“Urgh! Meat, glorious meat!”
Staring at the meat I ordered after so long, my mouth is watering uncontrollably.
How long has it been since I last saw meat like this?
Doesn’t just looking at it make your mouth water?
Grrrrumble!!
“Alright, shall we start slicing?”Â
Clutching my hungry stomach, I begin cooking.Â
Among the cheapest cuts of pork belly, I ended up picking a whole slab.
It’s not something I can grill as is, so I need to prep it first.
I pick up a kitchen knife for the first time in ages.
Worried that dust might taint the precious meat, I rinse the knife with water and carefully bring the blade to the meat.
Press.
“What the heck? What’s going on?”
I had imagined the pork belly slicing smoothly, revealing its beautiful texture.
But reality was far from that.
No matter how much I moved the knife, the meat wouldn’t cut.
Even pushing with force, the blade barely passed through the fat and stopped at the lean meat, just pressing it down.
“Ughhh!”
But I couldn’t give up like this.
Sawing back and forth with effort, I somehow managed to cut it.
However…
“Noooo! My precious pork belly!”
The result was disastrous.
The pork belly I had splurged on was reduced to a mangled mess.
They say food that looks good tastes good too, and since this was a rare treat, I wanted to grill it perfectly. But I failed from the start.
“How much did I even use this knife for it to end up like this?!”
My frustration turned toward the kitchen knife.
Sure, it was a cheap one from a discount store, but this was ridiculous!
Even if I hadn’t maintained it properly and it had been gathering dust for ages, how could it fail to cut pork belly?!
As I debated whether to ruin the rest of the meat just to cook it, something happened.
Flash!Â
“Ugh?!”
A burst of light erupted from my body.
A brilliant golden light, no less.
Startled, I dropped the knife and fell on my butt, and only then did the light fade.
A message appeared before my eyes.
[You have awakened.]
“Awakening?”
Awakening.
How could I not know what that meant?
With gates and monsters suddenly appearing, awakeners are the only ones who can stand against them.
Some awakeners, depending on their abilities, are scouted by guilds with contracts worth billions of won right after awakening.
They say awakeners can use a system, and now, the system message I’d only heard about was right in front of me.
“Status window!”
I hurriedly called out for the status window.
I’d heard that once you awaken, you can check your status.
And sure enough…
[Status Window]
– Name: Seo-jun Jung
– Level: 1
– Job: Blacksmith
– Ability: Heir of Hephaestus (SSS)
– Strength: 10
– Agility: 10
– Health: 10
– Intelligence: 10
– Wisdom: 10
“Ooohhh!”
The status window appeared before me.
This confirmed it—I was an awakener.
Now, the important part was my awakened ability and job.
Seeing the job title “Blacksmith,” I felt relieved that I wouldn’t have to fight monsters.
But when I saw the ability listed next, I couldn’t help but cheer.
“Triple S!”
Awakener abilities are ranked by letters.
From F-grade, the lowest, to SSS-grade, the highest.
Even B-grade awakeners receive incredible treatment and are scouted by countless guilds.
And I got an SSS-grade?!
I hurriedly checked the details of my ability.
[Heir of Hephaestus (SSS)]
– Blessed with the authority of Hephaestus, the god of fire and blacksmithing.
– Increased success rate for crafting.
– Increased crafting speed.
– Upgraded rank of crafted items.
“Oooh!”
I don’t know the details, but it sounds amazing!
It’s an SSS-grade ability, after all!
Skimming through the lengthy description, I checked my job and skills next.
My job was, as expected, a blacksmith.
The kind that swings a hammer to craft equipment.
I was assigned only three skills:
[Crafting]
[Repair]
[Disassemble]
But there was one more—a unique skill tied to “Heir of Hephaestus.”
[Summon Hephaestus’s Hammer]
Hephaestus’s hammer!
I don’t know much, but isn’t Hephaestus one of the twelve Olympian gods?
This has to be good.
With an excited expression, I shouted the skill’s name.
I’d seen on NewTube that awakeners don’t always need to shout skill names, but I didn’t know how else to activate it.
Besides, I’m alone in this room, so who cares?
“Summon Hephaestus’s Hammer!”
*Vroom!*
“Oooh!”
A brilliant light flared before my eyes.
And with it, a hammer appeared!
But…
“It’s… kind of plain?”
It was much more ordinary than I expected.
I thought a god’s hammer would be radiant with golden light and intricate patterns.
But it was just a plain iron hammer.
The only upside? It wasn’t too heavy.
Even with my lack of muscle from living as a shut-in, I could swing it easily.
“So, I use this to activate my skills?”
As a seasoned gamer, I quickly grasped the concept.
Awakener systems are said to resemble games, which is perfect for a shut-in gamer like me.
With three skills at my disposal, crafting required materials, so that wasn’t an option yet.
That left repair and disassemble.
My gaze fell on the kitchen knife I’d dropped earlier.
The dull blade that turned my precious pork belly into a rag.
Could its dulled state be considered low durability?
