WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 84: All-Purpose Brush Pen, Begin
──────
Under the evening sky.
A massive shopping complex stood in the heart of Myeongjin District.
Something was on its roof.
[Kweeeek-]
A pale, translucent lump of flesh.
Short, swollen limbs. A head far too large for its body.
In other words, a baby.
A baby so enormous it lay sprawled across the entire rooftop.
Every time it shifted.
Creeeak-
Hairline cracks spread across the rooftop floor.
And below it.
“Ehehe! Mom, can you buy me this?”
“No. You stopped playing with the last one after three days.”
“I’ll play with this one for a really, really long time!”
Under the bright lights.
The shopping mall was packed with people on a weekend evening.
* * *
Goblin Fire.
[Emergency Broadcast] Myeongjin District Collapse Risk Site - 1,893 viewers
The screen showed the inside of a shopping complex.
Stores lined each floor around a huge open central hall. Countless people moved between them.
It was an utterly peaceful sight.
- ???
- Holy shit, what happened now?
- Did an Isolation Zone appear??
- Nothing’s even happening though?
- But where is this? It looks familiar.
- Isn’t that Myeongjin MegaField??
- Yeah, it is. Holy shit, I went there last week.
- There are a ton of people inside?
- But it’s quiet in there. Why is this stream even on?
- Isn’t it just a technical error?
Just as the chat filled with questions.
The camera slowly began to rise.
From the first-floor hall, past the second and third floors...
The view followed the open hall until it reached the enormous glass dome in the ceiling.
And beyond the glass.
There was something.
Cloudy and translucent.
A pale lump of flesh covering the entire glass ceiling.
Swollen fingers. An overly large, round head. Tightly shut eyelids.
And at its center, a belly bulging like a mountain.
Black things squirmed thickly beneath its translucent belly skin.
- ?
- Fuck.
- We’re screwed.
- What is that what is that what is that
- Is that... a baby?
- Isn’t that Grade 1????
- It’s already huge though???
[Emergency Broadcast] Myeongjin District Collapse Risk Site - 4,772 viewers
A few minutes later, someone made a post.
[LIVE] That’s definitely a Fetal Ghost (胎鬼) on the roof of Myeongjin MegaField.
(Photo of an old book’s yellowed illustration.)
It’s from Haedong Gwimulgji (海東鬼物誌).
Here’s a rough translation of the original text.
“A calf-sized infant-shaped monster that carries Cursed spirits in its womb. It feeds on human fear and screams, fattening what is inside its belly.”
So it’s basically a broodmother-type ghost that carries Cursed spirits around.
It feeds on fear nearby and raises the lesser Cursed spirits inside it.
Then, once they’re fully grown and its belly bursts.
Everything inside spills out into the world at once.
└ Fuck, it looks nothing like a calf. That thing is fucking huge???
└ What the hell are we supposed to do about that?
└ It looks like at least Grade 1. How are we supposed to kill that?
[Kweeeek.]
Back on the screen.
The enormous thing beyond the glass ceiling rolled over.
Its short limbs flailed in the air.
Creeeak. Creak.
- That thing looks creepy as hell...
- More importantly, how did it even get up there?
- No, why aren’t they evacuating the people?
- Ordinary people can’t see that. What are they supposed to tell them?
- Is that important right now? There have to be ten thousand people in there.
- Just say the building might collapse and get them out. Call it a fire drill or something.
- A fire drill while the mall is open? LOL Like tens of thousands of people would calmly leave.
- Saying it’s at risk of collapse is a problem too. The second they hear that, everyone will start running.
- If panic breaks out, it’ll turn into a massive disaster instantly.
No sooner had that been said than another post appeared.
[LIVE] Guys, they absolutely cannot make an evacuation announcement.
Can’t you see that thing is full of Cursed spirits?
Normally, a Fetal Ghost only has one or two lesser Cursed spirits in its belly.
I don’t know who fed that thing so many Cursed spirits or how they did it, but it’s about to burst.
There are so many people in there right now. If they create even a little fear, we’re fucked...
If even one person screams, it’ll burst right there and dump all those Cursed spirits straight through the glass ceiling.
