I Regressed and Became Too Good at Brewing - Chapter 35

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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 35. Two Guests, Two Pieces of News (1)
“Distinctive. Just as the rich acidity begins to cloy, there’s this clean earthiness and pepper that rinse the palate beautifully.”
No matter how exquisite a flavor, relentless intensity wears thin quickly.
As though Ye Eun understood this, the Hong Ya transformed its profile naturally.
Rising between the refined acidity came the scent of Onggi clay after rain.
And finally, the spice burst forth like fireworks punctuating a ball’s grand finale—fleeting, bright, impossible to ignore.
“The finish lingers beautifully too… and without any sticky sweetness…”
“The finish is immaculate!”
A truly excellent bottle had emerged.
One that showcased the Onggi’s strengths while surrendering nothing of its own essential character.
“Now I need to blend this with the batches from the other Onggi vessels.”
An unavoidable step toward commercialization.
Even with identical fermentation protocols, each Onggi vessel produced spirit at its own pace—maturation and fermentation diverged from jar to jar.
Only by blending them could I achieve the consistency needed to call Hong Ya a finished product.
<Tsk tsk. No need for all that. I tasted through all the varieties thoroughly, I did!>
<Mok Tong… that’s hardly something to boast about…>
Fortunate, one might say.
Because Mok Tong had taken such a shine to the Onggi that Gyeong Sik had crafted, Hong Ya had matured evenly across the board—all of it good.
The process of arranging the vessels in a row, tasting each one by one, then calculating the perfect ratio.
Ordinarily, this consumed an enormous amount of time.
There was a limit to how much spirit a person could drink, and finding the optimal proportion within that constraint was impossible.
In most cases, anyway.
“Start with this one and this one.”
It was plain to see.
The fragrances trapped in each vessel calling out to one another.
The aggressive ones had the most intense aromatics—I’d use those sparingly. The subtle, harmonious ones would form my base.
That alone sufficed.
“It’s finished.”
“Just like that? You’re stopping?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“No… not exactly…”
But Se Joon and the others, ignorant of the Ability that Song Ha had granted me, seemed uneasy.
I understood.
Had this been merely decent spirit, I’d accept their doubt. But this Hong Ya showed a performance at least on par with the Dal Board.
Finding the blend on the first try, without a single misstep, strained belief.
Once bottled, there was no going back.
“Want to taste it?”
“Never refuse a drink I’m offered.”
Everyone at Song Ha Dang loved spirits.
Not the intoxication or the festive atmosphere—they savored the taste and aroma themselves.
Such people would never refuse a drink from my hand.
“Wow…”
“This is absolutely incredible…”
“It’s so much better than before blending? How is this even possible?”
“It’s the boss’s… Ability…”
The spirit’s depth had become richer, its smoothness more pronounced than before.
Even someone who rarely drank could taste the excellence intuitively.
“How can you do this? Did you receive a blessing directly from the spirit god himself?”
“Spirit god?”
<Tell him it was a Dokkaebi, not a god. Your human friend seems curious anyway.>
<And what good would that do? He wouldn’t understand it anyway. Tsk tsk!>
Behind Se Joon’s wide eyes and skeptical stare, the two Dokkaebi laughed and traded jabs—all while draining cup after cup of spirit.
If Se Joon ever learned that the very being I’d called a god was back there cackling and guzzling away, how would he take it?
“Anyway! Let’s bottle this right now. Ha Jeong, the design is all finished, yes?”
“You forgot—I told you already! I’ve already printed all the labels! Ye Eun helped me with it!”
“I… worked hard…”
Ye Eun peeked shyly from behind Ha Jeong’s shoulder and flashed a peace sign.
Meanwhile, Ha Jeong produced the bottles and packaging she’d prepared in advance.
Unlike before, when I’d concerned myself only with the bottles themselves, this time I’d decided to attend to the packaging as well.
I would have liked to obsess over the packaging materials too, but the distillery’s scale was still too small for that investment.
Still, the label itself was so beautifully executed that no one could find fault with it.
“It’s truly remarkable…….”
On the label affixed to the bottle was an ornate pavilion rising majestically.
The background was, naturally, nighttime.
A luminous full moon shone brilliantly, casting light downward alongside glittering stars.
On the arranged table were the nose and palette notes of Hong Ya — various red fruits and spices perceived from its bouquet.
And among it all, a woman leaning against the pavilion’s railing.
Draped in a crimson skirt, she presented only her back in an alluring pose.
But that was enough.
A painting so captivating just to behold.
Exactly as I had suggested.
No — even more splendid than what I’d envisioned.
“Will you take a look at the packaging as well?”
In contrast to the ornate bottle label, the packaging pursued simplicity.
At the center of the package, where “Hong Ya” was inscribed in Chinese characters, a red moon was depicted.
An image befitting the name Hong Ya.
“It’s wonderful. Always grateful for your beautiful work, Ha Jeong.”
“I put my heart into it!”
And thank you too, Ye Eun. I’m looking forward to the video content.”
“Ha ha.”
Though each person’s response differed, everyone shared the same anticipation for Song Ha Dang’s new liquor.
And so they all gathered together to continue the bottling of Hong Ya.
Liquor aged in Onggi couldn’t be handled by mechanical equipment — it was work that had to be done by hand, bottle by bottle.
The long, arduous labor that had begun at dawn finally ended as the sun sank low on the horizon.
“Phew! We’re done!”
After decanting the Hong Ya into the final bottle, Se Joon collapsed backward like a conquered spoil of war.
Behind him lay the Hong Ya bottles, lined up like the fruits of a successful raid.
“You’re going to contact President Yun right away, aren’t you?”
“Of course. He’s probably been waiting anyway.”
“When you weren’t here once, I took a call from him, and it definitely felt like that.”
At first, Yun Joo Ho had said, “Good liquor takes time to make,” and assured us he would wait as long as needed.
But once Song Ha Dang successfully launched Echo: Autumn in succession, and then Dal Board right after, it seemed he’d abandoned any such patience.
Even now, if I checked my messages, President Yun’s texts were overflowing with barely concealed eagerness.
[President Yun Joo Ho (Juju Daily): Is the new liquor ready yet?]
[President Yun Joo Ho (Juju Daily): I’m not rushing you. Just curious,,,hehe]
[President Yun Joo Ho (Juju Daily): Just thought I’d check, but you really should let me know the moment the new liquor comes out!]
[President Yun Joo Ho (Juju Daily): It’s not that I don’t trust you — I’m just being cautious! You might forget in the bustle, you know!]
“Is he that eager?”
“How could he not be? Once word gets out that Song Ha Dang has released something through Juju Daily, it sells out immediately.”
Ha Jeong was right.
In my past life, Juju Daily had been on a gradual decline because we failed to catch the industrial spy who was leaking information externally.
But now that the problem had been solved, the company was growing smoothly.
“It seems they’re maintaining an unrivaled first place in liquor retail right now.”
“Really?”
“That’s correct.”
According to Ha Jeong, after the massive success of the tasting service, Juju Daily had begun to soar.
Well, it was inevitable.
The work was different from ours, but they were all people who took liquor seriously.
I still remember the MDs who had helped with the Echo: Autumn pop-up store at Seongyeong Department Store.
The happy expressions on their faces when I handed each of them a bottle of Echo: Autumn.
“So I’m definitely buying the stock once it’s available.”
“What? Stock? Ah. Juju Daily’s stock?”
“What are you talking about? Of course I meant Song Ha Dang stock.”
“That’s true. The way things are going now, how successful will it be later? Right?”
A happy future.
A future where Song Ha Dang grows far beyond its current size and goes public.
And people are eager to grab even one more share of Song Ha Dang stock on the trading platform.
The other staff members seemed to share similar thoughts, as soft laughter bloomed among them.
<Oh. This looks like something good. My human friends’ expressions are quite bright.>
<Tteeing. Isn’t that just gambling? Looking at it, you can’t tell if you’ll win or lose, and yet you’re throwing your whole head into it — that’s exactly what it is. You shouldn’t be swayed by such things. A real man, you see? He has to keep his center of gravity firmly in place.>

