Testing
Baek Wontae tilted his head.
It should have been pitch-black. Instead, it was white.
Was this world just different?
Dang Ihyeon asked, “Is that all? Boiling it, straining it, and reducing it is new enough, but that’s still all it is.”
Dang Ihwa pinched her nose. “That smell…”
Baek Wontae shook his head. “There’s one more thing we need.”
This kind of drug only showed its true value when it was smoked.
Its compounds were absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs and blood vessels.
The problem was the tool.
He needed a pipe.
They couldn’t cast one on the spot, so—
Then he spotted a brush and a metal bowl.
An idea came to him.
“Can I use these?”
“I don’t care, but why?”
Instead of answering, Baek Wontae picked up a hacksaw.
Kiik, kiik.
He cut off both ends of the brush, turning it into a hollow tube.
He blew away the sawdust.
Then he grabbed the metal bowl.
Clang! Clang!
He tried to punch a hole in it with an awl, but the metal didn’t give easily.
Seeing him struggle, Ihyeon stepped in.
“Give it here. What are you trying to do?”
“Could you make a hole just big enough for this stem?”
When Ihyeon pushed the awl in, it slid through smoothly.
Baek Wontae fitted the stem in place and sealed the gap with glue.
Crude, but it was a pipe that worked.
“Done.”
He wiped the sweat from his brow and presented his masterpiece.
“This is how we make money by the ton.”
The siblings’ eyes fixed on the snow-white lump and the pipe.
It was a bizarre object they had never seen before.
Ihyeon narrowed his eyes. “…What is this, exactly?”
His chest felt strangely tight.
He knew all about pharmacy and poisons.
And yet this man had whipped up an unfamiliar tool like it was nothing.
Watching him, his pride wavered, and his mind grew tangled.
Ihyeon himself didn’t realize it.
But the nature of that feeling was—
Too beyond the heavens.
Awe.
Ihwa stayed silent.
She glanced at Baek Wontae’s face.
At first she’d thought he was just a lunatic.
He’d gone on about coming from another world and tossed out words she’d never heard before—“milly,” “hydrogen,” and all sorts of nonsense.
But seeing the strange drug and the odd tool for the first time changed her mind.
She swallowed.
Maybe it’s true that he really did come from another world.
Dang Ihyeon asked Baek Wontae, “You mean you smoke this white drug with that tool?”
“Yes. You put the drug in the metal bowl, heat it until it gives off smoke, then draw it through the stem and breathe it in.”
“From the way you describe it, it’s not much different from a dream-sedative or an aphrodisiac.”
“It’ll be stronger than those.”
At Baek Wontae’s words, Ihwa became curious.
“Some of those drugs are expensive. The ingredients are rare, and the methods are complicated. The effects are real, but they don’t circulate much. They’re scarce, and they go against propriety. Most drugs on the market are scams with barely any effect… so they don’t sell well. How are you planning to make money with something like that?”
Baek Wontae replied flatly, “Have you ever tried one?”
Silence.
Dream-sedatives. Aphrodisiacs.
Words that meant nothing special to a modern person.
But to this era’s siblings, they were mortifying.
In an instant, both their faces turned red.
Dang Ihyeon, flustered, snapped, “Y-you filthy bastard! Watch your mouth!”
“I didn’t mean anything strange by it. I just figured if you’d tried those drugs, you’d know what they do. I wanted you to smoke this and compare them. Which one’s stronger, that sort of thing.”
The siblings were still red-faced.
To ask such a thing.
Two young people who had never even had a proper romance in their lives.
It sounded exactly like filthy talk.
But they had never used such drugs.
So they couldn’t judge its effects.
Ihyeon said shortly, “...Show it to Father.”
* * *
In the center of the courtyard.
The man slowly examined the strange objects.
The white lump.
The peculiar stem.
“You’ll feel it the moment you smoke it. This thing’s a jackpot.”
Ihyeon said sharply, “If that’s poison and you’re trying to harm Father, you’d better stop. Father is immune to all poisons.”
“This isn’t poison.”
Clack—
He lit the small brazier he’d brought with him.
He pinched off a nugget of the sticky mass the size of a fingernail and put it in the bowl.
He covered it and heated it over the flame.
Hiss—
Smoke began to rise.
A bitter-sweet scent spread through the air.
Baek Wontae spun the pipe and smiled.
“I’ll light it for you. Though… there’s one thing I’m worried about.”
“Worried about what?”
“That you might get hooked and lose your head.”
Both siblings stiffened.
How dare he insult their father like that?
Killing intent flashed in the man’s eyes.
“Are you mocking me?”
Perfect. He’d taken the bait.
It had all gone exactly according to plan.
He couldn’t let the siblings test it first.
What if someone with no tolerance for a narcotic took a single puff?
They could pass out. In the worst case, they could die.
And if that happened—
I’d lose my head.
But this man in front of him?
A Dang Clan member was strong against poison.
That was something he’d seen in martial arts stories.
This man looked deep in inner power and experience.
If what that guy Ihyeon said earlier is true…
He should definitely be resistant to poison.
In that case, would this be enough?
If Hyeonrihwa was truly the same as the real-world version—
Even ordinary people smoked it without dropping dead, so it shouldn’t be catastrophic.
...Probably.
The real concern was something else.
If it did absolutely nothing?
Then he’d be branded a braggart and killed anyway.
He lifted the lid. The grains had fully melted.
That sweet-bitter aroma hung thick in the air.
He held out the pipe to the man.
“So you just draw the smoke through the stem.”
