I Possess Too Many Characteristics

Chapter 19

The next day, Jeonghyeon, whose body had truly recovered quite a bit, left his house.

Perhaps it was because he had been sick for a long time, but he felt as if his body was lighter than before.

It was to the extent that he could lightly run to the Association.

However, facing the giant main gate of the Association, Jeonghyeon cautiously looked around.

“I hope I don’t run into her.”

The person Jeonghyeon was afraid of was none other than Cha Yerin.

He had a very bad experience the day he wrote the statement before, so he was worried that he might run into her again by chance.

“I don’t think she’s a bad person, but she makes me feel bad.”

She probably wasn’t a bad person.

But the problem was that, regardless of whether she was good or bad, he couldn’t guess her true intentions at all.

He couldn’t help but feel wary instinctively.

But fortunately（?）, Cha Yerin was nowhere to be seen.

To begin with, it would be rather strange to run into someone of a Section Chief’s level by chance in the Association, where so many people come and go.

Jeonghyeon, who had been walking with the utmost caution as he passed the main building, finally arrived at the workshop.

“Wow, there was a place like this?”

The equally huge workshop was hidden behind the Association’s main building.

There didn’t seem to be many windows from the outside, probably a structure designed to block the noise that inevitably comes with a workshop.

However, unlike a factory, the design of the building itself was quite impressive.

It was incomparable to the shabby rental shop where Cheol-yong had been.

Clang━ Clang━

As soon as he entered the building, as expected, a tremendous noise hit Jeonghyeon’s ears.

There weren’t many people who seemed to be customers, but it was enough to evoke the scene of a bustling market.

It was only after that that he looked around inside.

The overall impression was,

“It’s like a…… fish market.”

It felt like a traditional market.

Of course, the difference was that the items laid out on the stalls were all Hunter equipment.

━Building No. 1: Production

━Building No. 2: Suyeon Equipment

━Building No. 3: Kangjin Production

Small signs were hung above each shop.

There were also numbers assigned from the entrance.

As Jeonghyeon began to step inside, the eyes of the elderly people who appeared to be shop owners focused on him.

‘Why are they staring at me like that?’

They weren’t soliciting customers, nor were they showing hostility towards a stranger.

They were just staring at him.

And Jeonghyeon knew the meaning of that gaze very well.

‘It’s the look of seeing a sucker.’

When his parents passed away and he was living alone, young Jeonghyeon stepped into the market to save every penny.

When he entered a store to buy something, the shop owners’ expressions were usually just like that.

Of course, not all owners were like that, but he learned that he was ripped off a hundred out of a hundred times by people who had that look in their eyes.

It was a valuable experience that he only learned later when he became a regular customer.

He was grateful for the extra items they seemed to be giving out of kindness, but it was actually just average service!

Jeonghyeon thought he knew why the Association’s workshop was so poorly rated.

“Hello.”

“Welcome.”

Just in case, he approached one of the stores that was staring at him.

D~B-grade equipment, which could be considered the most representative and had high purchasing power, was displayed on the stall.

“What kind of equipment are you looking for?”

A woman who appeared to be in her late middle age to early elderly years asked Jeonghyeon.

Jeonghyeon looked around inside the store and answered.

“Do you have any E-grade equipment?”

“Ah, for low-grade items, please come inside.”

Unlike its appearance, the inside was quite spacious.

Since many of the equipment pieces were bulky, it seemed like it was designed with that in mind.

There were both ordinary and fancy items, but the woman pointed to the furthest corner, where the items looked like they had accumulated quite a bit of dust.

“Take a look over there. The workshop doesn’t sell much low-grade stuff.”

Perhaps she knew that he wasn’t a very profitable customer.

She wasn’t very friendly from the beginning, but now she seemed to have withdrawn even the slightest bit of attention.

It wasn’t a bad thing for Jeonghyeon, as he could comfortably look at the products.

‘Hmm…… is this Tadan Orc leather? This is decent enough.’

He picked up one of the most eye-catching armors and examined it carefully.

Tadan Orc leather was considered lower quality than the Ropu Orc leather he had seen on the online shopping mall, but it wasn’t bad.

