Chapter 94. The Black Market (4)
From small props to a single glass. A luxurious room made entirely of items from Arena.
“A private room, huh? I never knew the master of the Myth Guild was a VVIP of the black market.”
Yujeong said, nibbling on her dessert in such a place.
“I used to come here quite often when I was younger.”
Go Changjin, a handsome middle-aged man, smiled faintly. He looked out the window that offered a clear view of the black market below.
“As you know, it takes a lot of money to grow a guild. A whole lot of money.”
“True…”
Yujeong nodded slightly.
Go Changjin, known as ‘Iron-Blooded’.
His fame came not only because of his outstanding skills as a first-generation ranker, similar to Dohu and the Ironwood King, but also because he founded the Myth Guild, one of Korea’s top three guilds, from the ground up.
“I’ve always said this, but I’ve always admired you, Master.”
Go Changjin, who started with nothing. He built the Myth Guild with pure skill and effort alone. Sacrificing his entire life as a player, he achieved the current status of the Myth Guild.
‘He really is extraordinary.’
Yujeong admired Go Changjin with respect. Founding an organization that represents a country from nothing. This was a remarkable achievement, not just among players, but in any field. Yujeong quietly observed Go Changjin.
‘Could I have done it?’
A question that always came to mind whenever she met Go Changjin. And the same answer always followed.
‘Of course not. Impossible.’
Although she herself was the master of Korea’s top guild, Holy Trinity.
‘That position wasn’t built by my strength alone.’
It was possible because of the foundation of her mother, the founder of the guild, and the backing of Holy Trinity.
‘Without the background of Holy Trinity, I am…’
A bitter expression crossed her elegant face.
Catching this, Go Changjin said indifferently.
“As I always say, if someone like you were in my guild, we would be the top guild in Korea.”
Yujeong’s eyes widened at his words. Then.
“…. Sometimes, I really can’t understand why you’re called Iron-Blooded. You’re such a kind-hearted person.”
“That’s the comment I really can’t understand.”
A faint blush crept across the stoic Go Changjin’s face. Yujeong’s lips curved into a smile.
‘Would my father have been like this?’
Revitalized, Yujeong stood up from her seat.
“I’m going to brush my teeth, and I’ll be right back.”
“It’s on your right as you go out.”
As Yujeong left the room.
“….”
“….”
A heavy silence pressed down on the luxurious room. Go Changjin looked at the beautiful woman with sharp, eagle-like eyes.
“Stop staring. It’s fucking annoying.”
And the immediate outburst of swearing.
“How have you been?”
Go Changjin smiled softly. Anyone who knew him would be shocked at this scene.
“Yujeong, how did you come to know her? What’s this about the black market?”
For Iron-Blooded Go Changjin to smile so gently and warmly?
Those who had encountered him even once would find this incredible sight hard to believe. His female fans fainting clutching their chests was just a bonus. However. Could this precious smile be nothing special?
“Are you interrogating me now? What does it matter to you who I meet or where I go?”
A woman with sharp eyes, a spitting image of Go Changjin. Go Malsuk was nothing but a picture of annoyance plastered across her face. Quite an unpleasant demeanor for the master of the Myth Guild.
“Still, it’s reassuring to see her making friends her age. Yujeong is a good kid,” Go Changjin responded with nothing but a warm smile and eyes.
“Aren’t you running short on money? Everything is so expensive in the black market. It’s well-known that Yujeong loves to shop…”
“Ah, seriously!”
Go Malsuk cut off Go Changjin sharply. She glared at him with dagger eyes.
“What money? What do I look like to you, a beggar? How many times do I have to tell you I don’t need your damn money!”
“Malsuk.”
“Damn it!”
Bang.
Go Malsuk’s fist slammed down on the broad table. A table befitting the room’s standard.
“Didn’t I tell you not to call my name?”
Even with her fist activated with murderous energy, the table didn’t not so much as crack.
The real crack was on.
“Being obsessed with the arena to the point of dementia, listen well.”
It was Go Malsuk’s face.
“There’s nothing between you and me. So please, just stop caring! Get out of my life completely!”
Anger fissured through Go Malsuk. Could her growth be the reason?
Her aura was too menacing to be called simply ‘silver rank’.
“Malsuk.”
