Chapter 4
The morning air was rather chilly.
And yet my steps were lighter than ever.
'I think it's about time I tried making something real.'
My hands itched.
Ever since I repaired the shrine granny's bell yesterday, the feeling had become clear.
My technique works. Perfectly, in fact.
It had been ten years.
The ten years I'd spent in front of the furnace of [Kingdom of Fire]—that godforsaken game, no, the god-tier game it should now be called.
The sensations I'd mastered over those ten years.
The forging methods for all those legendary items I'd perfected with the system's assistance.
If all of that carried over to reality....
'Just how far can I actually go?'
In the game, I was a max-level blacksmith who forged legendary swords and shaved down dragon bones.
Real iron. Real metal.
I wanted to know how far my skill would work here. Where its limits lay.
I was dying to test it as soon as possible.
'Today, I need to tell the boss for sure.'
Of course, I know basic etiquette too.
That a blacksmith's shop is, by nature, a place that runs on an apprenticeship system.
And that a part-timer who's only been here a few days suddenly demanding to take over the furnace is outrageously rude.
But.
The boss had already seen my skill with his own eyes, hadn't he.
That's why he hired me. He didn't even scold me after hearing the bell I worked on.
I was confident.
That I should just leave anything to me, and I'd prove myself through the results.
If I said it that seriously.
He seemed likely to give me a proper chance to hold the hammer.
***
"Boss. I'm here to clock in..."
I had just been about to cheerfully raise the shutter and walk in.
I froze mid-step at the voice coming from inside the workshop.
"Yes... yes..."
"No, that's not it."
"Ah, that's far too kind of you. Yes, I'll see you again next time."
The boss's attitude was unusually formal.
'Hm? What's going on?'
A voice I could faintly hear through the receiver.
It was definitely the shrine granny from yesterday.
After ending the call, the boss set down his smartphone and let out a deep sigh.
"Boss, was that the shrine granny just now? What'd she say? Did she like the bell?"
When I asked, the boss stared at me without answering.
His gaze was different from usual.
Strangely complicated, and heavy.
......
"Boss?"
"Dohyun. Come with me for a second."
After saying that briefly, the boss walked toward the storage area in the back of the blacksmith shop, where charcoal and firewood were stacked.
'Why is he acting like this? Did something come up?'
No way, did the sound get weird because I touched it?
No, that couldn't be. I had definitely gotten the density right.
When I went into the storage room, the boss crossed his arms and stared straight at me.
"What are you, really?"
"...Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Right. I can tell you have your reasons."
The boss nodded and muttered to himself as if reaching a conclusion.
"I don't know why you came all the way out to this backwater market, but you must have some reason or secret you can't talk about."
'What on earth did the granny say to make him act like this?'
I blinked, flustered.
Well, if it were me, I'd think it was strange too.
A guy who'd never once been to a blacksmith shop somehow nailed the furnace temperature perfectly, sharpened a knife to a finish even a five-year apprentice couldn't manage, and even fixed the bell.
That said.
'No. I just played games in my room for ten years...'
―as if I could possibly tell him the truth.
I'd just get treated like a crazy person.
As I stood there tongue-tied, the boss nodded as if he knew everything.
"You don't need to explain. You probably already know, but you're special. No, 'special' doesn't even cover it. You're a monster already."
"Boss...?"
"This isn't the place for you. An old geezer like me has nothing to teach you, and I'm not a vessel worthy of holding your skill."
Then the boss pulled a black business card from his pocket and held it out to me.
It was a business card with no logo, just a single phone number embossed in gold.
"For now, contact this place. I've already said a few things on your behalf."
"What is this?"
He smirked.
The boss smiled.
"What else? The big leagues."
The boss gave my shoulder a light pat.
“Go play in a world that suits your caliber. Now get going. As of today, your part-time job is over."
And so, I.
Ended up being practically kicked out of the blacksmith shop only 30 minutes after coming in for work.
***
[A+ Cafe]
Right in the middle of Gangnam.
Even though it was a weekday morning, the huge chain cafe made of massive floor-to-ceiling windows was fairly crowded.
I sat in a corner seat, clinking the ice in my iced Americano as I looked down at the black business card.
