Chapter 33: Fruition (1)

The popularity of the DG Guild's MeTube channel, which had been skyrocketing since its very first livestream, was even more explosive after the Break in Mapo District.

Not only did official news channels cover the incident, cyber wreckers[1] had also rushed to spread the word.

Thanks to that, the number of views and subscribers on the guild channel had grown significantly.

DG Guild's viewership was also diverse, ranging from Hunters to ordinary people.

Lee Young-Ji, an ordinary twenty-something career woman, was one of the channel's subscribers. Having briefly browsed MeTube on her phone during her lunch break, she stumbled upon a newly uploaded video and quickly tapped on it.

"Oh my, how cute..." Lee Young-Ji muttered, a smile unconsciously spreading across her face.

The title of the video was extremely simple: Kim Ji-Hee.

Lee Young-Ji came to know who Ji-Hee was after watching DG Guild's latest stream and she was immediately absorbed in the video.

The video started on the rooftop of a building. It was a clear afternoon without a single cloud in the sky. The camera headed through an indoor hallway and panned upward at the back of a small girl.

—

Ji-Hee?

The cute girl standing in front of an elevator slowly turned around to face the camera.

—

Mister!

The girl was happily greeting the cameraman, but to the viewers, it felt like she was also warmly welcoming them.

As the cameraman took the young girl's hand and got on the elevator with her, the screen faded out to black. After fading back in, a room typical of a family home was presented.

—Ji-Hee.

The same girl who was now sitting in the center of the room lifted her head upon hearing her name. In her hands was some bread missing a piece in the shape of a crescent moon, and her cheeks were puffed out like a squirrel carrying acorns.

—Does it taste good?

—Yeeeees!

DG Guild's joyful fairy, the fairy of flowers, the angel of love, the affectionate angel, and the incarnation of cuteness.

The screen cut once more to a still image.

Kim.

This time, it was showing a photo of Kim Ji-Hee's side profile as she was watching TV with a bright smile.

Ji.

The photo was swapped with another one, which showed her walking down a hallway while holding hands with Lee Ji-Yeon.

Hee.

The photo was swapped once more.

This one had been taken by Kim Ji-Hee after everyone had gathered at the entrance of a building at her request. Just looking at the photo, one could feel its radiating warmth.

Though finishing this video had filled up her happiness meter, Lee Young-Ji still felt like she needed more.

"Is that a fan club site?"

Lee Young-Ji's state of bliss and comfort abruptly ended when she heard her boss's voice coming from behind her.

"A fan club site for whom, though?"

Lee Young-Ji yelped. "T-team leader!"

"Ah, don't worry, you're fine. You're still on your lunch break, after all." Her boss reassured her before asking once more, "So who is this? A child actor?"

"Um..." Lee Young-Ji hesitated, unsure of how to answer.

Her boss frowned in thought. "It might be because I'm not watching a lot of dramas these days, but I can't seem to recognize her? What shows has she appeared in? She's really cute."

"That's..." Lee Young-Ji slowly began to explain.

Kim Ji-Hee wasn't a child actor. She was a full-fledged Hunter who was already registered with the Hunters Association.

Lee Young-Ji began her "missionary work" as she welcomed her new "comrade" into the fold.

***

"You wanted to ask why Ji-Hee's video doesn't have any battle scenes?" Kim Ki-Rok said.

Kang Woo-Hyuk nodded. "Yes."

"It's because she's still too young. No matter how powerful her strength might be, if you send a child to the front lines, people would still curse you for doing so, with good reason. It would be forcing the duties of an Awakened onto someone too innocent to know any better. Of course, if a truly urgent situation comes up, even though she's young, those same people would still spout all sorts of shit about why an Awakened like her wasn't doing any fighting...

Ahem,

though I'm sure that they would go back on those words right after."

This was a common double standard.

"On top of that, our Ji-Hee is a Spiritualist. If we put in any of Ji-Hee's flashier battle scenes, this would stop being her introduction video and would become a showcase of Kan Cho-Woo's solo performance."

Even now, Kim Ji-Hee was still gaining experience and leveling up without having to do anything thanks to her ability.

"In other words, to prevent people from unjustly criticizing her, and because Ji-Hee doesn't actually do any fighting, we didn't put in any of her battle videos."

"So that's why."

"Yep. Setting that aside, Mister Kang Woo-Hyuk?"

"Yesh!" Kang Woo-Hyuk, who had been in the middle of eating, suddenly tensed up with a nervous expression.

"How long do you have left?"

Kang Woo-Hyuk hesitated. "Ah... maybe five days? I should be able to reach a thousand within five days at most."

Kim Ki-Rok hummed thoughtfully.

After taking a week to rest following the Break incident, the DG Guild and the Mapogu team had moved on to the next Gate as they had previously planned in order to supply Kang Woo-Hyuk's equipment manufacturing.

"Do you think that you could do it in three days?" Kim Ki-Rok finally asked.

