Chapter 71: Mind, Technique, Body (4)

Chapter 71: Mind, Technique, Body (4)

Ohjin followed General Manager Han to a building that was approximately a hundred meters away from the Association building.

It was a ten-floor building shaped similarly to an igloo.

Thick smells of metal and unknown chemicals leaked from inside.

"This is..."

"It's the Star Relic Research Institute. This is where we research and produce various equipment and weapons that use starstones."

Beep, b-beep—

General Manager Han inputted the password and opened the door.

"Old man gorillaaaaaaaa! What are you doing here?!"

Taptaptaptap!—

A boy that looked to be in middle school ran in their direction as soon as the doors opened.

The boy with a small body frame and disheveled brown hair was wearing large horn-rimmed glasses and gave off a cute impression.

"Hey, I told you I'm not an old man."

Manager Han frowned as he looked at the boy who was approaching them. His already scary face turned a step fiercer.

"Puhahaha!! What a dumb face~ It looks so funny!!"

The boy stopped in his tracks and clutched his belly as he exploded out in laughter.

"Sigh. This little kid..."

"Hehe. Sorry, old man."

Was it because they were close, or was it just his personality?

The boy put on a friendly smile and behaved in a cheeky manner.

General Manager Han smirked as he ran his hand through the boy's messy hair.

"This little kid is this research institute's general manager, Kim Sihoo."

"Hi!! You're the Lightning Wolf, right? I saw you on TV!"

Kim Sihoo laughed cheerfully as he held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you."

"Hehe! Wow~! I had a handshake with the Lightning Wolf!"

The boy shook his hand up and down while making a fuss.

'So this is the kid that was mentioned before...'

It was the person who had made him his wire shooters.

And...

'It's also highly likely that this is the kid that Jang Sukho was talking about.'

—The outstanding star relic manufacturer within the Association.

"Oh, right! Are you making good use of the wire shooters that l made for you?"

"I 'was' making good use of them."

"Hm?"

Kim Sihoo tilted his head.

"Why is it past tense?"

"About that..."

It wasn't easy to say that he destroyed the weapons in front of the person who made them for him.

"They were destroyed in a recent mission."

Thankfully, General Manager Han said it in his place.

"Ehh? They got destroyed?"

As Kim Sihoo's eyes opened wide with a shocked expression—

"—What a relief!!"

—he soon laughed brightly and raised both of his hands up high.

"It's a relief?"

'What's a relief about that?'

"Yeah! Hehe. I made them in a rush and really winged it because I was busy back then!"

'Hah. Those wire shooters were made in a rush?'

"Sorry! I'll make you some that are much better since there's nothing urgent these days!" shouted Kim Sihoo as he abruptly raised his hands up.

'Unbelievable.'

'For there to be such an intelligent, well-mannered, and admirable boy still left in this shitty world...'

"Hm~ But those wire shooters were quite tricky to make. I think it'll cost a lot of money... hahaha."

'So he was a greedy, ill-mannered, and shrewd piece of shit fitting of this shitty world.'

"Well, I'll even use my own money so that there are no lacking features! Making your weapons is fun, after all!"

"I'll address you as God Sihoo from now on."

"Uh, what?"

'Ahh!! It's too bright!! I can't open my eyes!'

"Please tell me if there's anything you need, God Sihoo."

"Hahaha! You're funny! I heard people on social media call you a tsundere!"

Kim Sihoo clutched his belly and laughed brightly.

"Ah, right. Could you make me a spear as well?"

"A spear?"

"Yeah. My spear got destroyed along with the wire shooters."

"Hmm. Spears are no fun..."

Kim Sihoo pouted with distaste.

"Well, I'll make you one. Ah! Instead, I won't use my money making the spear, okay?"

'It doesn't matter anyway because I have General Manager Han's wallet.'

"We don't have many funds since the board members have been using too much of the budget recently..."

"I'll leave it to you, Mr. Joonman."

'I trust in brother Joonman.'

He looked at General Manager Han with sparkling eyes.

"Groan. Alright. I'll pay for the spear's production costs."

Ohjin stopped General Manager Han, who was taking out his wallet while sighing deeply.

"I'm just kidding. I should be the one paying when it's my own weapon."

In honesty, he did want to use his chance card once again, but...

'I've been treated a lot until now.'

Even excluding the beef he was treated to last time, he was indebted for many other things.

It wouldn't matter as much if it was the business's money, but it felt wrong to take Manager Han's private funds.

"O-Ohjin."

He looked at Ohjin with a touched expression.

'...It's even more embarrassing if you get sappy over something like this.'

"Were you planning on breaking your installment savings or something?"

"No, that's not it... but they're my emergency funds that I saved up for marriage."

"Ah, you had a fiance?"

"...Not yet, but one day."

"It won't happen."

Manager Han's eyes shook.

"Puhaha! It's just a joke! You'll find one soon!"

'No, you won't.'

"I-Is that so?"

"Look at those tight muscles of yours! Don't a lot of girls run wild for muscles?"

"Right? Hahaha!"

Yeah. They would run wild for a separate reason once they discovered a man with tight muscles that looked like a gorilla that had escaped from the zoo.

"If I obtain a good weapon from this occasion, I'll introduce you to a nice woman."

"Seriously?"

'No. I'm lying. I don't know any females other than Ha-eun and Vega.'

"Haha! Leave the weapon's quality to me! I'll grill this little kid into making something incredible!"

