I blinked my eyes open groggily.
The ceiling wasn't unfamiliar—it was actually quite familiar.
Rick the Armament Maker's house.
I must have dozed off without realizing it, probably because I ate too much seafood.
Thump thump thump thump thump thump!
I felt a striking impact against my stomach and lowered my gaze.
Momo was punching my belly with a whooshing sound, while Renya stood beside her with a stoic expression, correcting her form.
Lately, Momo had been putting in noticeable effort to systematically beat up Kancho.
But why did it have to be my stomach?!
And why was she making wind sounds with her mouth?
"Phew! I'm totally exhausted!"
Our eyes met as she wiped off her sweat.
After a brief pause, Momo looked at Renya.
"Training's over! The punching bag woke up!"
Punching bag, huh. That's sad.
Have I done something wrong to Momo lately?
"Is that so."
Renya replied casually and was about to get up when—
Kancho came flying in from somewhere.
"This time it's my turn!"
"Can't you just take it all at once?"
"No way! How can I learn alongside the person I'm supposed to beat up? My full power would be exposed!"
Seeming to find that reasoning valid, Renya took Kancho and headed outside.
Watching them, I realized that after me, Renya was probably the best at playing with the Kancho-Momo duo.
I was half-asleep, idly squishing Momo's chubby cheeks, when—
Thud...!
The workshop door opened.
An immense heat radiated all the way here.
He must have been making armaments nonstop since earlier.
Feeling guilty for having napped the whole time, I quickly got up and pretended I hadn't been sleeping.
"Did you wait long?"
Rick walked over and looked at Jinhyuk.
'He was asleep.'
The back of his head was completely flattened.
But since he was pretending not to have slept, I decided to play along.
"It's finished!"
"Ohhh!"
Rick unrolled a cloth that had been wrapped up.
Inside, a black dagger revealed itself.
"Wooooow!!"
Momo, who was nearby, reacted intensely.
The way she was snorting roughly made it clear this was indeed an incredible item.
Squeak.
Perhaps sensing the unusual divine power, Camelot entered—the one who had been chased out by Kancho while holding his pipe.
Slowly reaching out, Camelot picked up the dagger.
Ding!
[An armament combining the needle of the divine beast Abkaon and the power of amplification has been created!]
[This armament was born from a craftsman with excellent talent and skill!]
[The armament's name is 'Fang of Erosion'! No barrier can withstand it! A deadly corruption will erode the barrier and shatter it completely!]
[The Fang of Erosion is registered as a new Noble Phantasm for Camelot Sirin, the Sky Reader!]
# Sign Sword.
# Vajra.
# Fang of Erosion.
I roughly rubbed my chin.
No wonder the Demon Emperor had snorted like that.
An armament imbued with the full power of corruption and分裂 from the divine beast Abkaon.
Just from the description alone, it looked incredibly good.
"Ohh."
Camelot's lips curled upward.
He lightly waved his hand and spread a barrier in the air.
Then he thrust the Fang of Erosion into it.
Swoooosh!
The erosion starting from the fang instantly devoured the barrier.
Within seconds, the barrier was completely shattered and scattered.
"What a relief. That such a troublesome thing fell into our hands."
Camelot's eyes met mine as he looked around.
Slowly, his gaze dropped to my fingers.
Gulp.
I think I know what he wants.
After taking a deep breath, I spoke with a solemn expression.
"You can stab me."
"Then I won't hold back."
Camelot approached and extended the Fang of Erosion toward my shoulder.
[A physical attack has been applied to your body! Karak's Ring - Quickshield activates!]
As expected, Quickshield worked normally.
But it couldn't block the Fang of Erosion.
Quickshield dissipated instantly, and the tip of the fang touched my shoulder.
"Until you properly understand the nature of an attack, avoid it unconditionally. Complacency invites death."
My martial arts teacher Renya had given me that very strong advice before.
Don't rely solely on tough skin or defense and neglect evasion.
With so many abilities in the world, there would come a day when something would break through.
'As expected, the master's words are never to be ignored.'
Thanking my teacher once again, I stared at the Fang of Erosion.
One thing was clear.
This thing, this thing, was incredible.
"Phew. It's been a while since I moved, so I feel great! As expected, you folks need exercise—huh?"
Kancho, who had been wiping his fur with a towel, stopped in his tracks.
Thud.
The shock must have been great; he even dropped the towel he was holding.
After a moment of stillness—
"Treasonnnnn!!!"
He pulled out a slingshot and charged at Camelot.
As if waiting for this, Camelot countered with his pipe.
I thought about stopping them but decided not to.
Seeing them rough each other up, it was clear that the dagger aimed at me was just an excuse—they just needed a brawl.
"Hey, Momo! Come help! This is treason! That crazy old hag who's on her last legs dared to point a dagger at the commander...! Kuheok! She pointed a dagger at him!"
"What?! A hag committing treason? Hitting the master is absolutely not allowed!"
She seemed to have forgotten that she was the one punching my stomach earlier.
Maybe to show off her training results, the wind fighter Momo launched herself across the hallway.
"Kuhuk! Why are you attacking me!?"
"Kancho needs to be beaten!!"
As the battle devolved into chaos, I turned my head away.
I'll pretend not to see.
"Thanks, Rick. For making the armament."
"Don't mention it. If it weren't for you, hyung, I would have lived my whole life knowing nothing."
"Are you going to become the best armament maker in Famiran now?"
