The next morning.
"Nngh..."
Chilbok rose with a hand pressed to his forehead.
The previous evening, the three of us had drunk ourselves senseless on the cloudy rice wine left after filtering the alcohol.
We had been so drunk from the strong liquor that we could not even remember how we had fallen asleep.
"Big Brother... my head..."
Chilbok groaned.
"Does it feel like your head is splitting?"
When I asked, Chilbok blinked.
"Huh...? No? It doesn't hurt?"
He tapped his own head.
Normally, after drinking too much cloudy rice wine, a hangover should arrive the next day like a gong ringing inside one's skull.
Your stomach should turn, and thirst should torment you.
But aside from being a little puffy, Chilbok looked perfectly fine.
Manseok, who had been sleeping beside him, also sprang up.
"Big Brother! I'm hungry! Give me food!"
Far from having a hangover, his appetite was thriving.
"See? What did I tell you?"
I laughed as I washed my face in the stream.
"Good alcohol leaves no aftereffects."
The main cause of hangovers was impurities created during alcoholic fermentation.
When alcohol was roughly brewed with traditional fermentation starter, contaminating microbes mixed in and created many such toxins.
But my Great Peace Fermentation Starter thoroughly excluded contaminants and cultivated only pure yeast, so the alcohol came out exceptionally clean.
"This is medicinal alcohol. The more you drink, the better your blood flows."
I stretched.
My body felt light.
"All right, we'll be busy today. We need containers for this precious alcohol."
The amount of alcohol that came from five jars was enormous.
The clear rice wine alone exceeded ten casks—about one hundred eighty liters.
The jars we had were nowhere near enough.
Besides, packaging was important if we wanted to sell this alcohol.
If we sold it in rough earthenware jars used by every dog and cow, it would never command its proper price.
Luxury goods needed luxury clothing.
"Manseok, carry a sack of beans."
"Beans? Are we making food?"
"No. We're buying containers."
We headed for the pottery kiln at the edge of the village.
An old earthenware artisan lived alone in Galsan Village, firing pottery in his kiln.
He was skilled, but stubborn and poor because he had no way to sell his work.
"Is anyone here?"
As we entered the yard of the kiln, a dirt-covered old man who had been sorting broken pottery shards raised his head.
"Who is it? I have nothing to sell."
The old man was blunt.
"I've come to order containers. A great many of them."
I signaled to Manseok.
Manseok set down the bean sack and opened its mouth.
Yellow soybeans glimmered under the sunlight.
Beans during a famine.
The old man's eyes changed.
"What... and how many are you planning to make?"
"Liquor bottles. Ones with narrow necks and pinched waists. Large enough to hold about 1.8 liters."
I drew a design on the ground with a branch.
It would follow the elegant shape of a Goryeo celadon plum vase, but with a refined black glaze as dark as black sesame.
"And carve some words into the shoulder of each bottle."
"[GREAT] (great), [PEACE] (peaceful)."
"Great Peace?"
"Yes. It's the name of my alcohol."
The potter snorted.
"Liquor bottles? Why order bottles for alcohol brewed in some backwater village? Just put it in jars and sell it."
"This isn't ordinary alcohol. One bottle will hold alcohol worth half a sack of rice."
"Hah. What a lie. Half a sack of rice, he says."
The old man did not believe me, but once he saw the bean sack, he sat down before his wheel without another complaint.
"I'll give you half a sack of beans as a deposit. The rest comes when the goods are ready. Make them as smooth and glossy as possible. I need one hundred."
"One hundred?! Are you trying to work this old man to death?!"
The old man shouted, but his hands were already kneading clay.
An artisan could recognize money—beans—when he saw it.
Two days later.
The first batch of fifty liquor bottles, which the potter had fired through the night, arrived.
They were black-glazed ceramic bottles.
They were rustic, but a subdued sheen flowed across them, making them look as elegant as I had ordered.
The words Great Peace carved into their shoulders stood out clearly.
"Good. Very good."
I wiped the bottles with satisfaction.
Now came the bottling work.
We set up funnels and carefully poured golden clear rice wine from the jars.
Trickle.
The bottles filled with a clear sound.
Once the alcohol reached the necks, we sealed them with wooden stoppers prepared beforehand, then melted beeswax over the mouths.
A seal that completely blocked contact with air.
"Big Brother, it really looks expensive now."
Chilbok marveled.
