Chapter 3
“Hehe! Buying chicken was definitely the right choice! But don’t you think that amount is way too little for me? Are you trying to provoke me?”
The one who burst through the door was Geum Ayeon.
She was Cheol’s younger sister, six years younger than him, and an Awakened student attending Hunter Academy.
People said she was already strong enough to pull her own weight in a Gate.
But when it came to sharing delicious food…
None of that mattered.
“What are you talking about, you pig?”
“Hmph! Do you think I’d ever give up chicken? Oink, oink. Hand it over.”
“If you’re eating more than one whole chicken, at least show some restraint.”
“Nope. I need to store up energy for fangirling.”
As the siblings bickered, the notification window quietly appeared.
—Um… Kid. I don’t usually comment on other people’s families, but isn’t your sister a little too noisy to call over before getting any work done…?
Yeah. She’s just a food-obsessed nerd.
—Hey! I didn’t say it that harshly! You’re so mean, kid!
Cheol shook the chicken box.
The delicious smell drifted through the air, and Ayeon’s eyes locked onto it.
“I was going to share, but I figured you’d be too busy eating once you started.”
“Hurry. If you’re giving it to me, then hurry.”
“I will. But I wanted to ask you something about Hunters first. Or do you not like talking about Hunters?”
The moment he said that, Ayeon’s attitude completely changed.
“My respected brother, you should’ve said so from the beginning.”
“Good. Catch!”
Cheol tossed her a hot piece of fried chicken.
She caught it in midair like a Border Collie catching a flying disc.
—So this is the hobby your sister’s obsessed with…
She says she’s preparing for employment as an Awakened Hunter…
Since childhood, Hunters had constantly visited the forge.
Naturally, she’d met plenty of them.
The only difference was what caught their attention.
Cheol admired the weapons his father made.
Ayeon admired the Hunters themselves.
Huge muscles.
Expensive-looking equipment.
Her hobby eventually grew to the point where she knew nearly every Hunter who had ever appeared in the media.
“From now on, I’ll ask questions, and you’ll answer.”
She nodded.
Even speaking seemed like a waste of time compared to eating.
“Alright. Let’s start with the Yeonhwa Guild.”
“A guild founded two years ago by Hunters who specialize in martial arts skills. The Guild Master is Kwon Semi, and there are five team leaders…”
Information poured out effortlessly.
It even matched online information word for word.
“…You memorized all that?”
“No. I wrote it.”
“…Here.”
Cheol threw her another piece of chicken.
She stopped talking just long enough to catch it.
“Do you know someone named Park Youngjun? One of the team leaders?”
“Leader of Team Three. One of the strongest members of Yeonhwa Guild. People say he’ll probably challenge for S-Rank soon. Personally, I think he’s too simple-minded to make it.”
Apparently pleased with the answer, Cheol tossed her an especially large piece.
“This one might be harder. Kim Doyoon.”
“Kim Doyoon?”
Cheol’s hopeful expression quickly faded.
As of 2020, over 3,300 boys had been registered with that name.
Even narrowing it down to Awakened people, it was still extremely common.
Besides…
To become famous enough for someone to know them, there had to be something worth talking about.
Cheol hadn’t learned the name through official channels.
I never expected the skill to reveal something like that.
When he used the Eye of Insight on the steel…
The creator’s name had appeared.
Kim Doyoon.
Setting aside how incomplete the skill still was…
Someone making cheap counterfeit steel probably hadn’t done anything noteworthy enough to become famous.
Or so he thought.
“Which Kim Doyoon?”
“You know him?”
“I know three of them. One’s a Pathfinder, one’s a Tank, and the Dealer died a few weeks ago, so I guess now I only know two.”
After answering proudly, she opened her mouth wide.
Cheol rewarded her with two more pieces of chicken.
“The one with a metal manipulation skill.”
“Oh, that guy. C-Rank Tank. His skills are average, but he’s famous for being ridiculously handsome. Wait… Bro, are you gay?”
Should he explain everything?
If he did…
Where should he even start?
How he’d learned Kim Doyoon’s name?
Why he was investigating him?
Unable to think of a way to explain it without revealing he’d awakened…
Cheol silently pushed the entire chicken box toward her.
“Oh, and if you’re ever confused about your identity…”
“Get lost!”
“Eek!”
Only after her loud footsteps disappeared did the notification appear again.
—Your sister definitely knows a lot. So… are you okay, kid?
“Huh? About what?”
—You said you were going to deal with that troublesome customer. But it doesn’t seem like you found anything concrete.
Cheol chuckled.
“Well… maybe.”
Despite his words…
His face was full of confidence.
Three days later…
Screeeech.
A large luxury vehicle completely out of place in front of the old forge stopped with a loud noise.
Park Youngjun stepped out.
For some reason, he was wearing his armor, making him look even more intimidating than usual.
He must’ve finished it by now.
Although he’d threatened Cheol, the unfair look on the young blacksmith’s face had lingered in his mind these past three days.
If the steel really was defective…
“Hmph.”
Park Youngjun shook those thoughts away.
The important thing now was impressing his superior.
No matter what, he needed to bring back a weapon worthy of them.
“Anyone here?”
He opened the door to Gangcheol Forge.
The forge was dimly lit.
The first thing he noticed…
Was canned drinks.
“Huh?”
No matter how he looked at them…
They were just drinks.
And not just one or two.
Various kinds had been neatly lined up.
The strange part was that they were sitting on the workbench where the unfinished knife had been during the last inspection.
“You’re here?”
While he stood there in confusion, Cheol walked out.
“You seem to be in a good mood.”
“Of course.”
Just as I thought. Looks like my warning scared him.
“Today’s delivery day. I was wondering why all I saw were drinks. Alright, show me the finished knife first. Then we’ll talk.”
