WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 24: Ghost Market (2)

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So it seemed a weapon supposedly used by a famous warrior monk drew a lot of attention.

"I'll take the challenge!"

The one who stepped forward was a huge, muscular monk.

He was nearly two meters tall, packed with muscles that looked sculpted. You could tell at a glance he had some serious strength.

"A warrior monk from the Diamond Sect?"

"I know him. That's Mugak, a first-generation disciple of the Diamond Sect!"

"Mugak, the one famous for his monstrous strength? He's met his match today!"

The crowd's reaction was intense, so he must have been pretty famous.

Then again, muscles like that would stand out anywhere.

"Oh...! A warrior monk from the Diamond Sect has come to challenge it? I might actually have to get nervous here."

Even with such an impressive challenger stepping up, the swindler looked confident.

The muscular monk came forward and paid the entry fee.

"Yep! Received your ten-million-won entry fee! All right, let's begin!"

"Hoo..."

The monk gripped the iron staff with both hands and began to strain.

"Hrrrgh!"

It didn't budge.

Well, it did budge, technically.

It looked like it rose a little, but it never came out of the hole before he lost his grip.

"Bwahahaha!"

"Looks like he can't do it either!"

Laughter burst out around him.

Mugak's face turned bright red, perhaps from embarrassment, and he took off his monk's robe.

"Wow."

Without it, his body was exactly what you'd expect from the greatest man under heaven.

His back was covered in tightly defined muscles, and just looking at the forearm muscles running down from his biceps made me want to applaud.

This guy must work out a lot.

I wanted muscles like that too!

"Hoo... May I try again?"

"Sure! You've got one full minute. Try as much as you want."

The swindler allowed another attempt with an easygoing smile.

Mugak wrapped his entire body around the iron staff and lifted with all his strength.

"Grrrrrgh!"

Veins bulged across his body, but the result was the same.

The iron staff rose a little, but that was it.

It was nowhere close to coming out of the hole.

The swindler crossed his arms and grinned.

"That's a failure! Next challenger, please!"

"If even a first-generation disciple of the Diamond Sect failed..."

"Still, wouldn't physical types have a chance?"

Mugak's failure seemed to have taken quite a bit of wind out of everyone's sails.

I thought no one else would step forward, but a second challenger appeared surprisingly soon.

"I'll give it a try!"

This time, it was a slender-looking woman.

Even that mountain of a monk had failed. Could someone as small as her really do it?

The result surprised me.

"Hrrgh!"

The woman lifted the iron staff higher than Mugak had.

She still failed, unfortunately, but it had been incredibly close.

"What? Is this not just about raw strength?"

"Maybe controlling spiritual power is important. There might be some trick to it."

Since the woman had done better than expected, people must have started to think they had a chance. Challengers began pouring in.

One person even brought out a shikigami, but every time they tried, sparks flew from the iron staff and drove the shikigami away.

The staff itself seemed to have some mysterious power that repelled spiritual entities.

Watching it all, I felt like I'd stumbled across a more entertaining show than I'd expected.

"They have stuff like this too. It really feels like one of those old-fashioned strength shows."

I never thought I'd see something I'd only ever watched online in person.

Of course, I had no intention of participating.

Ten million won wasn't exactly pocket change.

【Po...】

Then again, unlike me, Eight-Foot Sister had taken an interest in Benkei's Iron Staff.

Was it because she was a Japanese urban legend, so she liked Japanese artifacts?

"No, but ten million is a bit..."

【Po...】

Eight-Foot Sister drooped sadly.

Tsk...

The reward money I got for subjugating the Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost was in the hundreds of millions.

Wouldn't it be fine to spend around ten million on her?

"Fine, let's try it once. If it doesn't work, you'll give up cleanly, okay?"

【Po! Po! Po!】

* * *

Idiots. They were actually lining up to take the challenge.

Kim Sangsu, the Ghost Market swindler, hid a smile as another successful day of Benkei's Iron Staff scam came to an end.

