Return of the Shattered Constellation

“He’s coming out, coming out,” Reporter Kim Soo-Hyun said, tapping Lee Jae-Yeong’s shoulder when he saw the door of Room 17 opening.

With trembling hands, Jae-Yeong pointed his camera at the door, and Soo-Hyun cleared his throat as a preparation to tag alongside Chang-Sun, who was about to come out. Soo-Hyun’s plan was to shove the microphone toward Chang-Sun and request an interview.

“Hello, Mr. Lee Chang-Sun! I’m Reporter Kim Soo-Hyun from SBC Network…!” Soo-Hyun said brightly as he took a few steps forward.

Whoosh!

However, Soo-Hyun reflexively held his breath, and his face was paler than the time he had felt threatened by Shin Byeong-Cheol. When Chang-Sun walked out of the room, indescribably violent energy spread throughout the hallway as if he had just gone through an intense battle. As a civilian, it was impossible for Soo-Hyun to approach Chang-Sun.

The problem was that Soo-Hyun was too close to Chang-Sun, as he hadn’t expected Chang-Sun’s condition. Even before he could hold out his microphone, Soo-Hyun ended up collapsing on the floor, unable to feel his legs.

Thud!

“…?” Chang-Sun nonchalantly looked at Soo-Hyun to see what happened, but after seeing the collapsed Soo-Hyun, he continued to go on his way. Baek Gyeo-Ul also ignored Soo-Hyun and walked past him to follow Chang-Sun.

The violent energy that filled the hallway soon disappeared as if it had been dissolved in water, but Soo-Hyun couldn’t escape from fear. Soaked in cold sweat, Soo-Hyun trembled, muttering, “What kind of human…?!”

The thought that Chang-Sun wasn’t a human but a monster quickly crossed Soo-Hyun’s mind. He couldn’t even speak properly; however, he soon shook his head firmly, thinking no good would come if he lingered on the thought.

“What about the camera? Did you tape him?” Soo-Hyun asked as he looked at Jae-Yeong, who was looking at the spot where Chang-Sun had just left, seemingly bewitched.

Soon, Jae-Yeong came to his senses and fervently nodded, operating the camera to show Soo-Hyun the video he had taped and replying, “Huh? Yes, sir!”

“Those Player bastards really don’t act like humans. If there were no monsters in the world, they would have caused nothing but harm in society. …H-Huh?” Soo-Hyun tried to act tough, but his eyes widened when he saw smoke coming out of the camera.

“Huh? W-Why is smoke coming out? Damn, it’s hot!” Jae-Yong exclaimed as he accidentally dropped the camera in his hands because it was too hot. When the camera hit the floor, it shattered and started a fire.

“Huh? Huuhh?”

“N-No…!”

Soo-Hyun and Jae-Yeong hurriedly tried to at least salvage the memory card, but they were too late. The fire spread along the carpet on the floor, triggering the heat sensor.

Ding, ding, ding!

The fire went out shortly after, but the fire alarm continued ringing.

“W-What’s going on?”

“Is there a fire?”

“It’s been a while since I was this focused on my training, so why on earth did someone hve to create a ruckus?”

People emerged from various rooms one by one in shock. As most of them were Players, they were extremely on edge, as they had been interfered with in the middle of their training.

The confused people began to fix their eyes on Soo-Hyun and Jae-Yeong, the two people standing in the center of the hallway. The two turned pale, as anyone could tell that something had gone wrong unless they were fools.

‘D-Did Lee Chang-Sun…?’ Jae-Yeong thought, widening his eyes; he recalled the fact that many reporters had experienced bad luck while secretly trying to tape Chang-Sun, and thus tried to come up with an excuse.

However, he couldn’t lay an excuse down, because Byeong-Cheol eventually arrived on the scene and roared angrily, “Reporter Kimmmm!”

Afterward, the two had to pay for everything, from the destroyed furniture to the compensations for the Players, who had been interfered with in the middle of their training. Later, the network held them responsible and fired them.

* * *

When Chang-Sun and Gyeo-Ul arrived at the Choi-Lee Forge in Seongsu-dong, Bu-Yong threw a spear toward Gyeo-Ul, saying it was his. Gyeo-Ul admired the spear with an enchanted expression, asking, “So… this is my weapon, right?”

His previous spear wasn’t so bad, but the moment he grabbed the current spear, he felt as if he had been hit with a blunt object in the back of his head hard. That was how different the spear provided by Bu-Yong was.

“Try swinging it,” Bu-Yong said. He still looked sullen even though he had created such a masterpiece, as if it were merely a matter of course.

