The Vault of a Thousand Treasures
To think a mere brat like this is the Blade Smith of the Cheonsan Sect.
"Who the hell do you think you're fooling with this fake identity, you bastard?"
Jin Muyeong growled, shoving his face right up to Dohyun's.
...It's that guy again.
Why on earth was he here again?
Jin Muyeong scowled deeply, scanning Dohyun from head to toe.
"Ha. A nobody like you trying to impersonate the Blade Smith? You should've at least worn a suppressor first."
Jin Muyeong snorted in derision.
In truth, Dohyun was wearing a suppressor.
He had simply released just enough spiritual power to maintain his disguised appearance.
Normally, standard suppressors were simple devices that only had an on-and-off function.
You either blocked your spiritual power entirely, or you let it flow.
It was one or the other.
To Muyeong's eyes, the faint trickle of energy leaking from Dohyun looked exactly like that of a low-grade spiritualist who wasn't even wearing a suppressor.
There was no way Jin Muyeong could know that Dohyun's custom suppressor was a cheat item capable of fine-tuning its output.
Furthermore, back in the suite at the TK Hotel, Dohyun had taken off his mask.
For Muyeong, it was utterly impossible to connect the beautiful youth standing before him now with the Blade Smith he had met that day.
But Dohyun had no intention of telling him the truth.
Why had he gone to the trouble of changing his face in the first place?
Wasn't it precisely because he didn't want those people from the 4 Great Families to discover his real identity?
Thanks to spending the previous night rolling around and reading through the Goblin Fire Gallery app that Ji-an had installed for him, Dohyun had learned quite a lot about this world.
The foundation of this society lay in the 12 Great Families.
It was said that each of them worshipped one of the twelve zodiac animals.
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
Twelve surnames and twelve families, modeled after the twelve zodiac signs.
And reigning at the very pinnacle of those twelve families were the four clans that worshipped the Four Auspicious Beasts.
The Dragon, the Tiger, the Suzaku, and the Genbu.
These four, which revered the dragon, the tiger, the rooster, and the snake as their symbols, respectively,
were the 4 Great Families that everyone kept talking about.
...I'll give them the dragon and the tiger.
But mapping the Suzaku to a rooster, and the Genbu to a snake?
...Isn't that a bit of a stretch?
Well, it sounded cool anyway, so he decided to just roll with it.
Right. So, in other words.
The name of the guy currently popping a vein in front of Dohyun was...
Jin Muyeong.
The surname Jin belonged to the family symbolizing the Dragon.
This meant he was of the bloodline of the 4 Great Families, specifically the Dragon clan.
Then what was that guy doing at the TK Hotel in the first place?
Curious about this, Dohyun had contacted Ji-an to ask as soon as he closed the gallery app.
The exact details weren't any of Dohyun's business.
The important thing was that the guy was indeed of the 4 Great Families' bloodline.
Although they wouldn't dare touch him openly since he had the shield of being affiliated with the Cheonsan Sect...
...Dohyun still had no desire to let those clan bastards discover his true identity.
If he revealed the truth to Muyeong, the perfect persona he had painstakingly crafted through this identity wash might shatter overnight.
"Hey! Are you deaf?!"
Since he couldn't exactly explain that he had changed his face...
Right.
He decided to just ignore him for now.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
As Dohyun walked away, Jin Muyeong flared up and chased after him.
"I don't know what kind of trick you pulled to pass the nameplate check, but I'm going to expose your real identity no matter what. Just you wait, got it?"
A nameplate.
According to what he had read on the gallery yesterday, the authority of a nameplate in the spiritualist world was absolute.
Since it was registered with the user's unique spiritual power, it served as definitive proof of identity.
Furthermore, passing a nameplate inspection at an event hosted by such influential figures meant the organizers had officially guaranteed his identity.
In other words, no matter how convinced Muyeong was that Dohyun was an impostor, he couldn't just grab him by the collar right now.
Laying a hand on him here would be a direct challenge to the host's authority.
Knowing this, Muyeong could only throw a tantrum with his mouth, unable to actually touch him.
...Go ahead and try.
Once this job was over, they would never see each other again anyway.
Was there any need to waste breath explaining things?
He was here to work, so he just had to do his job and leave.
With that thought, Dohyun ignored him completely and quickened his pace toward the inner garden of the mansion.
"Hey! Where are you going, you bastard?! Just wait until this job is over, you hear me? You're dead!"
A furious threat echoed from behind, but that was all.
Well, let him do whatever he wanted.
As they reached the entrance, the waiting staff opened the massive double doors.
Upon stepping inside, an elderly gentleman in a neat suit greeted them.
"We have been expecting you. The others have already arrived, so I will escort you both to the drawing room."
Following the elderly gentleman down the hallway, they entered the drawing room.
Inside the spacious drawing room, two people were sitting on a leather sofa.
One was a young woman.
Next to her, a middle-aged man wearing a traditional overcoat sat with his legs crossed.
Dohyun's gaze naturally drifted toward the woman.
