WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Gate Summoner Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 13: Was Introduced. Met a Strange Woman.
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After having a deal rejected for the absurd reason that the quality was too high.
“Magic coal is generally used to melt mana-infused metals.”
As if to explain why, Team Leader Myo took a sip of coffee and continued in her usual expressionless manner.
“If the mana contained in a metal is 1, then the coal used to melt it also needs mana of 1. It may be easiest to think of it as melting metal by matching the mana in the coal and metal at a one-to-one ratio.”
He knew that already.
Kang Yul had looked into all sorts of relevant information in order to sell coal.
That was why he had been even more certain.
Coal with enough mana to make a worm stiffen in recognition had to sell for a high price.
But reality was different.
“All minerals found in Gates are priced according to the purity of the mana they contain. Coal is no exception.”
Team Leader Myo explained while looking at the coal in her hand with yellow eyes.
“If we assume the coal with the highest mana level found in mines so far is 9, this coal has at least 20. That makes it difficult for the Association to handle.”
Ultimately, Team Leader Myo meant only one thing.
They would not buy coal that was more trouble than it was worth, whether to sell or use.
“...”
After hearing everything she had to say, Kang Yul had trouble controlling his expression.
He tried thinking of various things to say, but he had just been thoroughly beaten down by facts. There was nothing else to say.
If he had not been playing the role of Kang Yul, the rude but capable underground hunter, he might have rushed into the Gate and hugged the worm while crying.
But that only lasted a moment.
“So, I would like to make a suggestion.”
There was a saying in Korea.
“You have to listen to Korean until the very end.”
“I know a blacksmith. She would not buy coal in bulk like the Association or a corporation, but she may be willing to handle it in small quantities. If you are interested...”
“I am! Interested!”
Kang Yul sprang to his feet and answered energetically before Team Leader Myo could finish.
There was no room to keep acting like a rude but capable underground hunter when money was on the line.
Opening up a new buyer was valuable enough for Kang Yul to abandon his whole persona.
“...I see.”
Team Leader Myo looked at him with an inscrutable gaze.
“Then shall we go now?”
“Huh? Right now?”
“The blacksmith’s workshop is nearby.”
“In the middle of downtown?”
“That is correct.”
With that simple answer, Team Leader Myo rose from her seat and began walking somewhere.
Kang Yul quietly followed behind her.
They walked for around ten minutes in awkward silence, without exchanging a single word of small talk.
Ripple!
“Hm?”
Kang Yul suddenly felt as though he had crossed through something. When he looked around, the scenery had changed.
Where am I? It feels a little different from a Gate...
He slowly examined his surroundings.
A dirt path crunched underfoot, lined with old-fashioned hanok buildings.
Such an alien place in the middle of downtown.
Feeling a clear sense of unease, Kang Yul glanced at Team Leader Myo.
“...”
She simply walked on toward somewhere, wearing her usual expressionless face as though nothing was wrong.
Should he ask about it?
Or should he nonchalantly keep walking as if he already knew, like the rude but capable underground hunter Kang Yul he was pretending to be?
The two sides of him clashed in his head, arguing endlessly for only a moment.
“We have arrived.”
“Hm?”
Pulled from his thoughts by Team Leader Myo’s words, Kang Yul looked around.
At some point, they had arrived before a huge gate that looked at least four times taller than him.
It’s enormous...
It was so large that its imposing size made him shrink back.
At the same time, as he stared up at it and wondered how much a house like this would cost, he noticed a large signboard hanging over the gate.
[Kkaebi Workshop]
Kkaebi Workshop...?
This seemed to be the nearby blacksmith’s workshop Team Leader Myo had mentioned.
Kkaebi, as in dokkaebi...
“We will go in.”
...Team Leader Myo, you’re moving way too fast. At least give me time to think.
Rather than saying something so pathetic out loud, he decided to quietly follow her.
The blacksmith’s identity was not especially important to Kang Yul.
As long as she bought his coal, it did not matter whether she was human or dokkaebi.
Crunch, crunch.
When he crossed the gate behind Team Leader Myo, an interior as spacious as the gate itself unfolded before him.
True to its name, the workshop yard was filled with heaps of charcoal and tools whose purpose he could not identify.
“This way.”
As he followed Team Leader Myo farther inside, a wave of heat burst from an enormous forge.
