Adaptation, Part 2
"This is driving me insane," Han Do-yun muttered. The words carried a storm of emotions.
Twelve years ago, he remembered how Jeong Seok-woo had torn through the city like a madman over one missing orphanage kid. Plastering missing-person flyers himself. Pacing in and out of police stations. Wandering the streets until dawn, then chain-smoking on the orphanage courtyard bench until sunrise. Back then, Han Do-yun's business had only just begun to take off, so he couldn't offer much help. But every time they spoke, he could tell how heavily the ordeal weighed on the older man.
And now it seemed that missing child had been the young man sitting right in front of him.
But that was one thing. Believing the claim that this man had "returned from another world" was something else entirely. Han Do-yun was not a romantic. He made his living in reality—genuine articles versus counterfeits, legal versus illegal, the flow of money, the micro-expressions people made when they lied. He had spent decades observing all of it since his active-duty days.
Of course, the young man before him didn't display a single tell of someone lying. Still, Han Do-yun let out a slow breath.
"...With all due respect, I honestly can't believe what you're saying," he said, perfectly calm.
Kang Ihyun nodded. "Yeah. Even I think it's a story that's hard to believe."
Han Do-yun gestured at the gems on the table. "The items themselves are definitely unusual. To be honest, I've never seen anything like them."
Then came the brutally realistic follow-up.
"But that doesn't mean we immediately jump to the conclusion that they came from some unknown ancient civilization overseas—or, even more absurdly, from another world. Those are completely different matters."
Kang Ihyun showed no particular reaction. If anything, he nodded as if he understood completely.
"...If I were in your position, I'd feel the same way."
It was a detached answer. There was no desperate attempt to convince him, no frustrated expression. That attitude, strangely enough, made Han Do-yun look at the young man again.
Hoodie. Sweatpants. Canned coffee. His speech was that of an ordinary young man his age. Yet piled on the table were gems that could probably buy a small country if sold. And that leather pouch had just produced something that would make Newton and Einstein sit bolt upright in their graves. Common sense kept colliding with itself.
At that moment, Kang Ihyun gave a tiny smile.
"...What if I had more concrete proof? What would you do then?"
Han Do-yun's eyebrows twitched. "...Proof?"
Kang Ihyun slowly picked up the subspace pocket. Then, as casually as reaching into a regular bag, he slipped his hand inside.
Han Do-yun's gaze followed naturally. The pouch still looked perfectly ordinary in size. But the next instant—
Srrrng.
A low, heavy metallic sound echoed through the director's office.
And then Kang Ihyun's hand slowly withdrew. In it was a sword whose length could never possibly have fit inside that small pouch.
Black scabbard. Countless scratches and signs of wear. The leather grip had faded to a pale white from years of use, and near the tip of the scabbard was a dark reddish stain that looked suspiciously like old blood. This was no decorative piece. Anyone could tell at a glance that this weapon had taken lives.
The air in the director's office suddenly grew heavy. Han Do-yun's pupils trembled slowly.
"...Wait."
He instinctively leaned forward in his chair.
"...No."
The words tangled in his mouth. His sense of reality couldn't keep up. A sword of that length had just come out of that tiny pouch.
Kang Ihyun carefully laid the sword on the table.
Thud.
A heavy sound rang out. Then, in a perfectly casual tone, he said, "This is the sword I used in that other world."
Han Do-yun couldn't speak for a long time. He simply looked back and forth between the sword and the pouch. Sword. Pouch. Sword. Pouch.
Then, very slowly...
"...Ha."
A dry laugh slipped out. This time it was genuine. Magic trick? CGI? Optical illusion? It was nowhere near that level. He had seen countless fakes in his life, but the scene before him was so overwhelmingly real that the thought of doubting it didn't even occur to him.
Han Do-yun eventually leaned back in his chair and muttered, "...This is actually insane."
Then his gaze returned to the sword. Its shape was a simple, unadorned European bastard sword style, yet it carried a completely different, oppressive weight. It wasn't just its size. It had an indescribable sense of menace, as if it had been carved from the bones of a savage beast.
Without thinking, Han Do-yun reached out. "...Would it be all right if I touched it for a moment?"
"Yes, you can even lift it if you'd like."
He carefully gripped the hilt. The moment he tried to lift it—
"...Ugh?"
The sword barely moved. Han Do-yun's eyebrows twitched. This time he planted his feet properly and used both hands. Only then did the sword rise a tiny bit.
Clack.
The moment the tip of the scabbard left the table, a crushing weight bore down on his entire arms.
"...Crazy."
A low curse escaped him. It easily felt like over thirty kilograms. This wasn't a sword—it could pass for a dumbbell. Han Do-yun gritted his teeth, barely managed to raise it, then set it back down on the table with a heavy thud. The table rattled from the impact.