More precisely, his eyes locked onto the object resting carefully on her lap.
It was a long, slender object wrapped tightly in fine cloth and bound securely with cords.
...Is that a katana?
Judging by its length and shape, it was unmistakably a sword. A long, slender one at that.
The woman held the wrapped bundle carefully with both hands, as if cradling a newborn baby.
On the other hand, the middle-aged man next to her had several scrolls dangling from his waist.
His very appearance exuded an arrogant vibe.
Once Dohyun and Muyeong sat side by side on the empty sofa, the elderly gentleman looked around at the group and spoke.
"Now that everyone is gathered, I will explain the details of the commission."
Hmm. I heard there was a broker on-site. Is this the guy?
As if reading Dohyun's mind, the elderly gentleman bowed slightly.
"Pardon my late introduction. I serve as the butler of this estate. I oversee the general affairs of both the family and their businesses. In particular... managing matters related to spells and spiritual arts is my primary duty."
The butler smiled faintly.
"Thus, arranging commissions like this and hosting all of you falls entirely under my purview."
Ah.
So, while he wasn't a member of a spiritualist family himself, he acted as the manager who hired and directed people whenever necessary.
In other words, he was both a butler and a broker.
"So, what did you call us here for?"
The middle-aged man in the traditional overcoat asked, tilting his chin up arrogantly.
"Yes. Since you are all busy people, I will get straight to the point."
The butler cleared his throat and lowered his voice a notch.
"The reason I have gathered you here... is because misfortunes have not ceased to plague this household."
A dark shadow fell over his face.
"After our former chairman passed away, his son inherited both the business and this mansion. However, around that time... a series of unfortunate events began to unfold."
The butler began counting on his fingers.
"Traffic accidents kept happening outside. The servants working in this house fell ill one by one, and some even met with fatal accidents. That is not all. The chairman's family members have also suffered from endless, inexplicable misfortunes."
It was a cliché story that anyone would have heard at least once.
"Therefore, we have come to the conclusion that... something sinister has possessed this estate."
The butler paused for a moment before continuing.
"The former chairman dedicated his entire life to collecting rare treasures. Ceramics, paintings, blades... the sheer number of items is beyond count."
"Thus, after bringing in someone to investigate, we discovered that the ominous energy is leaking from none other than the chairman's collection."
The woman, who had been listening quietly, spoke up as she stroked the sword on her lap.
"Then why... didn't you just dispose of the collected items sooner?"
Her voice was calm and low.
"Well, you see..."
The butler gave a troubled smile and slowly stood up.
"Rather than explaining it in words, it would be faster for you to see it for yourselves. Please, follow me."
The moment they followed the butler through the inner door,
"...Whoa."
The woman gasped in awe.
Beyond the door lay what looked like a massive museum.
Under the high ceiling, display cases stretched out as far as the eye could see.
Inside them were ceramics and statues emitting a faint, ethereal glow,
along with bizarrely shaped spiritual tools packed tightly together.
Paintings in antique frames hung in neat rows along the walls, and life-sized suits of armor and swords were displayed inside glass cases.
"This is the vault where the treasures collected by the late chairman over his lifetime are stored."
The butler shrugged.
"As you can see, every single one of them is a rare treasure. The chairman used to invite close acquaintances here from time to time to show them off."
"...So, how much is all of this worth?"
Jin Muyeong gulped and asked.
"Well... if we combine everything in this room, it would easily exceed a hundred billion won."
"A-A hundred billion?!"
Jin Muyeong's eyes widened so much they looked ready to pop out.
A hundred billion won.
That meant this single mansion was essentially a vault containing a hundred billion won.
"That is why the current chairman could not bring himself to dispose of them recklessly."
The butler smiled bitterly.
"Since we do not know which item is the source of the trouble, burning the whole collection would mean burning a hundred billion won. Yet, leaving it as it is means people continue to get hurt."
...Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"However..."
The butler lowered his voice even further.
"The most troubling part is... we cannot even figure out what the source of the curse is."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Because everyone experiences something completely different."
The butler began counting on his fingers again.
"One person claims to have seen a statue move in the middle of the night. Another woke up after being trapped inside a painting in a nightmare. Yet another has been wasting away ever since cutting their hand while polishing a dagger. Every single incident involves a different object and a different symptom."
"...A Ghost Transfer."
The woman holding the sword muttered softly.
"Yes, indeed."
The butler nodded heavily.
Ghost Transfer.
Dohyun didn't know exactly what it was, but judging by the context, it seemed to mean a single vengeful spirit was jumping from one object to another, spreading its curse.
In other words, there was originally only one true source of the curse, but it had spread to the surrounding items one after another.
Now, it was impossible to distinguish the original culprit.
"And that is why I have summoned all of you."
...So that's why they called me.
Dohyun quietly organized his thoughts.
At first, he had found it strange.
Why was an exorcism commission being offered to a blacksmith like him?
He had been curious enough to ask Seo Ji-an about it.
Her explanation had been simple.
Those who were called "Artisans" in this field were incredibly rare.
