“First, let’s get washed up and buy some clothes.”
“Clothes? But I do not have any money......”
“I have a card I was given for situations like this, so it is fine. And since you are a few years older than me, would it be all right if I called you big brother?”
“Sure, I suppose...... I do not mind.”
“Then speak casually to me too, Big Brother Se-jin. What kind of older brother speaks formally to his younger brother?”
“Th-then should I?”
The moment Choi Cheol-ho gave his permission, Shin-hyeok succeeded in establishing a brotherly relationship with Se-jin.
Looking at Se-jin, who stared at him with an awkward expression, Shin-hyeok recalled the past.
‘Mr. Bang. This settles the debt between us from my previous life.’
When he had been a Challenger-tier Player in the past,
Se-jin had been the one responsible for Shin-hyeok’s weapons and armor.
No, Shin-hyeok left the Bang family of Cheonggyecheon behind in the past and headed to a public bathhouse with Se-jin.
“......Even a third-generation chaebol comes to a place like a bathhouse.”
“I told you, I did not grow up treated as a third-generation chaebol in the first place.”
“Ah, right. That is true.”
“Let’s have a refreshing bath and scrub off every last bit of dead skin. It will be a good, hard middle finger right in your former bosses’ faces.”
“I like that.”
Perhaps the thought alone made Se-jin feel good.
Watching Se-jin smile innocently, Shin-hyeok parted ways with Su-a in front of the bathhouse.
“Shall we meet again in an hour?”
“An hour is too short! Women need at least two hours!”
“......Is that not too long?”
“Absolutely not. So we will meet here again in two hours.”
“......All right.”
Shin-hyeok could not understand what women did in a bathhouse that took a minimum of two hours.
“Do you think they are fighting a war in there, Big Brother?”
“W-well? I do not know much about women either......”
Of course, that did not mean Se-jin understood women either.
In the end, the two men, who knew nothing about women, bathed, scrubbed off their dead skin, ate an entire tray of eggs and a bottle of sports drink, and only then emerged from the bathhouse.
“Haa, it has been a long time since I came to a bathhouse. That was nice.”
“......I think there is some sort of magic in the women’s bathhouse.”
“I think so too.”
They had clearly gone to the same bathhouse.
Yet Su-a’s skin was smooth and glowing, while Se-jin had merely become clean.
The two men nodded at the mysterious, almost magical occurrence.
But only briefly.
“Now let’s go shopping, Big Brother.”
A luxury sedan arrived on time to collect the three of them.
As Shin-hyeok got in and gestured, Su-a and Se-jin climbed in after him.
The driver turned around to confirm their destination.
“Will you be going to Shinhwa Department Store, Young Master?”
It was a natural question.
Now that Shin-hyeok could clearly be considered part of Shinhwa Group, it was only natural to go to Shinhwa Department Store to buy Se-jin clothes.
But Shin-hyeok had no intention of taking the obvious path.
“Please take us to the Gangnam branch of Oseong Department Store.”
“......Oseong, Young Master?”
“Yes, Oseong.”
“......Understood.”
Oseong Department Store.
Alongside Shinhwa Department Store, it dominated the department-store market.
At the mention of going to that rival location above all others, the driver could not hide their discomfort as they pressed the accelerator.
“Shin-hyeok, what are you thinking? Should we not go to Shinhwa Department Store?”
“Normally, we should. But I feel sorry.”
“What are you sorry about?”
Su-a anxiously wondered whether they should go to Shinhwa Department Store even now.
Then she tilted her head at Shin-hyeok’s answer.
He felt sorry, so they were going to Oseong Department Store.
It sounded strange no matter how often she heard it.
But Shin-hyeok crooked his lips and added his reason.
“I feel sorry for Ju-ho. I heard he got placed in Bronze, not even Silver, because of me.”
“Ah...... Shin-hyeok, you are really wicked, aren’t you?”
Lee Ju-ho.
The eldest son of the Oseong Guild Master and the Player who had suffered at Shin-hyeok’s hands during the Placement Exam.
Shin-hyeok was saying that he would go to Oseong Department Store because he felt sorry for Ju-ho.
At that, Su-a looked at Shin-hyeok with an exhausted expression.
“While we are there, should we buy you some equipment too, Su-a?”
“But after everything Ju-ho did to you for three years, this is self-defense. Mm-hmm!”
Of course, Su-a was promptly corrupted by the promise of new equipment.
Watching her nod quickly, Shin-hyeok let out a small laugh.
The luxury sedan carrying them smoothly headed toward Gangnam.
***
Oseong Department Store, Gangnam Branch.
It was always packed with people.
Naturally, when a celebrity appeared somewhere like that, a huge commotion broke out.
“It’s Choi Shin-hyeok!”
“Choi Shin-hyeok, who was placed in Silver 1 during the Placement Exam?”
“Choi Shin-hyeok, who absolutely destroyed Lee Ju-ho?”
“But why is he here?”
Shin-hyeok’s appearance had that exact effect.
Though people were astonished by his arrival, they could not hide their confusion.
Shin-hyeok’s main family was Shinhwa Group.
Naturally, people wondered why he had come to Oseong Department Store rather than Shinhwa Department Store.
Then, amid the crowd, questions burst out to resolve that curiosity.
“Mr. Choi Shin-hyeok! Why did you come to Oseong Department Store?”
“That’s right! Is it because Oseong Department Store is better than Shinhwa Department Store?”
