WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 16: Short-Term Part-Time Job

──────

A restaurant at the Hyatt Hotel in Apgujeong, Seoul.

Important guests arrived one by one for the extravagant dinner, which had rented out an entire floor.

"Dragon Maiden is here too. Looks like everyone who's coming has arrived."

"Pastor Park is... well, as usual, he isn't coming."

"Was that old man ever the type to attend a gathering like this?"

Four people sat at the table. Including Pastor Park, who was absent, they were called the Five Great Lineages.

The Five Great Lineages were the leading figures of Korea's mystic world.

Separate from the Mystic Association, they led forces that had operated privately for a very long time.

For generations, they had taken charge of banishing and sealing strange spirits and monsters.

It had not even been a hundred years since the Korean government was established.

Unlike a government that had spent a long time ignoring the world's darkness, these groups had histories on an entirely different scale.

Gangnam Holy Temple Church, the Black Lotus Society, the Great Unification Church, the Diamond Sect, and Cheonghak.

They were Korea's greatest occult powers, and all of them had one thing in common. They were tied to religion.

It couldn't be helped.

Since ancient times, driving out strange spirits and monsters had been the work of clergy.

"So, I heard something happened in Songpa recently."

The first to speak was an elderly man wearing hanbok and a traditional black hat.

He was Lord Choi, the Grand Academician of Cheonghak.

"I hear the Association's young ones ran into some Western monstrosity. Quite a few of them must have been hurt. Tsk, tsk."

Lord Choi clicked his tongue and lit his long-stemmed pipe.

Smoke rose from the old pipe, which looked to be well over a hundred years old.

"I was away on a business trip to China, but what in the world were the rest of you doing? You live off the state's money, yet instead of serving the nation with loyalty, all you thought about was keeping your seats. Disgraceful. Truly disgraceful."

"The Association never asked us to cooperate, so why should we have stepped in?"

The one who shot back was Dragon Maiden Bodhisattva of the Black Lotus Society, the grand alliance of shamans.

"It was the Association that tried to handle demon worshippers without sharing information with anyone else."

"When officials appointed to protect the people fail in their duties, it is loyalty and righteousness to throw oneself into the task. Yet you wallow in comfort and safety, thinking only of preserving yourselves. How are you any different from traitors to the nation?"

"Could you keep it shorter, old man?"

"You insolent whelp!"

Even at Lord Choi's outburst, Dragon Maiden Bodhisattva lazily unfolded her fan.

She got an earful about being disrespectful to an elder, but she didn't even snort.

"All right, all right. That's enough, everyone."

Seon Master Unjeong of the Diamond Sect stepped in to mediate.

He was the chief master of the Diamond Sect, founded by Buddhist practitioners, experts at driving out strange spirits and monsters who had been doing so even longer than Cheonghak on the Korean Peninsula.

He turned to the leader of the Great Unification Church.

"So, I hear the Unification Church Leader called this meeting."

"Haha. Since the great elder seems to have finished speaking, may I say something?"

The tone was deliberately respectful, but everyone clicked their tongues at the Unification Church Leader's words.

That also meant the Unification Church Leader had the fastest information network in this room.

To think their intelligence was inferior to that of a cult that was only seventy years old.

"Anyone here with acquaintances in the Association probably already knows that evil demon worshippers have appeared."

The Association was a government-recognized organization of occult practitioners.

Where else would those practitioners have come from?

Most of the Association's practitioners naturally came from the Five Great Lineages.

Some of them would be more loyal to the Five Great Lineages than to the government.

"You may not know this, but the demon worshippers were not actually dealt with by the Association."

"They weren't?"

Dragon Maiden Bodhisattva frowned.

"Yes. One of my loyal brothers, who took part in the operation, witnessed it himself. There was someone who dealt with not only the demon worshippers, but the summoned demon as well."

"......"

"......"

All three fell silent.

Not just the demon worshippers, but the demon too?

Even for the heads of the Five Great Lineages, standing against a summoned demon was no easy matter.

Before even considering a demon's sheer power, there was the problem of compatibility.

Demons, the pinnacle of all evil, were practically the natural nemesis of the human world itself.

"Huh... A demon subjugation? Could it be an exceptional-grade practitioner?"

"No, surely not exceptional grade."

"If they succeeded in hunting a demon, they must be at least Grade 1."

Silence lingered for a moment.

The heads of the Five Great Lineages watched one another, trying to read what each was thinking.