General Manager Han messed up Kim Sihoo's hair as he slammed his chest.

'Indeed, there's no one more reliable than brother Joonman.'

He was a pushov—pleasing person the more you looked at him.

* * *

"Then come this way. There's something I need to check."

Kim Sihoo grabbed Ohjin's hand and dragged him somewhere.

...A spacious area that was approximately 66 square meters.

A few cameras were installed in the room, but nothing else other than those could be seen.

"Take this and swing your spear as you would normally."

Kim Sihoo handed him a long stick.

Though it was a stick, it was quite hefty, as it was made of real steel.

After receiving the stick—

"Fuu."

—Ohjin, standing in the center of the room, slowly took in breaths.

Swoosh! Swish! Swish!—

Stab, slash, smash.

Ohjin fiercely swung his spear following the sensations from the Spearmanship of Pyxis.

Once he swung the stick for around five minutes without rest...

"Okay, you can stop now."

—Kim Sihoo made a circle with his arms across the window.

"You don't need anything else?"

"This is enough."

Once Kim Sihoo pressed a couple of buttons, the figure of Ohjin swinging the stick showed up on nine monitors, all in different angles.

"Wait for a moment."

Kim Sihoo got up from his chair and put on the white scientist gown hung over it.

A boy with a small body frame wearing a white gown that came down to his knees was a comical sight to see.

However, even that was momentary.

"—I'm starting now."

The friendly smile on his face disappeared.

With a cold expression like that of a machine, he started to look at the nine monitors that were playing back at a fast speed.

"284 stabs, 592 slashes, 192 smashes... So his style isn't creating distance with the spear but instead getting in close and slashing. Average stride length is 1m and 17cm... He tends to take very large steps. The place he grasps the spear's shaft most often is..."

Mumble, mumble, mumble.

Kim Sihoo played back the recording at a speed that was hard to follow with the naked eye and thoroughly analyzed Ohjin's movements.

'Wow.'

Ohjin was shocked by how charismatic Kim Sihoo looked.

Tap—

"Fuu. A spear that has a shorter shaft and longer blade will be better for you over the one you originally used."

"You were able to figure that out from what you just saw?"

"Yup."

Kim Sihoo nonchalantly nodded and continued.

"Even with the same weapon, every person has a different style. Your style isn't utilizing the spear's long reach to restrain targets but instead revolves around getting into close range. And that means—"

Click—

He took out a pen and drew a simple drawing on a piece of paper.

"—A spear with a short shaft and scimitar blade built for slashing will be more ideal for you."

"..."

Would this be what Riak felt when he looked at Ohjin?

Ohjin even felt a kind of awe when he looked at how Kim Sihoo found a weapon optimized for him by analyzing his movements in a short frame of time.

"Then I'll start producing this and the revamped wire shooters right away. It'll take about a week."

A week.

It was just the right amount of time for his internal injuries from the fight with Arshad Khan to recover.

"Thanks. I'll leave it to you. If there's anything you need help with, just give me the word."

When Sihoo was doing this much for him, Ohjin was even willing to overexert himself to do what he requested.

"Anything?"

Kim Sihoo's eyes shone.

"In that case..."

He smiled faintly as he looked at General Manager Han.

"Please help this old man. He's been going through a lot of trouble lately because of those board members."

"..."

Ohjin thought he was a baby, but he turned out to be a lot more mature than imagined.

"That's not something you should be worried about."

General Manager Han placed his hand on top of Sihoo's head.

"Hehe! Alright!"

Kim Sihoo giggled and soon got up from his seat.

"Then I'm going to go make the equipment!!!"

Taptaptaptap—

His gown fluttered as he ran towards somewhere unknown.

"What a good kid."

"Well, though he is a bit of an oddball..."

He then looked at the back of the boy, who gradually became more distant, with proud eyes.

"Do you have any plans on what you're going to do after receiving the weapons?"

Plans...

It was a bit awkward to visit the Valhalla guild right away when most of their guild members were in critical condition.

What he had to do right away was—

"I'm thinking of gathering as many starstones as possible."

—the Black Heaven's quest.

For the time being, he was planning on devoting himself to the quest that would give him an ancient constellation.

'I'll also try to raise the level of while I'm at it.'

There was nothing better than killing two birds with one stone by hunting monsters inside a gate.

"Do you need a lot of money?"

"No, that's not it. I need a lot of starstones."

"Hmm... if that's the case..."

General Manager Han suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence and shook his head.

"Nevermind. Don't mind me."

"...?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No... umm. It's just that there's recently been a gate that's popular for starstone farming."

"It's located in Busan and... there's an unnatural phenomenon going on inside."

"An unnatural phenomenon?"

"Yes. They say that the monsters inside that gate possess not one but two starstones. The quality remains the same, as well."

'What? A starstone duplication glitch? What kind of crazy XP event is this?'

It was very welcoming news when he didn't know how many starstones were required to complete the quest.

"However... there's a bit of a problem."

"What problem?"

General Manager Han scratched his head with an awkward smile.

"The monsters inside are all over 5-Star and powerful. I think it'll be a bit too straining for you, who has just become a 4-Star..."

"I'm a 5-Star."

"What?"

General Manager Han's eyes opened wide.

T/N: The spear with a scimitar blade in question is referring to a Woldo (월도 月刀) so you can look it up if you're curious.