Chapter 21
The contract with Taepyeong Guild proceeded extremely favorably for me.
According to Oh Hyeon-seok, who came to handle the contract in place of the guild master, the generous terms were meant as payment for maintaining a good relationship in the future.
A show of sincerity.
Even so, Taepyeong Guild had already insulted me badly once, and this contract was only happening again because we'd barely repaired things.
So the guild was giving up even more than usual.
The payment itself was huge.
There was naturally a clause stating that Taepyeong Guild would take full responsibility for obtaining whatever sculpting material I wanted.
On top of the money, they were also offering more than five different Gate materials.
One of them was the Tear of Imeden Oh Hyeon-seok had left behind just yesterday as compensation.
Except this time, the piece was large enough for an extra-large sculpture.
Almost as though yesterday's gift had only been a preview.
Even if it came from a Gate, finding a piece that big couldn't have been easy....
I decided to remember how much effort Oh Hyeon-seok had put into this.
There was even a clause promising that Taepyeong Guild would seriously consider one request from me in the future, whatever it might be.
...Well, having something like that couldn't hurt.
"Recently, Taepyeong Guild obtained a defensive equipment item from a Gate. The problem is that Taepyeong Guild didn't clear that Gate alone. At the scene, everyone agreed that our guild would take the defensive item, but...."
"Someone's trying to steal it?"
"Yes. That's our guess. No one except the other guild involved should even know Taepyeong Guild has a defensive Gate item."
"What about the Association? Don't guilds have to report every Gate clear?"
"If the Association learns about an item, they often pressure you to put it up for auction. So we kept it secret."
"Ah."
I could only nod at the unexpected inside information.
Oh Hyeon-seok continued.
"So Taepyeong Guild would like to commission an item that prevents theft. You may choose both the appearance and the material however you like. We'll trust your judgment."
I thought for a moment before asking another question.
"About stopping the thief. What exact effect do you want? A guild building can't completely prevent outsiders from entering. Do you want something that identifies thieves among visitors? Or something that blocks people from approaching a particular object?"
Oh Hyeon-seok considered that for a while.
"Would identifying thieves among visitors be too difficult? Ideally, I'd like something that stops them from entering the guild building in the first place."
Now it was my turn to think.
Honestly, I couldn't say I fully understood Pygmalion yet.
Which meant I couldn't definitively say what was possible and what wasn't.
I'd learned how to influence the general direction of the stats and skills attached to an item.
But could I make a perfectly customized ability appear exactly as I wanted?
...That was another question.
The most obvious possibility that came to mind was the story I'd seen when creating <Yeonwoo's Comfort Frog Keychain>.
I'd used Pygmalion while thinking about Yeonwoo's story, and the System had said a Small Story had seeped into the item, creating a unique ability.
I'd already tried to guess what exactly a story meant.
Artworks were connected to stories far more often than people realized.
Some were based on real events, like statues of dogs waiting for their owners.
Poems and songs could draw from local folklore.
Murals and sculptures often depicted myths or stories from the Bible.
If that was the case, then the System's definition of a story might also mean the narrative that formed the background of an artwork.
Doesn't that seem possible?
I'd still have to investigate which kinds of stories worked.
Yeonwoo's had been called a Small Story, so wouldn't that mean larger stories existed too?
I'd also have to figure out what determined the size of a story.
Still, it was absolutely worth trying.
Suddenly, I really want to make something.
I looked up at Oh Hyeon-seok, who was waiting patiently for me to finish thinking.
After deciding how honest I could be, I spoke.
"It might be possible. But I'd need to test it. The finished item could also have a similar but different effect. For example, instead of identifying thieves among visitors, it might simply prevent unauthorized people from entering."
"...Honestly, I only asked because I thought there might be a chance. I'm surprised you think it's actually possible."
More precisely, if the first idea failed, I planned to try the second.
The first would require something like mind reading.
The second was already something modern science could accomplish.
Fortunately, Oh Hyeon-seok nodded and said either version would be fine as long as the effect was reliable.
"What material are you thinking of using?"
After a brief pause, I answered.
"For now, pine. And if possible, I'd like one solid piece."
Pine could range in color from yellow to reddish brown.
Its grain ran straight, and because it was relatively soft, it was easy to work.
That made it good for furniture and woodworking.
It also contained a lot of resin, giving it resistance to moisture and natural preservative properties.
Of course, if it wasn't dried properly, it could warp.
Since pine grew quickly and was widely distributed, it was also cheaper than most premium woods.
The reason I requested ordinary pine from Taepyeong Guild, despite their willingness to casually hand over Gate minerals, was entirely because of the story.
I wanted to test whether myths or folktales could function as the story of an artwork.
And during my conversation with Oh Hyeon-seok, one particular folktale had come to mind.
Eom Seok-hwan, who happened to visit again to talk about the Association, watched the whole pine trunk being brought into my house and asked,
"What are you making this time? Why'd you bring in the whole tree?"
His eyes were full of interest, probably because it had been a while since he'd watched me work.
