Chapter 52
[HOT] Do-hwang's latest item is out!!!
I heard you can put spirit beasts in keychains and carry them around??
└ ??
└ How is that even possible? What kind of principle makes it work?
└ It's Do-hwang. Of course it works. What else is there to ask? lol
└ No no no, remember how everyone went crazy over him sealing a divine beast last time? Isn't this an application of that?
└ Even so, can something fit in that tiny thing?
└ Will our Nureongi fit in too? It's Grade 3.
└ What's a Nureongi? lol
└ The cow at my house. For the record, it's Hanwoo, yeah.
└ ??? You're saying you can put a cow in there?? It must weigh at least 800 kilos!!
└ Ssss…… Even if it's Do-hwang, this is a little hard to believe.
At first, everyone was skeptical.
But three days later.
The items reached the hands of the first winning bidders.
Reviews began going up one by one.
[Review] This is insane, it really works;;;
I just got it and put our Baekgu (Grade 3) inside.
I pulled the chain to open the lid, fed it spiritual power, and it slipped right in lololol
When I took him out, he was perfectly fine. What is this? It's so convenient.
And the hand feel when putting them in is no joke.
It's so fascinating I keep doing it lol
Baekgu, come here~
└ Holy shit, it was real?
└ This is fucking insane. A wild boar review just went up too.
└ Ah, come on, how does that make any sense? lol
└ Damn…… So did I buy that delivery truck to carry my bear around for nothing? I still have 48 months of installments left, fuck.
[Proof] The cat keychain arrived lol
(Keychain.jpg)
Damn, look how pretty this cat is.
Look at that seductive pose.
Nabi, you're my commuting companion now.
└ No lol, if it's just a cat, take it with you normally.
└ It's not a cat, it's a wildcat lol
└ But the detail on the actual thing is insane. There's even a number engraved underneath.
└ Holy shit, so is this a limited edition?
As the reviews gradually piled up, the asking prices shot up like crazy.
[Daily] But this…… Isn't this an all-out emergency for spirit beast transport companies?
└ For real, I don't think we'll ever need to call a delivery truck again.
└ But weren't they mostly affiliated with the Haega family?
└ I heard Manbogak is dead quiet these days too lol Everyone's looking at the auction tab.
└ Lol, Do-hwang has cut off another one of the Haega family's sources of income.
└ It's not like the Haega family doesn't have a ton of other businesses lol
└ True. They probably won't even bat an eye.
And around that time.
Strange scenes began unfolding all across the country.
***
An abandoned house somewhere in the provinces.
It was a place where an old tethered spirit had been reported.
The problem was the location of the abandoned house.
It happened to straddle the boundary between two regions in an awkward way.
And in front of that abandoned house, two sorcerers dispatched from the offices on either side came face-to-face.
……..
……..
……This is our jurisdiction.
What are you talking about? Go look at the map again. From here on, it's our territory.
The main gate faces this way, doesn't it?
They say the tethered spirit is in the master bedroom. The master bedroom is on our side.
Neither of them had any intention of backing down.
Gulp.
Because money was at stake.
A tense standoff.
Just as their hands slowly moved toward their waists.
……!
……!
They caught sight of something dangling from each other's waists.
A pig-shaped keychain on one side.
A puppy-shaped keychain on the other.
……..
……You too?
……You too?
Without either one waiting for the other, they pulled the chains on their keychains.
Pop. Pop.
Fwoooooosh―!
[Kieeeeeeek―]
[Grrrrrrrr―]
A pitch-black wild boar burst out of the pig keychain.
A gray wolf burst out of the puppy keychain.
They emerged in a streak of light.
And scenes like this were being witnessed everywhere across the country these days.
***
And before long, someone discovered something incredible.
[Info] Guys, did you know? The sealing keychain has an insane feature.
Our little guy got hurt during a commission yesterday.
I put him in the keychain to take him home for now.
But when I took him out…… his injury was gone;;
└ ??
└ Holy shit, that works?
└ I just tried it too, and it's real. All the scratches were gone.
└ ????
└ Wait. Doesn't this change everything?
└ Damn, that's fucking amazing.