It had been difficult to tell when it was simply sitting in jars, but once poured into black bottles, it looked exactly like a fine wine from a noble house.
"Clothes make the man. Alcohol is no different."
Fifty bottles stood in formation on one side of the yard.
It was a magnificent sight.
"All right, shall we have it tested?"
"Tested? By whom?"
"The man with the pickiest palate in this village."
I picked up a bottle.
"Village Chief Kim."
Village Chief Kim had been enjoying life recently.
Thanks to the sack of rice he had received from Choi San, his granary was well supplied, and his table was abundant with radish side dishes.
The villagers also praised the Village Chief for helping them escape hunger.
'It's all thanks to Young Master Choi San. Heh heh, I truly have an eye for people.'
The Village Chief sat on his wooden porch, chewing a reed stalk with satisfaction.
That was when it happened.
"Village Chief! Are you home?"
A familiar voice called from outside the gate.
It was Choi San.
"Oh, Sir! Please come in!"
The Village Chief ran outside in his socks.
Choi San was now both his superior and his source of funds.
"What brings you here? Could it be more rice..."
"I brought something better than rice."
Choi San held up a black bottle.
The refined bottle gleamed softly. The Village Chief's eyes went wide.
"What... is that?"
"Alcohol. I brewed it myself."
"A-Alcohol? Rice is precious during a famine, yet you brewed alcohol?"
The Village Chief was startled.
But doubt quickly followed.
He assumed the young noble had merely played at brewing. At best, he had probably made sour cloudy rice wine.
Still, he thought he should at least taste it out of courtesy.
"Come in. It's lunchtime, so let's have a drink with the meal."
They set out a table and sat down.
The only snacks were kimchi and a few dried anchovies the Village Chief's wife had brought out.
I removed the stopper.
POP.
The seal came free with a crisp sound.
The Village Chief's nostrils flared.
"Huh...?"
A fragrance filled the room.
It was neither the smell of fermentation starter nor the smell of sour alcohol.
It was the aroma of ripe fruit, along with the deep scent of grain.
"The aroma... is extraordinary?"
I poured the alcohol into the Village Chief's ceramic cup.
Trickle.
The liquid that filled the cup was not the cloudy color of rice wine.
It was clear and bright, a golden amber like a jewel.
"Clear rice wine...? No, this has the color of medicinal rice wine."
With trembling hands, the Village Chief lifted the cup.
To a man who had drunk only cloudy rice wine in the countryside all his life, clear alcohol like this was something he only saw during ancestral rites.
"Please try it. This is Great Peace Wine."
The Village Chief carefully brought the cup to his lips.
He took a mouthful.
"......!"
The Village Chief's eyes lit up.
Fireworks exploded in his mouth.
Sweetness wrapped around his tongue, acidity awakened his appetite, and the heavy alcohol content traveled down his throat.
What remained was a clean finish.
"Kraaaaaah..."
A long exclamation burst out.
Unable to put down the cup, the Village Chief drained the rest.
"S-Sir. Is this truly alcohol made from rice? You didn't mix in honey?"
"Only rice, water, and fermentation starter."
"I can't believe it... I've been drinking for more than sixty years, but this is the first time I've tasted alcohol like this. Is the imperial alcohol of Gaegyeong like this?"
The Village Chief hugged the bottle.
This was not alcohol.
It was a treasure in liquid form.
"Village Chief, how much would you pay for this alcohol?"
At my question, the Village Chief thought deeply.
A cask of cloudy rice wine at the market sold for two or three tenths of a tael.
Ordinary clear rice wine cost at least one tael.
But this alcohol... was in a far higher class.
"Well... If it were me, I wouldn't think two silver taels a waste..."
"Two taels..."
It was lower than I expected, but that was the price in a country village.
Still, his reaction made me certain.
This would sell.
And it would sell at a very high price.
"I'll give you this bottle as a gift."
"R-Really? This precious thing?"
"On one condition: spread the word."
"Spread the word?"
"Tell people that Choi San of Galsan Village has brewed incredible alcohol. Make sure the merchants from Gaegyeong hear about it."
"Don't worry! I'll go to the town market today and tell everyone I see!"
The Village Chief held the bottle like a treasure jar.
He was already a prisoner of Great Peace Wine.
The next morning.
We made our preparations for the true expedition.
"Big Brother, are we really going?"
Manseok asked as he hoisted an A-frame carrier.
