‘I’m getting convinced.’

When Park Deok-Gu first started talking, I thought every word he said was a bunch of bullshit, but as time passed, he started to persuade me.

‘It makes sense…’

Besides the tone of his voice, Park Deok-Gu’s argument made sense. There wasn’t a reason for Yoo Ah-Young to choose Defense Warrior. If she chose that job, the only benefit would be that she could unlock high-ranked close-ranged jobs similar to the warrior. Of course, what I mentioned earlier was the most important part of her growth, but when considering her optimistic nature, it would undeniably take her a long time to achieve that. Now that I thought about it, Yoo Ah-Young didn’t seem all that passionate at the training camp.

‘It wasn’t for her.’

She had talent, but my personal opinion was that she wasn’t exactly excited about it, and I was sure it wasn’t a coincidence that Blacksmith popped up in her selection window.

‘Blacksmith never appeared for Park Deok-Gu.’

As she had mentioned, that category appeared because she was interested in production-type jobs, but no matter how hard I thought about it, what we needed right now was a vanguard. But since Park Deok-Gu possessed advanced shield knowledge, it could still be possible for Yoo Ah-Young to be a vanguard if Park Deok-Gu took care of her. When thinking about how an Alchemist like me had firepower as strong as a mage, as long as the method and timing had lined up, I was sure the blacksmith job could be used as a vanguard as well.

‘Her potential isn’t bad either.’

In addition, her stamina stat showed that she could be useful as a blacksmith, but the one thing I was worried about was that Kim Hyun-Sung wasn’t agreeing with Park Deok-Gu’s argument. However, it wasn’t because Yoo Ah-Young became really successful as a warrior in the future. Rather, it seemed like Kim Hyun-Sung didn’t know that much about her. From Kim Hyun-Sung’s point of view, I was sure he just didn’t want a talented player we worked hard on recruiting to have a production-type job, but if we took the time, we could always recruit people on a similar level to Yoo Ah-Young’s.

How?

I had Mind’s Eye, and it was technically the same for Kim Hyun-Sung, as he was able to recruit people who would become talented in the future. When considering the fact that we had the superior treasure, Dialugia, she could even obtain a job like Dragon Blacksmith.

“Hyung-nim, what do you think? Don’t you think Blacksmith is the way to go?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“I’m not sure…”

“Think about it! Blacksmith is the perfect job! She definitely looks like a blacksmith!” he exclaimed.

She was starting to look like one.

“Imagine her hammering on an anvil with a hammer. She’ll be working with a high-temperature furnace, and her fire resistance will be even higher than an ordinary vanguard. She’ll be able to endure a sea of fire,” he added.

‘Bullshit…’

I couldn’t really pinpoint why I was being convinced, but when I glanced at Yoo Ah-Young, she was also looking at me with a flustered look. I think she would look better in a blacksmith outfit than in armor. To reason with myself, the ideas I had earlier started to grow bigger and bigger.

“Blacksmith!”

“Defense Warrior!”

“Blacksmith!”

“Warrior!”

During all of this, Kim Hyun-Sung and Park Deok-Gu continued to shout the job they wanted Yoo Ah-Young to choose, and it felt like it was about time for me to step in. In the end, I had no choice but to betray our lovely regressor.

“I think… Blacksmith won’t be so bad.”

“Mr. Ki-Young?” Kim Hyun-Sung muttered.

I saw Kim Hyun-Sung’s surprised expression first.

‘I’m sorry, man. But my heart keeps telling me that she should choose blacksmith.’

Kim Hyun-Sung’s eyes resembled a puppy in the rain, but even that look couldn’t overcome Park Deok-Gu’s argument.

“I understand what you’re thinking, Mr. Hyun-Sung, but finding a talented blacksmith will be a lot harder than finding a talented warrior. If we search the entire empire, I’m sure we’ll find a decent blacksmith, but—” I paused

“I see,” he commented.

“Personally, I really don’t want the Blue Guild’s special resources to be revealed outside the guild, and as Deok-Gu mentioned, the knowledge she’ll obtain through unlocking her job is something Deok-Gu can teach her,” I continued.

“But… advanced magic knowledge isn’t something you can just learn,” Kim Hyun-Sung argued.

“I may not have that knowledge, but I believe my firepower is just as strong as other mages,” I replied.

“That’s because you’re a special case…”

“Miss Yoo Ah-Young could also be a special case. Of course, I was just giving a simple example earlier. In the end, it’s up to her to decide on what she wants to do,” I reminded him.

That was the most important…

‘Which one will she choose?’

No matter how hard we pushed her into it, her choice would decide her fate. To be honest, the guild could force her to choose a specific job, and it applied more to Yoo Ah-Young since she had signed the contract as a combatant. If she chose to be a blacksmith without telling the guild, it could put us in an awkward situation. However, the Blue Guild respected individual freedom. It was because we knew it wouldn’t be as efficient if we forcefully told people to change their jobs. Park Deok-Gu’s argument was surprisingly convincing to the point it was strange, but the argument between him and Kim Hyun-Sung was just a recommendation. Yoo Ah-Young’s opinion was the most important.

The room became quiet again.

“Well…” Yoo Ah-Young started.

“...”

“...”

“To be honest… Blacksmith is…” she muttered.

“...”

“Yeah! I knew it! You definitely look like a blacksmith!” Park Deok-Gu commented.

‘What?’

“Can I ask why?” Kim Hyun-Sung asked.

“Of course. I can’t exactly say why, but it’s like the job is calling to me… I’m not sure if this is a proper way to describe it, but it’s like my spirit is telling me to choose this job,” she replied.

