Maebang Mountain (1)
As he stepped into the workshop, the faint scent of Eunseolcho gently greeted Choi Yeon.
He was about to offer a greeting to Old Man Song, who sat at the workbench, when—
“…….”
Seeing how intently the old man was focused, he decided not to call out and simply waited in silence. He had no wish to break Old Man Song’s concentration, and he also wanted to watch the crafting process unfold.
Swoosh, swish.
Old Man Song dipped the brush in his right hand into the liquid inside the cauldron and slowly applied it to the thread held in his left. A subtle light seeped in, lending the fiber a glossy sheen.
Wherever the brush passed, mana flowed and locked together with the fiber as one.
Hoo….
The air currents inside the workshop shifted ever so slightly. As if recalling its original purpose of snaring the feet of other beings, it vibrated faintly and shook Old Man Song’s hand.
Tok.
Old Man Song set the brush down and gazed at the ball of thread. Then he spoke.
“…Thanks. For not interrupting.”
“You knew I was here?”
“Mm.”
Thud.
Even though he had already been seated, the way Old Man Song answered shortly and leaned back made it look as if he had only just sat down. The motion of folding his arms made the chair seem to embrace his body.
“Eunseolcho…. It’s no ordinary finicky thing.”
“Is that so?”
“Every time I try to pull the fiber out, it throws such a tantrum. But who am I? The finest craftsman in Mokcheok Market! This Song Mansik always finds the answer.”
Grin! Old Man Song smiled with open pride. Choi Yeon agreed wholeheartedly with the self-praise of being the best craftsman.
That was precisely why Choi Yeon always sought him out. There was no need to point out that, as a market originally devoted to livestock, fiber workshops were few and far between.
A craftsman who had obtained new materials and created a new product wanted to boast a little—Choi Yeon was not so lacking in mental leisure that he could not indulge it.
“Here.”
Old Man Song held out the ball of thread. It was ordinary thread rather than wire, no doubt prepared to test whether the processing had taken properly.
After all, hadn’t it been said that the sample thread Choi Yeon originally brought would take four hours to process?
Swish….
Through his fingertips came the cool, firm sensation of the thread that held a faint light.
“It’s cool?”
“That’s the Eunseolcho. More importantly, there’s one problem…”
“A problem?”
“Mm. Try putting mana into it.”
“Yes.”
Choi Yeon infused mana at once.
Suddenly!
The tip of the thread lifted its head like a snake and peered this way and that. Had it found prey? It stretched toward the workbench and rubbed its body against the scattered fragments of Eunseolcho.
It looked exactly like a living snake trying to coat itself in the faint scent.
“Wow! This is really something. You said the conductivity would rise, and it really moves exactly as I think.”
“……?”
“This will make precise work even easier.”
“……?”
“As expected of Old Man Song! Skill worthy of the finest craftsman in Mokcheok Market.”
Despite Choi Yeon’s lavish praise, Old Man Song’s gaze remained fixed solely on the white thread. His mouth gradually fell open as if the way it moved like a real snake were truly wondrous.
Telling Choi Yeon to infuse mana had not been done in expectation of this sight.
Before making the ball of thread he had just handed over—when he had crafted the experimental piece of the experimental piece—Old Man Song himself had also poured mana into it.
And….
“When I did it, the thing went completely berserk…. It was like a basilisk that had lost its eyes.”
“I’m a hunter, after all.”
“Is that really the reason?”
“Then what is it?”
“Well… yeah. If you say so, Yeon, I’ve got nothing more to add, but…”
Old Man Song shrugged and shook his head from side to side.
How could he possibly know just how delicate the mana control needed to be when extracting fiber from all sorts of materials?
Of course, saying as much in front of Choi Yeon—who handled the exact same thread with perfect mastery—would carry no persuasive power, so he decided not to press the point.
He was simply amazed.
Having infused mana himself, he knew all too well that this was by no means an easy feat.
How fortunate it had not been a real basilisk. Otherwise Old Man Song’s arms would have been bitten by fangs and turned to stone more than once.
