Chapter 3
“I Became a Genius Blacksmith Obsessed Over by Hunters”
“Heheh. Bringing chicken home was a great decision, but isn’t this amount way too little for me? Are you trying to provoke me?”
The one who burst through the door was Geum A-yeon.
She was Kang-cheol’s younger sister by six years, and an awakened individual attending the Hunter Academy.
People said she was talented enough to contribute in a Gate raid immediately if she wanted to, but…
That meant nothing when delicious food was involved.
“What are you talking about, pig?”
“Oh please, like that’s gonna make me give up chicken? Oink oink. Hand it over, piggy.”
“If you eat more than a whole chicken by yourself, you should seriously tone it down.”
“No thanks. I need to store up stamina for fangirling.”
While the siblings bickered, the notification window quietly appeared before Kang-cheol’s eyes.
—Um, student. I feel awkward saying this about someone else’s family, but… she seems a little too noisy to call over before work.
‘Yeah. She’s just a gluttonous otaku.’
—Hey, I didn’t say it that harshly! You’re awful, student!
Kang-cheol lifted and shook the chicken box.
At the drifting aroma, A-yeon’s eyes locked onto the box instantly.
“I was planning to share, but I figured once we started eating, we’d lose our minds.”
“Hurry up. If you’re giving it to me, then hurry.”
“I will. But first, I wanted to ask something about hunters. You don’t hate talking about hunters, do you?”
At Kang-cheol’s words, A-yeon’s attitude changed immediately.
“Respected older brother, if it’s something like that, you should’ve said so from the start.”
“Good. Catch!”
Kang-cheol tossed her a hot piece of chicken.
A-yeon caught it with the reflexes of a border collie playing frisbee and stuffed it into her mouth.
—Your sister’s fangirling is…
‘Well, she says it’s “career preparation” since she’s awakened and all…’
Ever since childhood, hunters constantly came and went from their father’s forge, so the siblings naturally encountered them often.
They had simply focused on different things.
While Kang-cheol paid attention to the weapons their father forged, A-yeon’s eyes had been drawn toward the hunters themselves.
Bulging muscles! Expensive-looking gear!
That fangirling eventually evolved into knowing practically every hunter who had appeared in the media to some extent.
“From now on, I ask the questions. You answer.”
Nod.
A-yeon nodded as if even spending time replying verbally was a waste.
“Okay. First up, the Yeonhwa Guild.”
“A guild established two years ago by hunters specializing in martial-arts-type skills. Main members include Guild Master Kwon Semi and the five team leaders…”
The information poured out effortlessly.
What was more shocking was that her wording matched internet documents exactly.
“…You memorized all that?”
“No. I wrote those documents.”
“…Here.”
Kang-cheol tossed her another piece of chicken, and she immediately stopped talking to catch it.
“Then among the Yeonhwa Guild team leaders, do you know someone named Park Young-jun?”
“Leader of Team 3. One of the top combatants in the Yeonhwa Guild, and there’s talk he’ll attempt promotion to S-rank soon. Personally, though, I think he’s too simple-minded for that.”
Apparently satisfied with the answer, Kang-cheol tossed her an especially large piece.
“Then this one might be harder… Kim Do-yoon.”
“Kim Do-yoon?”
At her questioning reaction, the anticipation quickly faded from Kang-cheol’s face.
As of 2020, over 3,300 newborn boys had been registered with that exact name.
Even narrowing it down to awakened individuals still left far too many.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
Fangirling needed material.
Even if someone was awakened and technically a hunter, without any noteworthy information, there was no reason for fans to care.
The way Kang-cheol had learned the name wasn’t even official.
‘I didn’t expect this ability to work on things like that.’
Using the Eye of Insight, he had inspected the steel material’s creator.
The name written there had been Kim Do-yoon.
Setting aside the poorly completed skill that left the steel practically hollow…
Someone pulling cheap scams like this was unlikely to become famous for anything good.
That was what he had thought, but—
“Which Kim Do-yoon?”
“You know one?”
“I know three. One Pathfinder, one tank, and one dealer. Though the dealer died a few weeks ago, so I guess now it’s just two.”
Finishing proudly, A-yeon opened her mouth wide expectantly.
Kang-cheol tossed her two pieces of chicken.
“The one with metal manipulation skills.”
