WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 73: Fishing Is the Only Way
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I’d already been thinking of checking out arcades in other regions whenever I had to go on a business trip.
I went to the Goblin Market so often that it didn’t feel particularly novel anymore.
Even after spending more than half a year on this path, there was still a mountain of things I didn’t know about the Occult World.
The information I could get from Goblin Fire had its limits, and there was a difference between reading about something and seeing it with my own eyes.
‘Whoa... This place is seriously huge.’
“Fresh hammerhead shark fins hauled up from the waters off the southern coast! Only three hundred!”
“Net repairs! Barrier net repairs!”
“Buying inner cores! Paying top price for deep-sea fish inner cores!”
Glowing coral hanging from the ceiling cast a bluish light over the market.
The sounds of haggling and the salty scent of the sea mingled between the stalls.
If Seoul’s Goblin Market felt like a traditional market, this place felt more like a fish market.
Yet it also had a strangely upscale feel to it.
The floor was covered in something like damp, soft moss.
A seawater canal ran through the center of the market, with rafts carrying fish tanks floating along it.
As if entranced, I turned my head this way and that, scanning the stalls.
‘Wow... This is insane.’
The Goblin Market mainly dealt in byproducts from land-dwelling monsters, traditional Talismans, and Ritual Implements.
This place only carried items specialized for the sea.
Jellyfish-shaped spirit beasts flapping about in clear glass bottles. Turtle-shell shields said to withstand the pressure of the deep sea.
Gulp.
‘Coming here was a great call, wasn’t it?’
When I first stepped into the Occult World, I made the rounds of every material shop I could find in the name of gathering information.
The marine materials here were on a completely different level in both variety and quality from the ones I’d seen back then.
Then a harpoon propped up at a stall caught my eye.
Swoosh.
When I picked it up, I saw circuits wrapped around the shaft.
They had been twisted together in layers and wound inward, designed to prevent Spiritual Power from being washed away by water.
‘A circuit built on the assumption that it’ll be used underwater...’
Damn. Look at this.
‘I want to buy everything... I want to take it all apart and see how it works.’
My eyes darted everywhere.
For now, I held back.
I could stop by again on the way back after the job was done and buy a whole bunch.
Occult materials and Ritual Implements tended to be expensive, but I wasn’t in a position where I needed to worry about that anymore.
If I had to, I could just set aside a day and sell a ton of keychains.
“Eeeek!”
Su-a, who had been walking right behind me, grabbed the hem of my clothes in fright.
When I turned, an octopus-like thing with dozens of eyes was wriggling inside a fish tank.
“W-what is that... It made eye contact with me.”
Yeah. It was pretty creepy.
After we walked a little farther, a savory, salty scent drifted over from somewhere.
Sizzle.
At one stall, a woman was grilling palm-sized shrimp and conches on a wire rack.
Blue light seeped through the gaps in the shrimp shells.
“Wow...”
Su-a had somehow ended up pressed right against the stall.
“Miss, have a taste. Cheonghae’s specialty, grilled spirit conch!”
“C-can I eat it?”
“Of course. Try it, and buy some if you like it!”
A piece of conch cut for sampling was speared on a toothpick.
Chomp.
“......!!”
“It’s sooo good...!”
Chew, chew. Chew, chew.
Seeing that, Taegong ruffled Su-a’s hair.
“Su-a, are you hungry? Let’s eat first.”
* * *
“Ma’am! The usual. Three servings.”
The moment we sat down, the table began to fill.
Thick slices of white-fleshed sashimi, along with salt-grilled glowing shrimp from earlier.
There was even seafood stew, its milky broth boiling away.
I started with a piece of sashimi.
Chew.
“......!”
What was this?
It had a pleasantly chewy texture and a lightly sweet richness. Then something tingled across the tip of my tongue.
Warmth spread through my stomach, and it felt like Spiritual Power was circulating all the way to my fingertips.
‘This isn’t sashimi. It’s a spiritual elixir.’
Well, every dish had been made from spirit beasts.
Beside me, Su-a had stuffed her cheeks full and was eating away without a care in the world.
Chew, chew. Chew, chew.
“By the way, how long will it take to get to Cheonghae Workshop?”
“About five hours by boat. Faster if the tides are right.”
