Investing
One hundred thousand dollars. In Korean won, that came out to 140 million.
I stared at the balance on my phone for a long time.
What should I do with this money?
Unlike the money in my Singapore account, this was perfectly legal.
And it was money I could spend right away, too.
Should I just save it? Or maybe try stocks?
Having a sudden pile of cash made all sorts of thoughts run through my head.
But in the end, I settled on one thing.
Inner power.
Ever since I’d remembered my past life, I’d practiced breathing and cultivation every single day without fail.
And yet the inner power I managed to gather was barely more than dust.
It couldn’t be helped.
Modern Earth was brutally short on qi, and Seoul, as a major city, was even worse.
In practical terms, building up enough inner power to reach a higher realm is impossible.
I’d accepted that and decided not to obsess over it.
After all, there were rarely any situations in everyday life where I needed to use much inner power.
Maybe once or twice, when I’d run because I thought I was about to miss a bus.
But this time, I’d felt the weakness of my inner power in my bones.
When I supported Marcus and moved him, when I fought the mercenaries, when I flicked coins as weapons.
At every critical moment, my tiny reserve of inner power had hit rock bottom.
If I’d had even a little more, I would’ve had a lot more breathing room.
So when I suddenly found myself with a large sum of money, the thought that came to me was this:
A different way to increase my inner power quickly.
Right. Medicinal herbs.
Actually, I’d already tried that before.
I’d eaten every kind of herb people said was good for the body, and I’d even bought a ten-year-old wild ginseng root and chewed it raw.
As expected, it didn’t do much. Honestly, I hadn’t been expecting much either.
But what if it’s wild ginseng that’s been growing for decades? What if it’s a rarer spiritual herb than that?
Of course, it wasn’t some legendary elixir like thousand-year snow ginseng or gyeongcheongseokyu, but old Cheonjong Wild Ginseng was sometimes discovered, so there was hope.
And if it was medicinal root that had spent years underground, soaking up the energy of the land, then surely it had to be different somehow.
The problem was that wild ginseng aged for decades was insanely expensive, but that had just been solved by coincidence.
It was easy money to begin with, so I didn’t have much attachment to it.
Besides, there was a place I’d been introduced to back when I was in medical school.
Seoul Yakryeong Market, where most of Korea’s medicinal herbs were traded.
There was an old herb shop there.
***
Dongdaemun District, Seoul Yakryeong Market.
Even at the entrance, the market’s distinctive medicinal smell punched me in the nose.
Angelica root, licorice, astragalus—and the scent of ginseng roots being boiled on top of that.
The whole place felt like stepping inside a traditional pharmacy.
Along the narrow streets, herbal medicine stores and medicinal herb dealers were packed shoulder to shoulder.
Herb sacks were piled everywhere, and somewhere in the distance I could hear an herbal kettle simmering.
Between the stalls, herb grinders whined and rattled nonstop.
Nothing changes here, huh.
I smiled to myself, remembering my practical training in pharmacognosy from years ago.
The herb shop I’d been introduced to was somewhere around the middle of the market.
It was an old place with a sign so faded it was almost impossible to read.
Rattle—
I pushed open the sliding door and stepped inside.
The shop was fairly cramped. The first thing that hit me was the thick medicinal scent.
An herbal pot was boiling in one corner, and the fluorescent lights overhead flickered every so often.
Behind the counter, the owner—an old man—appeared to be jotting something down while watching TV.
“Excuse me. Hello.”
Only after I greeted him did he look up.
He had a rather sour, stiff-faced expression.
“I came here on Professor Lee Taewon’s recommendation.”
At that, the owner took off his glasses.
He gave me a brief look, then lowered the volume on the TV.
“Professor Lee’s student?”
“Yes. I took his pharmacognosy class.”
“Hmm.”
The owner grunted and got to his feet, coming around to stand in front of the counter.
Then he unfolded a worn-out notebook, pulled out a pen, and asked, “So what brings a young man all the way here?”
“I’m looking for Cheonjong Wild Ginseng. Preferably fifty years old or more.”
Honestly, I hadn’t even been thinking about anything above a hundred years old.
That wasn’t something I could afford, and even if I had the money, it was the kind of thing you still might not be able to buy.
“Hah. Fifty years old?”
At my answer, the owner looked at me with an odd expression.
“That won’t come cheap.”
“That’s fine. I need it for something important.”
He scratched his forehead, thought for a while, and finally answered, “A fifty-year-old root, I could probably get in a week or two. But anything older than that isn’t easy. Things like that only show up when they come up for auction, and then you just have to wait.”
That was about what I’d expected.
Honestly, being able to get fifty-year-old wild ginseng at all was impressive.
“Then could I ask you to find a fifty-year-old one first?”
He nodded at that and pulled out a calculator.
He punched in a few numbers, then slid it toward me.
A price a little over twenty million won.
Thankfully, that was within the range I’d expected.
I transferred the money on the spot and signed the contract.
I can always earn more later.
I muttered that to myself as I did it.
Honestly, my hand was trembling from how much it hurt to spend. Damn it.
I had no idea whether this would actually work.
If it did, then I’d found a good way to increase my inner power.
And if it didn’t, I could just think of it as expensive health food.
All right, then. Time to go work out.
