Chapter 23

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 23

Chapter Title: Acknowledged Chae Yeonhwa

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The atmosphere chilled in an instant.

Chae Yeonhwa wore a colder expression than ever before, her disappointment genuine and far surpassing the moment right after she'd been summoned.

"Wa..it a second, calm down!"

"I'm plenty calm right now, so spill it already..."

"Uh, my phone. Just let me check my phone once."

"Gonna search or something...?"

"There's a way, so hold on just a bit longer. You have to trust me if we're awakening Hong Yeom, right?"

Even if it was bullshit, telling her "What can you even do about it?" would be a total disaster.

I wanted to acknowledge her too, just as much.

"...Go ahead and check."

She finally released her grip on me and sat down on the bed first.

I followed suit, climbing onto the bed and grabbing my phone before logging straight into the forge.

To avoid any misunderstandings, I switched to portrait mode...

Of course, it didn't support it, so I'd have to read the sideways text, but there was no helping it right now.

'Nothing...'

I returned to the main screen, but as expected, there was no such thing as a "Blacksmith's Recognition" function.

I even tapped through every single function just in case, but no dice.

"..."

I glanced up at Chae Yeonhwa, and sure enough, she was watching me intently.

This was a real crisis.

No choice but to try functions I'd never used before.

They were the sub-functions that had appeared alongside regular customer registration.

Which meant there was at least a slim chance "Blacksmith's Recognition" was tucked away in there.

"Um..."

"What."

Any reverence for me was gone.

A wounded girl's heart was as hard to heal as ever.

"To... diagnose the issue, I think I need to check your status window."

"Hong Yeom's?"

"No, your status window, Chae Yeonhwa-ssi..."

"...I told you, my intellect stat hasn't changed."

"That's not it..."

Rather than explain, it was faster to just pop up the message again.

"This is..."

"If you accept it, I can check and figure out what's wrong."

"Even with consent, peeking at someone else's status window..."

"It's necessary for custom gear, too."

"..."

"I've always planned to make you a dedicated staff someday. Wouldn't checking now be a huge help?"

...

Bad timing, huh.

Normally, she'd be grinning ear to ear and accepting on the spot, but she was still staring at me coldly.

Twitch-

'Huh?'

"D-don't just talk about it—take a good look at Hong Yeom right now."

'No way, it's actually real?'

I'd hoped for it before, but this seemed hugely tied to custom gear.

But that could wait—the priority was Chae Yeonhwa's status window.

If I still couldn't find "Blacksmith's Recognition," I'd soothe her by offering to craft custom gear with the new function.

For now, though, I was thrilled to see an S-rank Awakener's status window for the first time.

How different could it be from my E-grade spam-fest?

"Wow..."

Ah, not the time to gawk.

Sure enough, as Chae Yeonhwa said, her intellect stat showed no change.

Magic power was affected, so the equipment bonuses were applying properly.

Just in case, I tapped the next-page icon to check her skills...

As expected of an S-rank, she had a ton of impressive skills.

But of course, what I was looking for wasn't in the skills list.

Just as I thought to flip back to the stats page, I noticed the page buttons.

'...Huh?'

◀️▶️

Did she have so many skills there was an extra page?

Seemed worth checking, so I tapped ▶️.

'That hairband's Awakener gear too, huh...'

I'd figured she secretly loved cute stuff but pretended otherwise because of it—my bad.

Anyway, not important.

What mattered was the separate equipment page in the status window.

I must not have noticed before because ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'd never checked while equipped.

This discovery had massive implications.

Below the equipped gear list.

Above the now-lonely previous-page ◀️ icon with no next page.

"Aah..."

This had to be the Blacksmith's Recognition.

'Goddamn... this is why you gotta scour shit-tier games to the bitter end.'

Not a game, sure, but the design and UX were on that level—I'd known that from the start.

It made sense for it to be here, but why hide it with zero guidance?

"Phew... found it."

"Really?"

Her tone dripped with doubt.

No joy or anticipation left.

