01. A sword for you (18)

After school, Yoon Seo-hee was choosing a menu at a cafe in front of the academy.

‘What does Jinnie Lee like?’

Seeing what you ate the other day, it seems like you don’t like anything too sweet. After thinking about which dessert to buy for a long time, I chose the fruit pudding.

I think it will be okay since the fruit is refreshing. She also packed coffee to drink with dessert.

Lately she hasn’t had time to talk to him leisurely. Yoon Seo-hee was busy after school because of her on-campus volunteer work, and Kim Yi-jin was so busy after class that she headed straight home.

Of course I know why you are so busy. He must be still working hard on making swords.

‘Am I good at making it?’

I wondered how long it was made. There is no time to ask questions at school, and even if you try to contact them on your smartphone, they have not been able to repair it since the last time it was harvested.

So, on the day when the on-campus volunteer service was over, I was on my way home, barely making time for it.

Ijin Kim’s house is a 10-minute walk from the academy. It wasn’t even a complicated road, so she got there in no time.

Ding Dong-

Ring the bell in front of the front door and wait for a while.

[Yes, who are you?]

I heard Jini Lee’s grandfather’s voice through the speaker. Yoon Seo-hee straightened her posture and opened her mouth with her polite tone.

“Hello, Grandpa. This is Lee Jin’s friend, Seo Hee. She came to see Lee Jin, can she excuse me for a second?”

[Oh, it’s Seohee. Don’t open it now.]

It’s rattled. The door opens automatically as if she manipulated the sensor. Yoon Seo-hee went inside with a somewhat nervous look.

‘Let’s not be nervous. There’s no reason to be nervous, right? I just came to see a friend.’

Of course, it’s rude to come suddenly without saying anything, so I thought I’d give her grandfather a gift, and when I met Lee Jin-yi, she would only give her dessert as a gift of thanks and hard work.

Checking how many swords have been made is just a combination. She had already made her vow in her heart that she would never be disappointed no matter what sword was forged.

Upon reaching her front door, her grandfather, Lee Jin, greeted her by opening the door for her.

“Come on. She said Lee Jin came to see her?”

“Yes. Are you at home now?”

“There is, but… I don’t know if anyone has a chance to meet.”

“Ah, did you come to see me when I was in a bad mood?”

Did you get sick somewhere? Concern flashed across Yoon Seo-hee’s expression.

“It’s not like that… Mmm. It would be quicker for her to come and see for herself. Would you like to come in?”

“Sure. Excuse me… oh, grandpa This is a small gift.”

I handed over the wagashi set I bought at a department store with great enthusiasm to my grandfather. It was so small that it was just embarrassing. If she had more money in her wallet, she could have bought something more affordable.

But Lee Jin’s grandfather, who received the envelope from the department store, only smiled benevolently.

“Did you buy it because you were thinking about this old lady? Thank you so much.”

“Have a meal with Lee Jin later.”

“Okay, let’s do that. Actually, Seohee, I want to ask you to eat together too….”

Kaang-!

Yoon Seo-hee was surprised and shrugged her shoulders.

The sound of strong metal clashing against metal resonated from her basement.

“This sound… Is this Jinyi?”

“Heh heh, it’s because once I’m so engrossed in my work, it doesn’t come out at all. They’re doing that without even skipping meals.”

“Yes? Really?”

Since I came late after the school volunteer work, it is now well past 7pm.

You haven’t even eaten until now, and you’re focusing on making swords.

Lee Jin’s grandfather continued her words while looking at the coffee and dessert in her hands.

“Did you bring that for Lee Jin?”

“Ah, yes….”

It’s a dessert I bought, thinking I’d already had dinner due to time. I didn’t think that I would not be able to eat.

“Due to his personality, it will take a long time before it ends, so why don’t you bring it yourself, Seo-hee?”

“Can I? I just don’t want to disturb you.”

“It will be fine. I’d love to know you’re here.”

If the one and only family says that, there is no reason to refuse.

Yoon Seo-hee nodded her head and went down the stairs to her basement.

Kaang-! Caang-!

Since she set foot in her house, the sound of hammering has continued non-stop.

She said the road down to the basement was old and old, but she was never messy. She even felt that it was rather old-fashioned, perhaps because of the steady human touch.

She hadn’t even made it all the way down the stairs yet, but she could already feel the heat.

Under the stairs leading to the basement, a reddish light could be seen from inside the door leading to the basement.

“Kim Yi-jin?”

Yoon Seo-hee only peeked her head through the door to check her inside. She felt that stepping her foot in someone else’s workshop was something she should refrain from doing.

She talks to her first, and when Kim Yi-jin notices her, she then lets her in.

She thinks so and she looks inward.

Kaang-!

“… ….”

Yoon Seo-hee froze at the sight in front of her eyes.

Beside the brazier where the hot flames roared, Kim Yi-jin was hitting red-hot iron with a hammer.

