A Talent Worth Betting On
"Pervert! Trash! Scumbag!"
I sighed at the sight of her.
"That's not what I meant."
"Like hell it isn't! Beast! Garbage!"
I turned my head toward Seo Jincheol. If anyone would understand what I'd actually meant, it would be him.
"You can't have my granddaughter!"
But contrary to my expectations, Seo Jincheol blurted out a line straight out of a trashy melodrama.
Granted, what I'd said had been easy to misread.
Still, this is the reaction I get back?
My head was starting to throb. Then Seo Jincheol burst out laughing.
"I've been wanting to say that line at least once!"
Watching him roar with laughter only made my head ache worse.
"So, how much did you find out it was worth?"
"Grandpa?!"
The air around Seo Jincheol changed completely. I swallowed hard and opened my mouth.
"Five hundred."
"Low."
Five million won was about the size of a rookie jeweler's guild signing bonus.
He's not planning to let her go cheap, apparently.
As her own grandfather, he probably knew Seo Inha's talent better than anyone alive.
"Six hundred."
"More."
"Six fifty."
"More."
No matter what figure I threw out, he named a higher one. Watching the two of us haggle over her like this, Seo Inha was trembling with fury.
"Stop talking about me like I'm not even here!"
Her rage, finally ignited, aimed itself squarely at me and Seo Jincheol.
"Am I some kind of merchandise?! You're bargaining over me with money!"
Her first target was Seo Jincheol. Under his granddaughter's wrath, sweat poured down his face.
"You met her today for the first time and you've got the nerve?!"
The second target was me. I listened to Seo Inha's tirade without saying a word.
"Beast! Garbage! Pervert!"
For all her anger, "pervert" was apparently the worst I rated.
A few minutes passed, and her fury finally simmered down.
"What on earth was it, anyway?"
She grumbled as she looked the two of us over. I sighed and pulled the Earth Stone back out of my inventory.
"That's...?"
The moment she laid eyes on the stone, she was entranced. It happened so fast that she didn't even seem to notice it herself.
"Seo Inha, want to craft this stone for me?"
"Huh?"
At my question, her face went blank with incomprehension. Watching her, Seo Jincheol explained it again.
"This man is commissioning you for the work."
"Really?"
"He is."
Seo Inha's expression shifted. And then she turned to me and asked:
"What exactly are you basing this on?"
"A hunch."
"A hunch? You're commissioning me on nothing but a hunch?"
She still wore the look of someone who couldn't make sense of me. She apparently had no awareness of her own talent whatsoever.
Works out fine for me.
Seo Jincheol had been doing his best to inflate his granddaughter's price, but that hardly mattered anymore. The person I needed to negotiate with was no longer Seo Jincheol. It was Seo Inha.
"Four million won per crafting session."
"...!"
At my offer, Seo Inha's eyes went wide. Four million won was an enormous sum for a high schooler, especially one living in a household like hers.
"That price is—"
Seo Jincheol tried to cut in, but I didn't let him.
"If you want, I can pay in advance. What do you say?"
"Four million, upfront?"
Got her!
The fish had taken the bait cleanly. All that remained was to reel her in. But then Seo Jincheol butted in again—this time radiating pressure.
"G-Grandpa?"
"Don't lowball her."
"Tch."
I clicked my tongue and made a revised offer.
"Five fifty, and that's my limit. Besides, you won't find anyone else willing to commission work like this."
Seo Jincheol mulled it over for a moment, then nodded.
"My gut says she's worth seven, but you're not wrong."
Thankfully, he accepted. All that remained was Seo Inha. Well, if she'd reacted the way she had to four million, there was no way she'd turn down five and a half.
"I'll do it."
There was resolve written across her face. I grinned at her and held out my hand, and she took it.
"Pleasure working with you, jeweler."
"The pleasure's mine, boss."
The next day, I set up the appointment and headed home for now.
"So, how did it go?"
Mom and Dad were waiting for me when I walked in. Without a word, I handed over my license.
"I rated higher than what you asked for."
"Ha..."
C-rank was a grade where an Awakener could eat well and live well. And yet a sigh came out of my parents' mouths.
Is this reaction normal?
Some parents celebrate when an Awakener appears in the family. But most view the profession itself with misgiving. What parent delights in watching their child walk into a battlefield?
"Do you really have to do this?"
Mom's words carried a great deal of weight. Worry for her child, unease, fear—you could feel all of it layered in that one question.
"I'm sorry, Mom."
"I see..."
Mom said nothing more.
"I'm going to step into the back room for a bit."
In the end, she left her seat.
"She's just worried sick, that's all."
Once Mom had gone, Dad, who had been silent until then, finally spoke.
"Honestly, I'm against it too. You becoming an Awakener."
"......"
"It's a job where your life is always on the line, and sometimes you'll have to fight people, not just monsters."
