Chapter 46
Another underground arcade in Seoul.
The atmosphere was quite different from Goblin Market.
A private dining district lined with old-fashioned tiled roofs and blue paper lanterns.
‘Come to think of it, this is my first time visiting somewhere other than Goblin Market.’
Well, aside from the days I went out on commissions, I’d been busy hammering away all day.
According to Seo Ji-an, every underground arcade had a completely different atmosphere.
I should probably take some time to look around here and there when I get the chance.
Following Seo Ji-an, I entered a private room in a spacious hall at the very back of the arcade.
*
“Ahaha! So that’s what it was.”
The man in a dark blue robe slapped his knee and laughed heartily.
“I thought the cheap suppressing talisman I bought kept breaking. No wonder ghosts have been swarming me lately.”
“I’m sorry. I should have taken care of that beforehand. Were you ever in danger or injured?”
“What?! Hahaha. No, of course not. I may look like this, but I’m a second-rank sorcerer, you know.”
The man waved his hand.
“There was no danger at all. I did wake up a few times because those lowly spirits were bothersome, but it was nice to stretch my legs for the first time in a while.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“But… I’d only heard about you through rumors. You really are incredible.”
The man picked up the newly repaired Blazing Hell Dagger and examined it from every angle.
Of the three people who had bought my items at the auction house, he was the first one I managed to contact.
“Of course, I thought you’d take it back to your workshop and return it only after several days of work. But… I never expected you to finish it while I was in the restroom.”
The man set down the dagger and looked at me.
“How did you manage that in such a short time…?”
“Ah, my hands are just a little quick.”
“…Is that so?”
The man nodded as if he understood, then suddenly began looking around the room.
“……?”
“What’s wrong?”
“But where are your engraving tools…?”
“Ah, I don’t particularly need tools.”
“Yes…?”
The man stared at me blankly for a moment.
‘Well, drawing a few suppressing circuits over it is nothing.’
I had already finished planning the circuits to engrave onto the dagger.
“Anyway, you should be able to turn your spiritual power on and off now.”
“…Ah, yes. Yes.”
Only then did the man seem to come to his senses and pick up a beer bottle.
“Now… since you’ve finished your work, please have a drink, Master Craftsman.”
“Ah, yes.”
The beer he poured respectfully with both hands filled the glass to the brim.
Clink—
Our glasses touched.
I took a refreshing gulp of beer.
Gulp. Gulp.
“Ahhhhhh……”
I wasn’t usually much of a drinker.
‘Why is beer so delicious?’
There was nothing like the invigorating chill of a cold beer after sweating it out in front of a blacksmith’s forge.
Phew….
This was what I lived for.
Besides.
Smack, smack.
Why were the side dishes so delicious too?
Whatever they had boiled into them, each bite melted softly in my mouth.
“Pungryugak is considered one of the finest restaurants in this arcade. Even picky clan elders come here to eat.”
I knew it had to be something like that.
I really shouldn’t let my palate get this refined.
The table was filled with neat, carefully prepared dishes.
Among them, the seafood pancake and charcoal-grilled bulgogi looked especially delicious.
I tore off a piece of the thick seafood pancake and took a bite.
The savory flavor of the golden-brown batter and seafood spread across my mouth.
Crispy scallion pancake and a sip of cold beer.
Ah, beer really is the perfect match for pajeon.
Just as I was marveling at that,
“Oh, Master Craftsman. What are you talking about? Makgeolli goes with pajeon. Right?”
Seo Ji-an quickly objected and turned to Oh Han-yul.
“Hahaha. The two of you have differing opinions. I’d better keep my mouth shut. Here, have another drink, both of you.”
Glug, glug, glug.
“You make ritual implements brilliantly, Master Craftsman, and you drink beer just as refreshingly!”
The man filled my glass and continued praising my ritual implement.
He said he hadn’t been able to use it often because he had to watch his clan’s eyes, but he had been quite impressed.
Of course. Naturally.
Who else could have made it?
We continued chatting pleasantly for quite some time.
.
.
.
Ahhh……
We alternated between bites of side dishes and glasses of beer, drinking more and more.
I believe the man’s name was Oh Han-yul. He had a truly wonderful personality.
He was tall and handsome, and the way he spoke gave him an open, carefree air.
Perhaps that was why the alcohol went down so easily.
Seo Ji-an and I both relaxed and enjoyed the food.
“By the way, Master Craftsman. About what you said earlier, about engraving with your bare hands.”
Oh Han-yul suddenly brought it up.
“How exactly do you do that? I’ve seen clan craftsmen engrave spells many times, but I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
He must have been terribly curious, because he set down his glass.
“This?”
It was nothing special.
I picked up one of the wooden chopsticks on the table.
“Like this.”
I gathered spiritual power at my fingertips and swept it along the grain of the wood.
Vrrr—
The spiritual power dug into the grain, engraving a faint pattern.
“You just read the grain of the material and engrave the spell you need.”
See? Easy, right?
Tap.
I pressed the engraved chopstick against the edge of the table with all my strength.
Naturally, the wooden chopstick remained perfectly intact.
“…Something like that.”
I handed the chopstick to Oh Han-yul.
“Hahaha, you’re quite the joker. What could you possibly do with a mere wooden chopstick…?”
Oh Han-yul took the chopstick and chuckled as he examined it from side to side.
Then.
“……”
The smile slowly faded from his face.
Although the hand holding the chopstick gradually tightened, it didn’t break. It didn’t even bend.
“What is this…?”
His face, flushed red only moments ago, had turned deathly pale as if by magic.
*
Once the atmosphere had softened considerably,
a question suddenly occurred to me.
