First Customer
First Customer
A snake-eyed man with narrowed eyes was crushed under Hong Chae-yeon's cold presence, unable to even open his mouth. His perfectly disguised identity was shattered in front of the transparently shining Orb of Truth.
Hong Chae-yeon rose from her seat, swiftly grabbing the man by the scruff of his neck.
"What are you?"
Her voice was laced with fury. The man tried to struggle, but his entire body was already suppressed by the red fire energy emanating from her hand. She slammed the gasping, flailing man to the floor and summoned the waiting Red Scale guild members.
"Tie this bastard up and hand him straight over to the Association. He's highly likely a Cipher minion trying to infiltrate under a false identity, so make sure to investigate thoroughly."
As the guild members dragged the snake-eyed man away, Hong Chae-yeon dusted off her hands and sat back down.
"I expected it, but I didn't think they'd actually show up..."
She let out a small scoff of disbelief. If it weren't for the magic orb Si-woo had given her, that rat could have easily slipped in. Hong Chae-yeon picked up the next document in line.
The moment she checked the name written on the paper, her head tilted slightly.
'Kim Yu-seong...?'
Could it really be that Kim Yu-seong? The name of the man ranked 1st in South Korea with a Unique-grade job was written there. It could be a different person with the same common name, but for some reason she felt a sense of déjà vu.
"Next person, please come in."
When the door opened and she saw the appearance of the man entering, Hong Chae-yeon let out a hollow laugh in disbelief. His face was completely hidden by a black cap pulled low, large sunglasses covering his eyes, and a mask wrapped tightly around the rest of his face. It was a suspicious and attention-grabbing outfit.
Looking at that clumsy disguise that practically screamed "I'm a suspicious person!", Hong Chae-yeon glanced back and forth between the name on the document and the man before her, letting out a sigh.
"Kim Yu-seong? It's you, right?"
Startled by her direct question, the man flinched and fidgeted with the brim of his cap. Soon, he reluctantly removed the mask and sunglasses that had been tightly wrapped around his face.
"Hahaha... Noona, it's been a while? The mask is off now?"
The familiar face hidden behind the sunglasses was revealed. South Korea's 1st-ranked hunter, Kim Yu-seong, greeted her with an awkward laugh.
Hong Chae-yeon propped her chin on her hand and looked him up and down with a baffled expression.
"It's been off for a while now. More importantly, did you come to make a request too?"
Kim Yu-seong shook his head vigorously at her question and stepped closer to the desk.
"Yeah. I tried using Si-woo hyung-nim's weapon, and now I can't use anything else."
At the term of address that naturally fell from his lips, Hong Chae-yeon's brow furrowed.
"When did you ever see Si-woo to call him hyung-nim?"
Despite Hong Chae-yeon's scolding, Kim Yu-seong answered with sparkling eyes, unbothered.
"Ever since I used the weapon, of course! I've never used a weapon that synergized so perfectly with my skills before in my life."
Kim Yu-seong's eyes sparkled like a child's.
"And I watched the duel broadcast a few days ago—it was truly amazing...! When others finish things off with skills, he's alone in front of that scorching furnace, hammering away, right? Seeing him concentrate so intensely and craft with such dedication, I felt my heart burning up. I was so disappointed I couldn't see it in person."
Praise for Si-woo poured endlessly from Kim Yu-seong's mouth. All sorts of compliments about the sharpness of the sword, its durability, the grip, and even the performance shown in the duel were showered across the desk.
"Especially when he revealed those Legendary Boots, I really screamed at home! How did he even come up with that idea? As expected, Si-woo hyung-nim is just built different."
Hong Chae-yeon propped her chin and stared blankly at Kim Yu-seong, who chattered on without pause.
What was even more frightening was that the Orb of Truth placed on the desk did not stop his mouth even once as Kim Yu-seong profusely praised Si-woo, calling him hyung-nim.
The fact that the orb remained silent meant that all the fawning compliments Kim Yu-seong was spewing were 100% heartfelt, without even 1% falsehood.
Seeing South Korea's top ranker standing before her, proclaiming himself Si-woo's passionate fan and singing his praises with utter sincerity, Hong Chae-yeon swallowed a hollow laugh.
Looking down through the tempered glass window at the ground below, my breath caught in my throat.
The line stretching out in front of our SW Guild building was endless.
All those tiny dots were people who had gathered from around the world to entrust me with custom crafting requests.
"...All of these are clients?!"
A cold sweat dripped down my forehead.
How many nights would I have to stay awake to get through all those people's requests?
But as I stared at this terrifying sight, the conversation I had with Hong Chae-yeon a few days ago while preparing to establish the guild suddenly flashed through my mind.
Back then, Hong Chae-yeon had asked me with a very serious and worried face.
"Si-woo, are you really planning to take every request in the order they come in? No matter what, shouldn't you filter them out a bit?"
Her words were extremely realistic and valid.
No matter how much I churned out items like a machine, there was a clear limit to how much I could handle alone.
It would have been far smarter business in terms of profit and efficiency to selectively take personal requests from top-rankers or members of major guilds who had the money and could procure top-tier materials themselves.
At Hong Chae-yeon's question, I stroked my chin and fell into deep thought.
To be honest, I couldn't say I hadn't briefly imagined that kind of life myself.