“Yes. Inhale, then exhale.”
The man put the pipe to his lips.
Huuup—
He took one puff, then coughed lightly.
Nothing much happened.
Ihwa and Ihyeon both frowned in confusion.
Was this really supposed to be some incredible drug?
The man’s gaze also cooled.
So it really was bluffing.
He brought the pipe back to his mouth.
A second puff.
Deeper this time.
Hoo—
The smoke slipped down his throat and seeped deep into his lungs.
And then—
“Ugh—”
The man convulsed.
The smoke he exhaled came out far denser.
Both siblings’ eyes widened at once.
Their father’s sturdy body swayed, then collapsed.
“Father!”
Through the blur of vision, the last thing he saw was his two children rushing toward him—
And then consciousness snapped shut.
* * *
The Dang Clan courtyard in Heokryeonhyang.
It was a familiar scene he had always known.
“…Husband.”
A voice drifted at his ear.
The voice of the woman he had longed for.
“Honey!”
His heart dropped.
Impossible.
She shouldn’t be here.
She couldn’t be…
He turned his head.
And then—
He forgot how to breathe.
“Hyang-ah…?”
The woman he had dreamed of all his life stood there.
His hands trembled.
He grabbed her arms.
“Hyang-ah… how are you here…?”
She tilted her head.
That warm gaze from those days.
“What are you talking about? Dinner’s ready, so come in before it gets cold. The kids are waiting.”
Through the main hall window, he could see the children’s faces.
Hyeon-ah waved and shouted, “Father, hurry up and come in!”
“I’m hungry…”
Ahwa wore a face full of childish hunger.
She smiled and said, “Honestly, just eat without me!”
A happy everyday life.
Peaceful days with the family he loved.
...The thing he had wanted so desperately, more than anything.
And yet it was something that could never come true.
He smiled bitterly.
“Right… this is a hallucination.”
Even so, he held her close.
“Just being able to see you like this again… makes me happy.”
He had missed this warmth so much it hurt.
“Have I become a burden?”
“No. Not at all. Absolutely not.”
Tears spilled down his face.
“I’m sorry… because of me, you…”
Leaning against him, she whispered softly, “I only want you to be happy.”
The scenery blurred.
Color unraveled, shapes cracked apart.
In that final instant, her voice remained in his chest.
“I love you, Agyeom…”
* * *
Reality slowly returned.
When he opened his eyes, he was lying on the bed in the main hall bedroom.
It seemed they had moved him there at some point.
His hearing, just waking, rang dully.
The children’s frantic voices reached him.
“Father!”
“Are you all right?”
He turned his head and looked at them.
Their faces were piled high with worry and fear.
“Did I… fall asleep?”
Ihyeon answered, “Yes. You suddenly collapsed, so we were shocked.”
Without a word, he looked out beyond the window.
In the courtyard, the man lay face-down, bound with ropes.
Baek Wontae.
The man’s expression changed subtly.
It wasn’t anger. Not killing intent, either.
He seemed to be confirming something.
“I’d like to speak with him.”
“Father, he’s the one who made you faint—!”
His daughter tried to stop him.
But he threw back the blanket.
“I’m fine. Bring him into the main hall.”
Ihyeon nodded.
He went out to the courtyard and hauled up the man who had been tossed aside.
“Get up.”
Dragged inside by rough hands, Baek Wontae was brought into the main hall.
The ropes binding him were untied.
“You two wait outside.”
“Yes, Father.”
* * *
The two men sat across from each other with a desk between them.
The atmosphere was heavy.
Baek Wontae broke the silence first.
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel perfectly fine. If anything, my head feels lighter.”
The corner of Baek Wontae’s mouth lifted.
So it really had been similar to the real thing.
“The drug’s compounds bind to the brain’s opioid receptors and block pain signals.”
“……”
The man’s brow furrowed.
“I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”
“That’s fine. What matters is that it worked properly. Looks like it hit you hard, though. Were you having a rough time?”
“No need to know.”
The man murmured quietly, “…I am a blood descendant of the Dang Clan. In my younger days, I trained by taking all manner of poisons and drugs into my body. One of them was a dream-sedative passed down as a secret art in some region or another. They said one sip would make you see the world go dark. It had no effect on me.”
He had been born with a poisonous body.
Not only did he not feel dazed—he didn’t even feel sleepy.
No poison could shake his body.
Even if something did manage to stick, he could burn it away with inner power.
“But the drug you made—”
His voice trembled slightly.
“…was different.”
The moment the smoke pierced his lungs—
His will to circulate inner power vanished.
And even now, the sensation of that dream still lingered at his fingertips.
“Of course it was different. Poison and narcotics work on different principles. Poison destroys the body, so it triggers instinctive resistance. But narcotics liberate the body. They let you escape pain.”
He gave a low laugh.
“The difference is only one thing. Resistance or acceptance.”
Then he added, chillingly, “The only thing that rejects drugs is conscious awareness when you’re still sane. But once they get inside, awareness becomes powerless. After that, you’re addicted, and even trying to refuse stops being an option.”
Baek Wontae let out a light sigh.
“Honestly, when I heard you were immune to all poisons, I worried this wouldn’t even register. But seeing you collapse like that really surprised me. Was that a little rude?”
“Yes. It was rude. Rude enough to kill you.”
“Come on, cut me some slack. I almost got killed by those two over there.”
Then the humor drained from his face.
“So… I’d like your evaluation of the drug.”
Baek Wontae looked him straight in the eye.
“Do you think it can make us money by the ton?”