I Regressed and Became Too Good at Brewing - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 10. Two New Encounters (3)
“What do you think?”
I’d asked the question, but my words hung unanswered in the empty air.
All that echoed through the silence was the sound of someone’s throat working, a series of gasps, and exclamations.
“This is… what on earth….”

Song-ha and Mok-tong were exchanging banter beside him as if it were the most entertaining thing they’d seen.
Yes, why drag this out any further?
When Se-jun had contacted Ju-ho about a new version of Meari, he’d made a beeline straight for Yeongwol.
He’d arrived in under an hour and a half — that was how fast he’d driven.
He’d executed a rough parking maneuver like a racing car drifting, practically torn open the car door, and shouted as he got out.
‘Meari! Where is the new Meari!’
“That was quite the entrance.”
“I was totally overwhelmed. Honestly, it was frightening.”
“You?”
So Representative Yoon hadn’t given a thought to the drive back — he’d simply drunk the Meari.
“Hhhaaah…….”
Now he stood staring at the empty glass with a hollow expression on his face.
I was grateful that Representative Yoon, the chief drinker himself, had enjoyed it so thoroughly, but I couldn’t just leave him in that state.
“Representative?”
“How could this possibly….”
“Representative Yoon Ju-ho!”
“Mm? Ah! My apologies. Haha. The taste of this liquor is simply extraordinary. Hahaha.”
He laughed sheepishly, but kept stealing glances at the empty glass, so I had to pour him another before the conversation could continue.
“What about the drive back?”
“I’ll just ask one of my staff to handle it, won’t I? Give them one bottle of this and they’ll practically jump for joy. But speaking of which — what exactly is this?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you think I mean? This, right here.”
He gestured rapidly with the bottle of Meari he was holding, words tumbling out fast.
“It clearly retains the essential nature of Nokpaju — it’s clear and refreshing. But then it adds a savory depth that creates a rich fullness, while simultaneously coating the mouth with a subtle sweetness, and then finishes clean — keeping every characteristic of Meari perfectly intact, don’t you see?”
“You seem quite pleased. I’m relieved.”
“Pleased isn’t even the word — was this something you were already preparing? Is this the completed version of Meari? How many years of research did it take to develop a flavor like this….”
I listened as Ju-ho poured out his words in a rush.
It had taken either a long time or a short time, depending on how you looked at it.
Ten years from my past life to now — but even that fell far short of the time master craftsmen who’d truly dedicated themselves to this art had invested.
From Ju-ho’s perspective, I was still just a raw apprentice who’d barely started brewing, so of course it would look that way to him.
As I was preparing a modest reply, Se-jun beat me to it.
“This wasn’t originally the plan.”
“Sorry? What do you mean?”
“Well, he was brewing Meari as usual, and then suddenly he started saying some incomprehensible things and just whipped this up out of nowhere.”
“Wait — that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Honestly, I still can’t believe it myself. Either the spirit of liquor itself has taken possession of him or something.”
He shook his head repeatedly, eventually treating me like someone possessed by a ghost.
But Ju-ho, hearing Se-jun’s words, seemed to have lost all air from his lungs and could only breathe in sharply.
“Huh. Really… that might be it….”
No, that’s not it at all.
* * *
‘Is he actually saying the god of liquor has descended upon him?’
Ju-ho couldn’t make sense of this situation at all.
The young brewer before him, Yeon-u, had been brewing for less than a year — he was a complete novice.
And yet he’d created Meari, a liquor whose name circulated among traditional alcohol enthusiasts.
Moreover, it had been his first attempt.
But now what about the next liquor he’d produced?
‘But this… this shouldn’t be possible.’
Liquor was like a delicate work of art in itself.
Countless trials and errors were necessary — that was why — until each element harmonized to create the finest taste and aroma.
But this young brewer seemed to have no need for such things, racing straight toward the answer as if guided by instinct.
And toward a perfect answer at that.
‘Without divine blessing, this simply cannot be explained….’
But whether he believed or not hardly mattered.
After all, Yeon-u had reborn Meari as something far more beautiful.
‘We must walk together for life. No question about it.’
The first success might be called fortune, but the second? That’s skill.
There’s no way luck like this falls twice in a row.
‘And he’s not just a craftsman who brews. He has experience too.’
As though living a second life, Yeon-u possessed a seasoned wisdom to match his hands.
Hadn’t he himself benefited from the man’s counsel?
‘I never thought that bastard was doing something like that.’
The moment Ju-ho acted on Yeon-u’s advice, the audit turned up an employee who’d been cutting corners.
They’d even caught evidence of him selling Jujudaily’s business plans to outsiders for cash.
Likely every misfortune they’d faced so far had come from that single worker.
The moment they fired him, all the troubles that had been plaguing Ju-ho simply evaporated.
‘Perhaps I’ve met a benefactor… No, he’s already proven himself one.’
And Ju-ho was exactly the kind of man who knew how to treat such a blessing properly.
“Would it be possible to increase the order volume?”
“More than now? We’re already moving 150 bottles a day as it is.”
“Yes. Until now, that’s been the case. But it’s no longer sufficient.”
Ju-ho held up three fingers.
“Three hundred bottles. That’s what we need.”
This was reasonable arithmetic.
Right now, Songhada was keeping up with their volume, so distribution was smooth—but any shortfall would mean empty shelves. And that’s assuming we’re selling the old Meari.
This improved version? The demand would be even fiercer.
“To be honest, even three hundred is what I’m asking for given Songhada’s production capacity.”
“Hmm…….”
