Chapter 5

### The Crisis of the Mining Village

1

The mine that the NPC foreman had told him about was located at the foot of Mount Rangkel. While the southern area was a popular hunting ground for beginners, the mid-mountain was a cluster of mines.

“What is this?”

Yu Han couldn't close his mouth at the sight of the mine he had finally reached after crossing mountains and valleys. The village built around the mine was shrouded in black smoke. Here and there, houses were collapsed, and the fence was half-broken. Everywhere, residents who were injured, ragged, and starving sat on the ground in a daze.

“Do you know where a person named Angelo is?”

Approaching the NPC woman sitting at the village entrance, Yu Han asked cautiously. The woman, seemingly too weak to answer, raised her arm to point to one side of the village. It seemed to mean that he was there.

“Thank you.”

He quickly bowed and headed toward the largest house in the village. Fortunately, he found the person he was looking for in front of the house. He was unharmed.

“Pabuchi sent me?”

“Yes, he said to bring back ten minerals from here.”

At Yu Han's answer, Angelo sighed deeply and asked, “Do you think you can mine here?”

“No.”

The mine entrance was in a mess, as if it had been attacked by something. More importantly, the miners who were supposed to mine the minerals were the bigger problem. They were all injured, and there was no one left unscathed.

“What exactly happened here?”

At Yu Han's question, Angelo, the village elder and the mine manager, had a dark look on his face.

“A few days ago, we were attacked by a group of orcs.”

“Orcs? You mean orcs?”

Yu Han's eyes widened in surprise. As far as he knew, Mount Rangkel was not a place where orcs lived. Although they were low-level monsters, a group of orcs was a very dangerous opponent for beginners. If orcs had settled here, the information would have been posted on the Arpedea Online website.

“Actually, the orcs have only recently moved to Mount Rangkel. They must have been driven out of the northern Nemesis Mountains due to food competition.”

The village's strength alone was not enough to stop them. They couldn't hold out against the orcs' attack for even a day and were defeated...

“Fortunately, there were few casualties, but the orcs looted all the village's treasures and food. So everyone is starving and waiting for the king's army.”

Only then did Yu Han understand why the villagers were ragged and starving.

“So, the mine...”

“The orcs took all the tools like picks and shovels. Without them, we can't restore the mine or mine minerals.”

Mining without tools was impossible. In other words, Yu Han's quest was unexpectedly blocked.

‘Oh no! What kind of situation is this?’

If they were going to give a quest, they should at least give a chance to succeed or fail. It's ridiculous to make it impossible to even start.

As Yu Han was sinking into despair, an effect sound rang out.

-A linked quest has been activated. Do you want to check it?

With a bewildered expression, he quickly brought up the message window.

‘I see, the NPC foreman said he would give me a decent armor and sword...’

There was such a danger lurking!

Yu Han's face contorted as he checked the linked quest. Defeating the orcs would be easy if he were the warrior Bartz.

However, as a level 31 blacksmith named Zigg, he found it difficult to face even a level 30 orc, let alone a whole group.

‘What should I do? Should I give up the quest here? If I do, all my efforts will be in vain...’

He might even be kicked out of the blacksmith's shop. But if he recklessly challenged and failed, he would lose experience points and the items he had barely obtained.

Yu Han pondered whether to give up the quest given by the NPC foreman.

And he made a decision.

‘What's the difference between dying once and twice? If I fail, I can just start over from the beginning.’

Bartz had never refused a quest. That didn't change even when he became Zigg.

Yu Han, who was somewhat timid offline, was aggressive online.

The reckless and fearless paladin Bartz wasn't created for nothing.

He said to Angelo, “I will defeat the orcs!”

“Oh, you will? Really?”

“Of course! Leave it all to me.”

The village elder, overjoyed, grabbed Yu Han's hand and shed tears. It seemed they had suffered a lot from the orcs.

‘I'll stop here for today. I'm tired, so I need to rest.’

Yu Han ended the game session and got out of the capsule.

2

Yu Han did not drop out of school by choice.

It all started when he posted a photo of a mouse he found in his school lunch on a portal site's bulletin board, which led to a problem.

The high school Yu Han attended, Hakrim High School, was operated by the Hakrim Foundation. The foundation was established by a nouveau riche who became rich through land speculation, and the board of directors, principal, and vice-principal were all family members.

As a result, corruption was inevitable in the school's operation, and various rumors circulated.

Despite some dissatisfaction with the world, Yu Han, an ordinary boy, entered Hakrim High School without any issues.

However, a month after enrollment, a problem arose.

Yu Han found a small, cute mouse in his school lunch. Although the school's food was known to be poor for the money paid, this was unacceptable.