"If I increase the time I spend producing items, and if there are no problems with the supply of materials... then yes. I think that I could do it," Kang Woo-Hyuk slowly replied.

"Good. In that case, let's aim to finish producing a thousand pieces of equipment in three days."

Kim Ki-Rok was getting ready to coordinate each of their schedules as they finished eating, but suddenly stopped talking and grew stern. "Ji-Hee, you have to eat your beans as well."

"But... they don't taste good," Kim Ji-Hee complained.

"You still have to eat them," Kim Ki-Rok insisted.

Kim Ji-Hee's lips stuck out in a pout.

"If you eat all of them, I'll give you a pudding for dessert," Kim Ki-Rok tempted.

Kim Ji-Hee perked up. "Really?"

"Mhm. Really."

As she recalled the taste of the pudding that she had eaten last time, Kim Ji-Hee glared at the ominous beans in front of her, then tightly scrunched her eyes. She secretly tried to spoon the beans into Kim Ki-Rok's rice bowl, but the beans were just moved back onto her own spoon.

With a sad expression, Kim Ji-Hee stuffed the spoon into her mouth.

"Oh my. How brave!" Kim Ki-Rok sang her praises with a smile.

Kim Ji-Hee whined, "It tastes so bad..."

Kim Ki-Rok knew just how to distract her. "What type of pudding would you like? Strawberry? Or melon?"

"Hmmm... strawberry!" Kim Ji-Hee decided after a moment's thought.

Kim Ki-Rok reminded her with a smile, "Then you still need to finish eating your beans."

"Yeeees..." Kim Ji-Hee complied with a sulk.

Kim Ki-Rok patted her on the head as she lifted the beans to her mouth using both a fork and spoon. He then turned and gave instructions to the rest of the table.

"We should be able to reach our goal within three days. We'll be returning to the guild after that, but what about everyone in the Mapogu team?"

Aside from Jeong Man-Kook, who was currently in a heated battle with a plate of stir-fried pork, the other members of the Mapogu team turned to look at Kim Ki-Rok.

"Have you made your decisions?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

The four members of the Mapogu team turned to look at each other, exchanged a few glances, then turned back to Kim Ki-Rok with a nod.

***

Let's see now, what's next...

Kim Ki-Rok thought to himself.

There were many talented Awakened that needed to be recruited while they were still unaffiliated. Of course, he didn't plan on recruiting all of them because it would be impossible to give all of them the training that they needed by himself.

Those that the DG Guild would end up recruiting were Awakened who, in previous attempts, either entered the wrong guild or met the wrong people and ended up becoming criminals against their will. There were also a few who were held back due to strict conditions required to evolve their talents.

Everyone who did not fall into any of these categories would be directed to other guilds.

As he took out the set of notes only he could see, Kim Ki-Rok hummed to himself, "Let's see now. What do we have here?"

Kim Ji-Hee giggled, seeming amused for some reason as she copied Kim Ki-Rok's words. "Let's see now. What do we have here?"

Absentmindedly patting her head, Kim Ki-Rok asked himself if there were any Awakened who he should be contacting at this point in time.

Seems like there aren't any...?

There were a few who might awaken sooner or later, but none of them really required him to go out of his way to recruit them.

Following the Mapo District Break Incident, the Association had immediately mobilized all of its resources to investigate the Gates. Naturally, this pressured Awakened criminals to keep their head low to avoid getting caught in the sweep.

Kim Ki-Rok suddenly recalled something, "Ah, there was still that."

"Hm?" Kim Ji-Hee looked up at him in question.

"No, it's nothing..." Kim Ki-Rok placated her as he buried himself deeper in his chair and began comparing the notes from his previous Attempts and contrasting them with his current status.

As expected, he had experienced similar lulls at this point in time.

Since there were no Awakened that needed his persuasion, he had usually gone to run some Gates. But the problem was that he couldn't afford to do so during this Attempt.

Kim Ki-Rok glanced at his status window.

My current level is... eighteen.

In order to proceed to the next stage of his plans, he needed to maintain his level at around 20 or lower.

"I'm getting really close to the limit here." Kim Ki-Rok sighed.

A few of the monsters that had been wandering around nearby were drawn toward them because of the noise Kang Woo-Hyuk was making. It had fallen to Kim Ki-Rok to deal with them, but they had been approached by more monsters than expected which caused his level to rise considerably.

"Mister."

"

Hm?

"

"Monster!"

At Kim Ji-Hee's shout, Kim Ki-Rok raised his head and took in the scene in front of him.

A Living Armor was slowly walking toward them.

"Mister, should I use it?" Kim Ji-Hee asked, holding up a magic scroll with both hands.

In order to stay at a low level while also encouraging her growth, he had given Kim Ji-Hee a magic scroll along with other artifacts that would enable her to hunt monsters on her own. This equipment let her hunt from a distance, and since the monsters in this Gate were the animated-object types such as the Living Armor, it would be less of a burden on her mind.

"Go ahead!" Kim Ki-Rok shouted encouragingly.

