WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

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◈ I Became an Undetected Priest Impersonator ◈

Chapter 16

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I Became a Building Owner (5)

"A tiny little leaf serving Iris, the Flower Goddess. I'm Kim Malja."

I was thrown for a moment.

There were other reasons, but above all, the girl's name was a hometown name that didn't fit this place at all.

And a fairly earthy one at that.

"..That's an unusual name."

For a moment I wondered if she might be from my hometown.

But her features were nothing like a Korean's.

Besides, the way the name was formed felt closer to the old days than to now.

"My grandmother, who was a priest, gave it to me!"

"I see. I was thinking it was a good name."

I didn't pry any further.

Forcing the question would only make me look suspicious.

"By the way, have you sorted out your belongings?"

"Um, no?"

Priest Malja shook her head from side to side.

She seemed to be pleading that she wasn't shameless enough to have done so.

For someone who wasn't, though, she'd come to a church that wasn't even finished and was cleaning it.

"Then let's start by unpacking. It seems they're still working on the chapel, but the living quarters look mostly done, so it should be fine."

The living quarters Priest Malja and I entered had two floors.

I couldn't tell why the church's quarters, prepared for just one person, were this spacious, but it wasn't a bad thing.

If anything, it worked out well for now.

"I'm getting on in years and my joints are weak, so I'll take the first floor. Priest Malja, you should take the second."

I was still in my thirties, so it wasn't quite an age to worry about my knees, but I gave the second floor to Priest Malja out of consideration for a young girl.

"I'll go unpack as well, so take your time getting settled."

"Okay!"

But the first thing I did after entering my room wasn't unpacking or anything like it.

It was opening the Gallery, to satisfy a curiosity I'd been hiding behind a neutral face for a while now.

Title: I have a question. How long have the victims summoned here been around?

Author: ㅇㅇ(123.123)

[No clue?]

[At least a few hundred years]

[Not sure, but a really long time]

[Summons happen pretty often too. Like two or three people join the Gallery every year]

ㄴ[Though just as many disappear, which is a problem]

‘Longer than I thought? It's not that I can't buy it.’

Then a sense of wrongness set in.

I soon pinpointed what it was.

‘If it's been going on this long and this often, how could the people here not know?’

The question was answered quickly.

The next comment had been written as if it had read my mind.

ㄴ[FYI, people here do know to some extent that people get summoned from another world. It's not common knowledge, but the upper class all seem to know]

ㄴ[ㅇㅇ they leave us alone because they know we're not demons]

ㄴ[Some of them probably leave us alone because the knowledge and tech we bring over, knowingly or not, is useful]

ㄴ[Most ordinary citizens just think of us as immigrants]

"Huh.."

‘I did think there were a lot of people in the Gallery, but.’

I clicked my tongue at the unexpected fact.

But for someone who read the Info tab closely and often, it was the first I'd heard of it.

[But why am I only finding this out now?]

ㄴ[(Oblivious.. Con)]

ㄴ[If you're the admin, please stop living your real life and spend some time on the Gallery!]

ㄴ[Well, it's something people talk about several times a day..]

"Ah."

Only then did I roughly catch on.

Nobody bothers to tell you, as a tip, that seawater is salty.

It's something you find out naturally after being around a little while.

This fact seemed to be the same.

[Honestly, with this many people in the Gallery, didn't you think it was weird?]

I'd only used the Gallery for learning, so it was natural that I wouldn't know.

Still, I wasn't without a touch of resentment.

If even a single line had been written in the Newbie must-read section of the Notice tab, I wouldn't have fallen into this misunderstanding.

[Well, part of the reason it's not in the Notice tab is the newbies]

ㄴ[Why's that?]

ㄴ[If they learn it straight from a notice, most newbies grasp reality fast and fall into despair over their situation]

ㄴ[Especially the more the world shifts toward modern times where otherworld stories are familiar, the more that tendency grew]

ㄴ[ㅇㅇ you can only have hope if you don't know reality]

ㄴ[Maybe that's why, but if you browse the Gallery long enough, plenty of newbies act like they're the chosen hero ㅋㅋㅋ]

It was a sensibility I found hard to understand.

ㄴ[But that delusion is actually what makes them forget reality and have hope. Some even adapt fast because of it]

ㄴ[Plus even if it's not in the notice, if you keep browsing the Gallery you'll pick up on it soon enough]

ㄴ[Of course, even once they find out, plenty of people who can't face their own limits still think they'll be different. Honestly I was like that too ㅋㅋ]

It was something that seemed understandable at a glance, yet I couldn't fully accept it.

[But if it really bugs you, you're the one wearing the armband, so you can just add it to the notice]

ㄴ[But you know all rules are written in blood, right?]

"…"

I closed the Gallery and lay down on the bed.

The bed hadn't been filled with so much as a scrap of straw yet, so it was hard as if I'd lain down on the floor, but it was good enough to rest my body.

‘Not that anything would change now. Even if I'd known earlier, I don't think I'd have chosen differently.’

I felt nothing else about it.

