From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 40: Heracles

“What are you saying? Oh, you’re also a Korean! It’s not easy to meet a Korean here,” she said in an even brighter tone. The girl couldn’t have been older than fifteen, and had long straight hair and was wearing a black dress. She spoke to him as she spun in circles.

“So, what brings you here, dear customer? A special potion? Or… did you need something special for some nefarious activities?”

Unlike her youthful appearance, she spoke some unsettling words.

“You’re Park Yu-Jin… right?”

This girl was definitely a person that Lee Jun-Kyeong knew. But, to be honest, it had been a pure coincidence that Lee Jun-Kyeong had recognized her as he didn’t know her face or her characteristics.

However…

‘They look alike.’

He recognized her when he saw her in person.

“Tsk. What’s with you? Right as I open, how irritating.”

She was actually Park Jae-Hyun’s twin sister and was the other master blacksmith that shared the studio with him.

“Who are you, and how do you know my name?”

Suddenly, the youthful girl’s energy changed. Violent energy rippled off of her, accompanied by a frown.

‘It really is her.’

Anyone who saw her would know she was Park Jae-Hyun’s little sister. All of a sudden, she was glaring at Lee Jun-Kyeong with a potion in one hand and a hammer in the other. She moved as fast as her copious amounts of mana would suggest.

“I asked you who you were. Do I have to fuck up that handsome face for you to answer?” she said, spitting out swears that wouldn’t lose out to Park Jae-Hyun.

Lee Jun-Kyeong responded to her while holding his hands up as if to show he didn’t plan to hurt her, “I just recognized you by chance. I came to you as a customer out of necessity.”

“By chance…?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong eventually opened his inventory in response. He soon withdrew something she would recognize.

“That’s…?”

Muspel’s Spear.

Tak Tak!

As swift as a flying squirrel, she advanced on Lee Jun-Kyeong and began to inspect Muspel’s Spear with her eyes.

‘It seems this little brat is a master blacksmith too.’

Master blacksmiths were easy to recognize as they never touched other people’s weapons recklessly and only inspected them with their own eyes. The way she still kept that level of courtesy even after she had intuited what it was and who had made it gave a glimpse into her level of craftsmanship to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“Can I touch it?” she asked carefully, like an elementary school girl who was used to bullying boys. Lee Jun-Kyeong nodded, and Park Yu-Jingrabbed Muspel’s Spear and touched it all around as if she couldn’t wait any longer.

“You weren’t lying. My Oppa made this.”

She immediately returned Muspel’s Spear and asked, “Did my brother send you?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong responded, “No, he didn’t. But, as I said, it really was a coincidence. I searched for Alchemy Street because I needed something…”

He continued, “I chose this shop by coincidence and ran into you. I only knew your name. I didn’t know what you looked like. I only recognized you because you resemble Park Jae-Hyun so much.”

It wasn’t a lie. While he had already known Park Yu-Jin’s name from the very beginning, it was also true that he had heard it from Park Jae-Hyun.

‘Because he mumbled about you when he made Muspel’s Spear.’

“Yu-Jin needs to see this.”

“Yu-Jin would come back if she saw this spear.”

Park Jae-Hyun said all of that while working with a high degree of concentration. Therefore, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t lie.

“So he grew this much…”

She suddenly turned her attention over to Lee Jun-Kyeong again and muttered while looking over Muspel’s Spear, “Is Oppa doing okay? Well, looking at this spear, it looks like he’s doing well… There’s nothing to worry about.”

She basically had answered her own question.

“Let’s deal with business first. What did you come to find me for?” she said to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

Lee Jun-Kyeong immediately took out a red ore from his inventory. It was something completely different from the dragon’s bloodstone. Then, as he was about to show it to her, he paused and looked at her as if he had remembered something.

“Your hammer hasn’t rusted yet, right?” he asked as he remembered her title.

Park Jae-Hyun, a master blacksmith, was titled Brokkr, and his twin sister, another master blacksmith, who was also an alchemist, also had a title

‘Hephaestus.’

