PETF 09

Chapter 09

“Haam… everything in there is just the same kind of junk, so pick something roughly.”

With that, after Woo-hyun had been rifling through the clearance drum for over thirty minutes, the blacksmith who managed the National Forge’s stall yawned and said to him, bored.

And the blacksmith’s claim that all the items in the drum were the same actually turned out to be true.

Why is junk called “clearance”?
There’s a reason — it’s called clearance for a reason.

For some reason these items are shunned by people, they don’t sell properly, and they get lumped together and sold in bulk to buyers like Woo-hyun.

“Huh?”

When Woo-hyun rummaged through the third clearance drum, a longsword seemed to stick to his hand like iron to a magnet.

Without realizing it he’d grabbed the scabbard and lifted the sword out — and when he saw the longsword in his hands, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

At a glance it looked like an ordinary longsword.

But Woo-hyun had spent over ten years in his first run working as a porter and had seen all kinds of weapons, so he could tell this was no ordinary blade — it was a rather high-quality piece.

He checked the price tag, half thinking he must be imagining things that a weapon of this quality had come from a clearance pile.

[₩3,000,000]

Almost half the price of the cheapest low-grade longsword, which normally starts around ₩6,000,000.

By the price alone it certainly seemed like clearance.

Woo-hyun stared at the longsword in a kind of trance, and the blacksmith tending the stall said to him,

“You’d be better off putting that down.”

“Is it… not actually clearance?”

The blacksmith shook his head at Woo-hyun’s question.

“It’s clearance, sure. The problem is, none of the people who took that thing ever came back alive.”

“Does it have a curse option attached to it or something?”

“If it had a curse option, we couldn’t even sell it as clearance. Even the National Forge can’t sell that kind of thing. No — because it’s the National Forge, we especially can’t sell cursed stuff.”

“Then what do you mean when you say everyone who took it died?”

The blacksmith answered Woo-hyun’s question.

“Literally what I said. None of the people who took it returned to visit here alive. They all died on their first battlefield while wielding that sword. Around here it’s kind of notorious as an owner-eating sword.”

After the blacksmith’s explanation, Woo-hyun quietly looked at the longsword for a long time.

“So there’s definitely no curse option on it?”

“That much I can promise you. It was so odd I checked it several times, so don’t worry.”

“All right, I’ll take it. Whether I go out with some flimsy clearance sword that looks like it’ll snap after one swing, or with this thing, my chance of dying seems about the same.”

“Aren’t you afraid of your life?”

At the blacksmith’s sincere question, Woo-hyun gave a bitter, small smile and replied,

“I grew up in a family that’s more afraid of debt than death.”

After Woo-hyun’s self-deprecating remark, the blacksmith watched him for a while in silence and then pulled out a fairly large box.

He took out a few pieces of equipment in decent condition.

“These were sold off cheaply by the bereaved families of the ones who took that thing. Buy one of those and I’ll throw this in as well.”

Woo-hyun’s eyes widened at the offer.

“Really?!”

“Consider it payment for taking that troublesome item off our hands. Also…”

“Also…?”

When Woo-hyun cocked his head, the blacksmith looked at the longsword and said,

“I’m a blacksmith myself. I could tell. That thing’s a piece someone put their heart and soul into making. It made me sad that such a work of craftsmanship didn’t find a proper owner and was sold off as clearance. I just hope this time it meets a proper owner.”

Woo-hyun felt a kinship with the longsword from the blacksmith’s words.

A sword that nobody welcomed, and the Woo-hyun of his first run.
Maybe they were comrades in the same unfortunate position.

So he felt even more drawn to the longsword in his hand.

Just as he had awakened Gift-Vampirism and started a life 180 degrees different in his second run, he wanted to open a new life for this sword too.

“Does this sword have a name?”

After a moment, the blacksmith looked at the longsword in Woo-hyun’s hands and, sounding regretful, said,

“People call it that way. The sword that drinks its owner’s blood. A bloodsucking sword—Dracula.”

Woo-hyun grinned and slightly drew Dracula from its scabbard, watching the blade glitter.

“Dracula. The name’s seriously badass.”

He said that and then headed to the stall to pay for Dracula.

Standing at the stall, Woo-hyun froze for a moment when he saw a silver greatsword hanging behind the blacksmith.

‘Why is that here?’
It was the second time he’d thought, “Why are you here?” after Yuse-rin.

