In 2040, when paper newspapers had disappeared,
Hyunsoo took over the portal rankings of the entire world.
Hyun Kingthe nation of HyunBrand HyunHyunsooLucky LumpAfter sweeping the trending searches clean, breaking news began flooding the world.
Second Ares gives birth to a new king.What was the secret that allowed him to beco king?The User Kingdom Union only ended up giving Hyun wings.The first king is born from the small country of Korea.The whole world was in shock.
The first king is Korean? And a blacksmith?It wasn’t simply because he was a blacksmith.
It was because he was a handcraft blacksmith, one who had stubbornly continued to work by hand even now.
The old videos Hyun had uploaded in the ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ past—
his highlight videos, the docuntary about his father recreating the Furnace Sword, the recreation of Baekje’s Seven-Branched Sword, and more—
all saw their views explode several tis over.
Among the users who played the ga, so naturally took interest in famous figures, while others did not.
In the past, Taker, the world-famous player from the ga Rule who had once led the entire world, had been a global celebrity, yet there were still many who had never watched his ga broadcasts.
This ti, however, it was different.
The first king, Hyun King, is born.The power carried by the title of the first king was beyond common sense.
Even the late-rising posts about him were being thrust into the spotlight.
That highlight video is insane.“I wanted to live”? So the one who wanted to live is the king now?The video exaggerated things. Seriously, users just love making up stories.That’s not exaggeration. His story goes like this: years ago, the forge caught fire—...Am I crying right now????The whole world had no choice but to pay attention to his story.
And when Hyun beca king—when he beca the Hyun King—
[The first king will be special.]
[Users residing in the nation of Hyun receive benefits.]
[Users who have resided there for at least 1 year receive double EXP and artifact drop rates for 1 month.]
[Users who have resided there for less than 1 year receive double EXP and artifact drop rates for 2 weeks.]
Those who had chosen the nation of Hyun and stood with it received rewards worthy of that choice.
Damn it, I should’ve migrated too...Should I migrate even now?Benefits like that stirred people’s impatience.
But they could not migrate.
[The nation of Hyun rejects migrants.]
Because the nation of Hyun had judged that it could no longer handle any more migrants and shut the door completely.
Hmph, it’s not that big a loss.Well, there are plenty of other empires and kingdoms to go to.But the people of the world ca to realize sothing from what the high-rankers were saying.
The people already inside the nation of Hyun are now highly likely to get unique quests available only there. And this is why the ones who migrated were smart.Why?Because if they clear those quests, they could get Normal, Rare, Epic—or if they’re really lucky—even Brand Hyun artifacts....!...!The world was shaken when it realized why the fast-moving users had rushed in.
Portal search sites all over the world began changing again.
how to migrate to the nation of Hyunways to get around migration rejection and still migrateOnly after the fact did people realize just how special the nation of Hyun was and start pounding on its door, but by then it was already too late.
And on top of that, sothing even more shocking happened.
The auction house.
Ares’s unique marketplace, where blacksmiths nad their personal auction houses and sold their goods to users through the auction system.
Like video platforms, it had subscribers, and the rankings changed according to subscriber count.
And a change took place there, at Hyun’s Forge.
[The na of Hyun’s Forge will be changed.]
That na, unchanged for years, shifted at last, and together with the birth of the nation of Hyun, a new na was carved in its place.
[Brand Hyun.]
Even the global branding industry took notice.
Countless people in Ares had tried to build brands.
Real-world brands had also tried to sink roots into the second world called Ares.
But every single one of them had failed.
Only one place had succeeded.
Hyun’s Forge.
And the whole world realized that Brand Hyun was about to explode.
The stream of breaking news erupting everywhere proved it.
Ares auction house temporarily crashes as countless people flood in.Why did so many people gather?Brand Hyun crashes the server the mont it launches.Once the nation of Hyun had been founded, it was only natural that even more people wanted to buy his artifacts.
And the auction house was the only channel through which they could purchase artifacts from Hyun.
The Ares employee in charge of the auction-house system stared in disbelief.
“The subscribers... what is this...?”
As a fellow Korean, the employee could say it with certainty.
Brand Hyun—
“...It made it. No, is ‘made it’ even enough? At this point it’s a complete explosion...”
The plan Hyunsoo had set in motion to create synergy was bearing perfect fruit.
Brand Hyun subscriber count: 166,901,903166 million subscribers.
It had risen to a place of absolute supremacy, one that the forge run by the second-ranked blacksmith Smith could never hope to catch.
Then a notice went up from Brand Hyun.
Hello. This is Hyunsoo, owner of Brand Hyun. The Brand Hyun artifacts we release will include not only my own, but primarily artifacts made by the skilled blacksmiths of our nation of Hyun. For the ti being, sales will be limited to those currently in the nation of Hyun. Thank you.The world let out a collective groan.
He’s clearly saying he’ll take care of his own citizens first.Even if you want to migrate now, you can’t.And nearly half of the users who had already migrated to the nation of Hyun were Korean.
Of course, many of them had empty bank accounts and could not buy what they wanted even if they wanted it badly.
But at a mont when the entire world was focused on the small country called Korea, the deeply nationalistic Koreans surged forward.
To them, the founding of the nation of Hyun hit with almost the sa force as winning the World Cup.
“Woooooooah!”
“Long live the nation of Hyun!”
“Long live it! Long live it!”
Ares changes the world.
It was a famous line from one of the top five businessn in the corporate rankings.
Ares was now another world to the people of Earth, and the power of the first Korean king born there hit even harder precisely because Korea was a small country.
An enormous crowd gathered at the real forge where Hyun lived.
