I Regressed and Became Too Good at Brewing - Chapter 55

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“Boss, aren’t you going to collapse from overwork?”
Strange—I could swear I’d heard this before.
“That’s right! You’ll actually die!”
“The word ‘die’ is… a bit strong… Ye-hyeon…….”
“Ye-eun. What are you doing? This guy’s genuinely lost his mind, I’m telling you!”
Moreover, everyone had taken the same position on the matter.
Se-jun, the one with whom I shared the deepest bond, even stepped forward to tell me this.
“Yeon-woo. Think carefully.”
“I am. I’m thinking about it.”
“What do you think all the work we’ve been doing amounts to?”
“What else? A brewer brewing spirits.”
Moreover, Songhada had been crafting delicious spirits all along.
Meari and Meari: Autumn had always been cash cows for Yun Ju-ho, the head of JuJu Daily, bringing an easy smile to his face.
Dalbord had become a liquor recognized nationwide through the Korean Traditional Liquor Tasting Evaluation.
And Hongya—well, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say it now drove the bulk of Songhada’s revenue.
So everything we’d done up to now had been done well, right?
“Yeah, of course it has. But we don’t just make liquor, do we?”
“Huh?”
“Come take a look at our desk for a second, would you?”
Se-jun stepped aside and gestured toward the desktop.
And I could see it.
A mountain of documents stacked like geological strata laid down over centuries.
Se-jun led me through it like a curator, beginning to explain each tower of papers one by one.
“These are the monthly alcohol tax filing documents. We have to calculate production volume, shipment quantity, and shipment price precisely, report the tax, and pay it on time.”
“Right….”
“And depending on the liquor type, we have to clearly categorize its purpose—for household use, discount retailers, entertainment establishments, and so on—and manage tax bills and certificates as needed.”
That wasn’t all.
Beside it were raw material ledgers and production logs.
Various contracts related to raw materials.
Marketing and distribution agreements.
Government support programs and certification management too.

