"Thank you for coming to my retirement party."
"Of course. When I was a porter, you were the only one who gave me equipment."
"Yes, Dojun. Your equipment has saved my life more than once."
A small party room.
There were three people gathered in the party room.
Although they were all Awakened, they were D- to F-ranked Awakened, receiving mediocre evaluations in society.
"Thank you for your words. Really."
Gu Do-jun looked at the faces of the gathered friends.
Today was his retirement ceremony.
Since awakening 10 years ago, I've dreamed of a rosy future, but I've been unable to rise above F rank.
"Who knew I would have mana insensibility?"
All Awakened are born with mana.
The moment you awaken, mana is created in your body. Mana is usually created near the heart, but there are some people who, despite awakening, have extremely low odds of not creating mana.
"When I went to the hospital, that's what they said."
It was a fairly familiar story to those gathered here.
It was natural. It was a story that Do-jun repeated over and over again whenever he got drunk.
"You have mana insufficiency. Now that the examination is over, please take your medicine."
That's what he said. So I asked him how he got mana insufficiency, and he said he didn't know. It can't be cured, and taking medicine won't make it better, so why are you giving him medicine?"
Dojun shouted in anger as if he had gone back in time. Of course, Dojun knew.
Doctors are not gods. Doctors simply examine patients to the best of their ability and prescribe medicine accordingly.
"What do you mean, mana insensibility is a cold? Huh?"
Of course, it came as a huge shock to Do-jun who was in despair.
"Let's just talk about happy stories. Just happy stories! All those things are over. You're going back to farming? I heard that's the trend these days."
"You've worked hard for 10 years, hyung. You must have a lot of money. It would be perfect if you built a house in the countryside and lived there. It would be worth the effort to live in a place with good air. Who knows, you might even discover a mine of elixirs in that countryside?"
Dojun was thinking of returning to farming after this retirement ceremony.
I've been working hard for 10 years.
Items from creators without mana are not considered artifacts by default.
Since it was no different from items made by private manufacturers, it naturally did not receive the seal of the manufacturing association.
No matter how good the quality is, it can only be treated as cheap.
Because of this, the items Dojun made had to go to the craftsman's workshop and sell them directly.
The Artisan's Workshop Street was a kind of exclusive market that emerged after the Age of Awakening.
It is a place that sells a lot of items that the Awakened need, and since it is not a place where companies specialize in selling, but rather a place where individuals run their own businesses, there is a wide variety of items.
Items made by awakened crafters without mana could only be sold on the artisan's street.
Because not only large corporations but even small and medium-sized businesses won't accept it.
Of course, Dojun's stuff sold well in many ways.
"Hyung, you really worked hard. I was surprised. That Mr. Kim from Golden Hand Workshop. He may seem like a nice person, but he clearly distinguishes between work and personal life. He's the kind of guy who won't even acknowledge you as a creator if you can't make something properly. But you received all your stuff! It's good that your stuff is of good quality, but he recognized your hard work. That guy."
"You don't know how hard I tried to get the deal done. It was fortunate that I had the ability to grant options. If I didn't have that, no matter how hard I tried, President Kim would never have accepted the item."
For ten years, Dojun lived without a partner.
It had to be that way. Dojun, who lost his parents during the Dungeon Crush and
was left alone, had no choice but to live alone in order to survive.
Dojun smiled every day. He tried to build connections by smiling as much as possible, believing that you can't spit on a smiling face.
There were wrinkles around his eyes from that smile.
Do-jun's once sharp expression had now completely turned into a smile.
It wasn't something I wanted to do.
I have become a person who smiles in order to live.
Of course, Dojun thought of himself as a medalist, but in a corner of his heart, the thought of it being a stigma still lingered.
It's not that the smiling face was bad. It's just that Do-jun didn't like it because it was just a stigma that proved his inferiority complex.
"To be honest, I think I should quit too."
The only one in his 40s, Hansoo, sighed deeply.
"Han Soo-hyung. You shouldn't say things like that. You're the highest rank amo ng us. D-rank has always been my goal."
"But it's a level that doesn't even get recognized on the field. It's a level that just lays the floor."
