Surviving as a Sorcerer in Seoul - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: I Became a Sorcerer? (5)

TL: DDTL

“Ha. This should do it.”

I laid out the materials I’d bought in a neat row on the floor.

A 2,000-won calligraphy brush set from Daiso.

Professional-grade red paint for Eastern-style painting, bought at the art supply store for a small fortune.

And the real headache: the Spirit-Yellow Paper.

The brushes and paint were a breeze. Slip on some sandals and there’s a Daiso and an art store within five minutes in any direction.

The problem was that damn Spirit-Yellow Paper.

“This piece of shit.”

Just to find a single sheet, I had to comb through every stationery store in the neighborhood.

Every time I asked “Do you have Spirit-Yellow Paper?”, the stationery shop uncles would look at me like I was some aspiring shaman. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment.

Nothing in the neighborhood, so in the end I had to cab it thirty minutes away to a big art supply store. The tail was wagging the dog. The taxi fare alone cost me 10,000 won.

“It’ll work, right?”

Just in case, I double-checked the post on [Principles of Sorcery] one more time.

The kinds of sorcery that can be unleashed through talismans fall into two broad categories.

Barrier System

The familiar stuff: talismans that form protective shields or seal off a space.

Phenomenon System

Literally, talismans that produce a physical phenomenon.

Obviously, I picked the Phenomenon System.

Rather than die getting beaten to a pulp while only playing defense, isn’t it better to at least land one hit before going down?

Among them, I looked for the talisman that was the most basic while still guaranteed to get results.

Author: Old Man Who Carves Talismans | Views: 1,102

[Title]

Top Pick Talisman for Newbies: Karmic Fire Talisman

[Content]

For your average lower-tier demon, burning them is the quickest way to go.

Physical attacks? These bastards won’t die even if you stab them with a knife, but fire is their kryptonite. Think of it like a fireball spell in magic terms.

You don’t need complicated patterns. Just memorize these two characters.

Karmic Fire

You write these two hanja on Spirit-Yellow Paper in red paint.

But you can’t just scribble them like you’re practicing penmanship. Focus your spiritual power at the tip of the brush and pour the killing intent of “I’m going to burn you alive” into it.

“Karmic Fire, huh…”

Flames of karmic retribution, or something like that. Hell of a name.

So I write this on Spirit-Yellow Paper in red paint?

I squeezed some paint onto a palette and dipped my brush. The red spread out in vivid bloom.

That’s when a line at the bottom of the post caught my eye.

Tip. If you want to boost the effect, mixing in a few drops of the sorcerer’s blood helps.

“…I really don’t want to use blood.”

So I’d have to cut myself, basically.

I hesitated for a second. This was a 5 million won gig. My life’s on the line, so if I’m doing it, shouldn’t I do it right?

Double the effect, it says.

“Yeah, screw it.”

I pulled a needle out of my sewing kit. Sterilized it with a lighter flame, then took a deep breath.

I pressed the needle against the tip of my thumb.

One, two, three.

Poke!

“Ow, that stings…”

A sharp sting, and then red droplets welled up in clusters. Did I stab too hard? The blood’s really flowing.

I quickly moved my thumb over the palette of paint.

Drip, drip.

Vivid red droplets fell onto the red paint and mixed in. The color seemed to deepen strangely, turning a darker, blackish red.

“This should be enough, right?”

Now it’s the real thing.

I’d already cut the Spirit-Yellow Paper into several talisman-sized sheets.

I took one big, deep breath and picked up the brush.

‘Momentum matters. Write it all in one stroke.’

Repeating the post’s advice in my head, I focused on the tip of the brush. I tried to imagine something inside my body starting to writhe.

Swoosh.

The brush glided across the paper.

Karma.

I put everything into each stroke.

My fingertips tingled. Was this spiritual power? Or had I just gripped the brush so hard my hand was cramping up?

Fire.

The moment I finished the final stroke, I thought I felt a faint heat rising from the tip of the brush.

“Phew…”

The first talisman was done.

The characters on the paper were so deep a red they almost looked black. I’d written them myself, but they actually looked the part.

Those three months at a calligraphy academy back in elementary school had paid off after all.