Yu Han posted a photo taken with his phone on a portal site's bulletin board.

"This is a 5,500 won meal. Is this even reasonable? You can get food that's twice as tasty and nutritious at a street food stand."

"And look at this photo. This is what I found in my lunch today. See the cute little guy? It's a mouse. Yuck! I'm suspicious of the school authorities' sanity for serving this."

Yu Han's post spread widely among netizens, and the Hakrim High School website went down due to protests from parents and netizens.

Yu Han didn't particularly dislike the school or the foundation, but his post caused a huge stir, and the school traced the IP address to identify the original poster.

However, the school did not punish Yu Han.

Yu Han knew the school couldn't do anything to him. Parents and netizens were closely watching Hakrim High, and the education board had dispatched inspectors to take various measures.

He thought everything would be fine, that nothing would happen to him.

But that was a misconception.

“Hey, you dirtied our school's reputation, didn't you?”

‘Why are they doing this?’

Suddenly, some guys appeared. They were the school bullies.

These guys, who usually didn't hesitate to tarnish the school's reputation, were now full of affection, almost to the point of overflowing.

They beat Yu Han up every day, claiming he had tarnished the school's reputation. They also hit his friends who tried to stop them and threatened to not let them off if they sided with Yu Han.

Unable to bear it, Yu Han reported them to a teacher and the student counselor. But nothing changed.

As time passed, his friends turned their backs on him one by one, and Yu Han became both physically and mentally exhausted. He thought about fighting to the end, but he couldn't do anything alone.

One day, he was returning to the classroom after a particularly bad incident.

He saw the vice-principal talking to someone.

It was Jung Hyun-il, the leader of the school bullies, the grandson of the foundation's chairman, who could do anything without being punished by teachers.

He thought the vice-principal was scolding him, but he wasn't. Instead, he was praising him.

“Soon, that Yu Han kid will drop out of school. It's all thanks to you and your friends.”

“Haha, not just me. His friends did the same.”

“That's right. Betraying a friend over a few exam answers. Kids these days are rotten to the core. Ah! But you are different. Hahaha.”

Hearing the conversation, Yu Han understood everything.

The school couldn't directly interfere with him, so they had the bullies do it and incited his friends to betray him.

Is this what humans are like? Is the world this dirty?

At the moment his rationality snapped, a stick happened to be lying nearby.

He picked it up and the next thing he remembered was receiving an expulsion notice.

The vice-principal said he had beaten a teacher and a good student with the stick.

That day, Yu Han left the school.

‘Huh! It was just a dream.’

Yu Han, who had been dozing off in a corner during a lecture, woke up with a start.

His face stiffened as he wiped the drool from his mouth. He had made eye contact with a thug through the window in the hallway.

Grinning, the thug was the brother of a guy he had a run-in with a few days ago at the academy. His brother and friends were also there.

‘I should have changed academies right away...’

It was too late to regret now.

Determined, Yu Han packed his bag as soon as the lecture ended and headed to the hallway.

“Haha, are you ready to get beaten? You punk...”

The thug's words were cut off when Yu Han kicked him in the groin.

“Gah!”

“Take this for your brother too!”

Yu Han kicked the thug's groin again and ran away like the wind.

“Goodbye, idiots! I'll never see you again!”

“Gah! You bastard! Don't run! If you get caught, you're dead!”

The thug and his brother chased after Yu Han. Yu Han ran smoothly but ended up in a dead-end alley.

When he turned around, the thugs were right in front of him.

‘Damn, what a bad day.’

Yu Han tried to resist, but he was outnumbered and outmatched. He was beaten up by the enraged thug and his brother.

“Scream! Police officer! Over here, over here! A fight is happening here!”

A shadow appeared at the alley entrance, and a girl shouted.

The thugs looked disappointed at the sudden interference.

“You bastard! If you mess with us again, you'll be dead. Got it?”

“Ha, you're full of blubber.”

“This guy is serious!”

“Bro, let's go!”

Fearing the police, the thugs left Yu Han alone and fled.

However, the police didn't show up, and a girl who had shouted earlier approached the battered Yu Han.

“Are you okay?”

She wore a T-shirt with English initials and khaki pants. She wasn't dressed up, but she was quite pretty.

However, she looked familiar. Her voice also sounded familiar.

“I'm, I'm fine.”

Yu Han's face turned red with embarrassment, more so because he had shown his pathetic side to a pretty girl. He turned around, but the girl didn't let him go.

“You don't look fine. Look, you're bleeding from your forehead.”

The girl took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped Yu Han's forehead.

“By the way, you look very familiar. Do you live in this neighborhood?”