'The big leagues.'
What on earth were the big leagues the boss was talking about?
Was it some special metals research lab under a conglomerate?
Or the Cultural Heritage Administration?
Since he'd told me to contact them, I had called a little while ago.
[Ah, so you're Mr. Dohyun, the one Mr. Muhyeok mentioned! I'll be there right away. Where are you?]
The person who answered had an absurdly high voice and an insanely high level of energy.
Bwaaaang-!
That was when.
With a loud exhaust roar, a bright red sports car slid to a stop on the road in front of the cafe.
The gazes of everyone walking by instantly turned that way.
An upward-opening door—so-called gullwing door—lifted with a whoosh, and someone stepped out.
'Holy...'
She was an unbelievable beauty, her long wavy hair swaying as she wore a sleek luxury suit.
‘Is she some chaebol heiress or celebrity or something?’
Just as I was thinking that.
The woman wearing sunglasses walked into the cafe where I was.
It felt like a magazine shoot.
Ding-a-ling—
The cafe door opened, and she looked around the interior.
'No way... no, that can't be it, right?'
Then she took a smartphone out of her bag and made a call somewhere.
But.
Buzzz—
At that moment, my phone vibrated.
It was the same number I'd just called.
When I reflexively looked up, her gaze met mine exactly.
For a moment, color came to her face.
"...!"
Her eyes went wide, and even in high heels she moved toward my table at a frightening speed.
Then, without warning.
"Pleased to meet you!"
She bowed deeply at 90 degrees.
"My name is Seo Ji-an!"
I could feel every eye in the cafe suddenly turn our way. Flustered, I waved my hands.
"Ah, yes, yes. Please, have a seat first. Everyone's staring at us..."
After sitting down, she took off her sunglasses.
Her eyes were sparkling.
She looked incredibly excited.
"I've heard so much about you! But..."
She paused and looked me up and down.
"You're much younger than I expected? I was really shocked."
"Huh? Oh, yes..."
"Oh, right, I was late introducing myself. I'm Seo Ji-an. It's truly an honor to meet someone like you in person, Dohyun."
"...Ah, yes."
"Of course, we'll treat you with the highest level of respect in this industry. If you have any conditions you want, please tell me. We'll set the commission fee to the lowest in the industry, and I can 100% arrange the working environment and auxiliary facilities to whatever conditions you want, Dohyun!"
"Um, hold on. Just a second."
I cut her off.
My head was starting to ache.
"I haven't heard a detailed explanation yet, but what exactly do you mean by... this industry?"
At my question, she abruptly stopped talking.
"Huh...?"
Seo Ji-an looked blank.
At first she seemed to think I was joking and smiled faintly, but when I looked back at her far too seriously, her smile gradually faded.
She glanced around.
Then she slowly lowered her head and leaned close to my face.
A faint, seductive perfume washed over me.
Parting her red lips, she whispered in a small voice.
"The sorcery world."
"...Huh?"
"The sorcery world."
I went blank for a moment.
Sorcery? Like... cursing a doll by nailing it, writing talismans in red ink on yellow paper, and performing a rite while balancing on a sawblade?
"Th, that... what do you mean..."
Seeing my flustered reaction, Seo Ji-an seemed to ponder something for a moment before smiling as if she'd understood.
"Hmm... well, that isn't a rare case on our side. I'll explain everything from the beginning."
"What? No, I mean, what..."
"There are often people like Mr. Dohyun—people who cut ties with the world from a young age, go up into the mountains to train, or shut themselves away under a master and hone only their craft, leaving them ignorant of the outside world."
I closed my mouth.
I didn't know what kind of story she was making up, but honestly, that misunderstanding seemed better than telling her I was just a normal part-timer.
"I'll start with the most basic explanation."
Seo Ji-an's continuing explanation was nothing short of shocking.
To sum it up, it was this.
There exists a hidden world called the 'sorcery world' that ordinary people don't know about.
There, sorcerers, shamans, and exorcists who handle spiritual power deal with bizarre incidents, vengeful spirits, and curses that can't be resolved by ordinary physical means.
