The Earth Ring

I slipped away from the scene. Seo Inha would be rushed straight to the hospital, and I had no business lingering there.

What I needed right now... was the man absent from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this very spot: ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the master of the Skyscraper Guild.

"Bring him in" wasn't quite the right way to put it. I wasn't going to capture him. I was going to kill him.

I have a past life to avenge, after all. In my previous life, it had been the Skyscraper Guild that made my existence a misery. That didn't mean I intended to lay a hand on the rank-and-file members who had nothing to do with it, though.

The guild master is another matter. The guild master was the one who answered for everything. When a subordinate did wrong, the man above him paid the price. But when the man above did wrong? Then the burden placed on his shoulders grew that much heavier.

And I had decided the guild master would pay that burden with his life.

He's completely worthless to the future, after all. Not long after the Demon War began, the Skyscraper Guild had collapsed the very moment its master vanished without a trace.

There's no sense keeping trash like that alive. Besides, I had all the justification I needed now. He dared to steal what's mine? I could forgive a great many things, but laying a hand on what belonged to me crossed the line.

The problem was that I had no idea where the guild master had gone. I'll start looking, then. Thirty minutes had passed since he left the scene. In a district this dense I couldn't build up speed, but if I kept at it, I would find him eventually.

To give you the result first: I didn't find him. Whether he had burrowed into the earth or shot into the sky, the vanished master of the Skyscraper Guild was simply gone.

The Association had raided the Skyscraper Guild, and the raid had dragged the guild's rotten truth into the open. The news these days talked of nothing else. The Skyscraper Guild had been renowned as the finest of the mid-sized guilds, so public interest was enormous.

"So where exactly is that important piece of trash hiding?"

That day, I had let Seo Jinhyuk slip away and returned the stone to Seo Inha. The gem cutting was finished, but it had yet to be worked into a finished accessory.

When the Earth Stone had first passed into Seo Inha's hands, that message had appeared, but I had kept it to myself. Five days had passed since then. I had searched without pause, and still the trash refused to surface.

He shouldn't have been able to leave Icheon, at least. The Association had the city surrounded and under watch, so there was no way that trash would slip out of Icheon.

"Another day of searching, then." If my hunt ended today, I would have covered every last district of the city. Which meant the odds of finding the trash today were high.

Basic Footwork: Speed. It was best not to use footwork in the middle of a city, but under lockdown conditions like these, there were hardly any eyes left to see it. Let's finish this today.

According to the Association, S-Rank Awakeners would be deployed starting tomorrow. If an S-Rank Awakener were even ten levels above me, the fight would turn ugly. I can't let prey I've already caught slip away.

Moving on my footwork, I stretched all five senses to their utmost. Several hours of circling the city later, one of them snagged on a strange human presence.

What is that? The presence felt almost human. No—it was human. But somehow off? It was as if a person had turned into something else entirely.

"Stealth." Concealing myself, I drew closer. Two men stood there smoking.

"Hyung, is that for real?"

"What is?"

"That guy who keeps coming by our shop. They say he's a wanted man."

At that, I crept in even closer. Whoever the man was, it paid to know about wanted men.

"Barely five days ago he was the master of a guild on the rise, and now look at him..."

"Yeah?"

The master of a thriving guild. Only one name ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fit: Seo Jinhyuk. Found him.

I waited just beside the men, then followed the two of them inside. Basic Footwork: Shadow. Stealth tripped mana-detection sensors, so I hid myself with footwork instead. The place they entered was a bar.

Perhaps because the Association had its eyes glued to Icheon, the bar was nearly deserted. An illegal establishment, apparently... If not, there was no reason for it to be this empty. The mood in the city was grim, sure, but ordinary citizens were still going about their lives.

"You fucking—!"

A violent curse burst from a room in the back. I made my way toward it.

"The Association, of all things, dares—!"

"Guild Master, you're being too loud."

I pressed my ear to the door and sharpened my senses to eavesdrop on the conversation inside.

"The moment I walk out of here, I'll kill every last one of them...!"

"You must hold your tongue for now."

"A tool, daring to—"

From the violence in his voice, he had clearly been drinking hard. Is he talking about Inha? Whoever he meant, hearing a human being called a tool left a foul taste in my mouth. Not that I expected anything better from trash.

My senses confirmed who sat across the room: the Skyscraper Guild's master and his vice-master.

"Guild Master, please, just a little longer."

"Jinhyun, but—"

"Soon, That Person will be here."

"That Person?"