That was the name she would later earn.

***

‘Who the fuck does he think he’s talking to? This bastard!’

Park Yu-Jin had reacted as if he had insulted her parents. Lee Jun-Kyeong had met her in a place that he had never could have anticipated, and thanks to that he was able to produce even more convincing results.

‘This is good.’

The reason he had come to Alchemy Street was to find an alchemist who could melt the ore he had obtained from the ogre village. He had planned to apply the melted ore to Muspel’s Spear himself. Naturally, the efficiency of doing that wasn't great. But he couldn’t expect the best results for many various reasons, so it was to be expected.

‘This is the best way while I’m here.’

This was England, not Korea. There wasn’t a single person he knew, let alone a reliable blacksmith. In addition, the item he had obtained from the ogre village was meant to deal with Heracles.

‘I can’t ask the?England Association?for help.’

All he could do was to come to Alchemy Street, which criminals and Chaos Guilds mainly used. It was impossible to return to Korea for this through the portal either, as the portal hadn’t been largely stabilized yet. Furthermore, it couldn’t be requested due to the sheer amount of mana it took to function.

It was a great coincidence and pure luck that he had encountered her at a place he had been reluctant to enter.

‘I didn’t even know where she was either.’

The meeting between the Demon King and Hephaestus had only happened after she had returned to Park Jae-Hyun in the future. There was no way to know where she had been staying before then, and he had already pretty much given up on finding that out.

***

"This is good."

It was a really remarkable coincidence, and he had been able to form another relationship.

“What are you saying is good?”

As expected of a High-Ranking Hunter, Jeong In-Chang had already recovered and was eating with Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“Something good has happened, so I was just thinking to myself about it.”

Jeong In-Chang’s eyes opened widely, and he looked over at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“By chance, when you went out…”

“Yes?”

“Was it to go see a girl?” Jeong In-Chang asked.

“...”

Jeong In-Chang didn’t even wait for Lee Jun-Kyeong’s answer as he continued with an air of assuming that things had happened exactly as he thought, “I won’t ask anything else.”

He then closed his eyes and asked, “Is she pretty?”

The Sponsors immediately reacted.

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> bursts into laughter.]

[<The Prince on a White Horse> rubs the bridge of its nose in embarrassment.]

Lee Jun-Kyeong was equally taken aback, but he then smiled and spoke to Jeong In-Chang.

“You know there is still a little time left until the raid, right?”

“...”

Jeong In-Chang trembled at the sudden ominous feeling.

“We’ll be raiding dungeons until the day before.”

In the end, Jeong In-Chang had to put down the piece of steak he had on his fork.

***

"Thank you,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said sincerely.

He had entrusted his weapon to Park Yu-Jin, so he had been walking around the gates without a weapon for several days. Jeong In-Chang had learned how to parry blows from monsters with only a greatsword and no armor and had eventually gained physical resistance skills after much effort.

‘The more he trains, the more it feels like he’s becoming a rock.’

In his mind, Lee Jun-Kyeong’s image of Jeong In-Chang was a young man who roamed around the battlefield wielding a greatsword that was as large as he was tall. Although that was the appearance he had seen in the books and existed in the future, he truly started to think that the other man resembled a rock.‘The more I think about it the more I think he’s just a rock.’

He even thought that the other man’s brain resembled one. Of course, occasionally, Jeong In-Chang showed a cunning side to himself.

It was true that he had doubts about him. There was a possibility that he had finally been polished in various ways, but the important thing was that the skills he showed were real. That was the essential part. Regardless, tomorrow was the day of the Battle of Champions and the day of the gate raid.

“Just what…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong was about to leave. However, the owner of Yu-Jin’s Phone Box, Park Yu-Jin, stopped him.

“...what is your identity?” she asked him.

Park Yu-Jin had finally completed the fusion between his weapon and the red ore, so he had come to inspect it.

She continued, “That ore… it was the first time I’ve ever seen it. Also, what’s that embedded in your spear?”

In the end, Lee Jun-Kyeong turned his head around.