How convincing…

“Ah…”

Yoo Ah-Young continued talking without discovering Kim Hyun-Sung’s reaction.

“Of course, I’ll train hard so that I won’t hold back party two. Like what Mr. Lee Ki-Young had said before, I think it’s possible if I managed to find my own way, although selecting a production-type job is still a bit scary…”

“I see…” Kim Hyun-Sung nodded.

Kim Hyun-Sung seemed a bit disappointed as he returned to reality.

‘I’m sorry...’

However, it seemed like he felt better right away. He probably thought it was better to support Yoo Ah-Young if that was what she wanted to do. He may have considered the resources that Dialugia had or was thinking about the blacksmithing technique that was going to appear in the future and believed that this was the right time for her to choose blacksmith. However, it was also possible that she had convinced him when she said her spirit was telling her to choose Blacksmith.

“It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing I can do about it. The guild will just have to support you as much as we can…” Kim Hyun-Sung told her.

“You can change some of the details on the contract because you originally signed it on the premise that you would have a combat-type job. I feel quite bad that you’re changing your job,” he said.

‘I can understand...’

I felt like I had to say this.

“You don’t have to worry about that, Miss Ah-Young. Instead, I think we’ll have to adjust the contract duration… If you choose to be a blacksmith, the resources you will have access to will be different from the resources that’ll be around you…” I informed her.

“I understand. I already had that in mind, sir,” she said.

“I’m glad,” I commented.

“Hm! Hm!”

Park Deok-Gu seemed like he was feeling better as he kept nodding with satisfaction. I thought maybe it was part of his plan to cut out the new vanguard since it could threaten his position, but Park Deok-Gu wasn’t like me, so I was certain he didn’t have those thoughts. However, something did seem off. From his point of view, it was possible that he just got lucky, but when looking at the results alone, it was something worth thinking about.

‘Park Deok-Gu was the one who brought up the production-type job in the first place…’

Naturally, he couldn’t see that blacksmith was on Yoo Ah-Young’s job selection list because even I couldn’t see that with Mind’s Eye.

‘That can’t really be his plan, right?’

“I can finally use a shield made by the guild’s blacksmith!” Park Deok-Gu exclaimed.

‘I’m sure it’s not because he wants it…’

It also wasn’t because he wanted a weapon made out of Dialugia’s horns or scales. Park Deok-Gu was the only normal member of the Blue Guild, but the result of his argument ended up being really beneficial for him.

“I’ll support you with everything I got! Leave the training to me!” he added.

Park Deok-Gu was being bold by making the new recruit change their minds about their jobs and then having them make armor for him.

‘This bastard may not be an idiot.’

I couldn’t help but have that thought.

In the end, Yoo Ah-Young was enveloped in a faint light, and once again, Park Deok-Gu was able to keep his position. The loud noises and different conversations resumed, but the topics were mostly about Yoo Ah-Young, Han Sora, and Lee Chang-Ryeol.

“Did you obtain new knowledge?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“I did. I want to test it out right now,” Yoo Ah-Young replied.

“I’ll find out if we can help you in different ways,” I offered.

“Thank you, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” she said.

Among the new recruits, Yoo Ah-Young had gotten the most attention. The dinner was originally planned so that we could just relax, but I guess we really were players upon seeing that we were discussing something like this during dinner. Kim Ye-Ri and Lee Chang-Ryeol were having a serious conversation, and Sun Hee-Young and Han Sora were discussing something as well. Obviously, they weren’t ordinary conversations.

‘So she managed to adapt here…’

I realized once again that humans were adaptable animals.

Since we had just returned to Lindel today, I wanted to end this party as soon as possible, but it looked like it wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

In the end, I saw a few people going back to their rooms while drunk. The underage Kim Ye-Ri followed the guild master’s strict order to sleep and wake up early, so she had gone to her room with Jo Hye-Jin a long time ago. Sun Hee-Young, Hwang Jung-Yeon, the new recruits, and Ahn Ki-Mo returned to their rooms to rest, but Jung Ha-Yan remained by my side despite dozing off. It was the same for Kim Hyun-Sung and Park Deok-Gu. The people who remained were the four people who had met in the tutorial dungeon.

“As expected, the four of us are the last ones to remain!” Park Deok-Gu yelled.

“You’re right. We all came from the tutorial…” I agreed.

“Yeah… It feels really different thinking that it has already been over a year. It’s really interesting how we have gotten to the point where we’re starting to train our successors. I knew I was always going to be with you hyung-nim, but I’m happy that I managed to spend a long time with you, bro,” he added.

“I understand what you mean. It’s a bit embarrassing, but thank you for trusting and following me,” Kim Hyun-Sung replied.

He had to be kind of embarrassed by what Park Deok-Gu had said, as his face turned slightly serious. Obviously, it was only natural for me to say something that was just as embarrassing.

“It was nothing. We’re comrades after all,” I chimed in.

“...”

“...”

“Hyung-nim…” Park Deok-Gu called out.

I was the one who said it, but I was still embarrassed. However, for some reason, Park Deok-Gu and Kim Hyun-Sung looked at me as if they were feeling bad for me, so I had no choice but to change the subject.

“And it’s because Mr. Hyun-Sung’s decisions are reasonable.”

“I agree,” Park Deok-Gu commented.

That was when he started talking seriously.

“To be honest…”

“Yes?” I asked.

“It may not be so reasonable this time,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.

The atmosphere kind of changed, and I realized right away what he was trying to say.

“Are you talking about the conversation you had with the Black Swan Guild?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered.

“I see.”

“Is it dangerous?” I asked.

“Yes.”

‘Sh… shit…’

The thing I was kind of worried about had finally happened.