“Student! Are you not home right now?”
The landlady’s voice echoed from outside the door. At that moment, a forgotten memory resurfaced.
‘…Oh, right. I didn’t pay last month’s rent.’
Having invested all the money earned from part-time jobs into overseas futures and losing it, my bank account was completely empty. As a result, for several days, I had been subsisting on ramen with bean sprouts.
Although I had managed to delay it for two weeks by pleading my case, three weeks had already passed since then. It was now time to pay this month’s rent.
“Student! Open the door! We need to talk!”
Ignoring the landlady’s persistent voice, I held my breath.
‘I absolutely cannot let her know I’m home right now.’
Normally, I could have just listened to her complaints and promised to pay when my part-time earnings came in a day or two, but the current situation was different.
It would surely appear as though I had kidnapped an Awakener or a girl from a heterogeneous race (TL Note: A term for non-human, often fantastical, species in Korean web novels) and brought her into my home!
While I wouldn’t face punishment, if things became entangled like that, my existence would be revealed everywhere, and the situation would grow complicated.
I might even end up having my scales and tail cut off and sold, simply for being a dragon.
“Hmph… Not today, I guess.”
“Phew…”
Fortunately, the landlady seemed to believe I wasn’t home, as she turned and left within minutes.
And from the recent incident, one crucial realization dawned upon me.
‘I don’t have any money to use right now, do I?’
Becoming rich in the future was a certainty. However, that didn’t equate to present wealth.
I switched on my phone and checked my bank balance.
[170 Won]
This was barely enough money to buy even a single cup of ramen. With going to my part-time job now impossible, I had no idea how I would earn money.
‘They’ll still pay me this month’s wages even if I miss work, right?’
‘If they don’t, I’m truly in deep trouble.’
I might starve to death before I could even be scouted or create anything useful.
Even as an SSS-rank Awakener, life certainly wasn’t easy.
“Ugh…”
As I pondered a way out of my predicament, my stomach rumbled.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.
‘Now that I think about it, I barely ate anything yesterday before sleeping.’
I hadn’t even formulated a plan of what to do first, but a simple one had now emerged.
“First, let’s eat.”
I probably had about three days’ worth of ramen left. I could start with that.
However, when I tried to retrieve the ramen from the cupboard…
“Ughhh…!”
No matter how much I stretched on my tiptoes and extended my arm, my hand couldn’t reach the cupboard.
‘Just how much shorter have I gotten?’
It seemed many bothersome things would arise because of this. Left with no choice, I dragged over the chair I used for my computer and climbed onto it.
“Hup!”
From the high cupboard, I pulled out the last remaining packet of ramen.
This was all due to the rising prices caused by the Gate Incident.
With hands that felt as small as fern shoots, I tore open the ramen package.
After filling the pot, which felt three times heavier than usual, with water, I almost dragged it to the gas stove.
Add the noodles, seasoning, and dried vegetables, wait four minutes, and it’s done!
After what felt like four hours, the four minutes passed, and a joyful mealtime to fill my hungry stomach arrived.
When lowering the pot from the gas stove, I nearly spilled it due to its weight and height.
I placed the pot on a trivet on my low desk, prepared my chopsticks, and sat down.
“I’ll eat well.”
Although there was no one to hear it, I uttered the customary mealtime greeting and picked up my first chopsticks.
“Hoo, hoo…”
After blowing on the hot noodles to cool them slightly, I carefully brought the chopsticks to my mouth.
“Haaap.”
And then,
“Blech?!”
The burning sensation in my mouth made me immediately spit out all the ramen I had just put in.
“S-spicy…!”
Had I accidentally bought spicy ramen by mistake? No, it was definitely the same ramen I always bought!
Tears welled up in my eyes from the unbearable pain, and my entire body began to move on its own accord.
I quickly tried to stand up to pour myself some water, but the moment I rose,
*Thwack! Splat!*
My tail, moving uncontrollably, knocked the pot straight off the table.
*Gulp, gulp!*
“Haaah…”
Though I quickly gulped down cold water to soothe my mouth, the room was now an utter mess.
Drip, drip, drip…
Broth continually dripped onto the floor from the overturned pot on the table, and all the noodles were spilled across the tabletop, rendering them inedible.
