Chapter 6
The items scattered on every stall were bizarre beyond measure.
Yellowed fragments of beast bones.
A bundle of yellow talismans densely scrawled with unknown symbols in red dye.
Withered, pitch-black tree roots and vials of unidentified powders.
The clothes worn by the people passing through them, and the units they haggled with, all felt equally unreal.
'So... this is all real, then?'
The suspicion of human trafficking or job-placement scams had long since been erased from my mind.
Well, it couldn't be helped.
After all, hadn't I personally seen the brick wall at the dead end collapse on its own and turn into a massive gate?
And this vast subterranean space stretching far into the distance.
The shops lined up until the end couldn't be seen, and the crowds filling the streets to the brim.
There was no way any of this was an act staged just to trick me, a broke unemployed loser.
No matter how I thought about it, it didn't seem cost-effective for them to build sets and hire extras just to fool me.
“This goblin market is the hottest place in the sorcery world these days.”
Seojian, walking beside me, noticed my reaction and gave a light explanation.
“From merchant guilds belonging to each clan, freelance sorcerers, even exorcists who came over from overseas—they all do business here. Quite a lot of rare goods brought in through underground channels are also circulating around.”
“Ah... yes.”
As I answered dazedly and kept walking.
“Oh! A nice-looking young man and a pretty young lady over there! Need a talisman?”
A wrinkled old man sitting in a prime spot on the walkway called out to us without warning.
“Just by looking, I can tell you're headed somewhere rough, but I've got everything except what isn't on my stall! I'll make sure even the usual petty spirits won't come near you, so take a look!”
Seojian gave him a light nod as if she were used to it, then gently tugged my sleeve.
As we followed her deeper into the market, the scenery grew even stranger.
At one stall, a jar was rattling ever so slightly all by itself, and at the shop next to it, ores faintly shed a blue glow even in the dim interior.
A little farther on, I saw a stall lined with unsettling tools whose handles were wrapped tightly in beast hide.
After wandering around dazed for quite a while like that, it seemed we had reached somewhere near the center of the market.
The disordered stalls had disappeared, and huge buildings stood on both sides of a broad paved street.
'Wow...'
What lay before my eyes was a shopping building at least three or four stories tall.
The upper part took the form of a grand traditional hanok topped with a tiled roof, but the front was made entirely of modern glass, letting the interior be seen clearly.
The fact that such a building had been constructed underground was an overwhelming sight in itself.
“What is this place?”
Seojian smiled slightly at my question.
“Ah, this is Cheonhwadang. You've heard of it, right?”
“......Cheonhwadang?”
When I answered evasively, Seojian, seemingly getting excited on her own, continued explaining.
“They're basically the industry leader when it comes to making ritual implements. Among the Four Great Clans, Xuanwu is their in-house workshop. The headquarters is elsewhere, and this is a branch they recently opened here in Goblin Market.”
She casually pointed at the display cases beyond the glass.
“Everything that comes in here goes out through the main branch, so the quality is guaranteed. The prices are just a little brutal.”
Seojian shrugged playfully.
“Would you like to go inside?”
Following her guidance, I stepped into the building.
At the entrance hung a luxurious gold plaque reading [Cheonhwadang].
Ding―
Soft lighting and gently flowing classical music.
The items on every display shelf were clearly different from the ones outside.
Inside reinforced glass cases atop black granite pedestals.
Exquisitely patterned swords, jade beads glowing with an ethereal light, sashes woven from the finest silk.
Even the talismans were neatly stored one and all in elegant matte paulownia boxes.
Each displayed item had a small brass placard attached to it.
On it, the maker's name, grade, and materials used were inscribed in neat brush calligraphy.
Anyone looking at it would think they'd come to a luxury showroom or a museum.
As we entered, a staff member neatly dressed in a black tailored suit approached us.
“Welcome to Cheonhwadang. Is there anything in particular you're looking for?”
Seojian handed over a business card with practiced ease.
“Could I take a look at some usable instruments among the Byung-grade ritual implements? A jade flute would be even better.”
The staff member took the card, glanced over it, and bowed respectfully.
“Ah, Ms. Seojian. Please wait a moment. We actually have one item that came in yesterday.”
The staff member headed toward the counter.
'A jade flute.'
A moment later, the staff member came out carrying a long velvet-lined case.
Click―
When the case opened, a jade flute suffused with a blue glow was revealed inside.
“It's a ritual implement carved from nephrite mined in the Baekdu mountain range. It channels the user's spiritual power and amplifies it through sound. Among the Byung-grade instruments you were looking for, it's the top-tier item.”
Seojian examined the flute from various angles.
She touched the surface, held it up to the light, then soon nodded.
Then she held the flute out toward me.
“Mr. Dohyun. Would you like to check it yourself?”
“......”
I was momentarily flustered.
What was I supposed to know by looking?
Even if you said blacksmithing was something my body remembered, an instrument made of jade was a different matter from what I'd handled in the smithy.
'Should I just nod vaguely and let it pass?'
It was just as I was thinking that and absentmindedly took the jade flute when—
Ziiiiing―
The moment my fingertips touched the flute.
A faint vibration flowed softly across the flute's smooth surface and into the inside of my palm.
'......Huh?'
Almost simultaneously.
I felt something begin to flow out instinctively from the tips of my fingers.
Should I say it felt warm? Ticklish? Something hot was moving from my fingertips toward the jade flute.
The sensation I had felt countless times while playing games.
The technique I used when obtaining new minerals or materials, or when figuring out the structure of an item made by someone else.
Sending a sliver of mana through my hand, then reading the wave as it flowed along gaps or circuits in the material and bounced back.
[Mana Wave]
'No way.'
This was reality. There was no way there should be mana or anything like that.
But just like when I grabbed the old lady's brass bells at the shrine.
