CHAPTER 07
Kwon Se-mi examined the knife for quite a while before finally calming down.
When she finally asked Park Young-jun to explain, he told her everything that had happened at Kang-cheol Workshop.
He explained that he had ordered the knife because he wanted to impress her.
During the process, he had been scammed into buying fake steel.
The young owner of Kang-cheol Workshop had helped catch the scammer.
Even though the steel was defective and Park Young-jun had treated him arrogantly the whole time, Kang-cheol had still made the ordered knife using his own steel instead of simply throwing him out.
He also said that since he hadn’t followed the original order exactly, he wanted the intended recipient to use the knife first and then give their opinion.
“And that’s everything.”
Park Young-jun carefully watched Kwon Se-mi’s expression.
Her face now looked calm and mature.
The excitement of battle was gone.
Her anger over losing the final hit was gone.
Even the thrill of receiving such a fine knife had faded.
Looking around at the Hunters, Kwon Se-mi asked,
“You Team Leaders know what I’ve been worrying about lately, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve heard.”
“You mentioned it before.”
After hearing their answers, Kwon Se-mi looked back at Park Young-jun.
“Do you think the blacksmith who made this knife could solve that problem?”
Park Young-jun thought for a moment before answering.
His reply sounded a little strange.
“He told me something. He said a blacksmith understands knives better than anyone. If a customer places the wrong order, it’s the blacksmith’s job to make the right knife.”
As soon as those words were spoken, the Hunters began murmuring.
Everything they had heard so far sounded like an unbelievable story about an unknown blacksmith.
Some had even thought Park Young-jun was making the whole thing up to cover his mistake.
But the moment they heard what the blacksmith himself had said…
Everyone listened seriously.
“If a customer places the wrong order, the blacksmith should make the right one.”
None of them had ever imagined hearing words like that from a blacksmith.
Yet somehow…
Even though it was something they’d never heard before…
They wanted to believe it.
Kwon Se-mi picked up one of the knives from the box.
Her slender fingers, completely at odds with the rough image she usually gave off, gently ran across the blade.
“We’ll postpone the punishment. I’d like to meet this blacksmith first.”
Shing.
Despite clearing an entire dungeon without a single scratch…
A thin red line appeared on the tip of her finger.
She looked at the tiny cut…
Then smiled with satisfaction.
“Secretary Choi.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Find me another gate that can take us anywhere.”
“…Right now?”
Kwon Se-mi nodded.
Her eyes never left the freshly made knife from Kang-cheol Workshop.
“I’ve been holding myself back for a long time.”
* * *
“Yaaawn.”
When Kang-cheol woke up, his bed was covered in dust.
But there wasn’t a trace of annoyance on his face.
“Can mornings really feel this refreshing?”
Only one thing had changed.
He had awakened.
Yet that single change was enormous.
The penalty fee that had troubled him for a week…
The defective steel…
Every problem had been solved.
Having peace of mind really is this important.
“I should actually eat breakfast and take my time before heading out… Huh?”
He opened the rice cooker.
It was empty.
He checked the rice container.
No rice.
He opened the refrigerator.
It was almost empty too.
He had planned to eat whatever he could find.
But there wasn’t even a single egg to fry, let alone side dishes.
Then he noticed something on the dining table.
The stack of bills tucked into the calendar.
“What? All of these are due this month?”
They were all brand new.
Water bill.
Electric bill.
Gas bill.
And to make matters worse…
Property tax.
Just as he frowned, Ah-yeon walked out of her room.
“Oh, right. My tuition for next semester…”
She stopped mid-sentence after seeing his face.
Since they rarely met except in the mornings and evenings, she had wanted to bring it up.
But it was hard to ask someone who already looked troubled.
“…Sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for? You’re just a student. Don’t worry about money. Hurry up and go to the academy.”
After Ah-yeon left and the front door closed…
Kang-cheol finally let out the sigh he’d been holding in.
“I thought I’d solved all my problems… and now they’ve all been refilled.”
His eyes quickly scanned every bill.
Numbers piled up in his head.
Then he reached one conclusion.
“…I’m completely broke.”
There was no denying it.
He was flat broke.
How did things end up like this?
At first, he blamed the troublesome customer.
Then he shook his head.
No.
He had it backward.
It wasn’t that the troublesome customer made him poor.
He had accepted the troublesome customer’s order because he was already poor.
“Tsk. I told you to spend more time choosing your customer. In a situation like this, I wouldn’t even have scolded you if you’d chosen money instead.”
It sounded like criticism.
But then…
A thought suddenly flashed through Kang-cheol’s mind.
“Wait. Yesterday you definitely said you wanted to help me.”
“I did.”
“But instead of giving me Coins, you made me earn them.”
“Student, that’s how the world works. If you want something, you have to pay a price.”
“So… can you create job quests whenever you want? Like yesterday?”
“Oh?”
It sounded like the system had never thought about that.
But surprisingly, it answered honestly.
“If the conditions are right, a job quest can be created.”
That changed everything.
If he did work likely to trigger job quests…
He could earn cash…
And Coins at the same time.
“Then I’m changing my plan.”
“Oh?”
The place Kang-cheol had in mind was the Hunter Association Flea Market.
