02. A visitor from the future (8)

When I first saw Baek Ji-soo’s rusty sword, I struggled with how to save it somehow.

I thought about melting it with acid or grinding the surface with a grinder, but there was a risk that too much of the iron would be scraped off if it was that heavily oxidized iron.

When I was wondering if there was a way to restore the sword while minimizing the damage, the method that came to my mind after seeing Yoon Seo-hee was metal electrolysis.

“… So, is this why you called me?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

I laid out the items needed for electrolysis on the floor.

A long plastic tub, wire, pliers, water, salt, and baking soda.

Actually, I could have worked in the workshop in the basement, but this work is quite time consuming.

It’s August, so the season is midsummer, and it’s hot even at night these days. In particular, there is no air conditioning in the workshop, so it is like a steam room.

Yoon Seo-hee seems to be weak in the heat, so she reluctantly decided to work in my air-conditioned room.

“Haa… I knew it.”

Yoon Seo-hee exhales a long sigh as she stretches out as if her tension has been released. The expression on his face was very dejected.

“What’s wrong with your expression?”

“Not really? Someone just made me look stupid.”

She’s the one who sheds her eyes lightly. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t figure out why she was upset.

So I decided to prioritize what I need to do now rather than what can’t be solved by thinking about it.

“Anyway, what should I do?”

“Just watch.”

Baek Ji-su took the sword she had brought and held it in her hand.

A rusty sword whose entire surface is rotten and rusted, making it impossible to guess its original shape.

Moreover, to restore the sword, you had to take it out of the scabbard, but it was a perfect situation for it to break if you gave it the wrong strength.

“Is this the sword? Wow… Are you going to fix this? Is it possible?”

“If you try that, you will understand, right?”

To save the blade inside, I decided to disassemble the scabbard, unfortunately.

Put a sharp chisel like a carving knife into the elongated seam of the scabbard.

I twisted the handle of the chisel as hard as I could when I thought it was engaged to some degree.

Crash! The sound of the rotten wood breaking was heard and the scabbard split in two.

“Ummm….”

The interior revealed as the sheath cracked was even more miserable.

A blade that is completely rusted and corroded, and no intact parts can be found. The appearance of the oxide sticking to it was very serious.

“That, can be used to fix it, right? It looks like it will break just by swinging it.”

Yoon Seo-hee opened her mouth with a somewhat tired expression.

I agree with that opinion.

“Probably not. It’s been rusted all the way to the inside, and its durability has been severely compromised. We should be satisfied with the level of restoring even the outer appearance.”

“I see. Something is missing.”

I recall the expression of Baek Ji-soo, who looked at the broken staff and sword with eyes of despair.

I’m sorry too. I didn’t know the wand, but I hoped I could fix the sword.

Still, I should try as much as I can.

Now that the scabbard has been disassembled, it is time to disassemble the hilt and blade. It has to be immersed in a solution to allow an electric current to flow through it, but the hilt should not be attached to it.

The hilt was also corroded, so it was difficult to take a closer look, but it was noticeable that the tang and hilt were fixed with a single pin.

Is this brass? Fixing it to prevent disassembly was like a technique used only when making traditional swords.

The hilt and blade of a Japanese sword can be easily dismantled so that a swordsman can clean it himself, but this sword was not like that.

‘I’ll have to break it like a scabbard.’

The hilt was also carefully disassembled using a chisel and hammer.

After forcibly disassembling the hilt and the bridge of the nose, leaving only the blade, the restoration is finally ready.

I made an aqueous solution by filling a plastic container full of water and sprinkling it with baking soda and salt.

Then, I connected the minus wire to the disassembled blade, and connected the plus wire to a pair of fine pliers, and put it in the aqueous solution.

Yoon Seo-hee looked at it curiously.

“Why are you putting that in water?”

“Sodium bicarbonate helps to remove the oxide film of metal, and salt increases the conductivity of water.”

“Ugh… ?”

“And through the reactivity of the metal, the oxidized metal is reduced. Because electrons flow from minus to plus, the rust clinging to the knife is transferred to these pliers. You can easily say that this is electrolysis.”

“Is that so? I understand.”

Yoon Seo-hee shakes her head slowly with a completely incomprehensible expression.

It’s from a high school textbook, but wouldn’t it be a bit dangerous if you don’t understand this?

I even tried to explain it as simply as possible.

Suddenly, I was worried about Yoon Seo-hee’s grades in her science class.

I twisted the split wire into one and put it in Seohee Yoon’s hand.

“Now you are playing the role of a battery. Just hold this wire and pass the current through it.”

