WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 97: The Do Emperor Likes Cute Things!
──────
[Man, Jin Mu-yeong is seriously fucking awesome LOL]
(A GIF of Jin Mu-yeong smashing a massive boulder falling from the sky with his bat.)
No matter how many times I watch this, it’s fucking incredible LOL.
That was a boulder that even Du-sik got flattened by, and he broke it in one hit???
└ So fucking cool.
└ That’s... Grade 3...?
└ The catharsis when that boulder broke was insane.
└ Damn... Is he some hidden ace the Azure Dragon Clan was keeping under wraps?
└ Didn’t they say the clan cast him out?
└ No matter how you look at it, he’s a secret weapon.
[Jin Mu-yeong was absolutely insane in this scene]
(A GIF of Jin Mu-yeong, covered in blood, continuing to batter a horde of zombies.)
└ Can’t even see his arm.
└ Look at his eyes... Chills.
└ You’ve got to respect that insane grit.
└ Throwing his body in to stop them was nuts too.
└ He could’ve struck out and taken a break, but he was trying to save even one more person T_T
└ I can’t believe he didn’t lose it in that situation.
└ I’m a Jin Mu-yeong fan from today on. He’s so fucking cool T_T
[MVP of the Year]
(The moment hundreds of balls merged into one, followed by Jin Mu-yeong smashing the scoreboard with a full swing.)
Can we all agree that was the greatest home run in baseball history?
└ Fuck, it gets me fired up every time I watch it.
└ Legendary....
└ How the hell did he do that?? Was it some Ultimate Art or something?
└ Doesn’t look like it??
└ Sign him as a Titans batter.
[Jin Mu-yeong’s lines were insanely cool, weren’t they?]
“When it comes to grit, I’m confident.”
“Throw more at me, you bastard.”
“Eat this.”
└ Damn... So cool. Seriously.
└ A real man’s man.
└ Every single line was legendary.
[Wow, but I’ve never seen anyone fight with a bat before]
Was I the only one who didn’t even know there were bat-type Ritual Implements??
That thing’s damage is seriously unreal.
Hmm. Maybe I should switch too....
└ It’s number one in the real-time auction house searches right now LOL.
└ LOLLLLLL
└ But what was that bat? It glowed every time he hit something.
└ Wasn’t it an Enchant Talisman?
└ There weren’t any talismans on it in the broadcast, though?
└ Dunno?
[Gimun Daily] Hero of the Cheongun Incident Jin Mu-yeong: “I only did what I had to do. It’s nothing worth praising.”
(...Omitted...)
Meanwhile, the bat-shaped Ritual Implement Jin Mu-yeong used that day also became a topic of discussion. When asked who had made it, Jin Mu-yeong replied,
“Oh, this? Master Do made it for me.”
[Wait, that bat was a Do Emperor creation???]
LOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOL
Wow, he makes bats now too.
└ Swords, bows, necklaces, gourd bottles, brush pens, talismans, and now baseball bats LOL.
└ This person’s range is fucking limitless.
└ There’s nothing they can’t make.
└ But how did he even commission that?
└ How much money would you need to commission something personally from Do Emperor? Damn.
└ I heard he’s personally close with Do Emperor too.
└ ?????
└ I’m so fucking jealous.
└ I want to be friends with Do Emperor too ㅠㅠ
[Jin Mu-yeong’s real-time popularity ranking.jpg]
(A screenshot of a popularity-ranking graph shooting straight up overnight.)
Wow LOL.
How far did he rise in one night?
Has a Grade-3 ever climbed this much before? This has to be a record.
└ He’s still climbing.
└ ???: When it comes to climbing the ranks, I’m confident.
└ Once the next quarter’s review is done, won’t he become Grade 2?
└ With achievements like that, he’ll move up right away.
└ The Azure Dragon Clan must be sick to their stomachs right now LOL.
Ahem.
Mu-yeong had become famous after the Cheongun Stadium incident.
I was buried in the sofa on one side of the workshop, replaying the clips uploaded to Goblin Fire one by one.
On the screen, a blood-soaked blondie gritted his teeth and swung his bat.
“Man.... So that’s what his expression looked like then.”
I’d been busy drawing, so I hadn’t gotten a proper look.
He did look kind of cool. The little punk.
Apparently, he’d also received a pile of advertising offers from the Occult World.
He showed me one of the drafts for a moment.
It was an ad for spiritual pills.
Mu-yeong would stand at the plate, shout, “Eat this!” and whack a spiritual pill. Then the pills he hit for home runs would fly straight into the mouths of exhausted sorcerers.
