“Wow, this is delicious! Mister, this tangsuyuk tastes just like the one from a Chinese restaurant!” Lee Ji-an exclaimed, her eyes wide with admiration.
“Eun-woo oppa, can I try some of your sundubu jjigae?” Ji-an asked, setting down her fork and smiling at Koo Eun-woo.
“S-sure, go ahead. There’s plenty anyway,” Eun-woo replied, his expression slightly shy.
As if waiting for his permission, Ji-an quickly scooped a small portion of the sundubu jjigae onto her plate and tasted it carefully.
“Hmm… Mister, your sundubu jjigae is kind of unique. It’s got the usual soft tofu flavor, but there’s this subtle aroma mixed in,” Ji-an said, tilting her head curiously.
“Haha, Ji-an, you’ve got a sharp palate. I added some wild herbs from the mountain. Not bad, right?” Sang-woong replied.
“No, it’s oddly delicious!” Ji-an said, her eyes sparkling as she savored the stew.
“Oppa, try some tangsuyuk too. Mister made a ton for both of us!” Ji-an picked up a piece of tangsuyuk with her chopsticks and placed it on Eun-woo’s plate.
“Uh, okay,” Eun-woo said awkwardly, lifting his chopsticks to bring the tangsuyuk to his mouth. His ears were still visibly red.
Lately, Eun-woo felt something strange every time he came to the restaurant. Normally, he struggled to finish even a single bowl of rice, but here, he somehow polished off an entire bowl with ease. The food was undeniably delicious, but it felt like there was more to it than just taste. Even when his brother brought him tasty meals to spark his appetite, he hadn’t eaten this much.
“By the way, Oppa, can you do something about your hair color and those clip-on earrings? I’m not prejudiced or anything, but honestly, they don’t suit you,” Ji-an said cautiously while eating her tangsuyuk.
“Huh? They don’t suit me?” Eun-woo stammered, caught off guard by her comment.
“Yeah, I think black hair would look way better on you. Right now, it’s a bit… much,” Ji-an said.
“Alright, I’ll think about it,” Eun-woo replied, his face flushing as he answered.
Sang-woong, overhearing their innocent conversation, couldn’t help but smile warmly.
A few days later, after closing the restaurant and finishing cleanup, Sang-woong checked his email as usual. He was reviewing messages from the black market he dealt with.
“Hmm, they need more antidote potions,” he muttered, lost in thought.
He had considered cutting ties, feeling like he was only lining the pockets of shady dealers, but the email changed his perspective slightly. Finding a new buyer would be a hassle, and he had an idea to reclaim some of their profits.
“Alright, let’s do it this way,” Sang-woong said with a sly smile.
Three days later, he met the black market dealers at the same spot as before. The sunglasses guy and the cheekbone guy showed up again, but the atmosphere was noticeably different. Gone was the arrogance from their first meeting; they approached Sang-woong with a deferential attitude.
“Greetings, sir. It’s great to see you again,” the sunglasses guy said with an ingratiating smile, as if pride meant nothing in the face of money.
Sang-woong merely nodded lightly, showing no reaction to the man’s exaggerated friendliness. The power dynamic was clearly in his favor now, and he had no reason to let them sway him.
“Let’s get to the point,” Sang-woong said firmly, brushing off the sunglasses guy’s greasy pleasantries. “How many antidote potions do you need?”
The sunglasses guy hesitated briefly but quickly regained his composure, smiling. “The more, the better. As you know, our site is renowned for its reliability, so we have a lot of customers.”
Sang-woong inwardly scoffed at the man’s slick words. Reliability? Customers? He didn’t believe a word of it.
“Reliable people don’t start with threats at a first meeting. What a joke,” Sang-woong thought, smirking internally as he weighed the man’s words.
He had no intention of wasting more time with them and stated his terms directly. “I noticed my antidote potions are selling for 6.5 million won on your site. So, I’m raising the price.”
Despite his blunt attitude, the dealers forced smiles, but their faces froze when he mentioned raising the price.
“Let’s do 6.2 million won per potion,” Sang-woong said firmly.
“What? 6.2 million?” the sunglasses guy stammered. “That’s… isn’t that too steep?”