I filled my phone screen with a picture I found online and answered,
"A jangseung."
[Great General Under Heaven]
[Great General Under Earth]
A jangseung was a carved guardian post placed at village entrances.
It served as both a signpost and a village guardian deity.
"Jangseung are usually made from a big tree or boulder already near the village. They're supposed to protect the village."
"Oh... Then are all of these jangseung too?"
Eom Seok-hwan swiped through the photos on my phone.
I glanced over and saw the familiar human-faced type inscribed with Great General Under Heaven and Great General Under Earth.
Behind that came demon-faced beast forms, and then Maitreya-style jangseung.
If he kept scrolling, he'd probably reach stone jangseung too.
"Yeah, they're all jangseung. This one's the demon-beast type. It uses the face of a yaksha or monster, so it's especially meant to drive away evil spirits. This one's the Maitreya type. See how kind the face looks? That's Buddhist influence."
"Ah."
"The writing changes for the same reason. Instead of Great General Under Heaven and Great General Under Earth, some use the names of Buddhist gods or Taoist deities."
I'd gone out of my way to explain everything carefully, but Eom Seok-hwan clearly wasn't listening anymore.
Sure enough, after a brief pause, he glanced at me and asked,
"Those guys moving the tree all look like Taepyeong Guild members, so I know it's a commission. But I'm dying of curiosity. Why are you making it?"
"You already know it's a commission."
"Aww."
"What is that whining? Stop it. ...Fine, roughly speaking, they need an item to protect their building."
Taepyeong Guild had apparently decided that, given the size of the pine trunk, there was no way to hide the commission itself from Yeonwoo Guild.
So they'd only asked me to keep the existence of the defensive Gate item secret.
Since it had never been reported to the Association, they said it wouldn't become a problem unless someone deliberately leaked it.
Thankfully, Eom Seok-hwan only nodded this time instead of doing any more disgusting whining.
My plan was to place a jangseung in front of Taepyeong Guild to prevent theft.
Out of all the many guardian myths I could have chosen, I picked a jangseung because of a famous Korean folktale called The Magistrate's Trial of the Jangseung.
It was also known as The Jangseung Trial or The Stone Marker Trial.
It wasn't a myth but a folktale passed down orally for generations.
Wouldn't something like that qualify as a story that could be placed into an item?
I've also wanted to try Eastern-style sculpture.
Most of my sculpting had been influenced by Western art.
But that didn't mean I had no interest in Eastern sculpture.
Now that I had the chance, I wanted to do it properly.
"Hey, can I ask one more thing?"
"What?"
"I just looked up jangseung. This function? Effect? Whatever you'd call this belief. Can you actually turn that into an item ability?"
I shook my head.
"No. What I'm trying to recreate is this."
"Huh?"
I searched for the Magistrate's Trial of the Jangseung and showed him.
"A long time ago, a silk merchant fell asleep leaning against a jangseung. When he woke up, his silk was gone. Thinking someone had stolen it, he went to the magistrate and begged for help. So the magistrate announced that he'd drag in the jangseung the merchant had slept against and have it beaten."
"Why?"
"Keep listening. ...The villagers all gathered to watch the ridiculous sight of a jangseung being flogged. After beating it for a while, the magistrate suddenly shouted that the crowd was being disrespectful and ordered every spectator to hand over one bolt of silk or be punished."
"Was he insane?"
His reaction was so serious that I briefly lost my train of thought.
"...Anyway, the villagers had no choice but to bring one bolt each. Among them, the silk merchant recognized the stolen silk and they caught the actual thief."
It was a fairly famous oral folktale.
Versions of it had also been recorded in different books during the reigns of King Seonjo, King Yeongjo, and again in the mid-nineteenth century.
"What I want is this part. The ability to catch a thief."
Maybe I was explaining too much.
Still, major guild buildings already had powerful security systems and all of them took precautions against theft.
There was little chance the existence of the item itself would become obvious.
And Eom Seok-hwan wasn't the kind of friend who'd make trouble for me.
"Can you really say the jangseung caught the thief in that story?"
"We'll find out."
Eom Seok-hwan looked surprised by my answer, then seemed to understand on his own.
"Right. You're still in the stage where you're testing your skill."
"Exactly. Anyway, why'd you come here?"
"Ah, right."
Once again, Eom Seok-hwan had come to warn me about the Association.
Before, he'd said they merely seemed to be preparing to approach me.
This time, actual movement had been detected.
He told me to prepare myself because it would happen soon.
He had no idea how they'd contact me, though.
After sending him away, I stared at the pine lying in the yard.
It looked almost painted, with the trunk bending once around the middle.
I'd specifically requested naturally grown pine rather than one cultivated into a neat shape.
The Magistrate's Trial of the Jangseung was still only an oral folktale.
There was a strong chance the actual historical details were different.
But what if an oral folktale could function as a story and allow the jangseung to perform its role as a guardian deity?
To increase the chances, I decided to engrave the widely known name Great General Under Heaven rather than the name of some Buddhist or Taoist deity.
