WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 43: The Thrill of Catching a Whale.
──────
Deep within the foothills of Unhaksan Mountain.
The sky was nowhere to be seen.
A massive Barrier sealed off the entire mountainside.
Even at noon, it was as dim inside as dawn.
[Gruuuuuuuuh!]
A gigantic beast thrashed against dozens of spell bindings.
Blue spiritual energy coiled around its entire body.
Branches like deer antlers rose from its head.
The guardian deity of Unhaksan Mountain, worshipped by the Myeongseong Family for generations.
It was Baekrin.
“...”
Cheon Myeong, the young head of the family, stared blankly at the sight.
When he was young, the previous family head had taken him around the ancestral mountain to offer prayers.
That was when he had first encountered their guardian deity.
Large, warm eyes had quietly looked down at him.
It had not said a word, but he could feel it.
The spiritual energy rising from its enormous body like mist.
The warmth and comfort it carried.
That it was like a mother watching over them.
And that being...
Thud!
Dragging its bindings behind it, it mercilessly slammed its head against the Barrier wall.
Thud. Thuuud!
Its antlers broke, and scales fell away.
Its body was covered in wounds it had inflicted on itself.
No one knew why it had become like that.
They had tried cleansing it, but every attempt had failed.
A divine beast that had already fully become a Spiritual Body could not be sealed with ordinary spells.
At this point, they at least had to stop it from hurting itself by smashing its head against the Barrier.
* * *
Countless sealing sorcerers surrounded the divine beast.
They were among the Occult Management Bureau’s foremost sealing experts.
A Grade-1 sealing sorcerer had personally led this elite group.
The Myeongseong Family had pulled every string it could to gather them.
Of course, the Bureau had people who stood above them.
Heaven Beyond Heaven.
There were even special-grade monsters who existed beyond ordinary standards.
Still, even the Bureau had only registered their names. It could not command them at will.
In the end, these people were all the Myeongseong Family could call upon.
Large and small Sealing Gourds and binding ropes hung from their backs.
[Ummama. Ummama.]
They sat in a circle around the divine beast, shaking their heads as they chanted.
Black Spiritual Power stretched from their bodies, barely restraining the divine beast’s limbs.
Then.
Clatter!
Other sorcerers set up enormous folding screens all around them.
Each panel was densely covered in unfamiliar pictures and writing.
“All right, is everything ready?”
Han Ji-myeong, a Fourth-Rank Sealing Officer, stepped forward after finishing his preparations.
He was one of the few Grade-1 sealing sorcerers recognized by the Occult Management Bureau.
“...Then let’s begin.”
He drew a ritual knife and began to dance.
Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew whenever the blades struck together, and his dark blue ceremonial robes fluttered wildly.
Booong!
A gong rang out.
Flutes and drums followed, their sounds swirling together chaotically.
The sorcerers standing before the folding screens each cut their palms.
Then they pressed their bloodied hands against the screens.
“Heaven-Net Earth-Web!”
Han Ji-myeong pointed the tip of his blade at the divine beast.
“Seal!”
Whoosh!
Dark red hands burst from the paintings on the folding screens.
Smack. Smack, smack, smack.
Dozens of palms stretched toward the divine beast from every direction, binding it like a net.
Swoooosh!
[Kuueeeeeeek!]
The divine beast screamed and struggled wildly.
Cheon Myeong swallowed.
They had caught it.
This time...
...it might work.
Then.
Flash!
One branch of the divine beast’s antlers glowed blue, drawing in the surrounding Spiritual Power like mad.
Then.
Fwoooosh!
Blue tree roots burst from the ground as though exploding through it.
Crash! Craaack!
The folding screens shattered and flew into the air.
The sorcerers standing in front of them screamed as they were flung in every direction.
Snap, snap, snap!
The black net binding the divine beast broke apart helplessly.
“...Cough!”
Han Ji-myeong dropped to one knee, vomiting a mouthful of blood.
[Grrrrrrr!]
As if it had never been restrained at all, the divine beast began slamming its head against the Barrier wall again.
Thud! Thump!
‘...It failed.’
They had failed again.
That sealing formation had been created using the secret arts of the Bureau’s chief sealing officer.
It had been their last resort.
...There was nothing else they could do.
* * *
The family head’s office.
Cheon Myeong quietly looked down at his cold cup of tea.
“...The Barrier doesn’t seem likely to hold much longer.”