Gyeo-Ul silently nodded and slowly began to swing the spear. The feeling of the spear in his hand and the spear cutting through the wind, the spear’s center of mass… Everything was different. When Gyeo-Ul got used to it, he tried using the spear with skills he had developed from the special training he had undergone with Chang-Sun over the past five days. The snow-white spear was dyed black in no time, and Gyeo-Ul unleashed a completely new level of power.

Boom! Boom, boom!

Every time Gyeo-Ul swung the spear, an explosive boom filled the forge. Standing next to Bu-Yong, Chang-Sun looked at Gyeo-Ul, who seemed happy, and asked Bu-Yong, “You told me to give you at least fifteen days, but how did you finish so much earlier?”

“I finished making it earlier than I thought. It doesn’t normally happen when I make complicated items like yours, but all I needed to do with that spear was to pour the molten metal into the mold and wait for it to harden,” Bu-Yong said as if making the spear weren’t a big deal.

Despite his way of framing it, he had to have gone through a lot of trouble, judging from the dark bags under his eyes even though he covered them with his sunglasses.

“Come to think of it, the surface of the spear seems too dull, so why don’t you add some patterns?” Chang-Sun asked.

“Nope, it’s too bothersome,” Bu-Yong said, shaking his head.

「Lee Chang-Sun has deposited 10,000,000 won into your W Bank account.」

“Does this work?” Chang-Sun asked, tilting his head.

“…Fuck. Come back tomorrow morning to pick up the spear,” Bu-Yong said, biting his lower lip.

“I will,” Chang-Sun replied with a nod.

Bu-Yong was almost depressed to see himself becoming servile in front of money.

“You look like you have something to say,” Chang-Sun nonchalantly added, making Bu-Yong click his tongue.

Bu-Yong didn’t reveal his emotions, but Chang-Sun always accurately saw through him. As such, he always ended up accepting Chang-Sun’s requests even though he grumbled.

“Your weapon…” Bu-Yong explained.

“CEO,” Chang-Sun interrupted.

“Ah, yeah, my tongue must have slipped, sire. Is my great respectable CEO comrade willing to know about his weapon?” Bu-Yong replied sarcastically.

“Don’t you still have a month left?” Chang-Sun asked casually.

“It’s two months. Don’t try to shorten it! Your spear is the one I was going to upgrade once a month!” Bu-Yong replied.

“Anyway, so what do you want to say?” Chang-Sun asked nonchalantly, making Bu-Yong shake his clenched fists in annoyance. Just for once, he wanted to smack the back of Chang-Sun’s head, but he just put a cigarette in his mouth and inhaled deeply.

Phew―!

Bu-Yong sighed for a long time, and thick smoke spread through the air. He quietly said, “It seems I need more time.”

“Did you run out of money?” Chang-Sun asked just in case.

“Then I would have just asked you to give me more money, not for you to come here,” Bu-Yong replied with a shrug.

“Then?” Chang-Sun asked, crossing his arms.

“I’ve run out of materials,” Bu-Yong explained.

“…?” Chang-Sun tilted his head in confusion.

“I need [Cold Iron], but I really can’t get my hands on it now, ” Bu-Yong said, dropping his cigarette on the ground and snuffing it out with his shoes as he continued, “I don’t know about the details, but there seem to be signs of war in the United States. Because of that, the major military-industrial establishments in the US are hoarding [Cold Iron], and the American government initiated an embargo on exporting it. That means it’s really hard to get the material, and… “

“Most of the weapons I requested require [Cold Iron],” Chang-Sun concluded with a nod.

“It’s not just any [Cold Iron]. They require [Cold Iron] that holds dozens of years worth of [Ice Crystals],” Bu-Yong thought, stroking his chin.

[Cold Iron] was a rare mineral that contained the ice attribute on its own; sometimes, the words ‘hundred-year’ or ‘thousand-year’ were added to the metal’s name based on its quality. To sum up, [Hundred-Year Cold Iron] was high-grade [Cold Iron], and [Thousand-Year Cold Iron] was top-grade [Cold Iron], which the seller could set the price for. The weapons Chang-Sun had requested needed metals that were at least on the level of [Hundred-Year Cold Iron].

‘It’s because I use weapons too roughly.’ Chang-Sun thought.

In combat, Chang-Sun mainly focused on attacking and disregarded defending himself, weakening his weapons’ durability very quickly. Unless the weapons weren’t high-quality, they often shattered while he fought; in that case, he would fall into danger during battle. On top of that, Chang-Sun now wielded the Jigwi’s Eon Fire, so only [Cold Iron] with the ice attribute—no, [Hundred-Year Cold Iron]—could withstand its heat.

