Chapter 123: Inevitability (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 123: Inevitability (5)
There was no special reason for choosing the Yongsan Weapons Market as our date spot.
“Kukuk! Hey, look at that shield. Doesn’t it look bigger than Elena’s?”
“You’d probably need a trait like Super Strength to even use that…”
It was simply because the equipment displayed in the countless shops was a spectacle in itself.
For a Hunter, who has to pay close attention to gear, it was a special kind of fun.
You could find your own enjoyment just by examining the equipment made of different shapes and materials, guessing their purpose, and weighing their efficiency.
Besides, Shin Yu-jeong was someone who was completely serious about her profession as a Hunter.
In other words, you could say this was a date course tailored specifically for her.
“Nah… that one looks almost completely impractical.”
I felt a sense of relief.
I’d chosen this course with her in mind, but it would have all been for nothing if she didn’t like it.
Seeing her chattering away so happily, I knew I hadn’t made the wrong choice.
By the time we’d looked around about half of Building D…
“Hey, didn’t you come here to buy gear for yourself?”
“I was going to if I found something I liked, but nothing’s caught my eye so far.”
“Hmm… you have pretty high standards, don’t you?”
“Heh heh, do I?”
I laughed awkwardly, playing along with her words.
My high standards were unavoidable.
Until just a few months ago, every piece of equipment I used was either a masterpiece poured over by a master artisan or top-tier gear that occasionally dropped in dungeons.
It was only natural that the equipment in Building D couldn’t capture my attention.
“Then let’s just go straight to Building C. It doesn’t seem like anything here will satisfy you anyway.”
“Let’s do that.”
We left Building D, which was as chaotic as a flea market.
I was about to head straight for the nearby Building C when I saw Yu-jeong’s eyes fixed on something.
Curious, I looked and saw it was a food stall.
Chicken skewers, slathered in a bright red sauce, were sizzling over a fire.
She was watching them, swallowing hard.
She must really want one.
“How about we grab a skewer while we look? I could use a snack.”
“Oh, should we?”
Her delighted expression was cute.
We went to the stall she’d been staring at and bought some chicken skewers. The owner, an ajumma, glanced at us and grinned mischievously.
“What a handsome man and a beautiful woman! You two out on a date?”
“Yes, it’s our first date.”
“Oh my! The best of times, the best of times. I remember when my husband and I were like that… ho ho!”
“Ha, haha…”
I was genuinely surprised.
Her words were identical, down to the last syllable, to what a stall owner had told me 25 years ago, back when Han Ju-hee and I were in the throes of a passionate romance.
They say timeless things are masterpieces. I guess this must be the masterpiece line for food stall ajummas.
“I threw in an extra skewer for you! Have a beautiful love!”
“Yes, thank you.”
With a pile of chicken skewers wrapped in foil, we started walking again.
Both of us had hearty appetites, so we needed at least this much to stave off hunger.
We entered Building C, each taking a bite of a skewer.
The vendors greeted us with a much calmer atmosphere than in Building D.
The lower the grade of the building, the louder it is, and the decibels decrease as you go up in grade.
That’s because they all know that once you get to the level of buying gear in Buildings C and B, it becomes drastically harder to lure in suckers with aggressive sales tactics.
“If you see anything you like, take a look.”
That was the most they’d do, just a little poke as you passed by.
“This is much better.”
“Right?”
In the much calmer atmosphere, we examined the gear, having a heated discussion.
She seemed to be trying to pick out gear for me, focusing on lightweight equipment suitable for a mage and asking for my opinion.
The thing is, I had no intention of buying gear for myself.
After talking for a while, she pouted.
“Hey, are you even planning on buying anything?”
“I am.”
“Then why do you look so unimpressed with everything? Do you hate my choices that much?”
That’s because you’re barking up the wrong tree, you kid.
I smiled brightly and grabbed her hand.
“Come with me for a second.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
The place I took the unresisting girl to was a weapon shop, one that specialized in swords.
The shop’s name was ‘Dragon’s Breath’.
A place where I used to buy my gear a long, long time ago, when I was a C-rank Hunter.
I was surprised twice when I first saw this place again. First, that the shop from back then was still around, and second, that the quality of the gear was just as good as I remembered.
“Whoa… how old is this place?”
Shin Yu-jeong looked around the shop, clicking her tongue in amazement.
Then, from the deepest part of the shop, an unfamiliar voice answered her question.
“Thirty years.”
The voice, thick with stubbornness, brought back a wave of nostalgia.
From the back of the shop, a block of wood… no, a man with a thick, muscular body… no, an old man walked out.
“…Huh.”
An audible gasp escaped my lips.
Why is that old man coming out of there…?
“Here to look at weapons?”
I snapped back to my senses at the old man’s question and nodded.
“Ah, yes.”
“What kind are you looking for?”
“A one-handed sword. About 70 to 80 centimeters long?”
The old man’s gaze shifted to Shin Yu-jeong, who was standing there with a bewildered expression.
“Doesn’t seem like the right length for you. I take it it’s for the girlfriend next to you.”
Hearing that, Shin Yu-jeong’s eyes went wide, and she pointed a finger at herself.
“Huh? Me?”
I answered for her, directing my words to the old man.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Hmm… want to look yourself, or should I pick one for you?”
“We’ll look ourselves first.”
“…A good choice. Take your time and look around. As long as you don’t damage the weapons, you can swing them as much as you like.”
“Thank you.”
That was quite a generous service.
In other shops, the most you could do was touch them.
As I was about to look at the weapons on display, Shin Yu-jeong grabbed my arm, stopping me.