His close aide spoke cautiously beside him.
“It keeps ramming the Barrier from within. The sorcerers have been pouring Spiritual Power into it day and night, but they’re reaching their limit. At this rate, it’ll collapse completely in three days. At most, five.”
“...”
“And... pressure from the Bureau headquarters has begun to increase as well.”
He knew.
The family had high-ranking officials in the Occult Management Bureau, and they had used their influence to give the Myeongseong Family as much leeway as possible.
That was why they had managed to hold out without performing an Exorcism.
But that would soon end.
Cheon Myeong looked past the main hall.
Beyond the wall at the edge of the courtyard, the foothills of Unhaksan Mountain rose into view.
The moment the Barrier fell, their maddened guardian deity would burst out into the world.
Villages dotted the land below Unhaksan Mountain.
“...Still no word from Professor Gu?”
Cheon Myeong suddenly asked.
“...No. Not yet.”
“...I thought so.”
When this had first happened, Cheon Myeong had personally contacted Gu Do-gyeom.
He had asked him to make a sealing implement capable of holding a Spiritual Body.
He had been grasping at straws.
...But.
There was no way it could be done.
No matter how renowned a scholar he was, he could not make such an item in a few days.
Cheon Myeong slowly closed his eyes.
Even now, the Barrier was weakening.
...He had to cut it off.
Exorcism was the only path left.
The elders had opposed it to the end.
How could they kill their guardian deity with their own hands?
They said it would destroy the foundation of their family. They asked how they could ever face their ancestors after death.
Yet none of them could answer when asked what they should do instead.
They only kept saying they could not do it.
Cheon Myeong understood how they felt.
But if the Barrier collapsed and that thing escaped, it would no longer be a problem for their family alone.
If they continued forcing the issue and innocent people were harmed, the Myeongseong Family would be finished.
And that was exactly what their ancestors would never have wanted.
Their guardian deity was already badly injured.
It must have been in terrible pain.
It was time to let it go peacefully.
‘...I can’t put this off any longer.’
...I’m sorry.
If I cannot save you,
then at least I will send you off myself before a greater disaster occurs.
“...Prepare the Exorcism.”
“...Family Head.”
His aide lowered their head, their face heavy with grief.
“There is no other way. As for the elders... I’ll tell them myself.”
“...Understood.”
Cheon Myeong rose from his seat and headed for the storeroom within the family head’s office.
To send off their guardian deity, he needed a sacred relic passed down through the family.
Cheon Myeong placed his hand on the storeroom door.
That was when it happened.
Vroooom!
The sound of a motorcycle came from somewhere.
“...?”
* * *
Cheon Myeong doubted his ears.
This was the family’s private property.
Outsiders were not allowed in without permission.
Security should have been tight.
Yet a motorcycle had arrived without anyone reporting it?
‘...How did they even get this far?’
Cheon Myeong left the main hall with a puzzled expression.
A black motorcycle had just come to a stop in the middle of the courtyard.
The rider removed their helmet, and blonde hair spilled down.
It was an unfamiliar woman in a leather jacket.
“Are you the head of the Myeongseong Family?”
“...I am.”
“I came from Korea Sorcery University. I’ve brought the item you requested.”
The woman pulled a black box from her bag and held it out.
Without understanding what was going on, Cheon Myeong accepted it.
He opened the box.
Inside was a small black gourd bottle tightly wrapped in red string.
“...This?”
By the time he looked up again.
Vroooom!
The woman had already put her helmet back on and was riding away down the path she had entered through.
Her red taillight vanished beyond the mountain road.
Only the gourd bottle remained in his palm.
...Could this tiny thing really hold their guardian deity?
* * *
Cheon Myeong had just finished preparing to leave.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
“Wait!”
“We heard what you’re planning! Stop this at once!”
The doors flew open, and the elders rushed in.
“Family Head, is it true you intend to carry out the Exorcism?!”
“Didn’t we say we should wait a little longer?!”
They had come rushing over in a panic after hearing he was preparing an Exorcism.
Their faces went pale when they saw Cheon Myeong already holding a family relic and dressed in armor.
“Family Head! What are you planning to do to our guardian deity?! Can you really face our ancestors after doing this?!”
But...
Cheon Myeong himself was still bewildered.
He quietly raised the little gourd bottle in his hand.
“Well... I was going to do that, but... I think we may have found a way?”
