Genius Blacksmith's Game

Hyun had been the weak.

A world where everyone turned their backs on forge work.

A loser whom even the government had said it could not help for countless reasons.

But inside a game called Ares, Hyun had rebuilt things anew, one by one, with his own hands.

First, he gained people of his own, one by one.

After that incident, new people had appeared in the life of a man who, until then, had had no proper family and only Jihoon as a friend.

They had said they would protect him.

After that, he forged artifacts others could not make and sold them off one by one.

The thing that had been no different from debt amounting to several billion won disappeared.

When he finally resolved every problem related to treatment costs, he had cried from joy.

And just today, when he saw that, combining the compensation money Marquis Lukburk had given him with various other funds, he had roughly one billion won of purely his own money in his account, he understood.

I’m the winner.

The treatment for his burn scars was also proceeding smoothly.

Now all that was left for him was to move forward.

Now, he had decided to try doing the thing that would make him happiest.

That happy thing was forge work in reality.

He had been happy and had fun crafting various weapons and armor in Ares.

But the more he did it, the more it made him feel a thirst.

It was a thirst to grip a hammer in reality again like before.

He wanted to show the true last remaining master in the real world, not the virtual one.

Because that work had been what made him happiest, he had gone to see his primary physician, Jinseop, with a swelling heart.

“As I said, if you continue forging with your right hand, I, too, cannot guarantee what will happen to it.”

But it had not been so.

Yes, a mirage.

That was how it had felt.

In the virtual world, he could grip it, but in the real world, he could not.

Of course, there was said to be a treatment waiting for FDA approval in America.

But that was a wait with no promised end.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do for you.”

Doctor Jinseop was someone he had seen for years.

If a man who had said he would do his best was speaking this way, perhaps it truly was right not to grip the hammer for the time being.

Having heard nothing but stories with no fixed date, he trudged away, drained of strength.

Before he knew it, as if possessed, he got on the bus and stared blankly at the passing scenery.

Bzzzt—

[Kim Hyein: Mr. Hyun, did you get the results?]

[Kang Hyuksoo: Don’t even need to see it, I’m sure it went well.]

[Lee Taeha: I’m buying the first piece made at Hyun’s Forge in reality^^]

[Lim Jimin: Everything’s going to work out well for you!]

As Hyun looked at the people in the KkakkaoTalk group chat, his mind went completely blank.

Without being able to reply, he arrived at his destination.

It was the construction site where the forge was almost finished and the house connected to the forge was now being built.

Chairman Lee Taeseong had given special orders.

To build the forge with the very best materials and labor, and to build the house along with it into a fine home.

Hyun could not help but look forward to it.

To the sight of himself stoking the furnace again in a forge built from the best materials.

But it all scattered like a mere mirage.

Then he ground his teeth.

I won’t give up.

Thinking that, he gripped a hammer that had been neatly set to one side.

In truth, it was the first hammer he had gripped since that incident.

Even Hyun himself had been afraid. The anxiety that if he gripped the hammer for no reason, things might get even worse.

Hyun laid a piece of iron on the anvil, fixed it with tongs, and tried to bring the hammer down with all his strength.

He hesitated—

And then Hyun stopped.

It was before he swung it, but he realized clearly.

Maybe the person who knows his body best is himself.

It’s different......

There was a difference between the hammer he had gripped when his hand had been fine and now.

Back then, it had not felt that heavy.

But now, just holding it like this, he could feel that it was different.

Of course, it did not hurt or anything.

It was, just as had been said, at a level where it did not interfere with daily life.

Only now did he truly understand.

If he brought this hammer down as he was now, just as Doctor Jinseop had said, his right hand would be crossing a river he could never come back from.

Thud—

Hyun set the hammer down on the ground.

It was not because his will or perseverance was lacking.

Hyun had finally become aware.

That for the time being, he truly must not do forge work in reality.

......There are so many things I want to make in the real world, too.

Hyun gave a bitter smile.

And to one side of the forge, there was a small space prepared where he could rest while working.

He lay there for a long time. Then, without realizing it, he fell asleep.

Hyun, asleep, dreamed.

Sometimes a dream would run straight through as a single dream, sometimes the scenes would change as he dreamed, and sometimes it would continue with a completely different content.

In the dream, Hyun was his ten-year-old self.

It was strange.

His father and he were sitting across from each other at the table.

His father, young and full of vigor, spoke.

‘Try eating the beans side dish with your left hand.’

‘Tch, it’s uncomfortable to use chopsticks with my left hand.’

‘Heh heh, still, try it once.’

Back then, his father would occasionally have him try using chopsticks with his left hand.

The scene shifted.

The forge.

‘Father, my right arm is tingling, should I rest a bit?’

‘Then how about swinging with your left arm?’

‘Huh? Then it won’t be precise.’

‘The remaining work isn’t the kind that needs to be that precise anyway, is it?’

Those memories flashed past.

Then the bitter scene Hyun had seen in the dream flashed by as well.

It was the sight of his father, who had been forging, clutching his trembling right arm when Hyun came home from school.

Back then, Hyun had pretended not to see.

No, he’d had no choice.

He could not bring himself to acknowledge his father’s weakness.

Then the dream once again led Hyun into darkness.

Multiple scenes swept by him again and again.

And the final scene.

The scene of his father holding his trembling right arm came into view again.

His father turned his head, looked at Hyun, and smiled faintly.

‘Hyun.’

His father, smiling more brightly than anyone else in the world.

Hyun stared at him blankly......

Flash—

Hyun woke from his sleep.

And as was always the case when you woke from a dream with someone in it, he was seized by a crushing heaviness.