I guarantee that if it comes to that, even the Bureau’s elite won’t be able to handle it;;
That’s probably why they haven’t sent an emergency alert inside either.
└ Then what, are they supposed to hold out like this until closing time?
└ Is that even possible?
└ The ceiling cracks every time it rolls around up there...
Then, in one corner of the screen.
A passage connecting to the annex.
Whenever the thing shifted above.
Creeeak... Creeeak...
One of the ceiling panels slowly began to come apart.
Below it, a little girl carrying a box of toys walked with her mother.
- Wait.
- That, that, that.
- The ceiling is opening up, right?
- Holy shit, there are people under it?
- We’re screwed.
- No, no, no.
Crack.
One corner of the panel fell loose.
It dangled.
The panel, hanging by only one edge and swaying.
Dropped at last.
And directly beneath it.
The child unconsciously looked up at the shadow falling over her head.
“Uh...?”
At the very moment her mother grabbed the child and crouched over her.
Stop.
The falling panel halted in midair.
- ?????
- It stopped?
- ?
- ?
- ???
- What is that?
The panel stood motionless in the air.
A yellow Talisman was stuck to its side.
- What’s that yellow thing?
- Is that a Talisman?
Click. Click.
Then, accompanied by the sound of heels, someone walked into view.
It was a woman in a black qipao embroidered with plum blossoms.
Swoosh-
At a flick of her finger, the panel settled silently onto the floor.
The mother and daughter held each other, blinking blankly.
Before they could fully understand what had happened.
Slap. Slap.
Two yellow Talismans flew in from somewhere and stuck side by side to their foreheads.
-??
-?
-????
The focus left both pairs of eyes.
The mother and daughter slowly stood, held hands tightly, and began walking.
Toward the main entrance.
The woman in the qipao pulled a bundle of Talismans from her clothes.
Fwoosh.
The Talismans spread wide like the ribs of a fan.
Whooosh-
They rose through the air all at once.
Then they slid low through the air, rounded corners, and headed into the stores.
People browsing items, waiting at registers, and trying on clothes.
Slap. Slap, slap.
A Talisman attached to each of them.
The sounds of laughter and chatter stopped.
Then.
Step. Step. Step.
One by one, people left the stores and began walking in the same direction.
- ???
- ???
- Wait a second.
- What am I looking at right now?
* * *
Ten minutes earlier.
As Kang Ha-na entered the site, she recalled the call from earlier.
“The Bureau advance team will arrive in twenty minutes. Exorcism will begin once I get there.”
“You have one job. Quietly get the people inside out. The Bureau advance team will hold that thing down.”
‘So I’m supposed to get everyone out without that thing noticing?’
All the Occult Management Bureau had identified was a powerful Cursed Power reaction in Myeongjin District.
Well, there was no need to ask where it was.
The moment she looked up.
That massive pale thing on top of the building came into view.
‘It has to be here.’
The swollen thing lay upside down on the roof, squirming like a baby.
Its appearance was grotesque, though.
‘...Strange.’
She had heard Korea was peaceful and a good place to live.
But lately, it seemed worse than Hong Kong had been.
‘Well, fighting Cursed spirits is still better.’
She passed through the main entrance and went inside.
‘...This place is huge.’
People rode up and down the escalators. Couples pushed strollers. Students wandered around in giggling groups.
‘And it’s packed.’
There were hundreds of people in sight just from the hall alone.
And above their heads.
Beyond the huge glass dome in the ceiling of the central hall.
A cloudy shadow covered the entire sky.
A massive belly that slowly expanded and contracted with every breath.
‘A Fetal Ghost...’
A troublesome opponent.
A creature that fed on fear had chosen a place like this.
‘Who even brought something that big here in the first place?’
In any case.
“Please evacuate.”
The moment they made an announcement, Cursed spirits would rain down from above.
‘Which means they all need to walk out quietly, without anyone noticing.’
She had already stopped every escalator going up.
Now, every path in the building led downward, toward the main entrance.
Kang Ha-na rolled her neck from side to side and stretched.
‘All right, then.’
When she reached into her clothes, her fingers found a thick bundle of paper.
‘Shall we get started?’
Fwoosh.
* * *
Goblin Fire.
