Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: The Legendary Baseball Bat
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“But how do you plan to prove it in a place like this?”
At Kang Jin-hyuk’s question, the dwarf grabbed his luggage and spoke in a gruff voice.
“Follow me.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see when we get there, you punk!”
The dwarf, steeped in artisan pride, was seething with rage at having his precious orichalcum—the metal of dreams—dismissed as cheap junk.
Kang Jin-hyuk felt reluctant, but he had no choice and began following the dwarf.
As they navigated the labyrinth, they encountered a few goblins, but they posed no obstacle at all.
“Get lost, you scum.”
The goblins struck by the dwarf’s casual swing of his hammer burst apart like popped balloons.
Kang Jin-hyuk learned for the first time today that monsters could die in such a way.
“Did I bite off more than I can chew...?”
“Huh? What’d you just say?”
“Oh, no. Just talking to myself.”
Not long after walking behind the dwarf, Kang Jin-hyuk spotted something unusual.
In the maze-like labyrinth stood a massive furnace and anvil that didn’t belong, along with countless hammers and tools.
It was as if they screamed, “This is what a smithy looks like.”
“What’re you staring at like an idiot? Fell in love with my house or something?”
“Y-your house? In a place like this?”
“Monsters drop by occasionally, which is a pain, but the high-quality ore makes it pretty livable.”
“...Your standards for ‘livable’ are pretty unique.”
He’d softened his “Are you insane?” as much as possible, but the dwarf took it as a compliment.
“Right? I think it was a pretty creative idea myself.”
The dwarf, who’d been chuckling heartily, remembered their bet and cleared his throat, belatedly putting on a serious face.
He set his luggage down on what looked like a desk and held out his hand toward Kang Jin-hyuk.
“Hand over that bat.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Argh, just give it here without all the nosy questions!”
Kang Jin-hyuk swallowed his remark about the dwarf’s piss-poor personality and handed over the bat he was holding.
“Don’t try anything weird and ruin it for no reason.”
“You idiot! You think I’d mishandle something precious like orichalcum without knowing its value?”
The dwarf snatched the bat and headed straight into a room near the furnace.
He slammed the door shut, so Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t follow.
“I thought he was heading to the furnace to melt it down right away...”
Since he’d gone into a room, it didn’t seem like he planned to melt the bat and make something bizarre.
Still, it was too early to relax.
With the dwarf’s reckless personality, he wasn’t likely to use an aluminum bat for anything ordinary.
Sure enough, brilliant lights began leaking from the door crack.
“What the hell are you doing with a 250,000-won bat?”
The brighter the light grew, the more his anxiety swelled.
Unable to bear it, Kang Jin-hyuk walked to the door and pounded on it with his fist.
“What are you doing in there?!”
“It’s almost done, so shut up and wait!”
“No, you should at least explain what you’re doing! You’re not swapping it with something else, are you?!”
Even shouting at the top of his lungs brought no further response from inside.
As the silence dragged on, Kang Jin-hyuk hammered on the door.
Bang bang bang.
Just as the protesting knocks filled the smithy.
The door flew open with a bang, and a flung glove smacked Kang Jin-hyuk right in the face.
“Argh!”
Kang Jin-hyuk clutched his face at the sharp slap.
“You impatient little shit! Couldn’t wait just a moment and had to throw a fit?!”
“Ugh... If you’d explained before going in, this wouldn’t have happened!”
“Son of a bitch! What’s it hurt to trust I’d handle it right?!”
The dwarf bellowed as he roughly thrust the bat forward.
“Take a look at this, you punk!”
Kang Jin-hyuk took the bat and tilted his head.
“Is this my bat? It’s bright red now.”
“That’s orichalcum’s trait, you fool! It’s soft and weak untreated, but the more you enchant it, the redder and stronger it gets.”
“E-enchant?”
Kang Jin-hyuk doubted his own ears.
As far as he knew, items with special effects were called “enchanted.”
Enchanted items were extremely rare drops from A-rank or higher elite monsters.
Even normal items became several times more expensive than rares if enchanted.
To think someone could do it artificially.
Kang Jin-hyuk’s view of the dwarf changed.
He’d pegged him as mentally unstable, but he was actually an incredible master!
With excitement bubbling over, Kang Jin-hyuk appraised the bat.
[Legendary Baseball Bat]
Rank: Legendary
Description: Once a common aluminum baseball bat, repeated enchantments have elevated it to legendary status.
[Added Effects]
Durability S
Presence Detection
Auto Retrieval
Kang Jin-hyuk jumped in shock upon checking the info.
The other effects were amazing too, but “Durability” stole the spotlight.
A bat with mere B-rank Durability would inflate to tens of millions of won, and this had S-rank.
“At this level, it’s worth whatever you name...!”
Selling just this would let him live comfortably for three generations without lifting a finger.
A true life-reversing jackpot!
