Genius Blacksmith's Game

Takashi still felt what happened that day like a nightmare.

After that...

Takashi disappeared, and now he was nothing more than a drunk.

Even so, Takashi was trying to enter the forge where Hyunsoo lived.

Today, I didn’t even drink.

As if it mattered, he was keeping up appearances before meeting him.

And Takashi was confident.

He’s a blacksmith too. He’ll meet me.

With that thought, Takashi walked up to enter the forge where Hyunsoo lived—then froze, flustered.

What are all these people...?

Hyun was the most famous person alive right now.

People crowded in, hoping to meet him, or hoping they might get to see him work at a real-world forge.

And prepared for this, the security guards Taeha had sent were controlling the crowd.

But Takashi let out a small laugh.

Even so, I’ll be able to meet him right away.

Takashi turned on a translation app on his phone and spoke to a security guard.

“I am someone named Takashi, who used to do blacksmith work. I want to meet Hyun.”

But then, unbelievably—

At Takashi’s words, the security guard let out a deep sigh.

“You’re thirty-ninth, sir.”

“...?”

The security guard pointed to a group standing behind.

Takashi was stunned.

A young man gripping a tool hammer—something you’d use at home—shouted,

“Hey, I’m a blacksmith too, so show me your work!?”

Someone even shoved their hands forward.

“Don’t you see the calluses?”

“Those are gym calluses!”

“N-no, if you look with the eye of the heart, you can see them!”

“...”

Takashi spoke.

“N-no... I truly am a Japanese man who worked as a blacksmith for twenty-six generations—”

“...Our family is a prestigious house that’s made arms and gear for thirteen generations!”

“No way I’m losing, our family has eighteen generations!”

“O-our family is twenty-eight generations!”

A tactless friend of the person who just shouted said,

“Your parents run a soup shop, though....”

“...”

“...”

The security guard said,

“...Go home. Sir, it’s dangerous for you too, so step aside.”

Takashi had no choice but to get swept in with the crowd insisting they were blacksmiths.

I didn’t expect this....

Hyun’s popularity was really going to stab the sky like this?

Just then, the young man who’d been exposed as running a soup shop said,

“Hehe, sir, you must be a huge fan of Hyun too. Man, even elders love Master Blacksmith Hyun!”

Takashi couldn’t hide his bewilderment, stuck inside Hyun’s fan club. He prayed no one would talk to him, and it was absurd.

How could someone run a soup shop for twenty-eight generations?

“This is fate and all—want to come to our soup shop?”

Takashi felt like he was going to lose his mind.

*****

The forge.

What is the problem, exactly?

Recently, Hyunsoo had been feeling something he couldn’t explain.

It felt like his crafting skill was regressing.

Something is wrong.

Hyunsoo’s intuition, sharpened by long years at the forge, was saying that.

The problem was that Hyunsoo couldn’t pinpoint the reason.

And the things he’d crafted inside the forge lately—

[It is a Rare grade.]

[It is a Rare grade.]

[It is a Common grade.]

[Common...]

A large portion of them were showing miserable results.

There was definitely a problem with Hyunsoo right now.

At first, I thought it was because of the pressure of saying I’ll become king.

But no.

That was why Hyunsoo needed something.

He recalled what he’d seen in an article.

—According to CEO Lee Sejin, they sought advice from at least four blacksmiths in the blacksmith field...

—Blacksmith Smith contributed the most...

It was an article that came out not long after Hyunsoo revealed he was a real blacksmith.

The article said they had obtained advice from at least four blacksmiths.

Smith.

Takashi.

The rest were unknown.

But Hyunsoo thought this.

Right now, I can’t see myself.

Sometimes people can’t see their own problems.

But skilled blacksmiths would be different.

It might be an easy issue from someone else’s perspective.

So Hyunsoo hoped the real blacksmiths would approach him.

There was no need for them to make him an enemy.

But he couldn’t grab even a single thread.

Then Resil came by.

“Hyunsoo, I guess your popularity really is insane. There are even more people pretending to be blacksmiths.”

“Yeah?”

And the biggest problem was that the number of people pretending to be blacksmiths was increasing exponentially.

Because of that, it became difficult to filter the real ones.

But Hyunsoo couldn’t meet all of them, either.

“There’s even an elderly Japanese man, apparently. You’re a multinational star.”

“An old Japanese man?”

Something flickered in Hyunsoo’s eyes.

“Yeah, he said he has something he wants to commission from you. His name is Da... da....”

The moment Hyunsoo heard “Da,” his heart started pounding.

No way...!?

“Tanaka?”

“...Isn’t Tanaka that Korean guy who used to imitate being Japanese?”

“...Ah, right.”

Resil snapped their fingers.

“Oh, right. Not Tanaka—Takashi!”

“Where is he right now?”

Hyunsoo knew exactly what kind of person Takashi was.

The moment Hyunsoo heard Resil, he logged out and came outside.

Recently, Hyunsoo had moved his living space and was living in a room attached to the forge.

When Hyunsoo came out, countless fans were there.

Hyunsoo hurried to the security guards and asked,

“Where did the old man named Takashi go? He was here.”

“Yes...? An old man? Ah, the one who said he’s been a blacksmith for twenty-six generations....”

Hearing the security guard, Hyunsoo became sure.

“Yes. Where did he go!?”

Hyunsoo looked far more excited than usual.

“Ah, he....”

The guard thought for a moment, then said,

“He went to eat soup rice.”

“...All of ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) a sudden?”

Why soup rice all of a sudden?

Takashi.

He was impressed.

