I Regressed and Became Too Good at Brewing - Chapter 9

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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 9. Two New Meetings (2)
Moktong gazed at the Onggi vessels with the expression of someone viewing Poor-Quality Liquor—exactly as his words suggested.
The drunkard’s demeanor he’d displayed until now had vanished entirely.
What showed in his wrinkled eyes was the stubborn craftsmanship of an artisan.
And for that very reason, I had to ask.
“Poor-Quality Liquor? What do you mean?”

Moktong refused to yield even to Songha’s diplomatic approach, bending not an inch from his conviction.
As a Dokkaebi connected to spirits and fermentation, his judgment could not be ignored.
But I needed to understand the reason why.
Only then could we produce liquor that would satisfy them.
Besides, those spirits held the blood and sweat of Sejun’s and my own earnest passion.
It was only natural that I recoiled from having them called Poor-Quality Liquor.
Perhaps sensing my feelings, Songha patted Moktong’s shoulder and spoke.

Grumbling as he went, Moktong moved toward each vessel.
He plunged his hands deep inside, drawing up the liquor that had been called Poor-Quality Liquor in his left hand and the Meari he’d been steadily pilfering in his right, then opened his mouth.

“Hmm…….”
Two kinds of spirits held before me.
But honestly, I could discern almost no difference.
Thanks to the ability Songha had granted me, taste and aroma appeared as fairy-like forms, yet the two showed little contrast.
As I continued tilting my head in confusion, Moktong was the first to speak again.

Moktong answered with a regretful smacking of his lips.
Then, gesturing toward me with a wave of his hand, he spoke.

“Me?”

“Ow!”
I approached as he beckoned, and he suddenly flicked my forehead hard.
As I cried out from the sting, he laughed merrily and opened his mouth.

Rubbing my aching forehead as I turned to study the liquor, I understood at last.
The Meari that had been aging was beginning to take on a golden hue.
Above it, the tiny faces of the aromatic essences danced, drunk with happiness as they played tag.
Or rather, they would be playing tag.
This was how the spirit would appear once aging was complete.
“This is…….”

In the other spirit Moktong offered, a different future gleamed.
Like creatures starved for days, they drifted about drooling.
Distinct from before, a thin, grassy scent devoured the savory fragrance crawling across the spirit’s surface with ravenous hunger.
The sight was so distressing that I was about to turn away.

And so one human and two Dokkaebi came to drink a cup that Moktong had deemed worthy liquor.
But the reactions were all the same.

