WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Gate Summoner Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 32: Acquires a New Resource. Becomes a Debtor.
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“Ha... A stamina-cost skill for a Mage...”
It was so absurd that he could not even find the words.
A Mage already lacking in stamina had to consume stamina instead of mana? What kind of hybrid Mage was that supposed to be?
‘Do I really need to start going to a gym...?’
All the skills he had were utility skills related to exploration and support, so he used his body more often than mana.
On top of that, his magic staff had a physical attribute, and he spent most of each day mining.
Since he currently used more stamina than mana, stamina training was something he needed to seriously consider.
‘I heard there are gyms exclusively for Hunters...’
...He would look into it later.
Anyway.
‘For now, I should mine some other things too.’
Kang Yul put the iron ore on the ground into his bundle and headed toward the coal.
He considered mining more iron, but gave up because his body did not seem able to take it.
The exhaustion coursing through him showed that this was not something a brief rest could solve.
With his current stamina, mining one iron block a day seemed to be his limit.
‘Well, it’s not a loss.’
This was not just an iron block. It was a high-purity iron block with its impurities removed.
The amount of iron ore he could mine in a day might have decreased, but its quality had risen dramatically.
And that would surely benefit Kang Yul.
It might have been different if his trade partner had been a steel mill that handled primary processing, but his current partner was a dokkaebi Blacksmith whom veteran Hunters obsessed over.
‘She’ll pay more since I’ve saved her the trouble of processing it.’
And she would buy the coal used to process that iron from Kang Yul as well.
Exaggerating a little, Kang Yul might be able to spend money like water for the rest of his life.
Which meant...
“Phew... Hang in there, my body!”
Kang Yul swung his pickaxe at the dirt and coal.
Now that he had a mega-hit new product called iron blocks, he thought it would be good to show off dirt blocks and coal blocks as well.
Of course, he had to pay for that greed with his body.
Thwok!
“Huff... Huff... Oh, man... This is exhausting...!”
As the skill activated, a Thwok! rang out instead of the usual Crunch!
Thud!
Thud!
The area around where the pickaxe struck vanished again, and two cubic blocks appeared in midair before falling to the ground.
Perhaps because the skill had removed their impurities again, both looked far higher in quality than before.
“So they can change like this too?”
Kang Yul carefully examined the two blocks resting in his palm.
The weathered soil, which had been somewhere between stone and dirt, had lost its small rocks and impurities, becoming a block of fertile soil that looked full of nutrients.
The coal had also lost its impurities, becoming noticeably darker, denser, and harder.
‘I don’t know what’s good about this or where it could be used, but Chaeryeong noona will find some use for it.’
Kang Yul carefully put the two blocks into his bundle as well.
Then, before leaving the mine and heading for the Gate entrance to get ready to go out...
Thwok!
Thwok!
Thwok!
‘This really... eats up... so much stamina...!’
Kang Yul squeezed out what little strength he had left to make three blocks of soil, then quietly placed them beside the mound of dirt where the Worm was sleeping.
His legs trembled so badly afterward that he had to sit on the ground for a while and stare blankly at the ceiling.
‘The Worm will like them... right?’
Rather than thinking about his current hardship, Kang Yul faintly smiled as he imagined the Worm waking up, finding the dirt, and being happy.
Once he could move around again, he quietly left the Gate and headed for Nowon Station, where Kkaebi Workshop was located.
#####
Not long after leaving home on trembling legs, Kang Yul took out his smartphone and contacted someone.
───────────
[Perv Noona]
───────────
▶ [Noona, I’m leaving.]
▷ [Okay. I’ll wash up and head out too.]
▶ [(Report a pervert to 112 emoji)]
▷ [?]
[I only meant I was going to shower because I got dirty.]
[Yul, are you perhaps...?]
▶ [(Mom told me to buy tofu emoji)]
───────────
Anyway, Kang Yul put away his smartphone and made his way to the workshop on trembling legs.
Thirty minutes on the subway.
Then ten minutes from Nowon Station to the alley where the entrance was.
Ripple!
And after he felt as though he had crossed through something, he walked a few more minutes through the quiet alley.
The enormous gate and signboard, which had become somewhat familiar by now, greeted Kang Yul.
And it was not merely a figure of speech.
Previously, Kang Yul had needed to open Kkaebi Workshop’s gate himself.
