Level Up Monster
Chapter 26
The Mercenaries' Tavern is located on the outskirts of Gangwon Province.
Once upon a time, this place was overcrowded with drunken mercenary voices, the smell of liquor, sweat, and the raw sound of smashing. Back then, 24 hours in a day was not enough for the working Mercenaries; and as they sat here doing nothing, the Master of the Tavern reminded them of their flaws, as they were, all in good friendship. (TL: this last line is also very confusing to me. Not sure if the author says that the Master told Mercs, or vice versa.)
But now ..all of those are distant memories.
No one is looking for the fabulous 'Mercenaries' Tavern store. The seedy exterior and the worn out furniture are broken, the strong alcohol bottles go through another stage of fermentation thanks to no one buying them – and the empty wooden board made of cork, the, lost all tasks and all tasks.
Like the dying Pay Soldiers, the Store was also forgotten and buried in time.
However, regardless of how forgotten this place was, there was still one person who firmly took care of it.
He was Kim Yu-sohn, a middle-aged Mercenary.
Just like every day, he polished the Tavern cutlery, cleaned the furniture, and swept away the empty cork noticeboard, believing that, one day, this plank would be full of tasks.
* SFX for sliding doors that do not fit open *
The metal hinges of the wooden door made a sad wail as it opened. The half-opened door then made weaker noises before it completely broke off. The man who tried to open it carefully lowered the broken door and entered into the Tavern.
"…. Father."
"You're coming. Sit down."
Kim Yu-sohn stopped cleaning the furniture and went to the back of the bar to receive her son.
"It's been a long time since your last visit here."
"…"
His son could not say anything. Although she had something she wanted to say prepared beforehand, the moment she saw her father's face. As a son, he knew better than anyone what this tavern meant to his father.
That was why, the son started talking about his current situation, trying to beat around the bush.
"Dad, I managed to rank up to Mid Tier Knight in the Goryeo Knights Order recently. My annual salary is also doubled. Therefore, I decided to look for a house in Gangwon. Now that I "I have breathing room, I think it's a bit of a waste of time from Seoul all the time." (TL: Huh !! Make you. I'm sure you think this is our MC. Haha. You're a bad writer, you ..)
"Is that true? Nice, Son. Your mother on the other hand would be proud of you."
The father, Kim Yu-sohn, smiled warmly. The son who looked at his father with sad eyes, bit his lips and lowered his head.
It was a distant past event, long enough that caused the memories to become unclear now.
Mother . His father's wife The most beautiful woman for these two, lost her life in a completely depraved and completely dirty way, even to her last moments. The day that Kim Yu-sohn became a Mercenary instead of a Knight was today as well. The dream of the child also changed on that day.
His son had always been proud of his father's reliable back, even if he became a Mercenary and not a Knight. No problem he came back late at night, leaving a little boy alone; even when he failed to return home at all – the boy was still proud of his father.
"…. Daddyh. From now on, let's stay together. Mercenaries .. they won't come to this place anymore."
His son could finally force the words he wanted to say with a trembling voice.
He knew better than anyone, about all the hard work his father did. That's why he was so angry when the mass media people who f tried to turn everything his father did into crime.
But now, times have changed. The war against those ...it is now a story from too old a past.
"… It's not that."
Unfortunately, his father shook his head. At his insistent attitude, the son hurriedly continued his words.
"I also saw news about the Vampires. But now …"
"No, no. It's not so, my son."
The father, Kim Yu-sohn gently caressed his son's head like a way back when his height was much shorter.
"I'm dreaming. You know very well what it means to dream, huh?"
"… . Huh, huh?"
His son confusedly nodded his head. His father had what the great Knights called a special power, a trait. Strange power, which was clearly different from Mana and magic.
"I saw the Vampires. I don't know what their ultimate goal is, but somehow they become stronger than in the past, and get ready to spread their wings."