Before it stood the back of a woman who seemed completely absorbed in her work.
Kang Yul carefully asked Team Leader Myo,
“She seems to be in the middle of working.”
“It is fine. She dislikes outsiders entering while she is working, so she will put down her hammer and come soon.”
“?”
Kang Yul doubted what he had just heard.
Outsiders entering while she was working?
If that was true, then they had not contacted her beforehand. They had practically barged in without permission.
“You thieving cat. How many times have I told you not to come in while I’m working?”
...Then wasn’t it natural for the homeowner to make such a murderous expression at an uninvited guest?
“I know. But it was an emergency, so I had no choice.”
“Haa... How many times has it actually been a real emergency when you came here saying that?”
“I’ve come here seventeen times in total. Of those, three were recognized as emergencies.”
And this was not even the first time. She was a repeat offender.
Would this be all right? He seemed to have earned the blacksmith’s dislike before even starting a coal deal.
Kang Yul strongly felt this transaction would not go smoothly.
A moment later.
Clang!
“Tch. So what is it?”
The blacksmith irritably set down the lump of iron she had been working on and turned toward them.
Then, at that moment.
“Hm?”
“Uh... hello?”
Kang Yul awkwardly greeted her when their eyes met.
The blacksmith froze for about three seconds after seeing him, then frowned and began to question Team Leader Myo.
No, more precisely, she tried to question her.
“You thieving cat. Why have you brought some man I’ve never seen into my workshop without my permission... Hm?”
The blacksmith, who had been glaring at him irritably, suddenly stopped.
Then she strode right up to Kang Yul and began looking him over as though examining something she had never seen before.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Soon, she began touching his body here and there, looking for something.
“W-What are you doing?! Where are you touching...?!”
“It’ll be over soon, so stay still. If it bothers you that much, I’ll let you touch my body later too. Fair is fair.”
“What kind of ridiculous logic is that?!”
Kang Yul resisted desperately.
He did not have unusual tastes to the point of enjoying having his body forcibly touched by a woman he had just met.
But his struggles were utterly futile.
Is this because she’s a blacksmith? Why is she so strong...?!
The strength of a mage whose hobby was mining could not overcome a blacksmith’s strength.
In the end, he had to endure the humiliating experience of being touched all over for quite some time.
After who knew how long, the blacksmith said,
“Ho...?”
She saw the gem embedded in his palm and quietly muttered, “I knew it...”
Then she asked Team Leader Myo,
“You thieving cat. Where did you find such an esteemed guest?”
“Hm?”
But after seeing Team Leader Myo’s reaction, she quietly muttered, “What? Did you bring him here without knowing...?”
Then, as though she had fallen into a world of her own, she began talking to herself.
“If you have taken human form, you must be interested in humans. But your reaction is too... Ah, did you erase your memories as well? But Master said Earth Dragons have no interest in anything other than the earth...”
Watching this, Kang Yul took a step back as though hiding behind Team Leader Myo and whispered,
“Is that blacksmith all right?”
“She is sometimes like that when she concentrates. You do not need to mind it.”
“No, not that. I mean how she was touching my body.”
“I have never seen that either, so I do not know. Perhaps Hunter Kang Yul is her type.”
“What does that even...”
...Kang Yul could not bring himself to continue.
It was unlikely, but what if Team Leader Myo was right?
As Kang Yul looked at the blacksmith anxiously and wondered whether he should run away now, the blacksmith finished her thoughts.
“Excuse me, esteemed guest.”
She began treating Kang Yul with the deference due an elder, calling him an esteemed guest.
Kang Yul was confused about why she was acting that way toward him, but the blacksmith’s next words made him forget his persona and sincerely panic.
After all,
“Would you consider living in my home with me? I will do anything I can for you.”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, does that mean yes? Then starting today...”
“Pardon? No? I don’t want to. Why would I?”
“...Oh, really? Tch, that’s a shame. I wanted to receive an esteemed guest’s energy.”
She awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck and began muttering, “What a shame... No, wait. He's in human form, so should I just grab and eat him? He seemed weak when I checked earlier...”
Kang Yul looked at the blacksmith and thought,
She proposed living together the first time we met, and now that didn’t work, she says she’ll eat me...? Th-This woman is a total pervert!
Kang Yul, age twenty-three.
It was the first time in his life that he had felt his chastity was in danger.
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