Benkei's Iron Staff was said to have weighed thirty-two gwan, or 120 kilograms.

Naturally, people dismissed that as exaggerated nonsense, but the truth was different.

"I heard it from the head of the Tsuchimikado Clan. Apparently, Benkei was descended from an oni. There's a story that his mother was raped by an oni pretending to be a high monk."

He'd heard it from the owner, so it was probably accurate.

It had never been a weapon a human could wield in the first place.

The item's effects were genuine, but only giants, trolls, werewolves, or oni could probably swing something like that.

Pastor Kim had apparently used it as a totem himself, then sold it off after getting something better. That was how it ended up in Kim Sangsu's hands.

He'd heard the new item was the Baekje Gilt-bronze Incense Burner, though that was probably just bragging.

Either way, even after buying it, Kim Sangsu couldn't use the staff in actual combat.

It was simply too heavy.

So he planted it like a totem, and whenever the Ghost Market opened, he brought it out to make a little spending money.

"Tsk, Mugak as the first challenger? Thanks to him, I had to bring her in way too early."

Mugak was famous, and his failure had hit the crowd hard.

If a warrior monk that powerful failed, nobody would think they could succeed.

So Kim Sangsu immediately brought in a shill.

The female exorcist who participated second was working for him.

When she made it look like she had nearly lifted it, people saw hope.

Without realizing it was thanks to the industrial electromagnet installed in the base.

"Hehehe! That's 150 million won just for today!"

He'd already earned this much. Maybe it was about time to wrap things up for the day.

The challengers had noticeably thinned out.

Then he spotted a young man stepping forward.

"Hey, young man. You taking the challenge?"

"Uh... Yeah, I'll give it a shot."

The young man came forward.

Another sucker had appeared.

Kim Sangsu checked the payment with a smirk, then stepped back.

"All right! You have one minute! Staaart!"

Whoosh!

"Oh, it came out."

"Huh?"

The iron staff was in the young man's hand.

* * *

At first, I planned to lift it myself.

So I shook out my hands, did some warm-ups, and wrapped both arms around it with all my strength...

【Po.】

Eight-Foot Sister pulled it out in one smooth motion.

"You pulled it out?"

"Uh, uh..."

The swindler looked completely dazed.

Well, he'd just seen someone pull out something that wasn't supposed to come out. I could understand his reaction.

Still, even a con man eventually met his match, didn't he?

I pretended I had the iron staff slung over my shoulder and tried to leave.

"W-w-w-wait! Wait a second!"

"???"

When I tilted my head, the swindler grabbed me.

"W-what trick did you use? How did you lift it?"

"I just lifted it?"

【Po~】

I hadn't lifted it, but there weren't any rules saying I couldn't use a familiar, right?

I saw other exorcists using spiritual power or whatever without any issue.

"That's impossible! It's a scam! You cheated!"

"Excuse me? What are you talking about? Are you saying you made a bet with something impossible?"

"N-no! How could a person possibly..."

"Huh? What's that in the hole?"

That was when one of the spectators looked into the hole the iron staff had come out of and shouted like they'd found something.

"What is that? Isn't that a magnet?"

"Son of a bitch! You put a magnet in there?"

"You scamming bastard!"

"U-uh!"

"Return this humble monk's money!"

The spectators and the challengers who had just realized they were scammed all rushed at the swindler.

What happened after that?

Um...

He probably wouldn't get beaten to death, right?

He was running a scam too...

That was karma.

"But how did Eight-Foot Sister lift it?"

【Po~?】

Just pure strength?

"You're amazing, sis."

For now, I decided to put Benkei's Iron Staff inside Gari's mouth.

It would draw too much attention if Eight-Foot Sister carried it around.

The cooler with the holy water and holy oil was in there too. Gari was really convenient.

Clack! Clack!

After making an unexpected profit from the scam, I finally reached the shop I had come looking for.

[Galilee Exorcism Society]

This was it.

The place the clerk had recommended, where I might even get material support funds.

