The first-floor waiting room I returned to after leaving the mission area was still bustling with people.
‘I'd believe it if someone told me every Awakened in Korea had gathered here.’
Anyone could climb the first floor as long as they were Awakened.
As a result, the first-floor waiting room served as a gathering plaza for the Awakened.
And whenever this many people gathered, supply and demand intertwined, naturally forming a commercial district.
‘That's why… they said nearly every workshop is on the first floor.’
Unless a workshop screened its customers by doing something like accepting only those from a certain floor or higher, it was an inevitable outcome.
I pushed through the crowd and headed straight for the workshop said to be the most famous in the waiting room.
Since it was my first time, I'd worried I might get lost along the way, but ‘Delicious Scent’ proved useful yet again.
‘Oh… That must be it. The smell of iron is overwhelming.’
By concentrating on the scent of iron mingling with fire, I found the alley where the workshops were clustered without much difficulty.
And among them, the place I was looking for was….
‘Found it. Jang Workshop.’
The workshop's name couldn't have been simpler.
The owner was apparently a Jang.
Perhaps buildings couldn't be constructed inside the Tower, because all they'd done was roughly write the name on a wooden plaque and prop it up.
I couldn't see a storefront, but the CLANG, CLANG of metal being hammered rang out from a furnace in the distance.
‘They can't build a building, but a furnace is allowed? Does someone with a Blacksmith Skill just put one together, and a furnace appears?’
It was good that I'd found the place.
“Whoa… But how are there this many people…?”
Yet when I saw the long line in front of the workshop, the road ahead might as well have stretched ninety thousand leagues.
There seemed to be at least a hundred people.
‘Waiting in line here is… not ideal.’
As I debated whether to wait, someone hurried over from the front of the line in the distance and spoke to me.
“Are you here to commission something, sir? Crafting? Repairs? Or are you here to buy something? You don't have to wait if you're making a purchase.”
“Ah, I'm here to place a crafting commission.”
At the word commission, the clerk adjusted his glasses and asked,
“What kind?”
“I'd like a sword made from a Giant Sawtooth Fang and a ‘Veil of the Swamp’ made from a Giant Swamp-Soaked Hide.”
Even as the clerk listened, his hand moved rapidly, scribbling something in a notepad.
“If you reserve now, it won't be finished until a month from now. Is that all right? If it's urgent, there's an additional fee. Ah, and this is the price without the rush fee.”
Then, as though revealing some tremendous secret, he slid the notepad in front of me.
But that price… made no sense.
“Five million… No, there isn't an extra zero here, is there?”
“No, it's exactly as you see. You brought the core materials, but once labor and the price of the other required materials are added, crafting isn't cheap.”
“…I'll look around a little more and come back.”
The time was one thing, but the price was absurd, so I left.
‘What a shame. The scent coming from the furnace over there was more delicious than at the other workshops.’
Judging by the scent, whoever personally hammered the metal at that workshop was undoubtedly highly skilled.
Unfortunately, it was far too expensive for me.
In any case, Jang Workshop, despite all its recommendations, was rejected.
All I could rely on now was legwork.
About an hour later….
‘They're all just expensive…?’
I'd visited every workshop nearby that smelled promising.
But their prices were all more or less the same.
‘The first workshop was definitely the most expensive, but considering the difference in scent, maybe I should just commission it there… No. If I start spending recklessly just because I've made a little money, I'll never stop being poor.’
Perhaps it wasn't Awakened in general who made good money, but Awakened with crafting Skills.
Still, it was too soon to give up.
‘If I search hard enough, won't I find something?’
Feeling that I'd seen all the first-floor workshops worth seeing, I searched online for relevant information… and found something.
“This is it.”
Amid all the advertisements, promotions, and deviously disguised viral marketing, I found one place that genuinely seemed worth visiting.
【Info】 Anyone Looking to Get Items Repaired or Crafted, Read This
You all know the waiting-room workshop bastards are fixing prices and everything's fucked beyond belief these days, right?
I asked one to sharpen the blade on a Common-Grade dagger, and they quoted me 500k won lol I'd rather buy a whole new dagger at that price fuck lol.
So I looked around and found this one smithy in Seoul that still uses a forge?
‘Choi's Metalworks’ < This old man runs the place alone. He's fucking gruff, and if you're Awakened, the first thing he does is curse you the fuck out.
But he's the real deal when it comes to skill.
The durability on my favorite weapon was so wrecked that I was about to throw it away, but this old man hit it with a hammer a few times and made it like new.
The price was maybe one-fifth of what the waiting-room workshops charge? It was really cheap.
Cons: No reservations or anything. You just have to go there and wait as long as it takes.
The old man's temper is fucked-up.