“First, I should make a call.”
I gave Se Joon a small nod before dialing Yun Joo Ho’s number.
The dial tone picked up almost immediately.
The first ring was about to sound, then the second—
— Song! I’ve been waiting!
“Hello. You picked up quickly?”
— I just said so! I was waiting! Is it a new liquor? Or a limited variant of the Dal Board? Or another version of the Echo: Autumn? That’d be great too! Do you have anything?
Joo Ho, who’d been waiting heaven knows how long, began pouring out his words the moment he answered.
I offered him news that would satisfy that anticipation.
“It’s a new liquor. We’ve decided to call it Hong Ya.”
— Hong Ya… Hong Ya, you say……. Heh heh. I see. Hold on just a moment.
“I’m sorry? Hold on?”
— If I leave right now, I should arrive in about four hours. No—I’ll definitely make it within that time. So wait for me!
“Please, calm down!”
Only after persuading the now utterly frenzied Yun Joo Ho could I continue explaining Hong Ya.
Regardless, he promised to send over the contract immediately and said he’d visit tomorrow, then hung up.
And right after that…….
Whoosh!
“He really sent it right away.”
The electronic contract arrived via messenger.
It was a clear sign of just how eager Yun Joo Ho had been.
“This is good for us. We’ve got a solid distribution channel now.”
“I’ll reach out to the postal service as well!”
“Yeah, and let’s loop in other distributors too. Rough out the quantities we’ll need.”
“Will do!”
Se Joon acknowledged and hurried off to work.
Ye Hyun followed right behind, offering to help as well.
“We’ll go shoot some promotional footage! Ye Eun has some compositions in mind!”
“It’ll be beautiful…….”
“I trust in both of your skills.”
“Hehe… yes…….”
Ha Jeong and Ye Eun departed to gather their equipment for filming and photographing promotional content for Hong Ya, born into the world this very day.
And so I found myself alone in the aging cellar.

“Ha ha. Busy is good.”

“That’s right. I keep checking on it.”
The results for the Dal Board we submitted to the Korean Alcohol Tasting Competition will be out soon.
I’m not sure how far the results will go, but I’m confident they’ll be good.
The Dal Board was a spirit deserving of that much.
“That’ll mean more work to come.”

“I am. The effort we poured into this liquor is being recognized by everyone.”

Song Ha, who’d been smiling warmly while fingering the brim of his fedora, suddenly lifted his head sharply.
“What is it?”

“Now? Who? Surely not Yun Joo Ho…….”

Song Ha, his brow furrowed, spoke in a low voice.

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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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