“Hey, what was that just now? What do you mean you’re here to look at a weapon for me?”
“What do you think? It’s exactly what it sounds like.”
“I mean, why are we suddenly looking for a weapon for me?”
“Because it’s time for a change.”
“What?”
The weapon Shin Yu-jeong was currently using was an ordinary D-rank shortsword.
She’s probably had it for… about two years?
She’d taken good care of it, but it was nearing the end of its life.
If you looked closely at the sword, you could start to see fine nicks here and there.
Rather than grinding all those out, it was better to just get a new one at this point.
A sword is a means to harm others, but it’s also a means to protect your own life, so you can never be careless with it.
After I finished explaining, she looked at me with suspicious eyes.
“…How do you know so much about weapons?”
“Well…”
I couldn’t exactly say, Because I used to be an S-rank Hunter who mained swords…
“This is the first time I’m telling you this, but… I’m actually a weapon otaku.”
Let’s just paint myself as an otaku.
“…You?”
“Yeah, me.”
What’s she going to do about it if I say so?
“Back when I was always cooped up in my room, I’d either be playing games or surfing the internet for pictures of weapons.”
“…Ah, right. You were a homebody loner.”
She must have forgotten what kind of person I used to be, seeing how much I’ve changed.
With her now quiet, I led her to slowly browse the swords.
Her current shortsword was too light and not suitable for her strength.
Lightness means speed, but it also means less power behind her attacks.
“Wow…”
Looking at the weapons, a sound of admiration escaped me.
Not a single weapon on display was of poor quality; they were all uniform.
Of course they would be.
What kind of old man was he to make a defective product?
Now that I knew the quality was consistent, I picked a suitable one and held it out to Shin Yu-jeong.
“Try holding this.”
“Uh, okay.”
She gripped the sword’s hilt with a dazed expression.
“How’s the grip?”
“Uh… it feels pretty good?”
For now, “not bad” was good enough.
The cord wrapped around the hilt was just for show. Once I unwrapped it and re-wrapped it to fit her hand, the grip would be much better.
“Try swinging it.”
She stepped back and swung the sword lightly.
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly each time the sharp blade cut through the air. She seemed to like the feel of it.
“Nice, right?”
“Huh? Oh… yeah, this is good…? It’s heavier than what I’m using now, so it feels like it’ll have a good bite to it, yeah.”
“Then this time…”
After that, I had her try a few more swords.
But in the end, she said the first one was the best.
So, with Yu-jeong’s hand in one of mine and the sword in the other, I headed to the counter.
“We’ll take this one.”
“Hmm… you have a pretty good eye, kid.”
The “eye” the old man was talking about probably wasn’t about picking quality.
After all, the quality of the weapons here was mostly the same.
He must have meant the eye for choosing the best-fitting weapon for a person.
“8.5 million. Seems the weapon has found a good owner. I’ll throw in free maintenance for the next two years.”
“8… 8.5 million?”
Shin Yu-jeong’s eyes widened when she heard the price.
An unexpected price.
In fact, I hadn’t expected it either.
“…Cheaper than I thought?”
Cheaper than I thought.
Building C was where they displayed gear priced between 5 and 10 million won.
And the weapons here were just a hair shy of being B-rank.
So I naturally thought he’d charge the full 10 million… but it was 1.5 million won cheaper.
But I couldn’t stop there.
“You’ll throw in a scabbard, right?”
“Hah, I believe you just said it was cheap with your own mouth.”
“It’s always better if it’s cheaper.”
The old man burst out laughing.
“Uwahahaha! Right, cheaper is always better, of course.”
The old man took the sword and went into the workshop in the back, returning with a scabbard.
The sheathed sword was packed into a simple box.
“Here, take it.”
I took the box and immediately placed it in Yu-jeong’s arms.
She reached into her pocket, pulled out a card, and offered it to the old man.
I snatched the card from her trembling fingertips and put it back in her pocket.
“Hey, wait…!”
While she was frowning, I took out my card and handed it to the old man.
“Please use this one.”
“A generous boyfriend, I see.”
“Heh heh, I guess so.”
That’s just my sense of money.
I might not be able to buy her a luxury bag worth millions of won, but I can buy her an 8.5 million won sword.
You can live without the former, but the latter is reassuring to have.
“You, you…?”
Her pupils were shaking violently as she held the box containing the sword.
As I took my card back after the payment, the old man asked me.
“How did you find out about this shop?”
“Uh… I got a recommendation?”
“Hoh, a recommendation. From whom?”
I grinned and answered him.
“The National Hunter.”
“…Is that so.”
“Yes. So I think I’ll be seeing you often from now on.”
“No reason to refuse someone who’ll bring in business. Come anytime.”
“Yep, well then, we’ll be going.”
I grabbed the hand of the still-flustered girl and left the shop.
Since there was nothing else to buy, we just left the building entirely.
Shin Yu-jeong’s face finally started to move as the cold air hit her.
“Hey, what is this?”
Not in a good way.
“What do you mean? It’s a gift.”
“Who asked you to buy me something like this?”
“I can if I want to.”
I grabbed the shoulders of the scowling Yu-jeong and pulled her in front of me.
Facing each other at a very close distance, I parted my lips.
“Between us, this is something we can definitely do.”
From now on, we’ll get closer and closer, and we’ll do much more.
Just as the trembling in her pupils subsided and her cheeks began to blush a lovely pink…
A semi-transparent window suddenly appeared, separating us.
[Participant No. 504?]
[What… are you doing here right now?]