* * *
On the way to the divine beast.
The elders continued talking among themselves.
They eyed the case Cheon Myeong carried in his arms and whispered.
“...Where did such a Ritual Implement suddenly come from?”
“Didn’t they say it came from Korea Sorcery University? Apparently, some Professor Gu made it.”
“Gu Do-gyeom? Hmph... then wasn’t it made by a commoner? How can we trust something like that?”
“If it harms our guardian deity in any way...”
“Then what would you have us do? There is no other way!”
“Haa... What a sacrilegious situation.”
They complained out of anxiety, but no one knew better than they did that there was no other option.
They finally reached the inside of the Barrier.
“G-Guardian deity...”
The elders were left speechless.
The guardian deity’s condition was far worse up close than they had imagined from the reports.
Thuuud.
The divine beast was still rampaging with its head pressed against the Barrier.
Its scales had all fallen off, and one leg was broken.
A considerable number of its antlers had broken as well.
“...”
“...Even if the sealing succeeds, I don’t know whether its body can recover in this state...”
“Sniff. Guardian deity...”
Everyone’s expressions darkened.
Cheon Myeong had been worried about the same thing.
Still, he could not hesitate now.
They had to try something.
* * *
Han Ji-myeong received the Ritual Implement from the family head.
It was utterly absurd.
A special-grade divine beast that had not been subdued even after he had poured everything into his secret arts.
They had made a Ritual Implement that could seal something like that?
‘That’s impossible.’
Of course, he knew Gu Do-gyeom.
They had once studied under the same teacher.
Gu Do-gyeom had also been a sealing sorcerer whose name was well known for a time.
Han Ji-myeong had heard that he now conducted research at a university.
Yet even if it was Gu Do-gyeom, could he really have created a Ritual Implement that could contain a Spiritual Body, much less one belonging to a divine beast?
No matter how he looked at it, this palm-sized gourd bottle did not seem capable of such a thing.
Still, there was no other option now.
He had already tried everything he could.
Gulp.
Han Ji-myeong placed his hand on the Ritual Implement, feeling tense.
‘Fine. Let’s see what happens.’
He prepared himself.
This was a sealing that would suck in the entire divine beast.
It would drain a mountain’s worth of Spiritual Power.
What was more, he had already spent a considerable amount on the sealing formation earlier that day, only for it to fail. He did not have much left.
He might run out in the middle of it.
But the situation was urgent, and he had no time to sit around recovering.
He bit down on a specially made spiritual pill.
Then he slowly poured Spiritual Power into the Ritual Implement.
But then.
Swoooosh.
‘...Huh?’
His Spiritual Power flowed in remarkably smoothly.
There was barely any resistance.
Every bit he poured in was swallowed without issue.
Sealing a divine beast was not a light task.
Even taking that into account.
‘...It’s taking far less than I expected?’
He had enough remaining Spiritual Power for this.
‘...How is this possible?’
Hummmmmm.
At last, the Spiritual Power released from the Ritual Implement reached the divine beast.
Flash!
[Kuueeeeeeek!]
The divine beast struggled again and again.
It did not last long. Waves of Spiritual Power slowly swept through the divine beast’s body.
Then.
Tap.
Han Ji-myeong felt something.
A sensation that was impossible to describe traveled up from his fingertips.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap!
His instincts screamed.
‘...Now.’
He knew.
This was the signal.
Han Ji-myeong poured in more Spiritual Power at exactly the right moment.
A bright blue soul floated up.
Then.
Swoooosh!
The soul that had emerged began flowing into the gourd bottle in great waves.
The gourd bottle greedily devoured it.
Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz.
The gourd bottle shook madly in his hand.
It sucked in the soul like a vacuum cleaner, and the vibration sent tingles up through his palm.
“Ugh, ngh... kuuuugh.”
A groan escaped him before he could stop it.
His hand trembled.
What in the world was this?
How many years had he spent as a Sealing Officer?
He had performed thousands of sealings throughout those long years, but he had never felt anything like this.
A pleasure more intense than anything before!
‘This feeling...’
Yes. Yes.
It was like...
‘...Reeling in a whale with a fishing rod!!!’
“...Kyaaaaaah.”
Then.
Thud.
The divine beast’s body, stripped of its soul, collapsed weakly to the ground.
Shhh...
It scattered into ashes on the wind.