And that was not the only shortcoming he had noticed.
“When you process it with Eunseolcho, the durability weakens a bit.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“…But I don’t know if it’ll be the same for you.”
“Yes? What do you mean by that?”
“…….”
Old Man Song scratched his white hair.
Because the phenomena when Choi Yeon handled the thread and when he himself handled it were so clearly different, certainty was difficult.
He had been unable to control it properly and had scattered mana, so the thread snapped quickly—but Choi Yeon was controlling it perfectly, was he not?
In that case the damage would be far less, and durability might not prove a problem after all.
“…Just in case, keep it in mind. Don’t be startled if it snaps during a fight.”
“Mm…. Yes, I understand.”
Choi Yeon nodded.
An item’s durability always differed depending on how a person used it.
Even swords often shattered under the power of an A-class hunter, so how much more so for a slender wire like this?
“How long will it take?”
“You’re going to give all three rolls the special Eunseolcho treatment?”
“Yes. That was the plan.”
“Just do two rolls.”
“Huh? Why?”
Was it because he did not want to do the work for free?
As if reading the thought that had risen in Choi Yeon’s mind, Old Man Song waved his hand dismissively.
“Don’t misunderstand. Whether it’s two rolls or three, there’s hardly any difference.”
Well, that would be true enough.
Choi Yeon had obtained the Eunseolcho, and Old Man Song had extracted the fiber. Even the special processing was done by him, so there was no material cost to speak of.
Suggesting only two rolls was purely for Choi Yeon’s sake.
“You said the durability is weak, right? Then you won’t be able to use it for binding.”
“Aha.”
Choi Yeon understood at once.
As the old man said, he often used the wire for binding, and if its durability were poor, nine times out of ten it would create troublesome problems.
He had also just been warned that it might snap in the middle of combat.
“Then just two rolls.”
“Good thinking. Time-wise… if you come around tomorrow evening, it’ll be finished.”
“Yes. I’ll come again in the evening.”
“Alright. Then tomorrow… no. I’ll give this to you now, so take it.”
“…Ah, the washable mask?”
Instead of an answer, a box containing the mask was held out. Seeing the black mask, he suddenly recalled that he had to use the cleaning solution sold only at this workshop.
He was about to mention it, then stopped and asked the price of the solution instead. He had intended to request a discount, but—
“Thirteen thousand won per bottle, customer.”
A merchant pretending to be a craftsman stood before him.
…Just what had that granddaughter done to the old man?
As far as he remembered, Old Man Song had not been like this even last month. He had been a craftsman who readily threw in extras!
With a regretful heart, Choi Yeon took only the mask and left the workshop.
Since he had no immediate plans to enter a C-class or higher dungeon, he decided he could buy the solution later.
“Alright, then now…”
Passing through the market alley onto the main road, Choi Yeon headed straight for the bus stop.
Getting off the bus, he looked around. After roughly an hour and a half, the mountain he had reached was named Maebang.
It had been named for a geomantic site shaped like a falling plum blossom, but now everything had burned away. The black ash and soot that covered it did not suit the name at all.
Only the layers of ash and dust piled upon the ground revealed that some time had already passed.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Every time the wind blew, ash scattered, and Choi Yeon, who had been waving it away with his hand, decided to put on the cloth mask. It was meant for filtering dungeon miasma, so it might have been overkill, but he judged it better than choking.
“…….”
Below Maebang Mountain a control line had been set up to keep others from approaching. The place was locked in stillness; only silence flowed.
Even if there had been an explosion powerful enough to shake the ground, the complete absence of even insect sounds was by no means natural.
Swoosh.
Choi Yeon turned his head to the right.
“…Hello.”
“Whoa, shit. How the hell did you know we were here?”
A voice that pretended to be overly startled came from empty air.
One after another, figures appeared. The three middle-aged men wore matching outfits not much different from the clothes Choi Yeon always wore.
Because—
“You’re Daedong Dongdae Hunters, right?”
“Yeah. That’s right. Are you Jeokhyolhoe?”
