hyeon-geun.

He was a competent secretary who answered readily without questioning what Choi Hyun instructed.

Jin Hyeon-geun, who had been taking notes of the instructions, asked.

“What about your next schedule?”

“The President doesn’t need to see me or have any business with me, right?”

“Yes, he said there wouldn’t be anything for a while. He said he’d contact you first if anything urgent came up.”

“Then please gather some reporters at Bukhansan. I’m planning to climb the Tower of Growth by myself from now on.”

“The Tower of Growth?”

“Yes, everyone must be quite curious about this batch’s top scorer in the Hunter exam anyway, so I thought I’d draw some serious attention while I’m at it.”

Choi Hyun smiled faintly as he said this.

Since he had gained economic freedom through Han Yeong-min, it was now time to gain social status.

The starting point would be the Tower of Growth.

* * *

“Ah, this is really driving me crazy…”

Han Yeong-min was having a terrible time.

After Choi Hyun left, no matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn’t come up with any decent solution.

It wasn’t just a few pennies, but a whopping hundred billion.

Not ten billion or even ten billion, but a full hundred billion.

Actually, even ten billion was a large sum, but a hundred billion was really big money. Even if it was his own father, it would be difficult to use readily.

Of course, if he used company money, there wouldn’t be much to worry about, but the problem was that this bet was tied to Totoland and was a personal transgression, so there was no justification for using company money.

No matter how much you own the company, if you take company money without justification, it becomes embezzlement.

Hiss—

Thanks to this, he started smoking again after having quit.

What should I do?

Looking into Choi Hyun’s background, he had made transactions worth tens of billions with Daesan twice.

What kind of relationship does that guy have with Daesan?

More precisely, what kind of relationship does he have with Jang Hae-hyeon, the president of Daesan Guild?

Is all of this Jang Hae-hyeon’s will?

His head was complicated.

Should I really hire someone to kill him?

Yeah, maybe that would be cleaner.

Whether I fall out of the successor competition for conspiracy to commit murder or fall into ruin after my father finds out about Totoland’s dirty money, it’s the same ending anyway.

Is Daesan behind this?

Honestly, if I handle it so no one knows, would even Daesan be able to figure it out?

If I spend a few tens of billions, I could probably hire a famous overseas killer, right?

‘Right. That’s the way. Destroy the evidence completely and once the killer leaves this country, how could they possibly find them?’

Movies are never exaggerated.

They’re all made based on reality.

Of course, the attempt to crush that guy by deploying three established hunters failed, but he thought that was because he used ambiguous guys.

He also thought that unifying the stats in virtual reality was one of the major factors in the defeat.

The exposure of the mercenary Trio’s identity was somehow well covered up.

The mercenaries didn’t open their mouths until the end and testified that they took the test for fun. There would be punishment, but it would be very minor. Because he would make it so.

So this time, he would prepare thoroughly and there would be no mistakes.

‘This time I’m planning to use a killer worth tens of billions.’

Then the story would be different.

It was around the time he made that judgment and was about to formulate a plan in his head.

“President, this is an urgent matter.”

It was his secretary.

Han Yeong-min frowned and asked.

“What is it?”

When Han Yeong-min, who would normally have told him to leave, asked back, the secretary finally opened the door.

It was that middle-aged man who had answered the phone through Han Gu-hong’s phone.

He brought his tablet and showed him a video.

The video was a live news broadcast being streamed in real time.

“What is this?”

“Look at the person being interviewed. It’s that guy.”

“That guy?”

At the secretary’s words, he finally looked at the screen properly.

On the screen was Choi Hyun being interviewed by reporters at Bukhansan.

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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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