"… Even still, it is the duty of the Knights Order now. The mercenary is …"
places . " "No. The Knight's orders were afraid of public sentiment. And there are more Vampires out there than you think, there are in a lot of different places . "
His son will come up with a counter argument when Kim Yu-sohn raises his index finger and puts it on his lips. Shh. He signaled to his son to remain silent. Right at that moment …
* SFX for old-fashioned phone ringing *
An unknown ring came out of an old phone that had no reason to cry in recent years. The father carefully picked up the phone. Defeated by his own curiosity, his son jumped over the counter and stood very close beside his father.
"It's the Tavern Mercenaries."
"…Hello . " – ".. Hello."
A low and heavy voice came out from the phone.
"I'm giving you a call after seeing the flyer . " – "I called you after seeing the flyer."
"Yes. It's a difficult task. That's why …"
"Just tell me of their whereabouts . I'll take it from there . " – "Just tell me about their whereabouts. I'll take it from there."
"But then, how can I say you are successful or not …?"
"I'll discard the bodies where they'll be discovered more easily . The media will then do its job . " – "I will dispose of the bodies where they will be found more easily.The media will do its job."
Kim Yu-sohn smiled thickly as the conversation flowed exactly like in her dream. Furthermore, he had to deny being a Mercenary.
"Good . "
"However, there's a problem . I'm not.." – "However, there is a problem. I'm not …"
"Just give your Mercenary Name and access code to identify you. That's all I need. I'll register you as a Mercenary."
"… . " – "…."
"I understand. One week from today, please go to where you found the flyer. I'll leave new information there."
"Eh? Hmm.. Got it . " – "Eh? Hmm .. understand."
The man looked even more surprised by Kim Yu-sohn's words, but he hung up the phone without asking further.
"…Who is he?"
The boy asked, clearly confused.
"I don't know either."
As he lightly replied, for the first time in a long time, the father had to take out the Mercenary Application form from the drawer.
Back when it all started, to register as a Mercenary, one had to provide thorough evidence of his background, such as his name, age, and current physical condition.
But now, the story is different. Since the industry was dying, the details of the application were left to the discretion of the Tavern boss. With a wide grin, Kim Yu-sohn held his pen like a sword, and on the absolutely unbelievable things he wrote, the mouth of the son was also wide open.
"Wa, wait a minute, dad. Rank A ?! Isn't that the highest rank available? You only have one phone conversation …"
"Aren't I ranked A before too? And besides, no one cared about rank Mercenaries anymore. It's just a set of irrelevant letters right now."
Come and just kill me ?!" "OK, alright, let's say we can make concessions on the rankings, but what's with that name ?! Using that kind of Mercenary name, isn't it the same as telling the world, Come and just kill me ?! "
Due to his son's worries, the father only slightly chuckled. Actually, Kim Yu-sohn found a name she liked.
The mystical creature that tore the Vampire – more than that, the lonely but angry beast that sees the whole world as its enemy.
Lycan ? It sounds cool and all . " "What happened to Lycan ? Sounds cool and everything."
"Dad!!"
*
For the first time in his life, Kim Sae-Jin buys the wonders of the modern world, a mobile phone. And a very amazing tool. He could activate it by touching the liquid crystal screen, and if he projected the screen in the air, then the image became much larger. At first, he was surprised by the projected image from the screen, but he was more or less used to it now.
"…Wow . "
And now, Sae-Jin is surfing the web using her phone inside a cafe near Gangwon Province.
He pays special attention to News and Entertainment "Neighbor" – and almost half of all the stories there are related to Yu Sae-Jung. st Round of the Blacksmithing Open Invitational Tournament' had given rise to an ample amount of gossip material . It seems like the recently aired episode of 'Round 1 of the Iron-Savvy Open Invitation Tournament' has given rise to a large amount of gossip material.
While sipping his coffee, Sae-Jin slowly reads the article about him and all the comments scattered in the comment section below.
I thought she was unlikeable in the beginning, but she was really cute by the end . – I thought she was disliked at first, but she was really cute in the end. ⁇ [Selected 1093 Retracted 53]
I actually liked it from the beginning. Honestly, don't like it when he tries to get help and says it's okay.