“No, not here, but in the next neighborhood...”

The girl, who had been looking at Yu Han's face closely, was surprised.

“Jang Yu Han! Is that you?”

This time, Yu Han was surprised.

“Huh? Yes, but who are you?”

“It's me! Song Chaerin. We used to live next door when we were kids.”

“What? You're Chaerin?”

“Yeah, wow, you haven't changed at all since you were a kid.”

He remembered. Song Chaerin, his childhood friend who lived next door.

She moved away when she was in the fourth grade of elementary school. He thought she had moved far away, but it turned out she lived nearby.

‘When did you become so pretty?’

In his childhood memories, Chaerin was taller than him, with a dark complexion and a lively personality.

She had short hair and dressed like a boy, so he didn't even realize she was a girl at first.

She was so strong and good at fighting that no boy could beat her in elementary school.

But now, she had become a very pretty and charming girl.

She was smaller and more petite, with a cute hairstyle, and her features were distinct and lively, making it hard to find the old alley leader in her.

‘But she looks familiar...’

Not from childhood, but from a recent encounter.

However, just as he was trying to recall when and where, Chaerin slapped his back with a loud sound.

“Hey! Nice to see you, buddy! It's been seven years!”

“Ouch!”

It hurt where he had just been hit. Despite her appearance, Chaerin's personality seemed not to have changed much from seven years ago.

But Yu Han wasn't particularly happy to see his old friend.

Why did he have to meet her at such a time, when he was beaten up by neighborhood thugs and in a mess?

‘Damn!’

His old friend had become so impressive, while he had become increasingly insignificant. He felt embarrassed and resentful of the world that had pushed him to this point.

“Is your family still here? Are your parents doing well? Is the supermarket doing well? How about Yu Hyun? Is your troublesome brother doing well?”

“Uh, yeah. But I'm busy, so let's meet later.”

Yu Han half-heartedly answered her rapid-fire questions and quickly ran away. He heard Chaerin calling him from behind but didn't turn back.

He said he would meet her later, but he hoped he wouldn't.

It might be jealousy, but he didn't want to show his pathetic state to his childhood friend.

3

Yu Han, who had promised to defeat the orcs threatening the mining village, gathered information about the orcs.

He couldn't come up with a plan without accurate information about them.

The orcs had settled in a valley north of the mine.

There were about 30 of them.

Among them, 10 were adult male orcs, 5 were female orcs, and the rest were young ones.

‘Phew! At least it's fortunate that the number of opponents has decreased.’

The female orcs, responsible for reproduction and childcare, do not engage in combat. The same goes for the young ones. Yu Han only had to face the 10 male orcs.

If he were Bartz, he would have stormed the orc village and killed them all.

But now, he was in a state where he could hardly face even one orc. Instead of a direct confrontation, he needed to use his wits to deal with them.

‘Should I form a party to fight?’

However, the idea of doing something he had never done before made him feel a serious resistance.

The stubbornness of Bartz, who was still alive in him, was shouting that he should fight alone.

‘Yeah, anyway, I don't know anyone...’

Going to the village or nearby fields to gather people would be troublesome, and there was the disadvantage of having to share experience points and items.

If a four-person party killed a monster that gave 100 experience points, they would each only get 25.

Yu Han gave up and started gathering information by circling the orc settlement.

‘Is there a good way?’

If he could ambush them first, he might have a chance even in a one-on-one fight. But the noise would alert the other 9 orcs, who would swarm and beat him up.

While pondering, Yu Han noticed an orc leaving the settlement and his eyes lit up.

He carefully followed the orc without being noticed and, when they reached a secluded spot, pounced from behind.

Swinging Pabuchi's sword, he reduced the orc's health by more than a third.

Unfortunately, he didn't deal critical damage, which only enraged the orc.

“Grr! Human! Die!”

From then on, a brutal fight between Zigg and the orc ensued. Although Yu Han's attack and defense were weaker than the orc's, the equipment he received from Pabuchi helped to some extent.

“This is the end!”

Yu Han dodged the orc's axe and slashed its neck. The orc, staggering, fell to the ground, spurting blood.

-You have gained 80 experience points.

-You have obtained a male orc's tooth.

“Pant, pant! It's tough.”

Fighting an orc head-on was insane for anyone who wasn't a warrior. Production class characters excel in producing and distributing items.

Of course, they can fight, but they can't match the combat abilities of a warrior character with the same time and effort.

Occasionally, people raise characters like "combat merchants" or "combat cooks," but apart from being better at fighting than other users in the same profession, they have no advantages.

They are just "hybrid" characters.

“Phew, now I can breathe a little.”

After drinking a potion to