“But don’t worry! I’ve got a decent handle on this much! The really important part is still missing.”
“The really important part?”
“Licensing. Permit management.”
This was arguably the most critical work.
Liquor is a product under strict national control, so every administrative foundation begins with compliance with regulations from the National Tax Service and local government.
In simple terms, you need approval every time you develop a new liquor or expand production facilities.
Beyond that, you have to report the recipe and manufacturing method of any new liquor you’re launching to the relevant local government and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and receive approval before you can sell it.
“You already know there are quality inspections, right?”
“Right.”
“So. Let me ask again. How often did we release our liquors?”
“Well….”
Exactly one year.
Since winter had come again after my regression.
All the liquor we’d brewed in that time….
“It’s quite a lot.”
“It’s not just a lot! We went absolutely wild with it!”
Normally, releasing even one liquor takes at least a year.
Just creating the recipe burns through several months.
And if it’s not takju but an aged spirit, the fermentation period is necessary, so it takes even longer inevitably.
That’s how it was in my past life.
In my past life.
But now I had the goblins’ abilities, plus the knowledge from my past life gained through regression, so I’d compressed all that time.
It was a good thing, but it came with side effects.
“Fine. I can understand up to Dalbord. It’s tight, but it would’ve been helpful enough. Hongya? I thought we were done for, but the liquor turned out so good! I can live with it!”
“Uh… well….”
“But establishing a consortium and the Cheongsan IPA on top of that! We’re finished, Yeon-woo!”
“…I’ll try to hire someone for accounting and legal….”
“Thank you! Wait….”
Se-jun, who’d been about to launch into a celebration dance at the news of new staff, froze mid-motion.
“That means you’re planning to keep making liquor.”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
Se-jun let out a shriek like a Cretaceous dinosaur had been resurrected, then simply collapsed where he stood.
I had no idea it was taking this much out of him.
I hadn’t anticipated this.
But what could I do?
Recipes for new liquors kept flooding my mind.
“I’ll track down general administrative staff as soon as I can. For now, we’ll keep using tax accountants like we have been.”
“Yeah… please… let’s do that….”
“So should we talk about liquor?”
“Then do so…….”
Look at this.
If she harbored no expectations, she wouldn’t keep the conversation going like this.
The same held true for the other staff members.
“So what kind of liquor are you planning to make?”
“This time, I’m thinking of brewing something with a longer fermentation period.”
“A longer period…….”
“A liquor that takes more time. Have you ever heard of Samhaejyu?”
Samhaejyu.
It was the liquor the yangban of Hanyang during the Joseon Dynasty loved most—the mother of traditional premium soju and cheongju alike.
The character ‘해’ in the name means pig, and the liquor was called Samhaejyu because it was made by adding spirits three times, starting on the first pig day of the lunar new year and then on each subsequent pig day.
Its taste and aroma were nothing short of singular.
“Even when the nation issued the Alcohol Prohibition Order to conserve discarded agricultural products, yangban of that time would secretly brew and drink it, claiming it was medicinal and an offering to their ancestors.”
“I’ve heard of Samhaejyu! But I’ve also heard it’s incredibly difficult to make…….”
“That’s right.”
The very reason I chose Samhaejyu as a method to utilize the goblin’s abilities was this difficulty.
First, Samhaejyu is a three-stage brew.
Rather than brewing all at once, rice and nuruk are supplied in three separate additions.
What’s more, the interval between each is thirty-six days, and at each stage, you add the base brew, then the additional brew, then the secondary additional brew.
That’s how difficult it is to control.
“Moreover, as fermentation progresses, the alcohol content rises, making it difficult for the yeast to survive.”
As fermentation advances and the alcohol concentration in the liquor increases, the yeast itself becomes intoxicated by the toxicity and dies.
In Samhaejyu, one must carefully select only the powerful yeasts capable of surviving such conditions.
It’s literally a challenge against the limits of alcohol content.
Through pure fermentation alone, it yields approximately eighteen degrees of alcohol—the highest possible concentration.
“Temperature is important too, isn’t it? I understand Samhaejyu is always brewed in winter.”
“That’s correct as well.”
Ordinary takju typically completes fermentation in at most two weeks at temperatures between twenty and twenty-five degrees.
But Samhaejyu is different.
Because it’s done in winter, the cold temperature causes fermentation to proceed slowly.
This too is a major variable.
“But you’re going to make that?”
“Yeah. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?”
“Fun is… I suppose it could be…….”
Though it’ll be hell.
Se-jun, muttering to himself, clambered slowly to his feet and settled into his chair.
Then he began working, murmuring various task details as he went.
…I really do need to hire staff faster.
* * *
Work progressed quickly.
Fortunately, everyone agreed to my proposal to make Samhaejyu.
Since they were all people who loved liquor, they couldn’t abandon their hopes that despite the hardship, something excellent would come of it.
But there was a condition.
‘You absolutely have to recruit!’
‘I understand.’
‘Words aren’t enough! A contract! Write up a contract! Ye-hyeon! Paper! Bring paper!’
‘I’ve already prepared the form!’
‘Excellent!’
We had to recruit an accounting and legal officer first, without exception.
I felt this was necessary as well.
Until now, I’d handled everything through a tax accountant,
but that too had its limits.
No matter how expert they were, a tax accountant wasn’t a specialist in brewing itself.
That’s why when it came to detailed matters, the staff at Songhada inevitably bore the burden.
“So I posted the job listing…….”
Songhada was doing well, but it wasn’t the sort of place that could conduct open recruitment or headhunting, so I posted on a job site.
With the added note that we especially valued candidates with solid knowledge of the laws governing brewing.
“What do I do about this?”
“Why? What’s wrong? Did no one apply? Oh, please. That can’t be it, can it?”
“No. It’s actually the opposite.”
I answered Se-jun, who was worried that perhaps no one would apply at all.
The exact opposite had happened instead.
“Too many people showed up.”
Honestly, I hadn’t expected so many applicants to come.
We were looking for skilled professionals, and on top of that, they needed to specialize in Brewing specifically.
But contrary to my expectations, applications kept pouring in.
“So then you could just pick anyone from them, right?”
“If only it were that simple…….”
The ones who seemed professional weren’t specialized, and conversely, the ones who were specialized lacked professionalism.
Catching both rabbits at once was difficult, though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to try.
After spending the whole day reviewing applications, I finally had to accept the bitter truth.
“Let’s just settle for adequate candidates.”
“Hmm… that’s disappointing…….”
“But what choice do we have? I can see everyone’s barely holding on as it is.”
Watching our staff—people who came here because they love liquor—wrestle with paperwork all day at their desks made me feel guilty.
That was when I was about to pick the most promising person I could find.
Ding!
My phone chimed with a notification.
When I checked who it was from, it turned out to be someone I’d met long ago.
[Han Gyeong-su: How have you been? I’m reaching out because the villagers have been raving about that liquor you made back then, asking if there’s any way to get more of it, so I had no choice but to contact you…….]
“Huh?”
It was a connection I’d never anticipated, and it was exactly what I needed right now.

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