Perhaps it was because he had been sweating a lot from working for a long time, and he didn’t know where to throw off the sweaty top that couldn’t function properly.

Every time she grabs her hammer and strikes it, her flexed forearms and back muscles wriggle. Upper body muscles that repeat expansion and relaxation without rest. The appearance of her lean body swollen to the limit and pulsating even looked majestic somewhere.

‘Wow….’

Yoon Seo-hee, who did not expect to see a male body this close and in this way, was fascinated for a moment and admired Kim Yi-jin, who was engrossed in her work.

When she went around in school uniform, she had a look she never imagined. Her shock at the realization that she was a harmless herbivore turned out to be a beast of prey in the wild, and she even marveled, albeit briefly, at the delicate texture of its muscles.

She was now a rather shocking sight for a seventeen-year-old girl.

‘What?’

While admiring her muscles in awe, Seohee Yoon noticed something about her belatedly.

I wondered if I had seen it wrong at first because of the light from the blazing hearth, but I saw scars like burn marks all over Kim Yi-jin’s body after taking off her top.

No, it didn’t look like a burn mark, it really was a burn mark.

Read at noblemtl.com

Vivid scars of mottled appearance from burns on the back of her hand and forearm, from her shoulder to her chest.

Read at noblemtl.com

Just by looking at it for a moment, I could tell that it was proof of the efforts he had made in front of the flames.

It was only then that Yoon Seo-hee caught Kim I-jin’s face in her eyes.

The sunken eyes and tightly closed mouth as if deeply focused.

Beads of sweat form on his forehead and flow down to his chin, but he doesn’t mind at all.

Her eyes never take her eyes off the red-hot iron, and she continues to hammer while holding the iron tightly with her tongs.

He was concentrating all his nerves on the sword.

“… ….”

What should I do?

I can’t help but put it into words.

Yoon Seo-hee placed the coffee and dessert on the floor, paying attention to the sound of her breathing, then turned her back and quietly left the same way she had come.

When she came up to the first floor, her grandfather, Lee Jin, greeted her, still sitting in her living room.

“Are you up already? Did you say hello to Lee Jin?”

“… Nope.”

Yoon Seo-hee hesitated and then shook her head.

How can you talk to someone who makes a sword with such sincere and upright eyes?

Even what he was making was my sword and nothing else.

I was very curious about what it would look like if it was completed, but even if she, an outsider, was next to her, it was just a hindrance.

“Grandpa, I’ll go alone.”

“Are you leaving already? It’s okay to have a little more.”

“It’s okay. If it’s too late, you might miss the bus.”

“I see. Enter carefully.”

“Yes, good bye. I’ll see you next time.”

Yoon Seo-hee hurried out of Lee Jin’s house as if she were running away. The reason was because of her shyness.

“Haa….”

Her face turned red like a ripe tomato. He put the palm of her hand on his cheek, and it was hot like a fire.

It must have been influenced by the heat of the forge. She decided to think so.

–

After finishing all the forging work, I got up after a long time to catch my breath.

I felt a burning thirst in my throat. As she drank a glass of water and left the studio thinking that she had to start working again, something caught her eye.

“What is this?”

Coffee and boxes?

I suddenly wondered what kind of coffee it was, and when I looked at it, the ice had all melted and the coffee had become lukewarm.

When I opened the box, I found fruit flavored pudding.

Did Grandpa leave it behind? I just wanted to eat something sour.

I climbed the stairs and found my grandfather in the living room.

“Grandpa, did you leave this?”

“No, Seo-hee left it.”

“Yoon Seo-hee?”

When did he come and go? No, if you come, say hello and go.

I wonder if he was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t even know who was at the door.

It’s unfortunate, but you can’t bring someone who has already left. I put the pudding in the fridge and drank only the lukewarm coffee.

Are you okay? Maybe it’s because of the caffeine, but it seems to give me a little strength.

I returned to the studio and started working. Forging work is now complete.

I laughed with satisfaction as I looked at the iron hunk trimmed in the shape of a long sword that was nearly 130 cm from the hilt to the tip.

It would be a big deal if the steel used as the core was mixed while extending the sword face, but fortunately the seal was finished safely. The balance between soft iron and steel was caught in an ideal shape.

However, it cannot be called a sword yet. A knife that has not been polished is just a lump of iron.

Forged iron has a bumpy surface, so you have to sharpen the outside to make it shiny and set the blade. If you have a grinder, you can use it to sharpen the blade. Then sharpening the blade is simple.

But there is no such tool here. So, in the traditional way, in other words, everything has to be hand-stitched.

A whetstone is what you need at such times. I took out three sharpening stones and set them side by side on the floor.

In order from left to right, these are a coarse grinding stone, a medium grinding stone, and a finishing grinding stone. At first, you should sharpen the blade on a coarse whetstone, then gradually move on to a finer grindstone.

“I’m going to sleep tonight as well.”

I patted my waist, grabbed the sword with both hands, and began to sharpen the blade.