“No. I’m Choi Yeon. A Dongdae Hunter just like you. Here—”
“Hey, stop right there. If you mess with your hands carelessly, that wrist might fly off.”
Shing!
Sharp blades revealed themselves under the moonlight.
Choi Yeon froze with his hand still in his pocket. Being a fellow Dongdae Hunter, he understood all too well.
If he moved his hand carelessly now, they would truly swing those swords. It was not because they were rash.
Choi Yeon would have done the same. Would anyone leave alone an unidentified person met at night without knowing what he might pull out?
The number of Dongdae Hunters who had died screaming that way was not merely one or two.
“There’s an ID and hunter license in my pocket. Take them out and check.”
“We’ll handle that ourselves, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
One middle-aged man answered and stepped closer. As he had said, he reached out to do it himself, but—
“No need. I know that friend’s identity.”
A serious male voice sounded. Looking back, Choi Yeon saw a middle-aged man approaching with a shield as large as his torso.
He was the tank of Kim Minseok’s party whom Choi Yeon had seen in the Jung-gu Office meeting room, and his name was definitely….
Uh, what was it again?
“You know this guy?”
“I do. He’s a Dongdae Hunter just like the rest of you.”
“Huh? This… shady-looking guy is a Dongdae Hunter?”
One of the Dongdae Hunters asked back in disbelief. The reason he had stumbled mid-sentence was that he had been trying to put it politely.
Shady, gloomy, damp, sinister….
Words beginning with that sound that he had heard once or twice flashed through Choi Yeon’s mind.
Even “plain” had probably been a softened version of “he looks suspicious.”
“You’ve probably heard of him too. The Dongdae Hunter who captured a Jeokhyolhoe executive at Seonhwa Orphanage not long ago.”
“…Ah! That one—the guy who rescued the kids kidnapped on Bihak Mountain?”
“Yeah, that friend.”
“Oh, oh! I remember, I remember. Come to think of it, they said he had squinty eyes, right?”
Those who recalled the hard-to-forget physical trait nodded. Then, as if nothing had happened, they looked at Choi Yeon with bright, open smiles.
It was not that a sudden sense of camaraderie had welled up; rather, they already held a favorable view of him because he had saved the children.
Given their profession, marriage had come late for most of them, and their own children’s ages were roughly the same.
Soon the tank of Kim Minseok’s party stood before him and held out a calloused right hand. Somehow it reminded Choi Yeon of Choi Heeseok’s hand.
“Your name was Choi Yeon, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Senior Jang Jinho.”
Perhaps thanks to that?
Choi Yeon barely managed to recall the name. Fortunately there was no awkward disaster of a senior knowing him while he himself did not.
“But what brings you all the way out here? Even by car it would take forty minutes.”
“…To hike?”
At Choi Yeon’s answer the Dongdae Hunters stared at him as if he were insane.
Suddenly showing up and claiming he planned to hike—even the cute sons and daughters waiting at home would never believe it.
Jang Jinho also found it amusing and let out a short laugh.
“At this hour, on a low mountain only a hundred eighty-two meters high?”
“Does the height matter?”
“…Anyway, good timing.”
“Yes?”
“I was just stopping by here intending to hike as well.”
“Is that… so?”
“Yeah. Thanks to you, it won’t be boring.”
Saying so, Jang Jinho smiled. Just like Choi Yeon, hiking was not his true purpose either. What his proposal meant was perfectly clear.
If Jang Jinho accompanied him, Choi Yeon would be able to enter and leave Maebang Mountain without difficulty. In other words, it was a senior’s consideration for a junior.
And the reason for that consideration was….
“I’ll have to thank Minseok later.”
“Thanks to you I can show off a little. But the one you should thank isn’t him.”
“Yes?”
“If it’s twenty-seven years as a hunter this year… you know what I mean?”
“You’re a peer of Senior Heeseok?”
“Something like that.”
Jang Jinho grinned. Then he made a point of telling Choi Yeon to be sure to thank him properly, and the reason this time was equally clear.
Wouldn’t he have to show off to that tiresome peer of his?