A Contract and a Gift
They made a contract. He received a gift.
Kang Yul had never once been involved with a woman in his entire life.
It wasn't that his looks earned him even empty compliments of handsomeness. And when you were scraping by day to day, you hardly had the bandwidth to spare for romantic interest.
Which meant that the blacksmith's proposal might well have been the one and only chance in Kang Yul's life to try dating a woman…
"I'll take such good care of you, I promise. I'll clip your nails, brush your hair, bathe you every single day — you just have to bring your body. Sure, your energy might drain a little faster, but you won't die. Probably?"
…Kang Yul realized it on pure instinct. This woman was dangerous.
The moment he accepted the blacksmith's offer, he would become a ruined man — the feeling hit him with absolute certainty.
And so.
"T-Team Leader Myo!"
Kang Yul turned a desperate gaze on Team Leader Myo, who had been watching the whole exchange from the side.
He had completely forgotten the cold, hard-boiled hunter act he'd been putting on all this time, and his eyes screamed, You're the one who brought me here, so please do something…!
A moment later—
"I will summarize the situation. First, I will explain why we came here."
Had she picked up on his desperation?
Unable to stand by any longer, Team Leader Myo stepped between Kang Yul and the blacksmith and began sorting things out.
"We came to propose a coal trade."
"Coal?"
At that, the blacksmith's eyes went cold.
It was a look that said, You brought an outsider here without the master's permission over something as trivial as coal?
But only for a moment.
"It is coal that Hunter Kang Yul mined himself."
"Coal mined by the Honored One personally…?"
Greed flooded the blacksmith's eyes in an instant.
It was a sly, damp look that practically said, You should have led with that, you thieving cat!
Watching that expression, Kang Yul wiped his chest in relief and thought, Good thing I didn't take her up on that offer…
Anyway. Regardless of all that.
"This is the coal. Its mana content is extremely high, so handle it with care."
Team Leader Myo pressed on with her duties in silence.
She handed over the coal she'd received from Kang Yul and made sure to explain its distinctive properties as well.
"Mana content this high…? Honored One, which Gate did you mine this from? At this level, the minerals nearby must be no joke either."
"Information regarding where and how it was mined cannot be disclosed. Simply understand that the mana content is extremely high."
"Th-that's right!"
Kang Yul answered from behind Team Leader Myo, who was delivering every word with crisp precision.
The blacksmith eyed the two of them with a peculiar look, then shot out a question.
"Thieving Cat. Do you even know what the Honored One is while you're covering for him like that?"
"I do not. However, Hunter Kang Yul is, on paper, a hunter affiliated with the Nowon-gu Association and a hunter assigned under my direct command."
"So you've already licked him and I'm not allowed to touch — is that it?"
"I am merely fulfilling my duty as a superior to look after a hunter under my jurisdiction."
"Same difference. You've always had a talent for talking in the most frustrating way possible."
After that, Team Leader Myo and the blacksmith locked eyes and stood in silent confrontation for a long while.
Kang Yul took a step back to watch, thinking, They're not actually going to start throwing punches… right?
"Tsk. What a waste. If only I'd found him first."
The blacksmith looked away first, raking a hand through her hair in disappointment, then glanced at Kang Yul as she spoke.
"Well, fine. With supernatural rarities, the hunter who discovers them first can claim ownership, so it wouldn't be proper for me to try snatching him. But Thieving Cat — you know there's an exception when the rarity has a sense of self, right?"
"Of course. If Hunter Kang Yul chooses you of his own free will, I have no intention of stopping him."
"So you're giving me permission?"
With Team Leader Myo's so-called permission, their exchange came to an end.
The blacksmith strode straight toward Kang Yul, who had been watching from a step away.
"!"
In that moment, Kang Yul seriously thought, I need to run…!
He actually moved his feet to flee and had even stepped onto the threshold — when the next instant, a single sentence from the blacksmith stopped his escape cold.
"You said you wanted to sell coal, right? I'll buy all of it."
He froze.
"You'll buy all the coal…?"
"Yes. As for the price… ah, if you fill up the bundle I give you, I'll pay one big bill per bundle. Sound fair?"
"One big bill meaning… ten million won…?"
Kang Yul's mind started racing.
He had no idea what kind of bundle the blacksmith was talking about, but he had coal to spare.
It was coal that had been hard to handle and that he'd had nowhere decent to sell, after all.
So this seemed like a pretty reasonable offer… or so he thought, for a brief moment.
"Oh, Honored One. One big bill for ten million won? Really?"
"…? Then don't tell me it's a hundred thousand…?"
"Come on, what do you take me for. Obviously a hundred million. Fill one bundle and I'll give you a hundred million won per."
"!"
Kang Yul doubted whether the words he was hearing were real.
No — he had no choice but to doubt them.
How big could a bundle possibly be that she'd pay a hundred million for the coal stuffed inside it? That was pure insanity.
So he could only conclude there was clearly some other motive at play.
And in fact, there was.
"Of course, you already know that selling coal alone wouldn't cover the costs, Honored One."
The blacksmith looked him over with eyes thick with damp desire.
Then her gaze fixed on his hand — specifically, on the hand set with the gem that Worm had given him as a gift — and she continued.
"So for this deal, how about we treat the price as including the two of us forming a 'connection'?"
"You're trying to… buy me with money…?"
