I Thought She Was an Alchemist, but She's a Dokkaebi (1)

There are many kinds of hunters. Combat types like Seolhwa and Yuri, who operated out in the field. Support types who backed them up and patched their wounds from the rear. And among them were those who had contracted with Constellations, borrowing the divine authority of beings beyond the sky.

But behind all that dazzling spotlight stood another axis entirely — the one that, in practical terms, held up the entire hunter ecosystem.

They smelted the byproducts of gates into equipment and refined raw mana stones into potions. To the public, they were mostly written off as "cowards who fled because they lacked the stomach to fight," or at best "a refuge for the talentless."

But not every production-class hunter stayed out of the fight.

There had been one alchemist who went after the throats of boss monsters for no reason other than that the Auction House didn't stock the ingredients she wanted.

An alchemist who had contracted with a Constellation and walked into gates under her own power. Do Hwarang. Alias: Dokkaebi.

The genius who had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been the first in the world to uncover the recipe for Heaven's Tears.

And our youngest.

The moment she closed her eyes, fragments of memory flickered through her mind like an old film reel. What surfaced instead of a quest window, sharp and vivid before her eyes, was that young voice — the one that had followed only her.

"Unnie, why do you always fight with the god like that?"

"Unnie, unnie. How come I can't see a single thread of fate when I look at you?"

The warmth of a small hand tugging at her sleeve, question after endless question. The way that warmth had slowly gone cold. The light dimming from her eyes — it all passed before Seolhwa, painfully vivid.

"Unnie... I'm sorry..."

At the voice, which rang as clear as a phantom in her ears, Seolhwa slowly opened her eyes.

She'll still be there.

Heaven's Tears had yet to reach the market. And the nickname "Dokkaebi" had not yet spread through the world.

"Well then, let's head in."

Seolhwa entered the alleys of Euljiro. The familiar clang-clang of hammer on metal and the fragrance of potions drifting from the alchemists' stalls hung thick in the air.

She still remembered stopping by here once, just briefly, to help with the packing back when she'd brought Hwarang over to the guild building.

It had been a complete disaster back then.

Seolhwa made her way slowly deeper into the alley. The scars the young hunters had left behind when they poured into Euljiro remained untouched where they'd been carved; new buildings had been raised on the bones of the broken ones, so the district still kept something of the face it had worn twenty years ago.

"I'm going to meet someone who can process Sky Lilies for me. She should be somewhere around here."

The colorful alleyways were a riot of personality, every shopfront putting out wares stamped with its maker's own touch.

"I'm putting my faith in the creativity of Euljiro's young artisans."

"It was somewhere around here. Hmm. But it's not showing itself."

Seolhwa felt her way through her memories, hunting for Hwarang's home. The Constellation's power made the place hard to perceive, and it sat buried deep in the heart of the district, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the search took time.

And here lay another part of the reason her alias was Dokkaebi.

Unique Skill: Dokkaebi Territory.

Anchored to her own workshop, it claimed a stretch of ground a few thousand square meters wide as her personal turf. Any unwelcome guest who set foot in her domain would be driven out — or made to wander lost in circles, never to find the workshop again.

Exactly like this, in fact.

The viewers were starting to stir. Seolhwa looked at a flyer pasted on the wall, tore off its corner, and walked on.

Five minutes later, the same flyer was pasted in the same spot, its corner intact and whole.

Dokkaebi King Bihyeong. His pranks were just as relentless back then, too.

Seolhwa gazed at the flyer with a small smile. The alley folded back on itself in a sharp zigzag, and the signboard standing there bore a single number: 0.

Some of the viewers seemed to catch on.

"Close, but I'm just going to keep walking. Once you start playing along with a dokkaebi's games, there's no keeping up with it."

With that, Seolhwa drew the silver dagger from her waist.

"Bihyeong. I'd like a word with you and your contractor. Move."

The demon-breaking energy steeped into the silver dagger pressed back the foul aura hanging over the alley. At the same time, a faint light seeped from the Red Knot at her wrist. Sharp steel and the color red — in the old tales, the one combination said to send dokkaebi fleeing for their lives.