“They said to pour your heart into it… one stroke, all at once…”

I kept going, writing one talisman after another.

One sheet, two sheets, three sheets…

Before I knew it, the floor was littered with sheets of paper bearing red characters.

Beads of sweat dotted my forehead.

I was just writing characters, but I was as out of breath as if I’d just sprinted all-out. Seems like using spiritual power eats into one’s stamina.

Or maybe I was just nervous.

“Done.”

Five sheets total.

This should be plenty.

I looked down at the completed talismans.

At a glance they looked like doodles, just red paint smeared on paper, or the kind of cheap talisman sold at a shaman’s shop.

Nothing about them seemed particularly special.

“These are supposed to actually work, right?”

I picked one up and gave it a shake.

Flap, flap.

Just the papery rustling, loud as anything.

No sudden flames, no glowing, no special effects whatsoever.

“…I haven’t been scammed, have I?”

Unease crept up on me.

No turning back now, though. The clock had already ticked past 8 p.m.

Two hours until the meeting time.

I started packing my things while I waited for the talismans to dry.

* * *

“Pull over here, please.”

“Sure thing~.”

The taxi came to a stop.

I paid the fare and stepped out. The chilly air hit me instantly.

Shoulders instinctively hunching, I glanced around.

It was an ordinary, busy commercial street.

Bar signs flashed all over the place, and out of the entrance of a coin karaoke, a stream of teenagers came pouring out.

At the tables in front of a convenience store, tipsy middle-aged men sat in groups of three or four, puffing clouds of cigarette smoke.

A perfectly ordinary scene.

“This has to be the place…”

I looked up at the building right in front of me.

Myeongseok Building, 2nd floor.

Just an ordinary commercial building, in the most literal sense.

Through the second-floor window, I could make out the silhouettes of people hunched over billiard tables.

Clack, clack, the sound of billiard balls colliding seemed to carry all the way down here.

First, I checked my reflection in the glass door of the entrance.

Baseball cap pulled down low, mask on.

And I was dressed in comfortable athletic wear.

Suspicious-looking from any angle, but it couldn’t be helped.

For some reason, the thought of showing my bare face here gave me the creeps.

I took one deep breath and stepped inside.

As I climbed the stairs, a thought struck me.

‘Wait, how am I supposed to know which one’s the intermediary?’

Fuck. Stupid Ju Gi-baek.

I’d been so busy prepping talismans and steeling my nerves that I’d missed the most important thing. A password, a description, anything.

I should’ve asked ahead of time!

I quietly reached into my pocket for my phone to log onto the [Principles of Sorcery] site, then stopped.

‘If I ask now, I’ll just come across as a total amateur.’

Besides, if I just looked around inside the billiard hall, surely someone would approach me, right? If not, I could always send a private message then.

So up the stairs I went, to the second floor.

Clack!

A crisp, striking sound hit my ears. The sound of billiards being played.

The interior was pretty standard.

Half of the spacious floor was being used as a billiard hall, and through a glass wall I could see the other half was an empty space.

Cement bags lay around on the floor and electrical wires dangled loose, so it looked like construction was underway.

I pushed open the billiard hall door.

Cla-ngggg! Cla-ngggg!

At the same instant, a deafening metallic clanging rang out, like dozens of brass bowls being hurled to the floor all at once.

“Urgh.”

The noise was enough to make me scrunch up my face. I thought my eardrums were going to split.

‘What kind of obnoxious welcome bell did they hang up here?’

Meanwhile, the people inside the billiard hall were calmly laughing and chalking up their cue tips, totally unbothered.

‘Wait, am I the only one who can hear this?’

That’s when it happened.

Over in the corner, a man who had been practicing shots alone at a billiard table looked up in a jolt of alarm.

He practically flung his cue aside and came barreling over to me.

A plump, friendly-looking middle-aged guy.

Sweat-soaked undershirt with a loose vest thrown on top. The look of an uncle from next door.

He came to a stop in front of me, eyes wide, and asked,

“Principles of Sorcery?”

“…Yes.”

It wasn’t like I was here for some secondhand marketplace deal or anything.

Still, it was one less thing to worry about. To think he’d come right up to me.