“C-rank tank. His skills are decent enough, but he’s mostly famous for being ridiculously handsome. What, oppa, are you gay?”
Should he explain what happened?
And if he did, how much should he explain?
How he discovered Kim Do-yoon?
Why he was even investigating this?
Kang-cheol considered how to talk without revealing his awakening, but ultimately gave up and shoved the entire chicken box toward her.
“Oh, and if you’re struggling with your identity or anything, you can always—”
“Get lost!”
“Gyaaah!”
Only after the noisy footsteps disappeared did the notification window cautiously appear again.
—Your sister definitely knows a lot. But student… are you okay?
“Hm? About what?”
—You said you were going to deal with that troublesome customer. But didn’t you still fail to find anything definitive?
Kang-cheol chuckled softly.
“Well… maybe.”
Contrary to his words, however, confidence filled his face.
Three Days Later
Screeeeeech.
A massive car, entirely out of place beside the shabby forge exterior, screeched to a halt in front of the building.
The one stepping out was Park Young-jun.
For some reason, he was even wearing full armor today, making his intimidating aura even stronger.
‘It’s finished by now, right?’
He had acted threateningly before, but over the last three days, Kang-cheol’s wronged expression had remained stuck in his mind.
If the steel really had been defective…
“Hmph!”
Park Young-jun shook his head to dispel the thoughts.
What mattered most now was currying favor with his superior.
No matter what, the weapon had to turn out satisfactory.
“Anyone here?”
Park Young-jun opened the door to Kang-cheol’s forge.
The inside was dimly lit.
As his eyes adjusted, something strange came into view.
Soda cans.
“Huh?”
No matter how he looked at it, they were definitely drink cans.
Not just one or two either, but several different kinds lined up together.
The strange part was seeing them the moment he entered a forge.
Even stranger was that they were sitting atop the workbench where the sword had supposedly been undergoing inspection three days ago.
“You’re here?”
While he stood there bewildered, Kang-cheol emerged.
“Wow, you look cheerful.”
“Of course I do.”
Right. Looks like threatening him paid off after all.
“Today’s delivery day, but all I see are drinks. Let’s see the completed sword first, then we can talk.”
“Ah, there won’t be any of that.”
The response completely contradicted his expectations.
The confidence in Kang-cheol’s voice bordered on shamelessness.
“What?”
“I haven’t touched the material since the interim inspection. And I won’t be paying any penalty fee either.”
“A sword doesn’t exist, and you won’t pay?”
“Yes. Because it’s not my fault.”
Even after asking again, the answer remained the same.
No—in fact, it sounded even more shameless.
“Hah… So you really think I’m a joke, huh?”
Park Young-jun strode forward.
His large frame and fierce expression practically screamed intimidation.
‘I was told not to rough up civilians, but…’
He didn’t even need real violence.
Usually, just grabbing someone by the collar and shaking them a few times was enough to make even most hunters cower.
He merely intended to shake him enough to force out an apology.
At least, that was the plan when he reached out his hand—
“Hm?”
Thunk.
His hand was stopped.
Park Young-jun was among the top three combatants in the Yeonhwa Guild, renowned for strength.
Even if he wasn’t serious, an ordinary person shouldn’t have been able to see his movement, much less stop it.
Yet this mere blacksmith had.
“I understand you’re upset, but hear the explanation first. Once you do, you’ll have no choice but to admit this wasn’t my fault.”
A steady gaze. An unexpected situation.
The shock that his intimidation had failed against a mere blacksmith made Park Young-jun unconsciously step back.
“Y-you better not try anything suspicious. Got it?”
“Of course. At least have a drink first.”
“What, did you poison it? Too bad for you—hunters at my level all have poison resistance skills.”
“The cans being empty is important for the explanation. It seemed wasteful to throw them away. Poison? Seriously?”
Only then did Park Young-jun grab one of the cans.
“Drink while you listen. Ask questions whenever.”
What Kang-cheol intended to prove was simple.
The steel had been hollow inside.
“The reason I didn’t even touch the second piece is because this one’s probably hollow too.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“That’s exactly why I prepared all these drinks.”
Thunk.
Kang-cheol knocked over a cola can.
Thunk.
Then a coffee can.
Thunk.
Finally, an ion drink can.
“You heard that, right? When they’re full, they make a heavy sound. And then…”
Clang.
He poured water into an empty can and knocked it over.