"I'm going to start working hard from today. If I make something good, I'll show it to you first."
I gave him a thumbs-up with a satisfied expression.
First a magic engineer, now I had an armament maker friend.
After chatting for a while, I said goodbye to Rick.
"Well, I'll come again."
"Yes! Thank you so much!"
Waving my hand, I looked at the exit button.
Time to leave.
[You are exiting the 26th floor of the Tower of Myth, 'Famiran, the Island of Armaments'.]
* * *
At a gas station in Latuvia.
"I used it well. Thank you."
The elderly man who lent me his phone smiled with the kindest expression in the world.
"Thank me? No, I should thank you. If you need to use it again, feel free to come by. My phone is always ready."
I smiled back, greeted him, and left the gas station.
One hundred dollars for a single phone call.
The most expensive phone bill I had ever paid in my life.
I munched on some potato chips I bought from the store and stared at the empty road stretching before me.
I had just called my own phone using the old man's phone.
Cheon Seyeon answered the moment the signal connected, as if she had been waiting for five minutes.
After I sent her my current location and was about to ask her to call the Black Wings, she just said she'd be there soon and hung up.
'Where is she that she can come so soon?'
I hoped our definitions of "soon" were similar.
Just as I was wondering whether to pitch a tent and rest somewhere—
Vrooooooom!!
An impossibly rough exhaust sound rang out.
From afar, a vehicle approached at incredible speed, kicking up a cloud of dust.
It was a monster truck, the kind you only see on off-road racing YouTube channels.
No way—I thought, just as the truck screeched to a halt with a skid mark.
Seyeon poked her head out through the open roof.
"Jinhyuk-ssi!"
Even as I watched it happen, a question mark formed in my head.
Her "soon" was this soon?!
While I stood there dumbfounded, Seyeon took a deep breath.
"Haaah! This truck is sooooo fun! It's my first time! Running with the wind in my face like this! Korea doesn't have roads where you can drive like this! And they don't even have trucks like this anyway."
Seoul's roads were always clogged up anyway.
If something like that roamed around, it would be a disaster.
"Do you want to drive too, Jinhyuk-ssi? It's really fun!"
"I don't have a license, though. Is that okay?"
"Of course it's not okay. Get in the passenger seat."
"Yes, ma'am."
I slipped into the passenger seat.
Wow.
Even before we started moving, I could understand why she said it was fun.
The incredible sense of openness from the high vantage point.
It felt like riding a double-decker bus.
Except the seat was uncomfortably hard.
Was my butt going to be okay?
"Jinhyuk-ssi."
"Yes?"
Seyeon's eyes widened as she scanned me from head to toe.
"Did you get hit?"
I rubbed my cheekbone and jaw.
The marks from Raghar's beating hadn't fully subsided yet.
"I got beaten up a bit."
"No way."
Seyeon covered her mouth with both hands.
"Seriously, this is the most surprised I've been in a while. So Jinhyuk-ssi can get hit too."
Who was Runner Yoo Jinhyuk?
He was someone who always came back spotless, without a single scratch, to the point where you'd wonder if he even went into the tower.
He was also the monster who didn't allow a single hit even against that Russian light monster.
How strong was the opponent to have done this?
Looking around, Seyeon lowered her voice.
"As expected, it must have been beyond ordinary. The Russian secret brigade. That... it was you, right?"
I knew no one was around, but I felt like I should play along, so I lowered my voice too.
"Yeah. That's how it turned out."
The injuries and the Russian brigade had nothing to do with each other, but explaining would be a hassle, so let's just go with that.
"What you just said... no one else figured it out, right?"
I didn't care if people found out I was a Runner.
I wasn't going out of my way to announce it, but if people found out one by one, the day would come when the whole world knew.
However, I didn't want to end up on a country's official wanted list.
If that happened, I might have to move from Pangyo to some remote deserted island.
'Huh? Deserted island?'
Come to think of it, that didn't sound so bad either? Anyway.
"Don't worry. In the first place, only Roche-nim and I know that you went to Russia."
"That's a relief. Is Roche-nim okay?"
"Should I say okay or not okay? The wounds have healed, but..."
Seyeon pointed at her tongue with her finger.
"She said her tongue feels strange. Like it's paralyzed, she can't taste anything, and a nauseating smell keeps rising from inside that she can't stand."
Gulp!
I had poured quite a lot into Roche while she was unconscious.
Since I had consumed it myself a few times, I thought she would have adapted to some extent, but I guess not.
Her sense of taste would come back soon.
Elia's potions might taste terrible, but they weren't poison.
Right?
"By the way, Seyeon-ssi. How did you know about the Russian brigade being taken out?"
"Roche-nim told me. She seemed to have a source in Russia."
After speaking, Seyeon stared at Jinhyuk.
Russia, of all countries.
And she was talking about taking out their secret brigade as if it were nothing special.
Even as she said it, the feeling was surreal.
"Seyeon-ssi."
"Yes?"
"That I went to Russia..."
Shh!
Seyeon put her finger to her lips with a smirk.
"Of course. We're blood brothers bonded over late-night snacks."
"That's nice. The late-night snack blood pact."
"Speaking of which, want to go grab a bite? I heard Latuvia makes amazing smoked fish."
"I love smoked fish."
I smiled and gave a thumbs-up.
The late-night snack blood pact forged in Hannam-dong.
It was time for us to reunite after a long time.
"Let's go."
Let's roll.
Time to film a food show.
Vrooooom!!!
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T/N:
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