He looked at his left hand.

No way......?

Hyun was not ambidextrous.

However, just as in the contents of the dream, Hyun had used his left hand from time to time.

Clench—

Hyun repeatedly clenched and opened his left hand.

And he could not help but laugh.

His father had not wanted Hyun to walk the same path he had.

If we had never had that accident......

His father might have taught him to use both hands.

Perhaps his father had long felt his own right hand growing worse and worse.

Because of that, in preparation for the worst, he might have been laying the groundwork so that Hyun could use his left hand and become an ambidextrous blacksmith.

Thank you.

Hyun rose to his feet.

Rrrrrrr—

In the forge in reality, the furnace was lit.

As he watched the temperature of the furnace rise hot, Hyun’s heart beat faster.

His first ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) production in years was about to blaze up like the flames.

*****

Jinseop watched Hyun in admiration.

A right-handed person using his left hand.

That was undoubtedly an awkward thing.

Just as a right-handed person has a hard time trying to use chopsticks with his left hand.

But Hyun was a little different.

He doesn’t seem to feel that much discomfort.

As if he had, little by little, been making an effort to get used to using his left hand.

Jinseop grew excited.

This piece will show that possibility.

Cases similar to this did exist.

A right-handed pitcher injuring his right arm and throwing with his left.

But even for that, Jinseop was not that optimistic.

When a right-handed player trained to throw with his left hand, his speed rose to 90% of what it had been.

Yes, that was the problem.

That 10%.

That 10% was a meaningless figure for ordinary people.

But for those who had reached the very top, it was a meaningful number.

In reality, the player whose pitch rose to 90% ended up pushed from the most glamorous first team down to the third team.

Because in their league, that 10% difference loomed very large.

That was why the core of the matter was what level this piece would reach.

Before he knew it, Hyun had also spotted Jinseop.

Hyun explained everything from the beginning.

So Mr. Kang Hyuntae had made preparations for his son......

In that case, that percentage might rise a little more.

Jinseop did not go back and kept watching him.

It was a side of his patient he had never seen before.

A side of mine like this.

This space seemed almost as if it were under Hyun’s dominion.

The insignificant young man whose shoulders had once drooped.

Inside here, that young man reigned like a king.

Tap, tak-tak—

Watching the ghostlike dexterity of his hands, Jinseop was amazed.

Before he knew it, time had passed and dawn broke.

Tomorrow was a day off, so Jinseop fixed his eyes on the sword that would soon decide Hyun’s future, slowly nearing completion.

From those possessed movements, he realized.

It wasn’t that there were no master craftsmen because blacksmiths had disappeared.

In that moment, Jinseop was certain.

Hyuntae and Hyun.

The reason those two were called the last remaining master craftsmen in the world was that they themselves were simply that outstanding.

And Hyun put his entire being into it.

His hammering was less precise than usual, and at times his use of his right and left hands together was awkward and clumsy.

The hammer struck places he had not intended to hit.

Finally, he quenched a sword that was less complete than usual.

Sssssss—

He ground it.

Slowly, its form emerged.

If this were Ares, what would it have been like?

[You have crafted a shabby sword.]

[This is the worst artifact you have ever crafted.]

He would have despaired.

But in reality, now, it was different. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Hyun lifted the completed sword.

A blade less smooth than usual and patterns less precise.

Every little detail.

Judging by such things, this was the worst piece Hyun had ever crafted.

But here, it was different.

He had made it.

Yes, with his left hand, a sword of this level had been made.

The most insignificant, yet the sword he needed most.

Jinseop spoke.

“......This was your first left-handed piece, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Jinseop was genuinely impressed.

“I think it’s going to work. Let’s train together on how to get your left hand used to it. If your first left-handed piece is this good, you might be able to regain your old condition.”

Whether it would take a year or three, he did not know, but Jinseop saw the possibility.

At that moment, Hyun felt an intense pain in his right hand.

“Ghhk.”

“May I take a look?”

Forge work, in the end, required both hands.

You strike with the left hand and hold the tongs with the right to fix the work.

If we assume the impact the left hand receives while hammering is 100, then the impact the right hand receives is about 30.

Hyun trembled with anxiety again.

But this was a problem Jinseop could solve.

“I think we can make a medical protective glove. As thin as possible and in a way that doesn’t interfere with forge work. With this level of impact, a glove will protect you 99% and there’ll be no problem.”

At those words, Hyun sank down.

It was relief at the fact that he only needed to make a protective glove for that right hand.

And then Jinseop realized something.

Come to think of it, Hyun had not had a sip of water for a very long time.

“I’ll go buy something to drink.”

Jinseop hurried off at a run.

His running steps were light.

Had he ever been this happy in all his years as a doctor?

Never.

And had he ever felt his heart pound like this when saying he would do his best?

That, too, had never happened.

Jinseop would help Hyun get used to his left hand and keep his right hand from taking damage.

And another reason he was happy was this.

If FDA approval also went through safely, then Jinseop might one day see a blacksmith who could use both hands freely.

Soon, with a refreshing drink in hand, Jinseop returned.

He opened the forge door and went in—and was struck speechless.

Hyun, the blacksmith who was certain to put in just as much effort as he would.

He was sitting there, clutching the shabby sword in its scabbard, sobbing.

“Sniff, hngh......”

Hyun was crying, but Jinseop could feel it.

That right now, Hyun’s happiness was greater than his own.

That the hammer he had gripped again had changed the world that had once collapsed for him.

Setting the drink down in front of the door, Jinseop slowly closed it.

A few seconds later—

“I can make them againnnnnnnnnnn!”

His voice erupted from inside the forge.