Rather, it was lighter and softer, so many people didn’t bother looking for Ropu Orc leather.

“How much is this set?”

Jeonghyeon asked the woman, showing her the armor.

She glanced at it and answered.

“It’s originally 1,500, but since it’s been sitting here for a while, I’ll give it to you for 1,200.”

The price was certainly cheap.

Considering that the Ropu Orc armor on the shopping mall was 1,700, the price itself wasn’t just good, it was attractive.

Of course, he shouldn’t take the merchant’s words at face value.

If he negotiated properly, he could probably get it down to 1,000, and if he pushed it a little, even lower.

Since there wasn’t even a price tag, and if it was dead stock like the merchant said, haggling was the only option.

Should he just buy it?

After a moment of contemplation, Jeonghyeon shook his head and put the armor back in its place.

‘This is too much.’

Leather products needed to be treated regularly.

But this one seemed like it hadn’t been treated even once since it was made.

It was only slightly better than the equipment Cheol-yong had first shown him at the rental shop.

It wasn’t even preserved separately, so what could he say about the condition of the equipment?

Next, Jeonghyeon looked at the weapons.

Swords, blunt weapons, bows, and other weapons were displayed in small numbers by type.

‘I have a mace as my main weapon for now.’

He picked up a set of daggers.

It looked quite fancy, although it was worn out as if it had been left unattended for a long time.

“From which mine did this come from?”

“Hmm…… it’s from the Direto Mine.”

The amount of ore used in Hunter weapons was insufficient on Earth.

Almost all of them were made from materials from mining-type Gates.

Jeonghyeon wasn’t as knowledgeable about that field as he was about byproducts, but he roughly knew which mines were considered high-grade.

Direto wasn’t bad.

It was sufficient for an E-grade Hunter’s weapon.

However, Jeonghyeon put the dagger back in its place because, although the product itself was decent, its condition was terrible.

If it had been left unattended for a little longer, it might have rusted.

Jeonghyeon roughly bowed and left the store.

The owner didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping him.

‘I get the general vibe.’

It wasn’t a market that targeted low-grade Hunters in the first place.

At first glance, the quality of the products seemed good, and if it was to this extent, the ‘elder’ expression he had seen in the comments seemed fitting for the artisans’ skills.

So, naturally, it was likely that they mainly dealt with high-grade Hunters, and especially focused on custom orders rather than walk-in customers like him.

As if to support Jeonghyeon’s guess, the signs of each shop had the phrase ‘custom orders’ written on them.

‘No wonder the market has fallen into a state of stagnation.’

The owners, who seemed ordinary on the surface, were probably incredibly wealthy in reality.

They didn’t need to pay attention to Jeonghyeon, who reeked of being a beginner Hunter.

Still, Jeonghyeon decided to look around the workshop a little more.

Every market had at least one hidden gem.

Somewhere, there would be a place that properly managed even low-grade Hunter products and even offered them at a low price.

As he walked for a while, Jeonghyeon……

“Huh?”

His eyes were fixed on a store.

━Shop No. 33: Supreme Crafting

‘What’s with that name?’

It was a name that couldn’t help but attract attention.

Most of the shop names seemed to be the names of the owners or their families.

Or at best, it was something like ‘Original’ or ‘Best’.

‘Supreme’?

Wasn’t that practically a challenge?

Moreover, the person guarding the store was a woman who looked to be around Jeonghyeon’s age.

At that moment, Jeonghyeon understood why MyTV videos used so many clickbait thumbnails.

‘I can’t resist this.’

No matter what the actual content was, he couldn’t help but click on it once.

“Welcome!”

Even her reaction was a little different from the few stores Jeonghyeon had visited before.

Usually, when they saw Jeonghyeon’s shabby attire, they would show a slight hint of disappointment, but this person seemed rather excited and bowed deeply as she greeted him.

‘What’s this?’

Jeonghyeon was the one who was more flustered.

He assumed she was probably a granddaughter or daughter helping out at her grandfather’s, grandmother’s, or parents’ store.

