Genius Blacksmith's Game

While Hyunsoo was asleep.

[The people of Cassel Territory spread the tale of ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ their benefactor.]

[That tale reaches those who need you, or those you passed by.]

His story was spreading fast.

Some of the ones he had passed by—those who had built high Affinity with him.

Ares’s Beginner’s Village.

Blacksmith Ren, who had been repeating his forging practice, shivered at what he heard.

“Hyunsoo...? You’re saying he saved Cassel Territory?”

“Right, but why are you that happy about it?”

“Of course I am. He’s my master!”

Before anyone noticed, the blacksmith named Ren—once a novice, now a mid-tier blacksmith—was going on about how amazing he was.

And over at the Lord’s Castle, likewise located in the Beginner Zone.

SHRAAAACK—

TA-!

After hitting the target with the Marksman’s Horn Bow, Lord Vance looked down at the bow and smiled faintly.

“My lord, did you hear the news?”

Hearing the tale, Lord Vance burst into hearty laughter.

“Hahahaha! I knew that friend would pull off something great. That friend—do you know what kind of friend he is...?”

Rumors travel a thousand li. But there is something that spreads even faster—astonishing achievements.

“He remade my father’s keepsake. Do you see this bow!?”

Watching the excited Lord Vance chatter, the soldier tilted his head.

And Deng, Tower Master of the Blacksmith’s Tower of the Sword, smiled softly.

“I knew he’d do it.”

The tale kept racing off toward the horizon, and Hyunsoo was still sunk in a deep sleep.

[Good words about you—the Benefactor of Cassel Territory—spread everywhere.]

[These words prove that you have walked a worthy path.]

[You gain 100 Renown.]

[You gain 30 Charisma.]

Even if he stayed still, his story made him grow further.

And the tale reached someone who desperately needed him and was looking for him.

A man with eyes sharp as a hawk and a great, rugged frame.

Sword King Barad.

He needed a single sword that could make him stronger right now.

There was a being he absolutely had to cut down.

To cut that being, he needed that sword.

So Sword King Barad had told Lord—who had now become his heir—once again, and he answered.

“I passed along the message. Maybe he’ll come with time?”

But there was no certainty on Lord’s face. By hearsay, he was someone who had even turned down Lord’s offer.

Sword King Barad received a report from his retainer.

“...Cassel Territory? Isn’t that the place bordering our kingdom?”

“...Yes. They say a blacksmith saved that territory that was about to fall to the undead.”

“...A blacksmith?”

“Yes. They say he repaired an Unrepairable artifact.”

Barad rose to his feet without realizing it. Soon he stared out at the darkness beyond the window.

He could tell.

He’s coming.

That he would appear before him in short order.

**** 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Blacksmith Hyun.

Right now he’s hot among blacksmiths. Literally—hot only among blacksmiths.

Among general users, far more people still didn’t know him—he had only about thirty thousand subscribers.

In a way, that was only natural.

People often don’t remember anyone outside the top ten.

No, plenty don’t even click at all.

At present, the hottest blacksmith channel in Korea—rank #1 among blacksmith guilds—had about 2.9 million subscribers.

And the world’s #1 blacksmith had seventy million subscribers.

Thirty thousand.

A lot or a little, depending on how you see it.

While Hyunsoo was still asleep.

A user posted on the Ares community.

[Hey, you guys know Blacksmith Hyun?]

[Who’s that, you degenerate lol.]

[lmao.]

Community users were of one mind.

[Huh? I know him, he’s the guy who made Hyun’s First Custom Craft Sword.]

[Ah, that Hyun is this Hyun?]

[Yep, same Hyun, I think? Why?]

[They say the Cassel Territory update was planned this time, but it didn’t happen because of this user.]

[...What are you even saying, how could one user block an update? Not even the #1 ranked could do that.]

[I heard he repaired the Bell of Lamas or something?]

Then—

[Bell of Lamas? What nonsense? The Bell of Lamaso is Unrepairable.]

[Eh? No? He repaired the Bell of Lamas and made something called Hyun’s Second Custom Craft Bell?]

[I’m telling you... the Bell of Lamas itself can’t be repaired. (screenshot.)]

[...Huh? You’re right—but I didn’t verify it myself. (screenshot.)]

Hyun’s Second Custom Craft Bell.

When the info on that bell went up, people went quiet for a beat. One of those who checked it carefully spoke up.

[Wow, that’s insane...?]

[Damn... did a user make this? Aren’t there very few users who’ve made anything like this?]

[And it’s even a broad-area artifact??]

[The description says he recreated an Unrepairable artifact—what does that even mean...??]

[If it’s Unrepairable, how do you recreate it? It can’t be repaired to begin with?]

[You clowns got duped again, sigh. That’s a composite image.]

[Always getting duped lol.]

The blaze that had flared seemed to settle down again. And then a user clacking at a keyboard spoke up.

[I work in Photoshop professionally. I checked—this is not a composite. It’s real.]

[And without proof, it’s what? lol.]

[(photo.)]

The man, his face hidden, actually presented his employee ID.

[I-it’s real...?]

[Hey, what is this? How do you repair an Unrepairable artifact!]

[How’d he do it, ffs.]

[It’s real, they say. My friend who was in Cassel Territory got to put hands all over the bell and said he checked it.]

[Whoa... ]

Among them were those who had been keeping an eye on Hyun and were interested already.

No—accurately speaking, there were those who had become fans.

[Hyun. It’s legit, so go subscribe to Hyun’s Forge.]

[Ok, drop the link.]

[On it, subscribing!]

And a woman, too, clicked Subscribe to Hyun’s Forge with her mouse in step with them.