The Wolrang Sword, Rikaon.

The signature weapon and beloved blade of the first-run Ten Greats — Yuse-rin’s trademark.

Woo-hyun had only heard it in rumors, not detailed facts, but it was said to have been forged from a giant wolf monster’s fang. Its shape resembled a huge wolf’s fang.

It had been Yuse-rin’s precious weapon in the first run.

According to an interview Yuse-rin had given during the first run, Rikaon had a hidden piece: the first person to become its owner could draw it on a night with the moon, and the moon’s phase at that time would determine the sword’s power.

If drawn on a waxing crescent it gave minimal power; drawn on a full moon it gave maximal power. Yuse-rin had drawn it on a crescent without knowing this hidden feature.

It had been so well hidden that even a Ten Great like Yuse-rin didn’t know, so people had lamented it bitterly.

Experts all said in unison that if Yuse-rin had drawn Rikaon on a full-moon night, she might have risen to the top seat among the Ten Greats — possibly the strongest in the world.

Yuse-rin herself had regretted it; she’d said in interviews that every time she looked at Rikaon she felt that regret, and if she’d drawn it on a half moon instead of a crescent she wouldn’t feel so bitter.

As Woo-hyun’s gaze fell on the Rikaon behind him, the blacksmith said to him,

“You certainly have an eye for weapons. First Dracula, now your eyes are on Rikaon too.”

Hearing the name Rikaon come from the blacksmith’s mouth made Woo-hyun certain it was the same Rikaon he’d read about in first-run news.

He sought out Se-rin, thinking she might recognize Rikaon.

But Se-rin’s attention was on other brand-new gear in the forge, and she didn’t glance at Rikaon at all.

“Hey. Come over here.”

Se-rin, who’d been looking through the new equipment in the forge, was slightly surprised when Woo-hyun called her and hurried over.

Seeing that Woo-hyun’s eyes were fixed on the huge wolf-fang shaped greatsword, she asked,

“You going to buy that?”

“Don’t make me buy it. You should. That weapon would suit you perfectly.”

At Woo-hyun’s words, Se-rin looked at Rikaon, scanned it a few times from top to bottom, and answered,

“I don’t like things that are unnecessarily big and heavy.”

Hearing that, Woo-hyun was at a loss to understand how Se-rin had ever come to wield Rikaon in the first run. Her personality didn’t seem to match a flashy greatsword like that.

“You haven’t lost out listening to me yet. If you don’t buy that you’ll regret it big time later.”

At Woo-hyun’s earnest words, Se-rin stared at Rikaon for a long moment.

“Something about it kind of draws me. Fine — I’ll buy it. If I try it and don’t like it, I’ll buy another.”

The blacksmith at the stall, hearing that, said to her as if incredulous,

“Miss, you look like you’re from a rich family, but this isn’t something even most conglomerates could buy. Its cash price is over three billion won — a top-tier weapon. And our old man — the owner of this forge — said no installments, no discounts.”

At that the woman took out a wallet and calmly produced a deep black credit card, handing it to the blacksmith.

“Here. Use this.”

When Se-rin handed over the card, the blacksmith reiterated, “I told you there’s no discount or installment plan.”

Woo-hyun saw the card Se-rin had produced and said,

“Sir, that’s the Daehyeon Black Card. There are only about a thousand people in our country who have that VVIP card. Go ahead and run it.”

Woo-hyun had seen news in the first run about Se-rin being a promotional model for the Daehyeon card and thus knew she owned the VVIP Daehyeon Black Card.

“Well, I never thought a card like that existed. Still, since you say so, I’ll swipe it.”

The blacksmith swiped the card on the POS terminal, carefully typed the three and counted the zeros as he input the price.

The amount ₩3,097,000,000 appeared on the POS screen. The blacksmith, with an expression that said “No way this will go through,” pressed the payment button.

Beep—briiing—

The payment was approved and a receipt for ₩3,097,000,000 came out of the POS.

“Uh…?”

The blacksmith, apparently stunned that such a huge charge was approved, opened his phone and logged into internet banking.

When he confirmed the ₩3,097,000,000 deposit in the forge’s account, his mouth fell open without him realizing it.

“Done?”

Unable to compose himself, the blacksmith watched as Woo-hyun pulled the card from the POS and handed it back to Se-rin.

A card that could charge ₩3,097,000,000 in one go — losing it would be a catastrophic disaster.