Episode 80: Each Moves With Their Own Thoughts (2)
Light Novel: Volume 4 Chapter 2
Manhwa: Chapter 67
Chapter 2. Each Moves With Their Own Thoughts (2)
The place Lee Shin-chung brought Lee Gwak to was a large workshop located in the northern area of the Ten Thousand Merchant Union. As they neared the workshop, a wave of heat hit them, making it hard to breathe.
It was a scorching heat so intense that ordinary people wouldn’t even dare approach. The surrounding air shimmered from the blazing temperature.
The workshop was massive, comparable in scale to a grand pavilion. At its center was a giant furnace as tall as a man, spewing out ferocious flames. Around it, dozens of artisans and apprentices moved busily.
The apprentices carried molten metal, while the artisans hammered steel into weapons. Even at a glance, it was clear that everything was well-organized, with clearly defined roles.
In the blink of an eye, a single sword was completed through the coordinated efforts of the apprentices and artisans. Lee Gwak was overwhelmed by the spectacle, the likes of which he had never seen before.
His idea of a workshop was a harsh place where a lone artisan battled flames all day just to forge a single sword.
To see dozens of people working in sync and forging weapons so efficiently was beyond anything he had imagined.
“This blade of yours was made here, Squad Leader Lee. What do you think? How does it feel to see the Union’s workshop for yourself?”
“It’s truly impressive.”
“Isn’t it?”
Lee Shin-chung smiled in satisfaction.
This workshop was his creation, and he was especially proud of it because he was involved in everything from the assignment of personnel to the production system, so when he met people he liked, he would show them around the place and, in a subtle way, boast about his accomplishments.
There were countless workshops across the land, but none gathered this many artisans under one roof like this one.
It was then.
“Who’ve you brought this time? I told you to stop bringing outsiders in here.”
A rough voice rang out in Lee Gwak and Lee Shin-chung’s ears. The voice was thick with irritation.
A troubled expression quickly surfaced on Lee Shin-chung’s face.
He was just going to show Lee Gwak around the workshop for a few minutes and then leave, but now he heard the voice of the last person he wanted to see. Still, as if nothing had happened, he turned around with a wide smile plastered across his face.
“Old man!”
“Answer me. Why do you keep bringing outsiders in here?”
The rough voice belonged to an old man who appeared to be in his late sixties. From beneath his disheveled gray hair, his eyes shone sharply with an intimidating glare. His bare, bronze-colored upper body was rippling with muscles that hardly seemed to belong to someone of his age.
Lee Shin-chung replied in a sheepish voice.
“This young man owns a blade that was made here, so I thought—”
“For the so-called Pavilion Master of the Golden Sword Pavilion to be so lacking in awareness… What will you do if a secret technique is exposed because you let an outsider in for such a trivial reason?”
“I apologize.”
At the old man’s stern rebuke, Lee Shin-chung bowed his head in apology.
There were many things to say, but Lee Shin-chung knew better than to just say he was wrong.
The old man’s gaze turned to Lee Gwak.
With his signature piercing eyes, he examined Lee Gwak from head to toe. Lee Gwak met his fierce stare calmly, which brought a subtle change to the elder’s expression.
“You say you’re using a blade forged here?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Where did you obtain it?”
“I got it from the Yin Family Weapon House in the Jade Heaven Alliance.”
“The Yin Family Weapon House? Then that must be the one run by Cheol Myeong.”
“You know him?”
“He’s my nephew.”
“Ah!”
Lee Gwak let out an exclamation. Now that he thought about it, the merchant from the Yin Family Weapon House did resemble the old man before him.
“How’s Cheol Myeong doing these days?”
“He’s doing well.”
“Was that blade recommended by Cheol Myeong?”
“I chose it myself.”
“Let me have a look.”
The old man held out his hand to Lee Gwak.
His palm was covered in thick calluses, riddled with burns and scars. It was undoubtedly the palm of a craftsman, one who had spent a lifetime working with iron.
Lee Gwak unsheathed the blade and handed it to the old man.
Sreung!
As old man drew the blade, his eyes scanned it like a hawk, razor-sharp.
“Hmm…”
A curious breath escaped the elder’s lips.
At that, Lee Shin-chung looked slightly surprised. He knew from experience that whenever the old man made a sound like that, it usually meant he was quite pleased.
After inspecting the blade for a long while, a faint smile appeared at the corner of the elder’s mouth.