If you can't humor him, he throws you out immediately.
He won't even look at Tower materials (monster drops).
He only works with pure metal.
- Comments
Anonymous1: Oh nice tip thx
Anonymous2: Choi's? That place is still open? I heard my dad had tools made there too lolol
└ Anonymous (OP): yeah heard he's been hammering away in the same spot for 50 years. living fossil
Anonymous3: How am I supposed to trust my item to an old man who hates the Awakened? I'd be too nervous to leave it with him.
└ Anonymous4: fr lol What if he deliberately wrecks it?
└ Anonymous (OP): u fucking idiot that's why I said his skill is legit. He'd refuse the job before taking it, but he doesn't fuck around with items he accepts. Looked proud as fuck.
A stubborn old Artisan whose skill was beyond doubt?
And he was cheap?
‘Good. I have to check this place out.’
When I searched for the location, it wasn't very far.
Twenty minutes by car? I immediately left the Tower and hailed a taxi.
“Yes, where can I take you?”
“Please take me to Choi's Metalworks.”
The electric taxi glided smoothly along the road.
Since it was the middle of a weekday, there was no traffic, and I arrived even sooner than expected.
‘Is this it?’
Its exterior was ordinary.
It felt like the sort of neighborhood machine shop every area had when I was young.
But the scent was distinctly different.
The instant I stepped out of the taxi, the savory scent of charcoal, keen steel, and blazing fire pierced my nose.
It was unmistakably a ‘Delicious Scent.’
No, that description wasn't enough. This was a feast of delicacies from mountain and sea.
“Snnff. Wow, my mouth's watering.”
Compared to this scent, the one I'd smelled at the first-floor workshop was like children playing house, piling up leaves and sand and pretending it was food.
‘In any case, I've come to the right place. But was the owner Awakened? They said he hated the Awakened, so why is the scent so…?’
I would find out once I went inside.
Without hesitation, I entered the metalworks.
“Excuse me.”
Heat washed over me the instant I stepped inside.
They said he still used an old-fashioned forge, and iron was glowing red in the forge at the back.
“What brings you here?”
The white-haired old man sitting before the fire glanced over and asked.
“I'd like to commission something.”
“Commission? What do you need? A mattock? A plow? A hand hoe?”
I hesitated briefly.
They said he loathed the Awakened. What should I do?
‘Still, I came all this way. I have to try.’
I steeled myself, opened my inventory, and began to take out the Giant Sawtooth Fang….
“Get out.”
Before I could, I put it straight back in.
“I do not touch anything belonging to Awakened bastards. Get the hell out.”
The old man's voice was not merely firm, but cold.
Whatever it was, he apparently had his reasons.
‘Tsk. With a scent this strong, he's a true Artisan. What a shame.’
What could I do if the owner refused the job?
There was no helping it.
“I apologize, sir. I knew you wouldn't like it, but I let myself hope and ended up being rude.”
“You have some decency despite being young. I accept your apology. Now that we have settled that, be on your way.”
What should I do? Should I leave on good terms at this point? No, I couldn't simply leave.
“Then could you perhaps take a quick look at this one thing? I tried to repair it as best I could with what little experience I have working iron, but I'd like to know whether it's safe to use as it is….”
I carefully took the sword from my inventory and showed it to the old man.
“I told you, I do not touch anything belonging to Awakened bastards. Do you not understand—”
The old man had been waving me away, but the instant his gaze fell on the sword, his expression changed and his words stopped short.
“Give it here.”
Did the sword truly possess something special?
Holding it in one hand, the old man busily turned it this way and that, examining it from every angle.
Afraid I might disturb him, I even stilled my breathing and waited in silence.
Eventually, the old man stopped turning the sword and flicked the blade with one finger.
RING─.
A clear note echoed softly through the workshop.
Once its lingering resonance had completely faded, the old man finally spoke again.
“Oh, look at this one. Its exterior has rotted away, but I can hear the faint sound of breathing inside.”
“Breathing…?”
“Iron breathes too. And this one is… Yes, it is like a patient with consumption who could die any day now.”
“I see….”
In truth, I had no idea what he was talking about.
The sword wasn't an earthenware pot, so how did it breathe? Or did iron do that too? The old man's gaze swept me from head to toe.
“You worked on it?”
“Yes.”
“I can tell. The inside is rotten, yet you clumsily sharpened only the edge. It looks quite… ridiculous.”
“Ha ha… I couldn't do any more than that with what I picked up by watching for a month or two.”
“Why do you think it looks ridiculous?”
“Pardon?”
I asked, unsure what he meant, and a grin spread across the old man's wrinkled face.
“Because the edge alone is sound.”