“… What kind of Pikachu am I?”

Yoon Seo-hee pouted her lips in a somewhat dissatisfied attitude while holding the wire obediently.

I didn’t understand what she was saying at first.

“Pikachu? What is that?”

Yoon Seo-hee, her eyes widened as if she had heard nonsense.

“What? Lee Jin-i, don’t you know Pikachu?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why do you know, the yellow mouse that appears in bread that is very popular in the academy these days!”

“Ah… Poke bread?”

The name of the character appearing there was Pikachu.

I wasn’t really interested in fashion, so I didn’t know at all.

The bread didn’t look very tasty, so I couldn’t understand why everyone was freaking out because they couldn’t find it.

“Oh my God. There really are kids like this….”

Yoon Seo-hee looked at me curiously, as if she had seen a natural monument in person.

“Don’t you watch TV at home?”

“Almost? Just watch the news.”

Her grandfather used to enjoy watching printed newspapers rather than TV, and I also enjoyed going down to the studio and tapping iron while watching TV.

You can search the necessary data sufficiently with your smartphone.

I changed the topic because it seemed like the conversation kept taking a weird turn.

“Anyway, can you do as I say?”

“That’s not difficult. How much should I shed?”

“It doesn’t matter if the output is high. And there is one more condition, but it must be an aura attribute conversion, not a normal current.”

“Aura?”

I nodded.

As confirmed earlier with the analysis skill, this sword did not become like this due to normal corrosion.

A skill or item that corrodes things. I could see that it was rust created by such magic.

Unlike ordinary rust, rust created by magic cannot be disassembled by ordinary science.

That’s why I thought that an aura, the most pure collection of magical powers, or even an electric current converted into properties of that aura would be the most effective way to restore this sword.

“Okay. Is it okay if I pour in an aura?”

Yoon Seo-hee takes out a small magic stone from her pocket.

When guilds and companies asked for sponsorship after the final practical exam, she refused most of them, but she decided to accept only one item.

An item crystal that stores equipment.

It was an item received from the Hunter Association.

Flash! A cloud of blue light continues, revealing Yoon Seo-hee’s exclusive sword, a golden lanyard.

She grabbed the golden hilt and drew her sword.

Sureureung! The blue-edged blade glistened in the moonlight streaming in from outside the window.

“…… ?”

It was cool, but I couldn’t understand Yoon Seo-hee’s intention of pulling out her sword out of the blue.

“Why did you choose that?”

“Ah! Well, if you don’t do this, the aura won’t come out… Lol.”

Yoon Seo-hee smiles cutely, perhaps trying to hide her embarrassing feelings.

She closes her eyes and begins to concentrate, holding a golden ribbon in one hand and a wire in the other.

Siss – The magical power flowing through the heart rises in golden light.

She felt the faint scent of orchids on the tip of her nose.

A rusty sword in an aqueous solution with bubbling bubbles.

The effect of the Aura was indeed excellent, and the rust was peeling off at a speed that was visible to the naked eye, incomparable to normal electrolysis.

“Ugh, what does this smell like?”

“Hydrogen gas. Don’t drink too deep.”

This is a natural phenomenon that occurs because water is also decomposed along with metal.

As an Awakener, you won’t get much of a problem, but it’s harmful to the human body, so it’s not good to inhale it.

Hydrogen gas escaped out the window riding on the wind from the air conditioner that was turned on.

It must have been about 10 minutes in that state, when the aqueous solution had completely turned yellow and the inside could no longer be seen, I started talking.

“You can stop now, Seohee.”

“Yes… I didn’t think it would get any better than this. hahahaha.”

Yoon Seo-hee, exhausted to the utmost, stretched her shoulders and laid her wires.

All of her auras are good, but she takes too much of her mana. Rather, Yoon Seo-hee’s magical power, which lasted for 10 minutes, was amazing.

‘It took longer than expected.’

Rust withstood the aura surprisingly well. I thought it would be over in a few minutes, but the persistence exceeded my expectations.

Who are you? It seems like an unusual skill to have this level of magical power.

And I was curious about the identity of Baek Ji-soo, who was presumed to have been attacked by such a person.

If you’re curious, you won’t know right away, but I took the visibly rusted sword out of the solution and carefully cleaned the remaining debris with a wire brush.

It had already been completely corroded by iron oxide to the inside, and only half of the rust-disappeared black remained.

However, the remaining half was enough to determine what this sword was.

“This is….”

A half-blade clearly visible. A congratulatory inscription engraved on the sword face and 28 constellations densely engraved.

A sword that slashes evil and ward off calamity.

It was the appearance of the death sword.