Since people who knew how to engrave spell circuits were so scarce, they would recruit them for any job that showed even a hint of spell involvement, regardless of their actual specialization.
In the first place, finding a specialist who perfectly matched the specific spell-related issue was harder than plucking stars from the sky.
The major families colluded to cherry-pick only the easiest jobs.
On top of that, they demanded exorbitant fees while their actual skills were often mediocre at best.
Come to think of it.
Since this place was packed with metal objects like armor and swords,
it wasn't entirely unreasonable for a blacksmith like him to be included.
The butler turned back to face the group.
"We have two Artisans and two spiritualists. Since you are meeting for the first time, allow me to briefly introduce you."
The butler gestured first toward the man in the traditional overcoat.
"This is Mr. Yoo Seon-woo, a Spell Painter from the Suzaku family."
A Spell Painter.
It was a term he had briefly skimmed past on the gallery last night. Written with the characters for "spell" and "painting," it literally meant someone who cast spells through paintings.
The Spell Painter gave a slight nod, his chin tilted up arrogantly.
"I am Yoo Seon-woo."
Next, the butler pointed toward Dohyun.
"And this is... Master Smith Do, from the Cheonsan Sect."
In that instant,
a subtle ripple of tension stirred the air in the room.
Yoo Seon-woo's eyebrows twitched under his overcoat.
The woman holding the sword stared wide-eyed at Dohyun.
"T-This person... is the Master Smith Do of the Cheonsan Sect?"
The woman asked, her voice filled with disbelief.
It was only natural.
The legendary artisan of the Cheonsan Sect, whom they had only heard of in rumors, turned out to be a strikingly young, beautiful boy.
Yet, Dohyun, the center of all attention, was focused on something else entirely.
His mind was completely occupied by the long, cloth-wrapped bundle resting on the woman's lap.
He could sense a strange, discordant flow emanating from it.
His indifferent attitude—analyzing the structure of a weapon in his head while ignoring the introductions—made him look like a clueless brat who couldn't read the room.
Furthermore, Dohyun was currently releasing only the absolute minimum amount of spiritual power required to maintain his disguise.
Naturally, in their eyes, he was nothing more than a novice who couldn't even manage a suppressor properly, possessing only a pathetic trickle of energy.
"..."
The gazes of the woman and the others quickly cooled into lukewarm indifference.
Yoo Seon-woo's lips curled into a mocking sneer.
"Hmm. So, what is your specialty?"
The moment the introductions were finished, Yoo Seon-woo asked Dohyun condescendingly, as if demanding to hear his credentials.
His tone was purely patronizing.
"...I'm a blacksmith."
"A blacksmith, you say."
Yoo Seon-woo snorted, lifting his chin.
"Well, they certainly hand out the title of 'Artisan' generously in your neck of the woods. To think a green boy like you is already walking around with such a title. In our circle, someone your age would still be grinding ink under a master."
Dohyun let the words slide right out of his ear.
He had already heard plenty about how every single member of the 4 Great Families lacked basic manners.
Even Jin Muyeong was consistently rude to everyone except him.
"Well, since I hear there are many paintings among the collection here,"
Yoo Seon-woo continued boastfully,
"it seems I will be the one providing the most assistance."
"Now then, everyone."
The butler clasped his hands politely.
"Your task is to identify the source of the curse within this vault and exorcise it. The faster you complete the job, the more generous your reward will be. Room and board will be fully provided during your stay, and the servants will prepare your meals."
As he prepared to stand, the butler added,
"Ah, one more thing."
The butler raised a finger.
"The chairman has also requested that we calculate an additional bonus based on your individual contribution. The one who plays the greatest role will receive a handsome sum."
Having finished his explanation, the butler bowed politely to the group.
The faster they finished, and the more they contributed, the bigger the payout.
Good.
Those were terms he could get behind.
Beside him,
Yoo Seon-woo glanced sideways at the young boy.
To think a wet-behind-the-ears brat had come here calling himself an artisan, yet couldn't even control his spiritual power properly and let it leak out like that.
...They said the Master Smith of the Cheonsan Sect was incredible, but he's nothing special at all.
It must have been a baseless rumor.
He was probably just some nobody who drifted over from China, exaggerating minor achievements to carve out a place for himself in the Korean market.
Whatever happened at the TK Hotel was likely nothing more than a stroke of pure luck.
This was actually a perfect opportunity.
Paintings were the core of this commission.
Between a green brat, a girl who only knew how to swing a sword, and a street thug...
...and with a bonus promised based on contribution,
standing out among this ragtag bunch and claiming the entire reward for himself would be child's play.
Furthermore,
it was an undeniable fact that this Cheonsan Sect smith had recently become the talk of the town.
The elders of the 4 Great Families were already displeased with an outsider running amok in the Korean spiritualist scene.
If he could knock this brat down a peg right here,
word would surely reach the elders, and raising his own reputation would be only a matter of time.
Yoo Seon-woo's lips curled up even further into a smirk.
I'll teach you the difference in our class, you little brat.