Genius Blacksmith's Game

Let’s say we don’t owe each other anything anymore.

After saying that, Lee Taeseong got into his car and left without any lingering attachment.

From what Hyunsoo knew, people in high positions were always very clear about when to tie things and when to cut them.

The meaning of what he had left behind.

I’ll protect the last Master Blacksmith.

After the accident, Hyunsoo had checked through his attending physician, Dr. Jinseop, and the National Museum staff to see if he could get help from the state.

Unfortunately, because of various complicated procedures and strict criteria, he had been turned away.

What Taeseong’s words meant was that in the country’s stead, he would shape this forge with his own hands and protect their home.

Hyunsoo’s chest pounded.

I want to hold it again......

He stared at his right hand, the hand that now struggled to grip a hammer. He wanted to hold it in reality too, not just in virtual reality.

Just like Lee Taeseong had said.

Even if 99 out of 100 people looked at the Dragon-Flame Sword with bored expressions and walked past, it would stay in the memory of that one person.

Chairman Lee Taeseong hadn’t just protected them materially by building the forge.

He’d helped Hyunsoo immensely on a mental level as well.

Hyunsoo had a new goal.

Even with rehabilitation, we can’t say how long it will take.

We can make it so your daily life isn’t hindered, but whether you can go back to forge work is uncertain.

Every hospital had said they couldn’t be sure.

Because of that, he’d eventually let it go.

He had turned away from the endless desire to make things again.

Because I needed money.

He’d needed money not for rehab, but to treat his burns and to keep his father alive.

And maybe, he had thought, in the world today, blacksmiths really weren’t necessary anymore.

Up until now, Hyunsoo had never once received treatment for his right hand.

As he got on the bus, the passing scenery came into view.

Taking it in, he smiled softly.

“Doctor, it’s me, Hyunsoo.”

He called his attending physician, Dr. Jinseop.

“I want to start rehabilitation on my right hand.”

-I told you, I can’t promise anything. And......

“I still want to do it.”

He spoke in a strong voice, cutting through Dr. Jinseop’s detailed explanations. On the other end of the line, the doctor answered in a strong voice too.

-I’ll do my very best.

Hyunsoo hung up and let out a small laugh.

Back then, the real reason he hadn’t gotten treatment had been entirely about money, and also because of that pointless regret—if only I’d never started working at the forge in the first place.

But now he was in a position to blow all of that away.

Right then, a call came in from Taeha.

[When are you logging in? I’ve finished appraising the value of the Dragon-Flame Sword.]

He’d gained the power to earn a lot of money, and he’d come to believe he had that much power.

I wonder how much.

And Hyunsoo still needed more than 2 billion won in hospital bills, so he was curious.

Curious about the value Lee Taeha had appraised for the Dragon-Flame Sword.

*****

Lee Taeha had a fairly meticulous personality.

Ever since he’d grown up as the son of a conglomerate family, it had become a habit to be thorough whenever he assigned value to something.

After weighing various different factors and assigning a value, Taeha looked at the number on the calculator and let out a gasp.

“Whoa...... I never thought a day would come when I’d put this kind of price on a single artifact.”

Even to Taeha, it was an astonishing figure.

He didn’t feel the slightest sense of it being a waste. If anything, he felt it was more than worthy of that value.

Soon, Taeha called Hyunsoo and got the answer that he’d be logging in shortly.

Taeha logged in too.

[Logging into Ares.]

Since his base territory was the forge, he naturally logged in there. Not long after, Hyunsoo logged in.

“You can look forward to this.”

Ressel grinned playfully. Hyunsoo was quite tense.

He had a pressing need to clear his hospital bills quickly, if only so he could start rehabilitation treatment in real life.

Soon, Ressel spoke.

“The price I’ve appraised for the Dragon-Flame Sword is 1,300,000 gold.”

For a moment, Hyunsoo felt like his brain had shut down.

1.3 million gold.

In other words, an enormous sum equivalent to 1.3 billion won.

Neither at the auction house, nor with Sword King Barad, nor with Ressel now had Hyunsoo ever named a price first.

The reason was that usually they always appraised his items higher than the price he’d had in mind.

“That’s good.”