This time, however, it opened on its own with a Creeeak...!
It was as if the gate recognized an honored guest and was politely showing him respect.
‘Looks like Chaeryeong noona did something to it.’
Thinking that perhaps she had installed a facial-recognition sensor, Kang Yul entered the workshop.
Kim Chaeryeong sensed his presence, came out of the smithy, and happily greeted him.
However.
“Yul, you’re here!”
Whoosh!
“Didn’t you miss noona? Why haven’t you come to see me?”
Perhaps she was happy to see Kang Yul after so long.
Or perhaps this was punishment for thoughtlessly running home last time.
Kim Chaeryeong wrapped him in a fierce hug, as if she had no intention of letting him escape.
Then, immediately afterward.
“Cough, cough...! N-noona! Tap...! Tap...! I’m... dying...!”
Kang Yul found himself in a difficult situation in more ways than one.
Was it the difference between their innate classes?
Kang Yul’s balloon muscles, built through mining, could not withstand the Blacksmith’s welcoming hug.
The difference in strength between them was obvious enough that he immediately had to tap out, overwhelmed by pressure as though a giant boa constrictor had coiled around him.
“Oh, sorry, Yul.”
Kim Chaeryeong lowered Kang Yul from her arms with a startled expression.
Then she spoke with a truly apologetic look on her face.
“I’m really sorry. I don’t usually do things like this with other people, so I’m not very good at controlling my strength.”
“Cough, cough... Then how do you usually, cough, deal with other customers...?”
“Other customers? I just listen to what they want, take the job if the price is right, and throw them out if it isn’t.”
“Cough...? Then who do you hug like this...?”
“Obviously, nobody but our Yul. What’s so cute about them that I’d do this for them? Those cat and crow girls came by earlier and nagged me to mend their clothes. If it hadn’t involved you, Yul, I would’ve ignored them.”
“Cough...? Me...?”
Between coughs, Kang Yul looked at Kim Chaeryeong as if to ask what she meant.
Kim Chaeryeong recalled what had happened earlier and explained with a grin.
“Yul, I heard you helped the Management Bureau pull off something big yesterday? They said you completely wrecked a Gate.”
“Th-that wasn’t me. My friend did it...”
“I know, I know. A friend as close as family did it. Anyway, what matters is what happened right after you got out of that Gate. You saw it too, right? Those ridiculous outfits the cat and crow were wearing.”
“By the cat and crow, do you mean Team Leader Myo and Team Leader Oh?”
“That’s right. Those two came to see me in a panic this morning. They said the clothes they were wearing got hit by a supernatural phenomenon and turned into supernatural rarities. They wouldn’t come off, and those two begged me to alter them.”
“Ah.”
So that was why they had been dressed like that at the station.
Their clothes had become bound mystic artifacts through a supernatural phenomenon, and the other employees had noticed but gritted their teeth and pretended not to know.
“Then are they still dressed like that?”
“They’re fine now. I altered them into wristbands. I was going to tell them to get lost because they were annoying, but they said it was from an operation with you, Yul, so I did them a favor.”
“That’s a relief.”
Still.
A mystic artifact that changed the clothes you wore into a cheerleader outfit, which you then had to keep wearing...
‘...It’s really a good thing it was a cheering stick!’
Kang Yul sighed in relief again, thinking how fortunate it was that a cheering stick had appeared.
Something as horrifying as Kang Yul in a cheerleader outfit should never exist in this world.
#####
It was a little out of nowhere, but honestly, Kim Chaeryeong was an incredibly charming woman.
That did not mean Kim Chaeryeong as she normally was.
There was one essential condition attached whenever Kang Yul thought, “Kim Chaeryeong is charming.”
“There are almost no impurities, and the mana purity is unquestionably top grade... Normally, melting metal of this quality would be the problem, but we can use this coal... This soil would be good for annealing or forge-welding, though there’s no rush...”
Watching Kim Chaeryeong focus on her work as a Blacksmith, Kang Yul thought:
‘She’s pretty when she talks a little more calmly...’
‘She looks so impressive when she works...’
That was only what he thought. It was not as though he planned to fall for her now.
Anyway, that thought only lasted a moment.
“Yul, how much of these iron and coal blocks can you supply?”
Kim Chaeryeong, who had been considering uses for the new materials with a serious expression, looked at Kang Yul and asked.