"If you don't like it, you're free to walk out. But if you're willing to accept the trade—"
The blacksmith extended her hand and went on.
"Just come over and shake my hand. Honored One."
"…"
…Kang Yul took the blacksmith's hand. The deliberation hadn't taken long.
She might have been trying to insult him, but a hundred million won was far too large a sum to scold her over.
And so, in the end.
"I look forward to working with you, Honored One."
"The second you pull anything funny, I'm cutting the contract."
"Of course. I'll only do what the Honored One 'permits,' so don't worry."
"…"
Kang Yul had secured a trading partner who would buy Gate byproducts of unknown origin.
Even if the price was a thoroughly unpleasant feeling of his humanity being chipped away.
He decided not to mention that part.
So Kang Yul and the blacksmith had shaken hands and formed a "connection" — but in twenty-first-century modernity, a purely verbal agreement held no particular legal force.
Under Team Leader Myo's mediation, the two of them finished the contract by pressing their seals onto a document stamped with the Association's certification mark.
"With this, the contract between Kkaebi Workshop and Hunter Kang Yul has been formally concluded."
"Honored One, this is a special occasion — how about a nice, tight hug so we can share a little energy?"
Of course, the blacksmith was far more interested in Kang Yul's body than in sealing any contract.
The moment the paperwork was done, she openly demanded physical contact — and the result was as follows.
"Don't come near me covered in soot."
"Then I'll go wash up, so if you'd just wait a moment…"
"Team Leader Myo! Help!"
"Hunter Kang Yul. This is unpleasant. Do not cling to me."
Kang Yul recoiled in horror and hid behind Team Leader Myo.
Team Leader Myo, now in contact with him, scowled with pure distaste.
And the blacksmith, watching the whole scene, chased after them begging for just one hug — pure pandemonium.
Until finally—
"Both of you, enough."
Team Leader Myo's irritation hit its limit. She drew up mana laced with killing intent, and her shadow writhed as if alive, pinning both of them in place. The chaos was brought to a close.
"She's pulling out her shadows — she must be genuinely pissed…"
"Is this Team Leader Myo's skill…?"
"Oh, the Honored One didn't know? The Thieving Cat's class is Shadow Cat. She mainly uses skills related to cats and shadows…"
"Dokkaebi. Do you truly wish to die?"
"…Aigoo, the cat's mad. I'll tell you the rest when there's a better chance — for now, shall we go get your bundle?"
"…Lead the way."
Kang Yul fled deeper into the workshop after the blacksmith.
Being alone with her was uncomfortable, but it still seemed better than standing next to Team Leader Myo while she was radiating shadows.
I need to stay alive first.
Crossing the courtyard behind the blacksmith, they arrived at the inner workshop, where a room stored the items produced on the premises.
Kang Yul took one look around the interior and couldn't help a pure gasp of admiration.
Bundles, wooden clubs, swords, guns, hoes, shovels, staves, books, bells, oil lamps — and plenty of objects whose purpose he couldn't begin to guess.
The variety of items filling the room was truly remarkable.
"Did you make all of these yourself…?"
"A few were made by my master, but most of them are mine. Some I designed myself, and some were commission work."
"That's fascinating. Blacksmiths usually work with metal."
"Well, this is Kkaebi Workshop, after all."
"…"
Kang Yul briefly recalled his first arrival here.
When he'd spotted the large signboard hanging over the gate that read Kkaebi Workshop, he'd idly wondered whether the place might have some connection to dokkaebi…
…Earlier, Team Leader Myo called the blacksmith a dokkaebi.
Maybe that was actually true.
The thought that the blacksmith standing in front of him might not be human at all, but something supernatural.
Ah, of course—
"Honored One. I'll start you with the smallest bundle, so fill it as you like."
"Ah, yes. …Wait, what? The smallest bundle?"
Those musings of Kang Yul's didn't last long.
The blacksmith's next bombshell of a statement taught him one more truth about the world he was better off not knowing.
"This bundle can hold far more than it looks. Roughly enough for a small warehouse, no problem."
"Excuse me? This tiny bundle?"
"I'm the blacksmith of Kkaebi Workshop — I've got to deliver at least that much."
"Wait, are you actually a dokkaebi…?"
"Huh? I'm human, of course. My master's the dokkaebi. Someone who blended into society in human form, just like the Honored One… ah — no, no, the Honored One is human right now, yes? Cancel that. Cancel what I just said!"
"…"
…He'd already heard all of it. What exactly was she canceling?
Cursed with knowledge he never asked for, Kang Yul's face went rigid as he thought that this world might already be finished — when the blacksmith, watching him grow visibly unsettled over her slip of the tongue, muttered, "I really messed up…!" and started sweating cold and hopping from foot to foot.
Then her eyes landed on a wooden club hanging on the wall.
"Ah, right! Honored One. Would you like to take this club?"
"What is that…?"
"It's a dokkaebi club my master made — a rarity that not just anyone can use. It's incomplete, but for an Honored One who's close with the earth, you should be able to handle it just fine."
"…?"
He didn't fully understand the reason, but Kang Yul wasn't the type to refuse something being offered free, so he accepted the club.
"You're giving this to me for free?"
"Of course it's free! It's a gift — a gift!"
And just like that, somehow, Kang Yul acquired an incomplete dokkaebi club.