The Wandering Merchant and the Miner
Tower, 18th Floor.
The Stone Hawk Mining Zone.
‘Ooh. Nice.’
The weather was cool. A gentle breeze brushed past, cooling my sweat in the most pleasant way.
Just a moment ago, I had been on the verge of heatstroke in a house without air conditioning in the middle of summer, but this place was paradise.
-Clang! Clang!!
As I soaked in the atmosphere, a sharp, rhythmic clanging pierced my ears.
The sound was coming from deep within the mine.
I started walking. Thanks to the Lightweight skill, my steps felt significantly lighter and faster than before.
The interior was wider and more comfortable than I had expected.
How long had I been walking? Following the sound, I saw a massive spark tracing a diagonal arc, leaping high into the air.
“Hmm, I guess I don’t have to search too hard, do I?”
Looking at the silhouette, it was clearly a person. A player on this floor, no doubt.
I approached the area where ‘Hwang Gyubeom’ was working, stepping lightly.
Soon, our eyes met!
Before he could mistake me for a monster and attack, I quickly took the initiative.
“Hello. I’m the NPC Rabbit! A wandering merchant!”
I just couldn’t bring myself to end my sentences with ‘nyang’.
My resolve on that matter remained firm, and it always would.
And above all, I was a ‘Rabbit’. What was with the ‘nyang’ anyway?
“A wandering merchant!”
Hwang Gyubeom.
The man with the grimy face stopped swinging his greatsword and bolted toward me.
“No! You have to finish off those ones first!!”
I shouted, gesturing toward the Stone Golems that were trailing him closely like ducklings.
I now knew that hitting a Stone Golem made a ‘clang’ sound, and killing one made a ‘crunch’ sound.
After clearing the area, Hwang Gyubeom panted and wiped away his sweat, looking at me with an earnest expression.
“A wandering merchant, you say? Never seen one before. What do you sell?”
“……This and that?”
“Do you happen to have any food?”
Hwang Gyubeom, who looked to be in his mid-40s, asked me with eyes that were sparkling far too brightly.
“Of course.”
Having read his post about being hungry on the Awakened community forums, I had naturally stocked my inventory with food before coming in.
“I knew it! I knew I could count on you! Hahaha!”
He smiled heartily.
I offered a small smile in return and emptied my inventory, pulling out the items I had prepared.
“Oh…! A Big Mac set! It might not be as hearty as a bowl of gukbap, but it’ll definitely fill me up!”
If I had known he was an older gentleman, I would have bought something as substantial as gukbap. I had mistakenly judged him to be a younger guy based solely on his name.
“Anyway, how much is it!”
My settlement rate: 7,000 won in cash per 1 tick. A Big Mac set cost about 20,000 won. I didn’t feel like doing the math, so I decided to charge a bit more.
“Ten ticks for everything.”
“That’s too expensive…!”
Hwang Gyubeom’s eyes instantly welled up with tears.
……A middle-aged man with sad eyes.
Among all tears, the tears of a breadwinner are especially heavy.
“Then how much for just the burger…?”
He asked timidly.
That meant giving up the fries and the soda.
It’s heartbreaking to see someone like that over food. I remembered being hungry when I was young, so I understood perfectly.
“……You’ll choke without something to drink. Just take it all for 3 ticks.”
“Are you sure you can do that!”
I had basically charged the regular price without any profit. Hwang Gyubeom regained his energy in an instant.
He was a man who wore his heart on his sleeve. It was proof that he was a pure and honest person.
“But are you okay with that? A merchant shouldn’t be taking losses like this……!”
He laughed, then suddenly looked like he was about to cry again. Why was this man’s reactions so transparent?
Hiding my own smile behind my mask, I continued.
“Instead, you’ll keep hunting mobs after this, right?”
“Of course!”
I looked around. Blue glows were scattered everywhere—the perfect signposts for harvestable locations. It was the perfect environment to test out the Tower Pickaxe, which was supposedly useful for ‘harvesting’.
