We Do Business In Full Auto [EN]: Chapter 22

022

Finding the Cliffside Orchid (2)

The journey from Seoul to Busan, and then from Busan to Udo, took a full six hours.

I briefly considered taking the KTX [Korea Train eXpress, a high-speed rail system], but I had too much luggage. Besides, public transportation wasn’t an option with the porters and laborers.

Woooong!

A ship sliced through the cold sea breeze, feeling almost like a squall.

As Udo came into view, Sujeong and I went out on deck.

“Wow!”

Sujeong stretched out her arms, welcoming the immense dark mana emanating from the island.

I hadn’t been learning dark magic for very long, but this was the first time I’d encountered a place with such abundant dark mana.

Even before I learned dark magic, I would have hesitated to go there, sensing an unsettling atmosphere.

Black clouds of mist hung in the air, enough to deter ordinary people, who would simply assume it was a foggy and desolate place.

The entire island was teeming with restless spirits.

Japanese soldiers, sunk here after the liberation [referring to the end of Japanese colonial rule in Korea], were trapped, unable to cross over to the mainland. They became vengeful spirits, unable to find their way home, or were left behind for various reasons, wandering in the afterlife, confined to the island of Udo.

“It’s swarming,” I said.

“You can see them too, Dad?”

“Of course. Do you think I’m not a high-level dark magician?”

“Hehe. That’s true.”

We docked on one side of Udo.

It was deserted now, but people used to live here during the Joseon Dynasty [Korean kingdom lasting from 1392 to 1897]. The remnants of a harbor remained.

I paid the bearded captain a hefty sum of 300,000 won [approximately $250 USD]. It was a lot of money for a one-time trip, and the captain grumbled.

“Aish, I don’t want to be in a place like this for even a second. I only came because you, young man, hired laborers and said you were exploring historical sites with your daughter, but the locals won’t even look at this place.”

“Why is that?”

“They say there are evil spirits wandering in the afterlife here. It’s famous among shamans. Anyway, be careful. I don’t want you and your daughter to die a sudden death.”

“We will be careful.”

“Then I’ll come back to pick you up at this time tomorrow.”

“Yes, Captain. Thank you for your trouble.”

“Ugh. Just passing by here gives me goosebumps.”

Even ordinary people felt it that strongly.

That meant the dark energy gathered here was no joke.

As soon as the captain was gone, we cheerfully summoned the skeletons.

They were all wearing their equipment, just as they had been when cleaning the building.

Sujeong also brought two of them.

A grand army of sixteen in total.

With this many, we were sure to find it. We just had to search the cliffs.

The undead wore rock climbing gear. Not professional-level, but enough to hang on ropes and search the cliffs.

If they fell and broke, we could just make them again.

“This place seems suitable.”

“Hehe. I thought so too. In front of a rock where dark energy gathers and the wind is blocked. It’s a good place to train.”

“Great. Let’s start training right away. And don’t forget to control those guys.”

“Okay!”

The search for the Cliffside Orchid finally began.

Swish, swish.

As the sun set, the island, already filled with an eerie atmosphere, was filled with the cries of all sorts of evil spirits.

-I’m wronged… I’m wronged…

-Human! A human who recognizes us!

-Let’s torment that guy and the kid!

Kwaaaang!

The evil spirits approached in the forms of various monsters.

When these guys approached during training, I immediately formed hand seals and sucked them in.

“Soul Collection!”

Swoosh!

-Aaaaargh!

-You vicious bastards!

The evil spirits thrashed and struggled, trying to avoid being sucked into my hand. But when evil spirits gathered around, they were drawn in like magnets. Once they gathered at my fingertips, they were sucked in like a vacuum cleaner and crammed into the circles of my heart.

Momentarily, the circles of my heart swelled up.

“Oh!”

A great sense of elation washed over me.

Although I had to listen to them jabbering in Japanese, they became quiet and under my control as soon as they entered my heart.

I needed as many souls as possible because I would soon have to deploy the Spirit Field.

I was grateful that they came to me on their own.

Sujeong looked at the scene and jumped for joy.

“Wow! Dad is the best!”

“Hehe. This is the greatness of your father.”

“Yeah! Yeah!”

Sujeong even jumped up and down.

Was she that happy that my level was increasing?

I felt a sense of elation that my dark magic level was rapidly increasing since coming here, but the problem was the Cliffside Orchid.

No matter how much dark mana I absorbed, I couldn’t reach the next stage at the peak moment. That meant I definitely needed the Mana Spirit Pill…

“Hoo. But are those guys doing their job properly?”

Time was passing, and it was now dawn.

The temperature had long since dropped below freezing, and the wind chill made it feel even colder.

The skeletons were diligently searching the cliffs, but they had not yet found the Cliffside Orchid.

Sujeong took my hand.

