Chapter 5
"Please, if you just leave it to me, Seo Ji-an, the best veteran broker in this field!"
She grabbed my hand.
"Whether it's a commission to make a ritual implement or auctioning off something you made! Whatever it is, I'll handle it perfectly. Just leave it to me!"
My head spun.
I was already in a mess from the flood of incomprehensible things she kept saying.
So...
She wanted to act like some kind of manager, right?
A faint, intoxicating perfume.
Seo Ji-an's alluring face, staring right through me.
A line of skin just visible between the folds of her slightly bent shirt.
"......!"
I came to my senses in an instant.
Calm down. Calm down.
The whole situation itself was far too unreal.
Sorcery world, evil spirits, ritual implements, perception-blocking talismans.
And on top of that, five million won? For one shabby brass bell like that?
‘...Is this some kind of scam... or what?’
Come to think of it, a site like that could probably be fabricated in no time if someone wanted to.
This looked like a classic beauty scam.
"Um, just a moment."
I quietly pulled my hand away and stood up.
"I'll think about it and contact you again later..."
"Oh, wait! Wait!"
Seo Ji-an stood up after me, looking flustered.
"Is there something you don't like? I can adjust the terms however I—"
"No... That's not it. I'll contact you again."
I gave a slight bow and quickly headed toward the café entrance.
Get out first.
My mind was too tangled.
Swoosh—
As the automatic door opened, the cool outside air hit my face.
I felt like I could breathe again.
A moment ago, it had felt as if I were under some kind of spell.
That made no sense.
A sorcerer? What, were they kidding?
No matter how I looked at it, this was wrong.
A job-placement scam, or human trafficking?
I felt like I'd seen something like it online.
They'd promise high pay, take people overseas, confiscate their passports, lock them up, and make them spend all day making voice-phishing calls.
Or they'd harvest their organs and sell them off, or drag them to some remote island and work them as salt-field slaves for life.
Yeah, I had almost stumbled into a big disaster.
"......'
Thinking that way seemed to clear my head a little.
Thank goodness.
I still had the half-finished iced Americano in my hand.
One sip, and the ice had melted completely, leaving only a thin, bland watery taste.
I tossed the cup into a trash can and slowly started walking along the street.
Gangnam on a weekday morning. Office workers in suits hurried past me.
People glancing at their wristwatches and heading back into cafés.
People crossing the crosswalk while talking to someone through their earbuds.
Everyone was headed somewhere.
'...Where am I supposed to go?'
That thought suddenly came to me.
Bzzzz—
Then my phone buzzed in my pocket.
[KC Card amount scheduled for payment this month: 347,200 won]
"Ah..."
My balance was already starting to run dry.
After I paid next month's rent, it would probably be completely empty.
Honestly, back when I was playing games, I wasn't exactly bad at making money.
My custom gear as a max-level blacksmith was always in demand among high-level players.
There were times when selling a single greatsword put more than 1 million won into my account.
But the blacksmith profession had one fatal trap.
That was!
To make better things.
That is, to level up further and improve my skill, I needed more expensive materials!
I spent money like water to curry favor with finicky NPC craftsmen hidden all over the continent and to get legendary-grade blueprints.
Usually, I got through those hurdles by throwing money at them.
Later, once I set my sights on becoming the 'first max-level,' I became even less hesitant to spend money.
I reinvested everything back into the game except for absolutely necessary expenses.
The result of pouring ten years into it.
If I couldn't find a new part-time job by next month, I'd end up getting kicked out of my studio apartment too.
'Uncle Mu-hyeok, I didn't think you'd see people like that...'
Well. What else could I do?
Now that I knew I could work as a blacksmith, I'd just have to find another forge.
One day, maybe I'd even save enough to open my own forge.
There couldn't be only one forge in the whole of Seoul.
It was when I was trying to steady my resolve and keep walking.
...Wait a second.
Isn't a forge usually an apprenticeship setup?
What if they made me do menial chores for years?
Then who knew how long it would take before I could start saving money again.
When would I ever save up enough to open my own place...?
Screeech.
My sneaker sole dragged on the pavement and my steps came to an abrupt stop.
'...Five million won.'
That old, worn-out bell with its inner wall thickness all wrong was supposedly worth 5 million won.
Was it really... really?
'...But if some bogus bell like that was worth five million won.'
I could make ten bells like that in a day.
No, I felt like I could make far more impressive things than that with my eyes closed.
That meant.
If what she said was true.
My skills, my ten years of virtual grunt work, could be converted into hundreds of thousands, even tens of millions of won.
