White Gold
Baek Wontae shouted, “Money! I’m talking about money! Who in this world doesn’t need money, right?”
His mind raced faster than light.
That thing he’d seen in the flower bed.
If it was what he thought it was, he could make a fortune.
“We can make big money. Earlier, in the flower bed—”
“You brat!”
Veins bulged on the man’s forehead.
For some reason, the mention of money had sent him into a rage.
“How dare you, in front of me!!”
The dagger raised again, flashing coldly.
Despair gritted its teeth.
What the hell was wrong with this guy?
Even with a way out, if they couldn’t understand each other, that was the end of it.
Just as the dagger was about to fall—
“Father, wait!”
A voice cut through the blade’s descent.
Everyone froze.
It was the last person anyone expected.
Dang Ihyeon.
The man looked startled.
“Hyeon-ah...”
“Would you hear me out?”
The man stared at his son.
Then, slowly, he lowered the dagger.
“Speak, then.”
“He said he could make money for us… Why don’t we at least listen?”
The man’s brow creased.
“Hyeon-ah, you’re not really falling for that nonsense, are you? It’s just the desperate words of a man who doesn’t want to die.”
“His life is in our hands either way.” Dang Ihyeon glanced down at Baek Wontae, who was sprawled on the floor. “Even if he truly bears the fate of Cheonsalseong, killing him ends the problem. He collapsed from Father’s killing intent, so he’s not an immediate threat.”
“Cheonsalseong is an ill omen by its very nature. You know what happened the day that star appeared, don’t you?”
“At least hear him out first. He won’t be talking out of his ass in a situation like this. And if it’s absurd, we can deal with him then.”
He was serious.
“And we need money for the sake of our long-held wish, too. That’s the biggest problem we have right now.”
The man’s eyes wavered.
In a low voice, he said, “You’d better be lying. If this is nonsense, I’ll cut your throat where you stand.”
Dang Ihyeon looked at Baek Wontae and said, “Speak. How are you going to do it?”
Baek Wontae took in the situation.
The guy who’d been ready to kill him had suddenly changed his tune?
Had he lost his mind over money? Well, whatever.
Either way, he’d bought himself a life.
All he needed to do was show them results.
Baek Wontae swallowed hard.
“...First, let me ask one thing. In this world... do you have anything like narcotics?”
Everyone stared at him blankly.
“Narcotics? What’s that?”
“I mean, something you use that makes you feel drowsy or gives you a buzz... some kind of drug.”
“......”
Their faces hardened at once.
Dang Ihyeon let out a dry laugh. “Don’t tell me the big idea you came up with is some kind of dream-sedative or aphrodisiac.”
“I didn’t expect much, but you’re even lower than I thought.”
The mood turned strange.
Come to think of it, that made sense.
Even if narcotics weren’t considered crime here, that didn’t mean people had no morals.
People steeped to the bone in the teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism weren’t exactly going to embrace words like drowsy or pleasure.
So the man looked ready to draw the dagger again.
“L-let me finish speaking first.”
Sweat dropped from his chin.
“Then... do you smoke?”
“Smoke?”
“I mean inhaling smoke.”
“Why would anyone inhale smoke? It’d only make you cough.”
Baek Wontae’s eyes widened.
No smoking culture?
Game over.
He gave a sly smile to himself.
“That’s enough, then. Even if you plan to kill me afterward, at least see it once before deciding. Outside, in the flower bed... could I pluck a few flowers?”
“You’re not planning to run once you get outside the gate, are you?”
“My hands are tied. How fast do you think I can run?”
The man sighed.
“Hyeon-ah, take him there.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
Shortly afterward, in the flower bed outside the gate.
The ornamental plants in the beds were all familiar ones.
They weren’t worth much.
Besides, this was the Dang Clan, where poison and medicine were handled daily.
He knew the species and properties of flowers like the back of his hand.
Dang Ihyeon had studied until he coughed blood for his father, after all.
He stood Baek Wontae in place and asked, “Most of these flowers are used as medicinal ingredients. There’s nothing especially valuable here, so what kind of method could possibly make big money?”
“The same material can be worth very different things depending on how you process it.”
At that, Dang Ihyeon’s eye twitched.
“Process it...?”
He’d already studied every plant in this place to death.
Boiled them, stir-fried them, simmered them, tried everything.
And yet this man spoke as if he could still squeeze something new out of them.
That touched a nerve.
“Pick one, quickly.”
There was no need to think.
He’d decided from the beginning.
Step.
Baek Wontae stopped in front of one plant.
A fat pod with no petals at all.
To be honest, he hadn’t been certain from a passing glance.
It was a gamble based on uncertain information.
But now that he saw the real thing up close, his confidence grew.
The only problem was that he had no idea how much gap there was between reality and this other world.
He needed to verify whether this was the same plant he knew.
“What’s this plant called?”
“Hyeonrihwa.”
Hyeonrihwa? Never heard of it.
Still, the shape was close enough. Might as well try.
“Please pick about ten of these.”
“This?”
Dang Ihyeon muttered doubtfully. “It’s just a common medicinal herb.”
Baek Wontae glanced at him while pulling the stalk free.
“I’m telling you again: if this is nonsense or a waste of time, I’ll kill you.”
He carried the bundle back to the main hall.