So it really was a soup shop for twenty-eight generations!

Takashi had been half-dragged along by the young man’s friendliness.

He was moved to the point of shock by the taste of blood sausage soup rice from a family that had run the shop for twenty-eight generations.

That milky broth was so rich.

And a Korean food called cubed radish kimchi was unbelievable.

Recently—no, in his entire life—it was a taste that could honestly be called the best.

He’d just eaten, and he already wanted more.

“See you again, sir.”

“I ate well.”

Takashi parted from the friendly young man.

The moment Takashi opened the door and stepped out, the person Takashi had been looking for was waiting.

That person bowed politely.

“I greet you, Master Takashi of Japan.”

Have we met before?

Maybe he’d heard the name, but he was acting like he knew his face.

But to Takashi, that wasn’t important.

“There’s something I want to commission. That’s why I came.”

The two moved to a quiet café nearby.

Sitting face-to-face, Hyunsoo was curious.

A commission from Master Takashi?

Soon, two cups of warm tea came out.

“Why are you looking at me with such sad eyes?”

“...I’m sorry.”

Hyunsoo realized he’d made a mistake.

A commission from Master Takashi—

Honestly, it didn’t make sense.

Takashi was a master more skilled than Hyunsoo’s father, and more skilled than Hyunsoo himself.

But after that incident—

“Are my hands ugly?”

Unable to endure the suffering, Takashi had brought a blacksmith hammer down on his own right hand.

Hyunsoo felt like Takashi’s grief was pressing into him.

At the time, the perpetrator was a fairly well-known “warrior” who had met the conditions to purchase a blade in Japan.

Suspicions surfaced that the man had used drugs, and he fell apart.

But the real problem came afterward.

THROB—

Hyunsoo felt like he couldn’t breathe.

That “warrior” used the “finest Japanese sword” forged by the old man sitting in front of him—

And committed a bladed rampage in Osaka, the most crowded place, killing many people.

Afterward, as that half-crazed bastard was taken in, the interview he gave shocked the world.

So they called him a master—he really was. It cut so well, just from one swing! KRAAAAH!

After that, Takashi donated all of his wealth to society and burned his own forge with his own hands.

The forge that had been passed down for twenty-six generations became ashes like that.

TWINGE—

And.

His “grandson” was killed by a Japanese sword he had made.

But Hyunsoo needed to know why Takashi needed a commission.

“Give me a clear reason.”

Honestly, Hyunsoo wanted to refuse even more.

Takashi was dangerous right now.

He was dangerous because he had lost everything.

And there was something Hyunsoo couldn’t understand most of all.

“I don’t understand why you would need to commission something. If I can’t accept the reason, I can never make it for you.”

An old man who threw everything away and disappeared.

An old man who said he would never craft again.

It was obvious he came to Hyunsoo because he couldn’t betray what he’d sworn to himself.

Why would he go this far....

Hyunsoo was curious—and Takashi began his story.

“I had a son. Unlike me, my son didn’t want to inherit blacksmithing, so I drove him out. Then one day, a wedding invitation came. I didn’t go.”

With emotionless eyes, the old man traced the teacup.

“Then one day, my son and daughter-in-law died in a car accident at the same time. When I came to my senses, I was holding a small child’s hand. Heh.”

“He wasn’t like his father. He liked blacksmithing. He loved it.”

Then—

“One day, I went to Isonokami Shrine with my grandson.”

Hyunsoo’s eyes shook.

Isonokami Shrine...?

The old man nodded.

“That’s right. The real Baekje Seven-Branched Sword was on display there.”

The Seven-Branched Sword in the National Museum right now was only a recreation.

The real Seven-Branched Sword was in Japan, in Isonokami Shrine.

“My grandson saw it and asked, happy as can be—why Korea’s Seven-Branched Sword was there, whether it was truly given as a gift, or whether it was taken.”

Nothing had been confirmed precisely.

Then the old man smiled.

“I raised my grandson well. Back then, my grandson spoke of his dream.”

Hyunsoo listened closely.

What that dream was.

“Aoi said—whether it was taken or given, historically we clearly committed many wrongs against Korea. And that the fact the Baekje Seven-Branched Sword is in Japan is proof, to some extent. He was better than adults.”

Hyunsoo realized Takashi had been a good adult.

Instead of denying the country’s wrongs, he accepted them and taught the child.

And it hurt, because the boy Aoi had grown up so bright and so upright.

“Aoi said he had a dream.”

“...”

Hyunsoo heard it, and Takashi—like that day was vivid—brought Aoi’s face back to mind.

Grandpa! Later, like you, I’m going to make the finest blade in the world!

Takashi said he had asked why Aoi wanted to forge the finest blade in the world.

Then Takashi smiled faintly.

“...That kid wanted to repay it with the finest blade he made.”

Hyunsoo’s eyes filled with shock.

Only then did he understand what Takashi meant.

Hundreds of years ago, Baekje’s Seven-Branched Sword crossed into Japan.

“I will return the Baekje Seven-Branched Sword in my grandson Aoi’s way. I will donate Japan’s finest blade to Korea.”

The master who had lost everything—his last craft held the dream of the brightest child.

After hearing everything, Hyunsoo’s eyes were trembling.

In effect, it would be Takashi’s last craft shown to the world.

And the reason was too admirable.

Now the most important thing remained.

“What do you want to commission from me?”

“In Korea, they call it ‘sashimi,’ I hear.”

What the old man wanted to donate to Korea.

A blade that received the most love among Japanese knives today.

A Sakai sashimi knife.