Chapter 50: A Brief Respite (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: A Brief Respite (1)
Seo Yeom-jeong, the staff member in charge of the club department, turned deathly pale.
The entire administrative office stood in a line against the wall, backs straight and hands clasped behind them.
A fluttering black silk robe. Under the morning sun, the woman’s hair shimmered like crystal over her shoulders.
A fatal woman approached, arms crossed, her heels clicking rhythmically against the floor. Two broad-shouldered escorts followed closely behind her.
‘…The Principal?’
The Principal eventually came to a halt right in front of Seo Yeom-jeong. Under that icy gaze, Seo Yeom-jeong swallowed hard. She tried to make sense of the situation, but it only made her head spin faster.
A cousin of a close acquaintance of the Principal? That had obviously been a blatant lie.
But the faculty advisor for this special admission student’s club was the Principal herself?
It was absurd to think that Medea the Sage, a pillar of the Seven Saints, would volunteer to be a mere student’s guardian. Even a newborn baby would scoff at such a claim, yet the reality was unfolding right before Seo Yeom-jeong’s eyes.
Though she had worked at the academy for nearly ten years, this was the first time she had seen the Principal’s face from this close.
She possessed a youthful, fresh beauty that made it easy to believe she was in her early twenties. However, the eyes the Principal turned on her were anything but fresh.
Gulp. A heavy, suffocating silence seeped into the walls. Seo Yeom-jeong, who had been staring blankly at the Principal, suddenly snapped to attention as if waking from a dream.
“P-Principal!”
Seo Yeom-jeong was the type to prey on the weak and grovel to the strong. She was cold-hearted toward those she deemed inferior, but she bowed and scraped to those with social power.
Medea frowned, clearly displeased by the woman’s overly sycophantic tone. Then, her gaze shifted to the special admission student standing nonchalantly with his arms crossed, and a soft smile spread across her face.
“We only spoke on the phone yesterday, so I’m so happy to see our Geomma in person like this.”
“I’m sorry to bother you when you must be busy.”
“Oh, don’t be silly. If it’s a request from you, I’d come running even if I were barefoot. Besides, I was on my way to work anyway.”
Amidst the palpable tension in the administrative office, only the Principal and the student shared a warm conversation.
The rest of the staff remained silent, cautiously reading the Principal’s mood. Seo Yeom-jeong, her head bowed low, stole a glance at the student.
How could the supreme authority of Joaquin Academy treat a mere cadet—a special admission student, no less—with such lack of formality?
…But wait, did she say that student’s name was Kang Geomma? A sudden sense of dissonance washed over her. She remembered something she’d heard from a friendly instructor. The name of this year’s top-ranked freshman was definitely…
As the floating thoughts in her mind began to click together like puzzle pieces, Seo Yeom-jeong’s lips began to turn blue. Her eyelids trembled as she looked at Kang Geomma.
“Geomma, why don’t you give me those documents? As the club’s ad-vi-sor, I’ll handle the rest of the procedures. It’s already ten to nine. The written exams are next week, so you shouldn’t be late for class. Hurry along now!”
“Ah, is it that time already? Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Kang Geomma gave the Principal a slight nod. The older staff members looked uncomfortable at his casual gesture, but they quickly hid their expressions when the Principal swept her gaze over them.
“Of course, of course! Leave everything here to me! Study hard!”
“Yes, I’ll see you next time.”
Medea wore a beaming smile and waved affectionately until Kang Geomma grabbed the doorknob.
Click.
The moment Kang Geomma closed the office door and left, Medea’s waving fingers went still. She slowly turned her body around.
“I think I have a general idea of what’s going on here.”
“…….”
Her voice was chillingly cold. While she was infinitely benevolent and warm toward the cadets, she was a terrifyingly meticulous and cold-blooded superior to the staff.
After reading the atmosphere, Medea let out a hollow laugh.
True to her title as a Sage, she had deduced the situation almost perfectly from just a few fragments of information. She didn’t even need to manifest her unique blessing, the ‘Poet’s Blessing.’
“To think such an ignorant person was still working here while I am the Principal. No doubt you said something about his background. And to think you did that to—”
The air in the room grew even colder. The curtains above the window frames fluttered violently.
