Chapter 68
Chapter 68
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Dmitr Limited Edition No. 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Customer. No, Dong-hoon.”
“Yes?”
“Please take me in.”
“Huh?”
Kim Jin-ah’s sudden declaration upon showing up at the workshop was more than enough to throw me off.
And of all times.
It had to be right as my massage training session with the old man was wrapping up.
“Hmm, this guy.”
The old man watching from the side narrowed his eyes.
“Lately, I noticed your mind wandering somewhere else, and it turns out you’ve been getting cozy with some girl?”
*(It’s not like that!)*
What the hell?
That’s what I wanted to say, but I had a pretty good guess.
Come to think of it, ever since the moment we first met.
Her gaze had always been appraising, sizing someone up.
For now, I shrugged.
“Take you in, out of the blue?”
“You know that Dmitr Workshop you’re trying to build up? Let’s grow it together! I’ll turn it into something bigger than a company—no, a guild!”
“Huh?”
“What Dong-hoon needs right now is talent. Top-tier talent like me, who handles things cleanly and efficiently.”
“……”
My lips parted slightly.
I was at a complete loss for words.
Wasn’t this overconfidence bordering on arrogance?
Or.
Was bold job applications like this the new trend these days?
You know how there are those stories.
Where someone speaks up gutsily, and the boss goes, *“You! I like your guts and your skills! Come work with me!”*
“Ho, what an interesting one.”
The old man looked on with eyes full of curiosity.
“Clearly a genius in one particular field. Won’t make a martial expert, but she’s got business savvy. Quick with numbers and faster than most at predicting the future. If she’d been in our world, she’d have been a prime minister for sure.”
*(That good?)*
“If you wanted to rule a world, she’d be the kind of talent worth keeping close without a second thought. Well, I never needed that sort of thing myself.”
*(Hoo.)*
My eyes sparkled.
I already knew she was exceptional from that insight she showed last time.
For the old man—who wasn’t one to praise lightly—to rave like this meant she was the real deal.
“But turning our Dmitr Workshop into something bigger than a guild? What’s that supposed to mean?”
A guild.
I’d never even considered it.
My goal was simple: the top workshop in the country and money.
Just lubricant to smooth the path to becoming a ranker.
Not the endgame itself.
“Dong-hoon, that’s the trend these days. No matter what business you’re in, it all leads to guilds in the end, you know? Look at Baekdon. Started as a workshop and grew into a massive merchant guild. You’ll face all sorts of pushback as your workshop grows, and to fight that, you’ll inevitably end up forming a group with some muscle.”
“Hmm. Could be.”
Like how all arts converge at their peak?
“So it won’t be easy alone. Money, people, paperwork, laws—tons to manage. Plus social events, guild politics, lobbying the association, merchants’ alliance, even the government.”
“Ugh.”
Just hearing it gave me a headache.
“Yeah, I figured I could just focus on making weapons.”
“Of course, that’s the biggest part!”
Kim Jin-ah nodded vigorously.
“But I can make sure you focus solely on weapon crafting.”
“Very tempting.”
Not bad at all.
Having a talent the old man raves about under me.
If anything, I should be the one scouting her.
The issue was.
“Salary?”
Labor costs.
“No big demands. Just pay me what my skills are worth. Stock options, cash—whatever.”
“Really?”
“But most employers can’t afford to pay me what I’m worth. Hehe. You’ll end up the same, I bet. I’m confident.”
“Damn, great mindset.”
Her confidence was ranker-level, for sure.
“I can pay well enough if you’ve got the skills.”
Like I said earlier.
I don’t crave *money* itself.
Just using it to build the environment to become a ranker.
Money didn’t matter if I could snag good talent.
I extended my hand with a smile.
“Then let’s hash out the contract details later. Want to work together?”
“An honor, Workshop Master.”
Kim Jin-ah bowed her head and shook my hand politely.
She continued right away.
“Oh, right. If you’re the workshop master, Dong-hoon…”
“What, want a position?”
“Of course, vice master. We’re still in the early stages. I ditched my career for this—surely that spot’s mine?”
“Sure, why not.”
Only possible because we were still a small neighborhood workshop.
* * *
“Wow. What’s all this?”
Kim Jin-ah, inspecting the building properly for management purposes, gaped.
“Good lord, a pile of ore like this… Don’t tell me all this is for textiles?”
“Heh, missy. What you see is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Dmitr chuckled as he hammered away in the makeshift workshop.
She flinched—still not used to the skeleton talking—but quickly composed herself.
She was Dmitr’s vice master.
Next to the workshop master, the one she needed to get closest to was this hammer-wielding skeleton, Dmitr.
“Just the tip?”
“At least a hundred times what’s out here. All in this bag. Hahaha.”
“Whoa.”
Kim Jin-ah’s jaw dropped in admiration as she pulled out her smartphone.
She started tapping away rapidly.
“Hm? What’re you doing?”
“Bookkeeping. All this is our precious assets, right?”
“You’re gonna log all that?”
“More is better than annoying abundance—it means solid capital.”
“……What a woman.”
Kim Jin-ah sat in the corner.
She fiddled with the bag, counting and checking the mountain of ore inside.
Her eyes darted like a 22nd-century robot.
Now I saw why the old man called her quick with numbers.
*(Feels like things are finally running systematically.)*
I sat watching her fondly.
Then turned to Dmitr.
“Alright, shall we get to work?”
“The weapon for that Jang Dae-woong guy?”