Go Changjin didn’t even blink. It wasn’t because he was on a completely different level as a player compared to Go Malsuk.
“I have never given up on anything in my life. Neither have you.”
What parent would fear their own child?
Go Changjin was no exception.
“What? Never given up? Such a person, mom!”
Go Malsuk yelled. But that was it. Her lips trembling vigorously with rage, she then bit her lip and clenched her fist.
“Damn…”
Seeing her like this.
“…I’m sorry.”
The name ‘Iron-Blooded’ crumbled.
“All I have for you are apologies.”
Go Malsuk closed her eyes at the look filled with guilt.
Then.
“…It’s done.”
When she opened them again, her face was as expressionless as before.
“It’s all over now. That, and you.”
She replied flatly. The silence returned once more, and then.
Click.
“The washroom here is filled with artifacts. We should get some for our guild house too,” Yujeong entered, dispelling the heavy silence.
“By the way, Kim Shihyuk and Senior Jinwook will be joining us soon, how about having a meal together?”
“No, I have some work to do, so I’ll be leaving.”
“Ah, that’s too bad. There’s someone I wanted to introduce to you.”
“Let’s set up another time then.”
Go Changjin stood up. Yujeong followed suit.
“Having treated us to such delightful desserts in the VVIP room, I’ll make sure to return the favor next time.”
“I’ll look forward to it. Ah.”
Go Changjin glanced briefly at Go Malsuk, who was turned away.
“The more, the merrier.”
“Ah…”
Yujeong sighed softly.
“Of course. I’ll prepare a large place. The more, the merrier.”
Following the perceptive response of Lee Yujeong, she beseeched, “Please.”
Pleased, Go Changjin left the room with a satisfied smile. After seeing him off, Lee Yujeong glanced back.
‘Go Malsuk might be blunt, but she’s not the type to express her anger to just anyone.’
The Iron-Blooded Go Changjin. How many in this country would dare raise their voice against him?
Yet, Go Malsuk did exactly that, her voice filled with righteous indignation, clear enough for anyone to hear. And Go Changjin, he actually apologized.
As Lee Yujeong slowly closed the door of the private room Go Changjin had exited, she thought, ‘I only caught part of it, so I’m not sure what the issue was, but…’
One thing was certain.
‘The relationship between Malsuk and Go Changjin-ssi is not ordinary.’
It was obvious from the fact that he had said those words. He wasn’t someone who enjoyed the company of many.
‘Wait. Now that I think about it, Malsuk’s last name is Go too, isn’t it?’
Lee Yujeong’s eyes widened.
‘And their features…’
Especially the sharpness of their eyes seemed almost identical. But still.
‘Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly.’
Lee Yujeong refrained from making hasty judgments. After all, it is only polite not to pry unless the person reveals such information themselves.
Click.
With the door completely shut, she approached Go Malsuk as usual.
“Malsuk, you said you were hungry earlier. Why haven’t you eaten a single bite? This is really good.”
* * *
After returning from the black market, Shimun locked himself in his laboratory for days.
Although Paracelsus’s Flask made automation possible within his lab, -“Oppa, the cure for Mana Petrification Disease and the Circuit Regression Treatment are finished.”
“Good.”
No matter how automated a factory is, someone’s hands were still needed in the end. Shimun checked everything from material management to the overall production line and processes, diligently packing away the completed medicines.
“Sigh.”
Wiping the sweat that had begun to bead on his forehead, Shimun placed the medicines into an expensive case.
‘I would’ve had a hard time if my physical stats were low.’
Thanks to his consistent intake of elixirs, his physical stats had improved.
After the trip to the black market, having distributed the matured elixirs among his party members and consumed one himself, ‘Having both strength and agility stats at 20 makes this grueling work bearable.’
His strength and agility had reached 20 points each.
With the title “Chosen by the Constellations” adding a +4, both reached 24.
The strength and agility stats were unbelievable for someone who had focused all upgrades on the primary stats until reaching level 80.
Additionally, ‘Is it due to the Spirit of the World Tree? I feel like my recovery from fatigue has improved.’
The World Tree Trait. It seemed its effect wasn’t limited to the title ‘Companion of the World Tree’ alone. It enabled players, who would normally be worn out after days of all-nighters, to withstand the exhaustion.
