What Kind of Goblin Slayer Are You?

Advertising.

Spreading the word far and wide.

There was no more important thing in society when it came to selling something.

What good was it, after all, to pour your soul into making something only for no one to notice it?

Even a fine sword forged with godlike skill was nothing more than a dusty iron bar if it ended up shoved into the corner of some back room.

In that sense, the interview Park Taesu gave tonight, broadcast across all of South Korea, was exactly the promotion I had intended.

The weapon’s performance was this good, so if anyone wanted one, they should get in line.

Strictly speaking, I had used Park Taesu as my advertising model.

Of course, I had never needed to worry about this sort of thing in the other world.

That was because the person using my weapons there had been the Hero himself.

The one and only human who had slain the Demon King and even stood against a demon god.

The strongest being in the world had stubbornly insisted on using only my weapons, which made him, in effect, a walking signboard.

Even if Park Taesu fell far short of that Hero in every conceivable way, he was still more than enough as a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠model in this world.

“Heh-heh.”

I scrolled through my phone and let out a weak, satisfied laugh.

Hunter Gallery, the largest online community in Korea where hunters gathered.

The real-time trending rankings there were plastered with Park Taesu and the sword I’d made for him.

As expected.

Not just the search rankings, but the boards themselves were being flooded with posts about Park Taesu and me.

“Good. That’s some proper publicity.”

At this rate, the goal had been achieved early.

Back when I sold those daggers, I’d already been buried under a flood of messages.

That had already earned me some degree of attention, but this time I wanted to drive the point home so hard it would stick.

And true to that purpose, 인증 posts about the dagger had begun appearing in the Hunter Gallery marketplace as well.

Ah. So this was why people kept watching the gallery.

I couldn’t stop myself.

As I sat there for a long while, staring at all the posts praising me, a voice came from somewhere in the smithy.

“What are you doing?”

“What else? Just looking at my phone.”

“You look awfully relaxed.”

“Huh?”

Look at this guy.

We’d only just started speaking casually and already he was trying to act like we were equals?

“You know, someone used up every last bit of their ability to make your weapon.”

The red warning window glaring brightly in the corner of my vision.

Because I’d pushed my body beyond its limits, my crafting function had completely gone dead.

Well, to be precise, it only meant I couldn’t use the instant-making skill.

“Ahem...”

“I was just about to get up anyway.”

I pushed myself up from the makeshift bed tucked into a corner of the smithy.

Even if my crafting skill had been sealed for a week, I could just make things by hand.

After all, I already knew I could craft without using the skill.

Besides—

[Balance: 6,743,420]

The payment for the weapon had already been deposited.

Now that I had the money, it was time to take the next step.

“Let’s start with a little warm-up.”

I pulled a hide out of the heavy crate in the back of the smithy.

Goblin leather, tinged with a bluish moss-green.

“Heh-heh.”

The pungent smell alone made me smile.

“Ugh. The smell. Is that goblin leather? Why do you even keep trash like this?”

At the stench rising from the hide, Park Taesu clamped a hand over his nose.

“Trash? You can’t smell this fragrant scent?”

“Huh? Fragrant? Hyung-nim, are you...?”

A shadow deepened over his eyes.

“You’re thinking, ‘Did making weapons fry his brain or something,’ aren’t you?”

“...No way. You’re my benefactor. How could I possibly think that? Ahem.”

Like I’d hit the nail on the head, he scratched his head sheepishly.

“Flowers bloom even out of a trash can. Keep your eyes open and watch closely.”

I tossed the leather onto the table.

Then I quickly sent a text on my phone.

[Ms. Chae-ah. Do you happen to have any more goblin leather? I’ll buy it all.]

***

At the same time, in a conference room of a skyscraper in downtown Seoul, core personnel from three of South Korea’s seven great guilds—Mir, Gaon, and Garam—had gathered in one place.

A presentation screen displayed a simple briefing on tower clear progress by country.

“At present, the United States is attempting Floor 50. China is on Floor 45, Japan on Floor 44. We’re currently attempting Floor 40.”

The briefing continued from Lee Taeseok, the head of Mir Guild’s information team.

“Again with the U.S.? They ought to know when to slow down a little. They already know tower difficulty goes up once a floor is cleared.”

“If the U.S. clears Floor 50, what happens to the tower’s current difficulty?”

A few of the attendees voiced their dissatisfaction.

Lee Taeseok answered,

“We estimate the existing C-grade difficulty would rise to B-grade.”

“Tch. It’s going to get harder again. As if it isn’t hard enough already.”

“Looks like the lower floors are going to keep chewing people up.”

The conference room grew noisy.

A few guild executives were already pressing their fingers to their foreheads as if they had headaches.

Lee Taeseok quietly watched their reactions, then clicked once more to bring up a new graph of data.

The room, which had been restless moments ago, fell silent again.

“That’s right. The low-rank hunters are already getting chewed up every other day. If the difficulty rises to B-grade here, not only will re-clearing the lower floors become harder, but the upper floors will become much more difficult to tackle as well. Take a look at the projected losses.”

Lee Taeseok pointed to the screen.

When everyone’s eyes turned to it at once, he switched to the next slide.

“That’s why, before the U.S. clears Floor 50, we need to break through Floor 40 by any means necessary.”

“If it were that easy, do you think we’d be sitting here like this?”

The Gaon Guild executive folded his arms and shot back.

Lee Taeseok nodded.

“I’m sure everyone here understands that doing this with the strength of a single guild is impossible. That is why I propose a joint assault force, bringing together the core strength of Korea’s three major guilds—Mir, Gaon, and Garam. The data on the screen is a pattern analysis and infiltration-route breakdown for the monsters, prepared by our information team for this Floor 40 assault, with everything we had to give.”