"Actually, I did consider taking personal requests only from rankers..."
Trailing off, I recalled images of my past self.
Now, I proudly hold the only Legendary job in the world as the Primeval Maker, but up until not too long ago, I was nothing more than a regular part-timer earning minimum wage at a convenience store.
"Do you know how I really lived for the ten years before my awakening?"
With a bitter smile, I opened up my innermost thoughts to Hong Chae-yeon.
"While others awakened, went into the Tower, hunted monsters, and made money, I did all sorts of crazy things just to awaken. I even tried eating the dirt around the Tower, and I was tricked by some fraudster into buying what was supposedly an awakening pill—some garbage of unknown origin—and ended up bedridden for days."
Back then, I was truly at rock bottom, desperate and miserable.
"At that time, that one thing—awakening—was so desperately important to me."
My fists clenched tightly.
Unknowingly, strength crept into my voice.
I spoke.
"Of course, since my items have great options, there will be tons of people who come just because they want to get stronger or out of curiosity. But among the countless people lining up out there, just like the past me who was desperate to awaken, there must be some truly desperate people mixed in who absolutely need this one piece of equipment right now."
Hunters who have their family's livelihood depending on them, or people with urgent reasons forcing them to risk their lives climbing the Tower.
"I don't want to take away even the opportunity from those desperate people just because they don't have money or aren't rankers."
As Hong Chae-yeon silently listened to my sincere answer, her eyes widened slightly, and then a soft, bright smile spread across her lips.
She nodded as if she truly liked my answer and said in a cheerful voice,
"Alright! If that's really what you want, Si-woo, then I'll help you as much as I can, to the best of my ability!"
I was grateful for her willingness to agree so readily, but at the same time, a wave of guilt washed over me.
"I'm really thankful that you'd say that. But is your Red Scale Guild going to be okay...?"
At my worried question, Hong Chae-yeon shrugged her shoulders and answered nonchalantly.
"It's fine. There's not much for our guild to manage these days anyway. We have a vice guild leader, and the system runs so smoothly that it won't collapse just because I'm gone for a day or two."
At her cool answer, I swallowed a dry cough internally.
'As expected of a major guild, the scale is just different,' I thought.
Or maybe she's planning to switch jobs to become my personal secretary, I chuckled to myself.
The recollection of past thoughts while looking out the window ended. Finally, the first customer of our guild opened the door and came in.
The person who carefully entered through the door was a man in his mid-to-late forties with an unkempt impression. The moment he spotted me, his eyes sparkled as he approached.
"It's truly an honor to meet you! I really enjoyed watching that duel you had a few days ago—it was very impressive!"
Embarrassed, I scratched the back of my head and thanked him before immediately getting down to business.
"Thank you. By the way, did you bring the recipe and materials for your request?"
The man let out a short "Ah!" and handed me the recipe he had brought along with some heavy items.
[Blood-red Halberd Recipe]
'Hoh... a halberd. This is a weapon I'm making for the first time, huh?'
I've hammered away at swords and armor until I was sick of them, but a halberd was a first, so I felt a spark of curiosity. I raised the corner of my mouth at the thought of raising my stats through completing the collection and offered the man a handshake.
The man grabbed my outstretched hand with both of his, smiling bashfully.
"You see, my third child was born recently. As a father, I felt I needed to try a little harder, so I resolved to come here. Please take good care of this."
The weight of a breadwinner's shoulders. I silently nodded and stared at the blue system window floating before my eyes.
[Attempting 'Custom Production' on target 'Ma Chang-bae'.]
[Reading target 'Ma Chang-bae's' information.]
As we clasped hands, the analysis progressed, and information about his physique and mana flow poured into my head. I perfectly read all his information and then let go of his hand.
"Would you mind sitting over there and waiting for a moment?"
After saying that, I activated my skill toward empty space. I entered the workshop and vanished on the spot.
The man left alone was greatly flustered when I disappeared right before his eyes, fumbling around in the air.
About ten minutes passed in real time.
Suddenly, the space in the air distorted and the door opened again. I appeared, drenched in sweat, with the freshly completed halberd slung over my shoulder.
"Huk...!"
Ma Chang-bae-ssi was startled by my sudden appearance and stared at me.
"A... Already?!"
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve and asked.
"Did you wait long?"
At my question, the man's eyes were still wide as if about to pop out as he hastily answered.
"No!"
At that intense reaction, I finally realized and muttered quietly.
"Oh, right. Time flows differently inside and outside the workshop. I've really been so forgetful lately."
I smiled sheepishly and handed the weapon in my hand to Ma Chang-bae-ssi.
Then, with a truly regretful expression, I clicked my tongue.
"The quality of the materials you brought was better than I expected, so I was secretly hoping for a Legendary grade, but it didn't quite reach that."
Hearing this, the man's face went blank as if he wondered whether he had misheard something.
'Legendary?'
He received the halberd I handed him with a dumbfounded expression. And the moment he checked the weapon information floating in the air, his eyes widened so much they practically bulged out.
[Blood-red Halberd]
Grade: Unique
"U... Unique...!"
Ma Chang-bae-ssi clutched the halberd with trembling hands and looked up at me. With a face mixed with deep emotion and shock, he carefully asked me,
"Um...... does this place... do installments...?"