I Became the Gate Summoner Hunters Obsess Over - Chapter 17

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Ceaseless

◈ I Became the Gate Summoner Hunters Obsess Over ◈

Chapter 17: Went Out. Formed a Deep Bond.

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The day after becoming the owner of the dokkaebi club.

Kang Yul really, truly did not want to go back, but he scheduled a visit to the workshop to deliver coal and learn how to use the dokkaebi club.

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[Perv Blacksmith]

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▶ [Blacksmith, may I come deliver coal today?]

▷ [Ah, esteemed one! I'm making a new item right now... (omitted)... Anyway, I'm fine, so please come whenever you like!]

▶ [Understood. Oh, and you know the dokkaebi club I received as a gift last time?]

▷ [Is there perhaps a problem with it?]

▶ [No, nothing like that.]

[I completed the dokkaebi club, but it suddenly disappeared.]

[I was wondering if you might know anything about that.]

▷ [What??????]

[You completed the dokkaebi club????]

[Come to the workshop right now!!!!!!!!]

[Right now!!!!!!]

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"What is that? Why is she acting like that...?"

He couldn't even imagine how shocked the Blacksmith must be, judging by all those question and exclamation marks. If draining someone's energy through text messages was a talent, then that was certainly a talent.

In any case, now that he had an appointment, Kang Yul quickly got ready to leave.

Crunch! Crrk! Crack!

"Mmm! Breakfast is always so filling when you mix coal and dirt into milk."

Only after thoroughly eating his nutritious(?) breakfast did he head for Nowon Station, where the workshop was located.

After taking the subway for around thirty minutes, then walking another ten minutes from Nowon Station, he arrived at a quiet alley.

If he continued down this path,

Ripple!

At some point, he felt as though he had crossed something, and a dirt road resembling a hanok village appeared.

After walking along that road for another few minutes,

[Kkaebi Workshop]

A massive front gate and a signboard reading [Kkaebi Workshop] greeted him.

'Sigh... I really never wanted to come back here...'

The sight made Kang Yul let out a suffocating sigh.

He couldn't believe he had willingly walked back into this hell, and he hated his own helplessness for having no other choice.

'...Let's go in.'

But denying the world and hating himself would change nothing. Kang Yul crossed the threshold and entered the workshop.

Then, the next moment.

"Ah, you're finally here, esteemed one."

The Blacksmith was standing before the gate, warmly greeting Kang Yul as though she had been waiting for him.

"Were you waiting for me?"

"Of course. It would be rude not to come greet an esteemed one such as yourself."

"You didn't have to go that far..."

"Oh, how could I not? You're here, esteemed one."

Kang Yul understood that.

If someone esteemed were coming, he would have acted the same way.

But still.

'It's too uncomfortable when a woman who clearly looks older than me treats me with such respect...'

As someone who had spent twenty-three years as a dirt-poor orphan with no one in the world, this kindness was deeply uncomfortable.

It felt like forcing himself into clothes that did not fit.

Honestly, he would have preferred being treated like an underling, the way Team Leader Myo treated him.

But the Blacksmith before him couldn't do that.

Perhaps she saw Kang Yul as an endangered animal that needed protection, or as a priceless jewel. Her eyes held both affection and a creepy desire.

'Ugh... Team Leader Myo's contemptuous stare would be a hundred times better.'

As he shuddered beneath this excessively generous treatment,

"Did you have any trouble getting here... Hm? Wait a moment, esteemed one."

The Blacksmith suddenly began staring intently at Kang Yul, as though she had noticed something strange.

'Wait. I think this happened to me last time...!'

Feeling uneasy, Kang Yul quickly stepped backward to put some distance between them, but it was already too late.

"Please excuse me for a moment."

The Blacksmith's hand shot out before he could react, subduing him in an instant.

And so, he had to suffer the humiliation of last time all over again.

"Argh! Let go! I said let go!"

Kang Yul resisted fiercely.

It might have looked pathetic to anyone watching, but he desperately struggled because he couldn't endure that humiliation again.

But...

"Esteemed one, it'll be over soon, so please stay still. If you keep struggling like this, it'll take longer, you know?"

...The result was the same as last time.

The strength of a Mage who had only trained a little through mining could not overcome the strength of a Blacksmith who hammered iron.

If Kang Yul and the Blacksmith were animals, the gap between their strength was like that of a fawn and a leopard.

And in the end,

"No! You already felt me all over last time! Why are you doing this again?!"

Having given up resisting, Kang Yul asked indignantly why the Blacksmith was touching him.

Her answer was shocking.

"Hmm... That's right. I definitely did... Esteemed one, how did you become a dokkaebi in the short time I haven't seen you?"

"What? What are you talking... Ah?"

Come to think of it.

[You may now use a dokkaebi's ability.]

Didn't I gain a dokkaebi's ability yesterday?

#####

Thinking that the Blacksmith might be right, Kang Yul muttered, "What kind of dokkaebi ability did I gain...?"

"Right? It wasn't just my imagination, was it, esteemed one? What on earth happened?"

Having heard him, the Blacksmith leaned in as though she had expected this, then began pressing him for answers as if she were about to devour him.

