Chapter 201 (2/2)
When Hak-joon made a sad expression, Su-hyeun chuckled and went on, “What’s with the long face?”
“But he’s not a big fan of people, is he? You said he only liked hammering out there in the mountains.”
“Yeah. I have no idea what changed his mind,” Su-hyeun said, shrugging. “Anyway, let’s go.”
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Two cars arrived at the foot of a small mountain located in Yangpyeong. The high-end sports cars did not quite fit the landscape. Su-hyeun, Hak-joon, Lee Ju-ho, and Thomas got out of the cars. The four climbed the mountain and arrived at Kim Dae-ho’s workshop. The workshop occupied quite a large area. Hak-joon and Thomas only heard the story from Su-hyeun before, and it was their first time to visit the place.
“Huh. Something is strange.”
At Su-hyeun’s muttering, Hak-joon, who was walking next to him, asked, “Yes? What is?”
“It’s so quiet.”
“Of course, it’s quiet. We are deep in the mountain.”
“No, no. I mean hammering sounds. I can’t hear any.”
Su-hyeun hurried to the door and anxiously knocked.
Knock, knock—!
“Mr. Dae-ho! It’s Su-hyeun. Mr. Dae-ho!”
He called in a loud voice that his shouts even echoed. But there was no answer for quite a long time.
“Mr. Dae-ho!”
“God! You’re so loud!”
It was the voice of Kim Dae-ho. It came from inside the house, not from the workshop. It seemed like he was taking a nap.
“I was asleep! Your shouting woke me up!”
Screech—
Kim Dae-ho trudged toward the door and opened it. Su-hyeun looked at the hunched Kim Dae-ho.
“Sorry.” Su-hyeun asked, “Were you sleeping?”
“Yes, man. Why did you come so early! I told you to come around the evening.”
Su-hyeun smiled awkwardly at Kim Dae-ho’s rebuke. He had no idea Kim Dae-ho would fall asleep during the day because he was usually very busy working at his workshop.
“If you’re tired, would you like us to come back later?”
“Hmm… The guy behind you is very polite, unlike someone.” At Lee Ju-ho’s question, Kim Dae-ho smiled widely and turned. “Just come in. I am totally awake, thanks to this man.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Excuse us.”
Su-hyeun and the others passed the gate and followed Kim Dae-ho. Kim Dae-ho walked in front of them and headed to his workshop. It was a hot day, and inside of the workshop was even hotter like a steamer.
“Wow.”
“Oh…”
Hak-joon and Thomas, who visited Kim Dae-ho’s workshop for the first time, looked around with wide eyes. Lee Ju-ho had been there once before. He came to protect Kim Dae-ho from the awakeners of the Hahoetal Guild.
“Why are you so surprised? Those are my failures.”
“What? Those are failures?” Hak-joon asked, looking at the equipment piled on the floor.
Even at a glance, they could tell those were pretty well-made weapons. Any blacksmith would have to take great care to make this kind of equipment. But he said those were his failures.
“It’s a waste to throw them away, but it’s embarrassing to hang them somewhere. So, I just piled them up here. The really good ones are downstairs.”
“Then, can you just give me one from here? No, no. Can you sell it to me? Please?” Hak-joon asked.
“Why? Do you need equipment?”
“I have a good sword, but the pieces of armor here look way better than mine.”
“Well, do whatever you want. You don’t have to pay. Just pick anything.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But I will only give you one sword and one armor. If you pick one of each, that’s it.”
At Kim Dae-ho’s firm word, Hak-joon, who seemed excited, stopped laughing. Anybody who had a brain could figure out. Kim Dae-ho invited them to his workshop and told them that he would give them presents although he said that all the equipment there was a failure.
I can’t pick another if I choose now.
Hak-joon’s heart was beating fast. He thought it would be an excellent chance to get new valuable equipment.
“I will think about it first,” said Hak-joon.
“Good. You are not a slow-witted one.” Kim Dae-ho laughed out loud and quickened his steps again.
The basement of the workshop was a warehouse. Kim Dae-ho entered the darkroom and felt the wall for the light switch.
Click—
The inside of the warehouse was revealed when the light turned on. Various types of equipment were hanging on the wall. There were long swords, spears, knives, gauntlets, iron plate mails, leather armor, and so on. But there were not many of them. Unlike upstairs, where there were stacks of equipment, there were only a few dozen pieces of equipment in the basement.
“Wow.”
“So awesome.”
Lee Ju-ho had not entered here last time, so he had felt nothing but surprise to see all the things in here.
I can tell at a glance that they are all of the very high quality.
Lee Ju-ho was a nonexpert about weapons, but even he could tell those were not ordinary equipment.
Those things can compete with Geneva’s work.
He understood why Kim Dae-ho had said the ones upstairs were failures.
What would happen if those items were released on the market? The market would be turned upside down, Lee Ju-ho thought.
An outstanding awakener could save a city. However, hundreds and thousands of pieces of equipment made by outstanding blacksmiths could increase the power of many awakeners. That was why Geneva was treated a lot better than the S-Rank awakeners in this era.
“Let me see. The spear you asked for last time…” First, Kim Dae-ho took the spear for Su-hyeun from one wall. “Here you are.”