WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 34: Episode 5: Cheoryang Thunder Gate (4)
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The entry disciples immediately headed for the administration office.
Ujeol, the official in charge, had been about to close its doors.
He looked at the crowd of entry disciples pouring in and answered flatly.
“Administration office hours end at 5 p.m. Why have you all come rushing in like this? Is it a rebellion?”
No one could tell whether he was joking. The entry disciples broke out in cold sweat and watched each other nervously.
Naturally, Ise, who had received their unspoken attention, stepped forward.
For some reason, he kept ending up as the entry disciples’ representative.
“...We heard that one of our peers died, so we came to find out what happened. If it is not too much trouble, could you check the details for us?”
“Is this the first entry disciple to die?”
“Yes.”
“Come in.”
Without further explanation, Ujeol dispelled the warding barrier he had placed around the locked administration office.
“There.”
On the board Ujeol pointed to were the words, “Mission failed. Mission participant deceased. Soul-binding disappearance confirmed.”
Ise’s eyes slowly wavered as he checked the mission.
- Hunt the juvenile Four-Wind Black Tiger (Grade 8) that appeared near Aegul County.
Two days ago, he had said he wanted to carry out two missions at once. After Ujeol taught him a lesson in division, he had given up this very mission.
Yeombo had picked up the mission Ise abandoned.
And died because of it.
Logically, it was not Ise’s fault.
If he had not tried to monopolize missions, someone else would have taken it first. There was no guarantee the outcome would have changed.
Yet that logic did not reach his heart.
His finger pressed heavily against the board, then fell away.
“Since you are all gathered, a related mission has been posted. Check that before you leave.”
Ujeol’s words pulled Ise from his thoughts.
A new mission had appeared on the board.
「Mission Reassignment. Follow-up measures concerning an entry disciple’s death. Recover the presumed deceased disciple’s body and determine the cause of death and the culprit. A four-person team is mandatory. Danger level: Unassigned. Reward: 30 Spiritual Stones, 50 contribution points.」
The mission had changed from killing the Four-Wind Black Tiger to recovering the body, determining the cause, and identifying the culprit.
“Normally, a mission with an unassigned danger level would be handled by headquarters. But if any entry disciples wish to take it, they will be given priority. You have until tomorrow. Gather your volunteers and return.”
It was a kind of consideration. If they had the courage, they would be given the right to recover their peer’s body themselves.
Still, taking over a mission where someone had died was not easy.
Nearly forty entry disciples had gathered inside the administration office and outside its doors, yet no one moved after Ujeol spoke.
After a long silence, Ise stepped forward.
“I will take it.”
Ujeol glanced at him. His expression seemed to say that this brat made decisions quickly in any situation, but he calmly added, “It is a four-person mission. Fill the team.”
The moment he finished speaking, Pi Garam placed a hand on Ise’s shoulder.
“I’m in too.”
“That is unexpected. I heard you do not take missions often.”
“Shadow Agents are only half-trained before reaching the fifth star. Still, I think I should go this time. Yeombo was from my hometown.”
From the same hometown.
Ise said he understood and looked around to see if anyone else would volunteer.
Then his eyes met Seolryeong’s. She had clenched her fists, looking like a deer struck by an arrow.
“Don’t go. I have a bad feeling about this mission. The divination I just saw showed a death omen hanging over all of you.”
“Could you at least get the subjects’ consent before reading their fortunes?”
Ise grumbled, but Seolryeong did not back down.
“A heavenly omen isn’t something you can see just because you want to. It simply reveals itself.”
“They say a half-trained shaman gets people killed.”
“What? Have you ever seen such a talented half-trained sham...”
“If you are that worried, come with us. If you can see danger ahead, you can help us avoid it. Talented half-trained shaman.”
“...”
Seolryeong fell silent.
There was a strange trust in his tone, and it made her feel oddly unsettled.
It annoyed her, but she did not dislike it entirely.
By the time she realized that he was using her own divination to persuade her, it was too late.
“...I just need to go, right?”
In the end, she decided to join them.
The familiar group naturally turned three pairs of eyes toward Hae Unchan.
“What do you think? It has been a while since we all teamed up.”
“Sorry. I already accepted a mission that leaves tomorrow.”
Hae Unchan looked genuinely disappointed. Ise answered, “It cannot be helped,” then looked to their other peers.
No one stepped forward.
Instead, they avoided Ise’s gaze or quietly slipped away.
It was a dependable enough team, but the weight of the first death seemed to have become fear that pressed down on them.
That was understandable.
When he had studied past cases of entry disciple deaths, Ise had seen examples where disciples kept taking on the same mission one after another, only for more than ten of them to be dragged in and die.
“I will go.”
The three of them turned toward the unfamiliar voice.
Short red hair. Red eyes.
They were not close, but Ise recognized the face.
The moment Seolryeong saw the volunteer, her expression twisted almost imperceptibly.
