Leatherworking (1)
He logged into the community board and posted.
<Party Wanted> I'll handle your leatherwork. D-Rank dungeons and above only.
He also changed his username.
Heh heh.
This much had to be done, or people wouldn't bite, would they?
And sure enough—
The moment the post went up, messages started pouring in. Less than five minutes in, and there were already plenty of them.
And so on, and so on.
A veritable inferno of an inbox.
"Well, I certainly am popular."
Support-class Awakeners were rarer than combat-class ones, no question about that. But here was the thing: rarer still than support-class Awakeners were those with gathering-type abilities.
And in that market, 200,000 won per dungeon?
That stung a little.
Pass!
The truth was, money wasn't what mattered to Seo Hwarang. All he wanted was to rack up proficiency as fast as possible.
So, who to pick?
He scrolled on and on.
Just as he was about to scroll past one more message—
Oh.
C-Rank!
On top of that, a loaner rare skinning knife?
High level, too—it felt strangely trustworthy somehow.
Swoosh.
He tapped the username. A long history of transaction reviews meant this was someone with a solid reputation for safe dealing.
This one deserved a reply.
The reply came almost immediately.
He wasn't entirely sure what to make of that, but here was the thing: the skill book Basic Leatherworking contained leatherworking methods for nearly every monster on the continent.
He'd never actually done it, but he was confident.
The next morning.
Changuimun, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
When he arrived at the meeting spot, five burly middle-aged men were waiting in relaxed poses. Scarred faces, grizzled features—just looking at their stubble-filled jaws told you how many years they'd spent crawling through dungeons.
He'd gotten a rough rundown of the party composition. Hwang Cheol-woo was C-Rank; the other four were D-Rank.
D-Rank, huh...
That would be about on par with that bandit chief he'd met back in Aetherion. A C-Rank would presumably be even stronger than that. In mage terms, that was 4th Circle—nothing to sneeze at.
As Seo Hwarang approached, one sharp-eyed uncle waved a hand in the air.
"Oh! There he is—that's LeatherMan, right? Over here, over here!"
For all their rough looks, they were a touch goofy, too.
"Hello, everyone."
Seo Hwarang exchanged light greetings with the group and got a quick briefing. They were planning to take on the C-Rank dungeon that had spawned on Mount Bukak; all the leather harvested would go to them, and in exchange he'd be paid 1,000,000 won per dungeon run.
He didn't really need the money, honestly.
"I just want to work as much leather as I possibly can, that's all."
"Ooooh~ ho ho!"
"Well I'll be, look at that confidence!"
Clap clap clap.
They dropped into casual speech and even started applauding. All of them were in their forties and fifties, so it didn't bother him one bit—if anything, the atmosphere loosened up even more.
"One thing, though."
Hwang Cheol-woo made sure to nail down the terms.
"You get the million only if you successfully skin at least one hide. Think you can manage?"
"Of course."
The man had a conscience, at least. Nobody could justify taking money without producing a single hide.
"And if I do it well, do I get a bonus?"
"...Smooth talker, aren't you. Well, if you perform that well, I don't see why not. Any monsters you'd rather avoid?"
"None whatsoever. Just kill them for me. I'd skin a dragon's hide for you if you brought me one."
"HAHAHA! This rookie's got some nerve on him!"
"Doesn't he. And they say he's F-Rank?"
The uncles were delighted.
"Here."
Hwang Cheol-woo stepped close and held something out.
"The knife we agreed on."
Swoosh.
Seo Hwarang accepted it. It was a skinner knife.
◈ A skinner knife forged by a master craftsman's hands, made from rare obsidian. It boasts astonishing precision, and the magical residue clinging to its surface lets the wielder peel leather away smooth and clean with minimal effort. Its true worth reveals itself on high-grade monster hides, where it specializes in keeping damage to the leather to an absolute minimum.
◈ Effect: Leatherworking proficiency gain +10%
◈ Skill:Precision Separation — When using the knife, the wielder may peel the leather from a chosen section with extreme precision, preserving the hide's quality as much as possible.
Oh.
Not bad at all. Forget everything else—the leatherworking proficiency bonus was genuinely tempting.
"How much would something like this go for?"
"What, looking to buy?"
"No, just curious."
"Rare-grade it may be, but put this on auction and you'd get a cool 100 million won for it, easy."
Whoa.
A hundred million won...
Should I just buy it right now?
No, no need.
He knew from his trips to Aetherion: Earth's item prices came with a bit of a bubble baked in.
I could just keep tagging along with these uncles and working, couldn't I?
Which meant he could keep using this knife, too.
"Shall we head out, then?"
The uncles stared in wonder at Seo Hwarang, who showed not a shred of tension at the prospect of a C-Rank dungeon.
"Right you are."
"Kekeke, let's roll."
"Let's see if the boy can skin as well as he talks big."
"Move out!"
The fully geared uncles began their march toward the Mount Bukak trailhead.
To explain once more: a gate's rank could be read from its color.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Red was S-Rank. Violet was F-Rank.
Which meant? The green dungeon standing right before their eyes was, beyond any doubt, C-Rank.
"You all know the drill—no telling what'll pop out of this thing. Stay sharp."
"Okay!"
"Got it, boss!"
The uncles' tone was light, but the tension steeped in their eyes was unmistakable. Their preparation moved in perfect sync, hands and feet clicking together like clockwork—clearly the product of many years working as a unit.
They really are dependable.