“The emptier the can, the lighter the sound becomes. If it’s completely empty, it makes an even sharper sound.”
“You can tell from the sound?”
“Exactly. Which is why I prepared some comparison materials too.”
Kang-cheol hurried to one corner of the forge and returned pushing a cart.
Inside were a blank steel billet, another steel piece, and several ordinary steel materials from his workshop.
“Let’s start by tapping the normal steel.”
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Some pieces were darker than others. Some had rust.
But overall, they produced similar sounds.
“And this is the sound your material makes.”
Starting from the faintly red sections and moving toward the brighter parts, Kang-cheol struck the steel with a hammer.
Tting! Tting! Tting!
“…!”
As he tapped repeatedly, he marked X’s on the steel with a marker.
“Since you can hear the difference now, let me explain something else.”
“Something else?”
“All steel labeled CPM is expensive. Do you know why?”
Kang-cheol explained as simply as possible.
Powder metallurgy steel required numerous advanced processes and facilities.
The metal had to be powdered finely and distributed evenly.
Forming, sintering, heat treatment, dimensional adjustment, specialized processing, surface treatment, quality control—
Only after all that could powder metallurgy steel finally be produced.
Additional processing naturally increased costs.
Some even claimed the initial investment cost was three times that of traditional steelmaking.
The only reason companies went through such trouble was for superior quality.
Which meant defects like hollow interiors simply could not happen.
“So… I-I got scammed…”
“Most likely. Either only you got scammed, or the person who sold it to you got scammed too.”
In other words, regardless of who the culprit was, Park Young-jun had unquestionably been conned.
Park Young-jun’s expression twisted strangely before he suddenly shouted.
“H-how do I know you didn’t just mess up the heat treatment?! Huh?!”
“Right. I figured you’d say that, so I prepared a convincing method.”
Kang-cheol pulled out his phone and showed the screen.
“You bought the steel from this guy, right? Kim Do-yoon. OOO-dong. On Gaji Market.”
“H-how did you—?!”
“Someone who knows you well told me. It really helps having knowledgeable acquaintances. Your Gaji Market reputation score is over 80 degrees, huh? Funny, considering how harsh you were with me.”
The final piece of information he had obtained by sacrificing an entire chicken.
He had suspected it before, but judging by Park Young-jun’s panic, it seemed true.
Gaji Market was infamous for scams and disputes.
People even joked that the platform’s name came from “If you came expecting it to be fake, then shut up and deal with it.”
“Who the hell buys steel from a place like that?!”
“…”
“I arranged to meet him today and told him to bring the steel directly from the factory. We’ll split it open right in front of you the moment he hands it over. Since I won’t have touched it yet, you’ll believe me then, right?”
“T-that’s true… but did you really have to go that far?”
“Hah.”
Kang-cheol scratched the back of his head before speaking coldly.
“You doubted me from the start. At first, you even told me to sell the forge to pay the penalty fee. After hearing you talk, I figured that even if I proved the steel was hollow, you’d still blame me.”
Park Young-jun opened and closed his mouth awkwardly.
Well, he had blamed Kang-cheol for literally everything up to this point.
“So I prepared a method to prove my words to you. Partly to avoid the penalty fee, but also to protect my pride as a blacksmith.”
Kang-cheol continued without hesitation.
“If I’m wrong, I’ll stake not only the forge but my neck as well. If I’m right, what will you stake?”
“You want me to stake something?”
“You casually talked about selling someone else’s livelihood. You’re fine threatening another man’s rice bowl, but too scared to put up your own?”
“Hah. Scared?”
Maybe things would’ve gone differently if he had apologized now.
But his pride as a hunter wouldn’t allow it.
He belonged to an elite social class—one of the upper ranks among hunters.
And now some mere blacksmith was asking if he was scared?
“Fine! If you’re right, I’ll be your dog! A barking dog! I’ll crawl around on all fours, act cute, bark like a mutt! Happy now?!”
“Well, compared to staking my neck, the wager feels a bit lacking, but fine.”
“Hah… You arrogant little—”
Just as Park Young-jun was about to continue—
BANG BANG BANG.
A rough knocking echoed through the forge.
“Perfect timing. Looks like he’s here.”
Kang-cheol headed for the door.
Repeating internally that he’d destroy both of them if necessary.
“Please watch quietly from somewhere out of sight.”
