The Cursed Blacksmith Who Regressed - Chapter 5

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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 5

Watching her diligently prepare the summoning spell, Choi Hyun thought to himself.

‘She must be quite flustered.’

But it couldn’t be helped.

It wasn’t that he was trying to show off—this really was the only way.

That was because the demon Choi Hyun wanted to summon could barely be called forth by any summoner currently in Korea.

‘Even if there were any, I don’t have the means to find out who they are.’

And even if he did find out, it would probably cost a fortune since it’s a rare demon.

That’s why he directly wrote the summoning scroll and only requested proxy summoning.

Soon, Kim Su-in, who had finished her preparations, spoke.

“The summoning preparations are complete. Should I proceed with the summoning ritual right away?”

“Yes, please do.”

“Then I’ll start immediately.”

Having drawn the entire summoning circle, she finally stood before it and began the summoning ritual based on the summoning scroll Choi Hyun had prepared.

“مرحبًا ، أيها الشيطان! معذرة، لكن هل يمكنك أن تستدعيني؟ هناك شخص ما يبحث عنك.”

Quite a long incantation.

However, she was a capable summoner and eventually succeeded in activating the summoning spell.

[ Summoning scroll is being used. ]

[ Target responds to the summoner’s call. ]

[ Beginning target’s summoning. ]

Whoooosh!

A few system notifications and a flash of light.

Then a magic circle was drawn in mid-air and the descent of the summoned demon began to proceed.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Not at all. The summoning scroll you prepared was so perfect that…”

She trailed off.

Then she glanced at Choi Hyun.

She seemed to have many questions.

But Choi Hyun was firm.

“The demon seems about to appear, so could you please step aside for now?”

At Choi Hyun’s polite request, Kim Su-in was about to say something but soon bowed and left.

And shortly after, light began to burst forth.

[ Gray Scale Demon is being summoned. ]

Whoooosh!

Light burst forth and the demon was completely descended from the summoning circle.

The name of the summoned demon was Gray Scale Demon.

It had no lower body, with a spine that hung down like a tail and exposed skeletal ribs, fleshless wings and a gaunt skull, and in one hand it held a balanced scale that was particularly striking.

Whoooo!

A chilling aura emanated from the Gray Scale Demon.

It was demonic energy.

If it had been an ordinary person or a player with low stats, they would have immediately started vomiting and lost their mind, but since this was a situation where the demon had been summoned through proper procedures, no worrisome situation occurred.

The Gray Scale Demon looked at Choi Hyun in front of it and asked in a voice like an empty soul.

“Who are you? You’re not the summoner who summoned me.”

“Ah, no. I just paid money and requested proxy summoning. But I wrote the summoning scroll myself.”

The opponent was a 5-star demon.

But even so, Choi Hyun didn’t show courtesy as he had with Kim Su-in or others.

There were two reasons.

Like most summoned creatures, but especially if the target was a demon, you shouldn’t show a submissive attitude.

Because then the demon would look down on the summoner and try to do whatever it wanted.

The second reason was that the Gray Scale Demon simply wasn’t human.

‘Why should I show human courtesy to something that isn’t even human?’

What kind of beings were demons anyway?

Unless it was a necessary situation, Choi Hyun had no intention whatsoever of groveling to non-human beings.

At Choi Hyun’s words, the Gray Scale Demon laughed.

“An interesting human. Yes. Still, since you summoned me properly, I’ll at least listen to what you have to say. Do you know who I am?”

“I called you because I know. I’ll get straight to the point. I called you to receive your scale trick. The types are curse and blessing. Is it possible?”

At the mention of the scale trick, the Gray Scale Demon laughed eerily.

“Interesting. You look low level but you know quite a lot about me.”

“I studied a bit. Anyway, I want to receive one curse and one blessing through the scale trick.”

The Gray Scale Demon was a demon of deals.

You could demand what you wanted from it, but in return you had to pay a price equivalent to what you requested.

Among those, what Choi Hyun requested were a curse and a blessing.

With a curse and blessing, he could pay with his body even if he didn’t have anything right now.

“Kekeke, then I don’t need to talk long. So, what blessing do you want?”

“No, I need a curse.”

“You need a curse?”

“Yeah, what I want is the curse of memory.”

At the words that he wanted a curse, the Gray Scale Demon made an interested expression.

Usually people would want a blessing.

The creature laughed and said.

“An interesting fellow. By the way, the curse of memory… it’s been quite a while since I’ve heard that name. Some say the curse of memory is a trivial curse, but not at all. The curse of memory has a deeper history than you’d think and is quite classic yet dignified.”

“I’m not really curious about that, so I’d appreciate it if you could cast the curse right away.”

“I will. But you should know this. Casting a curse on you is easy, but the blessing must be at a level befitting the curse of memory. There are no recommendations. You have to find it yourself.”

