Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Se-Hoon was currently contemplating how an individual like him would fight against an entire conglomerate, and for his first strategy, he thought back to the Three Dogs.

“Train until you can win.”

“If you get rid of places related to them one after another, they'll collapse on their own.”

“Only fools fight head-on. You should infiltrate and gnaw away at them from the inside.”

Their methods were either brutish, insane, or bothersome, but despite that, they did have a success rate matching their promise. He still outrightly excluded them from potential options though—those options were only possible since they were the strategies of a powerful hero, a terrorist, and the leader of an intelligence organization. Not a single one was suitable for a blacksmith like himself.

As such, he went back to pondering what method would then suit him, and soon, he found the answer.

“Can you assist me in bringing down the Barmuths?”

Deciding to stay true to his identity as a blacksmith, he planned on just spectating from afar after forging weapons for his allies.

“...”

Upon hearing Se-Hoon’s out-of-the-blue proposal, In-Cheol blanked out.

He couldn’t believe that Se-Hoon had come all the way to his workshop on a Sunday morning just to make the outlandish request of enlisting his help in taking down the Barmuths.

Wondering if he was still half asleep, In-Cheol rubbed his eyes.

“Are you talking about Vier?”

“No, I’m talking about the entire Barmuth family.”

“So... you’re planning to bring down the entire family?”

“Yes.”

In-Cheol then sat up straight, his sleepiness disappearing when he heard not a single trace of hesitation within Se-Hoon’s response.

“Start by telling me what happened.”

Se-Hoon roughly explained the incidents that occurred at the Noblesse, including the clash with Vier and Aria’s partnership proposal to mass-produce sword aura equipment.

“So you’re saying that you improved Barmuth’s prototype on the spot and even forged sword aura equipment without the help of a sword aura user... you really are something.”

Realizing that he was worried about Se-Hoon not because he lacked talent but because he was too talented, In-Cheol chuckled bitterly.

“I understand the situation now. Now that you’ve rejected their recruitment and even belittled their technology upfront, they surely won’t come at you peacefully anymore.”

In-Cheol frowned and sighed, remembering the villainy that the Barmuths had done in the Department of Blacksmithing.

“Unfortunately, however, given the current situation, it’s quite difficult to put any real pressure on them. There’s no solid evidence that Vier attempted to injure you.”

Raising any objections against the Barmuths right now would just end with the prototype’s flaws or Vier’s own incompetence being blamed. It was far from serving as justification to bring down the entire family.

He was attacked unilaterally, and yet there’s nothing I can do...

It wasn’t the first time such a situation occurred, but In-Cheol felt a greater sense of powerlessness than before. He felt miserable at the thought that a talent capable of making significant changes to the era could crumble due to his shortcomings.

I absolutely cannot let them have their way this time. He began solemnly pondering the methods at his disposal. But then, Se-Hoon spoke up with a calm expression.

“I have no intention of shooting them down with such methods, either. I’ve already generally planned out how to dismantle the family, so I just need you to help with the finer details.”

“You’ve already... planned it all out?” In-Cheol was completely mystified by how Se-Hoons was talking like he found it easy to tackle a massive conglomerate like the Barmuths.

“What’s so special about a company going under? That’s just what will naturally happen if their products don’t sell.”

“That’s true, but...”

Considering that the Barmuths were far ahead in terms of technological capabilities in the blacksmithing industry, it was far from as easy as how Se-Hoon made it sound.

Unconvinced, In-Cheol was about to dismiss the unrealistic approach, but Se-Hoon brought out something from his void pocket. Discover new chapters at novelhall.comp!

Se-Hoon had dropped a large stack of papers on the table.

“Are those... blueprints?”

Puzzled at the bundle of blueprints Se-Hoon had just taken out, In-Cheol picked up the blueprint on the top to examine it.

At first glance, the sword drawn on the blueprint seemed like nothing special, but when he looked closer, his eyes widened in astonishment.

“Wait, what is this...?”

The blueprint was detailed enough that it could immediately be brought to mass production. But what truly shocked In-Cheol wasn’t the completeness of the blueprint, but the note written on it.

These will be over twenty percent more powerful and durable than the Barmuths’ E-tier mass-produced longswords that currently dominate the market. The cost of materials can be further reduced by up to thirty percent if the forging process is properly set up.

The blueprint depicted a perfectly superior alternative to the Barmuths’ current mass-produced longsword. Realizing what the others likely were, In-Cheol quickly examined the other blueprints as well.

Flip. Flip.

Superior alternatives to the various weapons, armors, auxiliary devices, and everything else that the Barmuths were currently mass-producing were precisely drawn in the blueprints.