“If it doesn’t suit you, we can revise the contract and raise the price…….”
“No, that’s not it. I appreciate the offer, but…….”
Yeon-u’s furrowed brow and hesitant silence made Ju-ho rush to offer contract amendments, but that clearly wasn’t the real issue.
After a moment’s thought, Yeon-u managed an awkward smile.
“I’m afraid it’s not possible right now.”
“What? Is there something wrong with the proposal……?”
“No, nothing like that. We simply can’t produce that much.”
“Ah…….”
Ju-ho had no choice but to let his disappointment show plain on his face.
* * *
“Phew. That’s a problem.”
“What’s the problem?”
“We had an opportunity and we couldn’t take it. Even Director Yun just left looking deflated.”
I sighed heavily in answer to Se-jun’s question.
Ju-ho, understanding our position, had trudged back to Jujudaily Headquarters with an escort.
Whether “trudged” was the right word for a departure made under company escort, I wasn’t sure—but his walk to the parking lot certainly qualified.
“He walked like someone who’d just been rejected.”
“And we just expanded the equipment too.”
That recent expansion had been an aggressive investment on our part.
We’d spent enough that recovering the principal would be difficult otherwise.
Fortunately, things had gone according to plan, and we were now clearing an average of twenty million won in daily revenue—but we couldn’t expect any more than that.
The simple fact was we lacked the hands to brew.
“Even with you and me working flat out, this is the ceiling.”
Currently, Se-jun and I working all day could produce an average of 200 bottles of Meari daily.
And that was only possible assuming we worked the entire day without break.
That assumed Se-jun maintained his insane work rate, and that every single batch I brewed came out successful.
“Add anything else, and production doesn’t just halve—it quarters.”
“Exactly. Remember when we were doing the label design?”
“That’s not even the half of it. There’s all the time spent hunting down good ingredients.”
It went without saying that good liquor requires good materials.
Until now we’d been fortunate—grandfather had connections with a supplier of quality rice.
But if we started brewing different spirits?
If we needed different ingredients?
“Plus we need to keep researching.”
“That too. Ugh. This kind of mental work really isn’t my forte…….”
Se-jun pressed his large hand against his forehead, rubbing it as if his head ached.
To save the Goblin, he needed to visit breweries across the country, regardless of what type of liquor they produced.
On top of that, he had to carve out time to run the business itself.
The situation made it clear: they desperately needed additional staff.
“At least we’re lucky we managed to post a job listing.”
But now, he thought, they might actually be able to solve this problem.
“Se-jun, what time did you say the interview candidate was coming?”
“Three o’clock. They called to say they’re on their way by taxi.”
“One person doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough. Finding people out here isn’t easy……. We do get applicants, but… this is just…….”
Songhada was located in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province.
Moreover, because the brewery required pure water, it had no choice but to sit deep in the mountains.
As a result, recruiting new staff came with substantial difficulties.
“Still, we got more applicants than expected.”
“The applicants, see, here’s the thing—”
“Right. The applicants.”
The number of applications had actually been more than they’d anticipated.
The problem was simply that most of them weren’t normal people.
“Some even asked how much alcohol they could drink on the job, or whether they’d get free liquor as an employee discount.”
It was eye-opening how many people in the world lacked even basic common sense.
Se-jun’s complaints were actually nothing compared to what came next.
Just yesterday, an applicant showed up claiming to be a traditional liquor expert and demanded the position of manager.
When asked what Soju he preferred, he answered that Meari was the best.
He didn’t even know the difference between Yakju and Soju—he just wanted the fame.
“The person coming today should be alright, shouldn’t they?”
As Se-jun trailed off, stroking his chin, he recalled the application that had come in.
Ideally he’d have liked to hire someone as sturdy and dependable as Se-jun, but that wasn’t possible at the moment.
For now, the plan was for the two of them to continue handling the brewing themselves, while bringing on someone to manage other tasks.
Today’s interview candidate was that person.
“What exactly does packaging design do, anyway?”
“Product design—things like Label Design. Oh, they’ve arrived.”
Before the sentence was finished, a taxi pulled smoothly up to the curb.
Out stepped a woman with short hair and a petite frame.
She bowed ninety degrees to the taxi driver, then turned and gave the same greeting to them.
“Hello! I couldn’t stand the label design, so I applied! My name is Yu Ha-jeong!”
“Come inside where it’s warm.”
“Oh! Yes! Thank you so much!”
Ha-jeong answered with enthusiasm.
When she bowed again at a ninety-degree angle, her blunt-cut hair swayed downward, and he found himself scratching his head in bewilderment.
He couldn’t tell if this was good manners or bad.
“She seems… odd.”
“Well… she’s still an applicant.”
“No, I’m sure of it. She’s definitely odd.”
Contrary to Se-jun’s assessment, she proved to be quite proactive.
“Oh! You said to come in, but which way should I go?”
“Ah. Yes. This way.”
He stood dazed for a moment, then snapped to and guided Ha-jeong toward the office.
When he pushed open the creaking door, the office was a disaster.
Not chaotic like a bomb had hit it, exactly.
Just stacks of documents piled up like towers everywhere.
“You are Yu Ha-jeong, right? Should we start with a brief introduction?”
“Yes! I’m Yu Ha-jeong! I’m twenty-three years old…….”
And so the interview began.
Now that she seemed a bit nervous, her eyes widened slightly as Se-jun asked the first question.
“You applied for product design—Label Design specifically. Is there a particular reason?”
“Oh! Like I said just now, I couldn’t stand the label design of Meari, so I applied!”
She’s… normal, right?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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