***
A moment ago, he'd said I'd clumsily sharpened only the edge. Now he said the edge alone was sound. How was I supposed to take that?
“Uh… So the edge is passable?”
“Well, it is not absolutely perfect, but it is much better than the work of fly-by-night Awakened bastards who run wild relying on nothing but Skills. It seems you were not lying when you said you had worked with iron.”
Thankfully, it appeared to be praise.
He had smiled with that face and that stubborn personality. If it hadn't meant praise, that would've been even more frightening.
“Stay there for a moment.”
Was he going to test the sword's balance this time?
The old man moved a fair distance away and clumsily swung the sword a few times.
‘Old man… I suppose making one and wielding one are different things.’
Beneath eyelids drooping with the weight of years, the old man's half-hidden eyes gleamed with curiosity and excitement.
He looked like a child who had been given a new toy.
“…Oh, this one's origins are anything but ordinary. I do not know who made it, but they certainly understood iron. When it comes to swords, they were better than I am.”
Judging by his scent, the old man's skill was genuine.
For someone like him to readily admit the maker was better than he was….
As expected, this was no ordinary sword.
“Young man, have you already used this sword?”
“Yes, right after sharpening it.”
For some reason, the answer surprised him so much that his eyes widened and deep furrows appeared across his brow.
“Did you? Your ironwork may be a mess, but you must be fairly skilled with a sword. I am amazed you managed to use this in battle without breaking it. It would be no surprise if it snapped in half at any moment.”
“Is it really in that bad a condition?”
“Yes. You restored the edge fairly well. I will grant you that. But that is all. If you continue using it like this, it will surely break before long.”
Having a sword break in the middle of combat was the worst possible outcome.
As regrettable as it was, should I give up on the sword here?
‘No, I can't do that.’
This sword wasn't simply junk.
This was the sole piece of equipment among the rewards the Tower had produced after I earned the first EX Grade and it readjusted my rewards.
‘There has to be something to it.’
Even the old man before me had admitted it was anything but ordinary.
The potential and possibilities within the sword were far too valuable to abandon here.
“Is there any way to save it?”
“Of course there is. Did I not tell you earlier? It still draws breath. It is not dead yet. Then you need only bring it back to health.”
He made it sound easy when he wasn't even offering to repair it himself.
If it were as easy as he made it sound, I would've done it already.
“Why not do it yourself? Judging by the edge you sharpened, you have the hands of someone who has earned his rice working iron for several years. You should at least know the basics of forging.”
“No. It is exactly as I told you at the beginning. All I've done is pick things up by watching for a month or two. More importantly, this isn't a paring knife or a kitchen knife. I don't have the confidence to work on something of this caliber….”
Perhaps he had been too absorbed in the sword to hear me earlier, or perhaps he simply hadn't listened to what I said until then. Either way, the old man looked startled, as though hearing it for the first time.
“What? A month or two?”
“It wouldn't exactly be right to say I was taught. No one instructed me or taught me directly. I learned by watching.”
When I briefly explained how I'd learned by watching over someone's shoulder in the past, the old man snorted as though the notion was absurd.
“Heh heh, young man. Let this old man give you some advice. I do not know why you are understating your experience, but you should choose your audience before telling lies. I have earned my rice working iron for more than fifty years.”
I was so accustomed to this sort of reaction that it didn't surprise me.
“It's the truth, but if you can't believe me, there's nothing I can do.”
“This is not a matter of whether I believe you. Not even half a year, but a month or two? Ha ha, if that were true, you should be holding a smithing hammer instead of climbing the Tower. Not that such a thing is possible.”
The old man's disbelief only ignited my determination.
“Sir, in that case, would you care to make a wager with me?”
“A wager? What kind?”
“As you suggested, I'll try it myself. The sword will be unusable at this rate anyway, so I may as well give it a few blows. But if I manage to open its airway, then you'll give it a proper repair.”
“How did our conversation arrive there? That was not the point we were discussing.”
Nothing was better at explaining things in situations like this.
I gave him a confident smile.
“You'll understand once you see it. You'll see how I got that far in only a month or two. So, will you accept?”
“Very well. If you open its airway with your own hands, then I will give it a proper repair. I am curious to see how you intend to prove that absurd lie of yours.”
The old man grinned as though the idea were preposterous.
His expression seemed to say I was welcome to try.
“Then shall we begin?”
“Begin what? Did you not say you would do it yourself?”
His smile quickly vanished, replaced by an expression of complete confusion.
I merely gave him a shameless smile.
“As I told you, I learned everything by watching. This time, I'd like to watch you work and learn from that.”
“What? What in the….”
“There was no condition saying I had to do it immediately, was there?”
This was why one always had to examine the terms of a wager carefully.