“Woooooooah!”
The number reached into the tens of thousands, and the area was jamd with people who had co to see the first king.
Looking at that scene, Hyein spoke.
“Reporters from all over the world are here in the small city of Gyeongju, and all of you are here with them right now. You don’t want articles going out to the world about disorderly Koreans, do you? Please keep order, and make sure to take your trash back with you. Since you’re already here, I hope you enjoy all the food and attractions Gyeongju has to offer.”
The people of Gyeongju could feel the disturbance that might have erupted from the swelling crowds settling down.
And thanks to Hyein’s words, shops all over Gyeongju saw sales surge by several hundred percent.
Among those rchants were so who, in the past, had bought kitchen knives and other things from the forge.
“Hyunsoo wants all of us to prosper together.”
A city that had been dying ca back to life economically because of a man nad Hyunsoo.
And the Koreans gathered there—
“Let’s toss him!”
“Woooooooah!”
“???”
They were even doing celebratory tosses with an imaginary Hyunsoo, throwing soone who wasn’t even there up into the air.
So of the local rchants even went so far as to suggest putting up a statue of Hyunsoo.
“...That’s embarrassing...”
“......”
But when Hyunsoo trembled red-faced at the thought, that plan fell apart at once.
In any case, change was not limited to that alone.
Kim Jinseop, the attending physician at the hospital where Hyunsoo’s father was staying,
stood looking at the wreaths surrounding the entire hospital.
They were wreaths people had sent from all over the country.
Thank you for giving birth to Hyunsoo.We pray for the recovery of the master blacksmith.Sir, please give your son. —The Masan wrestling team.Jinseop could only stare in amazent.
A few years ago,
Hyunsoo had wandered from construction site to construction site, his whole body covered in burn scars.
His shoulders had sagged every day, and he had beco so severely avoidant that he would look away whenever his eyes t Jinseop’s.
And Jinseop knew that none of it had been Hyunsoo’s fault—that it had all co from the fire.
Now, Hyunsoo had overco all of it and gone beyond becoming a global star.
He was exerting sothing even greater than that.
After returning to his office and changing into his gown, the first place Jinseop headed was the room where Hyunsoo’s father, Hyuntae, was staying.
Jinseop sat down in front of Hyuntae, looked at him in silence for a mont, then smiled faintly.
“...You have a son you can be proud of beyond words.”
Why was it?
Today of all days, Hyuntae’s expression seed even more peaceful than usual.
The television was full of news.
The value of the first king, Hyunsoo, is skyrocketing.The global advertising industry is paying close attention to Hyunsoo, the first king.Desla owner lon Musk has reportedly expressed a desire to et Master Blacksmith Hyun as well.On the TV,
an anchor was talking with Hwan, Korea’s top-ranked player.
Why do companies all over the world want Master Blacksmith Hyunsoo as their model?Master Blacksmith Hyun has never appeared in a single advertisent until now. The fact that he would make his first ad appearance with any one company would itself carry trendous symbolic aning for that company. And on top of that, a user kingdom is bound to be more special than an NPC kingdom.In what way?It’s easy enough to see stadiums covered in advertising boards during soccer matches or baseball gas. Now imagine the entire nation of Hyun covered with promotional material for a single company....That’s enormous.Exactly. That’s the kind of unbelievable achievent the first king brings with him. So naturally, the advertising world would do anything to sign him. And honestly, I knew Master Blacksmith Hyun would end up like this. You know that, right? We’re close.“...?”
Jinseop let out a dry laugh as Hwan boasted on television about his closeness to Hyun.
That’s true enough...
Hyunsoo definitely had never appeared in an ad before.
Which was why Jinseop found himself curious.
If Hyunsoo does appear in an advertisent, where will it be?
The thought of seeing Hyunsoo on TV made him strangely excited.
*****
A black limited-edition BenzX sedan ran down the road.
The person riding in the back seat was Lee Taesung, chairman of Hansung Group.
He focused on the radio broadcast playing through the car.
The value of the first king, Master Blacksmith Hyunsoo, is expected to break all previous records, making him the hottest topic in the advertising world...“You seem to be in a particularly good mood today, Chairman.”
“...Sothing I’d wished for a long ti has finally co true.”
Taesung smiled faintly.
That day at the forge in Gyeongju.
You keep moving forward. I’ll protect the last master blacksmith.
It had never beco known to the world, and he had no intention of ever letting it beco known.
He had not the slightest desire to profit from what had happened that day.
...Thank you, boy.
He was simply proud that Hyunsoo had grown so well.
“Did you hear? Brand Hyun has apparently surpassed 150 million subscribers. That ans 150 million people around the world are subscribed to him.”
“...I see.”
Taesung simply basked in the sunlight pouring in through the window.
Before long, the car stopped in front of headquarters, and when the area grew noisy, Taesung frowned in confusion.
“...?”
A young man was standing there.
He was no longer the figure who had once worn shabby heavy clothes even in midsumr to hide his burn scars.
Instead, he was a tall, handso young man in a neat suit, awkwardly touching his tie.
“It’s Hyun.”
“The first king, Hyun!”
“What is Master Blacksmith Hyun doing here!?”
That young man rely scratched the back of his head in embarrassnt, but he looked far more impressive now than he had that day. Standing there under the na of the first king, he spoke.
“...I wanted to co see you properly, sir.”
“Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha!”
Today, for the first ti in his life, Taesung understood that saying—
that soone could laugh simply because they were too proud and too happy.
“Well done. You’ve done very well!”
He patted Hyunsoo on the back, letting out the sincerity he had kept hidden.
The one he had protected
had now beco a king.
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