A Talent for Enjoying the Grind
Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan could now understand exactly why they had said, “Don’t get close to Tae-hyun.” If the other blacksmiths found out, they’d all start pretending to be his friend too. Things like this had to be monopolized. Once too many people swarmed in, even something that should have worked would fall apart.
Besides, Tae-hyun wasn’t exactly a kind man.
“Are you seriously doing this?”
Kim Ji-sahn glared at Woo Jeong-sik, his voice razor-sharp.
“Doing what?”
“Are you saying you’re not going to keep your promise?”
“No, listen carefully. I clearly said I wouldn’t get close to this Kim Tae-san guy, right?”
“You did.”
The promise had been that he wouldn’t get close to Tae-hyun.
“Then there’s no problem with just traveling together, is there? I came here to clear a quest too. With the soldiers.”
“That’s complete nonsense!”
“Why? Why is it nonsense?”
In short, his point was that it didn’t matter if they moved together, since he wouldn’t be getting close to him anyway.
It was practically just shameless insistence.
While Kim Ji-sahn, Park Seong-chan, and Woo Jeong-sik carried on their ugly squabble, Tae-hyun turned to Ju Hyeon-yeong.
“What are you here for?”
“Uh... was I not supposed to come?”
“No. You’re free to come. I was just surprised you got off the ship when everyone else is still up there.”
“But those people got off too...”
“Well, those idiots are a little lacking, so that’s different.”
In a single instant, the three blacksmiths had become “those idiots.”
Pointing at the soldiers, Ju Hyeon-yeong said, “Maybe I can’t fight directly, but with this many people around, I thought cooking might be pretty helpful.”
“Ah. Yeah, this would be a good place to grind EXP and raise your skill level.”
“What? No, I just wanted to help...”
“...?”
“...?”
They were looking at the exact same thing and thinking something completely different.
Tae-hyun looked at the soldiers and saw great big lumps of EXP perfect for leveling blacksmithing or cooking skills.
Ju Hyeon-yeong looked at them and thought, There are so many people here—they might get hungry. I should feed them something.
“You came along just because you wanted to help? Not because of skills?”
“Um... is that not okay?”
“It’s fine. It’s just weird. Look at those three over there.”
Tae-hyun pointed at the three blacksmiths.
Three men fighting hideously over greed.
“Can’t you see the greed dripping off them?”
“...That’s true, but that doesn’t mean I have to be like that...”
Suddenly, Tae-hyun felt his eyes sting.
It was as if a radiant halo were shining behind Ju Hyeon-yeong.
She looked like an angel.
Click.
“Mage. Why did you cast a light spell?”
“Ah. I was just checking something for a second.”
Of course, it had all been an illusion.
It was just a mage from the Royal Navy standing behind her, casting a light spell.
Still... she’s unbelievably kind and diligent.
From Tae-hyun’s point of view, she was a difficult person to understand.
Just then, Woo Jeong-sik approached him and spoke.
“Is there anything you need me to do?”
“No. More importantly, were we close?”
Tae-hyun answered with cold bluntness, not even taking a second to think, and Woo Jeong-sik faltered.
But Woo Jeong-sik had one great advantage over Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan.
The thickness of the steel plate on his face.
“Can’t we just get close from now on?”
“I don’t really want to.”
“Haha. Friendship between people is the kind of thing that naturally develops over time, even if you don’t particularly want it to—”
“Enough. What’s your class?”
“Pardon? My class? If I tell you something like that...”
In Fantasy Online 2, even the smallest details were valuable information.
Your class, your name, what skills you used, what quests you were doing and where...
Rankers hid all of it. The moment people knew, your weaknesses were exposed and interference started.
“Then don’t tell me.”
“I’ll tell you! I’m a Wandering Blacksmith.”
“A Wandering Blacksmith?”
Tae-hyun tilted his head.
It sounded like some kind of blacksmith class, sure—but what kind, exactly?
“What’s the difference from a regular blacksmith?”
“Think of it as a mix between blacksmith and merchant.”
A Wandering Blacksmith was, literally, a blacksmith who wandered around.
A hybrid class that did blacksmithing work while traveling around and trading.
At first glance it sounded nice, but Tae-hyun thought:
Usually classes like that end up mediocre at both.
Not that Tae-hyun, who raised so many random skills it bordered on insanity, had much right to say that—but he wasn’t wrong.
If you could do both jobs, it usually meant you were only half-good at either one.
To match specialists in both fields, you’d need absurd amounts of effort.
And that wasn’t something just anyone could pull off.
“Wait. If merchant’s mixed in too, then your carrying capacity should be pretty high, right?”
“What? Yeah, that’s right.”
In Fantasy Online 2, there was a strict weight limit on how many items you could carry.
Naturally, Tae-hyun had factored all that in when packing his inventory.
Ideally, you wanted to bring everything you possibly could—but if you stuffed it with junk, you might end up unable to carry the things that really mattered.
To increase your item weight limit, you had to raise Strength, learn special skills, or obtain special items.
Merchants, in particular, had dedicated skills and equipment for carrying large quantities of goods.
That was why some parties even hired a merchant specifically when raiding item-rich dungeons.
“Perfect.”
“...?”
Woo Jeong-sik had no idea what Tae-hyun meant.
But it didn’t take long for him to find out why Tae-hyun had said it was perfect.
“Feels good to be useful, doesn’t it?”
“Ah... yes.”
“You asked if there was anything I needed done, so I’m giving you something to do. Isn’t this nice?”
“Yes... it’s really nice...”
Tae-hyun stuffed every last trash drop into Woo Jeong-sik’s bag.
As the weight climbed in an instant, Woo Jeong-sik’s face crumpled.
Your bag is too heavy. Movement speed has decreased.