I knew. I knew better than anyone.
I've lived through plenty of it already.
I had survived battlefields where death hung in the air at every moment, and I'd fought monsters, humans, and demonkin more than enough. And I would keep fighting, over and over, from here on out.
"Do you really have to do it?"
"...Yeah."
Concern for me showed in my father's eyes too. But there was no stopping here.
Because I'm the only one who can hold him back.
Not even an S-rank Awakener or an apostle contracted to a god had been able to stop that thing.
"For my sake, and for my family's, I have to stop him."
I murmured it quietly, just below the range of my father's hearing.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
"Okay."
After that, Dad and I carried on our usual conversation. Mom came back a little later and started preparing dinner. Her eyes were rimmed with red.
I really am an unfilial son.
"Ugh..."
I shifted this way and that. The clothes clung to me so tightly I could barely move.
A dress shirt and jeans. It had been almost a year since I'd last worn a shirt, and even longer since I'd put on jeans.
Because Sunha told me to wear them...
While I was picking out what to wear for my appointment with Seo Inha, Sunha had barged in and chosen my clothes himself.
You are absolutely wearing these!
There had been a grin on his face as he'd shouted it.
"I wonder when she'll get here."
The appointment was at one o'clock; it was currently twelve fifty. Ten minutes to go.
"Oh, boss!"
Just then, Seo Inha came running up from down the street. She was wearing a white dress.
"And here I thought I'd be the one waiting."
She grumbled as she looked me over.
"Now that we're both here, let's go."
"Right."
From a distance, we might have passed for a picture-perfect couple, but the conversation between me and Seo Inha never lasted long.
She is pretty, I'll give her that.
With that thought, I walked into Seongsu Department Store. Seongsu Department Store was an Awakener-focused shopping complex that the Seongsu Group had built with total commitment—weapon shops, armor shops, general goods stores, every kind of establishment an Awakener could need, lined up wall to wall.
"Whoa!"
The moment we stepped inside, Seo Inha's eyes began to sparkle. It was the reaction of a country girl who'd just arrived in the big city for the very first time.
"Keep up."
"Oh, yes sir!"
At my call, she scrambled after me. Even on the way to our destination, she kept gaping at the other shops and gasping in admiration.
"Here we are."
Our destination was RuSeok Shop, a store specializing in crafting equipment. Catering to everyone from complete beginners to seasoned professionals, RuSeok Shop's motto was cheap and plentiful.
Perfect for a girl who doesn't own a single piece of professional crafting gear.
I steered Seo Inha through the entrance.
"Welcome!"
An employee greeted us briskly as we entered.
"What are you looking to buy today?"
"I'd like to look at some equipment for her."
At my answer, the employee gave Seo Inha a brief once-over, then brought out some gear.
"This is our most popular line among female beginners."
The equipment she held out was the sort suited to someone who crafted as a hobby.
"Could you show us professional-grade equipment instead?"
"Professional equipment is only sold to customers with a certain level of skill."
Despite the cheap and plentiful motto, RuSeok Shop vetted who could buy its expert-grade goods. That was why the employee had sized Seo Inha up a moment ago.
"Test her skill, then."
"Understood."
At my word, the employee went inside and returned with a test setup.
"Huh?"
And so, suddenly put on the spot, Seo Inha sat down at the workbench still struggling to catch up with the situation.
"Craft the stone in front of you. C-rank quality or better and you pass."
"Y-yes ma'am!"
Seo Inha eventually took hold of the crafting tools and got to work. Her hands moved in a daze, and yet the stone's form grew more refined with every pass.
"Wh-what on earth..."
The employee watching beside her let out a stunned cry.
Well, anyone who sees that talent would call her a monster.
She had probably never done a proper piece of crafting in her life. And yet here she was, with tools she'd held for the first time, perfectly working a stone she'd never seen before.
So this is what talent actually looks like.
A short while later, she finished.
"I-I'm done."
Her voice shrunk into a whisper as she handed the stone to the employee. The stone she had crafted was platinum ore, notorious for how unforgiving it was to work. She had finished it in ten minutes flat.
To craft a stone like that in a single attempt...
Even I was a little shocked. I'd heard she was a bundle of raw talent, but I hadn't expected this much.
"A... A-rank."
Checking the quality, the employee let the words slip out loud without meaning to.
"So she can buy professional equipment, right?"
"Yes..."
I smiled and purchased the professional set. Since purchases after passing the test came with a thirty percent discount, the gear cost far less than I'd budgeted for.
"I'm in a good mood. Might as well try a gacha pull."
"A... pull?"
What I called "gacha" was unappraised items. You visited one of the so-called gacha shops, picked any unappraised item off the shelf, and had it identified on the spot—a little game of chance, in other words.
"Come on, follow me."
"Okay."
Flush with the money I'd saved, I led Seo Inha off toward the gacha shop.