[HOT] Current situation at the Myeongjin Star Square Isolation Zone, holy shit
(Video of Talismans flying out and attaching to people, who then begin walking out to evacuate.)
Does anyone know who this qipao noona is?
└ ???
└ What is that??
└ It’s live right now. A massive Cursed spirit appeared at Myeongjin Star Square.
└ Again?? Why does this keep happening lately;; Korea’s doomed.
└ Wait a second.
└ What am I looking at right now?
└ Why are Talismans flying around??
└ Someone explain. What is she doing?
└ Apparently, the Cursed spirit will burst if anyone makes noise, so she’s quietly getting them out like that?
└ Holy shit, what is this?
└ What kind of Spell Formula is that? Some kind of illusion spell? She’s controlling all those people at once??
[LIVE] Replay of qipao noona’s entrance
(Video of the falling ceiling panel suddenly stopping in midair, followed by a woman in a qipao walking in to the sound of heels.)
Damn... Look at that entrance. It’s like something out of a movie.
└ What kind of reaction speed is that, holy shit.
└ But who the hell is that noona???
└ I’ve never seen her before???
└ No way someone that skilled is unknown.
└ Yeah, she’s definitely unregistered. There’s no way I wouldn’t know a noona like that.
└ Watch it at 0.5 speed at 12 seconds.
└ Oh.
└ Goddamn...
└ I was wondering what it was LOL Where did she pull those Talismans from?
└ Noona, please control me too.
* * *
‘Good. They’re getting out smoothly.’
Kang Ha-na leaned against the second-floor railing and looked down.
The people with Talismans attached to them were walking out in a line toward the main entrance.
Their steps were completely ordinary. They neither hurried nor made a sound.
The people passing beside them noticed nothing.
To them, they simply looked like people who had finished shopping and were heading home.
The crowd that had filled the hall had already visibly thinned.
‘The Bureau advance team went up through the freight elevator earlier too.’
By now, they would be holding the thing on the roof with a formation.
The Barrier blocking reentry from outside the building should be finished as well.
‘At this rate, we’ll have plenty of time.’
Step. Step.
Then a man walked toward her, against the flow of evacuees.
A yellow Talisman was stuck to the inner sleeve of his arm.
The box he supported in both arms was packed full of Talismans.
A courier jiangshi, carrying back all the Talismans retrieved outside the main entrance!
She had sent him off after giving him his orders earlier.
‘Oh, that was quick.’
Kang Ha-na accepted the box with a grin.
“Good work.”
Then she spun a finger through the air.
“You’re off work now.”
The man abruptly turned around, then quietly joined the very end of the crowd leaving the building.
Step. Step.
‘So far... it’s going smoothly.’
Hiss.
The chilling sensation of a spider crawling up her spine.
This horribly familiar feeling...
Whenever she felt like this back when she was in the organization, a bullet always came flying at the back of her head.
‘As expected, I don’t think this is going to end so easily.’
.
.
.
Just as she reached the third floor and was about to scatter a new batch of Talismans.
Bang!
The third-floor emergency stairwell door burst open.
“Huff, huff... Wh-what the hell is that?!”
“Hey, we don’t have time! Let’s get the people, the people out first!”
Two young men rushed out.
‘What are those guys?’
They seemed to be sorcerers, judging from the Spiritual Power she could feel.
‘...Where did they come from?’
Judging by the shopping bags hanging from both hands, they seemed to have come as customers and only noticed the thing belatedly.
And before Kang Ha-na could do anything.
One of the young men ran toward the wall.
Mounted there was a red fire alarm button.
“Hey, wait-”
Bang!
Riiiiing-!!!
The alarm sounded throughout the entire building.
People who had been shopping stopped one by one.
“What? Is there a fire?”
“...Isn’t it a malfunction?”
Murmur, murmur.
The crowd stirred.
Thud...
The entire building gave a low rumble overhead.
“Doesn’t that mean we’re supposed to evacuate?”
“Let’s get out of here first.”
Thud... Thud...
Rattle.
“Wait, what was that sound-”
Whoosh.
A chunk of broken debris plunged into the middle of the first-floor hall.
Bang!!
“Aaaaaah!”
“...Damn.”
“I knew this would happen.”
Footnotes:
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