Songha and Moktong drank it down at once, then offered their praise.
And in that moment, I too swallowed a sip.
“Wow…….”
No further explanation was needed.
It was good liquor, and it would be good liquor.
Despite Meari already being excellent in its own right, this showed a taste that seemed to transcend those very limits through fermentation.
Staring blankly at the empty cup, Moktong chuckled and spoke.
“How about that? Killer, isn’t it?”
“Yes… this…… How could the fermentation be like this…….”
“Well, that’s because I’ve sipped it a few times, you see.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Why’re you staring at me like that?”
Moktong regarded me with a blunt expression, as if asking about something obvious.
Even as he spoke, he reached for the Onggi again, only to be blocked by Songha, and continued.
“Every Dokkaebi has their own ability, you know. That fellow Songha over there can shield against anything corrupted from entering. And for the record, I’m good at fermentation. That’s just how it is, isn’t it?”
“Didn’t I say there’d be something good about this? Now that old grandfather Moktong is here, we can make even better liquor.”
“Of course! If I just sip this a few more times, it’ll get even better than this!”
It was casual conversation, but its content was anything but casual.
A Dokkaebi drinking the liquor just a few more times could really accelerate the fermentation period like this?
It was a moment when everything I thought I knew was turned upside down, but I had no choice but to accept it.
I’d studied liquor, not Dokkaebi.
“If you keep drinking, there won’t be any liquor left for Songha’s place, Moktong.”
“Then this fellow just needs to make more! Isn’t that why I’ve been building up my strength?”
With that, Moktong scooped another generous portion and poured it into his mouth.
Songha and Moktong exchanged words back and forth, but I couldn’t focus on them.
And for good reason…….
“Can you feel it?”
No, it was different from what could be seen.
More precisely, it was closer to something I could sense.
I could feel the breath exhaled by the Onggi vessels resting in the Aging Room.
And the activity of the Yeast continuing throughout the fermentation as well.
“Now you’re beginning to feel it.”
“This…… what is this?”
“You’ve instinctively come to know how to ferment optimally. Even if you taste it before fermentation, you’ll be able to intuitively infer what the taste will be after. A fine gift.”
Songha answered my question.
By his account, I’d acquired an ability that no brewer in this world would need to envy.
An ability worth obtaining even for a fortune.
Fermentation isn’t simply putting something somewhere and leaving it.
Where to place it, what conditions to set, which liquor to use, where, how, and until when to ferment it.
This magic of fermentation is achieved by synthesizing all of these elements.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Now you’re showing some promise. A young man ought to have good manners.”
“Be mindful…….”
“What, me? Anyway, if I just drink a bit more of this, it’ll work. Just wait two days.”
“Wait, you say…….”
“Then we can sell it.”
Moktong boasted that he could sell Meari that had fermented for merely two weeks.
I couldn’t believe it, yet I had no choice but to.
He’d already demonstrated his ability to me.
In just a day, by drinking the liquor a few times, he’d created such a profound difference.
“So prepare yourself well.”
“Prepare for what?”
“Are your ears the only thing aging? We need to sell this well and make plenty of it so the others wake up. Right now there’s only Songha to drink with me. It’s no fun at all without them. Anyway, I’m off!”
Moktong rattled off what he had to say, then melted smoothly into the wall of the Aging Room.
His manner of speaking was grating, but every word held truth.
He was saying we should awaken the other Dokkaebi, since he would help us make better liquor.
That was to our benefit as well.
If Songha’s place made better liquor, we could eventually show our spirits to the whole world.
And I could bring joy to everyone I’d only disappointed in my past life.
Steadying my resolve, I spoke to Songha.
“This is good.”
“What comes next is what matters.”
“You’ll help me, won’t you?”
Songha adjusted his hat brim and smiled at the question.
“Of course, my friend.”
“Then let’s get to work.”
The moment we left the Aging Room, I headed straight for the Workshop where Sejun would be.
I’d blamed it on a stray cat instead of a spirit, and thankfully he’d accepted the explanation without pressing further.
“What brings you here? Ready to start work already?”
“Has to be done. I’d borrow a cat’s paws if I could at this point.”
More than the work itself, I wanted to test the abilities I’d gained.
“Then first—” “Okay, I’m on it!”
What needed doing now was brewing Meari.
Perhaps it was thanks to the steady word-of-mouth after my collaboration with the Daily livestream.
We were selling far more than back when grandfather ran things.
“Feels like we’re moving almost two hundred bottles a day.”
“That sounds about right when you average it out. Here we go!”
Sejun hoisted a rice sack and dumped it into the container with a grunt, answering as he worked.
That was how it began.
The two of us worked in concentrated silence, and the Brewing Base came together quickly because of it.
That was when it happened.
A vision formed in my mind unbidden.
“For fermentation… longer than usual… low temperature……”
I suddenly understood what method of fermentation to use, and how to approach it to create something closer to perfection.
As if I’d been struck by sudden inspiration.
I could even sense what the finished product would taste like.
“This is… remarkable.”
“Already? But we haven’t even started fermenting yet?”
“I mean it’s going to be remarkable.”
Of course, now that I possessed this ability, I felt certain it would turn out that way.
“Well, since it’s you saying it, I suppose I can trust you on that.”
“You’ll see once it’s done and you taste it yourself.”
No one would believe me anyway if I said Moktong’s ability let me glimpse the future of the liquor’s fermentation.
But……
“There’s a problem, though.”
“Huh? What kind of problem? If it’s physical labor, just say the word! I’ll handle it!”
“No, it’s not that.”
I shook my head at Sejun, who was flexing his massive arms—thick as a man’s thigh—to show off his strength.
Even his inexhaustible strength and enthusiasm couldn’t solve what we faced now.
“We’ll need to remake the Brewing Base.”
I’d thought Meari had reached its ceiling, but now I was certain.
I knew exactly where its limits lay.
“You want to… remake it?”
“Yeah. And there’s more work to do besides.”
“What else needs doing?”
Sejun shrugged and asked me the question.
I compared the sensations rising within me against all the experience I’d accumulated until now.
The nutty aroma of nuts and toasted grains.
A subtle piney sweetness blooming between them, harmonizing with a gentle sweetness.
“Toast it.”
“Could you maybe use a subject and speak in complete sentences?”
“This.”
I pointed to the Unpolished Rice we’d used to make the Brewing Base.
“Toast it and mix it in.”
I said it without a shred of hesitation.
* * *
“Phew. Is this about right?”
“Yeah. That’s perfect.”
Because this had been an old Brewery, it even had a Large Cauldron on hand.
Enormous and wide—large enough that a man as substantial as Sejun could fit inside it.
Normally rice would be cooked in it, but now, as Sejun stirred with beads of sweat rolling down his face, what lay within was rice.
“What are you planning with this, and what do you mean to do with all those other things?”
That wasn’t all.
He’d also set out roasted rice and freshly dried Edible Chrysanthemum for the experiment.
“We’ll use it for the Brewing Base. Since it’s ready, let’s take it out.”
The rice that Sejun had stirred with practiced muscle memory was perfectly roasted, releasing a rich, toasted aroma.
Yes, exactly the level I’d been after.
I’d begun with the Brewing Base, following the original method for making Meari.
But I hadn’t made it the ordinary way.
“Wait, how are you going to use that?”
“We’re going to brew it in infused water.”
I’d steamed the rice using water steeped with chrysanthemum blossoms.
Fragrance rose from the freshly steamed rice.
“Now we add this here….”
After grinding the roasted rice fine and mixing it in, I made sure not to forget blending it with the Nuruk.
“Done.”
In that moment, the scents revealed themselves to my eyes.
The toasted grain’s warmth and the chrysanthemum’s delicate sweetness joined hands, dancing together in perfect harmony.
The instant when the abilities I’d received from Songha and Moktong created their perfect synergy.
“Hmm… I can’t really tell the difference.”
“Just trust me.”
“Well, if I can’t trust your word, whose can I trust?”
Sejun’s casual acceptance back then turned completely around a month later, the moment he tasted the new Meari.
“Hey! This is insane! What is this?”
Just one sip bloomed a symphony of aroma and flavor across his palate.
It was as if autumn itself had been distilled into spirit form.

Watching the two Dokkaebi continue to sip contentedly, their satisfaction was plain—a truly fine liquor had been born.
And if that were the case, there was certainly more to be done.
“Sejun.”
“Gulp, gulp. Huh? What?”
“Let’s contact Representative Yun Juho.”
Given that the already-impressive liquor had returned even better than before, the reaction of a heavy drinker approved by Dokkaebi themselves was all but written.
“He said he’d come right away?”
“I figured as much.”
“No, he said he’s coming right now.”
“What?”
I hadn’t expected him to respond quite so urgently.

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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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