* * *
The elders were all shocked.
“...I-Is it really true?!”
“Did we really succeed? Did we seal it?!”
“We did it!!”
“What a relief...!”
The elders all let out sighs of relief.
Only moments earlier, they had grumbled that they could not trust something made by a commoner and called it sacrilegious.
“Gu Do-gyeom? I knew he would pull it off.”
“That’s right. I liked the sound of his name from the start.”
...Now they were all praising him in unison.
Cheon Myeong almost laughed in disbelief.
Still, he was happy.
More than he could express.
Everyone was celebrating when...
“...Family Head.”
Han Ji-myeong called to him with a stiff expression.
“Could you come over here?”
Something was embedded in the ashes of the Spiritual Body as they crumbled and scattered.
“...This is!”
It was an iron stake.
Countless dark red geometric patterns were carved into it.
“Who could have done something like this...”
Baekrin was a divine beast born with the energy of Wood.
Driving an iron stake into Baekrin’s body could only be fatal.
‘...Metal overcomes Wood.’
Just as iron cut down trees, their energies were incompatible.
“...Why didn’t we find this until now?”
“...”
“Who in the world would do something like...”
At that moment, Han Ji-myeong approached and briefly whispered something into Cheon Myeong’s ear.
“...!”
Cheon Myeong’s eyes slowly widened.
‘...Then.’
He sharply turned his head.
One of the elders was carefully holding the case containing the gourd bottle that had completed the sealing.
Cheon Myeong strode over and snatched it away.
“W-Wait...!”
Then.
He began untying the red knot without hesitation.
“F-Family Head! What are you doing?!”
“You finally caught and sealed it...!”
“What if it starts rampaging here again?!”
The elders went pale and frantically waved their hands.
Cheon Myeong ignored them.
He finished untying the knot and pulled out the stopper.
Pop!
Then.
Swoooosh.
An enormous amount of blue soul poured from beneath the gourd bottle like mist.
The scattered mist gradually thickened.
It slowly began taking the shape of a deer.
Hop. Hop.
The soul felt out its own shape as it formed.
Then a body slowly began to take shape.
It was clear and clean, like a newborn creature or one that had just shed its skin.
Its broken antlers. Its fractured leg. Its missing scales.
All of them had been completely restored.
“...Ah.”
Only then did Cheon Myeong understand.
A Spiritual Body was formed when Spiritual Power and Imprinted Intent became strong enough.
If it had enough Spiritual Power, releasing it would form a new body.
The iron stake that had driven their guardian deity mad had already fallen from its former body.
It filled with light.
Light gathered, and flesh formed.
The once-blurry shape gradually became clear.
Yes. This was the guardian deity he had met as a child on the ancestral mountain.
[Prrr.]
Baekrin, now with a new body, slowly approached Cheon Myeong.
Then, as if offering its thanks, it gently rubbed its head against his chest.
Large, warm eyes quietly looked down at him, now grown.
“...”
Cheon Myeong stood there for a long while.
Then he gently stroked that warm head.
* * *
Whoooosh.
The Barrier that had blocked off the mountainside disappeared.
Bright sunlight poured down through the darkened sky again.
The elders cheered like children.
The sight of those dignified old men hugging each other and jumping around was almost absurd.
“Professor Gu is the best! Professor Gu is the best!”
“Starting today, I am Professor Gu’s fan!”
“Of course, of course. Gu Do-gyeom must be the greatest sealing sorcerer of our age.”
They made a tremendous fuss.
“We should make a donation to the university!”
“What donation? Professor Gu did all of this. We should send him a gift separately!”
“That’s only right. I should have my daughter-in-law prepare thousand-year-old black ginseng.”
Cheon Myeong watched the scene with a pleased smile and took out his phone.
It was all thanks to that person.
The request to make a Ritual Implement capable of sealing a Spiritual Body had seemed virtually impossible.
Yet someone had accomplished it.
...He needed to offer his thanks personally.
Ring. Ring.
Click.
“Oh, Professor Gu! Goodness, you saved us. I truly don’t know how to thank you enough...”
He forgot his dignity as the family head and repeatedly bowed as he offered his gratitude.
Then...
“What?! You didn’t make it yourself? What do you mean...?”
“...Pardon?”
The smile slowly vanished from Cheon Myeong’s face.
“...What did you say? Who made it?”
“It was made by Master Do.”
Footnotes:
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