Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Mind, Spirit, and Body (4)
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I followed Department Head Han to a building about a hundred meters away from the Association's main complex.
It was a ten-story building shaped like an igloo.
A strong smell of iron and unknown chemicals wafted out from inside.
“This is…”
“The Sacred Relic Research Institute. It’s where we research and create various equipment and weapons using Sacred Relic Stones.”
*Beep, beep, beep.*
Department Head Han punched in a passcode and opened the institute's door.
“Mr. Gorillaaaaa!! What brings you here?!”
*Thump, thump, thump, thump!*
The moment the door opened, a boy came running over with a bright smile.
He looked to be about middle school age.
A boy with a cute face, a small frame, a shaggy mop of brown hair, and large, horn-rimmed glasses.
“I told you not to call me that.”
He scowled at the approaching boy.
His already intimidating face grew even fiercer.
“Pwahahaha!! Look at your face! That’s hilarious!!”
The boy stopped in his tracks, clutched his stomach, and burst into laughter.
“Haa. This little brat.”
“Hehe. Sorry, mister.”
Were they close, or was this just his personality?
The boy flashed a friendly, cheeky grin.
Department Head Han let out a small laugh and gently ruffled the boy’s messy hair.
“This little guy is Kim Si-hoo, the head of this research institute.”
“Hi!! You’re Noerang, right? I saw you on TV!”
Kim Si-hoo extended his hand with a cheerful laugh.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Hehe! Whoa! I just shook hands with Noerang!”
He shook my hand up and down, making a huge fuss.
‘So this was the kid he mentioned before.’
This must be the boy who made my Wire Shooter.
And.
‘The kid Jang Seok-ho mentioned… it was probably Kim Si-hoo, too.’
The brilliant Sacred Relic craftsman at the Association.
I had a feeling Jang Seok-ho was also talking about Kim Si-hoo.
“Oh, right! Are you getting good use out of that Wire Shooter I made you?”
“I ‘was’ getting good use out of it.”
“Huh?”
Kim Si-hoo tilted his head.
“Why the past tense?”
“Well, you see…”
It wasn’t easy to tell the person who made the weapon that I had smashed it to pieces.
“It broke during his last mission.”
Thankfully, Department Head Han stepped in.
“Eek? It broke?”
Kim Si-hoo’s eyes went wide with shock, then…
“—That’s great!!”
He broke into a bright smile and threw his arms in the air.
“Great?”
What was so great about it?
“Yeah! Hehe. I was so swamped with work back then that I just slapped it together!”
Hah.
That Wire Shooter was just slapped together?
“Sorry! I don’t have any urgent projects right now, so I’ll make you a much better one!”
Kim Si-hoo raised his hand high and exclaimed.
‘Incredible.’
To think that in this godforsaken world, such a bright, polite, and wonderful boy still existed.
“Umm~ But that Wire Shooter thing is kinda tricky to make, you know. I think it’s gonna cost quite a bit of money… Hehehe.”
What a greedy, ill-mannered, and crafty little brat, perfectly suited for this godforsaken world.
“Well, I’ll cover any shortfall with my own money! Making your weapons is fun!”
“From now on, I shall call you the Radiant Si-hoo.”
“Uh, huh?”
Ahh!! So bright!! I can’t even look at you directly!
“If you need anything, just say the word, Radiant Si-hoo.”
“Hahaha! This guy’s fun! They said you were a tsundere on social media!”
*Giggle.*
Kim Si-hoo clutched his stomach and let out a clear, bright laugh.
“Oh, right. Besides the Wire Shooter, can you make me a spear too?”
“A spear?”
“Yeah. I broke my spear this time, too.”
“Hmm. Spears are boring…”
Kim Si-hoo pouted, clearly displeased.
“Well, I’ll make you one. Ah! But I’m not spending my own money on the spear, okay?”
A kid who knows what he likes.
Well, it didn’t matter anyway.
I have our department head’s wallet, after all.
“The executives have been spending too much of the budget lately, so there aren’t many funds…”
“I’m counting on you, Mr. Jun-man.”
I believe in our Jun-man.
As I gazed at Department Head Han with sparkling eyes.
“Urgh. Understood. I’ll cover the cost of the spear.”
I stopped him as he let out a deep sigh and reached for his wallet.
“Pfft. I’m kidding. It’s my weapon, so I should pay for it.”
Honestly, I wanted to use the department head card again.
‘But I’ve gotten so much from him already.’
Even excluding the steak dinner he treated me to, I owed him quite a lot.
Using company money is one thing, but making him spend his own is another.
“Oh, Mr. Oh-jin.”
He looked at me, his face filled with emotion.
No.
Getting emotional over something like this just makes it more awkward for me.
“Were you planning on breaking into your savings or something?”
“Not exactly… but it was my emergency fund I was saving for marriage.”
“Ah. You have a girlfriend, Mr. Jun-man?”
“…Not yet, but someday.”
“It won’t happen.”
The corner of his eye twitched.
“Pwahaha! I’m kidding! You’ll find someone soon!”
He won’t.
“Y-You think so?”
“Look at these bulging muscles of yours, Mr. Jun-man! Don’t women go crazy for muscles?”
“Right? Hahaha!”
Yeah.
Though if a guy with bulging muscles looks like a gorilla that escaped from the zoo, they’ll go crazy in a different sense.
“If you get me a good weapon this time, I’ll introduce you to a nice lady.”
“Really?”
No.
It’s a lie.
Besides my sister and my goddess, I don’t know any other women.
“Haha! Leave the weapon’s quality to me! I’ll hound this kid and make sure he forges something incredible for you!”