Park Yu-Jin jabbered on, “I left Korea and left my brother, who couldn’t even cook for himself and only knew how to make ramen, behind.”

He didn’t know it was that bad, but he didn’t really care about what she was saying. Was she just complaining to him?

“I had left to find materials like the ones you have. Things I couldn’t find if I just stayed in Korea… I even learned alchemy for things like the ones you have.”

No, there had to be another reason why she was talking to him.

“Who are you? How did you get things like that? Not even Olympus or any of the other punks had things like that.”

This was the main point behind her rant. She had never seen the dragon’s bloodstone or the red ore before. It was unbelievable to her that someone completely unknown to her had brought them over. She was curious about who he was and how he had gotten them.

“Tell me. Who are you? How did you get those things?” she persistently asked.

However…

Lee Jun-Kyeong simply responded, "Come back to Korea."

"What?"

Instead of the answers that she had wanted, Lee Jun-Kyeong said the one thing she didn’t want to hear.

“Nothing will change by going abroad. Isn’t your alchemy already at a high level? If you want minerals or rare materials, then please come back to Korea.”

“What kind of bullshit are you saying…?” she snapped.

Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled and spoke to the girl, who said she couldn’t understand.

“Because I am in Korea.”

It was an incomprehensible statement, but Park Yu-Jin understood. He was saying he could obtain any mineral that she could want. That he would be able to obtain more materials than she could imagine. So in order to satisfy her desires, she needed to go back to Korea where he was.

Lee Jun-Kyeong was talking so arrogantly, yet something tickled her.

“How cute.”

She looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong and smiled before saying a similar, incomprehensible statement, “You’re just my style.”

***

Finally, the day had come.

“Hunters from each country, please prepare for the raid! We plan to start soon, so if there is anything you need related to supplies, please let us know over there!”

It was bright and clear. Lee Jun-Kyeong felt a sense of déjá vu as if he had been in this position before. It was similar to the day that he had entered the gate with the Northern Army Guild. However, there was one glaring difference: his own growth.

‘Good.’

His increased strength had boosted his confidence, but there was one more thing.

“Are you saying we have to fight this many people?”

He now had Jeong In-Chang with him. His confidence had also increased now that he had a comrade he could fight with back to back.

Lee Jun-Kyeong responded to him quietly, “Not all of them. Although this may be a Battle of Champions, some organizations and participants aren’t interested in victory in the first place, so being the first to complete the raid is also part of the victory condition…”

“That means we won’t have to fight everyone,” Jeong In-Chang relaxed his shoulders as if he was relieved by those words.

Looking around, his concerns were understandable. Unlike the number of people they had seen at the party on the first day, there were not only many more participants, but also stronger ones as well. It meant that all of them were Heroes or close enough to be compared to them.

Jeong In-Chang then asked, “But… we don’t even have a title. Are we really going to be okay…?”

“We’ll be fine,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he tapped on the greatsword Jeong In-Chang was holding.

“Rather than a title, we will depend on our weapons.”

“Ah…”

The two stood there, talking with each other and relieving their nervousness. Then, when the raid was about to start, the star of the show finally appeared.

“What is this? There is only small fry?”

The atmosphere changed in an instant. All the people who had gathered to focus on relieving their nerves and checking on their supplies—no, all the Hunters…

“What are you staring at?”

…were looking at one person and trying not to show how intimidated they were.

“Demetrios. We haven’t even entered the gate yet.”

“But these weak bugs are staring.”

The two talked together as if they were the only ones in the space. They were the real powerhouses this time around.

“There he is, The Underdog.”

As Demetrios pointed his finger at Lee Jun-Kyeong, the Hunters’ eyes gathered on a spot again.

“Hey! Let’s do well!”

The giant smiled with his teeth sticking out. Lee Jun-Kyeong thought his appearance resembled a real beast, like that of a lion.

1. This is the female version of older brother, the female equivalent of Hyung.

2. Reference to the Trial of Heracles, where he killed the Nemean Lion.