< It’s a Scam >

"Suddenly why… a broadcast?"

It was really out of the blue. But the snake across the table didn't seem to think so.

"What I mean is that we should make your face certainly known."

"…Wouldn't the opposite of that be better for my personal protection?"

"No. At any rate, once the negotiations are over, not even one day will pass before information about Yoojin-ssi will spread across the world. There will be no use trying to hide you."

I was expecting that, but hearing so from others, I felt worried anew. Various crimes where Awakened People with low stats and useful special skills were the targets flashed through my mind in a row.

How much would my worth be?

"So, it is safer to make it so that many people will be able to recognize you. It is far more difficult to approach someone who everyone is paying attention to, rather than the opposite."

It was indeed true. If I came out on TV or something and received a lot of interest, the amount of watching eyes would that much increase.

"Even if you happen to be abducted, the possibility of being contacted by a witness would be higher as well. 'Why is a Haeyeon Guild member in such a strange place with people from other guilds' and such."

"I'm not a guild member but an employee. A normal employee."

He was sneakily trying to treat me like a guild member.

"Hahaha, Yoojin-ssi feels so close that you really do seem like a guild member. Isn't there a sense of distance with a normal employee?"

"You musn't discriminate."

"You are correct. Whether you are a guild member or a normal employee, we are all one family. Han Yoojin-ssi is also our family."

"…But please make a distinction."

As expected, dealing with this ahjussi was tiring.

"It would the first time for a cute looking monster to appear in a broadcast, so it would be easy to draw in interest. Moreover, you mentioned Peace is quite charmingly cute?"

"He's good and cute and lovely."

Now he had also gotten quite cool. He didn't look like an adult yet but his mane became more abundant and his tail also got longer. And his horn shone gold.

Whoever's house's kid he was[1], he was quite good looking.

When I unconsciously smiled, pleased, Suk Simyeong followed suit and smiled, pleased. Why were you smiling? And while looking at me, at that.

"Because of confidentiality, I can only start after the negotiations are over, but I will throroughly draw up a schedule ahead of time. Please believe in and leave it to me."

"Department Head Suk's capability for handling matters is trustable. I will be relaxed and wait."

Of course, I only trusted his ability to handle matters.

At my words, the snake put on an expression like he was thinking of a golden calf[2] that was carefully left in a main room vault. I very much wasn't curious about what kind of thoughts he was having.

"If there is something you want to know or something you need, please contact me any time."

"Haha, yes."

I would probably have to be involved with Suk Simyeong frequently for a while. It was better than when I was being flayed by his tongue so let's try getting along.

"Our Peace, were you being good and well-behaved?"

-Geureureung

Peace, who was lying down on my bed, jumped over and purred. The pen was getting cramped and I was hiding the magic beast rearing skill from Yoo Myeongwoo, so Peace moved his sleeping place to my bedroom, the largest room in the house.

The bed was covered with fur. It was a relief that I didn't have an allergy.

"Soon, you'll be able to go around freely, so just put up with it a little longer."

I said, picking up Peace. Compared to the beginning, he had become more than three times heavier so my two arms were weighted down. Peace's growth gradually got slower so on the third day, he increased by 0.5kg at most and stopped. There was a clear difference compared to the the 2.8kg increase on the first day and 3.1kg increase on the second day.

The rank also was still listed as C. He definitely got much stronger, so if he was at the level of a low-grade C-Rank dungeon monster at first, now he was probably at the level of a high-grade C-Rank dungeon monster.

'Since it's 'transformation into adult', does that mean that after growing up a certain amount, he wouldn't grow up for a while until the conditions are met, and then grow in one stroke?'

The time required for growth had decreased steadily with the training. If it was like this, then it wouldn't be long before he became an adult.

After playing a little with Peace and feeding him, I went back out. Now I should take care of Myeongwoo too. Why did I have so much to do?

I took the various bladed tools that Myeongwoo had already bought, and went toward the Haeyeon Guild's equipment management department[3]. If it was in a big guild, it was a place that maintained various items, through divisions prepared for each one.

"It's possible to repair dungeon items in a normal way if the damage rate is below a fixed amount. Of course, the materials have to be dungeon by-products."