The dwarf boasted proudly to the ecstatic Kang Jin-hyuk.
“How’s that? Amazing, right? Plus, orichalcum boosts enchant performance by over 300%!”
“Is that for real?”
“Why would I lie?”
Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t close his gaping mouth.
He’d thought the aluminum rant was nonsense, but the dwarf had created something phenomenal.
No denying it now that he’d seen it.
“I lose.”
Asking if he’d swapped it was pointless.
The item info confirmed it was the baseball bat he’d brought.
With Kang Jin-hyuk cleanly admitting defeat, the dwarf let out a booming laugh.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! Finally, this brat believes me!”
Kang Jin-hyuk expected the dwarf, victorious, to demand something right away.
But what the dwarf said was completely different.
“Don’t ever mouth off without knowing shit again, and take good care of that bat.”
“Huh?”
Kang Jin-hyuk stared at the dwarf in surprise.
“You’re giving this to me?”
“Why ask the obvious? You didn’t think I’d take it, did you?”
“W-well...”
As the dwarf said, Kang Jin-hyuk had assumed he’d claim the bat as the bet’s prize.
He’d treated the so-called orichalcum like treasure, after all.
But the dwarf had no such intention.
“I’m no thief—why would I take someone else’s gear?”
“Then why enchant it like this...?”
“You demanded proof.”
Dwarves were a greedy race, but they never touched two things: another smith’s work or gear that wasn’t theirs.
“If you gave it to me, I’d take it, but looking at you, seems like that bat’s all you’ve got.”
Truth be told, he coveted the orichalcum, but that very fact was why he didn’t take the bat.
‘The metal of the gods chose that guy as its owner for a reason.’
The dwarf believed that and buried his personal greed.
“Since I went and enchanted it for once, ditch that beggar look. Punk.”
Hearing this, Kang Jin-hyuk felt a surge of gratitude.
“Thank you, sir.”
All memory of the cursing and yelling had vanished clean away.
Turning a 250,000-won bat into billions-worth—what were a few harsh words?
To confirm it wasn’t a dream, Kang Jin-hyuk checked the bat’s info again.
Besides S-rank Durability, two other functions.
Presence Detection sensed enemies within a 5-meter radius, and Auto Retrieval returned it to the owner within a minute, no matter where it landed.
“Can this Auto Retrieval be transferred to someone else?”
At Kang Jin-hyuk’s question, the dwarf nodded immediately.
“Can’t have it stolen, so I bound it to you.”
Hearing that, Kang Jin-hyuk’s face grew complicated.
He appreciated the kindness, but it meant he could never transfer or sell the bat.
‘Too bad it can’t be sold despite the performance.’
As he felt regret, a thought struck him.
“If I bring more orichalcum, could you enchant it like this?”
“Easy enough. But not now.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“No materials left for enchanting.”
A deeply disappointing answer.
Aluminum overflowed outside, so if he could enchant more, he’d bring plenty.
“Couldn’t you get more materials?”
“Hmm... Might find some scouring this dungeon.”
“Really?”
Kang Jin-hyuk’s eyes widened in excitement.
“If I get the materials, you could make more like this?”
“Y-yeah. Bring the materials, and it’s possible.”
The dwarf couldn’t fathom why Kang Jin-hyuk was so thrilled.
Orichalcum wasn’t common—how would getting enchant materials change anything?
The dwarf thought he was chasing pipe dreams, but reality differed.
Kang Jin-hyuk had found another reason to explore the dungeon and was burning with motivation.
* * *
Kang Jin-hyuk made an excuse about having business and parted ways with the dwarf before leaving the attic.
Enthusiasm didn’t mean charging in blindly.
With so little info on the dungeon, preparation had to be thorough.
“First, sell these goblin corpses and buy a new inventory.”
To hole up in the labyrinth long-term, he needed one that could hold dozens of monsters without issue.
“But how do I sell them?”
Without proving origin, guild exchange sales were impossible.
The association’s unreasonable policy to prevent poaching others’ loot was a huge barrier for Kang Jin-hyuk.
“Guess I’ll have to hit the black market...”
Every trade had its illegal underbelly.
To dispose of goblin corpses without exposing the labyrinth, he had no choice but to visit that place he’d never thought he’d deal with.
“Let’s see... I got a business card back then.”
Kang Jin-hyuk pulled out his wallet and found the card he’d received before.
A plain white card with just a phone number and name—no promo text—and it brought back what the guy had said.
‘A kidney’s just pocket change from the Lord. Call if you need cash quick.’
Even recalling it now, what a blessing.
Building skills on organ trade, now dealing monster corpses too.
Just imagining it gave him chills.
“It’s not like I’m selling my body. Don’t chicken out.”
Kang Jin-hyuk took a deep breath in and out to regain composure.
Then he pulled out his smartphone and dialed the number on the card.