That was common in markets.

However, Jeonghyeon was a little surprised when he glanced at her hands.

They were quite heavily calloused.

‘It seems she’s not just helping with sales.’

Jeonghyeon, who had slightly changed his mind, asked.

Then, her reaction, which he hadn’t seen anywhere else, made sense.

“Where is the low-grade equipment?”

“Ah, it’s in the back.”

She even showed more anticipation when he asked where the low-grade equipment was?

As Jeonghyeon moved, the woman followed him.

The low-grade equipment was placed in a corner, but there was a clear difference.

“You have quite a lot?”

“Of course! I think our store has the most low-grade equipment in the entire workshop.”

Moreover, unlike the other places where dust had accumulated, the equipment here seemed to be regularly maintained and was all sparkling.

It was certainly visually appealing.

Jeonghyeon, looking at the woman’s hands, asked tentatively.

“Did you make these yourself?”

“Yes! My grandfather makes the high-grade stuff, but I make most of the low-grade equipment except for the weapons…… ahem, well, yeah.”

Indeed.

Perhaps because she got excited and said things she didn’t need to say.

Jeonghyeon smiled inwardly as he watched her hurriedly finish her sentence, coughing awkwardly.

He thought that whoever the person who used the shop name ‘Supreme’ was, they must be a decent person since even their granddaughter was helping out at the store.

Especially since crafting was a profession where the artisan’s pride affected not only the product but also the people around them.

Jeonghyeon picked up a piece of armor with some anticipation.

It was the same Tadan Orc leather armor he had seen at the first store.

“Ah, that’s armor made of Tadan Orc leather. I made the joints a bit loose for comfort. The price for the set is……”

Ignoring the woman’s enthusiastic explanation, Jeonghyeon immediately put the armor back down.

Next was a Red Goblin leather armor, which was considered quite high-grade among Goblin leather.

“That’s Red Goblin leather. I dyed it brown because many people don’t like the red color. Goblin leather is definitely softer than the stiff Orc leather……”

However, Jeonghyeon put it down again before she could finish her explanation.

That process repeated a few more times.

Finally, the woman, unable to hold back any longer, expressed her dissatisfaction.

“Excuse me, are you just going to keep looking around without saying anything?”

Jeonghyeon stared at her face.

“Wh-what?”

Well, it was understandable that she would be angry since her efforts to explain were ignored, but he hadn’t asked her to explain in the first place.

He felt a little wronged, but he also understood the woman’s position.

It wasn’t that he was ignoring her explanation, but rather that she felt like her creations were being disregarded.

“How long have you been crafting?”

“Huh? Why are you asking that?”

“Because the leather isn’t properly treated.”

“What are you saying?”

The woman’s face flushed red.

She seemed to have great pride in her creations.

Of course, that wasn’t a bad thing.

Who could trust and entrust their lives to equipment that even the creator didn’t believe in?

However, it was equally important to face the shortcomings.

The products in the stores he had visited before might not have been in the best condition, but the quality itself was impeccable.

This time, it was the opposite.

If there were flaws that were visible even to Jeonghyeon, who had learned about equipment crafting by eavesdropping at the workplace, wouldn’t it be unsuitable for the shop name ‘Supreme’?

“Most of the leather is over-tanned. Also, the edge coat is applied too thickly, and the fleshing isn’t even……”

The woman’s face, as she listened to Jeonghyeon’s words, looked like it was about to explode.

She hadn’t expected a customer she had never met before to point out such flaws to her face, and it was something she had heard quite a lot from others already.

“Then if you’re not going to buy it━”

“Hahaha, the young customer seems to know a thing or two about equipment.”

Just as the woman was about to kick Jeonghyeon out, a white-haired grandfather came out from inside the store.

Only then did Jeonghyeon somewhat understand why the shop name was ‘Supreme’.

He had a long beard that seemed to come straight out of a martial arts novel, his hair tied up, deep and clear eyes, clean skin, and to top it all off, he was even wearing modified traditional Korean clothing.

‘Is he really ‘Supreme’?’

Jeonghyeon had a hunch that this was someone special.