But her opponent was the Dokkaebi King. He would hardly be frightened off by something like this.

But making him lose interest? That, I can manage.

Seolhwa swept the silver dagger through the empty air.

Fwaash—

Like a desert mirage dissolving, the wall blocking her path rippled and vanished — and a narrow, secretive side lane that appeared on no map revealed itself.

"Bihyeong?"

Reading the viewers' chat, Seolhwa called the name once more.

So his name still can't be made public yet, huh.

Guessing as much, Seolhwa stepped into the side lane. At the end of the maze-like path stood a two-story house with no signboard whatsoever, its shabby shutter door half open.

As she moved forward, a young voice called out from behind the shutter.

"Stop! I don't know who you are, but forcing your way through my maze — you've got some nerve!"

The voice was loud, but a faint tremble ran beneath it. Seolhwa raised both hands to show she meant no harm.

"I'm a customer."

"I don't take customers! And how did you even get in here!"

When Hwarang snapped that at her, Seolhwa smiled and showed her the silver dagger.

"Tch. You brought a nasty piece of work in with you."

At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those words, Seolhwa said nothing — only kept her hands raised.

She must have read the item's information with her dokkaebi eyes.

She went on holding her hands up, and at last a voice came from behind the shutter.

"...Are you really a customer?"

"I am. And I'd rather not test myself against the king of every malevolent spirit on his home turf."

The moment the words left her mouth, two talisman-wrapped potion bottles came hurtling from behind the shutter.

So this is how she comes out, huh.

Seolhwa dodged the flying potions and put as much distance between them as she could. When the bottles shattered and the two solutions mingled, an explosion burst out with a pop.

"Isn't that a bit much?"

"You. Where did you hear that name?"

From behind the shutter emerged a girl swimming in an oversized hoodie, sky-blue pigtails framing a face set with glowing cyan eyes that flickered like dokkaebi fire.

"I have my ways of knowing things."

In Hwarang's hands were another potion bottle and a slingshot. Her eyes wavered like will-o'-the-wisps as they warily tracked Seolhwa.

"Nobody knows I'm contracted to a Constellation. Not even the Association. So how do you know?"

Hwarang's eyes glittered like dokkaebi fire, her voice carrying an edge of killing intent. But Seolhwa only smiled, unhurried, and clasped her hands behind her back.

"That's a secret. But I have no intention of hurting you. If I look like I'm lying, then check with those eyes of yours."

Hwarang stared her down, torn squarely between belief and doubt.

Dokkaebi eyes — eyes that see straight through to the essence of any object, any person. They can even grant sight of fate, of karma, of death. It was with those eyes that Hwarang read the true nature of her ingredients and carved out paths no one else could see.

Seolhwa gazed at the girl before her.

But she could never glimpse her own destiny. She'd promised me — the one whose fate she couldn't see at all — that she would draw me a future. If this was what that future turned out to be, I wish I could have refused it.

A short moment passed like that, and then Hwarang spoke up, flustered.

"You're not lying. But then why can't I see anything except that? That's never happened before. It's more like... like a thick gray fog is packed in over everything."

Seolhwa asked, caught off guard.

"You can... see something?"

A reaction different from back then. Not the blank page of nothing — something veiled.

"Yeah. It's like something that can't be known yet has been deliberately hidden away. Bibi says the same thing."

At Hwarang's words, Seolhwa's eyes trembled.

If even Bihyeong put it that way, then something truly is visible.

Hwarang lowered her slingshot and spoke.

"Come in, for now. Bibi says you're not a bad person. And that you were fun."

The shutter rolled all the way open, and Seolhwa walked slowly inside.

And there it was — exactly as she remembered, a complete and utter disaster.

"I work alone in here, so put up with the mess. You're the one who showed up out of nowhere."

Hwarang dragged a chair over and sat down across from Seolhwa.

"So. What did you come here to commission?"

In answer, Seolhwa pulled a Sky Lily from her inventory and held it out for her to see.

"I want you to brew an elixir from this."