...Was the Occult World’s advertising market really going to be okay at this rate?
Besides that, “When it comes to..., I’m confident” was spreading like a meme.
‘When it comes to lying down, I’m confident.’
‘When it comes to eating, I’m confident.’
‘When it comes to running away, I’m confident.’
That kind of thing.
He’d probably get plenty of ads from that too.
‘Well, anyway.’
The bat had gotten a proper field test by accident, and Mu-yeong had become famous.
I was satisfied.
“So what do you think their ultimate aim was?”
Ji-an, sitting on the opposite sofa and checking her tablet, asked the question.
“I heard even the Occult Management Bureau hasn’t caught the culprit yet.”
“...Who knows.”
It was a method similar to the storage vault incident.
‘Master Cheongram’s painted Spell Formula.’
Come to think of it, there had been an unusually large number of sorcerers at the stadium that day.
Were they planning to devour the sorcerers?
Or was it some kind of ritual? A sacrifice?
Those twenty thousand people must have been hostages.
To stop anyone outside from trying anything in the meantime.
Or maybe something else was supposed to happen after the game ended.
‘Cheongram....’
After looking him up on Goblin Fire, I found that if he were still alive, he’d be well over a hundred years old.
“Or... maybe he passed that technique on to someone before he died?”
Yeah. That was possible.
An apprentice, maybe. Someone else.
‘...Ugh. I don’t know anymore.’
My head throbbed, so I sank deeper into the back of the sofa.
There was no point thinking about a criminal they hadn’t even caught.
It wasn’t even my business.
The Occult Management Bureau would handle it.
Ding.
[Su-a: Food?]
Tap tap tap.
[Yeah yeah yeah]
* * *
Today’s cafeteria menu was pork cutlet!
Ahh.
Pork cutlet, you picked the right day to show up.
I piled a plate high and looked for a seat.
Plop.
When I sat down, Su-a and Ms. Yuha were sitting side by side across from me.
That’s right!
These days, I had another meal buddy.
Ms. Yuha had started staying at No Corp headquarters!
“Eat plenty, Ms. Yuha.”
“...? Do Emperor, what about me?”
“You should eat in moderation.”
“Hey.”
Munch munch.
Despite what I said, Su-a kept shoveling pork cutlet into her mouth until her cheeks puffed up.
Mm-hm.
Ridiculously cute as always.
Look at her, getting sauce all over everything.
“Try not to eat so messily.”
I pulled out a napkin and wiped around her mouth.
“I-I can do it myself!”
“Sure, sure.”
Ji-an was still strictly watching her diet, so she’d packed herself a salad and hadn’t come along.
She said smelling the food in the cafeteria made it too hard to resist.
Hmm.
Come to think of it, maybe I’d been overeating lately because the cafeteria food was so good?
...Hm?
Ms. Yuha had been quiet this whole time.
She was barely eating, just rolling a piece of pork cutlet around with the tip of her chopsticks.
“Don’t you have an appetite?”
“Oh, no. I should eat.”
Startled, Ms. Yuha hurriedly put the pork cutlet in her mouth.
...Was she tired after going out on a job?
After finishing our meal, we headed to the company café.
There were no fewer than three cafés inside the building.
And the view was great.
“Man, I love this system where I can take care of everything at work....”
I was riding that company high again today.
But how was this even possible?
Ha-na was the only one who had officially debuted so far.
Wasn’t this whole building basically running on the money Noh Jin-hyeok had made?
Though our workshop had been raking it in lately too, so I was contributing a little.
That must be why he was always busy.
He was hardly ever in the CEO’s office.
He was basically Noh-dad.
Noh-dad.
Ding.
Just then, I received a message from Seo Ji-an.
“Ah, sorry. I have to go first. Ms. Yuha, I got called in, so I’ll see you later.”
“O-okay! Take care!”
* * *
Night.
Yuha’s new room at No Corp headquarters.
Knock knock.
“Sis! I’m here!”
When Yuha opened the door, Su-a stood there as promised, shaking a bag of drinks.
She had moved in several days ago, but work had piled up, and her room was still full of boxes.
When Yuha had mentioned that at the café earlier, Su-a’s eyes had lit up.
‘Then I’ll help! And I can check out your room too!’
And she really came.
“Come in, Su-a.”
It didn’t take long to unpack.
Together, they unpacked boxes, hung up clothes, and organized equipment.
“All done!”
Su-a pretended to wipe sweat from her forehead, then dropped onto the floor.
“......”
Yuha handed her a drink and quietly watched Su-a.