You will suffer penalties if combat occurs in this state.
“Uh, even so, this is a bit...”
“A dented fragment of a Wraith Warrior’s armor? Hm. Looks useful. Let’s put this in too.”
“What would you even use that for?”
“No idea. I’m sure it’ll come in handy someday. Just pack it.”
“...”
It was labor exploitation on a level that even made Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan feel sorry for him.
At first, the two had been jealous seeing Woo Jeong-sik tagging along with Tae-hyun.
It didn’t take them long to realize they’d been mistaken.
Being next to Tae-hyun was exhausting in itself.
“A Wraith Warrior!”
“Hold the line, everyone!”
The spear-wielding soldiers surrounded the Wraith Warrior and attacked.
“Holy Blessing!”
“The Hand Overflowing with a Warrior’s Vitality!”
As the priests in the rear cast blessings, white light began to shine from the soldiers’ bodies.
They had already been elite troops. Their gear was luxurious. Add blessings on top of that, and the Wraith Warriors simply melted away.
Thrust!
Stab-stab-stab!
The Royal Navy’s spearwork was vicious.
The Wraith Warriors couldn’t even properly get close.
Still, as they descended deeper underground, the number of Wraith Warriors increased.
The Wraith Warriors ignored everyone else and charged straight at Tae-hyun.
Seeing that, Tae-hyun grinned and drew his sword.
The Royal Navy was handling all the annoying parts for him.
If he landed even one hit, it was basically free EXP and loot.
But then—
“Stand back, you evil undead!”
“How dare you try to lay a hand on someone so important!”
The soldiers came rushing over and formed a wall in front of Tae-hyun.
Tae-hyun, who had come to the island and wiped out the pirates, was a guest among guests.
Of course they couldn’t let someone like him fight carelessly.
“N-no, wait. I can fight on my own...”
“It’s all right! We’ll handle it!”
“There’s no need for you to dirty your hands!”
The soldiers adamantly stopped him.
Frustrated, Tae-hyun thumped his chest and shouted, “No, I want to fight!”
But the soldiers wouldn’t budge.
“We’ll fight!”
“To battle! Let’s drive back the undead!”
“It seems he doesn’t trust us!”
Rumble—
In the end, Tae-hyun had to pass through the corridors of the underground temple without laying a single finger on the Wraith Warriors.
“Man... can’t be helped.”
All he could do was repair the soldiers’ gear, buff them, and collect the trash drops they sent his way.
Watching him from the side, Ju Hyeon-yeong looked at him the way one might look at someone deeply pitiable.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Um... should I say something and ask them to let you fight?”
“...No. It’s not that serious.”
Besides, judging by the atmosphere, even if a player like Ju Hyeon-yeong spoke up, there was no chance they’d let him.
“We’ll rest for a moment before moving on! Priests, tend to the wounded.”
At the centurion’s wave, the soldiers halted in perfect order.
A few of them had been injured.
No matter how well they fought, Wraith Warriors were not easy opponents.
They burst out from walls and floors without warning. It was impossible to come through completely unscathed.
Of course, Tae-hyun was perfectly fine.
They really should’ve just let me fight...
Just moments earlier, a Wraith Warrior had appeared right in front of him.
Tae-hyun had thought, Finally, and started to swing his sword.
Then one of the soldiers had literally thrown himself in the way and taken the hit for him.
“...”
At this point, it looked like fighting would be flat-out impossible until they reached the Specter of the Ancient God.
Ju Hyeon-yeong pulled out a cauldron and set it down in the middle of the group before asking, “I’m going to cook. Want to do it together?”
“Of course.”
No matter the situation, Tae-hyun had no intention of wasting a chance to raise his skills.
He immediately took his place in front of the pot.
“I saw you earlier—you’re really good at cooking. Do you have a chef class?”
“No. I’m not a chef class.”
“Then you’re that good with just the cooking skill? That’s amazing.”
Ju Hyeon-yeong sounded genuinely impressed.
Tae-hyun instinctively edged half a step away.
It’s too bright...!
If Tae-hyun saw a player who cooked that well without even having a chef class, his first instinct would have been to smack them from behind.
But this was just pure admiration.
“I do have a chef class,” she said. “I’m a Soup Specialist Chef. It’s a Rare Class. I just kept cooking in the city, and then the class quest popped up, so I changed.”
“A Soup Specialist Chef... that’s not exactly a great class, is it?”
Soup Specialist Chef wasn’t one of the more popular classes even among chef-type classes.
It was a Rare Class, sure, but the method to obtain it was already widely known, and if you were going to pick a chef class at all, there were better ones that let you handle a wider variety of dishes.
These days, it was hard to find anyone who actually chose to advance into Soup Specialist Chef.
But Ju Hyeon-yeong answered casually, “I don’t really care that much about class performance. I figured as long as I enjoy it and do well, that’s enough. And the NPC who gave me the class quest was kind, so I liked that too.”
“That’s exactly it.”
“Pardon?”
“What’s the fun in picking a good class? You’ve got to pick a bad one for it to be fun!”
“Uh... I didn’t choose it because it was bad...”
Tae-hyun ignored her and nodded enthusiastically.
“Excellent attitude. That’s how games are supposed to be played. These days everybody’s desperate to find overpowered classes, but the real fun is taking a weak character and making them strong.”
“I said I don’t think it’s a bad class. I’m having fun and doing well with it. I even enjoyed doing quests on the island.”
“You enjoyed doing quests on the island?”
All the players had done on the island was grind.
But Ju Hyeon-yeong was completely sincere.
“I did enjoy it.”
“You’ve got talent. Real talent.”
“??”
Someone who enjoyed the grind was stronger than someone who merely worked hard at it.
Working hard was one thing. Having fun while doing it—that was true talent.