Overwhelmed by that pressure, Kang Yul had no choice but to tell her the truth.

"But it's a rather long story..."

"Then shall we talk over some refreshments?"

"...Let's do that."

Kang Yul accepted the Blacksmith's offer.

It wasn't a conversation to have while standing, and he also needed time to organize his thoughts if he wanted to hide the parts involving the Gate.

As he walked while gathering his thoughts,

"All right, all right, head farther inside~!"

The Blacksmith pushed him along through the courtyard.

"All right, farther in~!"

They passed the supernatural rarity storage room he had visited last time.

"All right, even farther inside~!"

"...Farther than this?"

"Yes! You need to go farther in!"

They entered a strangely secluded room that felt lived-in.

After silently looking around once, Kang Yul asked in a puzzled voice.

"Um... This doesn't seem to be a reception room...?"

"Of course not. It's the room where I live."

"Don't people usually not bring guests into their rooms...?"

"Oh, what does that matter between us, esteemed one?"

Kang Yul nearly cried, "What kind of relationship do we even have...?!"

But the Blacksmith was the only person he could ask about dokkaebi, so he patiently endured.

'If things get bad, I'll have to bring out Worm...'

Kang Yul trembled with anxiety that the predator before him might devour him at any moment.

For a brief moment, he was prepared to use even his tactical nuke, Worm, if necessary.

"There's not much, but please help yourself."

"...Ah, thank you."

Kang Yul swallowed at the faint, pleasant aroma rising from the clearly expensive-looking snacks and tea before him.

'Hm. Food has done nothing wrong.'

After rationalizing it to himself, he relaxed slightly and reached for the tea.

The moment he took a sip, his eyes widened in surprise.

"This tea tastes incredibly good...?"

Kang Yul looked down at the tea he had just drunk.

Even Kang Yul, who enjoyed eating anything as long as it was edible, could recognize this tea's quality the instant he tasted it.

And since he could feel energy returning to his body and yesterday's mining fatigue fading away, he thought these could not possibly be ordinary tea leaves.

"One of my regular customers is very serious about plants. These are special tea leaves that they grew personally inside a Gate."

"It sounds incredibly expensive."

"I heard you can't buy it even with money. Well, they keep begging me to make equipment for them, so they send it quite often. Ah, would you like me to set some aside for you?"

"..."

Kang Yul answered with silence and politely refused the tea leaves.

He wasn't important enough to casually accept something so expensive.

More specifically, he wasn't confident he could handle the aftermath if they later demanded it back.

'More importantly, who exactly is this Blacksmith?'

Kang Yul silently looked down at the tea in his hand for a while, lost in thought.

Though he knew it was rude, he decided to ask one impolite question.

"Blacksmith, are you someone rather remarkable?"

In the Hunter industry, digging into one another's personal information was considered taboo.

Naturally, it was not intended to protect personal information.

It was more fundamentally a matter of survival.

'There have been plenty of people who suffered after directly speaking their names, their true names, amid supernatural phenomena.'

The longer a person had worked as a Hunter, the more sensitive they became about personally revealing information about themselves.

To prevent such things, the practice of using false names or referring to Hunters by defining monikers had taken root.

That was why Kang Yul had never once asked for Team Leader Myo's or the Blacksmith's name.

But...

"I know it's rude. But our relationship is already awkward, and if I vaguely know that you're someone remarkable, I think it'll become even more awkward."

Kang Yul concluded that he had to learn what position the person before him held.

If they were going to keep trading coal regularly and maintain such an awkward relationship, he thought it would be better to at least know the Blacksmith's identity and be uncomfortable about it.

So he had just blurted it out, but...

"Are you saying you want to form a 'Deep Bond' with me?"

...For some reason, Kang Yul felt a chill crawl down his spine.

And in that moment, he realized one thing for certain.

He had just made a very serious mistake.

"I, um, I'm really sorry, but..."

So Kang Yul tried to withdraw his question and end the matter by immediately bowing his head in apology.

But unfortunately... he could not.

Because,

"Esteemed one, my name is Kim Chaeryeong. It is truly an honor to form a 'Deep Bond' with you, esteemed one, an Earth Dragon and a dokkaebi."

"W-wait! I'm really sorry, but I'm neither an Earth Dragon nor a dokkaebi! I'm just an ordinary human, so I would like to take back what I said earlier..."

Ding!

[You have formed a Deep Bond with 'Kim Chaeryeong'.]

"...Huh?"

The incomprehensible notification window that appeared before him confirmed the Deep Bond between Kang Yul and the Blacksmith, Kim Chaeryeong.

Ding!

[Your divine power wishes for the 'prosperity' of the being with whom you have formed a Deep Bond.]

[Your divine power wishes for the 'success' of the being with whom you have formed a Deep Bond.]

Furthermore, the following notifications said that his divine power wished for Kim Chaeryeong's prosperity and success.

'No... What is this, seriously...?'

Why does a human like me have divine power?

And what does it mean that it wishes for prosperity and success?

At this rate, it really feels like... I might be an Earth Dragon or a dokkaebi after all...?