“But I heard you’re from the Oh clan.”
The Oh clan was,
among the Twelve Clans, the one that symbolized the horse.
“Is it really all right for you to come meet us in person? You could have just sent the sword.”
At present, not only the Four Great Clans but even the other clans beneath them were implicitly blocking transactions with me.
They had strictly warned people not to buy my items, and yet he had not only bought one but come to meet me in person.
Wouldn’t he be in trouble if he got caught for no reason?
“…!”
Oh Han-yul paused for a moment while tilting his glass.
“….”
“Ahaha! O-our Master Craftsman is just very direct!”
Seo Ji-an quickly cut in from beside me.
“He only said that because he was worried about you, Mr. Oh. He was afraid you might get into trouble because of us. Haha…!”
But then.
“Hahaha, not at all!”
Oh Han-yul began laughing heartily again.
“Your Master Craftsman speaks so refreshingly. He never beats around the bush, which I actually like very much.”
Trickle—
“Have a drink first.”
The man filled my glass with beer and took a drink himself.
Then he wiped his mouth and spoke matter-of-factly.
“In any case, I’m practically a son the clan has cast aside, so the people above probably don’t care what I do.”
What was this? Was he like Jin Mu-yeong?
Well, judging by how much he liked drinking,
I suppose every clan had at least one person who caused trouble and fell out of favor.
As I nodded inwardly,
“Actually, I’m an illegitimate child my father had outside the clan.”
Pfft. Cough, cough—
Seo Ji-an nearly sprayed out the beer she was drinking beside me.
“The year my mother died, my father brought me into the clan. Well, even after I joined, they treated me like someone who was there but not really there.”
He smiled as if it were nothing important.
“It was a little sad at first, but I don’t mind my situation anymore. When the people above you have no expectations of you, this kind of life can become comfortable once you get used to it.”
…Hmm.
It was the sort of story about the youngest son of a chaebol family that you only ever saw in dramas.
.
.
.
“Then, Master Craftsman! I’ll see you again next time.”
Oh Han-yul held out his hand cheerfully.
“Yes, let’s do that.”
And so, the drinking session came to an end.
On the way back with Seo Ji-an,
“Heeey… I never knew you liked drinking this much, Master Craftsman.”
Seo Ji-an looked up at me in wonder.
“I only drink beer.”
Seo Ji-an’s face had already returned to normal by then.
I couldn’t tell whether she was simply good at controlling herself or naturally had a high tolerance.
“Hehe. Then call me next time you have beer. I’ll be your drinking buddy.”
“…Sure, why not.”
Seo Ji-an looked strangely excited.
Perhaps she was enjoying the night air, because her steps seemed lighter than usual.
“By the way, you really surprised me when you contacted me. To think it was Mr. Oh Han-yul.”
“Is he famous?”
“Of course. He’s a member of one of the Twelve Clans, after all. Anyone who knows anything knows him.”
He was handsome and had a good personality, so apparently he was quietly popular on Dokkaebibul too.
“Well, he keeps a very low profile, so people who don’t know him don’t know him. But I know him. Hehe.”
Well, he did seem like a good person.
Apparently not everyone from a clan had a bad personality.
“Were you able to contact the others?”
“That’s…”
Seo Ji-an looked a little troubled.
“I tried contacting the other two through Gyeongseong Auction, but perhaps they didn’t consent to sharing their contact information. I still haven’t heard back.”
Hmm.
Well, one of them was No Jin-hyeok, so there was no need to worry.
If I remembered correctly, I’d heard he had taken another commission and gone abroad.
As for the other one…
Anyone who could casually pay that much money was probably someone of considerable standing in the occult world.
Well, there was no hurry.
***
Beep—beep.
At the sound of the signal, he drew the bowstring.
Whoosh.
He held his breath.
Then he released the string.
Swish—
The arrow buried itself in the center of the target as if being sucked in.
Ten points.
“Waaaaah!”
The stands erupted.
A name appeared on the electronic scoreboard.
Han Si-woo.
Individual event gold medalist.
The best archer among high school students nationwide.
Once, that had been Han Si-woo.
.
.
.
Han Si-woo was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
It had already been several months.
His shoulder had given out just before the national championships.
A rotator cuff tear, or something like that.
He had surgery and went through rehabilitation.
In the meantime, another kid took his place.
Making the national team was now someone else’s concern.
Even at this very moment, the other kids were probably coming out to the archery field every morning before dawn to draw their bowstrings.
…Just as he always had.
They said he was completely healed.
But his skill hadn’t returned.
No matter how hard he clung to it, that old feeling never came back.
Even a little overexertion made his shoulder throb again.
And so, he had become afraid of even drawing the bowstring.
“…”
Dust had begun to pile up on the bow case standing beside his bed.
When had he last opened it?
…He couldn’t even remember.
‘Should I start studying, even now?’
He had done nothing but play sports since childhood, and he didn’t know whether he could do anything else now.
“…Sigh.”
He pulled the blanket up over his head.
Let’s just sleep. For today.
Sleeping was the easiest way to feel at peace.
Just as he was about to close his eyes,
Ding-dong.
“……”
It was the doorbell.
‘Who could it be at this hour?’
His mother wasn’t due home yet.
Han Si-woo slowly got up.
He trudged over to the front door.
“Who is it…?”
There was no answer.
‘…Could it be a delivery?’
But he hadn’t ordered anything.
Click.
He opened the door.
“…What the?”
A long box sat alone in front of the door.
A black box with no sender or address.
What was this?
“……?”
Han Si-woo crouched down and opened the box.
Inside was.
“…A bow?”
There was a bow inside.
A bright yellow, jewel-like object was shining in the very center of its grip.
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