"...Is this really a weapon meant for a human to use?" Han Do-yun looked down at his tingling palms. "It's like carrying around an entire ingot of iron."
Kang Ihyun gave a small laugh. "...The material is a bit special."
"What material?"
Kang Ihyun looked at the sword for a moment before answering calmly, "...It's made from dragon bone."
Silence.
Han Do-yun slowly raised his head. "...Excuse me?"
"The scabbard uses both bone and leather."
"..."
Han Do-yun was speechless for several seconds. Kang Ihyun watched his reaction, let out a soft chuckle, then naturally picked up the sword with one hand.
"Take a look."
Srrrng.
With a heavy metallic ring, the sword spun smoothly through the air. There was no sense of brute force. It moved as naturally as twirling a familiar tree branch. The weight that had required both of Han Do-yun's hands moments ago seemed to mean nothing in Kang Ihyun's grip.
Han Do-yun watched silently. After a while, Kang Ihyun slowly slid the sword back into its scabbard with a soft click, then placed it back into the subspace pocket as if nothing had happened.
Han Do-yun finally pressed a hand to his forehead. "...How on earth is the squad leader staying so calm after seeing this?"
Jeong Seok-woo took a sip of water. "When I first saw it, I spaced out for a good while too."
Han Do-yun stared at the pouch where the sword had vanished. This time he looked at Kang Ihyun with slightly different eyes. Until now, the bigger question had been where the hell did he get something like this? But now it was different.
If what this young man said was really true—and at this point, it seemed undeniably true—then the gems on the table weren't just assets. They were objects from another world. In some ways, the situation had just become far more complicated.
Han Do-yun slowly rubbed his forehead. "...First of all."
True to his realistic nature, he started with the most realistic statement possible.
"I understand that the origin of these items is far from ordinary."
"Yes."
"But the problem is," Han Do-yun tapped one of the gold coins on the table, "how to legally convert them into cash is an entirely separate issue."
He added with complete seriousness, "To be honest, out of everything here, the easiest thing to handle is actually the gold coins."
"...Pardon?"
"They have no recognized historical value."
He picked up one of the coins. "By modern Earth standards, they're basically just gold lumps of unknown origin." He set it down again with a soft clink.
"On the other hand," his gaze moved to the rubies, "...these could cause serious problems."
Han Do-yun's eyes darkened. "They're gems that don't exist in our world."
A quiet tension settled over the director's office once more. Then Han Do-yun spoke very slowly.
"...This is something we have to handle extremely carefully."
※
For a while, Han Do-yun simply stared at the gold coins on the table. He rolled one between his fingertips, held it up to the light, then set it down again. With a thoroughly realistic expression, he said, "...First, we need to decide on a direction."
Kang Ihyun asked, "A direction?"
"Yes." Han Do-yun tapped a coin with his finger. "Whether you'll sell them as gold coins as they are, or have them processed first."
Jeong Seok-woo frowned. "...I get selling them as-is, but what do you mean by processing?"
Han Do-yun spoke with a firm voice. "To put it bluntly, it would be better to melt them down."
The director's office fell silent for a moment. Kang Ihyun tilted his head. "...Melt them?"
"Yes." Han Do-yun explained in a perfectly calm tone. "The gold coins that trade at high prices in the market aren't expensive simply because they're made of gold. Their historical value is what matters."
"Ah, I see."
"Exactly. So... to be frank, these coins have zero historical value by modern standards." He gave a dry chuckle. "Or more precisely—" He flipped the coin with a finger. "—they have no history at all."
Kang Ihyun's expression turned slightly strange. Han Do-yun wasn't wrong. Those coins were definitely currency from a real country, but that country didn't exist in this world.
Han Do-yun continued. "In the end, by modern market standards, they're basically just high-purity gold ingots. So if we're only going to get the raw gold value anyway..."
"Melting them wouldn't be a problem."
"Right. In fact, that would be safer."
Jeong Seok-woo crossed his arms. "...Isn't that illegal?"
"Melting gold as an individual isn't illegal in the first place," Han Do-yun answered in a practical tone. "The issue is the quantity." He scanned the coins on the table again. "...If we move all of this at once, an investigation is guaranteed."
"The National Tax Service?"
"That's the baseline." Han Do-yun sighed. "It could even raise suspicions of money laundering."
Kang Ihyun's face stiffened slightly. "...That serious?"
"That's how it works in Korea when large amounts of gold with unknown origins start moving." Kang Ihyun looked genuinely fed up. "...Things were a lot simpler on the other side."
Han Do-yun returned to practical matters. He pointed at the coins. "Before we dispose of them, there's one thing that's most important."
"The most important thing...?"