From D-Rank dungeons on up, government officials stood guard at the entrance. The officer checked each Awakener's registration card one by one, and with that, the entry procedure was complete.
Well then.
Shall we get to it for real?
The dungeon was a forest.
A bleak expanse crowded with towering ancient trees!
"Nice!"
"Forest terrain!"
"Heh heh, we just struck it rich, boys."
Why was everyone so happy about a forest?
"LeatherMan."
"Yes?"
"Looks like your role just got a whole lot bigger. Forest regions are crawling with big predators."
Ah.
They were happy because he'd be able to harvest that much more hide, weren't they?
Works for me too.
Grin.
Seo Hwarang smiled.
Looks like my proficiency is about to shoot way up!
"Then let's move out."
Thud, thud.
Hwang Cheol-woo strode ahead, and they followed in his wake.
Before long—
- Krehhhng!
Twenty-some wolves blocked the path ahead and began circling.
"D-Rank, Gray Wolves!"
"Form up!"
"Copy!"
And again, hands and feet in perfect sync. Even their damage-and-tank balance fit together beautifully. Two of the uncles seemed to be the tanks, with one archer and two swordsmen—Hwang Cheol-woo was the archer.
Thweeeeeng! Thunk, thunk!
The battle began, and while the other uncles held the line—
One shot, one shot.
Hwang Cheol-woo's arrows punched through wolf eyes and chests alike.
- Kyang!
Their cleanup skills were far from ordinary. That said, they were at a level Seo Hwarang could have dispatched just as easily.
But no.
Mustn't show off my strength!
I'm just here for the leather.
Swoosh.
He picked up his work knife and smiled.
The battle was over.
Now it was Seo Hwarang's turn.
While the uncles stood guard, he read the grain of the wolf's hide.
I read plenty in the books.
First, he brought his hands to the softest part of the wolf's underside, the spot easiest to begin the cut. Then—
Swoosh.
He angled the blade and slid it in just slightly, then—
Zzip, zzip!
Applied firm, steady pressure to split it. The razor-sharp obsidian edge glided through skin as if parting silk.
"Ohh."
"Not bad for a first cut."
"There's something different about him from every other worker we've had. You sure this kid's actually F-Rank?"
All he'd done was make the opening incision, and already the uncles were gasping in admiration.
It was true—there was something a little extraordinary about the way Seo Hwarang moved. Even doing it for the first time, he had the air of a seasoned master craftsman.
Basic Leatherworking proficiency increases by 1.
Nice.
Even the System seemed moved, apparently—it was granting him proficiency.
Or maybe...
It could simply be that he was working hides of an unusually high grade from the very start?
Either way, the harvesting continued. He moved along the wolf's legs, expanding the incision lines one by one, starting from the forelegs.
Zzip, zzzzip!
He ran the knife along the boundary between leg and body, slipped his hand beneath the hide, and peeled it back little by little, freeing the leather without a single tear.
Oh, this is nice.
The partnership between knife and hand felt absolutely exquisite.
Next, the head.
The trickiest section, according to the book.
Because of the eyes and ears, right?
That part demanded genuinely delicate technique.
Can I pull it off?
"Hooo, whew!"
With his breathing evened out, Seo Hwarang set the knife in motion. Slowly, exactly as the book had taught him, moving with the utmost care, he refined the area around the eyes and ears without a single mistake.
"What—what is that guy?"
"He's actually something else."
"Feels like we hired a leatherworker straight out of one of the big guilds."
"You think he might actually pull off a premium hide at this rate?"
Leather quality changed depending on who harvested it. Even using the very same carcass, one person's work came out bottom-grade while another's came out premium.
Hwang Cheol-woo, too, studied Seo Hwarang with a sharp, narrowed gaze.
This was nothing like the guys who just hacked the job done. Slow as it might take, it felt less like work and more like the performance of some solemn ritual.
I might have to raise his day rate, huh?
And this dungeon was a forest.
If he keeps this up...
They might just hit the jackpot today.
Swoosh, shhk!
Every last detail of the work was finished.
"And... there."
Setting down his knife, Seo Hwarang gripped the edge of the hide and lifted the whole thing free in one smooth motion.
And there it was: a Gray Wolf pelt without a single blemish.
You have acquired a High-Grade Gray Wolf Hide.
The pelt, with the wolf's natural markings and grain preserved perfectly intact, looked flawless enough to rival any luxury leather in the world.
And in that very moment—
Ha.
Seo Hwarang let out a pleasure-soaked internal gasp.
Again. The support-class proficiency that was supposedly so brutal to grind was gushing upward like an open faucet—a full 40 points at once!
And here's the thing—
That was from a single Gray Wolf hide!
There had been twenty wolves, and they'd all been killed cleanly, which meant he could harvest nineteen more.
"Here you go, one for you. I'll head straight to the next one."
Shhk, swoosh!
Seo Hwarang's leatherworking pace had grown far faster than when he'd started. His hands had gained exactly as much proficiency as his numbers had.
"......"
Receiving the hide, Hwang Cheol-woo made a silent note to himself.
H-high-grade hide?
That thing went for around a million won per piece on the market. Even the most skilled harvesters only managed one out of every ten animals.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined an F-Rank Awakener with a Lv.1 Awakener Net profile would pull it off.
Nah, no way.
It was a fluke, surely. A one-time stroke of luck, right?
With trembling eyes, Hwang Cheol-woo watched the next skinning begin.