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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 26
Name: Choi Cheol-gwan.
Due to a tough family situation, he started doing odd jobs at a blacksmith’s forge—already rare at the time—when he was just twelve.
Persuaded by others who said it’d be wise to learn a real skill, he ended up living like a relic in an ultra-modern era, surviving on molten metal and dedicating his entire life to pounding steel.
Though blacksmithing was all but obsolete thanks to automation, once the era of the Rifts began, it suddenly became one of the most vital professions out there.
Not only inside the Rifts but also outside them, monsters began appearing that modern weaponry couldn't touch—so they had to be taken down using the oldest tools in the book:
Swords. Spears. Axes. Hammers.
And among those in the weapon-making trade, Choi Cheol-gwan became well-known for a particular skill—He had a natural talent for working with monster materials and mana stones—materials machines couldn’t easily process.
So, within the hero world, he earned a solid rep as a top-tier weaponsmith.
Hyun Jooyeon, too, was connected to him through her uncle, who ran STONE MAN, and had been doing business with Choi for a while.
Long story short: this guy was a blacksmith even S-rank heroes trusted.
“Non-metal materials like the fang of a Giant Blackfang Serpent—no matter how you process it, you can’t make the weapon any larger than its original size.”
Unlike metal, which could be forged into almost any shape or size, non-metals—especially bones and other parts from monster bodies—were extremely limited in how much they could be resized.
Sure, you could try to push the limits, but doing so would tank the weapon’s durability or completely negate its natural advantages.
Hearing this, Dojun stared at the two fangs of the Giant Blackfang Serpent and asked—
“What if we just used one instead of two?”
“One?”
Cheol-gwan immediately got what Dojun was suggesting.
“Hmm… I’ve never tried something like that before, so I can’t say for sure how it’ll turn out.”
He was willing to give it a shot, but couldn’t promise results. Dojun shrugged like it didn’t matter.
“We can always get more material. No harm in trying.”
Dojun was strong enough now that he could flatten the Bamseom Gate in under an hour.
His mana had vastly increased—and more importantly, after absorbing the Eternal Ember, he could now wield fire—the most fatal element to the Giant Blackfang Serpent.
“If that’s the case, I’ve got no reason not to try.”
“Length matters, sure—but mana absorption rate takes priority.”
“I know.”
As Dojun nodded to Cheol-gwan’s reply, his son, Choi Gang-su, who’d been listening with a sour expression, finally snapped—
“Hey! How old are you, anyway? Twenty-five? And yet you’ve been casually talking down to my dad this whole time! Don’t you know he’s way older than you?! Just because you’re a hero, you think you can ignore age and talk however you want?”
Yeah, what had been bugging Gang-su all along was Dojun’s casual, honorific-dropping tone.
Sure, he was a little intimidated—Dojun clearly had insane power—but he was still the one asking for a favor, wasn’t he?
“Age?”
Dojun let out a chuckle.
His body might’ve been twenty-three, but in reality, he was Karserian, the Sword God from a ruined world—well past fifty in Earth years.
He was also the heir to a high-ranking noble house, where using honorifics was beneath him.
So no, he wasn't about to suddenly start talking politely to Choi Cheol-gwan, who was barely ten years older.
“How old are you, huh?!”
Gang-su glared at him. Dojun looked over at Cheol-gwan and asked—
“You feel the same?”
“Would be a lie to say I’m not uncomfortable. Ahem.”
Cheol-gwan’s discomfort was clear. Dojun decided to take a beat and reassess.
’If I’m going to live in this body… fine, I’ll follow the rules of this world.’
In his past life, that would've been unthinkable—but now, having adapted somewhat to life on Earth, he figured he could adjust.
“I’ll be more careful going forward.”
The sudden shift in Dojun’s tone caught both Gang-su and Cheol-gwan off guard.
They’d met too many heroes who acted like they were above everyone else just because they had powers.
Plenty of young heroes especially strutted around like Earth was their aristocratic playground, dropping informal speech left and right.
Gang-su assumed Dojun was just another one of those punks, ready to scoff and throw sarcasm back at him. But instead, Dojun switched up too easily—and Gang-su didn’t know what to do with that.
“Y-Yeah, well, good. Watch yourself.”
“But not you.”
Dojun turned back to Gang-su and resumed his casual tone.
Gang-su’s face twisted.
“I’m twenty-eight, okay?!”
Trying to assert at least some seniority.
“I’ll be waiting for your call.”
Dojun smoothly ignored him and walked out.
“Hey! HEY! How old are you?! You’re younger than me, aren’t you?! Call me hyung next time! You hear me?!”
As Gang-su yelled after Dojun’s retreating back, Cheol-gwan clicked his tongue, then quietly slipped into his workshop behind the steel door.
＊ ＊ ＊
There’s a saying: rumors travel faster than the wind.
The eighth newly-registered S-Rank hero in South Korea.
The Hero Association tried to keep it under wraps as best they could—but really, when has a secret ever stayed buried in this world?
Especially when we’re talking about an S-Rank hero, a rank so rare that even worldwide, the total number barely exceeds 300. No matter how tightly you clamp down, word will get out.
“Even the National Assembly and the Blue House are asking whether we should officially announce the identity of the eighth S-Rank hero.”
At that comment from Park Seong-cheol, Vice Chairman of the Hero Association—and practically a government official in all but name.
Na Taehwang furrowed his brow, the gesture barely noticeable.
But without missing a beat, he turned to Deputy Director Min Hong-gi, seated across from him.
“What’s your take, Deputy Min?”
After all, Min Hong-gi was the only one in the room who had actually met Seo Dojun in person. His opinion mattered.
