“The construction will be finished in 20 days, and the official opening will be in a month.” Sehwa guided Geom Woo-bin to the various places that they approached.
“When it opens, I will invite you first.”
“Yes…?”
“Why the reaction? You don’t want to come?”
“It’s boring. I am thirteen.”
“Hey, where is Giru just drinking with women? There are good performances and dances, and there are many smart kids, so it will be fun to talk to them.”
As they were about to climb the stairs to see the third floor, Kwak Bong appeared from the window. “Sehwa! Oh! Are you here, Lord?”
“This is turning out to be a lot of work.”
“It’s hard work. It’s fun.”
“What happened?”
In the meantime, Sehwa’s attitude had become much kinder because it was Kwak Bong who worked hard to protect Oseongiru’s construction site. “Sehwa, have you ever heard of Ogiju?”
“No. Are you coming?”
“Wolhagiru has been selling it for two days, and rumors have spread that it tastes the same as Sagiju.”
Sehwa made a face that expressed her doubts. “Please. Sake is the only alcohol in the world that can taste similar to Sake.”
“I thought so too, but people who have tried Ogiju say it tastes exactly the same.”
It was only a matter of time before a rumor was to spread, even if it is unbelievable, before it eventually became true.
* * *
The Blood Lion placed the Ogiju brought by Geom Woo-bin up to his mouth.
He paused before he swallowed. “It tastes completely different from my Hwagokju. It tastes awful.”
Jang Mandok, who spit out alcohol with Do Pyeong-su, nodded in agreement. However, Seo Seok-san, who had ingested alcohol, had a different opinion. “The taste is inferior to my Pungryu wine, but people who are insensitive to alcohol will not be able to tell the difference between Sake and Ogi. By the way, these ignorant bastards. What is the name of the drink, Ogiju? If you imitate the taste of alcohol, at least come up with a creative name.”
Geum Hong also had the same opinion as Seo Seok-san. “It’s about the same as getting medicine. That’s enough flavor to captivate people. It’s amazing. What kind of craftsman could make our scammers like this?”
It shouldn’t be too difficult to find out since it must have been made in Wolhagiru. “How dare you steal ours. I must kill you.”
Do Pyeong-su, who muttered, asked Geom Woo-bin, “You dared to steal the trick of fraud, so you were guilty of death, right?”
Geom Woo-bin, who was thinking deeply about something, said, “Was the recipe for wine stolen?”
“It’s not like my secret was stolen, but…”
“Are you a stalker? Didn’t Priest Jang lose anything? None of them had their secrets stolen. It’s just that someone studied the sham liquor and made it taste similar.”
“It is, but it’s a shame.”
At Do Pyeong-su’s words, Geom Woo-bin simply nodded. “It’s a shame, but it’s not a sin to die for. After all, the scammer is also imitating the fact that it was made by someone a long time ago, but who doesn’t say anything to the priests?”
Geum Hong then asked, “Imitating our scammers is also a talent, so you’re saying we should just move on?”
“What crime can you hold on the person who made Ogiju?”
Do Pyeong-su, who had been thinking about the crime for a long time, said, “I’m sorry!”
“Since I touched the heart of the Blood Lion, I would have died if it was the same as before. But the priests of today are not the priests of the past.”
“You are not guilty of asking.”
“The share of the former is similar, but the rest of the work is different, so people who know how to drink will find that this is indeed a scam.”
In the end, the Blood Lion could not do anything after being cloned by the scammer. In the place where Geom Woo-bin left, there were only four people remaining. “At times like this, I think the old days were good. They touched our hearts, so we kill them. It’s much simpler.”
At Do Pyeong-su’s words, Jeon Yeong Hong poured the wine into the glass. “Do you think Ogiju goes down your throat?”
“It’s good enough to drink, but nothing more. That’s the limit of fakes.”
After passing the drink, Geum Hong continued. “You still have something to do, right?”
“Not much is missing. It just makes me feel bad.”
“Why don’t you raise the wall you can’t cross to about five hundred?”
Do Pyeong-su then asked with a puzzled face, “How?”
“I’m making a new drink. Do you remember what Master said before?”
“Master wasn’t much of a chatter, but he still told us quite a lot, how do you remember them all?”
“You idiot, you just need to remember the talk about alcohol.”
“Who are you calling an idiot!?”
Do Pyeong-su and Seo Seok-San then spoke. “If it’s about alcohol, you say that if we work together, we can make more delicious sake than fraudsters?”
“That’s right. So, we studied together for a few days. The results were not good.” Conflicts of opinion were inevitable, and the Blood Lions back then were much fiercer towards each other than they were now. After giving birth to a tragedy in which the ribs of Yeon Hong, Seo Seok-san’s nose, Do Pyeong-su’s molar, and Jang Mandok’s arm were broken, the work of making alcohol together went beyond the water.
“Are you going to do that again?”
“You already talked to the death penalty. We are different now than we used to be.”
“Of course, a lot has changed, but….” Seok-san looked around the three of them.
“Is it possible for us to make a new drink without fighting like we did back then?”
No one could be sure about it. “You should try. But did you discover the possibility back then?”
“It’s different from what I remember. I think that was the last thing we talked about to get the best alcohol-based on Yeo Geum-ju?”
“That’s because it was true.”
“Actually, that was bullshit! I didn’t even want to try my Hwagok Juro!”