‘He’ll need a whole lot of [Cold Iron] while making the shield in particular, so this is a problem,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Bu-Yong continued, “A tiny bit of [Cold Iron] can be mined in Korea, but the mining stopped, causing a problem for me.”

“Because of the Highoff Clan,” Chang-Sun said.

“Right,” Bu-Yong replied with a nod.

Chang-Sun recalled the report Executive Director Oh had given him some time ago, pertaining to ‘Yeti Hill’. According to the report, the hill was the only domestic Dungeon that contained [Cold Iron] and [Ice Crystals], but its challenging terrain made mining extremely tricky. Thus, only small amounts of [Cold Iron] could be extracted, and only rarely. The Dungeon was technically owned by the Sword of Ohsung Clan, but the Highoff remnants were illegally occupying it.

“Can you do it?” Bu-Yong asked, looking quietly at Chang-Sun. He meant that, as he was aware of Chang-Sun heading to ‘Yeti Hill’, he wanted Chang-Sun to get [Cold Iron] if he could.

Of course, he wasn’t really looking at Chang-Sun because he was blind, but Chang-Sun felt as if Bu-Yong were really looking at him.

“I’ll try,” Chang-Sun said with a nod.

It seemed he had more work to do in ‘Yeti Hill’. In truth, he needed to capture the Highoff executives in the first place, so it seemed he could kill two birds with one stone.

‘I needed to see whether I could get the basic material for [Reinforced Skeleton] anyway,’ Chang-Sun thought idly.

Bu-Yong’s expression brightened, and he cautiously began to bring up another request. “So I was wondering…”

“…?” Chang-Sun tilted his head.

“There’s someone who wants to speak with you regarding this matter, CEO. Do you want to meet him?” Bu-Yong asked.

* * *

“I’ve heard a lot about you. Nice to meet you. My name is Choi Hyeong-Gil,” Choi Hyeong-Gil said with a polite bow, handing Chang-Sun a business card.

<Geumwoon Trading Company>

<CEO: Choi Hyeong-Gil>

“Choi?” Chang-Sun asked as he read the business card.

“Ah! I suppose you don’t know that I’m Bu-Yong hyung’s cousin,” Hyeong-Gil explained.

Bu-Yong had left the forge for a moment so Chang-Sun and Hyeong-Gil could talk.

‘He did say he knew a person to get materials from, but I didn’t expect that person to be an industry tycoon,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Chang-Sun had actually heard of the Geumwoon Trading Company, which was known as the ‘Gold Cloud Trading Company’ abroad. The company was mainly known for trading useful materials for Players. Chang-Sun had been wondering how Bu-Yong, who hadn’t run the forge properly for several, had gotten his hands on valuable materials such as [Cold Iron]; however, it made sense if he had such a connection.

As he mentioned the [Cold Iron] related problem, Bu-Yong had asked Chang-Sun one favor: Bu-Yong’s material supplier wanted to propose something to Chang-Sun, and thus wanted to meet Chang-Sun. Under usual circumstances, Chang-Sun would have said no, thinking the supplier wasn’t worth meeting with, but he had agreed to the meeting because Bu-Yong had requested it. The supplier had turned out to be a bigger deal than Chang-Sun expected.

‘He was a blacksmith. Maybe he was trained to become Ou Yezi’s heir like Bu-Yong,’ Chang-Sun speculated, inferring Hyeong-Gil’s past from his callused hands.

“I heard you wanted to meet me,” he said abruptly, skipping the pleasantries.

Despite the fact that Chang-Sun, who was younger than Hyeong-Gil, had begun the conversation without any proper greetings, Hyeong-Gil seemed not to care and replied, “Yes, that’s true.”

“Why?” Chang-Sun asked, crossing his arms.

“I want to make a request,” Hyeong-Gil said.

“A request?” Chang-Sun asked, tilting his head; he was unable to understand the reason.

The Gold Cloud Company was quite large, which meant it dealt with many companies and Clans. Out of all the connections the company had, why did Hyeong-Gil want to make a request of Chang-Sun? He narrowed his eyes and suddenly added, “You need something from ‘Yeti Hill’.”

“…You’re sharp, just as Bu-Yong hyung told me. Then I’ll cut to the chase,” Hyeong-Gil said, his eyes shining brightly. “Mr. Chang-Sun, do you know why the Highoff remnants have chosen ‘Yeti Hill’ as their hideout?”