Cheonghae Workshop.
It was the workshop of the late workshop master, where the broken mining machine had been brought.
They said it sat on a rocky island rising from the middle of Cheonghae.
You could think of it as a miniature Ulleungdo.
“What about transportation...”
“We’ll take my boat. That’s why I came out here.”
Taegong blew on a spoonful of broth and drank it, then scooped some into the small plate in front of Su-a.
“Eat plenty, Su-a.”
“Mmph, okay.”
I had heard that prices had risen sharply because of the water monsters.
“...Is the situation really that serious?”
“It’s a complete mess. I saw it on the way here. Prices looked like they’d already jumped at least fivefold.”
Taegong pointed at the stew bowl with his spoon.
“These days, they charge whatever they want for even a bowl of this. No boats are going out, so there aren’t any goods to sell. This one pot of stew easily costs over a hundred.”
“...A hundred?”
This stew cost a million won?
Wow. That was expensive.
Even Pungnyu Pavilion wasn’t this pricey.
But maybe it was because I’d heard the price.
Damn... The refreshing, rich flavor somehow tasted even better.
I was suddenly getting a sense of philosophy from the food.
‘...Five times, huh.’
That made sense.
Every price board I’d seen on the way here was covered in erased and rewritten numbers.
All the items were unfamiliar to me, but even compared to the Goblin Market, they had been incredibly expensive.
There were even people grappling and scuffling in front of the price boards.
‘The more I look around, the clearer it is that these water monsters are causing no small amount of trouble.’
“But what exactly are these water monsters?”
“Hmm, squid. Squid.”
“...Squid?”
Just hearing that they were squid didn’t tell me much.
If they were mutated squid, weren’t they just spirit beasts?
Apparently, they were easily over five meters long, with blood-red eyes and strength and speed on the level of monsters.
“They’re called Giant Ink Squid. They don’t discriminate between spirit beasts and people. I hear they attack fishing boats whenever the mood strikes them.”
‘Ah.’
If they didn’t attack humans, they were marine spirit beasts.
If they actively preyed on humans and attacked them, they were called water monsters.
‘But it was strangely quiet for something like that.’
“I had no idea a place like this existed. I searched Goblin Fire on the way here, but I didn’t see much about it.”
“Ah, that.”
Taegong put down his spoon.
“There’s a separate tab.”
“A separate one?”
“It’d only get noisy if word spread to everyone else. So the cooperative hid it.”
There was a hidden tab?
“Type this into the tab search bar.”
Taegong mimed typing in the air with his finger.
“FishiesLoveLove.”
“......”
“...What?”
“FishiesLoveLove. No spaces.”
I hadn’t misheard him?
Half-doubtful, I opened Goblin Fire.
When I entered FishiesLoveLove into the tab search bar.
Ding.
[Private tab found.]
[Cheonghae Fisheries. Would you like to enter?]
“...It’s real.”
[Question] I’m new here. Are marine Ritual Implements normally this expensive?
└ Nah, prices have gone crazy lately.
└ I heard even the fishermen can’t head out to work. No materials, damn it...
└ It’s all because of those damn squid ㅜㅜㅜ
└ What are those?
[Daily Life] Today’s Cheonghae seafood price list jpg.
└ Holy shit, prices went way up.
└ Heard boats haven’t been able to leave for weeks because of the water monsters.
└ Yeah, I heard there isn’t any stock at all.
└ There aren’t even any Sea Heart Stones for sale.
└ Fuck, can’t someone catch those damn squid already?
[Question] How long is the cooperative planning to sit around and do nothing?
└ They collect that much in membership fees, and they still can’t catch them?
└ Exactly, please do your job ㅜㅜㅜ
└ I heard they aren’t sitting around, they just don’t have a way to deal with them;;
└ Apparently, there are already estimated to be hundreds of them?
└ ? They’re screwed. Aren’t those things at least Grade 2?
From what I could gather, they were originally an extremely rare, high-end fish species that you might catch once every few years.
They were vicious creatures, dangerous enough to leap out of the water, snatch sailors, and eat them.
The problem was that they had only recently begun suddenly appearing in swarms.
‘...The mood on this board is brutal.’
They had said these things were also what broke the mining machine.