[You have subscribed to Hyun’s Forge.]

[Hyun’s Forge subscribers: 78,997.]

Before anyone noticed, the subscriber count had climbed again.

The woman who hit the subscribe button—

It was Nell, Kim Hyein.

She was visibly exhausted.

But the Golden Shield corporate meeting was starting soon, so she fought off drowsiness and held on.

****

Golden Shield’s representative, Moonsoo, spoke.

“I’m thinking we call seven hundred million. How do you think it’ll go?”

Break room.

They were talking before going into the meeting.

They, too, knew about the issue that had just popped up.

There were even online articles that had just gone up.

[The appearance of a user who recreated an Unrepairable artifact. Blacksmith Hyun. Who is he?]

[Ares experts: Blacksmith Hyun (現). As his name suggests, presumed to be one of the blacksmiths aiming to build a brand.]

Repaired an Unrepairable artifact?

That was an astronomical feat beyond common sense.

That alone would now send Hyun’s price skyrocketing.

And Golden Shield had previously proposed calling four hundred million won.

But Hyein had shot it down.

“Will that fly? With Team Leader Kim Hyein’s temperament? If we say ‘let’s offer seven hundred,’ she’ll kick the door and walk out.”

“Mm...”

Representative Moonsoo let out a groan.

Still, on the off chance, he asked.

“Would it really not work? But repairing an Unrepairable artifact is amazing, you know.”

Representative Moonsoo was also rank #12 on the Korea blacksmith leaderboard.

So he knew the true value.

But there were several problems nonetheless.

“Team Leader Kim Hyein doesn’t believe anything unless she sees it with her own eyes. Same as last time. And she’ll say this, too.”

“What would she say?”

“If he’s a lazy bum after taking seven hundred million, we don’t need him.”

“Ah...”

Moonsoo agreed strongly with that.

Honestly, it wasn’t like there were only one or two who took the money and then loafed around.

Of course, those types all got kicked out as soon as the one-year contract ended.

“Phew, but I get Ms. Kim Hyein. Frankly, she’s the one who saved the Golden Shield guild.”

Representative Moonsoo nodded.

She was a genius.

Sales, planning, finance—she stood out in every field.

At first, Golden Shield had been a decent-ranked guild.

In truth, with a rank #12 blacksmith user on hand, “decent” wasn’t good enough.

That’s how lacking Moonsoo was at sales and growing a guild.

The moment she joined, everything changed.

If you just followed her words, recruits poured in.

And if you sold the way she said, you got up to 1.5× the projected price.

Right. She’s a genius at growing a guild. No—a genius at growing guilds and people.

What she said the first time—when asked why she came to a guild like his—was funny, too.

“Just felt like growing it.”

And she cleaned up a lot of the messes Moonsoo made.

“I’ll just broach it. If it’s no good, we do what Team Leader Kim says.”

“Let’s do that.”

“Sounds good.”

“That’s the best way.”

They entered the meeting room.

In the meeting room sat Hyein, pressing hard at her temples, looking tired.

It didn’t look like she’d had anything in particular keeping her busy lately.

But as ever, since she did her job well, no one nitpicked or made an issue of it.

The meeting proceeded.

And in that meeting, Representative Moonsoo cautiously broached the topic.

“Ahem, not sure if you’ve heard, but Blacksmith Hyun is making waves again—they say he repaired an Unrepairable artifact.”

A sidelong glance.

“An amazing feat, to repair an Unrepairable artifact. You can imagine how far that possibility goes without me saying. Of course, it could be the power of a one-off skill.”

Moonsoo agreed with what Hyein had said before.

Hyun’s custom crafts—

There were only two out so far.

The problem: what if those were made by a skill limited to five uses, ten uses?

There were in fact many who had such skills.

So he was cautious.

“But given that potential, we’re thinking of offering around... seven hundred million. Team Leader Kim, what’s your—opinion?”

CRACK—

“...?”

The moment he said it, the pen in Hyein’s hand snapped.

She knit her brows and swept her bloodshot eyes around the meeting room.

Representative Moonsoo swallowed hard.

And the atmosphere in the room froze over in an instant.

He’d poked the bear.

This time, he’d really poked the bear.

Right—maybe it really was over the line.

Promising seven hundred million won a year to a user who’d only just produced two custom crafts...

“It was an Unrepairable artifact. He made that into what it is. And only seven hundred?”

She snorted.

“Make it one billion at least! No, even that’s not enough!”

SMACK—

Slamming the table with both hands, she looked at Representative Moonsoo and the directors.

“Golden Shield needs to mobilize every bit of capital we can raise!”

****

Hyein couldn’t hide her excitement.

A mere seven hundred million?

Absurd.

A one-off craft?

It wasn’t that.

A blacksmith who hands out lucky encounters?

It wasn’t that either.

A special class?

Not that either.

No matter what label you stuck on it, it couldn’t match its value.

It is the domain of the chosen.

What is talent.

What is a genius?

Does the highest-paid soccer player in the world get that salary because he’s twice as fast and his shots are twice as powerful as others?

No. Not at all.

It’s because he’s just a little more ahead.

A genius is one who, where others can reach 100, can see to 120.

It’s the same.

Hyun is a genius. A blacksmithing genius.

And given that there are virtually no real blacksmiths left today, his rarity is enormous.

On top of that, he combines effort and passion.

His value from here on will be beyond words.

And she had heard Hyunsoo’s voice as he ran with the bell in his inventory.

He had answered her words—“I want you so badly I’m going crazy.”

“You want me? Then tell me—my value.”

Fine, let’s do it.

I will drive your value as high as possible, right here.