"You gonna keep sulking the whole time?"

"..."

I immediately played a snippet of the video I'd recorded earlier and paused it.

"I'm so cu~te~"

"Aaack!! Fine, okay!!"

I watched her instant surrender with satisfaction, then tapped the thumbs-up icon.

"Check your status window now."

"..."

"Waaaaaah!!"

A massive step-up for Chae Yeonhwa, all from a single piece of gear I'd made.

"Plus, there's a 100% boost to fire-element skill efficiency."

"Hiiik!! For real?!!"

She had every reason to freak out.

Gear crafted by an Awakener Blacksmith came with extra effects, boasting at least 1.5 times the performance of equivalent market items.

"Ehehehe... Hong Yeom~..."

Chae Yeonhwa stroked the staff lovingly, clearly even more taken with it.

The original deal was done, and I'd learned about regular customers and recognition too—definitely a fruitful meeting.

Time to head out...

"By the way, Chae Yeonhwa-ssi, how're you getting back?"

"Hm? Can't send me?"

"...Nope, you gotta go yourself."

She openly looked disappointed as she pondered.

Still in pajamas, leaving like this would be pretty awkward.

"Calling someone here..."

"Yeah, that's tricky..."

She knew exposing my home address went against my repeated pleas for secrecy.

"Taxi then? That okay?"

"Ah."

Come to think of it, Chae Yeonhwa's face wasn't widely known to the public.

The issue was the Crimson Flame Staff...

"What if you leave it here and pick it up later...?"

"No way!!"

She clutched it tight like she feared I'd steal it, hiding it behind her.

I could force the issue, but was it worth it?

The design was flashy, but no one would ID it from looks alone—nothing to worry about.

"Got it. I'll call you a taxi right now."

Twenty minutes until the taxi arrived.

She peppered me with questions, clearly fishing for my info, but I figured it was too ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soon to spill on my abilities.

I'd mull it over slowly, but right now definitely wasn't the time.

Trust needed to build more—maybe after securing two or three more Chae Yeonhwa aegyo videos.

S-rank Awakeners prized honor as much as cash, after all.

Before long, the taxi pulled up—it was time for her to go.

"See ya!"

"Yeah. If the staff gets banged up, let me know. Or drop it off once a month—I'll fix it right up."

"Whaaat... even repairs...?"

"Pay back that 550 ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠billion nicely, now."

"Ah..."

"And if I call you in for work, I'll charge a little service fee each time."

"Call me lots!!"

With regular summon permissions granted, I sent Chae Yeonhwa on her way.

Bang—Beep-!

"Phew..."

What a whirlwind in such a short time.

Met S-rank Awakener Chae Yeonhwa.

Made her do aegyo and recorded it.

Sold the Crimson Flame Staff for a whopping 1,050 billion.

"Kkyaaat huuuu~!!—"

Flop—

I hurled myself onto the bed and dove into the auction house to confirm the funds had cleared.

"Phew... I'll exchange later."

No urgent spending anyway, and my current 9 billion was plenty.

"Up we go."

Truth was, my real Blacksmith grind started now.

I'd just flopped down, but I got right back ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up and sat at the computer.

This was my sub rig, macro chugging along with the monitor off.

I tweaked the macro immediately.

I now had a whopping 41 B-grade pieces.

Only 12 with attribute infusions, but that was B-grade endgame for now.

Plan was to list three different B-grade weapons on auction weekly.

Meanwhile, the forge cranks out A-grades.

I'd sold a B-grade fire staff to a total stranger.

For my lifelong childhood friend's training finale gift, an A-grade was the least I could do, right?

Oh, right—time to offload that D-grade Light Staff I'd been hoarding.

If an A-grade Light Staff ever popped up, I'd feel bad charging top dollar for the D-grade.

For now, though, the D-grade was the abso~lute best Light Staff out there, so I could fleece the Saint without a twinge of guilt.

Macro tweaked in a flash, I hopped onto the Gallery and tossed out the bait.