“Hero Seo Dojun never explicitly requested that his identity remain private. That said, I also don’t think we’re in a position to assume he’s okay with going public. What’s clear is that we need to reach out to Hero Seo Dojun directly and get his final say on the matter.”
“Now that just sounds strange, Deputy Min. Since when does the Association wait on individual heroes for permission before making decisions? Who comes first—the Association, or the hero?”
Park Seong-cheol’s voice sharpened.
“Let’s be real here. This isn’t about doing the guy a favor. These days, heroes are national power. Announcing the arrival of another S-Rank hero is a national triumph. Why would we keep good news like that a secret? Even if the man himself isn’t on board, shouldn’t we be figuring out how to reveal it anyway?”
Park Seong-cheol had been going in on Min Hong-gi, but now he turned his words toward Na Taehwang.
In terms of power dynamics, the Association was clearly the one holding the reins.
Sure, individual heroes were formidable, but the Association was the one with the infrastructure—the systems to connect them, the global network to organize them. It was a force to be reckoned with.
Unless every hero on Earth decided to rebel at once (which wasn’t happening), even an S-Rank couldn’t afford to brush off the Association’s authority.
“And if revealing his identity would inconvenience him in some way, then it’s the Association’s duty to respect that.”
Na Taehwang’s calm reply made Park Seong-cheol’s expression visibly twist in annoyance.
“Still, the Vice Chairman has a point. In unstable times like these, announcing a new S-Rank hero would bring joy and hope to the public. Deputy Min—go ahead and contact Hero Seo Dojun.”
Barely had Na Taehwang finished speaking before Park Seong-cheol pushed further.
“Strike while the iron’s hot. Call him NOW.”
“Sorry—now?”
“What, are you saying a short conversation needs to wait days? Just call him.”
Deputy Min Hong-gi glanced over at Na Taehwang, who gave him a reluctant nod.
His displeasure with Park Seong-cheol was obvious, but a nod was a nod.
The man was the Vice Chairman of the Association. Ignoring him wasn’t so simple.
“Understood.”
With a reluctant sigh, Min Hong-gi pulled out his phone.
He quickly found Dojun’s contact and began dialing.
- We are currently unable to connect your call, as the recipient's location cannot be verified. Please try again later…
“It’s most likely he’s entered a gate.”
Deputy Director Min Hong-gi said.
Vice Chairman Park Seong-cheol immediately jumped in.
“Then contact the Gate Control Center and find out which gate it is. If the call won’t go through, then go there in person and get a response. Sooner, the better.”
Min Hong-gi wasn’t thrilled about being ordered around as if this was some national emergency, but with Park hounding him like it was a matter of life and death to get Seo Dojun’s identity made public, he had no choice but to call the Gate Control Center.
Even then, they couldn't track Dojun’s location.
“Isn’t going out of signal range what usually happens when someone enters a gate?”
Park asked, brow furrowed.
“There’s one other possibility.”
Min replied.
”It’s likely Hero Seo Dojun entered a Rift.”
“A Rift? S-rank really is a different breed. Get in touch with the Rift Management Center.”
The call to the Rift Management Center went through.
“He’s been confirmed. Hero Seo Dojun is currently inside the Paju Rift.”
Unlike gates—which were sometimes so safe they were jokingly called ‘fish farms’—Rifts were extremely dangerous. That made it difficult to simply dispatch someone to contact Dojun.
In short, they’d have to wait until Dojun came out on his own.
“Tch! If we’d made a decision just a little earlier, we wouldn’t be wasting time like this!”
Park clicked his tongue repeatedly in visible frustration.
“If it’s Paju, that’s a level-2 Rift. Who’s on his team?”
Curious about Seo Dojun—especially since so little was known about him—Chairman Na Taehwang leaned forward and asked Min, eager to learn who Dojun associated with and which guilds he might be connected to.
Min checked the logs sent over from the Rift Management Center and looked up, baffled.
“Well… it looks like he went in alone. Today’s entry log for the Paju Rift lists only Hero Seo Dojun.”
Na couldn’t hide his surprise. He quickly recomposed himself and asked calmly.
“Were there any heroes or guilds who went in earlier?”
“There was a guild that entered a week ago, but they all exited this morning. Since then, Seo Dojun’s the only one on record.”
“He didn’t just go in early and wait for the others? Maybe he was supposed to meet someone after going in first?”
Min double-checked the Rift entry reservation list on his tablet.
“…As of now, there are no other registered entrants. It appears… he really did go in alone.”
Min’s tone left little room for doubt. Na Taehwang focused on trying to understand the situation. Meanwhile, Park Seong-cheol let loose.
“Deputy Director Min, this Seo Dojun guy… is he out of his damn mind? What kind of lunatic enters a Rift—and a level-2 one at that—alone?”
To him, Seo Dojun was nothing more than a madman.
＊ ＊ ＊
All of a sudden, Dojun had become a lunatic—a madman.
He was now alone inside the Paju Rift.
A vast, open plain stretched out before him.
It was so eerily quiet, it almost felt deserted.
But anyone who knew what this place really was would never let their guard down.
KUKWAGAGAGA!
Without warning, the ground split open.
A massive monster, shaped like an enormous earthworm, burst from the earth’s surface like a breaching dolphin—then vanished back underground just as quickly.
A Giant Ground Worm.
It was the first monster one had to face in the Paju Rift.
Dojun knelt and pressed his hand to the ground.
From beneath the plains, he could sense—clearly and precisely—the number of Giant Ground Worms writhing wildly below.
“Let’s see how many of you make it out alive.”
His mana surged into the ground like a flood.
Then—
BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
The earth exploded in bursts.
The Giant Ground Worms were launched into the air, ripping through the soil—and then, like fireworks, they burst apart midair one after another.
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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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