“But about the mining machine. If I repair it, will mining resume immediately?”
“...To be honest, even if you fix it, mining will be difficult for a while. Those things are swarming around the Cheonghae trench right now.”
“......”
What? So even if I repaired it, they still couldn’t operate?
Creak.
The restaurant door opened, and a young man strode in.
“Hey, big brother! I’m here!”
“Oh, good.”
The young man flopped down in the seat beside him as if he were used to it.
“Did you get everything ready?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What about fuel? Did Cheonghae Fisheries provide it?”
“Yep, filled her up. I loaded ice and water too. But... who are these people?”
The young man had been chattering away as he reported, but then he suddenly turned to look at us.
“..........”
“...?”
He blinked once. Then again.
Then.
“...?!”
He sprang to his feet so suddenly that his chair toppled backward.
“D-Do, Do Emperor?! You’re Do Emperor from No Corp, right?!”
“Ah, yes. Well...”
“Oh, it’s an honor! I’m a fan, a huge fan!”
He grabbed both my hands and shook them wildly up and down.
“I read the article! I mean, seriously, why are you here...?! Big brother! Why didn’t you tell me your guest was Do Emperor?!”
“You didn’t ask.”
“......”
“Hey. Stop making a scene in the restaurant and sit down.”
Only after Taegong lightly smacked the back of his head did the guy finally let go of my hands.
“And this is...?”
“My lackey.”
“Lackey? Come on, big brother.”
The young man bowed his head.
“My name is Kim Man-seon. I’m learning boat work while helping big brother with his business!”
Man-seon then turned toward Su-a.
“And this person is...”
Flinch.
Su-a subtly straightened her shoulders.
Then she slowly lifted her chin.
“...You must be a coworker! Nice to meet you!”
“...Yeees.”
For some reason, Su-a pouted.
‘...What were you expecting, exactly?’
“Now that introductions are over, finish eating.”
Taegong emptied his bowl of stew and stood.
“If we miss the tide, we won’t be able to leave today.”
“Yes, big brother!”
.
.
.
Vroooom.
Putputputput.
Once the boat left the harbor, Man-seon expertly took the wheel in the pilothouse.
The salty scent of the sea rolled over the deck.
Kree, kree.
The seagulls that had followed us gradually fell away.
Soon, there was nothing but horizon in every direction.
I approached Taegong, who was seated on the deck checking his fishing gear.
“What were you doing here before this?”
I had heard he would guide us for the job, but I was curious about what he had been doing here beforehand.
“What was I doing?”
Taegong casually held up his fishing rod.
“Fishing. I’m a fisherman.”
“...In this situation?”
Man-seon craned his neck out from the pilothouse and cut in.
“Our big brother was catching Giant Ink Squid!”
‘That thing... with a fishing rod?’
“Their ink erases Spell Formulas.”
Apparently, nets were completely useless.
Their ink had the property of nullifying Spell Formulas, so even nets woven with Barriers into them would be torn through by the squid as they escaped after a single blast of ink.
“What about harpoons?”
“Same thing. One blast of ink scatters the Spiritual Power imbued in the blade. You think a bare iron spike that can’t be coated in Spiritual Power can pierce a spirit beast’s hide?”
“That’s why fishing is the only way.”
Ink that nullified Spell Formulas.
“Come to think of it, you said you wanted to see occult fishing earlier, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
When I was looking around the market earlier, the marine Ritual Implements had been so fascinating.
It seemed like it would be fun to learn occult fishing while I had the chance.
Maybe it would give me ideas for something new to make.
“Well, there’s no reason you can’t.”
Taegong stood and unfolded his fishing rod with practiced motions.
Then he took something out of the bait container: a wriggling lugworm about the size of a finger.
“...What’s that?”
“A worm raised on Spiritual Power. You need to put something with Spiritual Power flowing through it on the hook to lure marine spirit beasts. They grow by eating Spiritual Power, after all.”
He threaded the bait onto the hook and drew the rod back.
Whoosh!
The line shot out smoothly and splashed down on the distant surface.
Meeooow.
“Meow, wait just a little longer. Big sis will catch a delicious fish for you soon.”
Su-a hugged Meow and stroked its back.