As he was dragged inside, Father and Dang Ihwa fixed their eyes on him.
“This is...?”
The flower had lost all its leaves, leaving only the round pod behind.
“Hyeonrihwa is the method,” Baek Wontae said.
The man shook his head.
“It’s a common herb found all over the villages. What exactly are you trying to do with that?”
But to Baek Wontae, that sounded almost like good news.
The corners of his mouth lifted.
“You’ve probably only used it by eating it or chewing it, right?”
The three of them looked puzzled.
If not that, then what else would you do with it?
Inside, Baek Wontae prayed.
This plant, which looked exactly like the one from his old world—please let its properties be the same, too.
“Rather than talk a hundred times, I’ll show you once.”
He looked around and asked, “Is there somewhere I can boil something?”
After a moment of silence, the man ordered his son, “...Take him to the refining room.”
At those words, both children stiffened.
“F-Father!”
“You’re going to show him the refining room...?”
“He seems to be trying to make some sort of medicine, so that’s the best place for it. Besides, if he botches it, I’ll kill him anyway, so what problem is there?”
Dang Ihyeon nodded.
He dragged Baek Wontae toward what looked like a storage room beside the main hall.
Dang Ihwa followed right behind them.
Drreuk—
The interior was pitch-black.
Dang Ihyeon lit a lamp.
Fwoosh—
As the lamps came alive, orange light washed over the room.
Baek Wontae’s eyes widened.
“......”
The refining room.
Jars of all sizes lined the shelves.
Jars marked with the character for poison.
Beside them were stuffed specimens of venomous creatures like scorpions, snakes, and centipedes.
The table was just as impressive.
Stacks of chopped medicinal herbs.
Dried roots giving off a pungent smell.
Medicine stored in jars.
Metal tools, a crucible, and a furnace, too.
Baek Wontae looked around and muttered, “This feels like... a lab.”
“It’s where poison and medicine are studied. It’s not a place you’re allowed to enter lightly. I never expected Father to grant permission for this room, but... if you want to live, you’d better live up to expectations.”
Baek Wontae’s pupils gleamed.
A lab.
Was there any place more familiar than this?
At any rate, he was a chemist by training—a chemist who’d made his living with chemistry, and in the dark side of it at that.
Of course, by modern standards, this place was crude.
Clay vessels instead of beakers and flasks, vents instead of ventilation.
Rough, primitive.
And yet—
At this level? Damn, not bad at all.
His heart started to pound.
At that moment, Dang Ihyeon untied the rope around his wrists.
“You’re untying m—”
Whirr.
Before he knew it, another rope was wrapped crosswise around his torso.
In modern terms, it was basically a harness.
He looked like a dog taken out for a walk.
Like a dog.
“I freed your arms, so now pay me back with results.”
Baek Wontae nodded.
“Yeah, that’s how it should be.”
He swept his eyes over the tools.
A knife, bowls, pots, a furnace...
Enough.
His gaze moved to the table.
A small jar.
Pitch black, and ominous.
“What’s this?”
Without thinking, he reached out.
Smack!
A wrist clamped down on his hand hard enough to hurt.
It was Dang Ihwa.
“That’s Godok. Don’t touch it lightly. Someone ordinary like you... would die just from smelling it.”
A chill ran down the back of his neck.
Ihwa casually lifted the jar and moved it away.
Her indifferent hand was somehow even more unsettling.
Baek Wontae wiped his sweaty palm on his pants.
The preparation was done.
Now it was his turn.
He rolled his shoulders a few times, loosening his cramped muscles.
Routine before making a drug.
Being tied up the whole time had made him stiff, too.
He took a small knife in his hand.
Carefully, he cut into the pod.
Schk—
He’d only ever learned from books and the internet; this was his first time doing it for real.
Even so, his hand didn’t tremble.
His brain crackled with excitement.
The narcotic of history.
The devil flower.
I’m making this myself, from scratch.
The instincts of a scientist and the madness of a drug maker mingled thickly together, sending a rush of exhilaration through him.
With perfect precision, he carved the incision at exactly the right depth, with no margin of error.
Drip—
White latex oozed out.
He set the pod over a bowl to collect the sap.
Then repeated the same motion.
Before long, the bowl was full of milky latex.
He immediately filled a pot with water.
Fwoosh—
He lit the fire.
Bubble, bubble...
Hot steam rose up.
Baek Wontae poured in all the latex.
Foam surfaced, and a bitter smell spread at once.
He strained out the impurities through a sieve.
Every bit of sediment that floated up, he removed one by one, obsessively.
Once, twice, three times.
How many rounds had he repeated?
Eventually there was nothing left to skim.
Now it’s time to reduce it.
He picked up a spatula.
Slowly, he stirred the boiling solution.
Swish, swish—
The foam burst, and steam rose.
Little by little, the liquid decreased.
It grew thicker.
Heavier.
Baek Wontae stopped moving.
With the wooden spatula, he scraped the bottom of the pot.
He lifted it up.
Clinging to the tip was something white and sticky.
It shone like pearl, while a scorched odor spread through the room.
“Ugh...”
Dang Ihwa frowned.
Even Dang Ihyeon’s expression had hardened.
Only Baek Wontae was smiling.
The white latex that had seeped from the pod.
The result of boiling, filtering, and reducing it.
A pure white extract had finally revealed itself.