“Thank you.”
“Hey, I came here to hang out. Your place is great, sis! It’s huge.”
‘...How can she be so easygoing?’
Even Yuha, who was shy around strangers, had become like sisters with Su-a after only a few days.
More than anything else, though.
When Yuha first saw how close Su-a and Master Do were, she’d been genuinely shocked.
She had even thought they were actual siblings.
They casually bickered, calling each other “hey, you,” and played jokes on each other.
It was like there was no distance between them.
Yuha had lived together with Master Do at the workshop, after all.
It was a side of Master Do that Yuha had never seen before.
‘So this is what Master Do is usually like....’
“Why? Is there something on my face?”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing....”
“Hmm~?”
Su-a took a long sip from her drink, then suddenly clapped her hands as if she had remembered something.
“Oh, right! Sis, there must be lots of things you don’t know about this place yet, right?”
“Yes, still.”
“Ahem. Nobody knows this place better than I do! I moved in as soon as the building opened! Ask me anything you want.”
Without even being asked, she began her briefing.
If you left your laundry on the second basement floor, it would be delivered to your door the next day.
The café on the third floor was the best, but the line got long after four.
The rooftop garden was a hidden gem only people in the know visited.
There was an aquatic spirit beast care room in the basement, and its glass walls made it practically its own aquarium.
Seed couples were often spotted in the emergency stairwells.
She chattered without pause.
“And the cafeteria! Friday’s food is the best, so you absolutely can’t miss Friday.”
“Hehe, really? Got it.”
Yuha couldn’t help smiling.
Then Su-a checked the time.
Her shoulders slumped.
“I have to go train now.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.”
Yuha walked her to the entrance.
“I’ll come hang out again next time!”
“Okay. ...Thanks for today.”
“Hey, it’s nothing! I’m really happy I have a big sister now too!”
Su-a headed toward the door, then glanced at Yuha.
“Hey, sis.”
“Yes? What is it?”
She hesitated for a moment.
Did she have something to say?
“Sis, you like Do Emperor, don’t you?”
“...!”
“W-what? No, I don’t....”
“Oh, come on. It’s obvious. You’re always sneaking looks.”
“N-no, it’s not like that.”
“Hmm~?”
“It’s just... I’ve known Do Emperor for a long time, but I can’t act as casually as you do. I was only jealous of that.”
“Hehe.”
Su-a smiled.
“......How should I put this? I guess I don’t really know how to approach Do Emperor.”
Why was she saying this...?
Her face felt hot.
“A-anyway, it’s not like that, so don’t worry about it!”
“Want me to teach you?”
“...Teach me what?”
“How to get close to Do Emperor.”
“...!”
“There’s a way to do it.”
Su-a folded her arms and declared with complete confidence.
“Do Emperor likes cute things, you know?”
“So you just have to act cute, like me!”
...Act cute?
Come to think of it, Meow was like that too.
‘...!’
So that was it!
“Well, I’m going now, sis! See you!”
The door closed, leaving Yuha alone by the entrance.
In front of the mirror.
‘Cute...?’
In the mirror was her usual expressionless face.
Cute things.
If it was cute things....
Meow came to mind.
“...M-meow.”
She made an awkward gesture with her hands.
“......”
Her face flushed as if it might burst.
This wasn’t it.
Cute? ...How was anyone supposed to do that?
* * *
“Do-hyeon! Mr. Do-hyeeeon!”
A few days later, at the workshop, Seo Ji-an came running in, clutching a tablet to her chest.
“Is something wrong?”
“Look at this! An official notice just came in!”
She held out the tablet.
[Official Invitation to the World Ritual Implement Expo]
“The World Ritual Implement Expo...?”
“Yes! It’s a huge expo held every three years, where artisans and workshops from all over the world gather! This time, it’s in Egypt! And the organizers officially invited you, Do-hyeon!”
Seo Ji-an’s voice rose an octave.
“They say this is the first time a Korean artisan has received an official invitation! The CEO is making a huge fuss too. We’re finally expanding overseas!”
‘An expo.’
Artisans from all over the world.
Ritual Implements I had never seen or even heard of.
And Egypt.
Pyramids, the Sphinx, ancient sorcery....
‘Maybe there’ll be hieroglyphic engravings or something?’
A grin spread across my face.
This sounded fun.
Really fun.
“Let’s go!”
“Great! I’ll set the schedule right away! Oh, and Ms. Yuha has a commission in Egypt too, so you can take the same flight!”
Egypt.
Egyptian sorcery...!
I couldn’t wait!
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