“Yeah.”
“Looks like a gauntlet user. Got this from recent alchemy blueprints.”
“Let’s see.”
Dmitr fetched a blueprint from the corner.
[Item: Giant God Soldier’s Fist]
[Grade: A]
[Type: Blueprint]
[Description: Design plans for crafting the ‘Giant God Soldier’s Fist.’]
[Effect 1: Allows crafting of ‘Giant God Soldier’s Fist.’]
[Effect 2: Requires 200 ‘Iron Ingots,’ 20 ‘Silver Ingots,’ 2 ‘Mithril.’]
[Effect 3: Complex crafting difficulty yields superior performance.]
“Hoo, Giant God Soldier’s Fist? Cool name.”
“What do you think, Master? Everything else is B-grade.”
“Not bad. Suits Jang Dae-woong too.”
“Then we’ll go with this. Whew, mithril after so long.”
The mithril from the past ‘Titan’s Thunder Hammer’ was Boneflesh’s work.
So this was Dmitr’s first time handling mithril on Earth.
“Not bad.”
Time to boost weapon performance further.
Especially if I wanted to arm the skeletons later.
“Alright, Master.”
“Yeah.”
“Picture that Jang Dae-woong.”
“Got it.”
Same crafting method as always.
Visualize the target, craft while thinking of them.
Custom weapon forging, literally!
I recalled the berserker Jang Dae-woong as I remembered him.
Boom! Boom!
Yelling *[Hahaha!]* nonstop as he slammed fists into the ground, a mad tyrant.
Each punch carried the pressure of a small nuke detonating.
“Master, this Jang Dae-woong. He’s really like that?”
“Amazing guy.”
“Honestly, a total lunatic. Like a giant dragon flipping a mountain to squash one bug.”
“……That a diss?”
“Hmm.”
Dmitr pondered, head bowed.
“Weapon for a madman. Looks like we need extra materials.”
“Materials?”
“Artifacts or catalysts with insane options… The more, the better.”
“Hoo.”
My eyes lit up.
Adding materials not on the blueprint?
New method worried me a bit, but who was Dmitr?
The legendary blacksmith!
“Okay, I’ll look into it.”
* * *
The post on the *Hunter Board* had stirred up a storm.
- Buying items for Dmitr Workshop.
- Dmitr Workshop Master here. Need items or catalysts with ‘not right in the head’ magic for next S-grade weapon. 100 million each.
- Pick the best 10 from what’s offered.
- Crazier the option, higher chance.
- Thanks for the support.
The hot workshop ‘Dmitr’ was buying.
With intriguing terms.
▶Insane options? They’re buying the junk nobody wants. For 100 mil each!
▶Lol jackpot. I’ve got one—worth a shot?
▶Oh, I’ve got one that buffs if you eat shit.
▶Above commenter. You the infamous ‘Shit Eater’?
▶What is this, an event? Charity?
Hunters don’t always get the items they want from dungeons.
With tons of unique ‘innate abilities’ out there, weird ‘items’ abounded too.
So hunters were intrigued.
What items existed?
Anyone unluckier with trash than me?
Who’s the most pitiful hunter?
Interest exploded.
▶Dunno why, but sounds fun.
▶100 mil? Could snag every weird item nationwide.
The post spread across SNS.
* * *
Knock knock.
Oseong Group executive director Shin Jong-o knocked on a Gangnam hotel suite door.
The door flew open.
A foreign man stepped out.
“Director Shin Jong-o? What brings you here?”
“Pleasure. Shadow Walker.”
The man before him: ranking 720 hunter.
Frenchman nicknamed Shadow Walker.
Also a mercenary under Oseong Group.
“Came as a group director with a request.”
“Ahem.”
Shadow Walker looked uncomfortable.
Even as Oseong affiliate, this director wasn’t the chairman—just a chaebol third-gen.
To the group, every ranker mattered; Shadow Walker wasn’t the underling here.
“Requests should go through official group channels, no?”
“Straight to the point: kill that hot Dmitr Workshop Master.”
“Hm?”
“Just some punk who hit B-rank recently. Child’s play for Shadow Walker, right?”
Shadow Walker gave a wry smile at Shin Jong-o’s words.
True, but.
“Well, even as a merc, I’m group-affiliated. Can’t move without chairman’s orders.”
“Triple the pay.”
Shin Jong-o muttered stone-faced.
“And you know I run Oseong Workshop. It’s the group’s top growth prospect. Means I’m prime heir material.”
“Hoo.”
Curiosity flickered in Shadow Walker’s eyes.
*(Honestly.)*
He didn’t buy this punk kid as heir.
Oseong chairman Shin Joo-yong was old but sharp.
No way he’d hand his empire to this thug.
*(But.)*
Triple pay appealed.
Sneaking a B-rank kill? No sweat.
“Director, you know my salary?”
“100 bil a year?”
“Hoo?”
“Succeed, and 300 bil hits your account on the spot.”
“Aren’t you overdoing it?”
Even for chaebol third-gen, there were limits.
300 bil wasn’t pocket change.
But Shin Jong-o’s face didn’t budge.
“Our workshop profits aren’t weak. Got plenty of personal funds too. No need for a ranker’s worry.”
“Hmm.”
Shadow Walker rubbed his chin.
“Just kill the Dmitr Workshop Master?”
“Yes.”
“300 bil for one life…”
He grinned.
“Not a bad deal.”
A chilling smile.