That's right.
There was a reason so few sorcerers had familiars until now.
For one thing, spirit beasts themselves were expensive.
And if something that expensive got hurt on a commission, it didn't matter how much the commission paid.
The cost of treatment—with elixirs and everything—was absurd.
If they were badly injured, that was the end of them.
In other words, they were like luxury items whose upkeep was impossible to afford.
That was why everyone had been reluctant to bring familiars along on dangerous jobs.
……But.
They were saying that putting them in a keychain and taking them back out healed their injuries.
As reports like that continued to appear, the mood changed.
At first, the item had only attracted owners of familiars that were too large or conspicuous to carry around without drawing attention.
But now, any sorcerer whose livelihood depended on a familiar came rushing in with their eyes blazing.
***
Meanwhile, around that time.
At the foot of a mountain on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.
『Okho Workshop』
It was a prestigious workshop that had insisted on making nothing but sealing implements for three generations.
It had such a long history that it had supplied goods to one of the Four Great Families for generations.
In particular, the top-grade items made personally by the workshop master couldn't be bought with money alone.
The workshop master's pride reached the heavens.
Even famous sorcerers whose names were known throughout the country had to make reservations and wait for months just to see one in person.
That Okho Workshop had finally made a bold move and listed one of its heirloom treasures on the auction tab.
An E-rank sealing gourd said to have been crafted over the course of the previous workshop master's entire life.
The sales period was one year.
Displaying the family's treasure before the entire world was certainly a blow to his pride.
……But its effect was undeniable.
Master! Another order just came in! We've already received more than thirty this month alone!
Ho ho. I heard you, so stop making such a fuss.
……It was beyond his expectations.
He pretended to be dignified, but the mouth hidden beneath his beard was smiling with satisfaction.
Ever since the gourd entered the rankings, orders for the workshop's ordinary sealing implements had been pouring in.
In truth, he had agonized over it for several nights at first.
How could he display the family's treasure before the whole world as though it were some kind of spectacle? He would have no face to show his ancestors.
But as he watched the numbers steadily pile up in his bank account.
……Strangely, that guilt melted away like snow.
‘I apologize to my ancestors…… but this is quite a profitable business. Ho ho.’
Of course, he had no intention of selling it in the slightest.
He had already taken care of that in advance.
The family that had enshrined it for generations had already agreed to win the gourd at auction around the time the sales period ended.
Then the item would quietly return to the workshop.
The only thing they would have to pay was the commission taken by Dokkaebibul.
Of course, after doing this once, the gourd would become something they could never sell outside again.
‘But it was never something we intended to sell in the first place!’
Kwahahaha.
‘…Even I have to admit, this is a brilliant plan.’
The workshop master, in an excellent mood, called for his apprentice.
Hey. Bring up that thing, the rankings or whatever it's called.
It had become the workshop master's new little hobby.
Sure~ We were in fourth yesterday, so maybe we'll be in third today……
Tap, tap.
……Huh?
What is it? Have we already reached first place?
We…… don't have any items.
What?
Ah, no. We do have one…… but it's in eleventh place.
What?!
The workshop master snatched the tablet away.
1st. Portable Spirit Beast Sealing Keychain (Rabbit)
2nd. Portable Spirit Beast Sealing Keychain (Cat)
3rd. Portable Spirit Beast Sealing Keychain (Horse)
.
.
.
Key…… chains?
From first to tenth place.
Every spot was occupied by nothing but finger-sized keychains.
What is all this supposed to mean!
With trembling hands, he clicked on one of the products.
[Portable Spirit Beast Sealing Keychain]
……A-a sealing implement?
With a sinking feeling, he clicked on the rankings in the sealing implement category.
……It was the same there.
From top to bottom.
Rabbits, horses, chickens, and cats had filled the entire list in perfect harmony.
Th-this is insane……!
***
[LOL The auction tab's current situation]
(Screenshot)
All ten of the top spots are sealing keychains lol
└ Lololol, is this for real?
└ All the workshops trying to stake their listings for six months or a year got pushed out of the rankings lol
└ But why aren't these dropping in the rankings when the sales periods are only three days?