UtWut; Didn't Yu Sae-Jung try to do that in the end with that one blacksmith? Are your eyes decorating? You dress up 'dinkleberry. (TL: no, the author didn't actually write this. He has the common sense to censor himself .. I have to find out what insults he wrote here, so I improvised a little bit.)
Black Clever is worth it, that's why, you fool. You can see at a glance that a weapon is something else. Didn't you see a close-range shot? Just close f * ck up if you know jacksh * t.
On'tDon't make me laugh. This is still Low Quality nonsense no matter how good it is. Trying to swing your d * ck with your Lowest Tier ~ Low Hunter knowledge which is not of good quality? Do you know anything about guns?
⁇ ya. ^^^ This dagger got the official Low Quality rating today ^^ I will go and check it myself ^^ Don't believe me, then come yourself, you loser butt monkey jerk. Will send you a PM so you better reply.
(TL: Oooooh, Son. The above exchange is written entirely in Korean slang terms. Please just kill me .. BTW, that means LOL.)
"…What's the fuck?"
Reading this banquet of strange swear words, Sae-Jin's brows narrowed slightly. Since he didn't want to read this trash anymore, he scrolled down quickly until he found another interesting article. This one was also related to the Blacksmithing tournament, but instead of focusing on people, it was about the items submitted.
the St Round of the Open Invitational Tournament . ⸢ Through the eyes of an expert, evaluate selected items from Round 1 Open Invitation Tournament. ⸥
st Round of judging . Become a craftsman at the young age of 36 and raise a lot of expectations for himself, artisan craftsman Soh Yun-Han has given his evaluation to the top 10 entrants out of the 40 who have made it through the first round of assessments.
The Steel Longsword, sent by Master Kim Tae-Baek's direct disciple, Kim Soo-Han.
It's a good weapon . – This is a good weapon. st Round . Most importantly, the refinement and workmanship of the steel was quite perfect, and the blacksmith skills as well as the essential Mana infusion, were exemplary given the level of scoring criteria in the 1st Round .
If there is one thing that fails, then it is the fact that intern Kim Soo-Han happens to be a student of Master Kim Tae-Baek. This weapon will not 100% satisfy those very heavy expectations.nd and Final rounds to go; of course, the, he could have given up his worst pre-fabricated items for this round as there was still a second round and a Final; if so, then that would have certainly raised future expectations on this young craftsman.
Evaluation of a craftsman: B (Moderate quality)
…
…
…
The Iron Dagger, handed over by ORK, an unknown blacksmith.
– To be honest, I'm quite surprised. I became very curious, I ended up asking about the information of this blacksmith who called himself ORK. First of all, the full name of the blacksmith himself is different from the others – 'Orc's Forge K'. st Round of judging . I don't know why he chose to use such a name, but still, what he had made caused a huge buzz in this first round of judging.
st Round, then it's perfect in almost every way . If you judge that by the Round to 1 criteria, then it is perfect in almost everything. The only weak link here is the quality of the ingredients used, but the excellent levels of Mana infusion more than compensate for that. Every Knight who saw it praised this dagger greatly, saying that it was very easy to infuse Mana with weapons.
Well, there's no point in delaying this. st Round . Personally, I would say this dagger took the top spot in Round 1 . st Round, is going to be a lot brighter moving forward . Thinking such an amazing item would appear so quickly in Round 1. .. The future of Blacksmithing, and the future of this tournament, would be much brighter to move forward.
Evaluation of a craftsman: A (Low Quality top ~ Medium Quality low)
"… Keheum."
Sae-Jin gives off a fake cough after being somewhat self-conscious with what she has read.
Exhausting …
Suddenly, a text message came out of the phone. Text messages are very business, no nonsense is written there.
"This is Yu Sae-Jung. When can we meet?'
He had received Yu Sae-Jung's message which he sent to his house because the phone was synchronized with the house phone there. It was him, but why did he call her when it had only been two hours since they had split up?
Sae-Jin decides not to answer, and steps out of the cafe.