…Though, I wouldn’t have been able to eat them anyway, given how spicy they were.
It seemed my transformed body was utterly incapable of handling spicy food.
“Haaah…”
One problem had multiplied, and I had lost my meal.
I cleaned up all the spilled noodles and, with my unfamiliar body, wielded a rag to wipe down the floor and table.
During the process, my tail and wings moved on their own, causing me to knock down several items.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle…
Naturally, my hunger had only intensified during that time.
‘What do I do now…’
The last remaining packet of ramen, my only food, went straight into the trash, and I didn’t even have a thousand won left in my pocket.
I desperately needed to find a way to get some money, immediately.
Then, a thought struck me.
‘Right, I can just use a skill!’
The Hunter Gallery (TL Note: A common online community or forum for hunters in web novels) had a marketplace bulletin board accessible to everyone. If I sold items created with ‘Relic Crafting’ there, I could definitely earn money.
Of course, even as an SSS-rank skill, it was only Level 1, so I probably couldn’t create anything extraordinary, but I’d heard that F-rank monsters could be taken down with anything, as long as it was sturdy enough.
‘I’ll try making a weapon.’
I began searching around the room, looking for anything that could serve as a weapon.
A flowerpot… that probably wouldn’t work as a weapon material. Was there no metal material in the house?
After searching high and low for materials, three types of objects ended up on my desk.
A kitchen knife, three razors, and a lighter.
Honestly, if I were asked to imagine what kind of weapon could be made from these, I’d draw a blank, but I trusted the power of an SSS-rank skill.
‘After all, the effects of a skill generally follow its description exactly.’
The description for ‘Relic Crafting’ stated, ‘Consumes magic power and materials to manifest imagined objects.’ The type of materials was not specified.
Therefore, I assumed it meant any material could be transformed into a weapon.
“I don’t know. It’ll work out somehow.”
An SSS-rank skill should be able to handle at least this much, right?
Just as I was about to use the skill, a thought flashed through my mind.
‘Wait a minute, is there really a need to use such low-grade materials?’
‘If I’m worried about someone selling off my body, why don’t I just sell parts of it myself?’
I glanced at my tail, which was still swaying slightly on its own.
‘Even a rough count suggests there must be thousands of scales, right?’
They were more tightly packed and layered than I expected, making their number considerable.
“Alright. Let’s try it.”
I turned my body around, sat down, and grasped my tail. Then, I pulled at a scale with one hand.
“Ughhh!”
I pulled as hard as I could, but the scale didn’t budge. The sensation on my tail was only a faint touch, as if a child were holding onto me. At this rate, plucking a scale seemed impossible.
‘…No, there must be a way.’
In movies and comics, don’t dragons sometimes give their scales as gifts? It couldn’t be that scales were absolutely unpluggable.
I pondered for a long time, trying to find a way to remove a scale. I tried pulling it with my hands, slamming my tail against the floor, and even attempting to pry it off with scissors, but nothing worked.
“Ugh…”
Just as I was about to give up, I noticed a single scale at the very tip of my tail, protruding slightly on its own.
“Oh?”
When I tugged on that scale with my finger, it popped right out, like unplugging a loose electrical cord. The space where the scale had been was immediately filled by the scale below it.
A golden scale, radiating a brilliant light, lay in my hand. The small scale, about two finger-joints long, possessed a certain magical allure that drew people in.
“If anyone else finds out about this, I’ll be in big trouble…”
They would undoubtedly go to extreme lengths to try and pluck my scales by any means necessary.
In any case, with a scale successfully removed, it was time to proceed with my plan.
“Relic Crafting.”
The moment I uttered those two words, a blue window appeared before my eyes.
[Materials: Gold Dragon Whelp Scale, Kitchen Knife, Razor x 5, Lighter]
[Currently Craftable Items: Sword]
[Please imagine your desired weapon and press the button.]
[Relic Crafting]
The skill’s usage was intuitive. It was a system where I simply imagined what I wanted and pressed a button.
While the list of craftable items was still limited, ‘Sword’ happened to be perfect.
I already had a type of weapon in mind.