“I just put in one spoonful of gratitude.”

[You have obtained 1,300,000 gold.]

Now about 800 million won or so. That was the hospital bill Hyunsoo had left to pay.

Hyun’s Forge still had rewards left to receive.

“By any chance, could you help increase Hyun’s Forge’s subscribers?”

At Hyunsoo’s words, Ressel nodded readily.

“Of course. Hyun’s Forge’s growth is my growth too now.”

Hyunsoo immediately checked the current subscriber count and ranking.

[Hyun’s Forge subscribers: 438,113.]

[Current ranking among Korean forge channels: 48th.]

“What should we do?”

Ressel looked puzzled. In Korea, there had not yet been a single instance of a Legendary-grade artifact being crafted by a player.

And the Dragon-Flame Sword is......

The Dragon-Flame Sword Ressel had seen was in the upper tier even among Legends. Just letting people see the review and information on Hyun’s Forge would be enormous.

Right then.

“Hello, this is Nell.”

Nell logged in.

Nell immediately joined the conversation the two of them were having.

“Actually, I’m here because of that.”

Hyunsoo and Ressel both looked at them with puzzled expressions.

“Hyunsoo, what do you think is the highest rank we can reach with this artifact information reveal?”

“Maybe up to 40th place?”

The existing forge guilds with deeply rooted foundations were far too solid.

Nell asked a question.

“You’re the first person in the country to craft a Legendary item, so why do you think we can only get that far?”

Hyunsoo answered the reason right away.

“Because forge guilds aren’t decided by a single blacksmith.”

Black Anvil Forge.

Golden Shield.

Small Ball Forge, and so on.

The subscriber count of the forges in the top 100 isn’t decided by a single blacksmith.

It’s because alongside a single forge, there are countless corporate-style blacksmiths supporting the demand.

And 99.9% of the buyers don’t actually have the money to buy the 0.01% Legendary.

“That’s right. Even if we’ve crafted a Legend, the subscribers we can gain are subscribers based on anticipation.”

Why do 99.9% of the many subscribers hit subscribe on Hyun’s Forge?

It’s the same function as JoyTube.

Because they’re excited.

Even though they know they’ll never be able to buy it in their entire lives, it’s exciting, it’s fun, and it gives them vicarious satisfaction.

“Hyun’s Forge can’t meet the supply. Black Anvil cranks out nearly three hundred weapons a month, you know.”

Having to climb up purely on the back of that anticipation is a very difficult thing.

“But we have a very powerful weapon. We call that weapon our ‘business card.’”

Nell smiled with a charming grin. Nell, the manager of the guild Radiance.

They were about to show their true worth.

“With this, my goal is to get into the top 25. Want to hear the plan?”

Hyunsoo and Ressel leaned in closer to them.

And once Hyunsoo heard what they had to say, his expression turned to surprise.

We really might be able to aim for 25th......

Hyunsoo was impressed.

*****

Producer Kim at AJ Internet Broadcasting Station had been in a good mood lately.

Ever since the viewer count had skyrocketed during Crazy Rookie and Blacksmith Hyun’s appearance, he’d received a lot of praise and a bonus from the director.

On the back of that, they’d decided to abolish the Time-Attack Dungeon segment.

He’d been preparing a new segment, but the impact Crazy Rookie and Hyun had left behind had been too huge.

From the station’s perspective, that was a good thing.

They’d had a massive spike in viewers, so now they could transition into new content.

The problem was the gap.

They were going to have about one episode’s worth of blank space, and they needed to prepare a special.

The problem with these specials was that they were usually boring as hell.

When you say “special,” it usually means “binge compilation,” “highlights,” and so on, but the truth is, most viewers prefer the original broadcasts.

So this time he wanted to do a special that was actually special, but what were the chances of something like that falling into his lap?

Today again, Producer Kim was racking his brains with the writers.

Right then.

“Huh?”

Producer Kim looked at a call from an unknown number and frowned in puzzlement.

-Hello, this is Nell, manager of Hyun.

“Hyun?”

In that moment, the business card he’d handed Crazy Rookie flashed through Producer Kim’s mind.

“Ah, yes!”