“You’re someone who knows how to use a blade. And you’ve maintained it fairly well.”
“……”
Lee Gwak remained silent. But the old man continued speaking, unfazed.
“You’re far better than those flashy types who care only about appearances. Though… the edge is quite worn. I’ll give it a quick touch-up, so just wait there.”
“That won’t be necessary, sir.”
“Just stay put.”
The old man barked curtly and turned toward the forge.
When Lee Gwak looked uncertain, not knowing what to do, Lee Shin-chung leaned in and whispered quietly,
“It seems the elder has taken a liking to you, Squad Leader Lee. He doesn’t budge even when someone with immense talent shows up. Hoo…”
Lee Shin-chung glanced at Lee Gwak out of the corner of his eye.
He already knew Lee Gwak had a unique inner strength, but he never expected the old man to acknowledge it so readily.
The old man’s name was Eun Kwang-ho, the younger brother of Eun Won-ho, the master of the Ten Thousand Merchant Union.
Unlike his older brother, who had realized his merchant talent early on, Eun Kwang-ho had, since childhood, been obsessed with metal. His joy was in hammering steel and forging weapons.
Having started down the path of craftsmanship early, Eun Kwang-ho’s skills progressed rapidly at a frightening rate, and by the later years of his life, he had become one of the most masterful artisans in the world.
In truth, the workshop within the Ten Thousand Merchant Union existed because of him.
While the workshop did bring in decent profit, it accounted for only a tiny portion of the Ten Thousand Merchant Union’s vast wealth, and even that small amount of profit was practically negligible due to Eun Kwang-ho’s insistence on researching new metals.
Eun Kwang-ho heated Lee Gwak’s blade in the roaring furnace, then began striking it with a massive hammer.
Bang, bang, bang!
There were dozens of artisans hammering away in the workshop, yet Eun Kwang-ho’s strikes rang out with distinct clarity. It was like the clear toll of a bell cutting through a sea of noise.
At that moment, Lee Gwak’s eyes twitched.
The sound of Eun Kwang-ho’s hammer striking his blade felt almost like… the blade was crying.
—Listen to the sound of the blade. When you’re ready, the blade will show you the path.
Suddenly, he recalled the words of Go Geom-wol, whom he had met on the way here.
‘The sound of the blade… Blade Cry!’
Lee Gwak focused intently on the sound born from the collision between Eun Kwang-ho’s hammer and his blade.
Lee Shin-chung watched with a curious expression as Lee Gwak stood with his eyes closed, listening to the hammering.
Though he had brought many people to this workshop before, Lee Gwak was the first to react in this way.
A sharp gleam flashed in Lee Shin-chung’s eyes.
‘As I thought, there’s something about him.’
Though Lee Shin-chung had appeared all smiles and overly courteous in front of Lee Gwak, he was far from an ordinary man.
The Golden Sword Pavilion, where he served as Pavilion Master, was the Ten Thousand Merchant Union’s final line of defense.
It was a place where masters—raised through massive investments of wealth and elixirs—were gathered. When the Golden Sword Pavilion was first established, those unaware of its purpose scoffed and criticized the effort as a wasteful indulgence.
They claimed that true martial masters couldn’t be cultivated with money alone, and that no matter how much wealth one poured in, the result would be nothing more than a half-baked warrior.
Yet, even amidst ridicule and criticism, the Ten Thousand Merchant Union quietly continued its investment—investment on a scale that far surpassed the imagination of ordinary people. And in the end, the might of the Golden Sword Pavilion was so overwhelming it left those scoffers speechless.
Lee Shin-chung was the one leading such a pavilion.
Though he might appear to be just a merchant on the surface, in truth, he was an exceptional master.
He possessed both the keen intuition of a merchant and the instinctive sensitivity of a martial artist, making his eye for people sharper than most.
Lee Gwak’s appearance was, by all accounts, plain. But there was something about him that drew others in. That was why, upon their first meeting, Lee Shin-chung had handed him one of the Union’s most important symbolic tokens—the sword plaque.
And now, Lee Shin-chung was more certain than ever that his instincts had been right.
Lee Gwak stood with his eyes closed, tapping the index finger of his right hand against his left forearm.
Tok. Tok.
The rhythm of his finger taps matched the sound of Eun Kwang-ho’s hammer strikes exactly.
It could’ve been dismissed as a simple mimicry of rhythm. But Lee Shin-chung sensed something eerie in that subtle movement.