Being a Hunter was dangerous.
Many eventually retired.
Since resources were limited, the flea market had originally been created so retiring Hunters could sell used equipment cheaply.
Over time…
The event had grown larger and larger.
Blacksmiths had become one of its biggest attractions.
When someone bought used equipment…
What was the first thing they wanted?
To repair it quickly and erase all traces of the previous owner.
To attract those customers…
Blacksmiths came carrying anything they thought could make money.
The Hunter Association even provided benefits to participants.
Hunters also paid labor fees for every repair.
On the surface…
It sounded like a great event.
“But, Student… people with money don’t buy second-hand equipment.”
“That’s true.”
“So isn’t that exactly the kind of place where troublesome customers gather?”
He wasn’t wrong.
Wealthy Hunters bought brand-new gear.
And wealthy blacksmiths stayed in their own workshops waiting for customers.
Neither side needed to hustle.
Everyone at the flea market was there because they lacked money.
Hunters argued with blacksmiths.
Blacksmiths argued with Hunters.
Each knew nothing about the other’s field.
Hunters didn’t understand blades.
Blacksmiths didn’t understand combat.
Poor Hunters desperately wanted affordable repairs.
Poor blacksmiths desperately wanted customers.
The entire flea market was complete chaos.
But…
Kang-cheol had an advantage.
“With the Coins, I’ll probably earn about three times more than everyone else. I think it’ll work.”
“…Maybe. Though poor people always seem to stay poor.”
“I’ll earn Coins while working. I’ll earn money from customers. I’ll probably get extra income from job quests too.”
“You keep saying ‘poor’ so much that it’s making me feel poor.”
“I am poor. Now give me some Coins.”
While joking with the system, Kang-cheol took out his phone.
He looked through the flea market announcement and participants’ reviews.
Apparently almost every kind of service was offered there.
Knife repairs.
Sharpening dull blades.
Fixing chipped or bent edges.
Replacing handles.
Changing screws.
Some people even offered services unrelated to the blade itself.
Others sold universal sheaths or sword belts.
“If you’re going, shouldn’t you leave early? The earlier you start, the more people you’ll attract.”
Kang-cheol nodded.
“I should pack up and leave.”
The first place he headed was the storage room.
He took out the folding table and plastic chair his family occasionally used for beach trips.
“And a basket.”
“A basket?”
Since it was a flea market…
There wouldn’t be much space.
So he needed to bring only equipment that could fit into a small area.
One basket would be enough.
“Besides, people hate waiting around in cramped spaces.”
So the work had to be fast.
That meant simplifying every step.
And fewer steps meant fewer tools.
“You also said you don’t want customers making complaints. So whatever you’re planning must be pretty simple.”
“Exactly.”
In short…
He wanted to offer a service that was simple, fast, and satisfying.
“So what is it?”
“Without question… sharpening.”
Sharpening.
The process of restoring a knife’s edge.
The most common type was sharpening, where only the dull cutting edge was restored.
The sharpening angle changed depending on the size of the blade.
But regardless of size…
Sharper was always better.
The next level was thinning.
Chefs often called it thinning the blade.
After repeated sharpening, the edge gradually became thicker.
Thinning removed material from the sides of the blade to make the edge thin again.
It was necessary sometimes…
But it took much longer.
So Kang-cheol kept things simple.
“I’ll only offer sharpening.”
“But my sharpening will be noticeably better than everyone else’s.”
“So this is all I’ll need.”
He filled the basket.
A portable power bank.
A low-power grinder.
Two coarse grinding wheels.
A medium-grit whetstone.
A fine whetstone.
Polishing compound.
And…
“A leather paddle?”
“What are you planning to do with that?”
“So you don’t know what a strop is.”
A strop.
The name sounded unfamiliar.
But almost everyone had seen one before.
“Old-fashioned straight razors were always rubbed against leather before shaving, right? That’s called stropping, and the leather used for it is called a strop.”
Surprisingly…
Leather could refine a blade’s edge.
It couldn’t sharpen a completely dull knife by itself.
But if you wanted a blade sharp enough to pop hairs on contact…
Stropping was almost essential.
Its biggest advantage…
It barely took any extra time.
Preparation wasn’t difficult either.
“Then doesn’t everyone do it?”
“Surprisingly, even stropping takes skill.”
You couldn’t simply rub the blade against the leather.
You had to do it properly.
Without the right technique…
You could actually make the knife duller.
Leather had some flexibility.
Unlike a hard whetstone.
If you used the same angle as sharpening on a stone…
The very edge would round over.
Many beginners spent extra effort only to end up with a shiny knife that couldn’t even cut paper cleanly.
That’s why beginner blacksmiths working in the chaotic flea market usually couldn’t do it properly.
“So your service will definitely stand out. Nice idea.”
“Exactly. Oh… I should hand out business cards too.”
The workshop’s business cards had gathered dust.
He hadn’t used them in a very long time.
“Good. You’ll build a reputation with freehand sharpening while giving customers something to remember your shop by. You haven’t wasted all these years after all.”
“Of course.”
Kang-cheol nodded.
He picked up the basket.
“Let’s go.”
“Time to earn money…”
“…and Coins.”