They had exceeded his expectations by so far that In-Cheol was overwhelmed; all he could do was read and review each blueprint over and over.

These are actually... real.

He didn’t need to test them out to know; his intuition forged by decades of blacksmithing told him the forging processes described in the blueprints were genuine. Unable to take his eyes off them, he remembered Se-Hoon’s confident smile and felt a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

“What do you think?”

At Se-Hoon’s question, In-Cheol set the blueprints down again and laughed helplessly.

“I can’t help but be amused.”

Even before the concept of mana was introduced to humanity, consistently forging high-quality equipment in large quantities was not easy. Then, after the advent of mana, it became even harder. The process had become dozens of times more complex due to now needing to consider the structure of the mana circuits and the properties of the materials.

The final issue remaining was the protection of the collaborating workshops that would manufacture the equipment in the blueprints. This part was the most troublesome aspect of the plan.

There are way too many workshops to protect, and more importantly, we won’t know when or how the other side might attack.

They could attack immediately following the announcement or suddenly after a few months.

He had considered hiring security companies or heroes to guard the workshops during this uncertain period; however, it was questionable if they could even provide the needed protection, and the cost would be enormous.

In the end, it’s better to entrust it to the one remarkable person I know.

Thus, Se-Hoon decided to consider an entity capable of protecting dozens of workshops scattered around the world. And there was only one way to reach out to that person. He organized his thoughts.

It’s worth a shot.

If possible, great; if not, then it couldn’t be helped.

With his thoughts in order, he knocked on the door of the Physiology Controls classroom, located in the deepest part of the Department of Martial Arts.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

A brusque response came from inside. Opening the door and entering the room, Se-Hoon saw Kwang-Soo lying on the bed with dissatisfaction on his face.

“While other guys are desperate to rest on weekends, you’re here, wandering around in broad daylight.... You seem to have a lot of free time.”

“My apologies. It’s just a bit of an urgent matter...”

“I’ll hear about it for now. What’s the matter?”

Se-Hoon explained the general situation, similar to how he explained it to the previous two. After hearing everything, Kwang-Soo furrowed his brows.

“I’d like to say that you’re being delusional... but if it’s related to those Barmuth guys, then there’s a lot to talk about. Way more than enough.”

“Would you be able to help me?”

“Well... I’m curious about one thing...”

Trailing off, he looked at Se-Hoon.

“Why do you think I can help? I’m just a has-been, retired from active duty.”

His question was laced with doubt—for good reasons. There was no apparent reason to ask him for help based on the situation at hand.

Well, it’s because I know which organization you belonged to before the regression, but I can’t say that.

Unable to reveal the true reason, Se-Hoon somewhat indirectly answered.

“Just because one has retired from active duty doesn’t mean all their connections will just disappear. I’m asking you because I thought you were the most suitable among the people I know.”

“And what if I turned out not to be?”

“Then I’ll just have to look for another way.”

Letting Se-Hoon’s calm reply hang in the air, Kwang-Soo stared at him for a moment before getting up from the bed.

“Fine. There’s nothing impossible about it, anyway. But I’m not doing it for nothing.”

“We could discuss the protection fee separately—”

“No. I don’t need your money.”

Cutting off Se-Hoon, Kwang-Soo picked up a packet of documents from one side of the classroom and threw it to him.

Catching it, Se-Hoon read the words written at the top of the first document: Eyes of Clairvoyance Ver.12.

That’s quite the number of revisions...

As he flipped through the pages, he soon realized what the documents were about.

“This is the technique you said you’d teach me before.”

It was a skill that could potentially enhance his talent for stealing the opponent’s movements.

Did he manage to systematize it this much in such a short time?

A part of him was impressed by Kwang-Soo’s capability, but... he was also slightly annoyed by it.

If he could make stuff like this, then what were all those random techniques he taught me in exchange for his debts before...

As something that happened before the regression, he tried to let it go, but it still irritated him. He vowed to himself that he would get back at Kwang-Soo properly someday.

Meanwhile, Kwang-Soo finally got to his condition.

“If you can master that, I’ll lend you a hand.”

“This is all it takes?”

“Yes. You should at least be able to pull that off for me to bother dealing with those annoying guys.”

Se-Hoon nodded, understanding his intentions.

“Understood. Let’s get started then.”

“We’ll start tomorrow. Just take it with you for today and have a look.”

They weren’t able to start right away since the necessary equipment to practice the Eyes of Clairvoyance couldn’t be gathered immediately.

However, Se-Hoon shook his head.

“I’m not suggesting we practice.”

“Then what?”

“The Eyes of Clairvoyance. I’ll show it to you right now.”