Lee Gwak continued to tap his fingers.
Though his eyes were closed, in his mind, he could vividly see Eun Kwang-ho hammering the blade.
At first glance, it looked like he was hammering randomly, but in truth, Eun Kwang-ho’s motion was precise and restrained. He struck only where the blade needed it most.
It was as if Eun Kwang-ho’s thoughts were being transmitted directly into Lee Gwak’s mind.
—Is it here?
—This part’s badly worn, isn’t it…
Eun Kwang-ho was constantly speaking to the blade. That’s why he could unerringly strike the damaged, chipped, and weakened areas as if guided by intuition.
Having spent a lifetime obsessed with metal, the old craftsman had reached a realm where he could now speak with steel.
Inanimate objects weren’t supposed to talk but Lee Gwak felt as though the blade was responding.
The sound of Eun Kwang-ho’s hammer was not mere noise from steel striking steel. It was the sound of a conversation… between man and blade.
Ziiing!
At some point, even Lee Gwak felt as though he could hear the voice of the blade.
His cultivation hadn’t yet reached the level where he could hear it clearly, but he had the strong sense that if he spoke to it, the blade would answer.
‘My friend!’
Lee Gwak called out to it.
Ziiing!
In that instant, a powerful resonating sound burst out from the blade that Eun Kwang-ho had been hammering. Eun Kwang-ho, along with the other artisans working nearby, was startled and paused what he was doing.
Wuuuung! Wuuuuung!
Even in that moment, the blade resting atop the workbench continued to emit a deep resonance without pause.
Eun Kwang-ho looked at the blade with a thoughtful, probing gaze, then slowly turned his eyes to Lee Gwak.
“Huh…”
A quiet, incomprehensible breath slipped out between his lips.
The blade’s cry gradually subsided.
Eun Kwang-ho lowered the hammer he was holding. There was no longer any need to continue the work.
He then placed the quenched blade into a basin of clay-lined water.
Ssshh!
The cold water instantly heated up, releasing thick white steam that rose into the air.
Eun Kwang-ho flicked the now-cooled blade with a finger.
Taaang!
A particularly clear and ringing metallic tone echoed throughout the workshop.
“To think I’d live long enough to witness something like this…”
He stared at the blade for a long while before walking over to the whetstone and beginning to hone the edge himself.
“I’ll take care of sharpening it, sir!”
An artisan nearby quickly offered to do it in his place, but Eun Kwang-ho shook his head.
“No. I started it, so I should be the one to finish it.”
Shhhk, shhhk!
He sharpened the blade with utmost care.
At last, after completing every step of the process, the blade gleamed as if it had just been forged anew.
Eun Kwang-ho handed the blade back to Lee Gwak.
“It’s a fine blade, so fine it responded to the call of its distant master. Use it well.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Lee Gwak carefully received the blade.
He felt a faint vibration in his palm as he held the blade. It was as if the blade was still crying.
Lee Gwak gripped the blade more firmly. In that moment, a surge of confidence filled him completely.
With this blade in hand, he felt like there was no one in the world he couldn’t face.
“Hmm…”
Lee Shin-chung let out a low hum.
This was because he had an illusion— a vision of Lee Gwak swinging the blade.
In that vision, his own chest had been split open, blood spraying from the wound.
The image of Lee Gwak holding the blade had been so vivid, so powerful, that it caused Lee Shin-chung to hallucinate. It was the first time he had ever experienced something like this, and so he couldn’t hide the look of confusion on his face.
Seeing that expression, Eun Kwang-ho said,
“Keep a close eye on that one.”
“Sir?”
A true master craftsman could reach a realm where, just by examining a weapon, they could roughly assess the level of its wielder. Eun Kwang-ho had reached that realm long ago.
Lee Gwak’s blade was clearly very worn. But that wasn’t because its durability had been exhausted from excessive force—it had never been abused or misused. There was no trace of wasted strength, no signs of reckless handling.
In all his life working with weapons, Eun Kwang-ho had encountered very few cases like this. He couldn’t determine Lee Gwak’s exact martial level, but judging from the condition of the blade, he was convinced that Lee Gwak had reached a very high realm.
However, what truly surprised him was something else. It was that Lee Gwak was able to draw out the sound of the blade, blade’s cry, without even holding it in his hand. Even for Eun Kwang-ho, it was a first, so he couldn’t help but be even more interested.
“That young man will surely become a great blade master.”
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