Seo Seok-san made a screeching sound by scratching the table placed in the pavilion with her fingernails. Thanks to that, the quarrel between Jeon Yeong-hong and Do Pyeong-su, who were about to explode, stopped.
“Let’s kill each other’s pride this time. This isn’t an individual’s pride, it’s the pride of all the bloodbaths. If we can’t make a drink that can definitely press Ogiju, the Blood Lion loses. Is that not it?”
Everyone had no choice but to agree with Seo Seok-san’s words. “As long as I can make sake that is several times better than Ogiju, I’m fine with whoever’s alcohol it is based on.”
The Blood Lions only looked into each other’s eyes. Then, Hong Yeong Jeon drew another line next to the one that Seok-san had made. Her intentions were clear, so the other two also made two lines.
Again, the decision was to climb the ladder.
* * *
Jo Ja-myung glanced at the fifty silver-jaws on the table, then turned to Kang Chansik. “What is this?”
“Your brother’s medical bill. Do you need it?”
There was a pause. “What do you want?”
“Your head. It’s not that I’m going to kill you, I just want a little strand of that hair.”
“I’m asking you to come in as a subordinate.”
At this, Jo Ja-myung stood up, staggered, and grabbed the table, barely centered. “I have already left the Black Society and I have no intention of going back.”
“Why?”
“Are you going to cut off even one of your strong legs?”
“Do you think that one leg is worth fifty pieces of silver? The leg was amputated six years ago, right? It’s because he was caught while he was spending money to pay for his younger brother’s treatment, right? This time, I’ll give it to you in advance, without the need to hit it. Let your family eat and live.”
Fifty Nyang was the money that Jo Ja-myung desperately needed. However, he hesitated because of his younger brother. “I promised my brother I would never do anything bad again. So I will never become a part of the black society.”
“That’s what I want! You’re not doing anything bad!”
Upon hearing this, Jo Ja-myung had a puzzled expression on his face. “This black society might be a black society, but a good black society!”
“Do you think that makes sense?”
“If it makes sense, would you like me to call you and give you fifty pounds? No matter how much I think about it, it doesn’t make sense, so I called you to see if you could find a way. Is there any good way?”
Jo Ja-myung looked at Kang Chansik and asked, “Do you really want to create a black society that doesn’t do bad things?”
“Okay.”
“Why?”
“There are many reasons… The thing is, I also want to live a good life.”
He could read the sincerity from Kang Chansik’s slightly reddened face. Jo Ja-myung picked up fifty nyang from the table.
“I will go to work tomorrow.”
* * *
General Hwang Seo-min of Wolharu thought he had heard Wang Do-bong wrong. “What did you say now?”
“You said that the protection fee would be raised to two hundred hermits a month.”
He definitely heard it right. “I heard that after the Black Society of Hangzhou was shaken up once, Huizhou Kang took the supremacy. First of all, congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you mean the amount of two hundred nyang per month?”
“All decisions of our Oh Seonho are the Lord’s will.”
Hwang Seo-min nodded. “I think I made a stupid decision. No matter how much you say it is a daily routine, don’t you think that the protection cost of two hundred nyang is too much?”
“If you’re asking for my thoughts, I don’t think. The thoughts are the Lord’s, and I’m just delivering. Is it ten days after the day you pay the protection fee? I will be back in ten days.”
Hwang Seo-min asked Wang Do-bong, who stood up. “What will happen if I don’t? Are you going to come from the Oh Seonho and do something?”
“As I said before, I don’t think so. So I don’t think I have anything to answer for.”
“I heard that all other giruna, gaekzan, and juru had their protection costs cut in half, but why did we raise our monthly cost by 20 times?”
“I….”
“Ah! I think I asked a stupid question to a thoughtless person. Okay.”
As soon as Wang Do-bong left, Hwang Seo-min’s fist struck the table. “Even when they turned, they turned firmly!”
If there was only one giru, one would eventually be embarrassed by the black society. Even Oh Seonho wouldn’t know it, but he was crossing Wolhagiru! There was either a certain point of belief, or Kang Chansik was the stupidest person in the world.
“Oh Seonho. What does this have to do with Ohseonjangwon?”
The other person shook his head. Considering Ohseonjangwon’s fame, he had no way of forming a relationship with the Black Society. “I have to make you realize the truth that if you overdo it, you will get angry.”
* * *
The reason why he thought, ‘I’ll just finish it then’ came to mind because, in the end, Jeong Yeong Hong won. The Blood Lions meticulously tasted the ingredients in each of them and seriously evaluated the secrets of other Blood Lions.
―I want to taste the best sake you can make.
Because of their foolish persistence, the wind of Hwa Jeok-san was never heard. But being late was better than not doing it at all. Hwa Jeok-san was dead, but Geom Woo-bin, who acted much like his alter ego, was by their side.
“I have to show the death penalty the best taste of alcohol.”
One more added to the goal of making a drink that was twice as delicious as Ogiju, so the attitude of the Bloody Lion was more serious than ever. Seeing that the Blood Lion slept for three full days in the brewery, Geom Woo-bin was also worried.
Geom Woo-bin was hanging out outside, and Seo Seok-san soon came out with a tired expression on his face. “The death penalty, why are you here?”
“Are the priests okay?”
“Hey, it’s okay to leave raw shrimp for three days. Wait a little longer than that. Soon we will be able to offer you a much better tasting drink than the squatters.”
“Doesn’t that mean we have to wait another year or three?”
“Three years? Do you really not believe us?”