The man hurriedly cupped the bell above the door with his hand.

Just like that, the clamorous clanging stopped dead.

His touch was strangely careful and reverent.

Don’t tell me, was that thing a spectral object too?

Sure enough, the man muttered, sweat streaming down his face.

“Goodness. If the Silver Bell reacts that violently, you must be quite the gifted one. What on earth brings someone like you to a Rank 7 job? Just for kicks?”

“…”

Hold on.

This is starting to feel a bit like one of those misunderstanding-based web novels.

I’m just a regular newbie, but my spiritual power is high? And that Silver Bell thing reacted?

While I hesitated, unable to figure out what to say, the man eyed me cautiously, opened the door, and gestured with his hand.

“Ah, well, I’m sure you have your reasons. Let’s step out right away. The site’s just across the way anyhow.”

* * *

The man introduced himself as Heo Do.

It didn’t really sound like his real name, though.

Probably a handle or an alias.

I didn’t press him on it. It seemed like that was just the rule in this line of work.

At any rate, this Heo Do fellow seemed to be the chatty type.

Very chatty.

“This place was originally meant to be a PC cafe, see. The owner was going to do a full interior renovation, but then the workers kept having these ridiculous accidents one after another.”

Heo Do unlocked the firmly shut glass door with a key, never pausing for breath.

“One guy breaks his leg because a perfectly sound ladder snaps underneath him. Another guy gets his skull cracked open when a brick just drops from the ceiling out of nowhere. A few days ago, one of the workers claimed he saw a ghost, foamed at the mouth, and passed out cold.”

“…”

“So they looked into it, and turns out there were a few lower-tier demons hiding out. Specific cause unknown. Could be that the site’s just got bad feng shui, could be someone let them loose on purpose.”

Heo Do flicked on a flashlight and shone it around inside.

In the darkness, I could see cement dust drifting in pale swirls.

“So the building owner got seriously pissed off, asked around all over, and eventually word made it to sorcerers like us. And the commission fee he’s offered is seriously generous. He even gave us his word that if a window gets cracked during the demon-hunt, he’ll let it slide.”

Heo Do flashed a grin and glanced back at me.

“So feel free to go wild. With your skill, I’m sure it’ll be over in no time, right?”

“…”

The pressure.

This uncle was absolutely convinced I was some kind of master.

I fidgeted with the talismans I’d brought in my pocket.

My very own first-ever talismans in life, painted with a Daiso brush.

Could I really pull this off with these?

“Then, if you’d be so kind.”

Heo Do bowed politely and began backing away little by little. Then, what do you know, he slipped a hand into his jacket.

What came back out was, likewise, a talisman.

Unlike the red ones I’d brought, his had a faintly bluish hue to the paper.

As I watched in silence, Heo Do hurriedly waved his hands and added,

“Ah, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to stab you in the back. I don’t have the skill to, anyway. I’m just going to set up a barrier. If some civilian wanders in and gets caught up in it, later on those bastards at the Supernatural Management Bureau make a goddamn scene.”

“…”

So much of what he said was beyond me that I still couldn’t muster a reply.

“Not much for talking, are you? Well, fair enough. That’s how the gifted ones usually are. Tight-lipped, letting their eyes do the talking. Though it is a first for me to see someone like that taking on a measly Rank 7 job. Haha.”

Unbothered by my non-reaction, Heo Do just chuckled it off and kept fiddling with his talisman.

After a brief moment with his eyes closed, he opened them again.

Flash.

A dense glow streamed out of his eyes.

I’m not kidding, for a second I thought he was Superman about to fire off some eye-beams.

Heo Do floated the talisman in midair and murmured in a low voice,

“Four-Sided Barrier, Ban Human Presence.”

Fwoosh!

From his fingertips, a hazy white light scattered every which way.

Like a transparent glass membrane taking form, a translucent curtain draped itself around the construction site.

The sounds of cars and pedestrians chattering outside were cut off in an instant.

So this is sorcery. I’ll be damned.

‘Sorcery really does exist!’

I just stood there like an idiot, mouth hanging open, watching the whole thing.

Lucky for me I was wearing a mask, so my stupid reaction was hidden.

But Heo Do seemed to read my reaction completely differently.