Cheonghak... Their methods were poorly suited for facing demons, so it wasn't them.

The Great Unification Church also had too short a history, and its cult origins made it especially weak against demons and evil spirits.

That left the traditional spiritual powers, the Black Lotus Society, the Diamond Sect, and Gangnam Holy Temple Church...

"Oh, and for your reference, they say the person who subjugated the demon was likely from a Christian lineage."

That ruled out the Diamond Sect and the Black Lotus Society as well.

"Catholic?"

"There's Gangnam Holy Temple Church too."

"But isn't that old man Park in the Vatican right now?"

At Lord Choi's words, the three nodded.

Seon Master Unjeong, who was especially close to Pastor Park, confirmed it.

"He said yesterday that he had a hard time finding an iced Americano in Italy."

"...He went all the way to Rome and still looked for an iced Americano?"

"Anyway, does Gangnam Holy Temple Church have an exorcist besides Pastor Park who could subjugate a demon?"

The three shook their heads.

"Pastor Go has been training diligently, but not enough to hunt a demon..."

"As far as I know, Gangnam Holy Temple Church hasn't had anyone truly exceptional since Pastor Kim passed away."

None of them seemed to know.

Lord Choi then turned his eyes to Seon Master Unjeong.

"Seon Master Unjeong. Did you ask old man Park?"

"I just texted him. He says it wasn't him. Apparently, he's coming back now."

"......"

At that moment, they all had the same thought.

Someone capable of subjugating a demon had appeared, yet they belonged to none of the Five Great Lineages?

It was astonishing enough that they had successfully subjugated a demon. That someone of that level was a freelancer?

"I'll be leaving now. I'm busy."

"Me too."

Dragon Maiden Bodhisattva and the Unification Church Leader left in a hurry.

Lord Choi clicked his tongue as he watched them.

"Such poor manners."

"And you don't have any greed, Lord Choi?"

"A gentleman does not hurry, even on a busy road."

Seon Master Unjeong had seen it.

Even before the other two left, Lord Choi's hands had been busily sending texts under the table.

"Namu Amitabha..."

Korea would be in an uproar again for a while.

* * *

A week had passed since the greatest incident of my life had ended, the one where I ran into a demon and a wizard.

I'd been living quietly for a while.

There were no evil spirits in the neighborhood, no foul smells either, so I had no reason to do much of anything.

"Gari, let's eat."

Clack!

I poured a huge amount of chicken from the butcher into a plastic basin.

The red basin Mom bought every year for making kimchi had now become Gari's food bowl.

Crunch, crunch!

Gari chewed and swallowed enough chicken for ten whole birds in one go.

Maybe it had gotten hungry since it had been a while since it ate an evil spirit.

"You really can eat."

It really could.

After swallowing the demon Decarabia, Gari's body had changed in a new way.

The ring was still spinning vividly even now.

A living ring studded densely with closed eyes rotated around Gari like Saturn's rings.

I thought something spinning like that would make it impossible to eat, but when Gari ate, it quietly rose up and stopped.

So Gari could move it on its own.

"And what the hell is with this ring too?"

I'd changed as well.

This brass ring, I mean.

The problem was, it wouldn't come off.

No matter how hard I pulled, it showed no sign of budging.

So I'd spent the whole week wearing it.

"Gari, do you know how to take this off?"

Clack!

Gari clicked its teeth and shook its head.

Did that mean there was no way to remove it, or that I shouldn't remove it?

It was clearly something with a function, but not knowing how to use it was frustrating.

"Ugh. I need to find a part-time job, if only to feed you."

I still had plenty of savings.

I also got twelve million won as the reward for the Hallym Hospital job last time.

Still, I couldn't just sit around spending money.

I was looking through the Alba Home app for a suitable part-time job when I got a call.

"Hello, Wolryeong Bodhisattva. What's going on?"

[Yes, Bodhisattva. Have you been well?]

It was Wolryeong Bodhisattva.

After exchanging greetings, she went straight to the point.

[Bodhisattva, the Association recently sent out an emergency request. Would you like to hear it?]

"An emergency request?"

[Yes. I hear that urban legends have been scattered throughout Seoul.]

* * *

"...I am Joo Seoyul, leader of Team 5 of the Mystic Association's Abnormal Ability Response Special Task Division. Thank you to all the occult practitioners who gathered here today."

She looked tired.

Her cold, expressionless face made her difficult to read. She seemed like the sort of person whose moods hardly fluctuated.