“Too steep?” Sang-woong shrugged coldly. “If you think so, we can call off the deal.”
His resolute stance pushed the cheekbone guy over the edge. “This punk thinks he can act cocky just because his stuff’s good? You wanna die?” he growled, glaring as if ready to devour Sang-woong.
Sang-woong sneered, looking at him with contempt, as if he were insignificant. “If the terms don’t work, we don’t deal. So much for your ‘reliability.’”
Before the enraged cheekbone guy could lunge, the sunglasses guy smacked him hard on the back of the head. With a dull thud, the cheekbone guy stumbled and fell.
Realizing threats wouldn’t work on Sang-woong, the sunglasses guy quickly switched to a fawning smile. “Our new employee made a mistake. Please forgive him. We value our trust with you above all.”
Sang-woong inwardly sneered at the man’s swift change in demeanor. Trust? That’s the level of trust you’re talking about? “Fine, here’s my final offer: 6.4 million won per potion. Take it or leave it.”
Deliberately hiking the price further, Sang-woong was essentially refusing the deal. He hadn’t been keen on trading with them from the start. He only showed up because finding a new buyer was inconvenient and he wanted to raise the price. But the moment they balked, his mind was made up.
The sunglasses guy hesitated, then nodded bitterly, as if resigned. “Understood, sir. We accept your terms.”
He couldn’t hide the sour expression on his face. Sang-woong’s antidote potions were so popular they sold out instantly. Word-of-mouth from customers who experienced their effects drew a constant stream of new buyers. The potions were the site’s flagship product and a lure for new customers. For the sunglasses guy, maintaining a stable deal with Sang-woong was worth a small loss.
Seeing the man give in so readily, Sang-woong decided there was no need to push further. He handed over the 50 antidote potions he’d prepared. Though he earned far more than expected, the deal left a bitter aftertaste.
“Thank you, sir. We look forward to working with you again,” the sunglasses guy said, bowing.
Sang-woong glanced at him briefly before turning away.
Clench!
The sunglasses guy, watching Sang-woong’s retreating figure, gripped his fists so tightly his veins bulged, barely containing his anger. His piercing gaze followed Sang-woong until he disappeared from sight.
The Afua tribe beamed with satisfaction as they examined the farming tools tailored to their size. They looked like children who’d received a big gift.
“Sang-woong, this hoe is great. Digs the soil well. Haw!” one said.
“This one’s good too. Breaks the ground easily. Haw!” another added.
Sang-woong had spent all his points on farming tools for the Afua tribe. Buying equipment for over 100 tribespeople wasn’t cheap, but seeing their joy made it worth every point. A deep sense of pride and fulfillment welled up inside him.
His investment paid off, as farming efficiency noticeably improved. Harvest yields increased by 30% compared to before.
“As expected, nothing from the shop window is useless,” Sang-woong thought.
Another delight was that the Coral saplings, planted to purify the air in the Afua village, had grown and begun bearing plump fruit.
“Coral trees are apple trees?” Sang-woong marveled.
Surprisingly, the Coral tree’s fruit looked and tasted exactly like crisp apples, with their glossy red appearance. Priced at 100 points each, these fruits, from a tree with air-purifying properties, had remarkable effects: powerful pain suppression and rapid wound regeneration.
“This is way better than a healing potion!” Sang-woong exclaimed.
Standard healing potions focused on treating surface wounds, but Coral tree fruit offered not only pain suppression but also the ability to regenerate damaged tissues and organs back to their original state. While treatment restored damaged tissue or function, regeneration was a more powerful healing process, fully restoring the body to its original condition.
“Could it even regenerate lost body parts?” Sang-woong wondered, feeling it wasn’t entirely impossible.
He was tempted to test it immediately but couldn’t exactly cut off a piece of himself for an experiment.
“No, wait. I have the perfect test subject—Eun-woo.”
The image of Koo Eun-woo’s pale face flashed through his mind. The Coral tree fruit seemed tailor-made for him. Eun-woo’s dungeon disease was ravaging his young body, deforming his heart muscle and causing relentless, excruciating pain, like sharp needles piercing his flesh. Even the slightest breeze or friction from clothing brought unimaginable agony. Yet Eun-woo endured this torment with sheer willpower alone.
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