‘A knife as sharp as a razor blade, shaped like a kitchen knife, capable of producing fire like a lighter, and as sturdy as my scales.’
*Press.*
The moment I pressed the button, the items on the table emitted a bright light.
A moment of exhaustion washed over me as magic power drained from my body, but then it surged back from my heart.
The light on the table lasted for several seconds before slowly diminishing.
“Did it succeed?”
As the light completely faded, a small dagger appeared on the desk.
A straight, single-edged dagger with a blade about the size of my two hands.
At a glance, its sharply honed golden blade and the red patterns engraved on its hilt clearly indicated it was an item.
My heart pounding, I picked up the dagger, and another window appeared.
[Golden Flame Dagger (A-)]
A very sharply honed dagger. When magic power is channeled into it, flames can be ignited from the blade. It is unaffected by attacks below a certain level.]
“…This is incredible.”
I had created an A-rank item with just a razor, a kitchen knife, and a lighter!
An A-rank weapon was easily on par with the main weapon of a B-rank Hunter.
And an A-rank weapon typically sold for around 100 million Won each. I had created a 100 million Won item from materials worth barely 10,000 Won.
“Hehehehe…”
An SSS-rank skill. I had imagined it would be powerful, but its performance far exceeded my expectations.
As I channeled magic power into the dagger in my hand, flames erupted, engulfing the entire blade.
*Whoosh!*
The more magic power I poured in, the larger and fiercer the flames became. Though I was curious about its limits, the fear of accidentally burning down the house made me quickly retract the flames.
Now, all I had to do was sell this. My assets would instantly jump from -30 million Won to 70 million Won!
Before my hunger grew worse, I opened the Hunter Gallery and created a new account.
‘What should my account name be?’
I needed to appear like a formidable crafting Awakener, and considering the average age of crafting Awakeners, a slightly older-sounding nickname seemed appropriate.
Several candidates came to mind, but after much thought, I settled on the nickname ‘Golden Hand.’ This should definitely make me seem like a crafting Awakener.
It sounded suitably mature and serious, and above all, I liked that it matched the colors of my wings, tail, and horns.
Immediately after creating the account, I posted on the Hunter Gallery’s marketplace bulletin board. Since I needed money urgently, I set the price slightly lower than the market rate. I also didn’t forget to copy the item’s description, as was customary for item transactions.
—-
[A-rank | Handmade Flame-attribute Dagger for 80 million Won.]
[Golden Hand]
(A picture of a flaming dagger and a small hand holding it.)
It is described as sharp, capable of emitting flames, and unaffected by attacks below a certain level.
I would prefer to conduct the transaction near XX-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul.
—-
*Ding!*
Less than a few seconds after posting, a comment appeared.
[ㅇㅇ] [You idiot, at least tell a plausible lie.]
“A-a lie…?”
If this was the reaction, wouldn’t others also dismiss my weapon as a lie? I immediately posted a rebuttal.
[Golden Hand] [It’s real. I’m a crafting Awakener.]
ㄴ [ㅇㅇ] [There aren’t even 5 Awakeners in Korea who can make A-rank items, what are you talking about lol;;]
ㄴ [Bishop] [Seriously, A-rank items can’t be made even with materials. Your hand looks like a primary schooler’s, go study.]
The gallery’s reaction was beyond cold—it was sharp and biting. Of course, even I found the situation hard to believe, but the fact that I had created an A-rank weapon was real.
A deep sense of injustice welled up in my chest.
Regardless of my feelings, the barrage of comments didn’t stop.
[Edge] [I have 10,000 golden calves at home lol]
[ㅇㅇ] [This person is a Living National Treasure, apparently.]
[ㅇㅇ] [Must have an S-rank skill or something ㅋㅋ]
“Ugh… but it’s real…!”
Tears threatened to spill from the constant stream of mocking comments, but there was nothing I could do.
I couldn’t reveal to the world that I possessed an SSS-rank skill, nor could I show it to them directly.
All I could do was sniffle with my hungry stomach, waiting for the post to be pushed down and the comments to quiet down.
*Ding!*
After a long while, another notification rang.
Even though I knew it would likely be another mocking comment, I couldn’t help but check my phone.
However, this time, the comment was of an entirely different kind.