Department Head Han ruffled Kim Si-hoo’s hair and thumped his own chest.
‘As expected of our Jun-man.’
The more I see him, the more of a pushover—no, the more likable he is.
“Come this way, then. I need to check a few things.”
Kim Si-hoo grabbed my hand and led me somewhere.
A spacious room, about 700 square feet.
Cameras were installed all over the walls, but there was nothing else in sight.
“Okay. Stand in here, hold this, and swing it like you normally swing your spear.”
Kim Si-hoo handed me a long staff.
Though it was just a staff, it was quite heavy, like a real weapon made of solid iron.
After taking the staff.
“Hsss.”
Standing in the center of the room, Oh-jin took a slow breath.
-Fwoosh! Whump! Whump!
Thrusting, slashing, striking down.
He swung the spear fiercely, following the senses guided by the Pyxis Spearmanship.
After about five minutes of relentless swinging.
“Okay. You can stop now.”
Beyond the glass window, Kim Si-hoo raised both arms high to make a circle.
“You don’t need anything else?”
“This is enough.”
Kim Si-hoo pressed a few buttons, and nine monitors lit up, each displaying footage of Oh-jin swinging the spear from a different angle.
“Wait a second.”
*Click.*
Kim Si-hoo stood up and put on a white lab coat that had been draped over his chair.
The sight of the small boy in a white coat that reached below his knees was rather comical.
But that was only for a moment.
“—I’m starting.”
The friendly smile vanished from the boy’s lips.
With a stiff, mechanical expression, he began rapidly cycling through the nine monitors.
“Thrusts: 284. Slashes: 592. Downward strikes: 192. Not a style that uses the spear to maintain distance, but one that closes in for wide slashes. Average stride is 1 meter and 17 centimeters. A very wide stance. Primary grip position on the shaft is…”
Mutter, mutter, mutter.
He analyzed Oh-jin’s movements thoroughly, replaying the footage at a speed the eye could barely follow.
‘Huh.’
Oh-jin let out a short gasp, sensing a certain charisma from Kim Si-hoo.
-Click.
“Hoo. A spear with a shorter shaft and a longer blade than the one you’ve been using would suit you better.”
“You can tell just from watching that?”
“Yup.”
Kim Si-hoo nodded calmly and continued.
“Even with the same weapon, everyone’s style is different. You don’t use the spear’s long reach to keep enemies at bay; you close in for close-quarters combat. So.”
*Click.* He took out a pen and sketched a simple drawing on a piece of paper.
“A glaive-type spear, with a short shaft and a design focused on slashing, will be a perfect fit for you.”
“……”
Was this how it felt when Lyra looked at me?
Watching Kim Si-hoo analyze my movements in such a short time to find the optimal weapon, I felt a sense of awe.
“Alright, I’ll start production on this and the improved version of the Wire Shooter right away. It should take about a week.”
A week.
That was just the right amount of time to heal the internal injuries I sustained from the fight with Ashad Khan.
“Thanks. I’m counting on you. Let me know if you need anything.”
After all this, if there was anything he needed, I was willing to go out of my way to get it for him.
“Anything?”
Kim Si-hoo’s eyes sparkled.
“In that case…”
He gave a faint smile and glanced over at Department Head Han.
“Help our mister out. He’s been having a really hard time lately because of the executives.”
“……”
I thought he was just a brat, but it turns out he’s an old soul.
“That’s not for you to worry about.”
Department Head Han placed a hand on Kim Si-hoo’s head.
“Hehe! Okay!”
Kim Si-hoo giggled and got up from his chair.
“Well then, I’m off to make the equipment!!!”
*Thump, thump, thump, thump.*
He ran off somewhere, his lab coat flapping behind him.
“He’s a good kid.”
“Well, his personality is a bit eccentric.”
He then watched the boy’s retreating back with a proud look in his eyes.
“Do you have any plans after the weapons are made?”
Plans.
Most of the Valhalla Guild members were in critical condition, so it wasn’t the right time to visit them.
What I needed to do right now was.
“I’m thinking of gathering Sacred Relic Stones. As many as possible.”
The quest from Heukcheon.
I planned to focus on the quest that would let me obtain an Ancient Constellation for the time being.
‘I can also level up my Lightning skill while hunting monsters.’
I didn’t know if it would level up as easily as before, though.
In any case, the only way to kill two birds with one stone—the Lightning skill and the quest—was to enter a Gate and hunt monsters.
“Do you need a lot of money?”
“No, that’s not it. I need a lot of the Sacred Relic Stones themselves.”
“Hmm. In that case…”
He was about to continue but stopped, shaking his head with an ‘oops’ expression.
“No. It’s nothing.”
“……?”
What is it?
“Is something wrong?”
“It’s not that… Hmm. There’s a Gate that’s become a hot spot for farming Sacred Relic Stones recently.”
A hot spot Gate.
“There’s a Gate in Busan where a… peculiar phenomenon is occurring.”
“A peculiar phenomenon?”
“Yes. The monsters inside that Gate are said to possess not one, but two Sacred Relic Stones each. And the quality isn’t bad either.”
What?
‘The Sacred Relic Stones are duplicating?’
What kind of insane EXP event was this?
This was welcome news, especially when I had no idea how many Sacred Relic Stones I would need to complete the quest.
“But… there’s a bit of a problem with you going there, Mr. Oh-jin.”
“What kind of problem?”
Department Head Han scratched his head with an awkward smile.
“All the monsters that come out of it are powerful, 5-star or higher. It would be too much for you, Mr. Oh-jin, since you just became a 4-star…”
“I’m a 5-star.”
“Pardon?”
His eyes widened.