The Divine Twilight’s Return

ough Chang-Sun had revealed his forge.
He did not particularly care if they noticed the blacksmith was Ou Yezi, because they would just think of the blacksmith as his copycat.

‘But what’s wrong with Ou Yezi’s forge?’ Chang-Sun thought, tilting his head in confusion.

Something was strange.
Ou Yezi should have been able to create high-quality sacred weapons with access to a proper furnace.
They would not necessarily be enough to catch Celestials’ attention, but Players would undoubtedly have noticed them.

‘There are no traces of past visitors,’ Chang-Sun thought as he tried to open the door to the forge in order to see what was going on.

Clank!

‘It’s locked.’

Chang-Sun belatedly noticed that the iron door was locked tightly, with a solid chain and a padlock.

‘Did he go out for a moment because he had business to take care of?’

However, the chain and the padlock were rusty, which meant that no one had touched them for a long time.

‘But I’m sure the furnace inside the room is lit…’

A blacksmith had to constantly watch over a furnace to keep the fire alive, so Ou Yezi could never leave the forge unattended for a long time.

‘What’s going on? I should try waiting here for a while.’

* * *

“Choi-Lee Forge? Uhm… I have heard about it… What was that place?” a middle-aged man said, searching his memories.

“What’s up with you? You know Choi! He runs that place!” another man who appeared to be his friend exclaimed, slapping the man’s back.

“Ah, that place? I don’t think he runs it anymore, so it’s more accurate to say he ran it,” the first man said.

“You’re right.
It’s already been five years since he closed his forge.
Man, I wonder how he’s doing nowadays, but I hope he doesn’t skip his meals.
You know, he’s a good man.
He often bought drinks for me,” the second man said.

No one had visited the Choi-Lee Forge even after Chang-Sun spent three hours waiting in front of it.
Thus, he had begun to ask around, hoping to get Ou Yezi’s phone number.
However, most people did not know Choi-Lee Forge even existed, and some people who did know just said that the place had been closed for a long time.

‘No, Ou Yezi can’t leave his furnace unattended for a long time.
Three days would be the maximum.’

It was very tricky to manage a furnace that contained Divine Fire.
Their owners usually preferred to keep the fire alive, because it was more difficult to light them again.
The furnace was still blazing, so the forge was not actually closed…

Chang-Sun had gotten nowhere, as no one who knew about the Choi-Lee Forge had Ou Yezi’s phone number.
It seemed that Ou Yezi had neither a phone or close friends.
In the end, that could mean only one thing.

‘He wanted to cut himself off from the world,’ Chang-Sun thought as he took [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] out of his Inventory.
‘I have no other choice.’

Chang-Sun decided to smash through the iron door and barge in.
Although he was unable to detect any human presence, he would be able to meet Ou Yezi if he waited inside.
His decision showed zero consideration for Ou Yezi, but he could not afford to be considerate.
His revenge plan could not go astray.

[The Skill ‘Blood Toxin’ has been activated!]

[Acidic Toxin has been created.]

Cutting his left hand deeply with [Tiamat’s snaggletooth], Chang-Sun thoroughly coated the blade in his blood.
As he was trying to force open a lock, he used an acidic toxin that was suitable for corroding metals.

Clink! Clink!

After smashing the lock and the chain twice, Chang-Sun was able to cut them both at the same time.
His eyes shone for a moment.
If they had been an ordinary chain and lock, he should have been able to cut them like paper with [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth], but he had needed to use a lot of force to break them.
That meant the chain was very tough.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ enjoys the smell of good iron.]

As Chang-Sun forced open the creaking iron door that had not been greased for a long time, the first thing he noticed was the smell of musty iron filling the room.
It was so horrible that ordinary people would have frowned, but just like Pabilsag, Chang-Sun thought the smell was as fragrant as if he had returned home.

‘There are a lot of them.’

All kinds of weapons were hanging on every wall: Swords, knives, spears, shields, hammers, axes, bows… Each and every one was high-quality.
They all had sharp edges, but it seemed as if they had not been managed for a long time, judging from the layer of dust covering them.

Chang-Sun picked up a bow that was closest to him—a small gakgung[2].

[Murciélago’s[3] Horn Bow]

A bow made from a goat monster that has climbed out of the Samcheon Hell.[4] Despite its size, the bow is heavy and firm, making it tricky to use.
There is also a limit on the types of arrows that can be used.

Unable to inspect the details of the weapon.

· Type: Bow.

· Damage: ???

· Effect: ???

‘Murciélago? I’m sure he had a hard time obtaining the material, but he really made a fine bow out of it, considering its properties,’ Chang-Sun thought as he ran his hands along the gakgung.
He could not help but admire it; it had no imperfections, from its balance to the way Ou Yezi had trimmed the belly of the bow.

‘It’s better than the lowest-rank deities’ relics.’

Of course, relics would undoubtedly be powerful and effective with a deity’s blessings empowering them, but if Chang-Sun were to compare them as weapons alone, they would be equally good.

When he finished admiring it, Chang-Sun strung the bow and drew it back.
He also tried swinging other weapons, which only made him desire Ou Yezi’s weapons even more.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ loves this place, and she feels as if she is in paradise.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ pants in excitement as she inspects the high-quality weapons.]

Leaving Pabilsag to scream like an otaku, Chang-Sun went deeper into the forge.

‘Hmm?’

An old sword that was lying in a corner caught his attention.
Its narrow blade resembled a lengthened dagger; it was too long to be considered one, but too short to be considered a longsword.

Unlike the other weapons, the sword was not on the wall, and it had lost its edge.
Judging from its bluish shade, it appeared to have been made from bronze, not iron.
However, it looked more like a fire poker that was used to rearrange firewood in a furnace.

Despite that, Chang-Sun felt instinctively drawn to the sword.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ criticizes you for paying attention to a strange weapon when there are other good weapons all around this place.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ urges you to throw that strange-looking sword away and inspect other weapons.]

Chang-Sun picked up the fire poker-like sword.
It was light, but its balance was completely wrong.
Despite that, he trembled in excitement the entire time he looked at the sword.

‘This is…! I think I know what this is…!’

Just then…

“Who are you?”

A man whose long hair covered his eyes emerged from a corner.
He seemed to be in his early thirties.
Chang-Sun saw tattoos all over his neck and forearms, and six piercings on one of his ears.

The man was so far from a typical blacksmith that no one would expect him to be one; rather he looked as if he would make a great tattooist.
Despite all that, Chang-Sun was not surprised by the man’s looks; rather, he was shocked by something else.

‘Is he blind?’ Chang-Sun thought.

The forge was very dark, but the man was wearing dark sunglasses, holding a seeing-eye dog’s leash in one hand.

Woof! Woof!

Neither the man nor the dog hid how wary they were of Chang-Sun, the trespasser.

1.
Land near Hangang River is very expensive, so newspapers often use apartments in that area as a yardstick to explain how expensive real estate in Korea has become.
☜

2.
A traditional Korean bow.
These are composite reflex bows primarily made from water buffalo horns, which are half the size of an ordinary bow.
☜

3.
The word means ‘bat’ in Spanish, but in this novel, it seems to refer to a goat monster.
☜

4.
It’s unclear whether this hell actually exists in Korean mythology, but it exists in a version of a folktale about the character Princess Bari (바리공주).
She was abandoned as a baby because her parents wanted a son.
However, her parents fell sick, so they asked her to enter hell because there were herbs that could save them.
She went to that hell in order to obtain the materials she needed to save her parents.
☜