Team Leader Joo Seoyul began reading the materials in a businesslike tone.

"You've probably heard the rumor that a 'ghost story smuggler' illegally entered through Incheon Port recently."

Huh? Something like that happened?

I had no idea, but judging by everyone's reactions, they all knew about it.

"He was a professional smuggler from Japan. The Association arrested him, but during the process, he released urban legends all over Seoul. It's become troublesome."

"Huh..."

"Is that Jap bastard insane?"

Exclamations broke out from all over.

One of them, a man in a leather jacket and sunglasses, raised his hand.

"What are the measured grades of the urban legends?"

"...Most are Grade 4. Some have been assessed as Grade 3. There are a couple of Grade 2s as well."

The mood grew heavy at those words.

I didn't know what it meant, but they seemed like pretty dangerous grades.

"Good. It has to be at least that much to be worth it. What about bonuses?"

"An additional performance bonus of ten million won will be paid for each entity. Grade 3s are thirty million, and Grade 2s are one hundred million."

"Whew."

The man whistled in delight.

Amazed exclamations burst out at the massive bonuses.

"Finding them will be the hard part."

"Search missions are tricky. The whole job is finding them."

"Still, the returns aren't good enough for high-level practitioners to step in."

Joo Seoyul cleared her throat, gathering everyone's attention.

"We ask that you banish the urban legends scattered by the smuggler as quickly as possible. However, some pose a high level of danger, so please avoid contact and only report them."

"When you say some?"

"There are also altered urban legends based on the Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost."

The reactions around me froze.

The Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost? If even I'd heard of it, it must have been famous.

"Isn't the Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost a quasi-special grade anomaly? Wasn't the original banished twenty years ago?"

"I heard a Paladin from Gangnam Holy Temple Church banished it."

"It isn't the original, but even a derivative... It must be at least Grade 1."

Amid the heavier mood, Joo Seoyul continued her explanation.

"Our Fifth Team will handle the derivative urban legend of the Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost, so please don't worry. You only need to track down the remaining urban legends."

The discussion was about to end.

Was I the only one who didn't understand what was going on?

Should I ask now? While I hesitated, they had already handed out maps showing the route the smuggler had apparently taken.

"Then please handle this swiftly."

That concluded the briefing.

In the end, all I found out was the map marking the areas where the urban legends were believed to have been scattered, and the team assignments.

Phew. Thank goodness.

I'd just follow other people around and earn enough to pay for meals.

What team would I get assigned to?

I hoped I'd be with strong people...

"Gari Bodhisattva?"

"Ah, yes!"

Team Leader Joo Seoyul approached me.

For the record, Gari Bodhisattva was my alias.

I'd heard most exorcists who weren't Association employees hid their real names.

"Gari Bodhisattva, you will be assigned to Tracking Team 1. It will track high-risk urban legends of Grade 3 and above."

"...Pardon?"

Why was I being put on such a dangerous team?

"Wolryeong Bodhisattva recommended you. She said you possess exceptional ability."

"Uh..."

That meddling old shaman...

"Tracking Team 1 will receive twenty million won in compensation just for participating. Of course, performance bonuses will be paid separately."

Twenty million won just for showing up?

My sense of money was about to break.

"Let's meet your teammates."

Joo Seoyul led me to the members of Team 1.

There was the sunglasses guy who had asked a question earlier, a woman in a blue martial arts robe, and an elderly woman with an old man standing behind her.

"Huh?"

A grandma in loose work pants and a grandpa in hanbok... What was this? They didn't look like they belonged somewhere like this.

"Freelancer Gagaram, Scholar Yoo of Cheonghak, and Association support staff member Park Bokrye."

"What about the grandfather behind her?"

"Pardon?"

Joo Seoyul tilted her head.

Even though I pointed at the old man standing behind the grandmother named Park Bokrye, she looked like she had no idea what I meant.

"Uh..."

No way.

【Dangerous. That one's dangerous as hell...】

The old man's drawn-out voice.

Park Bokrye slightly opened her closed eyes and looked at me.

"Have you eaten?"

"Uh... No."

"That won't do. If you're going to do something big, you need to fill your stomach first."

More importantly, ma'am, the old man behind you is saying something.

【Old woman... Run. Run quick. You might be fine, but I'm gonna die.】

Old woman?

Wait, then...

"My old man went and got himself killed too, running around without filling his belly. Still, when he went, he went out beautifully."

Ma'am.

Did you turn your husband into a shikigami?

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried