Fools Rush In

Everyone came sprinting out at once. They all wanted the same thing:

I have to get inside the Valley with the Holy Knights before anyone else!

It was a race to be first through the gates. With the Church's Holy Knights and priests backing them up, they figured they couldn't lose.

"Ha ha. My dear brothers. Your enthusiasm is truly a delight to see."

"Please let us go in with the Holy Knights!"

"Truly admirable. Though, we've only just arrived — shouldn't we rest before heading in?"

"Please let us go in with the Holy Knights!!"

"Look, even the Holy Knights from the other orders aren't rushing — they're taking a moment to rest before entering..."

"PLEASE LET US GO IN WITH THE HOLY KNIGHTS!!!"

No matter how gently the Demer Priest smiled and reasoned with them, the players kept throwing a tantrum. He held his warm expression steady and spoke.

"Ha ha. Well then, you're welcome to go in on your own."

"...Excuse me?"

For a moment, the players thought they'd misheard him. But the Demer Priest was still smiling that same benevolent smile.

"Is something wrong, brothers?"

"N-No. Nothing at all."

"W-We'll wait! The Holy Knights need their rest too!"

"A wise choice."

The Demer Holy Knight and priest players backed away from the Demer Priest with pale, shrunken faces. One more word and they were pretty sure they'd get smacked.

"Are you sure we're really allowed to touch these?!"

The three blacksmiths — Kim Ji-sahn, Park Seong-chan, and Woo Jeong-sik — were practically jumping for joy. It was all because of an order Tae-hyun had just given them.

Fix up the knights' gear.

Up until now, Tae-hyun had been personally handling all the maintenance on the knights' equipment throughout their journey. The knights were simply too particular about it — the moment any of the blacksmiths tried to lay a hand on their gear, the knights recoiled like they'd been burned.

And yet here was Tae-hyun, telling them to go ahead and work on it.

"Would I waste your time telling you something pointless? Stop gawking and get to work."

When the blacksmiths approached, the knights made their displeasure abundantly clear — wincing and grimacing like they were watching someone about to kick a puppy. But Tae-hyun's orders were far scarier than any personal feelings, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so they handed over their equipment with quivering lips and eyes shining with unshed tears. The blacksmiths accepting the gear felt genuinely guilty about it.

"S-Sniff... This shield... I've carried it for four years. Please, take good care of her."

"...I'll do my absolute best," Kim Ji-sahn answered in a dazed voice, accepting the shield.

Anyone listening would have thought they were about to smash it to pieces.

"Th-The sword... Roanna... I'm counting on you..."

"You named your sword?!"

Only after a full round of tearful farewells were the blacksmiths finally able to get to work. Park Seong-chan set up his anvil and started hammering away.

"Tae-san. Hey, Tae-san."

"What."

Tae-hyun's voice was flat and disinterested. Park Seong-chan, by now thoroughly accustomed to that tone, pressed on undeterred.

"Wouldn't it be better if you handled the gear yourself?"

"You don't want to do it?"

"No, it's not that..."

Of course he wanted to do it. Working on high-level equipment like what the knights wore caused a blacksmith's Blacksmithing Skill to level up fast. Naturally, a blacksmith at their level touching gear like that would shave off some durability, or leave repairs incomplete — all kinds of penalties. That was exactly why the knights hated it. Realistically, it would be better for the knights' combat effectiveness if Tae-hyun handled it himself.

But Tae-hyun said flatly, "I trust you guys."

"Tae-san...!"

Even Park Seong-chan was moved for a moment. But what Tae-hyun meant by "trust" was something a little different.

I trust that you guys won't be able to fully repair it.

He trusted them, all right — just not in the way they thought.

Tae-hyun had his reasons for handing equipment maintenance off to the three blacksmiths. Throughout their climb through the mountain range, he'd been personally working on the knights' gear the whole way — repairing, removing rust, buffing blades with sharpening skills. At first, handling such high-level items had sent his Blacksmithing Skill shooting upward.

But after so many repairs, the gains had slowly dried up. And so Tae-hyun had a new idea.

Let something break a little, then fix it again.

Not durability chipped away from monster combat — but durability shaved off by a less-than-skilled blacksmith making a mistake. Fixing that kind of damage, it turned out, still triggered skill gains. The plan was methodical to the point of being ruthless: deliberately let the knights' gear get roughed up by the blacksmiths, then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swoop in and repair it to grind his Blacksmithing Skill. He intended to wring every last drop of value out of them.

But from Park Seong-chan's perspective, this was nothing short of touching.

He trusts us this much... Even when he acts so cold all the time, deep down he really does believe in us!

Park Seong-chan poured his entire focus into each strike of the hammer — careful, deliberate, precise. He couldn't remember the last time he'd concentrated this hard on anything. Sweat streamed down his forehead and soaked through his back, but he didn't stop.

He believed in us. I can't let him down.

Each hammer blow carried the full weight of his resolve. A legendary blacksmith's grim determination radiated from his back — and the one who ended up caught off guard by it was Tae-hyun himself.

What is wrong with this guy? Did he eat something weird?

Tae-hyun had handed the gear over specifically to let it get damaged, and now Seong-chan was attacking it with a level of focus that was frankly uncomfortable to watch. Even Kim Ji-sahn and Woo Jeong-sik were concerned enough to say something.

"Hey. What's gotten into you? Why are you working like your life depends on it?"

"Seriously. This isn't like you at all."

Park Seong-chan looked up at them with a completely serious expression and explained — that Tae-hyun had trusted them with this precisely because he believed in them.

Naturally, neither of them bought it for a second.

"Come on, that can't be right."

"Him? Said that? No way."

But Park Seong-chan didn't waver. He spoke with even more conviction.

"If he trusted us enough to give us this chance and we half-ass it and ruin his gear, he's going to be disappointed. When someone gives you an opportunity like this, you give it everything you've got."

"...!"

The sincerity behind those words reached them both. He was right. If Tae-hyun gave them this chance and they blew it, who would ever trust them with anything again?

Kim Ji-sahn gave a slow nod. "You've got a point. Alright. I'll give it everything I have, just like you."

Woo Jeong-sik rubbed under his nose, pretending he wasn't affected. "Don't act like you're the only one who's doing this. I'm here too."

"Guys...!"

In an instant, a blazing sense of camaraderie and solidarity ignited between the three blacksmiths.

From where Tae-hyun stood watching, the whole thing was completely baffling.

"What are you three doing?"

The blacksmiths burned with passion. Trusting in one another, leaning on each other, driven by the singular determination not to disappoint the man who had believed in them — they hammered and hammered and hammered.

The result was nothing short of miraculous.

A low Blacksmithing Skill didn't mean failure was guaranteed. The success rate was low, but the chance was always there. And one of the factors that influenced the outcome was the player's own dedication and technique — the difference between someone striking with care and focus versus someone just going through the motions was stark and undeniable.

These three blacksmiths, working with a level of concentration no one had ever seen from them before, had pulled off repairs that should have failed by all rights — and they'd done it perfectly.

Their faces were radiant with pride.

"We did it!"

"Tae-san! Look at this! We actually did it!"

"..."

Tae-hyun was at a complete loss.

Since when do these guys act like this? What happened?

He checked the knights' gear. Not a single piece showed signs of botched repair or lost durability. For blacksmiths at their level, that was a genuinely difficult achievement.

"...Yeah. Good job," Tae-hyun said, giving a small nod.

He had no grounds to get angry when they'd actually done well, no matter how baffled he felt.

"It's all thanks to you believing in us, Tae-san!"

"We proved we could do it!"

"No, that's not what I meant when I said—"

"Don't give up just because your skill level is low. You never improve unless you try. Never stop reaching. That's what you were teaching us, wasn't it? Right?"

"...Think whatever you want."

Tae-hyun gave up and turned away. The blacksmiths were high-fiving each other and celebrating like they'd just cleared a raid boss. Whatever he said at this point, they'd spin it into something positive.

There was nothing to be done about it.

I was going to use the botched repairs to grind my own Blacksmithing Skill...

His plan had fallen apart completely. Tae-hyun clicked his tongue.

Meanwhile, the knights received their repaired gear back.

"This is... actually pretty good."

"It's just like it was originally. I think I may have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been too hard on them!"

The notification made the blacksmiths leap with delight all over again. They'd pulled off a high-difficulty repair, gained a stack of skill levels from it, and now the knights themselves had acknowledged their work.

This was the joy of being a blacksmith.

Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan looked up at Tae-hyun with shining eyes, hearts nearly too full to bear.

Of course. Tae-san set this up for us...

This was his plan all along. The big picture.

When ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their eyes met his, Tae-hyun looked back at them. His mask hid most of his face, but somehow the look in his eyes seemed warm. Like a parent lion watching its cubs claw their way back up after being shoved off a cliff.

Inside, however, Tae-hyun was cursing them out.

Useless, the lot of them...

Tae-hyun and his group were making their way around the Jure Mountains via the long route. Technically they could have moved faster even through the range itself — by avoiding monsters and sneaking through quietly, they could've shaved off a fair bit of time.

The reason they were taking this long was simple: Tae-hyun had been grinding the knights relentlessly, pushing them to their limits to squeeze out every bit of utility they had.

He'd been running them so hard that side rewards like these were starting to pop up on their own.

"Tae-san. There's someone up ahead."

"What? Out here?"

Tae-hyun tilted his head. It wasn't impossible for another player to be in the Jure Mountains — the continent had plenty of active quests, and someone could very well be running a different one out here.

Interesting. What quest would bring someone all the way here?

Naturally, the curiosity of seeing a lone player in the middle of a dangerous mountain range was hard to ignore.

"But..."

"...They're not wearing anything?"

The blacksmiths thought they were seeing things. But they weren't. The player up ahead was completely stripped of all gear, holding only a single weapon, wearing nothing but a pair of square-cut basic shorts.

Starting-zone starter items. The bare minimum.

He was sprinting toward them with the expression of a man who had been through something genuinely terrible. He'd spotted their group.

"Hey! Please, I need help!"

"..."

The player skidded to a stop in front of them, panting hard, and launched into his story.

It was the kind of tragic tale that made even the blacksmiths wince in sympathy.

Tae-hyun's expression, however, remained utterly unmoved. Because he recognized the face of the man who'd come running toward them.

It was Cain — Master of the Red Zone Guild.