It had begged to be let out as soon as we boarded, so I did, and it had been glued to Su-a ever since.
I had shown it to Su-a a few times at the company, and they seemed to have become very close.
“But fishing, don’t you just yank it the moment something bites?”
“...Didn’t you say you were born near the sea?”
“I moved up here when I was really little, okay?!”
Well, if you’d never done it, you could think that.
But fishing wasn’t that simple.
A fishing line had a limit to how much force it could withstand.
If you pulled against a fish right as it bolted at full speed, the force from both sides would exceed the line’s limit and snap it.
So when it ran, you applied resistance while letting the line out.
Then, when it got tired and weakened, you reeled it back in to close the distance.
Let it out, pull it in. Let it out, pull it in.
You gradually wore down its stamina that way, then hauled it up once it was exhausted.
With enormous fish like tuna, it could take hours.
‘Well, I’d only done it in a game...’
A fishing minigame.
Back then, it had been a type of rhythm game where you timed things based on vibrations.
“Sounds like you’ve tried fishing before.”
“Haha...”
That was when it happened.
Tug.
The float on the water trembled lightly.
“It’s here.”
The look in Taegong’s eyes changed.
Tug, tug-tug.
“Now, watch closely.”
Swish!
The moment he gave his wrist a short flick, the fishing rod bent like a bow.
Screeeech!
The line began to scream as it paid out.
“Now the real part begins.”
A faint blue light flowed from Taegong’s fingertips and streamed down the line.
“Occult fishing is a direct tug-of-war with the creature, sending Spiritual Power through the fishing line.”
When the creature bolted, he eased the Spiritual Power out to absorb the pull.
The moment its momentum faltered, he tightened up and reeled it in.
“The problem is that all through that tug-of-war, our Spiritual Power drains too.”
The creature got tired, but so did the fisher.
It was a battle of attrition for both sides.
“In the end, it comes down to whose Spiritual Power runs dry first.”
He said that, but his hands were relaxed.
Let out. Tighten. Let out, tighten.
His hands moved half a beat ahead of the struggles on the other end of the line.
“The important thing is to read its rhythm.”
The creature’s condition came through the line.
You read its remaining stamina and the timing of its struggles, adjusted how much Spiritual Power to feed into the line each moment, then alternated between giving and pulling.
‘Oh... This is like that minigame.’
Instead of vibrations, you used the feeling in your fingertips.
Instead of a stamina gauge, you had your remaining Spiritual Power.
After several minutes passed.
“It’s about time...”
Swish!
Taegong gave the rod a powerful jerk, and a silver shape burst through the surface.
Flop, flop!
What landed on the deck was a silver fish as long as an arm, faint spiritual energy shimmering between its scales.
“Whoa!”
“That’s a Silver Scale Fish. It has a sharp kick to it when sliced into sashimi. Absolutely delicious.”
Meeooow!!
“No! I’ll give you some later. Later.”
Su-a snatched Meow up in her arms.
‘So this is occult fishing.’
“Then do you catch Giant Ink Squid like this too?”
Taegong snorted at my question.
“The principle is the same. They’re just monstrous creatures.”
“You can’t catch them either, mister?”
Su-a suddenly cut in from the side.
“I can catch them.”
“There are only a handful of people in all of Cheonghae who have caught one, including our big brother!”
Man-seon craned his neck out from the pilothouse again.
“......”
Taegong set down his fishing rod and put a cigarette between his lips.
“...As you just saw, fishing is a battle of attrition.”
Click.
“But those things hardly ever tire. Usually, our Spiritual Power runs out first. I can barely catch them because I’m as strong as I am.”
Smoke stretched long in the wind.
“And they’re creatures that eat people. If you aren’t careful after your Spiritual Power runs dry, you end up becoming the prey.”
“......”
“One would be manageable, but there are hundreds of them now. There’s no answer to that. They’re just too dangerous.”
Nets and harpoons were useless against their ink.
Fishing was the only option.
And only a handful of people could even do that.
‘...So that’s why everyone has given up.’
Violent, man-eating squid that spewed ink capable of erasing Spell Formulas.
If they wanted to resume mining, they had to deal with these things first.
‘A Ritual Implement for catching water monsters...’
I grinned.
This could be fun.
Footnotes:
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