Kim Ji-Hee let out a war cry. "

Hi-yah!

"

Kim Ki-Rok had already taught her how to use her mana. After she injected her mana into the magic scroll and tore the paper in two, a blue sphere erupted from the scroll and flew toward the approaching Living Armor.

Upon contact, the blue sphere penetrated the Living Armor directly.

Poooof!

A burst of light erupted, but instead of exploding into pieces, the Living Armor simply fell to the ground. Rather than giving her a magic scroll containing explosion magic, he had given her a purification scroll.

This is definitely better. Seeing the enemy explode into pieces wouldn't be good for a child's psyche,

Kim Ki-Rok thought to himself as he patted and praised her.

"I've heard that a single purification magic scroll costs over five million won." Kang Woo-Hyuk's voice was heard behind them.

Kim Ki-Rok swung his head back to look at Kang Woo-Hyuk with a gentle smile.

"Mister Kang Woo-Hyuk?"

"Yes?"

"Shouldn't you be working?"

Clang! Clang!

***

After a quick dinner at 8 p.m., Kang Woo-Hyuk took a short break with the rest of his colleagues. He quickly returned to work right after, eager to begin the final sprint.

He had already forged 999 pieces of equipment thus far.

There was only one final piece left to go.

Clang! Clang!

"

Huuuff!

" Taking a deep breath, he gathered the last of his strength as he slammed his hammer down as hard as he could.

Claaaaang!

No sounds leaked from his forge thanks to the silencing magic that had been used. However, the onlookers felt as if they could still hear the ringing of metal.

The whole group were staring at Kang Woo-Hyuk, their eyes sparkling with interest.

As if to indicate that all his hard work had come to fruition, Kang Woo-Hyuk was suddenly bathed in a pillar of blue light.

"Has it changed?" Kim Ki-Rok asked.

"Ah... yes," Kang Woo-Hyuk said with a relieved nod. "But instead of a new effect being added on to the skill that originally existed—"

"A new skill, or in other words, a new ability was obtained," Kim Ki-Rok said before Kang Woo-Hyuk could even finish speaking.

Kang Woo-Hyuk nodded. "Yes, a new skill Reinforcement has appeared."

"Could you explain what the skill does?"

"Ah, just give me a minute..." Kang Woo-Hyuk looked around for something to write on.

Already prepared, Kim Ki-Rok handed him a memo pad. "Here you go."

Kang Woo-Hyuk wrote out the skill that he had just obtained.

C-Class skill, Reinforcement: Allows the user to reinforce a completed piece of equipment once, enhancing its existing effects or granting it additional effects.

Kim Ki-Rok had expected that Kang Woo-Hyuk would obtain Reinforcement, but silently celebrated nevertheless.

Before confirming the effects of the new skill, he checked with Kang Woo-Hyuk. "Are your Vitality and Willpower alright?"

"Yes, they're fine." Kang Woo-Hyuk nodded confidently.

Kim Ki-Rok didn't know about his Willpower, but his Vitality definitely had to be at its limits.

Despite that, Kang Woo-Hyuk still wanted to try out his new skill, so Kim Ki-Rok handed him the ring that he was wearing on his finger and said, "Try reinforcing this."

Kang Woo-Hyuk hesitated. "Uh... that's... I've never actually forged a ring before..."

"Ah." Kim Ki-Rok nodded understandingly.

While Kang Woo-Hyuk was being exploited during his years at the black workshop, he had only ever assisted on weapon-related projects, and even when he was receiving intensive training at the Shine Guild, his lessons had mainly been focused on weapons.

"Well then, what should we try it with..." Kim Ki-Rok muttered as he put the Ring of Protection back on and began searching through his subspace pocket.

Kang Seh-Hyuk, the third sibling, raised his hand and offered, "How about using my shield?"

No, what were they supposed to do if it failed and the shield was destroyed..

.

Just as Kang Woo-Hyuk was feeling burdened about how to reject the offer, Kim Ki-Rok handed him a longsword that he had just pulled out of his subspace. "Try it with this. It's an E-Class Sword."

[

Sharp Longsword (E)

]

Description: A long sword that increases in cutting power when mana is applied

Effect 1: Increases cutting power by 5%

It was the perfect weapon to experiment with.

Having been relieved of the burden of potentially destroying the precious shield, Kang Woo-Hyuk immediately picked up the sword with a pair of tongs.

"Alright then, here I go." Feeling all of their gazes resting on his back, Kang Woo-Hyuk began using his skill. "Reinforcement!"

Kang Woo-Hyuk's eyes widened into circles, as if he had suddenly realized something. With a smile on his face, he began seriously hammering away at the sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After forging away like that for an hour, the longsword began to shine with a blue light.

Kang Woo-Hyuk and everyone else who had been watching from a distance all used Appraisal to examine the longsword.

1. A Korean term used to describe internet personalities that use coverage of disasters in order to boost their own popularity. They are seen as the ambulance chasers of the news world. ☜