The invisible force starting from my fingertips naturally began seeping along the surface of the jade flute and into its interior.
Fwoosh―
The inner structure of the blue jade flute was drawn vividly in my mind.
The finishing of the passage running through it, the tiny engravings carved to amplify sound, and the path along which the energy was supposed to flow.
The form of the mana circuit I had seen in the game began to emerge.
'Holy crap. This works?'
Holding my breath, I carefully inspected the structure of the flute in my hand.
The circuit carved inside was laid bare before my eyes.
Ah, of course, since this was reality, it probably wasn't something like the mana circuits I'd called them in the game.
There wouldn't be any mana here, after all.
What had she called it in this world...? Spiritual power, was it? It was probably a path through which that kind of force flowed.
But whatever it was called, I could grasp the structure at a glance.
“Hmm... so it's a structure that receives energy at the entrance, winds it upward in a spiral, and amplifies it step by step through resonance.”
A double helix was intricately wound along the inner wall of the jade flute, with resonance chambers carved at regular intervals.
A circuit designed so that each revolution of energy increased the amplitude.
Clean.
The fundamentals were definitely solid. Whoever had drawn the main framework of the circuit was clearly a skilled hand.
However.
'......Was the finishing done by someone else?'
Compared to the main framework, the detailed finishing was a mess. As if the designer and the person who did the final work were two different people.
“Hmm......”
Before I knew it, the murmur slipped out of my mouth.
“This has a structure that increases resonance in stages with a double helix inside. The design itself is neatly done, but......”
I lightly pointed at the middle of the jade flute with my fingertip.
“Here, the entrance to the third resonance chamber is slightly misaligned, so energy leaks a little every time it makes one full turn. It won't be a big problem right now, but the moment the caster pours in stronger mana... no, spiritual power, the sound will crack or even mix in a burst of noise......”
I held the flute up to the light and looked inside once more.
“The jade itself is of good grain, but the marks from carving against the grain during finishing are still there. At this rate, the durability will probably be cut in half, if not more......”
“......Pardon?”
The face of the employee who had been wearing a polite smile stiffened.
“Hahaha! Mr. Dohyun, you really! What a serious joke! Hahaha......”
Seojian gave the employee an awkward smile and tugged on my arm, whispering.
“Hey, Mr. Dohyun! Let's go over there, over there! There are lots of interesting things that way!”
“No, I mean, the internal finishing is really...”
Seojian practically pinched my arm as she grabbed it and lowered her voice.
“Shh! Mr. Dohyun, for now! For now, please come this way. Okay?”
“......?”
Please.
I had no idea what was going on, but her face was so deathly pale that for the moment, all I could do was follow along as told.
I was dragged to the other side of the display case by Seojian's fierce grip.
She wiped away cold sweat and let out a sigh of relief.
'......What?'
I had only looked and told them what I saw. This place seemed oddly sensitive to feedback.
It was then, while I was looking around the inside of Cheonhwadang a bit more.
“You bastards! Get the one in charge out here right now!!”
Boom―!
Suddenly, from the entrance of the shop, a loud crash rang out along with a rough shout.
The customers and staff inside all turned their eyes in that direction at once.
“C-customer. Causing trouble here is not...”
“Trouble? Want me to show you what real trouble looks like?!”
The man standing at the entrance looked awful.
He had a bloody bandage wrapped around his head and a thick cast on one arm, and he wore a fierce, rough expression.
His face was flushed red and blue with a mix of rage and fear.
“You sold this piece of trash for fifty million won?! I went out relying on this thing and almost got killed!”
The man took something from inside his coat with his uncast hand and roughly hurled it onto the glass display case at the counter.
Crash―!
“Customer! Please calm down and...”
“Calm down? Does this look like a situation where I can calm down?! You said it was made by a Byung-grade artisan! You said one strike from this thing would exorcise a level-three vengeful spirit!”
A level-three vengeful spirit? A Byung-grade artisan?
I recalled the explanations on that internet site Seojian had shown me at the cafe earlier.
In this world, monsters and ghosts seemed to be managed by assigning them ranks, and the craftsmen who made objects had grades too.
The man's veins bulged as he shouted.
“Look at this! It's already cracked! No matter how much spiritual power I poured into it, nothing happened, let alone fire. What the hell kind of Inferno Sword is this!”
It seemed he'd spent a fortune on that sword, but it failed to function properly in actual combat, leaving him in a terrible state before barely making it back alive.
As the commotion grew, a neatly dressed man who looked like the manager walked out from the back with a frown.
“What's going on?”
The flustered employee went up to him and quickly reported the situation.
After hearing the story, the manager stepped forward slowly.
“Customer.”
His voice was soft and pleasant. A smile rested at the corners of his mouth.
Yet for some reason, with that single word, the air around us felt as if it had suddenly grown heavier.
“Please refrain from actions that may inconvenience the other guests.”
The moment he finished speaking, several employees from the back of the shop began moving toward the entrance all at once.
The mood turned hostile in an instant.
“D-don't come any closer, you bastards!”
The man backed up and suddenly pulled open the hem of his outer coat.
Then, the yellow talisman bundles hanging densely inside his coat were revealed.
“These, all of these are Inferno Talismans! Touch me with even a fingertip and I'll blow this whole place sky-high!”
The customers inside the shop screamed and scattered.
I stared from a distance at the 'Inferno Sword' lying on the display case.
'...Tch.'
As I slowly took a step forward, Seojian, who had been holding her breath beside me, panicked and grabbed the hem of my clothes.
“Dohy... Mr. Dohyun? Where are you going! That guy's holding a bomb right now!”
I gently pried her hand away and strode toward the standoff between them.
And then I spoke, pointing with my chin at the old sword resting on the counter display case.
“May I take a look at that sword?”