“Please answer us!”
It was quite remarkable to see ordinary people who were not reporters bombard him with questions as though they had become reporters.
Shin-hyeok placed the trembling Se-jin next to Su-a and lightly answered the questions.
“I came because I feel sorry for a friend.”
“A friend?”
“You came because you feel sorry?”
Naturally, just as Su-a had, the others could not immediately understand Shin-hyeok’s words.
But at his following explanation, they could not hold back their laughter.
“Yes. I think I was too hard on my friend Ju-ho during the Placement Exam, so I came to help Oseong Department Store’s sales a little.”
“Ju-ho......?”
“Lee Ju-ho?!”
“Pfft, he stomped on him that hard, and now he says he came to help the department store’s sales because he feels sorry.”
“Is this the old ‘give him the wound, then sell him the medicine’ routine?”
“Ah, I need to post this on Instagram.”
“Lee Ju-ho will be fucking furious if he learns about this.”
The thought that Shin-hyeok had come to raise the department store’s sales for Ju-ho, whom he had personally destroyed, was funny to anyone.
Snickers sounded everywhere, and some even burst into loud laughter.
“Then I should fill Ju-ho’s wallet. I’ll be going now.”
After giving everyone a moment of entertainment, Shin-hyeok smoothly vanished with his group, accompanied by the driver, who also acted as a bodyguard.
-Choi Shin-hyeok just appeared at Oseong Department Store!
-Choi Shin-hyeok says Lee Ju-ho is his friend, so he came to raise sales.
-But the girl beside Choi Shin-hyeok is really pretty......
-Choi Shin-hyeok should pay double taxes and undergo a special investigation. Seriously.
-What about an autopsy?
-You lunatic, why would anyone perform an autopsy on a living person?
In the place Shin-hyeok had left behind,
the things he had said spread rapidly across Instagram and other social media.
Naturally, exactly as Shin-hyeok had intended.
***
“Please give me everything from here to here. And all the shirts that fit him. I would like them tailored, but we do not have time right now, so I will buy ready-made clothing first.”
“Th-thank you!”
At the luxury-suit store, Shin-hyeok used the phrase only truly wealthy people could use: everything from here to there.
The store manager bowed with a bright expression.
That was only natural, since their incentives depended on the store’s sales profits.
Of course, Shin-hyeok paid with a Shinhwa Card.
“Shin-hyeok, I do not need this much. Once I hold a hammer again, I will only wear work clothes. Why do I need suits like these?”
“Then wear a suit while hammering.”
“Why would I wear something uncomfortable and expensive......?”
“Would that not make the bosses who tormented you angry? The kid they used to harass will use suits they can barely afford as work clothes.”
“......Ah. You had thought that far ahead.”
“Yes, so do not worry about it too much. Considering the value of the equipment you will make for me from now on, it is still more than worth the investment.”
“Hah...... Haha, is that so?”
Se-jin, overwhelmed by the enormous gift, was thoroughly persuaded by Shin-hyeok.
There was no revenge more perfect or satisfying than showing those who had tormented him that he was doing better than they were.
And as Shin-hyeok joked and told him not to worry, the atmosphere became even more relaxed.
“Go change and come back. We will wait for you.”
“All right. I will change quickly and return.”
Watching Se-jin head for the changing room with the suits and shirts he had chosen in advance, Shin-hyeok smiled warmly.
“Next, let’s look at your equipment, Su-a. Oseong Department Store should have something decent enough to use for now. It will take Big Brother Se-jin some time to make equipment in earnest, so temporary equipment will be enough until then.”
“......Wow, I never imagined I would use equipment from Oseong Department Store as temporary gear. I really did choose my friend well.”
“Right. When else are you going to make use of a wealthy chaebol friend?”
Shin-hyeok laughed as he joked with Su-a, who was delighted by his words.
He said that, but Su-a had been his true friend from when he had nothing at all.
Because Su-a was such a friend, Shin-hyeok had brought her along even for Se-jin’s recruitment, which should have been known by as few people as possible.
It was also why he was buying her expensive equipment.
While chatting with Su-a as they waited for Se-jin to change, Shin-hyeok suddenly had a thought.
‘But cannot I hold a hammer too?’
Not only Se-jin, but Shin-hyeok himself could hold a hammer as well.
‘In the past, I was so desperate to survive and raise my Tier that I only honed combat Skills. Even the name All Master only applied to combat in the end. But...... If I am truly an All Master, should I not master production professions too, rather than only combat?’
That thought quickly began to take shape.
Unlike his previous life, when he had been an All Master only in combat, perhaps he could become a true All Master this time.
Just as that thought formed, Se-jin emerged from the changing room.
The moment Shin-hyeok saw him, he immediately told Se-jin what he was thinking.
Shin-hyeok explained his Class, All Master, while carefully blending in information about his Trait, Versatility.
Then he waited only for Se-jin’s choice.
“......I think you could manage as an Apprentice.”
An Apprentice.
A trainee who learned under an Artisan.
At those words, Shin-hyeok knelt in front of Se-jin.
“Big Brother...... I want to hold a hammer......”
Both the older and younger brothers were at an age when they desperately wanted to hold a hammer.
And so, Shin-hyeok succeeded in becoming the Apprentice of the man who would one day be called the Hand of God.
‘In this life, I will master not only combat, but production and crafting professions as well.’
Taking a great step toward his dream of becoming a true All Master was an added benefit.