It was also a good chance to see how Awakened typically treated an NPC like a wandering merchant in this kind of situation.
“Then, could you protect me? I want to pick up a few things in exchange for the burger, but it’ll be troublesome if monsters show up.”
Would he go for it!? It would be a disaster if he didn’t!
I watched Hwang Gyubeom’s expression nervously from behind my mask.
“Hmm? Is this a quest from an NPC? But nothing is popping up in my system window….”
Hwang Gyubeom tilted his head, looking at the air as if checking a system window, before finally nodding.
“I have to hunt anyway, so it’s no trouble at all! It’s good to help each other out!”
Perfect. I smiled triumphantly in my heart.
Now that I had his confirmation, I handed him all the food. I needed time to properly use my harvesting or synthesis skills anyway, and it was great that he’d draw the aggro for me.
Judging by his pace, this guy was slow at killing monsters. For me, that was actually a good thing—it meant I could move at my own leisure.
Whether he knew my true intentions or not, the man started to tear up again.
“Sob! I was so hungry today that I was seriously considering giving up on the Tower and leaving! My attacks are strong, but my killing speed is slow, so even for a repeat run, it takes me much longer than others!”
He said, biting into his burger like a man eating bread soaked in tears.
“Awakened, do you happen to have any area-of-effect skills?”
“If I had those, it wouldn’t take me this long. Haha.”
He gave a sheepish laugh.
“But if you know it takes a long time, don’t you usually bring some food with you?”
Real-world items could be brought in if placed in the inventory. An Awakened’s inventory was usually packed with Tower byproducts and essential gear, so space was always tight. But surely, he could save some room?
“I did bring some. I just already ate it all!”
“Then I guess you didn’t bring enough today?”
“I always bring this much. I just go hungry for the rest!”
“What?”
“But I got lucky today. You appeared right in front of me! Thanks to you, I’m full, and I’m very grateful!”
Hwang Gyubeom smiled kindly. I smiled along with him, though he couldn’t see it properly through my mask.
“Oh, and while we’re taking a break, would you like to see a picture of my family?”
“What?”
I hadn’t even answered yet. He pulled out a family photo and showed it to me. It featured him smiling brightly with a daughter who looked about five or six years old.
“Is that you and your younger sister? She’s so cute!”
Actually, the question I wanted to ask was ‘Where is your wife…?’. But asking that directly would be rude.
“Hahaha! She looks so much younger than me that you’d think she’s my sister! Unlike other Tower merchants, this wandering merchant knows how to flatter!”
He laughed heartily, then added, “We’re divorced. She said a man like me was boring and uninteresting, so she cheated and left!”
He dropped that heavy story with a smiling face.
“Oh my…….”
“But life is full of ups and downs. Just when I was at a loss for how to raise my daughter, I suddenly awakened! Thanks to that, I’m raising her well! It’s a good thing!”
He laughed heartily again. A truly positive person. An adult worth emulating.
“Actually, I’m not just climbing the Tower for money. It’s because I want Korea, where my daughter lives, to be safe. This is only the 18th floor, but the ticks I sell to the Association are used to make gear for the rankers. So, my repeated runs of the Tower are essentially keeping the country safe!”
The more we talked, the more I liked him. This was bad. I was going to get genuinely attached at this rate. An NPC shouldn’t play favorites, right? So, I changed the subject. There was also something that had been bothering me for a while.
His family photo. It hadn’t come out of his pocket, but from his ‘inventory’.
“By the way, family photos are small. Couldn’t you just keep it in your pocket instead of your inventory? Then you could use that inventory slot for more food.”
“If I lost it, that would be a disaster, so I can’t!”
A kind and simple-hearted man. But also a man with stubborn streaks and parts that were hard to understand. That was my first impression of Hwang Gyubeom.
-Clang! Clang!
Beside me, the sound of the greatsword clashing against the Stone Golems rang out noisily.
◈ [Skill] Harvestable areas can be mined in 1-3 swings!
I pulled the Tower Pickaxe from my inventory and gripped it, staring at the status window that had just appeared.
