Noise Marketing? Why Not Just Make the Real Thing?
Reputation is a sort of illusion.
Just because something has a famous brand attached to it doesn't mean it's necessarily better.
Yet, we willingly buy it.
The reason is simple.
It has already been recognized by others.
If others have already verified a product, there's no need to agonize over it anymore.
Since it saves the trouble of thinking, paying a bit more isn't entirely a loss.
After all, the process of finding something valuable among cheap things is a tedious and grueling task.
In short...
While skill can build a reputation,
conversely, a reputation can also prove one's skill.
In the game, there was no need for such things.
The item's performance was displayed plain as day on the status window.
Reputation was always secondary when determining whether an item was good or not.
...But in this world, it seemed things were different.
It was a few days ago.
That day, as usual, I was sitting in front of the forge, hammering away.
Slam—
Seo Ji-an burst into the workshop, her face flushed with excitement.
Without even taking a breath, she blurted out a sudden proposal.
"Dohyun! What if we promote you as an Eul-grade blacksmith?"
Clang—
I paused my descending hammer.
"...Excuse me? An Eul-grade blacksmith?"
"Yes!"
"...But I haven't made an Eul-grade item yet."
Yuha's sword was merely repaired.
It wasn't something I had crafted from scratch with my own hands.
"Oh, come on, what does that matter?"
Seo Ji-an waved her hand dismissively, as if it were no big deal.
"Strictly speaking, you didn't make it yourself, but the public won't care about those details. Besides, those classifications like Eul-grade or Byeong-grade are just arbitrarily decided by the Bureau and the Clan Association anyway."
She leaned in close to the workbench, her eyes sparkling.
"Plus, Yuha's ranking is shooting up right now, and she's super hot in the spiritualist world! This is our chance. An Eul-grade spiritual tool that everyone else gave up on, and Dohyun just took one look and fixed it in a flash? We can run a vague viral campaign to make people think, 'Ah, he's a master who can handle Eul-grade tools.'"
"..."
"I-in short! You could call it noise marketing? Haha..."
"...I don't know about that."
I trailed off, feeling hesitant.
I hadn't even made it.
I had simply adjusted someone else's pre-existing circuit to fit a new owner.
Taking credit for that to gain fame just didn't sit right with me.
"..."
Seeing my lukewarm reaction, Seo Ji-an's shoulders slumped.
"B-but, Master..."
Her face quickly crumpled into a pout, and she looked up at me with puppy-dog eyes.
"For people like us who don't belong to a clan... we have to get famous first, you know..."
According to Seo Ji-an, the clans colluded among themselves, warning people not to buy spiritual tools made by non-clan creators.
Of course, they didn't do it openly.
They would come up with plausible excuses while quietly pulling strings behind the scenes.
Not placing commissions directly was a given.
And if anyone was caught trading with a non-clan creator, they would be blacklisted.
From then on, they would be subtly ostracized, facing various disadvantages in any dealings involving the clans.
By blocking them from trading with anyone, they would slowly starve the non-clan artisans out of the market.
"That's why! We need to get famous first with overwhelming skill!"
By that point, even the clans wouldn't be able to easily suppress him.
If they tried to force down someone whose reputation and skill were already sky-high, it would only look like the clans were throwing a tantrum because they lacked the talent to compete.
"..."
Well, she wasn't wrong.
In the first place, I wanted to make a lot of money too.
Actually, money aside, for a blacksmith to reach higher heights, they ultimately needed massive capital.
This was something I had felt deep in my bones back in the game.
Didn't I pour my entire fortune into buying better materials and gifts to bribe picky masters, living hand-to-mouth every single day?
Get famous.
If I get famous, money will follow.
With money, I can obtain rarer and better materials.
More demanding and difficult commissions will pour in.
Then I can try crafting even more challenging things.
In time, I might even get my hands on the secret techniques of hidden masters.
I could test whatever ideas came to mind without having to worry about wasting resources on failures.
And slowly, I would reach an even higher realm.
"O-of course..."
Seeing me lost in thought, Seo Ji-an watched my reaction and added in a shrinking voice:
"If you don't give the okay, Master... we can't do it, though..."
"..."
I set down my hammer.
"Alright. Let's do it."
"...Huh?"
Seo Ji-an's eyes went wide.
"R-really?! You mean it?! No take-backs!"
Her previously gloomy face instantly lit up with color.
She looked ready to jump for joy.
"Yes. But."
I slowly rose from my chair.
"If we're going to do this, let's make a real splash."
"...Pardon?"
Thinking about it, it made sense.
Pretending to be an Eul-grade master just by repairing an Eul-grade tool someone else made felt a bit dirty.
Then wasn't the answer simple?
I just had to make the real thing.
"Ji-an."
"Yes, yes!"
"Let's sell an Eul-grade spiritual tool."
"...What. WHAT?!"
Seo Ji-an's jaw dropped.
"S-sell? An Eul-grade? D-did you already have one made?!"