“Oh my. If you look at me like that, I can only feel embarrassed. My skills are lowly… I’m sure this looks like child’s play to you?”

“…”

I turned my head away.

I had no idea how to respond anymore. I was just staring in genuine shock.

This uncle seemed to think I was mocking him.

Guess I’ll just have to keep up the act.

For now, keep my mouth shut and focus on the job.

Very conveniently, as it happened…

Here and there across the empty space, demons were slowly rising up out of the ground.

Squelch, squelch.

The cement floor rippled like mud, and dark figures began poking their heads up one by one.

They resembled the shriveled-up things I’d seen at the convenience store, but these were much bigger.

About the size of grown men.

Their entire bodies were rotting away like spoiled meat.

Yellow pus oozed from their eye sockets, and their fingernails stretched out long and hooked like claws.

Four of them in total.

The moment they spotted me, they started cackling and drooling.

“Kyeeeek!”

“A human, a human!”

“Looks tasty, yum yum!”

Skin-crawling voices echoed in every direction.

“Tsk tsk. Four Rank 7 demons, huh? Someone must’ve had it in for the building owner. I’ll tell the Yeoro Tea House about this, get them to tack on another 2 million for the trouble.”

Heo Do clicked his tongue and muttered.

“Ah, but you probably don’t care about money, do you? No way someone like you would move for a measly few million won… Must really be for the thrill of it, huh?”

He was jumping to his own conclusions and running with them all on his own.

For now, none of it was registering with me.

The second I laid eyes on those demons, my mind went totally blank.

‘What do I do?’

First, I should get out a talisman, right?

And watching Heo Do mutter while holding up his talisman just now…

It seemed like he was chanting an incantation, if we’re using magic-speak. Would that be the activation phrase for a talisman?

In that case, I should just say something along those lines, right?

‘It’s a Karmic Fire Talisman, so… just tell it to burn, maybe?’

With trembling hands, I pulled a talisman from my pocket.

Flap, flap.

The scrap of paper fluttered in the breeze.

The demons began charging at me.

“Kraaaah!”

Their sharp claws were right in my face.

Screw it, here goes nothing.

I squeezed my eyes shut, thrust out the talisman, and shouted.

“Burn.”

WHOOOOOOSH!

Flames erupted from my fingertips.

Even I was so startled I stumbled backward.

A wall of fire like ten flamethrowers firing at once swept across the entire space.

“Kyeeeeek!”

“Kiyaaaaaaah!”

The demons’ screams rang out and then cut off in an instant.

They were reduced to ash before they could so much as resist.

The problem was what came next.

The flames didn’t stop at just burning the demons.

Crash! Shatter!

The exterior windows of the construction site couldn’t withstand the heat and exploded outward one after another. The ceiling tiles melted, and the cement floor was scorched black.

Whoosh.

After swallowing the demons whole, the flames faded away as quickly as they’d come, as if their job was done.

What remained was acrid smoke and a ruined construction site.

And countless ashen specks suspended in the air, embroidering the emptiness.

“…”

I stared blankly at my own hand. The talisman had already vanished without a trace.

‘Did I… really do that?’

With just one talisman, painted with a brush from Daiso?

“Uh, maybe… go a little easier…?”

Behind me, Heo Do muttered in a shrinking voice.

I jerked around to look at him.

Heo Do was glancing back and forth between the scorched walls and the shattered windows.

His face had gone pale.

‘I’m done for.’

Wait, am I going to have to pay damages for this?

Just the windows alone have to cost a few million won. Am I going to come here hoping to earn 5 million won and leave in debt?

Just in case, I looked at him and opened my mouth to offer some kind of excuse.

“Um…”

“Gah!”

Heo Do flinched and bowed his head.

“I said something I shouldn’t have. My apologies! This loose mouth of mine!”

Slap! Slap!

Out of nowhere, he started smacking his own cheeks hard enough to leave a sound.

“I failed to grasp your profound intentions! You purified the place in spectacular fashion! What are a few windows compared to that! The building owner will be thrilled! Yes, absolutely, of course he will!”

“…”

So I just gave up on responding.

This uncle.

His misunderstanding was way, way too deep.