My feet no longer moved forward.
'Maybe... I should hear her out a little more?'
If it turned out to be some weird multilevel-marketing scheme or a scam, I could just say no then.
As I was still licking my lips and thinking it over.
Click. Click. Click.
I heard urgent high-heel footsteps from behind me.
"Mr. Dohyun! Wait a second!"
Before I knew it, Seo Ji-an had burst out of the café and caught up to my side.
It was impressive how she'd managed to run that fast even in an expensive-looking designer suit and high heels.
After catching her breath a little, she said,
"I guess I brought it up way too suddenly. I'm sorry."
"......Not at all."
"But, Mr. Dohyun, honestly, it'd be such a waste to just leave now, wouldn't it?"
Seo Ji-an flashed that people-bewitching smile again.
"Just one place. Could you come with me to just one place? If you look and still think it's no good, then you can just leave."
"......Where to?"
"It's close. About ten minutes by car?"
She pointed over her shoulder at a red sports car.
"......No, I—"
You want me to ride in that?
As I hesitated, Seo Ji-an clasped both hands together and made a pleading gesture.
"Please. You really won't regret it."
At the sight of her blinking up at me with those big eyes, I eventually nodded as if reluctantly giving in.
Well, I'd already decided to hear her out a little more anyway.
As I climbed into the passenger seat, the plush leather seat wrapped softly around my body.
A low engine rumble hummed beneath us, and inside the car there was a luxurious scent similar to the one she wore.
'...She looks about my age, but she's driving around in a car like this.'
If all those ridiculous things she said at the café weren't lies.
Then being a broker really did seem to pay well.
"Please fasten your seat belt."
Vroooom—
The car slid out onto the road.
Despite her delicate looks, her driving was bold and skilled.
"But."
The woman at the wheel spoke up cautiously.
"Mr. Dohyun, just in case..."
"Yes?"
"May I ask which clan you belong to?"
"......A clan?"
A clan, huh. I quickly ran through my thoughts.
I'm a Jeonju Yi, though...
What was it again... a 23rd-generation descendant of Prince Hyoryeong's branch?
‘...No, that's not it.’
It didn't seem like she was asking for a family genealogy like that, based on the mood.
"......I don't have one."
"Mm... I see. Heehee. Understood."
Ji-an smiled faintly as if she understood.
"......Is that important?"
"Mm... No. It's better if I show you in person first and explain the details afterward. We're almost there."
The car came to a gentle stop by the roadside.
I got out and looked around.
It was an ordinary city street.
The entrance to a narrow alley.
Old villas beside it. A convenience store on the corner.
"......Here?"
"Yes."
"What's here?"
Seo Ji-an grinned.
"What you can see isn't everything."
A shuttered row of storefronts plastered with for-rent signs.
The narrow alley running between them.
Seo Ji-an stopped in front of the brick wall at the dead end.
Then she drew a strange pattern in the air with her finger.
Then.
Swoosh—
The space rippled.
The brick wall undulated and scattered, the bricks beginning to shift into new positions one by one.
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
Before long, a huge arched entrance appeared.
"......Huh?"
I stumbled back without meaning to.
I rubbed my eyes hard.
A hologram? No, I wasn't even wearing VR gear—how could I be seeing this with my own eyes?
‘The things she made up... no, wait. The sorcery world. Was all of this real?’
Seo Ji-an, still dazed, stepped through the entrance first and held out her hand.
"What are you doing? Come on, hurry."
Almost as if I were spellbound, I followed her.
An old wooden nameplate hung above the arch.
[Dokkaebi Gate (鬼門)]
***
“Now then, welcome. This is the ‘Dokkaebi Market.’”
Once I passed through the entrance, a world completely different from the outside spread out before me.
A thick incense scent and damp air rushed into my nose.
A massive underground arcade so large I wondered whether a place like this could really exist in the middle of Seoul.
Under the gaudy, bizarre lights, countless people hurried back and forth.
From people in crisp suits to old men in worn-out modified hanbok, and even people in black monk's robes wearing gat hats.
"......"
I was speechless.
Strange wares lined every stall.
Antique-looking swords, colorful talismans, animal bones, unidentified herbs.
And in the hands of the people haggling among them.
Bundles of checks, gold bars, and coins in shapes I'd never seen before were changing hands.
‘...This is all real?’
Just a few days ago, I'd been staring at the ceiling of my studio apartment.
And now I was standing in the middle of a Dokkaebi Market hidden beneath downtown Seoul.
‘...Life really is impossible to predict.’