“There isn’t one.”
The answer wasn’t what he expected.
Cheol spoke with almost shameless confidence.
“What?”
“I haven’t touched it since the inspection. And I won’t be paying any penalty either.”
“What?”
“There isn’t a knife… and you’re refusing to pay?”
“Yes. Because it isn’t my fault.”
“…Looks like you’ve started looking down on me.”
Park Youngjun strode toward him.
With his large build and fierce expression, anyone could tell he was trying to intimidate him.
I was told not to rough up ordinary civilians…
He didn’t even need violence.
Most Hunters shrank back if he simply grabbed them by the collar and shook them once or twice.
He reached out, intending to do exactly that.
“Huh?”
His hand stopped.
Park Youngjun was one of the three strongest fighters in Yeonhwa Guild.
Even without using his full strength, an ordinary person shouldn’t even be able to see his hand moving.
Yet…
A mere blacksmith blocked it.
“I understand you’re upset. But before you get angry, please hear my explanation. Once you do, you’ll have no choice but to admit this wasn’t my fault.”
Cheol looked him straight in the eye.
Faced with the unexpected situation, Park Youngjun unconsciously took a step back.
“If your explanation sounds even a little suspicious, I won’t let you off. Got it?”
“Of course. First, have any drink you like.”
“What? Did you poison them? Unfortunately for you, team leaders in Yeonhwa Guild all have poison resistance skills.”
“The empty cans are necessary for my explanation. It would’ve been wasteful to throw them away. There’s no poison.”
Only then did Park pick up a can.
“Drink while you listen. Feel free to interrupt if you have questions.”
What Cheol intended to prove…
Was that the steel was hollow inside.
“The reason I never even touched the second piece is simple. It’s hollow too.”
“How do you know that?”
“That’s exactly why I prepared all these drinks.”
Thunk.
Cheol knocked over a cola can.
Then a coffee can.
Then a sports drink can.
“You heard that, right? A full can makes a heavy sound.”
Then he poured water into an empty can.
Clang.
“The emptier the can, the lighter the sound. If it were completely empty, the sound would be even sharper.”
“So… you can tell by the sound?”
“Exactly. That’s why I prepared some other steel too.”
Cheol pushed over a cart.
Inside were one knife blank, one steel bar, and several other pieces of steel from his own workshop.
“I’ll tap these other pieces first.”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Some were darker.
Some were rusty.
But they all produced similar sounds.
“And now, this is what your steel sounds like.”
Starting from the section with the weakest glow and moving toward the brighter areas, Cheol tapped the steel with a hammer.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
“…!”
Each time the sound changed, Cheol marked the spot with an X.
“Now that you’ve heard the difference, let me explain something else.”
“What?”
“Do you know why CPM steel is so expensive?”
Cheol explained as simply as possible.
Powder metallurgy required countless processes and specialized equipment.
Metal had to be turned into powder.
Mixed evenly.
Compressed.
Sintered.
Heat-treated.
Precisely machined.
Given special surface treatments.
Thoroughly inspected.
Only after all that could CPM steel be produced.
Naturally, every extra manufacturing step increased the cost.
Some even said the initial investment was three times higher than traditional steelmaking.
Those extra processes existed for one reason.
To improve quality.
Which meant…
Steel manufactured that way simply couldn’t have empty cavities inside.
“So… you’re saying… I was scammed…?”
“Exactly. Either you were scammed, or the person who sold it to you was.”
Either way…
Someone had been deceived.
Park Youngjun suddenly shouted,
“How do you know it wasn’t because you messed up the heat treatment?”
“I knew you’d ask that. So I prepared proof.”
Cheol took out his phone.
“You bought the steel from this man. Kim Doyoon. On Gaji Market. Lives in ○○ District.”
“H-How do you know that?”
“Someone who knows you well told me. It really pays to know people. I heard your Gaji Market reputation score is over eighty. Funny, considering how harsh you were with me.”
That was the final piece of information Cheol had obtained in exchange for sacrificing one whole chicken.
At first he’d doubted it.
But judging by Park’s reaction…
It was true.
Gaji Market was a secondhand trading platform notorious for scams.
“Who in their right mind buys steel from a place like that?”
…
“I arranged to meet him here today. We’ll split the steel open right in front of you the moment he hands it over. That’ll be before I even heat-treat it, so you’ll have to believe me.”
“…That’s true… but you went that far?”
Cheol scratched the back of his head.
“Because you never believed me. At first, you even told me to sell my forge just to pay the penalty. After hearing that, I figured you’d still blame me even if I proved the steel was defective.”
Park Youngjun couldn’t argue.
Everything he’d said until now had blamed Cheol.
“So I prepared a way to prove I was right. Not just to avoid the penalty, but to protect my pride as a blacksmith.”
Cheol continued firmly.
“If I’m wrong, you can take my forge… and even my life. But if I’m right… what will you stake?”
“You’re asking me to bet something?”
“You had no problem telling me to sell my forge. Threatening another man’s livelihood is fine, but you’re scared to risk your own?”
“…Scared?”
If he had apologized then, things might have ended differently.
But his pride as a Hunter wouldn’t allow it.
He belonged to one of society’s elite groups.
And among them, he was considered one of the strongest.
How could he admit fear in front of a mere blacksmith?
“Fine! If you’re right, I’ll be your dog! I’ll crawl on all fours, wag my tail, bark, everything! Woof! Happy now?”
“Yes. Considering I’m betting my life, the stakes are a bit disappointing, but that’ll do.”
“You arrogant little…”
Before Park Youngjun could finish—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Heavy knocks echoed through the iron door.
“Perfect timing.”
Cheol walked toward the entrance.
Time to deal with both of them.
“For now, please wait somewhere out of sight and watch.”