“I’m still not very good at mining them, so I think I can manage about ten blocks a month.”
Kang Yul left himself a little room as he answered.
Considering his trade with Friendly Merchant and his condition that day, that seemed about right.
“Ten blocks a month is less than I expected... but it’s not so little that I can’t use it.”
Kim Chaeryeong nodded as she muttered to herself, then held out her hand toward Kang Yul.
“Yul, how about we set it at one hundred million won per iron block and ten million won per coal block?”
“Really?!”
Kang Yul cried out and asked whether what he had just heard was true.
He already knew what one of Kim Chaeryeong’s payments meant after trading with her once before.
Her offer to pay him 1.1 billion won every month was an important matter that needed confirming.
“Of course it’s true. I’d like you to sell me more, but this noona doesn’t want you overworking yourself and getting hurt.”
“Chaeryeong noona...!”
And just like that, Kang Yul became rich overnight.
The one hundred million won he had received last time was still sitting untouched in his bank account, and another 1.1 billion won would soon be added to it.
“Oh, and you should sell these soil blocks to Hunters or companies involved with plants rather than to me. They go crazy for this kind of soil. I can put you in touch with some buyers if you need.”
“Please do!”
She was even offering to introduce him to buyers for the soil he had not been able to sell.
In the end, Kang Yul had no choice but to revise his earlier thought.
He had to add “the way she spends money freely” to the conditions for Kim Chaeryeong being charming.
Though only for a moment.
“By the way, Yul, didn’t you say there was something you wanted to ask me?”
“It’s about that friend I mentioned before, the one who’s like family. My friend wants to come outside, but it would be dangerous for them to come out normally. So I was wondering if there’s another way.”
“Hmm... Usually, it’s dangerous for some reason when the main body comes out in cases like that, right? Then the best option is to use a vessel that can hold only part of their consciousness. You want to travel together?”
“Yes.”
“Then it would be best to make a small doll into a vessel. It wouldn’t look strange to carry around, and you could put it in your pocket.”
“Oh...!”
Kang Yul thought, ‘As expected, Chaeryeong noona has thought of everything.’
He also thought it had been worth maintaining his connection with Kim Chaeryeong despite being subjected to that -censored- last time.
But then, the next moment.
“However, Yul. There are two problems.”
“Yes? What problems?”
“First, no one but noona can make this in Korea. Second, noona’s fee is extremely expensive.”
Kim Chaeryeong told Kang Yul that her fee was extremely expensive.
Of course, filled with the confidence of having just earned 1.1 billion won in an instant, Kang Yul asked for the price without hesitation. How expensive could it possibly be?
But Kang Yul should have realized it then.
“Really? Let’s see...”
Who exactly he was trading with.
And who exactly was saying, “Extremely expensive.”
“My initial fee starts at one billion won, so that’s one billion right there. Since your family member probably can’t use ordinary byproducts, we’d need to use some fairly valuable ones. If I make it with the most cost-effective byproducts possible and cut down the cost as much as I can... it’ll come to around twelve billion won.”
“Pardon?”
“But since Yul is the little brother noona cherishes, I’ll give you a discount and charge you only ten billion.”
“Pardon? No... Pardon???”
Kang Yul’s mind went blank.
At the same time, he wondered whether he had really heard the amount correctly.
But no matter how much he denied reality, nothing changed.
“Yul, this is cheap too. Who besides noona could make a vessel capable of handling your family member?”
...She was right.
Thinking of the Air Worm he had seen not long ago, the price Kim Chaeryeong had suggested was entirely reasonable.
The fact that she said it was possible at all was practically a miracle.
And so, in the end.
“Can I pay in installments...?”
“Normally, no, but since Yul is the little brother noona cherishes, I’ll allow it.”
“Then six months... No, twelve months...”
That day, Kang Yul had clearly signed a contract worth 1.1 billion won.
Yet somehow, he became a debtor owing ten billion won in an instant.
Of course, Kim Chaeryeong had not forced this choice on him.
He could have steadily saved money and bought it later in a lump sum.
But.
‘This is... for the Worm...’
When he thought of the Worm, trapped in the Gate and desperately waiting for the day it could finally come outside, Kang Yul could not imagine not signing the contract.
Footnotes:
112 is South Korea’s police emergency number. The tofu emoji is a joke about eating tofu after release from custody, symbolizing a fresh start.
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