What's more, such sorcerous phenomena were rooted far more deeply in the world than I'd imagined, with their influence reaching into politics, economics, and every major conglomerate industry.
From setting the grounds of chaebol families' homes, to cursing competitors into ruin, to resolving unexplained chains of accidents.
There was a market worth tens or even hundreds of billions of won.
"B-but how can ordinary people know nothing about any of that? And wait a second."
I lowered my voice and glanced around.
"...Is it really okay to talk about this here?"
Even on a weekday, this was a huge chain cafe with plenty of people coming and going.
At the table right next to us, a group of college students was typing away on laptops.
At my concern, Seo Ji-an laughed out loud as if she found it amusing, then rummaged around inside her jacket.
Gulp.
I tensed up, thinking she might pull out a gun, but what came out in her hand was a yellow scrap of paper.
A talisman?
"It's a perception-blocking talisman."
She set the talisman down on the table with a tap.
"The people passing by probably can't hear anything we're saying. They'll probably not even remember that we sat here, or remember our faces."
"Really?"
"I bought this artifact at quite a price. Since the Sorcery Administration Bureau keeps things under strict control, everyone pays close attention to security, and ordinary people don't know because identities are rarely revealed."
My head throbbed.
Because she was pouring out all kinds of things that sounded like they belonged only in movies, I even started to wonder if she might be pulling my leg.
As I kept wearing a half-believing, half-doubting expression, Seo Ji-an pulled out a tablet PC.
"Hmm, you still don't quite believe me. I'll show you one thing first."
Seo Ji-an took the latest tablet from her bag and set it on the table.
After tapping the screen a few times, a site with a black background appeared.
After entering a password and biometric verification, she tapped what looked like a category window.
"Let's see... ah, here it is."
Seo Ji-an clicked something and turned the tablet toward me.
It had an interface that looked just like a secondhand marketplace site.
[Urgent sale. Handcrafted brass bell from a prestigious family (high-grade artifact)]
- This is a foundry piece that has been passed down as our family's heirloom, but because the commission this time requires a change of ritual implement, I'm putting it up urgently.
- It can probably drive off most grade-4 petty ghosts.
- Depending on the practitioner's ability, it can even exorcise grade-3 evil spirits.
- Photo attached.
I looked over the attached photo.
From the outside, it didn't look all that different from the brass bell I'd repaired for the shrine granny last time.
‘...You call that an heirloom?’
The inner wall thickness wasn't even.
And from the outside, the overall workmanship didn't look all that great.
It looked like the sound would leak right out of it.
‘And what in the world is all this supposed to mean...’
Grade-high, artifact, and whatnot.
Exorcising evil spirits and all that.
It was all utterly unbelievable.
It seemed like some kind of weird site...
As I was judging it in my head, my gaze drifted to the bottom of the scroll.
[Sale price: 5,000,000 won]
[※ No bargaining. No lowballing. Please don't just inquire. If you buy it without haggling, I'll cover the delivery fee.]
"Oh... five million won?"
The words slipped out before I knew it.
Seeing my reaction, Seo Ji-an looked dazed for a moment.
"Ahhh~"
Then she nodded as if she understood.
"Well, I suppose someone at your level wouldn't be interested in prices like this."
She let out a long sigh.
"These days, artisans who can engrave or repair cast artifacts have become incredibly scarce. The major families monopolize and control everything, so if you're not affiliated with their clan, they won't let you buy or sell anything."
Seo Ji-an continued excitedly, her eyes gleaming.
"Thanks to that, freelance sorcerers and small guilds have no choice but to buy even those shabby low-grade artifacts that look like they were pulled from a junk shop if the price is right. So maybe it's good for us?"
Seo Ji-an kept going with a serious explanation about this and that, but I couldn't hear anything anymore.
Five million won.
Just one old, worn-out bell like that costs five million won?
“Us..."
"Hahaha. I did rush ahead too much! Anyway, so!!"
All of a sudden, Seo Ji-an leaned in close to me, her eyes sparkling.
"If you just leave it to me, Seo Ji-an, the top veteran broker in this business!"
She grabbed my hand.
"Whether it's a request to make ritual implements! Or selling what you've made at auction! I'll handle anything perfectly for you. Just leave it to me!"