Dojun and Sehyun looked stricken at Hansoo's words. If he, a D-rank, is going to lay the floor, then what about the two people who are lower ranked than him?
"But I don't regret it. Because I met you guys. It was really nice meeting you guys. We're just low-level Awakened people, you know? Before I met you guys, I had meetings with many low-level Awakened people. Whenever I met them, they always said the same thing. They were just negative, frustrated, and hopeless. I felt like I was going to die."
Hansoo said.
"But it was nice that you guys talked about hope every day. Especially you, Dojun."
He saw Dojun.
"Even while complaining, you don't give up, make plans, work hard, and push through. I was healed by looking at you. When I looked at you, my heart raced because I felt like I could do something too. Even while cursing the situation, I saw you endlessly working hard."
"Actually, I did the same. When I hear your story, I feel like there's hope for me too."
It was in the dungeon that I met two people who were like friends.
The three met in a D-class dungeon and strangely got along well, becoming friends regardless of age.
"sorry."
"What are you sorry for? It's just that I, we just had those feelings.'
"Hyung, you shined so much. Thanks to you, our shadows were more visible, so we worked harder. The results were disappointing, though. Is your life over? Now, i t's time to start again. Even in this vicious Awakened board, you stubbornly persevered, didn't you? You'll do well wherever you go. I'll try a little harder. If it doesn't work out, I'll have a retirement party, so come!"
The three of them drank together and chatted about the past ten years.
It wasn't a retirement decision made in a fit of anger.
I don't know how much I cried after making this decision.
I've lived for 10 years complaining and living in debt.
Because my pride was hurt.
I decided to retire because I felt like if I continued like this, I would end up living like this forever.
People live with a sense of accomplishment.
Even something very simple is fine.
For Dojun, increasing his business clients one by one was a way to gain a sense of accomplishment.
The goal was also to cure mana insufficiency and restore even a little bit of mana.
But these two things reached their limits and I no longer felt a sense of accomplishment.
In short, I just wasted almost a year without accomplishing anything.
"I said retirement and all that, as if it were some grand thing."
All I can do is run away.
"Ugh."
That night.
Dojun took out a wooden box that he had kept deep in the closet.
Inside the fairly large wooden box was a precious material.
"It's more valuable than me. It's none other than an S-grade material."
If there was one day that was the most memorable in the past 10 years, it was the day I obtained this S-class material.
Dojun often followed them into the dungeon, but there was a time when an irregular monster appeared and everyone almost died.
At that time, Dojun pressed the device in the dungeon to try to survive somehow, and as he pressed the device, this crystal ball suddenly popped out.
A crystal ball shining with brilliant colors.
I took a quick look and saw that there was something there, so I took it into my arms and felt emotions.
"S-rank. So, once I can cure my mana insufficiency and make proper equipment, I wanted to use it to make S-rank equipment."
Now it has all become meaningless words.
"I have to sell it."
I was thinking of selling it and going back to farming.
"Yes. Just like Se-hyeon said, there might be a mine of elixirs in the place where he moved to farming, or celebrities might flock there."
Dojun touched the crystal ball as if he felt regret.
Guuung-.
The crystal ball glowed faintly, but Dojun couldn't see it.
And late at night.
Bam-.
The crystal in the box cracked and shattered into smoke.
-The condition has been met.
-The Midas Crystal activates its effect.
"...I feel so bad."
After giving up everything, for some reason I had no motivation at all.
Dojun, who used to wake up at 6 every day without fail, woke up after a long sleep.
"what?"
I definitely came home and slept yesterday. I drank a lot, but not to the point of a blackout.
"Where is this place?"
Dojun was in a very small one-room apartment.
"...wait for a sec.'
What Dojun saw was a mini workshop.
This was a makeshift workshop that Dojun, who had awakened as a creator, had purchased from a second-hand country, and it contained tools that could be used to create equipment, including the artifact, a mini brazier.
"I wrote this 10 years ago?"
Dojun looked around with a blank expression. It was strange. Was he dreaming?
So I started working on the miscellaneous materials that were in the mini workshop.
-Materials are met.
-Craft the equipment.
"What is it?"
-Equipment has been crafted! -Proficiency increases.
The equipment was created.
I just put my hand on it.