Fifty bottles of Great Peace Wine, carefully wrapped in straw, were loaded onto it.
"Where are we going? The merchant house in town?"
Chilbok asked.
It was the merchant house where we had sold radishes last time.
I shook my head.
"No. Town is too small. They won't understand this alcohol's value."
"Then where?"
I pointed south.
"The Nakdong River Wharf."
"The wharf? That's where boatmen and merchant magnates come and go."
"Right. Where the rich gather."
At the lower reaches of the Nakdong River, Gold Province's wharf was the center of trade. Goods from the interior of Gyeongsang flowed there before heading toward Gaegyeong, Japan, or the Song Dynasty.
Great merchants who casually dealt in hundreds of sacks of rice gathered there.
"We need to make those men drink this alcohol. Only then can we name a price of one hundred taels."
I pulled my bamboo hat low.
My hemp clothes were still shabby, but I wore the Choi Clan Token at my waist, and my eyes shone sharply.
"Manseok, if you break a bottle, I'll kill you."
"Don't worry! I'll protect them more carefully than my own life!"
"Chilbok, get ready to talk."
"Heh heh, Big Brother. You know my mouth. A quack peddler has nothing on me."
We set off with solemn expressions.
As we passed the edge of the village, the Village Chief waved from afar.
His face was red from drinking the alcohol he had received as a gift the day before.
"Sir! I hope you make a fortune! I've spread the rumors all over the market!"
"We'll be back!"
We waved and quickened our pace.
The twelve-kilometer journey.
Even with the heavy carrier on his back, Manseok walked as though he were flying.
He said the wafting smell of alcohol gave him strength.
'He isn't drunk, is he?'
After walking for some time, we arrived at the Nakdong River Wharf.
Massive sailing ships were docked there, while porters busily carried rice sacks and salt.
Merchants in silk clothes shouted as they held ledgers.
Energy.
And the smell of money.
This was the water where I needed to play.
"Wow... There are so many people."
Chilbok shrank back in intimidation.
Having stayed only in the countryside, he seemed frightened by a large city like this.
"Don't cower. We're the ones with goods to sell. We're in the stronger position."
I searched for the merchant house with the largest, most ornate flag.
[Pine House].
It was a branch run by the Song Merchants of Gaegyeong, Goryeo's greatest merchant guild.
"That's the one."
As I led the way, two large men guarding the front of the merchant house stepped forward and blocked us.
"What? Peddlers, get lost. This isn't a place that takes deliveries."
They saw our shabby appearance and treated us like beggars.
"We didn't come to deliver goods."
I lifted my bamboo hat slightly and showed the jade token at my waist.
"I'm thirsty, so I came to have a drink. Bring me your most expensive alcohol."
The men froze when they saw the jade token.
The Choi Clan of Cheorwon.
Even rotten, a prized fish remained prized. A noble token still had power.
"Ah... Y-Young Master. We failed to recognize you..."
"Is the manager here? My palate is rather picky, so I need a recommendation directly from him."
I confidently entered the merchant house.
Manseok and Chilbok squared their shoulders and followed behind me.
The inside of the merchant house was noisy.
I sat down on a raised bench in the middle.
"Send out the manager!"
At my shout, the merchant house fell silent.
A moment later, a sharp-eyed middle-aged man wearing silk descended from the second floor.
It was Manager Park, the head of Pine House's Gold Province branch.
"I don't know which household's young master you are, but you're causing quite a scene."
Manager Park spoke coldly.
"A scene? To a customer?"
I smiled and gestured to Manseok.
Manseok lowered his A-frame carrier.
"I heard the alcohol in this house tastes bad, so I brought my own."
"What?"
Manager Park's eyebrow twitched. How dare someone insult the alcohol of Pine House?
"Bring out some snacks. As for the price of alcohol..."
I took one black bottle from the carrier and slammed it onto the table.
THUD.
"One drink from this will be enough."
I pulled out the stopper.
POP—!
In an instant, the atmosphere inside the merchant house changed.
The merchants who had been chattering turned their heads, sniffing the air.
An overpowering fragrance rose from the bottle's mouth.
It was both a provocation and an invitation.
Manager Park's expression hardened at once.
He was a merchant. He could tell by scent alone.
Whether this was cheap liquor or the finest alcohol in the world.
"This... aroma..."
I grinned and filled a cup.
Golden liquid sloshed within it.
"Have a drink. This is the alcohol that will change your life."