It had been a week since I returned from Hong Kong.
Which meant it had been almost two weeks since I’d last been to the gym.
***
Whoosh—
The gym owner’s punch came in.
I tilted my head to slip it, then drove my fist in under his chin.
He staggered back half a step. I followed immediately and kicked the outside of his thigh.
Thud.
A heavy sound rang out.
I could see the owner grit his teeth and hold firm.
His fist came in from the left.
I ducked my upper body to avoid it and stabbed a short shot into his ribs.
“Ghh...”
At last he let out a short breath and put some distance between us.
We both took a step back and caught our breath.
Middle of the third round.
We were both soaked in sweat.
“Wow... seriously, you’re relentless. Haa...”
The owner laughed in disbelief and said it.
After dragging in a rough breath for a moment, he slapped his gloves together.
“Again.”
He came at me again.
This time he feinted left and switched to the right before throwing his punch.
Crack!
I could feel his fist break through my guard and slam heavily into the side of my headgear.
My vision shook, but my eyes stayed fixed for a moment on his forearm.
If I hit the acupoint at that angle right now...
The scenario unfolded in my head too clearly.
I’d extend my right hand, thread it between his shoulder and neck, press the point with my index and middle fingers, and twist his elbow joint backward. It would be over in one second.
Too bad this was a gym.
As I dropped back, the owner lifted his leg, aiming for my side.
I blocked it with my elbow. The impact traveled from my forearm all the way up to my shoulder.
I tested him by measuring distance with my fists.
The owner changed rhythm and fired off two quick shots.
I twisted away, then slipped another punch into his ribs.
He was trying to catch his breath now.
Now it’s the Jangmun point.
If I drove the heel of my palm into the space between his ribs, it would spasm his diaphragm.
One hit, and he’d fold.
“Hoo... hold on, timeout.”
I finally raised a hand and stopped the sparring.
For sure, something in me felt sharpened right now.
And more than anything else—
This isn’t fun.
It was one thing to see openings, but another to keep being unable to use them. That kept making the whole thing go flat on me.
It made sense, really. We weren’t fighting to kill each other; this was just a sport.
There was still tension and fun in that, but right now it just felt frustrating.
...Maybe it’s because I went to Hong Kong.
Those few days there.
Being chased by the Triads, fighting mercenaries with special forces backgrounds.
The electric tension and thrill I’d felt in every moment kept coming back to me now and then.
This is all because I’m running low on dopamine. I should find another hobby.
I was thinking that while I caught my breath when the owner took off his headgear and handed me a bottle of water.
“Here. Drink some water.”
I took it and drank a mouthful.
Warm water slid down my throat.
“Hah... Dohyun, did you go off and do special training somewhere for two weeks? Why are you so good?”
“Haha, special training? No. I was just busy with work.”
The owner wiped his face with a towel and looked at me.
He had a strange expression.
“Still, your vibe’s changed a lot since I last saw you.”
“Mine?”
“How do I put it...”
He turned his neck and searched for the right words.
“You feel a lot fiercer. Like your whole atmosphere got sharper, maybe? There’s just this kind of presence now. You weren’t like that before.”
That was unexpected.
I stared blankly at him.
“Anyway, today was really great. No, seriously, you should be a fighter. You’ve got natural talent.”
The owner gave me a thumbs-up.
Then he grinned and added one more thing.
“You know what I mean, even if I don’t say it, right? If you’re interested, just let me know.”
I gave an awkward laugh and headed for the locker room like I was fleeing.
I get hit on every time I come here. Anyway...
I’ve changed?
***
On the way home, the streets were quiet now that rush hour had passed.
It was about a ten-minute walk to my place. I considered putting in my earbuds, then decided against it and just walked.
“Ugh, I should’ve brought an outer layer with me.”
Even though it was May, once the sun went down it got pretty chilly.
I folded my arms, regretting that I’d come out wearing nothing but a thin hoodie.
That was when I turned the corner and passed the convenience store in front of my place.
Someone was sitting in one of the outdoor chairs.
The first thing I noticed was the blonde hair.
Her hair, usually tied back, was let down tonight.
It spilled over her shoulders and swayed lazily in the evening breeze.
And those deep blue eyes.
Her straight nose and sharp jawline gave her a striking beauty that didn’t fit the convenience-store scenery at all.
It was Elena.
For once, she wasn’t in her usual business attire; instead she was in jeans and a hoodie.
With her long legs stretched out and her body leaning back against the plastic chair, she looked unusually relaxed.
As she took a sip of beer and looked around, her eyes met mine.
And then—
“Dohyun. Running into each other in a place like this, what a coincidence.”
Elena greeted me as if she’d been waiting for me.
Honestly, the lie was so shameless it was almost insulting. I couldn’t help laughing.
“Haha... so, what’s going on? You’re dressed differently tonight, too.”
“I’m telling you, it’s a real coincidence. I’m not on duty right now. I’m off work.”
She shrugged and pointed at her clothes.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two beer cans on the table.
One was open. The other was still sealed.
“Yeah, but for a coincidence, you’ve got two beer cans ready.”
“You’re right. Then I guess that’s a coincidence too.”
The corners of Elena’s lips lifted.
Then she said to me, casually, “Anyway, want to have a beer with me?”