“—a cadet that Zieg and I have personally handpicked as a successor.”
Cold sweat poured down the backs of the staff members like a river. Some doubted their own ears. Seo Yeom-jeong was so startled that she reflexively lifted her head.
At Medea’s chin gesture, one of the escorts pulled out the chair Seo Yeom-jeong had been sitting in. Seo Yeom-jeong could only tremble, her lips quivering soundlessly.
Medea plopped down into the chair and provocatively crossed her legs. She rested her chin on her hand, staring at Seo Yeom-jeong, and spoke in a low voice.
“I won’t make this long. I’ll give you five minutes.”
The moment she finished speaking, Seo Yeom-jeong pulled out a pen and paper and began writing her resignation. She scrunched her nose to keep from crying, her hand shaking violently as she moved the pen.
She knew that if she tried to make an excuse, she wouldn’t just be resigning from her job—she’d be resigning from life itself.
* * *
That afternoon.
After finishing my classes, I returned to the administrative office and was notified that the club creation request had been accepted.
Of course, they said the formal approval was still pending because I was one member short, but in other words, the club would be established as soon as I solved that.
It wasn't a matter of life and death, so I decided to find the last member after the exams next week.
Strangely enough, the desk of the female employee who had blatantly ignored me this morning was completely empty. Furthermore, the other administrative staff were now handing me refreshments with incredibly soft, polite voices…
It seemed Medea had said something to them, but even so, their complete 180-degree turn in attitude was quite burdensome.
Well, I’d probably have to stop by the office a few more times for club-related business, so I decided not to take it too negatively.
I scratched my head, shaking off the stray thoughts, and hurried my steps toward the academy’s forge.
* * *
“Hey, I’m here.”
At those words, Wieland, who was sweating profusely while tempering metal, turned to look at me. He wiped his sweat with a cloth covered in black grime and steadied his ragged breathing.
“You’re here for your armament, right? Wait just a moment.”
I nodded understandingly. With a mysterious expression, he headed toward the warehouse to retrieve the Murasame I had commissioned.
The well-defined latissimus dorsi muscles were visible through the gaps in his tunic. I watched his back for a moment before pulling out a random chair and leaning back. The hot wind blowing from the furnace made sweat bead on my skin.
It was already the beginning of summer and the weather was getting hotter, so looking at the blazing flames made me shake my head instinctively.
I loosened my tie significantly and let out a long sigh.
‘How does that guy keep working in a place like this?’
I didn’t know what that blacksmith thought of me, but to me—a former player—he was a character of love and hate.
Back when I was playing the game, I was a low-spending user, so I didn’t have much of a grudge against him.
…Well, the ‘hate’ part had grown a bit larger because of what happened recently, but it was also true that I felt a bit sorry for him.
Wieland the Blacksmith. One of the main NPCs who handled almost everything related to armaments. At the same time, he was a dual-natured figure who served as a natural lightning rod for insults, as he could deplete a player’s saved-up resources in an instant.
Judging by his in-game dialogue, he was a character who was hard to hate because of his unique playfulness, even if he was greedy for money. But that was probably only because I was a low-spender.
On the other hand, the heavy whales on the community forums would scathingly criticize him, calling him ‘Jiralt,’ ‘Doomlant,’ and even ‘Buralt.’
Even if Miracle Blessing M was on the generous side, its origins were still that of a K-mobile game. In such a world, Wieland, who was in charge of refining and enhancing armaments, couldn't possibly avoid resentment and rage.
To be fair, I was also furious when he turned my Murasame from B-rank to E-rank.
Still, if I gave him the benefit of the doubt, he probably did his best… I wanted to believe that. Otherwise, I’d just get even angrier.
Anyway, even while cursing him, the big spenders would put up a picture of Wieland next to the enhancement window and pray, saying, “Lord Wieland, please, just this once!” before pulling the enhancement gacha.
The game company might have been the one sucking the players’ blood, but Wieland was the one using the players’ money as firewood to stoke his furnace.
Furthermore, to me, he was no longer just a dry NPC, but a real person who was essentially a business partner. Thinking about it that way made my feelings quite complicated.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
As I was lost in thought with a blank expression, Wieland had approached my feet before I knew it.