“I know.”

“Hehehe, you’re full of spirit. Good, then let’s see just how harmful the curse of memory will be for you.”

The curse of memory.

A curse so named because once you remember something, you remember everything and can never forget it.

The reason this is a curse is because forgetting serves as a kind of medicine for people.

‘Even painful memories fade with time. That’s how the pain lessens.’

There’s a reason for the saying that time heals all wounds.

But if you’re afflicted with the curse of memory that remembers everything, even traumatic memories come back very vividly as if you just experienced them.

That’s why it’s called the curse of memory.

In that sense, this was indeed a curse for Choi Hyun too.

No one had experienced as much pain and tragedy as Choi Hyun, who came from the apocalypse.

Especially thinking of the Sword God’s sacrifice, who wielded his sword to the end to show him sword techniques, this was all the more a curse.

This was what the Gray Scale Demon meant by checking.

So it could price the blessing accordingly.

Soon, it was the moment when the Gray Scale Demon’s aura seeped into Choi Hyun.

“…!”

The demon’s eyes widened.

Then it flinched in surprise and pulled back its extended hand.

“You…!”

At the creature’s reaction, Choi Hyun smiled coldly.

“What, did you see something you shouldn’t have?”

“How do you have That One’s power?”

That One.

It was referring to the owner of the demon’s eye trait that Choi Hyun possessed and the great demon who had made a deal with Daniel over the clockwork.

‘That creature is a great demon among great demons, one of the top-ranked among demons—not an existence that you, merely a mid-level demon now, can dare to look upon.’

Choi Hyun replied.

“Don’t ask. Even if I wanted to tell you, I can’t. So, will you do it or not?”

“….”

The Gray Scale Demon remained silent.

Then soon nodded its head.

“…I’ll grant it, your request.”

“Good.”

As expected, the creature had no choice but to nod.

Setting aside the fact that Choi Hyun possessed the aura of an archdemon, the creature had seen it.

What kind of life Choi Hyun had lived in the past.

The Gray Scale Demon that had agreed used its power.

[ The Gray Scale Demon places a curse upon you. ]

[ The curse of memory settles within you. ]

Whoooosh!

Light flashed.

At the same time, the creature’s power seeped into Choi Hyun, and all of his memories began to surge forth madly, vividly restored as if flashing before his eyes.

It was agonizing.

It felt like a massive amount of information was suddenly being injected into his head.

But Choi Hyun clenched his eyes and lips shut, crossed his arms, and stood firmly in place.

After some time passed, the curse of memory had completely settled.

[ The trait ‘Curse of Memory’ is imprinted. ]

A brief system notification.

Since it was a curse imprinted through a deal with a demon, this wasn’t a temporary phenomenon like a simple debuff effect, but was carved as a trait entirely.

It didn’t matter.

If it was carved as a trait, it wouldn’t be swept away by half-hearted purification effects.

Choi Hyun slowly opened his eyes.

At the same time, the advice given by the all-stars that he had memorized tediously during the 40 hours his fallen comrades had bought him on the last day of the apocalypse came to mind as vividly as if they had just spoken.

‘Just as calculated.’

Choi Hyun had been one of the world’s top-tier blacksmiths.

But regardless of being a top-tier blacksmith, his memory was only slightly better than an ordinary person’s, so for future preparations, he needed to forcibly restore all his memories. Even if it was a curse accompanied by pain.

‘Now it begins.’

Having recalled everything, Choi Hyun raised his head and met eyes with the Gray Scale Demon.

“I’ll receive the blessing later.”

“…Do as you wish.”

While a curse could be received first, a blessing could not be received first.

Because one could receive the blessing first and postpone receiving the curse.

That’s why deals with the Gray Scale Demon were difficult, and why this deal was called scale trickery.

If a player didn’t properly weigh the scales when proposing a deal, it would usually become a deal where the player suffered losses.

The Gray Scale Demon frowned.

He didn’t like Choi Hyun.

It wasn’t because Choi Hyun postponed receiving the blessing.

His interest had waned because this was someone who already knew everything.

When Choi Hyun extended his arm, a gray scale pattern was drawn on his wrist.

[ You have received the ‘Gray Scale Seal’ that can summon the Gray Scale Demon. ]

After a brief notification, he spoke.

“After the next deal, there will never be another occasion to deal with you again.”

“Do as you wish.”

Having finished speaking, he disappeared while still frowning.

Thus the deal with the demon ended.

After completing the deal, Choi Hyun quickly left Nephilim.

He had worried about running into Kim Su-in again, but that didn’t happen, and Choi Hyun took a taxi to move to the next location.

The place he arrived at was ‘Daesan’, one of the renowned super-large guilds in the country.

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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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