└ He lists several at a time, then puts them up again when they sell.
└ Every upload causes an uproar. How could they possibly drop?
└ Real-man move) Doesn't use them as billboards. Just keeps making them.
*
And gradually, the scenery at commission sites began to change as well.
[Daily] It's fucking hilarious when I go exorcising these days lol
Everyone used to show up with talismans and ritual implements hanging all over them.
But these days, when we arrive at the site, everyone starts by taking keychains off their waists.
Woof, oink.
It's practically a zoo.
└ Lololol, that's fucking hilarious
└ Our team brings all our familiars along these days too. Even if they get hurt, all we have to do is replenish their spiritual power.
└ Our little guy, who used to sit at home eating and playing, is going to work now lol Earn your keep.
└ It really does make me feel safer. Our little guy bit two evil spirits to death last time.
└ Damn…… Now this is romance.
The spirit beasts that had been carefully kept at home or at their owners' family homes began going out to commissions one by one.
***
Mr. Do-hyeon! You have to see this!
Seo Ji-an came rushing over with a tablet in her hands.
It's absolute chaos right now! The auction rankings are completely plastered with your items!
I set down my carving knife and looked at the screen.
……Oh wow.
Sure enough, from top to bottom.
Rabbits, cats, and wild boars.
My babies stood lined up one after another.
The reviews are all so positive.
Seo Ji-an swiped through the screen.
There were review after review saying that their spirit beasts' injuries had healed after being put into and taken back out of the sealing implements.
The recovery of an injured body was only natural, in a way.
A spiritual body was ultimately formed from spiritual power.
The principle of this sealing implement was to discard the existing body and take on a new one in the first place.
As long as there was enough spiritual power, they would come back perfectly fine.
Of course, it wasn't all-powerful.
If they were injured so badly that their spiritual power was completely depleted, recovery would be impossible.
That wasn't all.
Congenital disabilities, injuries sustained long ago, or deep wounds sometimes remained unchanged as well.
In other words…… it was somewhat like a crustacean molting.
Just because it shed its old shell and grew a new body didn't mean the deeply embedded scars disappeared too.
Apparently, marks engraved all the way into the soul couldn't be changed.
……In truth, I didn't even know exactly how much of the body would grow back.
That's why I had deliberately left it out of the product description.
‘……Well, they'll figure out how to use it.’
In any case, the promotional effect is incredible.
Seo Ji-an said with a giggle.
Ms. Yu-ha's help was huge this time.
Apparently, at first the listings pouring in had buried the items so thoroughly that no one even noticed them.
Then everyone started whispering about what it was after seeing Yu-ha wearing one at her waist.
Eventually, they even asked her about it during an interview, and Yu-ha demonstrated how to use it right there.
……And that spread straight through Dokkaebibul.
‘……Good thing I sponsored her.’
The influence of a celebrity in the sorcery world.
As I scrolled through the reactions.
One post suddenly caught my eye.
[Daily] Hmm…… Isn't it a little disappointing that it only works up to Grade 3?
My bull is a Grade-2 spirit beast, so this is incredibly inconvenient.
└ Isn't this just a Grade-2 spirit beast owner bragging?
└ No, I'm seriously saying it's inconvenient??
└ Sure, sure~ I'm so jealous of your Grade-2 spirit beast~
└ What more do you want? At that price and size, this is already a miracle.
└ For real, talk about an ungrateful complaint.
└ But honestly, Grade-2 spirit beasts are genuinely huge, so it is a little disappointing.
‘……’
Well, it couldn't be helped.
The gourd I'd made last time had been crafted from a top-grade species.
Those species were harder to find than a star in the sky, and every material that went into it had been top grade as well.
It had also been fairly large.
Compared to that, these keychains were made smaller from much more economical materials to increase their portability.
That was why Grade 3 was their limit.
‘……But.’
Grin.
It wasn't as though there were no way around it.
I slowly opened the drawer of my workbench.
Inside, three keychains I'd carved in advance were neatly arranged.
Three keychains, each with a different color and shape.
Now that things had matured enough.
‘……Shall I put them up soon?’