Riding the elevator and going down, I explained to Myeongwoo.

"So there'll be ordinary repair tools too. While we're at it, it would be good to become friendly with the management department people. Since it's highly likely you'll be working there when you get the related skill."

He wouldn't simply work there, and it was a sure thing that he would become something like the department head. Or they might make a completely new division. Even so, he would need assistance from those with related skills, so there was nothing bad about getting to know them ahead of time.

"If it went like that, then it would be really great. Truthfully, I don't want to do any dungeon attacks."

"Alright. You can just go into dungeons intermittently to occasionally level up."

Would I be so crazy as to make the SS-Rank blacksmith-nim do something dangerous? If something went wrong while he was in a dungeon, it would be damage to the entire world. I should safely see him off on a bus or something.[4]

You could only get to the equipment management department through another security check. When we passed a normal office with things like desks and chairs and computers and opened a thick door, hot air flowed out.

So that over there, past the barrier, was a mana line, huh. It was a tool with a small furnace that boiled mana stones that looked similar but were refined, and melted all sorts of dungeon metals. For item repair, it was an essential equipment.

"Who's the newbie with the Whetstone skill between the two of you?"

A middle-aged person with a good build and wearing protective gear came towards us and asked, while throwing one each of blue towel-like things towards us. Taking and holding it, it became cool. Other people around were also wearing these blue towels around their necks or tied around their hips.

"This seems quite useful."

"It takes magic stones to maintain."

Which meant they were expensive. This was why it was hard for things that were developed with dungeon by-products to become widespread. It would be impossible before magic stones become inexpensive.

"You may have heard but we need a machine for sharpening bladed tools."

There wasn't anything about having to nicely put down a whetstone and sincerely sharpening one at a time. Just in case, we should at least test it out.

I turned on the My Brat skill window and opened the skill growth target Yoo Myeongwoo's status window.

[Sharpening the blade of 10,000 bladed tools(Progress 71/10,000)]

While I was training Peace, Yoo Myeongwoo also diligently sharpened knives in the kitchen. According to Myeongwoo, Whetstone's sharpening buff was applied while he was sharpening knives even if he didn't use the skill.

'If he sharpens blades enough that the skill is applied automatically, it probably means that the value of one is recognized, right?'

It was good that it was easy to check. And he could sharpen again knives that had the skill effect wear off. Whetstone's duration time was 3 hours, so it meant that he didn't actually need ten thousand bladed tools. Even the number of bladed tools Myeonwoo sharpened for three days was only thirteen.

"This is called a special grinder. It easily sharpens even dungeon metals."

The middle-aged man thumped the firmly fixed machine and said.

Speaking of, were all the people here owners of equipment-related special skills? If so, there were too many of them. I was curious so I started off by checking the status window of the man in front of me.

[Awakened Person – Lee Minsuk

Current stat rank C

Possible Awakening stat rank D~C

Optimized Initial Skills

Delicate Soldering(B) Acquired

Pounding(C ) Acquisition failure

Stamina Up(D) Acquired]

It was Delicate Soldering. Just looking at it, you could know it was a repair-related skill. For Pounding, just looking at its name, its classification was ambiguous but it was an acquisition failure. If it was a C-Rank special skill, it was a waste, but I didn't need to be concerned over an ahjussi who was living well.

Then, I looked at the other people. Besides Lee Minsuk, the remaining seven were all Awakened People. But, among them, four were stat E-Rank and higher but with common F-Rank skills. Of course, they could have gotten skills other than optimized ones, and a good skill could have come with 10 levels, so I couldn't tell if they just had only F-Rank skills.

Anyways, all of them weren't at the level of ordinary people for stats at least. Was it so because it was a job that required strength?

"Yoojin?"

Since I was just looking around at the surroundings, Yoo Myeongwoo hit my arm.

"I was just looking around. Take out a knife, let's try sharpening. How do you use this?"

"There's a clamp over there, right? After firmly fastening it, press the button."

"You don't sharpen by holding it in your hand?"

"You said you were stat F? Like that, there'll be an accident."

Since it was special grinder, it seemed like it wasn't made for normal people to use. If the machine did everything, I didn't think it would be recognized.