"Yes. Purity verification."
※
A few days later, late afternoon. The children were still out at school and academies, and the faint smell of dinner preparations had begun to drift from the cafeteria.
Around that time, a dark green sedan slowly pulled into the alley in front of the orphanage.
Screeech.
Han Do-yun parked the car in front of the orphanage gate, checked his wristwatch, then immediately took out his phone and sent a text to Jeong Seok-woo.
Not long after the message was sent, the orphanage front door opened and Kang Ihyun appeared. Black padding jacket. Hoodie. Jeans. To anyone looking, he was just an ordinary neighborhood young man.
As Kang Ihyun approached, he asked, "Did you wait long?"
"Not at all. I just got here too."
Once Kang Ihyun opened the passenger door and got in, Han Do-yun asked, "Isn't the squad leader coming?"
"Ah, the director is busy today because of the children's birthday party. Apparently four kids have their birthdays today."
"I see."
Han Do-yun nodded. Children's birthdays were important. Soon the car door closed, and the sedan quietly pulled out of the alley once more.
※
Seoul outskirts. The roads near the industrial complex had a completely different atmosphere from Gangnam. Countless large cargo trucks rumbled along. Air thick with the smell of metal. Factory buildings spewing steam.
Kang Ihyun looked out the window and asked, "...We're going somewhere more ordinary than I expected."
Han Do-yun gave a dry laugh. "The places where real money moves don't look like they do in movies."
"Ah."
"And for something like this, discretion is the most important thing." He turned the steering wheel and continued. "The place we're going today is a precious metals refining company."
"Refining?"
"Yes. They melt gold, measure purity, and handle industrial metals. These days it's also called urban mining."
A question flashed through Kang Ihyun's mind. "Didn't you say we were only checking purity? Wouldn't a regular jewelry store have been fine?"
At the naive question, Do-yun smiled faintly. "Jewelry stores are a bit risky."
"Risky?"
"There are a lot of people there with loose lips." Han Do-yun explained calmly. "But places like this deal in much larger transaction volumes, so they don't usually make a fuss over seeing a few unusual items."
Kang Ihyun nodded. A professional was indeed a professional. He had only thought, I'm selling gold, but every single step in the actual process carried potential risks.
A short while later, the car stopped in front of a factory building. The exterior was nothing special. Gray iron door. Old sign. Metal dust stains dotted the walls here and there.
Kang Ihyun looked at the building and muttered, "...We're checking purity here?"
"Yes." Han Do-yun unfastened his seatbelt. "Places like this are actually the real deal."
※
Inside the iron door was far cleaner than expected. The smell of metal mixed with the low hum of machinery. Beyond the glass walls, workers in coveralls were melting and sorting materials.
A middle-aged man walked out from behind the counter. Closely cropped hair. Rough work clothes. Burn scars scattered across the backs of his hands. The moment he saw Han Do-yun, he gave a slight nod.
"It's been a while, Representative Han."
"Have you been well?"
The two men shared a brief handshake. The man's gaze naturally shifted to Kang Ihyun.
"...And this gentleman?"
"The person I mentioned."
The man nodded without another word. He didn't ask unnecessary questions. That alone told Kang Ihyun why Han Do-yun had brought him to this place.
They soon moved to a small inspection room inside. Stainless steel table. Digital scale. And measuring equipment he'd never seen before. The man sat down and asked, "So, what would you like me to look at?"
Han Do-yun glanced at Kang Ihyun. In response, Kang Ihyun took out several gold coins he had separately prepared in a coin purse.
"...I'd like to have the purity of these gold coins checked."
The man silently accepted one coin. He weighed it in his fingertips, then immediately put on gloves and moved in front of the inspection equipment.
The gold coin was carefully placed on the stainless steel table.
Whirr.
With a low mechanical hum, numbers began appearing on the measuring device's screen. The man's expression, which had shown no particular reaction at first, stiffened ever so slightly a few seconds later.
"...Hm?"
He looked at the screen again. Then he picked up the coin and moved it to a different device. A short silence. Only the sound of the machine hummed quietly.
Han Do-yun asked slowly, "...Is there a problem, sir?"
Instead of answering, the man checked the measurement values again. Then, a few seconds later, he let out a dry laugh.
"...No, it's not a problem. This is just pure gold."
"...Pure gold?"
"Yes." The man nodded slowly. "It's pure enough that you could call it 24K."
He flipped the coin over and examined the patterned side as well. "Usually gold coins have some silver or copper mixed in for durability. Of course, there are investment coins and medals made of pure gold, but people don't usually bring those here for measurement."
"Ah."
The man checked the equipment screen once more. "The purity itself is well within the range that appears in today's gold trading market." He looked down at the coin again. "Just one of these would be enough to buy a car."