The conference room sank into silence for a moment.

“...Then what happens to the loot from Floor 40? And the loot from future re-clears?”

Breaking the quiet, Garam Guild’s operations leader spoke up.

At the sharp question, Lee Taeseok, who had maintained his composure all this time, showed the faintest stiffness in his expression.

In a gathering of the great guilds, the most sensitive issue of all had finally come bobbing to the surface: profits.

Lee Taeseok quickly gathered himself and continued in an even tone.

“At present, loot is exclusively owned by the guild that sets the clear record for that floor. The same applies to re-clear loot.”

He paused briefly and swept his gaze across the room.

Every guild executive’s eyes were sharp.

It was no different from a warning that no one here intended to take a loss.

“However, in the case of this Floor 40 assault, this is an unprecedented three-guild joint operation. Even we at Mir fully recognize that applying the existing rules as-is would be unreasonable.”

When he advanced the slide again, a draft for settlement and distribution appeared.

“Therefore, for this operation only, we propose paying out cash cleanly and in proportion to each guild’s contribution. We believe this is the fairest method and the one least likely to leave anyone feeling slighted.”

“Hmm, not bad. But we’ll need to decide the shares properly.”

The Garam Guild operations leader smiled as if intrigued by Lee Taeseok’s clear line in the sand.

From that point on, a tedious yet razor-edged battle over shares went on for several more hours.

At last, the long meeting came to an end with the drafting of a joint oath document, binding the interests of all three guilds together.

Rubbing his throbbing head as he left the conference room, Lee Taeseok headed straight for the guild leader’s office on the top floor.

“Yo. Looks like that wrapped up well?”

Han Doyun, the Mir Guild leader, one of only ten S-grade hunters in Korea, greeted him with a bright smile.

“Hah. One of us just came back after slogging through hell, and another’s sitting there browsing his phone all relaxed?”

Lee Taeseok let out a deep sigh and dropped the document envelope onto the table.

“Do you know what I was thinking when the Garam Guild bastards kept clinging to one percent of the shares?”

“Hmm. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking about handing in my resignation and walking out.”

“Haha. You know this guild’s information network would go completely dead without you, and yet you say such terrifying things. I’ll make sure to pay special attention during your salary negotiation.”

Han Doyun laughed it off with easy charm.

Lee Taeseok flopped down onto the sofa across from him, already familiar with the routine.

He was exhausted from spending the entire day exchanging blows with people.

“By the way, what were you looking at?”

“Ah, nothing special. I was just reading up on Park Taesu’s interview from Steel Guild.”

“The hunter who just broke the Floor 30 clear time record?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Did you suddenly take an interest in Park Taesu?”

“No, I’m not particularly interested in that guy.”

Han ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Doyun propped his chin on one hand and tapped the sword Park Taesu had been holding on the screen.

“I’m just curious about the weapon he’s carrying.”

“The weapon? Then should I make contact? We should be able to find the maker in no time.”

Han Doyun snorted softly.

“Forget it. I was just looking out of curiosity, so let’s get back to work properly. There’s no need to make a fuss over someone clearing only Floor 30. The Gaon Guild leader’s the only one who deserves pity. He lost Floor 30.”

He flicked his phone onto the desk as though he’d lost interest.

“By the way, how’s the Japanese and American equipment import situation, and what about the mana stone development progress?”

“Everything’s proceeding smoothly. We’ve already secured the monopoly rights over equipment imports.”

“Good.”

Han Doyun’s lips curled up in satisfaction.

Lee Taeseok calmly continued.

“They’ll be so wrapped up in the Floor 40 assault that even if they hear about it late, it’ll already be too late to do anything. Besides, Garam is currently in contact with Chinese guilds, so they probably won’t even care.”

“Pfft. Why? Planning to import Chinese-made equipment or something?”

Han Doyun let out a laugh.

“Most likely, yes.”

“Things are getting interesting.”

“I should take measures...?”

Just as Lee Taeseok was about to speak, Han Doyun raised a hand to stop him.

“Forget it. Let them be. Report on the mana stone development instead.”

At the heavy tone, Lee Taeseok steadied his breathing for a moment and resumed his report.

“...Mana stone development is progressing somewhat slowly.”

“Slowly? Even after all the support we’ve given those research lab bastards?”

“Yes. It seems they still can’t fully utilize it as a proper energy source.”

“Tch. Maybe I should replace the whole lot. Disappointing.”

He clicked his tongue, and the pressure in the office seemed to deepen.

“Team Leader Lee, if there’s no visible progress by next week, start preparing to tear the whole research lab apart and rebuild it from scratch.”

“...Yes, sir. Understood.”

***

“Haven’t made armor in a while, but this turned out pretty well.”

I spread the finished goblin leather armor wide across the floor.

“I’d make more if I had the leather, but I’m short.”

Roughly 8 kg of leather was needed to complete a full set of leather armor.

I had started with 10 kg, so there wasn’t much left now.

“Come on, hurry up.”

I’d already sent the text to Kang Chae-ah, so she should reply soon enough.

At the very least, wouldn’t she bring me another 10 kg or so?

Putting my worries aside, I was just about to start a fitting session with the armor when—

“Hyung-nim! Hyung-nim!”

Park Taesu’s frantic voice rang out.

“What is it? What now?”

When I stepped outside the smithy, I found a one-ton Porter truck parked in the front yard with its engine rumbling loudly.

And on top of that, the reek of rotting food waste.

This was...

“Goblin leather?”

“Ah, hello. Shinwoo, you said you needed goblin leather, so I brought about one ton of it.”

“...One ton?”

The moment I saw Kang Chae-ah smiling brightly as she climbed out of the truck, my head began to throb.

This woman.

Did she perhaps have a blood feud with goblins or something?

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