“Dad, don’t worry. We’ll definitely find it.”

“Okay.”

I was a bit impatient.

There was still time.

The ship would arrive tomorrow afternoon, so we just had to find the Cliffside Orchid by then.

The next day, in the morning.

We had a simple breakfast of ramen.

Time continued to pass as I instructed the undead to find the Cliffside Orchid and continued to train.

I was even more anxious than yesterday.

The island was almost completely searched.

Just in case, half of them were searching the cliffs, and the other half were searching the interior of the island, but the Cliffside Orchid was nowhere to be found.

At this point, I began to doubt.

“Could it be that it doesn’t exist on Korean soil?”

“Uing… Grandpa definitely said that there should be at least one root on Korean soil.”

Sujeong also seemed half-resigned.

She was always a positive child, but seeing that it hadn’t been found even after searching the island thoroughly, she seemed to think it might not exist.

I needed to change my approach.

“Let’s also look at the tops of the trees. We can’t only call cliffs ‘cliffs,’ can we?”

“Yeah! I think Dad is right!”

In the end, I took more of the guys searching the cliffs and assigned them to the trees.

We ate lunch there.

My anxiety was now at its peak.

If I couldn’t find the Cliffside Orchid here, it wouldn’t just end with not reaching the next level, but I would also break my promise with the H Group.

If that happened, the work would definitely be cut off.

Anyone with a little social experience could easily predict that.

I could manage to make a living, but the path to rapid growth would be blocked. It was not a pleasant scenario.

And around 2 PM.

With only two hours left until the ship arrived, Sujeong came running with quick steps. She even fell once, but quickly got up and threw herself into my arms.

“Dad! I found it!”

“Huh! Really!?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Dad was right! It was really blooming at the top of a tree! Two of them!”

“Oooooh!”

I picked up Sujeong and ran.

My heart was overflowing.

I don’t know how worried I was until just now.

It was a pine tree not far from the center of the island. It stood straight and tall, appearing to be dozens of meters high, so it seemed to be at least several hundred years old. Or maybe even older?

An undead was crawling up the tall tree.

It wasn’t an undead that I had summoned, but Sujeong’s undead. Since Sujeong had fewer undead, she calculated and searched the most likely candidates for the Cliffside Orchid, and it seemed that her calculations were effective.

The undead carefully put the Cliffside Orchid in a bag and came down.

Kugugugu!

It not only had a black color of its own, but it was also emitting tremendous evil energy around it.

I even wondered if the dark mana flowing out of the island originated from this Cliffside Orchid.

“It really looks like a demon.”

I was speechless.

How could a flower resemble the face of a demon?

It was definitely a poisonous plant to look at. It was filled with such vicious energy that something bad would happen immediately if an ordinary person ingested it.

The essence of vengeful spirits.

The negative energy emitted by vengeful spirits over a long period of time must have gathered to complete this flower.

“Let’s make two and keep one. When Sujeong reaches the 2nd Circle, she can use it right away.”

“Yeah! Yeah!”

Sujeong also seemed quite excited.

I immediately started making it.

The method of making it wasn’t that difficult. I bought commonly available herbs from the herb shop and brought them. I crushed them all and clumped them together, and that was it.

As I made the Mana Spirit Pill, the evil energy and dark energy amplified even more.

The black energy swirling around gave off the perfect aura of poison.

I sat down and immediately swallowed the Mana Spirit Pill.

Kururururung!

“Ugh!”

“Dad, are you okay!?”

A tremendous amount of dark energy rushed inside and rampaged. It was like a living creature.

The energy that was alive and rampaging roamed every corner of my body.

Soon, frost began to form on my body.

My hair froze, and pieces of frost fell on my skin.

I closed my eyes and tried to control the immense dark energy.

Dark magic was a type of mana, and it was controlled by human consciousness. Since it was already inside my body, there was no reason why I couldn’t control it.

My pure dark magic, emitted from my heart, opposed it.

Kwaang!

“Cough!”

“Dad!”

Sujeong stomped her feet.

She must have been surprised because I suddenly vomited blood.

This is really dangerous.

Dark magic was not a technology of this world, and it was not known what side effects it had.

The old man’s commentary stated that it was a path to longevity without any harm to the body, but I even thought that I might be going to the afterlife right away.

‘I can endure it.’

While resisting the dark energy brought in from the outside, I suddenly thought of the collected souls.

I injected the souls into the pure dark magic.

After all, both energies did not act on the material world. Of course, the souls could also exert power.

Then the external energy began to be suppressed.

Finally, the energy was pulled into the heart, and soon the circles of the heart swelled up as if they would burst and then split.

Three circles that were clearly felt.

Momentarily, blood light flickered around and was all absorbed into the body.

I slowly opened my eyes.

I felt like I was born again.

“Sujeong! Dad has completed the 3rd Circle!”