Just in case, I told Yoo Myeongwoo to try fastening the knife. With a loud noise, the machine sharpened the blade, but even when the powerful machine's strength went past sharpening the knife and ruined it, there was no change to the progress amount. As expected, it didn't work.

"Besides this, are there no normal machines?"

"Normal ones? If you go to the workroom over there, there should be one. You can adjust the strength by putting pressure with your feet, so it's good for delicate work."

That was perfect.

"Thank you."

Together with Yoo Myeongwoo, I went into the workroom. In the middle of the miscellaneous tools spread around, I saw a much simpler looking grinder machine. It would be great if it was a success this time.

Myeongwoo sat on the chair placed in front of the grinder. He turned on the machine and took out a kitchen knife and placed his foot on the pedal.

Shortly, the grinders started turning.

Myeongwoo hesitated a bit, before holding out the knife blade. An ear-piercing noise was heard for a short while and stopped, and then repeating so. The hands that seemed very much like a novice gradually started to become more skilled.

Shortly after,

[Sharpening the blade of 10,000 bladed tools(Progress 72/10,000)]

"Good!"

It was a success. Hooray modern convenience.

"That's good. With this, you'll probably finish soon."

"Yeah! Once I get used to it, I'll be able to sharpen more than a hundred each day!"

How many minutes did it take just now? It didn't seem to take long.

Myeongwoo, who was worked up for a brief moment, took out another knife. The expression of the posed guy was calm, unlike usual. So he could make that kind of face too.

Then, another knife blade was sharpened. This time, it was even faster. And there was no hesitation unlike the first time.

Clang

The sharpened knife fell on the opposite side of the chair and new knife was held in his hand. The knife blade that was dull because it was bought in a heap from a junk shop, started to shine.

Was just sharpening it enough to make it look like that? Or was it because of the skill?

While I was thinking about something else for a short moment, the fourth knife started to make noises. The hands that were sharpening the knife while slightly tilting the direction were completely skilled. Even to a layperson's eyes, like mine, they were efficient movements that didn't do too much or too less.

He seemed like a boss who had been sharpening knives for ten years or so.

'...It's a scam.'

How was he like that? Just how much time had passed since we came in that he was like this.

'Just why exactly did he move from office job to office job?'

He should have gone for a technical job. So what if he failed at a liberal arts college? If he had wisely chosen a career, he wouldn't have had cause to meet me, and it would have been smooth sailing for him.

While I was sighing over it to myself, I looked at him sharpening knives. Even though it was repetitive motions of simple work, my eyes didn't easily leave it.

Light was brought back to the knife while there was a smooth rhythm that was flowing like water, precise and without a single thing out of place like a machine, and now even had a sound that was also smooth.

Whenever he wetted it with cooling water and the water droplets scattered, it mixed with the sparkling of the knife blade and even felt artistic.

How should I say it, I realized that knife sharpening could also look cool. It was impressive. It was definitely a scam.

Clang

Along with the sound of the knife falling, the machine stopped. Yoo Myeongwoo lowered his hands and turned to look at me.

"You're still here?"

"Yeah, just happened to."

Wait, did he sharpen them all already? Even though we bought so many?

[Sharpening the blade of 10,000 bladed tools(Progress 115/10,000)]

…He sharpened over forty, but how much time had passed? I didn't measure it, but it felt like it was within one hour. It could have been even faster than that. Even if you said that you could decrease the time with the machine, I had thought that it would take about 4-5 minutes for each one.

It wasn't like he sharpened them crudely; all of the piled bladed tools were sparkling like new. It could have been because the skill was applied, but in the first place, not using the skill and getting it to act wouldn't be a normal thing.

"You… if it's this pace, wouldn't you finish in ten days?"

"You're right. The machine is great."

That guy Myeongwoo said as if nothing was wrong. Scary guy. You were pretending like you were normal but it seems like you really did have the aptitude for an SS-Rank skill.

"Knives… It would be good to buy about three hundred more, right?"

"Yeah. Since there's still a lot of time for the skill's duration time to finish. Sorry."

"No, it's fine. Completely fine. Don't worry."

However much it is, I will make an investment. By all means.