Chapter 283 (1/2)
* * *
Twenty minutes.
That was the length of time Su-hyeun spent inside the dungeon. Rather unsurprisingly, the two soldiers waiting for him in front of the dungeon thought he had given up halfway through the raid.
“As expected. Is it too difficult to attempt alone?”
“Should we contact Mister Thomas and—?”
“Ah, no. That’s not it. Please tell the relevant people that they can go in and start mining for the Ether stones,” Su-hyeun quickly replied.
The soldiers froze up and blinked their eyes for a little while, then stared at each other. They were wondering if they properly understood what had been said just now.
“It’s over?”
“But it should take at least half an hour to get to where the Titan Turtles are…”
Was that all? Taking into account the Titan Turtles’ defensive capabilities and the tenacious vitality that matched their humongous size, spending several hours inside the dungeon just to kill one wouldn’t be strange.
Yet Su-hyeun had returned after only 20 minutes. Not to mention, everything had been taken care of.
“I have a way of traveling quickly, you see. And I only needed a few minutes to deal with the Titan Turtles,” he replied.
“I-in that case, you really…”
“There are a lot of materials to be extracted from the Titan Turtles’ shells, and I think they’ll greatly help in manufacturing defensive equipment. Not enough time remains until the dungeon closes, so please hurry.”
“Y-yes, understood!”
And so, the indigo-colored dungeon in Gwangju was dealt with in this manner.
The Association should be busy for a while. A single Titan Turtle was basically a mountain-sized treasure trove, after all.
“Two of them appearing at once was actually a blessing in disguise,” he thought.
The giant shell of a Titan Turtle alone was an invaluable resource.
Defensive equipment crafted out of the shell should greatly enhance the survival rate of the awakeners. Most regular monsters would have a hard time overcoming their defenses, so such a result was to be expected.
“Although I feel bad for Thomas…”
Su-hyeun climbed on Miru’s back and said, “Let’s head that way.”
“Gya-ong—!” Miru replied energetically.
He was planning to go to the Jongno Tower, where Thomas and Lee Ju-ho were, later in the evening because he wanted to stop by a certain place first.
**
Claaang, CLANG—!
Those clanging noises remained familiar no matter when he heard them.
The sounds of Kim Dae-ho’s hammer always resounded at a fixed time. Su-hyeun waited for a little bit in front of the blacksmith’s workshop before knocking on the door.
Knock, knock—
“Uncle, it’s me.”
Clang—
The hammering noise came to a brief stop, and Kim Dae-ho’s voice came from beyond the door. “It’s open!”
Claaang—
As soon as he made his roaring reply, the hammering noise resumed.
For a while, Kim Dae-ho had stopped greeting Su-hyeun by the door. He instead told the younger man to just step inside if the door was unlocked.
It meant that he trusted Su-hyeun implicitly; it also indicated that every single workday had been hectic.
Creaaak—
Su-hyeun pushed open the thick gate and stepped inside.
He headed to the backyard to find the staircase. He took only a few steps down, yet the stifling heat still rushed out to slap him squarely in the face.
Clang, clang—
“You’re here?”
“Are you still busy nowadays?”
“Got a lot of orders incoming lately, but not much stuff goes out the door.”
“I told you, didn’t I? That even the products you consider to be failures will be seen as well-crafted products on the market.”
“Don’t worry, I’m selling those products off as a bundle in one go instead of passing them off to the auction houses. I no longer melt them down like I used to in the past.”
Kim Dae-ho continued to hammer away before placing a lengthy spear-like item inside the furnace.
He then picked up a towel nearby to wipe away the sweat on his forehead and asked Su-hyeun, “So, what have you been doing for the past half a year? You haven’t even shown up once during that time.”
“I was a bit occupied.”
“A bit occupied, you say? Hmm…”
Kim Dae-ho wordlessly scanned Su-hyeun’s expression. The latter blinked his eyes in silence, somewhat puzzled by that stare, and waited for the older man to say something.
While wiping away his sweat, Kim Dae-ho studied Su-hyeun for a bit and then suddenly grinned and said, “Hey, you look better for some reason?”
“Excuse me?”
“Didn’t you say you were occupied? Did you go on a trip or something?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s fine if you don’t get it,” Kim Dae-ho guffawed at Su-hyeun’s puzzled face.
It was rather uncharacteristic of him to suddenly laugh like that. Su-hyeun was initially confused by this behavior but eventually recalled what Lee Ju-ho had told him earlier.
“Well, you don’t seem to be in a hurry anymore… You look happier this way, actually.”
Now that he thought about it, hadn’t Lee Ju-ho said something similar earlier?
Kim Dae-ho tossed aside the towel and led the way. As Su-hyeun followed behind, he took out his smartphone and checked his complexion.
“Did I look that anxious to other people?”
Kim Dae-ho led Su-hyeun to his private room. Unlike the workshop that was filled with stifling heat and smell of molten iron, the room was awash with the enticing aroma of fresh grass that wafted off of all sorts of expensive tea leaves decorating the interior.
Driiip—
Not too long afterward, Kim Dae-ho brought out a steaming teapot.
Perhaps because Kim Dae-ho had already earned quite a bit of money, his private room was rather smartly furnished now.
Su-hyeun took a look around the room as he took his cup. “The décor’s changed a lot.”
“After I began supplying the Association with my stuff, this guy called Lee Ju-ho started showing up here often. And every time he comes, he says something is missing here and brings me a few things. As you can see, this is the result.”
“Do you personally clean the house?”
“An auntie comes around once a week to do that for me. I think that Lee Ju-ho guy hired her.”
“Is that so?”