Seeing Seolryeong’s inexplicable discomfort, Ise asked quietly.
‘Why?’
‘That one lacks social skills.’
That was not much of a reason. Ise turned back.
“I can hear you. I am Hong Wonseo. My specialty is Healer.”
A promising entrant who had placed third in the entrance exam, Hong Wonseo belonged to the Yeomhwa Hong Clan, the same clan as Hall Master Hong Mi-hee.
“Thank you.”
“There is no need to thank me. A Healer should accompany any mission involving body recovery. That is how the deceased’s body can be recovered intact.”
“I did not know that.”
“I am not the type to care about friendship among peers or love for humanity, but this is the first thing a Healer learns. It is a little insulting that no one stepped up despite that.”
There was no wasted speech, and every action was full of confidence.
Ise had noticed the strong foundation Hong Wonseo showed during the entrance exam. He had a feeling this would be a reliable teammate.
* * *
“Our destination is Aegul County, a mid-sized county about two days east near the Ulta Mountain Range.”
On the day of departure, Ise gave a brief explanation of the situation and what they knew.
They would get the exact details from Great Exorcist Order’s external affiliate in Aegul County anyway.
Still, he had said it aloud because the place they were heading held special meaning for him.
Aegul County.
Subu Village, the hometown of his childhood, belonged to it. A little farther east stood Gwisu Temple.
The mere name made longing well up inside him. It was almost a reflex.
The group traveled quietly.
The members were familiar with one another, but one stranger had joined them.
Ise and Pi Garam were not the types to start conversations either.
In the end, Seolryeong, unable to bear the awkwardness, spoke first.
Hong Wonseo. Seolryeong did not particularly like Hong Wonseo, but Hong Wonseo did belong to Hall Master Hong Mi-hee’s family.
‘It would not hurt to get along.’
With that thought, Seolryeong casually reached out.
“Hall Master Hong Mi-hee is Great Exorcist Order’s finest spirit-artifact artisan. Why did you become a Healer instead of a Shaman?”
Hong Wonseo looked as though Seolryeong had said something absurd.
“Hall Master Hong’s primary field has been medicine for three hundred years. If you do not know something, at least do not pretend that you do.”
“...”
The air turned cold.
It felt as though something sharp had pierced their lungs.
Was this a war fought with tongues rather than blades?
Ise and Pi Garam exchanged uneasy looks, then hastened their steps as if they had heard nothing.
After that bladeless battle, the team continued on in silence. Thanks to that, they traveled faster than expected.
Ise took the night watch alone.
Skipping sleep for one day did not bother him, and Dokkaebi Senses made his body perfectly suited to keeping watch.
For some reason, he also wanted to feel the night wind.
“You look miserable.”
Pi Garam must have woken up, because he walked over to Ise.
Ise poked at the dying fire and handed over a sweet potato.
The wind passed through the silence.
Pi Garam spoke first.
“About Yeombo. Honestly, we were not close. Being from the same hometown was all we had. We only got to know each other after coming here.”
“...”
“Still, I thought it would be better to return them to their home soil. Maybe it is just needless meddling.”
Instead of responding, Ise changed the subject.
“That was the mission I was planning to take.”
“Was it?”
“It was near my hometown, and it was a mission I could have taken. I keep wondering whether the result would have been different if I had.”
“That is a worry you chose for yourself.”
“It is. It really has nothing to do with me. They keep pushing me into being the representative of this batch of entry disciples, so I end up thinking pointless things like this.”
Pi Garam turned to look at Ise. Staring up at the sky, Ise continued.
“Either way, we will get revenge.”
Pi Garam paused, then added quietly, “Not recovery, but revenge. When I look at you, you always seem to repay something. Whatever form it takes.”
“Do I? Yeombo was only one of many peers.”
Even if they were not close, sharing the same space day after day made people familiar. It made them grow attached.
Yeombo had been that sort of peer.
“It is often a habit of those who have lost much. Ah, forgive me if that was presumptuous.”
Rather than answer, Ise closed his eyes.
On the path of Great Exorcist Order, death was unavoidable. More peers would die. Perhaps even people close to him.
He would accept that fact, but he would not become numb to it.
That mindset would be enough.
He had wondered why his heart felt so heavy. Perhaps he had been mourning without realizing it.
Dawn was breaking.
Ise rose to his feet.
Maybe it was because Seolryeong, the half-trained shaman, had said something unlucky, but this journey filled him with a strange unease.
Then again, it was also a good experience.
Demon Hunter, Shadow Agent, Shaman, Healer.
By chance, they had formed an ideal team with all four specializations.
He had heard that for official missions, especially battles that had to succeed at headquarters, every team included at least one person from each specialization.
Since it had come to this, they would complete the mission perfectly and return.
As he watched the faint sunlight of dawn, Ise breathed in the scent of his hometown for the first time in a long while.
Footnotes:
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