With that thought, I picked up the hammer.
“Repair!”
As soon as I used the skill, a faint light enveloped the knife.
A point appeared above it.
As a seasoned gamer, I instantly understood its purpose.
I swung the hammer.
Clang!
A crisp metallic sound rang out, and the point vanished.
Another point appeared.
Clang, clang, clang!Â
I swung the hammer repeatedly, like playing a whack-a-mole game.
I’m no stranger to rhythm games—I’ve cleared them all.
Hitting the points in rhythm was easy.
Though the gap between gaming and reality made my swings slightly off, the system seemed forgiving.
After about ten swings, the points stopped appearing.
Instead, the light that had been breaking off with each hit was absorbed into the knife.
[‘Kitchen Knife’ repair completed.]
[Repair increases the kitchen knife’s attack power.]
[Successful repair upgrades the kitchen knife’s rank.]
Thankfully, my first repair was a success.
Hearing that the rank had upgraded, I excitedly shouted, “Check info!”
The knife’s information appeared before me.
[Kitchen Knife]
Type: Sword
Rank: E
Restriction: Level 1 or higher
Description: A cheap kitchen knife purchased from the market. Well-repaired, its blade is razor-sharp.
Attack Power: 15
Ability: 1. Increased cutting power when slicing ingredients or enemies classified as ingredients.
“E-grade?”
Like abilities, items are ranked from F to SSS.
And this knife, which shouldn’t even qualify as an item, went from nothing to E-grade after a single repair?
How is that possible?
Still puzzled, I picked up the knife.
Even at a glance, it looked sharper.
The blade gleamed with a dangerous edge.
“This is E-grade?”
Still skeptical, I moved to the sink.
On the cutting board was the thick slab of pork belly and the mangled piece from earlier.
If this is truly an E-grade weapon, it should cut through pork belly easily.
With that thought, I moved the knife.
The moment the sharpened blade touched the meat, I felt it.
Slice.Â
The pork belly was cut as smoothly as tofu.
The slab that had required sawing was now sliced effortlessly.
“Ooohhh!”
I couldn’t help but exclaim.
The blade was so sharp that with careful movements, I could slice the thawed pork belly as thinly as shaved meat.
Who said a craftsman doesn’t blame their tools?
Even a master chef would be thrilled with this knife.
What chef wouldn’t want a knife that lets a beginner slice thawed meat into 3mm-thin slices?
Slice, slice!Â
Caught up in the excitement, I sliced the pork belly beautifully.
I didn’t even craft this—it’s just a cheap knife I repaired, and it’s this good?
Truly an SSS-grade ability.
“Heir of Hephaestus!”
As I marveled at my ability, my stomach growled again.
Grrrrumble!
“…Right, you can’t see the mountains on an empty stomach!”
I decided to grill the pork belly first and think about next steps later.
“Mmm, this is the taste!”
***
It’s been a while since I had some protein.
While grilling, the smoke set off the fire alarm, but it’s not the first time, so I turned it off and finished cooking.
The pork belly melted in my mouth.
Feeling energized, instead of watching NewTube as usual, I started tinkering with the system.
“Just as I’d heard.”
Status window, skill window, and more.
The system offered plenty to explore.
Then I stumbled upon something.
[Auction House]
“Auction house?”
I’d heard about it.
Awakeners don’t trade items physically in the real world—they use the system for safer, more convenient transactions.
I entered and found an overwhelming variety of items.
And the prices…
“What? A sword for 1 billion won? This one’s 5 billion? Is 5 billion a dog’s name or something?”
It was cutthroat.
A single sword, shield, or armor cost more than a house.
Awakeners make good money, but the item prices were insane.
Scrolling through in shock, I found something more reasonably priced.
[Chipped Goblin Dagger]
Type:Sword
Rank: F
Restriction: Level 1 or higher
Description: A dagger scavenged by a goblin. Heavily used, its teeth are chipped, and dried goblin fluids are caked on the blade.
Attack Power: 8
Ability: 1. Extremely low chance to inflict ‘Paralysis’ on enemies.
It was the cheapest weapon in the weapon category.
Its description even noted it was more for throwing in emergencies than as a main weapon.
The price? 50,000 won.
I couldn’t believe this junk was several times more expensive than my pork belly, but that seemed to be the market price in the awakener world.
“Hmm…”
Looking at that shoddy item, my eyes naturally drifted to my kitchen knife.
It was just sharpened with my repair skill, but it’s higher in rank and attack power than the goblin dagger.
Could I list it on the auction house?
It looked like an ordinary kitchen knife, so I wasn’t sure anyone would buy it.
“Might as well try.”
As a jobless shut-in, I have plenty of time.
Even with an SSS-grade ability, joining a hunter guild full of superhumans felt intimidating.
For now, my stomach was full, so I decided to sleep and think later.
The time was 11:34 AM.
Perfect for a nap.
Drawing the blackout curtains to block the sunlight, I listed the knife on the auction house and dove into my cozy bed.
Tftc!