"Excuse me?"

"Hello."

"I was referred here by the Mystic Association."

"Ah, going demon hunting, are you?"

The owner was a middle-aged white man with a thick beard, and he spoke Korean quite fluently.

"What kind of demon? Well, it'll probably be a servant, if it's a demon at all."

"I heard it's a dream demon."

"Hmm, dream demon. Usually a servant of Asmodeus."

Since it was a store that sold Christian holy items, he seemed to know his stuff.

The man went into the back and brought out a wooden box containing bottles.

"Holy water. A bishop at Myeongdong Cathedral personally blessed it."

Oh, holy water.

Not something an amateur like me had crudely copied, but the real thing made by a professional.

The stuff I made was already powerful, so if this was made by a real professional...

"Hm?"

"What's wrong?"

"No, something... Tsk. Something feels off."

"What's strange about it?"

How was I supposed to explain it?

It was just a feeling.

"Is this... maybe holy-water-scented? Like it has two percent holy water in it?"

"What are you talking about? Do you know how precious this is? It's holy water officially certified by a Catholic bishop!"

He said that, but it looked awfully weak to me.

"Could we test its effects?"

"Huh! Once I open it, it's used goods."

"I'll buy one bottle either way. How much?"

"Seven hundred thousand won. It's the best holy water you can get in Korea."

Why was it so expensive?

It cost less than three thousand won to make holy water at my house!

Still, it was made by a real priest. It had to be different somehow.

After I paid for a bottle, the owner told me to wait and went back inside.

Then he came out carrying a birdcage, with something inside it.

"What's that?"

"An imp. Hehehe, it's tiny, but it's a nasty little bastard."

So things like that existed too.

Its face did look pretty ugly, though...

Clack?

No, I wasn't thinking that about you. Don't get the wrong idea.

My Gari is a good angel. Prejudice is bad, right?

"Now, watch carefully. I'll show you exactly what holy water can do."

The owner opened the bottle with a confident expression.

Maybe because it was proper, authentic holy water, even the cap had some fancy knot and a cross symbol on it.

Was the real thing really different?

The owner dipped his thick finger into the opened bottle, then flicked the moisture on his fingertip at the imp.

"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you! Wicked spirit! Reveal your true nature!"

Splash!

The imp convulsed and thrashed inside the cage the moment the flicked holy water touched it.

The cage shook so violently it looked ready to topple over, but it didn't because the owner held it tight.

"Haha! Did you see that? Look at the little bastard convulsing!"

"...Is that all?"

"Huh?"

The owner gave me a puzzled look.

"What else were you expecting?"

"Like the demon getting burned to death by the holy water?"

"Is holy water hydrochloric acid? You think it'll burn to death if you sprinkle it on them?"

"Or it melts like jelly?"

"It'd take all day even if you soaked it in sulfuric acid."

"...Then why do we need holy water?"

The owner's expression kept twisting further.

"Demons lurking in our world reveal their true nature when they come into contact with holy water. It's also used in various blessing rites."

That was really all it did?

"Um... could you take a look at this holy water?"

I took out a bottle of holy water I'd brought separately.

Yohan-brand holy water in a label-free Jeju SamXsoo bottle.

I'd brought it because I heard you could sell things at the Ghost Market.

"What? This is holy water too. But this holy water is... Hmm? Hmm??"

The owner turned the bottle over in his hands, then silently opened it and dabbed a little onto his own hand.

Then he recited the same prayer and flicked the holy water at the imp.

The imp started thrashing again, nearly flipping over the cage.

Kyaaaaaaaaaak!

"Hmm, well... the effect is the same. No, why are you trying to buy holy water? At this level, you don't need to get any separately."

"Well..."

The sound stopped while the owner was talking.

The imp, which had been convulsing and going completely berserk, had gone quiet. Everyone looked toward the cage...

"What the fuck is that! It was alive just a second ago?!"

Inside was a miserable mess that had melted into a puddle.

Footnotes:

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