Of course, having the stamina helped, -“Oppa, the cure for Blood Magic Disease is also ready. The next one will be completed soon too.”
But handling all the medicines produced by the homunculus Philosopher’s Stone was impossible.
“Okay.”
Naturally, Shimun had prepared efficient assistants for alchemizing.
Specifically, “You, you. Go pack the Blood Magic Disease cure into the case.”
He had made them, to be precise.
And so, upon Shimun’s command, sleek silver humanoid beings, the Mithril Golems, moved promptly to the medicine production line.
Despite their mineral-composed bodies, clack.
They handled the medicines with remarkably delicate and precise movements. And then, the extreme.
Click, clack.
About ten mithril golems were busy working around the laboratory. Kim Shimun watched the bustling mithril golems with satisfaction.
“Is it because they’re made of mithril? Their intelligence and movements are on a different level.”
-Right?
A long arm-like appendage descended from the ceiling. At its end hung a Paracelsus flask.
Within it, a large and cute single eye whirled around, scanning the golems.
-Golems are ultimately only as good as their materials. There’s nothing quite like mithril.
“True. Their skill is incomparable to regular golems.”
-Yep! It’s a good thing we got a huge haul of mithril last time. I was shocked we managed to shape more than ten golems and still had some left over.
“That’s for sure.”
The mithril from Mount Doria, rewarded from the last special arena.
Thanks to having it in abundance, they could afford the luxury of using over ten mithril golems as mere labor.
‘No worries about security, excellent.’
Given their absolute loyalty and the fact they didn’t rest, the mithril golems were like a ray of light at the moment.
“Well, looks like we’re done here.”
Kim Shimun shifted his gaze from the diligently working golems and walked over to a corner of the laboratory.
Snap.
With a flick of his fingers, whoosh.
The wall parted, revealing a small space. There, a mithril skeleton shone with its distinctive luster.
-Hmm, it’s well-formed, isn’t it?
“People don’t usually describe these things as ‘well-formed’, do they?”
-So what? It has a nice feel to it.
Kim Shimun chuckled at the Philosopher’s Stone’s comment as he caressed the mithril skeleton.
“I haven’t made the head yet, but luckily, the basic structure seems well-crafted. I’ll start on the rest once we secure more materials.”
-As expected from my genius oppa. You stayed up for nights working on it. How could there be any issues?
“You flatter me. Even so, I’m hardly a genius.”
-Are you joking? Just controlling over ten mithril golems as a Gold Rank is already genius.
Disbelief was evident in the gaze of the eye within the flask.
Fundamentally, shaping a golem wasn’t something anyone could do just because they had good materials.
From the exterior to the joints and the inner structures, golem shaping required a precise image of its shape and components, much like alchemizing mythic artifacts.
To shape over ten golems?
One had to simultaneously visualize the image of each golem in their mind.
Moreover, -This alchemized golem here. From the standards of the arena, you’d have to be at least a Diamond Rank to manage that!
The difficulty of alchemizing a golem was immense. And yet, Kim Shimun alone managed to refine and purify mithril to create the skeleton of a alchemizing golem.
-Anyway, it’s impossible without being a genius.
“Is it?”
-It’s not just ‘is it’! Ah, my blood pressure! Oppa? I always say, you don’t know yourself well.
The Philosopher’s Stone fumed as Kim Shimun merely scratched his head.
For Kim Shimun, who managed to recover from magic incapacity and created an Elixir as a Level 1 alchemist, he truly didn’t understand the standards of ordinary alchemists.
Thus, -Ugh! Anyway! I’ll have to explain it again! Listen well, oppa, you see…
Just as the Philosopher’s Stone was about to lecture on ‘How much of a rare specimen her oppa is’, -Ah, why does this giant always come so often?
Kim Shimun’s savior appeared.
“Kim Shimun-nim, I’ve arrived!”
“Jinwook, welcome.”
Kim Shimun eagerly welcomed his savior.
It was the Night Hunter, Park Jinwook.
And as Jinwook entered, “I brought this month’s sales report for the cure… Oh!”
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Ki, Kim Shimun-nim? What’s all this?”
His eyes widened at the sight of the gleaming golems scattered throughout the laboratory.