He shot up to his feet reflexively.

Somehow, the business card he’d tried so hard to give Crazy Rookie had made its way properly to Hyun.

-I heard you’re preparing new content.

“That’s right, but why......?”

What did preparing new content have to do with Hyun?

-Usually, that’s when you put together a special, right?

Producer Kim’s expression turned puzzled.

How is she this dialed-in......?

She had nailed it so precisely it gave him goosebumps.

What is with this woman?

-Actually, Hyun crafted a new weapon for someone. And the buyer is so happy with it.

“Really?”

Producer Kim remembered that moment.

Hyun had suddenly announced he wouldn’t be selling the Thousand-Pound Bow.

The viewers had gone wild, and that had made the broadcast even more of a hot topic.

And he, along with the viewers, had been curious.

Hyun had clearly promised he’d accept someone else’s crafting request, and he’d kept that promise.

The even more surprising part was this.

Who the hell is that client? And they’re that satisfied?

His curiosity flared. It was enough to make him want to jump out of his skin.

Ahhh, it was driving him crazy, he was so curious!

-You’re curious, right?

Goosebumps rippled up over Producer Kim’s body.

-Don’t you think the viewers are curious too?

At those words, Producer Kim found himself nodding blankly.

“They’re insanely curious. If the client is that satisfied, then I bet the people who watched last time are dying to know too.”

And then something felt off.

What did this have to do with her calling out of nowhere?

His counterpart spoke.

-Then how about showing it to the viewers?

“What?”

-Do the special with us. Like last time, we’d like all the donations to go to us, and the client is soooo grateful that they said they’ll appear on the broadcast too. Oh, and we’d like you to cut a commercial spot for us as well. How about a title like this?

Producer Kim listened to her words like he was in a trance.

-Hyun’s Crafted Item Unboxing.

“Damn...... that title is perfect...... Oh—sorry.”

Before he knew it, Producer Kim had let out a gasp of admiration. The title was just too spot-on.

But then he shook his head.

“I’ll have to check with the director and call you back.”

After hanging up, Producer Kim hurried to the director’s office. On the way, he let out a sigh.

Director ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Lee Taeho, the man he knew, was an extremely strict person.

And hadn’t they just basically let the other side completely design a special segment? Producer Kim cautiously raised the topic.

And of course.

“Producer Kim.”

After hearing everything, the director took off his glasses and scrubbed his face with his hands.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“N-no, sir.”

“Sigh.”

Letting out a deep sigh, the director suddenly bellowed.

“Why are you hesitating when this is so damn fun!? Even the title’s perfect, isn’t it? Hyun’s Crafted Item Un. Box. Ing! We need to lock this down before they go to another station!”

It was a completely unexpected answer.

“Sir......?”

Producer Kim realized it. The curiosity he’d felt—I want to know—the director had felt the same way.

“Start preparing a teaser right away. And that manager person.”

The director got to his feet.

“What is she? She’s sharp. I’m almost tempted to scout her.”

Producer Kim looked puzzled. He had thought she was smart.

But was she really someone the director would covet? Just as that thought passed through his mind, the director said,

“Don’t you get it? Hyun’s Forge is basically running a forge advertisement through our AJ Internet Broadcasting Station right now.”

Producer Kim’s eyes went wide.

The director immediately gave an order.

“Start filming the teaser now!”

“Yes, sir!”

Producer Kim scrambled into motion.

*****

The broadcast day came in a flash.

The ad had only been running for a few days.

Nell’s plan had been perfect, so Hyunsoo was excited.

[Nell: It’s about to start.]

Right before the broadcast starts, the most important thing. The viewer count.

The number of viewers is a numerical proof of the hype around “Hyun’s Forge.”

And the more viewers there are, the more Hyun’s Forge’s subscriber count will increase.

[Special Episode. Hyun’s Crafted Item Unboxing broadcast is starting.]

With that, Hyunsoo checked the viewer count with a trembling heart. Through this unboxing, they would generate an enormous advertising effect.

Please, just let it be a hundred thousand. Please, at least a hundred thousand......

Then Hyunsoo opened his eyes and couldn’t help but shout in joy.

[Current viewer count: 186,313.]