They Call It a Hammer!
“They say it’s a hammer!”
“!”
The additional reward the Great Dwarf God had spoken of was none other than a hammer.
“They say it will be the equipment you need most right now!”
“It really is exactly what I need at the moment.”
If it was a hammer the Great Dwarf God intended to bestow, it was bound to be extremely high-spec gear.
A god’s hammer, after all.
Jinwoo grinned.
“I’d better get ready right away.”
Before entering the tower, Jinwoo gathered every material he needed, then headed toward the assembled dwarves. They currently stood before the Glory of Lava like condemned men.
“Don’t worry. Just enjoy the festival.”
“……Thank you.”
“Thank you for saving Iron Helm.”
They spoke awkwardly.
“There’s no need to feel so guilty.”
Jinwoo looked at them as he spoke.
Of course they thought it was impossible.
A blacksmith defeating a dragon and becoming the savior of Iron Helm?
Not an easy feat, that.
“I’ve already received my full reward.”
The dwarves bowed their heads, cleared their throats a couple of times, and made their way toward the central plaza. A festival celebrating the savior of Iron Helm was just beginning there.
And right then—
“I’ve returned with reinforcements!”
Big Hammer had come back.
MiTube.
And across every community, Jinwoo’s name kept being mentioned.
KBC conference room.
Inside sat a PD and a large, heavily built man.
“The momentum is no joke.”
The KBC PD spoke to the large man sitting across from him.
“What happens if this keeps up?”
That man was the user KBC had signed as their main star: Slayer.
Slayer frowned at this utterly absurd situation.
This ratings war should have ended as KBC’s natural victory.
They had crushed their rival OBC’s High-tech and claimed the number-one spot on Netfelix.
He had thought it was the obvious result.
With that result in hand, he had believed they could achieve whatever they wanted.
But a variable had appeared.
An enormous variable that had sprung up from JBS—a network they hadn’t even bothered to worry about.
“We’re still number one on Netfelix, aren’t we? Do we really need to care that much? Granted, the view-count trajectory is pretty intense.”
“They say Netfelix has signed an additional contract. With JBS.”
At the KBC PD’s words, Slayer’s expression darkened.
That meant Netfelix had fully acknowledged JBS’s results.
“I’m just as shocked right now. I never expected JBS to pull off something like this.”
From the beginning, JBS hadn’t even been considered a competitor.
Slayer himself—and countless others—had thought the same.
Even the KBC PD who had recruited him had said their only real rival was OBC, so they only needed to watch that side.
But when the results came out, the shock was overwhelming.
“It’s already way past fifty million, Jeong-su.”
The PD unconsciously used Slayer’s real name.
That was how hard this situation was to believe.
The video currently uploaded to JBS’s MiTube channel had racked up a staggering fifty-three million views.
It had already surpassed the entire population of South Korea.
“Word of mouth is spreading overseas and it’s still climbing. The late momentum is holding strong.”
The PD scowled.
“If that video had opened on Netfelix at the same time……”
The numbers were already clear.
“They would have beaten us.”
Netfelix and MiTube.
The only reason they could still call it a competition was because the platforms were different and exact numbers couldn’t be compared. In truth, if the videos had launched on the same platform, Slayer would have been pushed down to second place.
“How is this even……”
Slayer clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly.
“How is this possible?”
“It isn’t.”
The PD let out a sigh.
“It shouldn’t have been…… Have you watched the video?”
“No. I haven’t.”
“If you watch it once…… you’ll get a rough idea of why this happened.”
The KBC PD had watched the video.
And he had been forced to admit it.
Why the views were so high.
Why Netfelix had offered JBS a deal.
“He set the whole board by himself.”
Jinwoo had begun shaking the entire board alone.
Everyone who had mocked JBS no longer had anyone left laughing.
Jinwoo, whom people had dismissed because he was a blacksmith, had completely overturned that evaluation.
No one.
Truly no one had predicted this outcome.
“JBS has completely come back from the dead with this.”
After a string of failures, JBS had essentially been cemented as a minor player in the New Generation scene.
Once an image is set, it doesn’t change easily.
Yet Yoo Jinwoo had completely reversed it.
“PD Han Ingu went all-in on this. Completely all-in.”
The KBC PD pressed a hand to his forehead.
“There must have been massive opposition inside. He must have been really sure.”
Both inside and outside the company, people would have shaken Han Ingu like crazy. How had he managed to push it through?
If this had failed, Han Ingu’s career at JBS would have been finished. That much was certain.
Yet he had overcome it spectacularly.
“It’s turned into a three-way war.”
JBS, which hadn’t even been a competitor, had climbed to the top.