‘Weapons have skills too?’
I had learned today that some item effects only appeared once you held them in your hand. This description hadn’t been visible while it was in my inventory.
It wasn’t the attack skill I wanted, but I figured at least my fingertips would be safe today, so I decided to look at the bright side.
‘More importantly…….’
A light caught my eye. When I touched it, the ‘Crafting Guide’ activated.
The ‘Misc’ tab was glowing, so I pressed it.
└─ Recipe:Iron Pickaxe x 2 = Silver Pickaxe
‘Ah. So that’s why the Association enchanter asked me to buy pickaxes and sell them to him if I found any?’
I guess synthesizing them makes a better pickaxe? But I wanted to try it out myself first.
I approached a mineral node glowing in the mining zone. I raised the pickaxe high and—swing!
With a clang-clang sound, byproducts started popping out. The harvesting felt much smoother. Since this was the 18th floor, the success rate was much higher than when I was with Seo Ian on the 40th floor. Plus, thanks to the weapon skill, I could finish harvesting in just two or three swings. The time it took to harvest had dropped dramatically.
Following Rackcho’s recommendation to buy the item hadn’t been a bad choice at all.
How much time had passed?
-Ding!
“Oh.”
My harvesting skill rank had gone up. And then.
“Sigh.”
When I realized that synthesis might also require 100 successes to rank up, a sigh escaped my lips automatically.
‘Do I have to intentionally intrude into lower floors to raise my synthesis rank?’
Thinking that, I opened the crafting guide to attempt a synthesis with the materials I had. Two spots were glowing, one of which was under ‘Misc’.
The description read, ‘The gastric stone of a Stone Golem that chews and swallows rocks. If consumed by others, it is extremely dangerous to life!’ Honestly, who would think to drink gastric acid? Just imagining it made my stomach churn. There was no other information, like how to use it or what it was for.
Once again moved by the system’s lack of kindness, I placed 50 Stone Golem gastric stones into the crafting guide.
Condensed Gastric Stone of the Stone Golem (Extreme Corrosive Power)
Can be applied to a weapon once!
It looked like a pretty useful item. It was the gastric acid of a golem that ate rocks, meaning it could corrode stone.
‘If I apply this to my crossbow and shoot, will it automatically harvest for me?’
I looked toward the far end of the mine, where the path narrowed significantly. There was a massive glow—or rather, a cluster of glows so dense they looked like one. I had been distracted by that spot ever since I entered the mine. It was just that bright!
Just how good an item could it be to shine like that? Or how much would it yield? My curiosity, which had started as a small itch, was now firmly gripping my ankles.
‘I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight if I don’t mine that.’
I wanted to run over and mine it immediately, but it was in a very remote, narrow corner. It looked impossible to mine with a pickaxe manually. Just what kind of treasure was hidden in there?
‘Should I try melting it with this condensate?’
It seemed like the only way.
“Wandering merchant! We’re almost at the boss!”
Hwang Gyubeom called out, wiping the sweat and dust from his face.
“Rocks will be flying, so it’ll be dangerous. Are you going to stay here?”
Honestly, I liked his concern. It wasn’t the dismissive attitude one might have toward an NPC; it felt like he was treating me like a real person.
“There’s something I want to try before I leave.”
I pulled my light crossbow from my inventory.
Rapid Fire (Rank F) acquired!
When using ranged or throwing weapons, a clone follows to fire one additional shot!
The corners of my mouth curled up behind my mask.
‘Yes! Finally! A combat skill!’
I had wondered if combat skills only appeared when I held a weapon in my hand, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. I carefully applied the condensed gastric acid to the light crossbow and gestured for Hwang Gyubeom to come over.
“Awakened! Come here for a second!”
“Hahaha! Sure! It never hurts to listen to what a wandering merchant has to say!”
He was a man who listened well. Probably because he believed there was no harm in following an NPC’s advice.
“But what are you planning to do?”
He asked, looking puzzled.
“I’m going to melt something before I go.”