What really bothered me was something else.

‘Of all the...’

I thought of the name of the young priest I'd taken in as a new member of the household.

‘Kim Malja, of all things.’

I couldn't help being stunned.

Naturally so, because the three syllables of Kim Malja were my mother's name.

That was the biggest reason I'd been thrown when I heard her name earlier.

‘So I'm supposed to work someone with the same name as Mom like a mule?’

Well, well.

I felt like an unfilial son.

…

Knock, knock.

‘Even the sound of knocking is starting to feel familiar.’

The person I met as I slowly opened the door was Priest Malja.

I'd considered banning her from the first-floor quarters unless it was urgent, but let it go.

‘There's only the two of us anyway, and it's fine as long as I don't go upstairs.’

If the household grew, we'd have to draw clear lines, but I doubted the church's household would grow any further here.

"What is it?"

"Hehe, it's lunchtime, so I came to ask if you'd eaten."

Had it gotten that late already?

"Then I'll go downstairs to get a meal-"

I stopped mid-sentence and closed my mouth.

I'd realized I was no longer staying at the inn.

So even if I went downstairs, there was no way I'd get a meal.

‘..I'll have to go shopping for groceries.’

The problem was that I didn't have much money left.

Four and a half copper coins.

If one copper coin was roughly 10,000 won, my entire fortune came to less than 50,000 won.

‘I'll do a little shopping with this for now, and ask Priest Margaret for an advance on my pay or something.’

But at Priest Malja's next words, I left the few remaining coins well alone.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you! I thought so, so I made food for you too, Priest!"

I gave her a strange look.

‘Someone with the same name as Mom is even making my meals? I'm getting dizzy.’

But that dizziness didn't last long.

The moment I saw the prepared table, I had to face a worse one.

On the table sat a pot filled to the brim with stew.

‘The never-shrinking pig-slop stew..’

I couldn't hold back a sigh at the unmistakable look of that stew.

Just in case some meat was hiding at the bottom, I stirred it once with the ladle, but sadly there was no meat to use as an excuse.

‘The day I have to shovel this into my own mouth has finally come.’

I supposed I should at least be relieved that it wasn't a stew that had been boiled and reboiled for years.

"..From now on, I'll do the cooking."

"No, no! You took me in as part of the household, so chores like this are mine to do!"

"No. Cooking happens to be my hobby."

Of course I had no homey hobby like cooking.

It was just an excuse blurted out because I never wanted to eat pig-slop stew again.

Luckily she seemed to accept it, and Priest Malja nodded gently in agreement.

But the problem I'd solved was only one that would come up in the future, not the one in front of me now.

"Then this stew might be the first dish I serve you, and the last too! Please enjoy it!"

I glanced into the pot.

‘Judging by how much she made, I'll be eating this until tomorrow morning.’

Afraid my dislike would show on my face, I forced my expression to settle and scooped up a ladleful.

‘Turnips, sweet potatoes, beans.. is this even apple slices?’

The more I stirred, the more new ingredients turned up.

The crowning ingredient was a sticky lump.

‘..Sujebi?’

The stew had seemed oddly gluey for the amount of sweet potato, and it turned out flour dumplings had gone in.

Notoriously bland turnips, plus dumplings thrown in without a drop of broth.

It had looked appetite-killing to begin with, but once I knew what was inside, what little appetite I had burrowed down below the ground.

Still, it might be different once it was in my mouth. I carefully took a bite.

When I bit into the slippery dumpling, it squished mushily between my teeth.

‘Was her grandmother English, by any chance?’

I couldn't help thinking so.

‘And I have to eat this until tomorrow morning, no less.’

That was when it happened. A nasty idea crossed my mind, one no real priest could ever have come up with.

Of course, it was a wicked scheme possible only because I was a Priest Impersonator.

"Come to think of it, the workers were having a hard time working on the chapel earlier."

"Huh?"

"They must be hungry too. Why don't we share the food with them?"

‘I can't be the only one eating this.’

Swallowing my true thoughts, I suggested it gently.

Priest Malja seemed to think it a good idea and nodded right away.

"That's a great idea! I'll go hand it out right now!"

There was no need for her to leave in the middle of eating, but I didn't stop her.

In fact, the moment Priest Malja took the pot and went out, I hurried out of the room myself.

‘While she's away, I'll run, no, go do some grocery shopping.’

Nobody was chasing me, but my steps quickened anyway.

‘Is this my second time shopping at the market?’

Truthfully, it was hard to call the first trip shopping.

All I'd bought then was a piece of oak and a carving knife for carving my Symbol.

But not long after reaching the market, something unexpected happened, and I couldn't help being flustered.

"Goodness, Priest! I'm telling you, this is all the regular price!"

"No.. this really won't do."

The merchants were overcharging me.

To be more precise-

"Honestly, it's the regular price, I swear. Did you get cheated that badly before?!"

They were using the ladles to pile on extra, heaping it up for me.

I looked down at the ingredients piled in both hands.

‘Does this make sense for 50,000 won?’

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