“Oh, it’s nothing. You just look like someone I know.”
“Then that person must be a handsome man like me.”
Wieland stroked his soot-stained beard and grinned, baring his teeth. I scoffed inwardly. He handed over the Murasame he held in one hand.
Then, Wieland began gulping down an apricot-colored drink that looked like alcohol to moisten his tongue. It smelled of fermented grain, much like makgeolli.
According to the setting, Wieland was from Northern Europe, yet here he was, enjoying a bowl of makgeolli.
It reminded me of those social media posts about foreigners who seemed to have been perfectly ‘Korean-patched,’ which I found quite amusing. As I stared, I made eye contact with him.
“Want a glass?”
“…How can you offer alcohol to a minor?”
“Hey, a kid should act like a kid! You talk like someone who’s already lived through the whole world.”
“…….”
Wieland grumbled quietly and swirled his glass. I looked away from him and inspected the Murasame he had handed me.
“It’s a bit awkward to say this myself, but I can guarantee this commission was done beyond perfectly. Of course, the high-grade materials mixed in with the magical beast parts played a role too.”
As if he had truly put his heart and soul into it this time, the craftsmanship was noticeably better than before.
The blade, which had been riddled with cracks from the aftermath of manifesting an aura, now radiated a chill, and the hilt, which had been charred like charcoal, had regained the elegant texture of paulownia wood.
‘Wieland.’
Looking proudly at the upgraded Murasame, I mentally called up my status window.
Text flashed across my retinas.
Flash—
* * *
[Blessing of Painlessness]
Pain vanishes completely.
[▷NEW! The number of blessing manifestations has been met, and the activation time has been adjusted as follows.]
[※ Duration: (40▶50) seconds, Cooldown: 12 hours]
* * *
It seemed the Blessing of Painlessness didn't just count simple manifestations; the count only went up when it was used in actual combat.
I had only been checking the Blessing of the Sword God constantly, so I had forgotten about this, but it was welcome news. Considering the dungeons I had to clear in the future, 40 seconds had felt a bit insufficient.
Even though the time had only increased by a measly 10 seconds, it was definitely a positive development.
Although I used to grumble self-deprecatingly that it was a useless blessing, this Blessing of Painlessness manifested by the original ‘Kang Geomma’ was actually quite versatile for a Personal Spirit-class blessing.
Considering its use alongside the Blessing of Transfer even after I raised my armament rank in the future, the outlook was very positive.
I scratched my cheek and swiped my hand to scroll down further.
* * *
[Murasame (叢雨)]
Type: Sashimi
Description: A sword that ‘was’ once called the blade that holds the dew. It has been reborn as a carbon steel sashimi knife imbued with a master’s know-how. It may be small, but its performance may vary depending on the user.
Specifications: 「Blade Length – 35cm」, 「Width – 6cm」
Attributes: 「Destructive Power – C」, 「Range – E」, 「Hardness – (E▶C)」, 「Growth Potential – A」
Grade: (E▶D) rank
[NEW! A new function has been added.] ◀ (Touch to unlock.)
* * *
Since it was made from Buffalo materials, a C-rank magical beast, I hadn't expected much, but the rank up wasn't as dramatic as the effort I’d put in.
There were also materials from the A-rank magical beast ‘Cow King,’ so I thought it might reach C-rank… Well, I suppose things wouldn't be that easy.
Still, the fact that ‘Hardness’ had jumped up two stages was quite encouraging. There would be plenty of situations in the future where I’d have to suddenly pour aura into the Murasame, and it would be troublesome if it crumbled every time because it couldn't handle the strain.
I also felt a little sorry for this drunkard blacksmith.
“……?”
As I scrolled all the way down, I reached out and touched the text at the bottom.
Flash!
* * *
Due to the successful enhancement and the growth potential of this armament, up to 3 special abilities can be granted.
1) [ ———(Empty)——— ]
2) [ ———(Empty)——— ]
3) [ ———(Empty)——— ]
※ Special abilities can only be granted through Magic Stones and will activate randomly.
* * *
“Buralt?”