At the vice-master's words, Seo Jinhyuk's entire manner changed. That Person? The instant he heard the phrase, his tone turned docile, as if this person would make every problem disappear.

Time to pay them a visit, I think. The conversation had dried up the moment That Person entered it. Judging there was nothing left to learn, I opened the door and walked in.

"Who's there!"

"Show yourself!"

The door bursting open sent both men snatching up their weapons, wariness flooding their faces. Right now, Stealth and Shadow had erased me completely.

Doesn't matter if you're A-Rank. Ambushed while drunk, you die all the same. Coating my dagger in mana, I cut the vice-master's throat.

"Gahk!"

Throat opened, the vice-master crumpled to the floor. He was a B-Rank Awakener—and barely one at that, the sort who had scraped his way up from C-Rank by the skin of his teeth.

One down. I turned my gaze on Seo Jinhyuk, fidgeting beside the corpse. The vice-master's death had rattled him badly.

"Wh-who the hell are you?! You think you'll get away with doing this to me?!"

"Yep."

I answered him flatly and slashed the blade across the back of his neck.

"Gahk!"

Seo Jinhyuk met the same end as his vice-master. It was hard to believe this was the final scene of the man who had led the Skyscraper Guild, pride of the mid-sized guilds. A fitting end for trash, though.

I looked down at the two bodies sprawled across the floor. An A-Rank past level 100, and the drink had left him unable to muster even a fraction of his real strength. But who in the world is "That Person"? Both men had just shown absolute faith in whoever it was.

Just then, someone approached the room. "Stealth." I erased myself and moved on footwork. Basic Footwork: Shadow. The moment I vanished, an employee opened the door and stepped inside.

"KYAAAAH!"

The employee who had walked in on the two corpses screamed the bar down. Watching them discover the bodies, I slipped out of the bar. That takes care of the trash. All that was left was to go home and sleep.

Having rewarded five days of hard graft with a long, deep sleep, I left the house and headed for Sunny Smithy. While I had been roaming Icheon in search of the trash, a message had come: Master Seo Jincheol, discharged from the hospital, and Seo Inha had completed the crafting of the Earth Stone.

I wonder how it turned out. A ring crafted from a hidden piece. Legendary was a certainty; it might even come out higher. Legendary+, or maybe even Mythic.

Officially, only three Legendary+ items existed in the world: Yamata no Orochi of Japan, Lancelot of Britain, and the Twin Dragon Sword of Korea. Those three were the only officially recognized Legendary+ items. And now mine would make four? Counting my chickens before they hatched, I arrived at Sunny Smithy.

Heart tight with anticipation, I knocked on the door. Knock! Knock! After a short wait, the door swung open and Seo Inha appeared.

"Come in!"

There was a strange, bubbling excitement in her voice. She took my hand and drew me into the smithy.

Inside, Master Seo Jincheol was waiting, sweat gleaming on his brow.

"It's an honor to have you here."

"Did I... do something wrong?"

The old man's formal speech threw me so badly the question tumbled out on its own. Seo Jincheol took fierce pride in his craft, and that man was addressing me with honorifics. It gave me chills.

"I am merely showing due respect to the benefactor who saved both my life and my granddaughter's."

He was paying respect because I had saved him and his granddaughter. Which meant that, to Seo Jincheol, his granddaughter ranked exactly that high.

"This much courtesy is honestly a burden."

"Then I'll speak as I did before."

The instant I said it, the old man's gruff voice snapped back to normal. This was the tone that suited him.

"So, where's the finished piece?"

"Follow me."

With that, Master Seo Jincheol strode deep into the smithy, and I trailed after him. On the way in, I passed weapon after weapon I had never seen before. Every one of these is Master Seo Jincheol's work...? For a moment, the aura radiating from them overwhelmed me. Truly the work of the Blue Blacksmith.

"By the way, how did you restore the smithy?"

I had seen it blown apart with my own eyes not long ago. It had been wreckage beyond any repair, yet now it stood whole again.

"The place has an auto-restoration enchantment laid on it."

"An auto-restoration enchantment?!"

I nearly staggered at the answer. Auto-restoration was the kind of magic that took at least 2.5 billion won just to enchant a single set of armor. And he'd put magic that expensive on his house...

He had been cast out to a backwater like this, but there was a time when he was the most sought-after blacksmith in all of South Korea. His assets alone were probably worth trillions of won.

"Here it is."

What Master Seo Jincheol held out to me was a small wooden case. I took ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it and carefully opened the lid. Inside sat a ring set with a yellow gem.

Having checked the ring's information, only one word left my mouth.

"Insane."