A three-way war?
In truth, the KBC PD knew better. This was no three-way war.
Based on the current trajectory alone, they had already fallen behind in the rankings.
They had lost to JBS.
To PD Han Ingu.
No—
To Yoo Jinwoo. Right now, first place clearly belonged to JBS.
“So then……”
Slayer spoke.
“What happens now?”
“The contract is for three videos. There will be three episodes.”
“And since JBS also signed with Netfelix……”
“Yes. From now on is when it really matters.”
At those words, Slayer’s eyes hardened.
“Starting from episode two, it’s a head-on fight. On the same platform.”
Right now they were split between MiTube and Netfelix, but from the second episode onward they would compete on the exact same Netfelix numbers.
Slayer let out a long breath.
“Don’t worry.”
Slayer rose from his seat.
“The discussion inside the guild is already finished.”
The guild Slayer belonged to—Leap.
Leap, currently the number-one ranked guild in New Generation, had viewed this broadcast as a billboard that would firmly establish their position at the top of the rankings.
If the broadcast showcased their flagship dealer Slayer and the face of Leap Guild, the image of first place would solidify, and further, the image that Leap was not to be touched would take root.
But if things continued like this, not only would its function as a billboard fail—the solid image of first place itself would inevitably crack.
“The second video will start with a war between our guilds and go all the way through a tower clear. And we have no intention of just casually clearing some tower.”
Leap Guild had already prepared the main scenario.
“You know the towers all have different difficulties, right?”
“Yes, I know. Don’t tell me……”
“We’re going to clear the Tower of Trials.”
Tower clear difficulty was divided simply.
From one star to five stars.
“We’re going for a four-star.”
The tower they had cleared in the first episode had been a three-star.
“There will be no failure. Leap Guild will properly back me up.”
“……!”
Leap was going all-out.
The KBC PD swallowed hard. If Leap was coming out this hard, the story changed completely.
“We’ll show them. I’ll cut my sleep even more and pour everything into this one.”
He had barely slept before either, but now he was ready to give up sleep entirely. He had his pride too.
“We will do so, Big Hammer!”
Big Hammer had finally secured their cooperation.
“For our covenant.”
“For our brothers, we will go to Iron Helm!”
Iron Helm was in a race against time.
“Thank you! Iron Helm is on the verge of collapse right now. We must go quickly!”
Big Hammer raced day and night with his reliable reinforcements.
Shaaaah—.
Iron Helm, thick with the stench of sulfur.
Big Hammer, having returned, shouted at the top of his lungs.
“I’ve returned with reinforcements! The dragon’s threat is now ov— Huh?”
Big Hammer froze in confusion.
“……What’s that noise?”
A huge commotion was rising from Iron Helm.
“Ah……! Are we already too late!”
Big Hammer sprinted desperately, only to grow more bewildered as he drew closer to Iron Helm.
“Laughter……?”
“Big Hammer. What’s going on? We can hear laughter.”
“That can’t be……”
Big Hammer was dumbfounded.
As they approached the city, a dwarf who recognized Big Hammer and the reinforcements shouted.
“Our Big Hammer has returned!”
“He’s brought reinforcements!”
“What in the world is happening! Have they all just given up!?”
“That’s not it, Big Hammer.”
Hairun stepped forward at that moment.
“The corrupted dragon, Shadow Wing, has fallen!”
“……Fallen? Impossible. How could anyone take down that vicious dragon……”
It was the worst dragon that neither the greatest dwarven warrior nor the greatest hunter had ever managed to slay. What dwarf could possibly have killed it!
“The honorary dwarf here is the one who did it!”
“……Honorary dwarf?”
“Hello.”
Jinwoo smiled and greeted him.
“Human. You are a human, are you not!”
A human as an honorary dwarf!
For a moment Big Hammer’s face twisted in shock.
Shaaaaaah—.
Because right before his eyes he felt a powerful force of the earth.
“The Great Dwarf God……?”
It was unmistakably the Great Dwarf God.
The reinforcements Big Hammer had brought with him were all devotees who served the Great Dwarf God.
They recognized that power at once.
“An oracle is descending!”
“I will read the oracle!”
One among them who could hear the words of the Great Dwarf God stepped forward.
“The human before you…… is not merely an honorary dwarf—he is simply a dwarf…… so says the god!”
“……?”
It was official divine recognition.
“He has slain the corrupted dragon and brought peace to Iron Helm, so says the god! Therefore……”
Big Hammer fell silent.
“You must acknowledge him, so says the god. You must hold a festival in his honor, so says the god.”
“…….”
Big Hammer blinked both eyes.