Her eyes sparkled as she scanned every corner of the workshop.
As if an Eul-grade spiritual tool were hidden behind a shelf somewhere.
I could practically hear her racing heartbeat from here.
"No, I don't."
"...Excuse me?"
"I'm going to make it now."
"............What?"
Seo Ji-an's expression slowly shifted from anticipation to utter confusion.
It was only natural.
Was an Eul-grade spiritual tool something you could just whip up on a whim?
Even those called Eul-grade masters spent years researching and refining their techniques just to pour everything they had into forging a single Eul-grade spiritual tool.
But I had already made them before.
And not just once or twice, but to the point of sickness.
The designs I had crafted countless times using the secret methods I'd gathered while scouring that damn continent for ten years.
All of those blueprints were still perfectly preserved in my head.
I just had to translate those designs into reality.
"The materials we brought in last time should be enough."
I rolled up my sleeves and sat back down in front of the forge.
"W-wait a minute, Dohyun? Are you serious? An Eul-grade isn't something you can just make overnight..."
Whoosh—
The flames of the forge flared up.
Seo Ji-an's words cut off there.
Clang. Clang. Clang—
Seo Ji-an stood in a corner, staring blankly at the sight.
It was bizarre.
He hadn't drawn a single blueprint.
He didn't even measure anything with a ruler.
There wasn't a shred of hesitation in his movements as he heated, folded, and hammered the metal.
Even his fingertips, engraving the notoriously difficult circuits, never faltered once.
As if he had already made it dozens of times.
...What on earth is that?
Seo Ji-an swallowed hard without realizing it.
She had been shocked when he made the kitchen knife, too.
Since that, too, was an item far beyond the ordinary scope.
But this was an Eul-grade spiritual tool.
And yet, he was forging such an incredible item without a single pause?
And then, not even a few hours later...
Sssss—!
Having finished the final quenching, Dohyun lifted the tongs.
Emerging from the rising steam was a single blade.
Over the blade, which still radiated heat, a dark red circuit rippled like waves.
Dohyun fitted the pre-carved hilt onto it.
Instantly, light flowing from the small spiritual stone embedded in the hilt spread gently down the blade to the very tip.
Thus, a single dagger was completed.
Seo Ji-an didn't have the eye to read the intricate circuits engraved on the spiritual tool.
But even to her eyes, it was obvious at a glance.
This was on a completely different level from anything she had seen before.
"...M-my goodness."
A dazed gasp escaped Seo Ji-an's lips.
"This... is a real Eul-grade? In the blink of an eye like this...?"
"Yes."
Dohyun quietly set the dagger down on the workbench.
With a calm face, as if it were no big deal.
"And I'm going to make two more spiritual tools in a similar series. Right now."
"...What?"
Seo Ji-an looked back and forth between the dagger on the workbench and Dohyun's face.
Did she hear him wrong?
He had definitely said he would make two more Eul-grade spiritual tools.
And not by copying this dagger, but entirely different types of tools that shared the same lineage.
If there was only one Eul-grade spiritual tool, people would find a way to spin it.
Claiming he had found the lost work of some unknown master and presented it as his own.
There were more than enough excuses to downplay it.
But while one could be argued away as a scavenged masterpiece, and two could be explained as luckily finding two pieces by the same master...
if three completely different tools bore the exact same circuit style, there would be no room left for excuses.
Then everyone would know.
That a genius blacksmith destined to change the spiritualist world had arrived.
"Let's put these on the market."
"..."
Seo Ji-an gaped for a long moment.
Then, she slowly curled up the corners of her trembling lips.
...Viral campaigns, noise marketing...
It all seemed so laughable now.
Weren't those just tactics used by people with mediocre skills?
They were completely unnecessary in the face of such overwhelming authenticity.
Seo Ji-an stared blankly at the artisan before her.
Then, she snapped out of it.
No, now is not the time to be standing here in awe.
Her instincts as a broker began to surge.
To get their true value... no, to get even more than they're worth...
They needed a stage where they could make the biggest, loudest, and most expensive splash.
There was only one answer.
"The auction house! Let's put them up at the auction house! All three at the same time!"
And that was how it happened.
And then, it happened.
At the exact moment the teaser articles were released throughout the spiritualist world, the three Eul-grade spiritual tools crafted by Dohyun were listed side by side at the largest auction house in the spiritualist world.
A dagger, a bow, and a necklace.
Three spiritual tools, each different in type, appearance, and imbued ability.
Yet, in the photos released alongside them, the three items shared a single common feature.
A single spiritual stone of a different color was embedded somewhere on each of their bodies.
On the dagger's hilt, a red spiritual stone like an ember.
On the bow's grip, a bright yellow spiritual stone like a flash of lightning.
And in the center of the necklace, a blue spiritual stone like a full moon, much larger than the other two.
Now, it was the world's turn to buzz.
However...
People did not yet know.
What those three spiritual stones truly signified.