Ch.181Chapter 181 – The World’s Finest Wine

“Are you talking about good-tasting alcohol?”

Confusion filled Baek Dan-hyeop’s face upon hearing my words.

He clearly had many questions he wanted to ask me, but it was obvious he couldn’t do so because of the other great family heads present around us.

“Yes. Since you’ve treated a guest from afar so generously, I thought that as a guest, I should return the favor in some small way.”

“Ho ho ho. There’s no need for that. To think that instead of us entertaining a guest who has come from far away, we would be entertained by the guest. What an amusing notion.”

Baek Dan-hyeop’s words might sound amusing, but he probably meant them as a way of saying “don’t say such unfunny things.”

Sure. That’s possible.

But what if my ability, which can transform even tasteless, dried-up twisted bread into the world’s finest bread, were to be used on this plain-looking rice wine?

‘It would surely create a wine much more delicious than that Ryeomisae alcohol Baek Dan-hyeop boasts about.’

That was precisely what I was aiming for. All these nobles here, being heads of great families, would naturally have attended many drinking gatherings.

And while they might have tasted many alcohols traveling through various regions, they would never have tasted alcohol created by my ability.

If someone were to ask why I’m so confident, I could hold a talk concert about what I’ve experienced because of the bread made with my ability.

“Hahaha. I understand your concern, Family Head. If a guest starts entertaining at a place where they should be entertained, people would laugh. But isn’t it proper etiquette for a guest to offer at least one gift even at a reception?”

Why do you think employees from large corporations throw things like drinks at subcontractors?

It’s like saying, “Since I’ve received from you, I should return the favor out of courtesy.”

Of course, not all prime contractors did this, but it happened quite often.

Anyway, in that sense, I planned to transform this rice wine in my hand into the world’s finest liquor today.

This plain-looking rice wine, full of impurities that would leave you suffering from a hangover after drinking it.

I grabbed this rice wine bottle, plain without any patterns, and picked up a small hammer that was placed on a nearby table.

I’m not sure why there was a hammer on the dining table, but perhaps some performance involving breaking dishes with a hammer was planned.

Usually in such cases, breaking plates or dishes symbolizes breaking misfortune.

‘It might be fun to fix them back too?’

Hit it with a hammer to break it, and tada! It becomes a new plate!

I wonder how the great family heads would react in that situation.

Imagining it made me smile unconsciously.

“Now, what’s in here is rice wine. And according to what Family Head Baek said, it’s a terribly plain alcohol made solely for the purpose of getting people drunk.”

I showed the rice wine bottle in my hand to everyone.

Not just this bottle, but I had poured alcohol from two other bottles as well, and everyone here saw rice wine flowing from them too.

“Thanks to Family Head Baek here, I’ve learned about good alcohol, so as a guest, I’d like to offer a small gift to all of you who have invited me.”

I put the bottle down on the table and swung the hammer in my hand three times at each of the three bottles.

—Ding, ding, ding.

Though plain in appearance, the porcelain must have been well-made, as a clear sound resonated.

After a total of nine hammer strikes, a faint light flickered briefly at the mouth of the bottles before disappearing.

This meant that my ability had been successfully applied to the alcohol inside these bottles.

I brought an empty cup, not the one I had given to Family Head Baek earlier.

Then I tilted the bottle I had used my ability on and poured the alcohol into the cup.

“How can this be……”

“Am, am I seeing things wrong?”

“Surely what was in there was… rice wine?”

“Interesting, very interesting!”

The family heads were greatly surprised by the clear, transparent liquid flowing into the cup.

‘My goodness, to be surprised by just this much. We haven’t even gotten to the main game yet.’

Clear alcohol flowing from a bottle that was full of cloudy rice wine.

Moreover, instead of the sour smell characteristic of rice wine, a fragrant forest-like scent emanated from the alcohol, as if one had entered a forest.

As the scent spread throughout the banquet hall, everyone’s attention, including the servants and court ladies carrying food, turned toward the cup.

“Family Head Baek. Would you like to try it?”

“Hmm, hmm hmm. When an esteemed guest offers, how could I refuse? I’ll drink it with gratitude.”

When I offered the cup, Baek Dan-hyeop took it, making it obvious that while he shouldn’t drink it, he was reluctantly doing so because of the esteemed guest’s offer.

He smelled the cup once, then drank it all in one go.

After emptying the cup, Baek Dan-hyeop’s head remained tilted back, not coming down.

Everyone was waiting for his reaction, but strangely, he didn’t move for quite some time.

After about 3 minutes, Baek Dan-hyeop slowly began to move.

“Th-th-this, what kind of alcohol is this?”

“What did you feel?”

“What did I feel? I felt something alright. I felt everything, yet I felt that it wasn’t everything.”

“……?”

Everyone was puzzled by Baek Dan-hyeop’s cryptic expression.

What was he trying to say?

Forgetting that people were watching him, Baek Dan-hyeop began to share his impressions of the alcohol.

“When I first drank the entire cup, I felt everything. From the sound of my breathing, the beating of my heart, the footsteps of others, to the sound of dust settling on the ground. All my senses seemed connected to this world. It felt as if I wasn’t myself. But after that, the sensation of feeling everything returned to normal. That should be normal, but I felt that when I drank the alcohol was the normal sensation, and now is not. That’s the kind of alcohol it was.”

“Let me try some too?”

A family head who didn’t understand Baek Dan-hyeop’s explanation stepped forward and asked me for a drink.

“By all means.”

I poured alcohol into the cup in his hand. I wondered how he would react.

He too drank the alcohol I poured in one gulp and had an expression as if in ecstasy.

“It’s true. I felt everything……”

“How was it?”

“How was it? It was the best experience of my life. For this alcohol, I wouldn’t mind paying 100 gold coins.”

I’m not sure how much 100 gold coins is worth, but considering the economy of this world where necessities are very cheap and luxuries extremely expensive, it’s probably worth at least 100 gold pieces.

“Oh my, alcohol worth 100 gold coins? Unbelievable. I must try it too!”

“I, I want to try it too!”

After two people had tasted the alcohol made with my ability, other family heads rushed forward, asking me for a drink.

I served a cup to each of the great family heads gathered here, and they all smelled it as soon as they received the cup, then drank it in one go.

“Haah……”

“Hmmmm……”

They all moaned and had expressions as if in ecstasy.

……Is it that delicious?

I tried a cup myself… it was tasty, but it had a slightly different taste from Han Dongbaek family’s famous Ryeomisae.

If Ryeomisae was an alcohol that cleared the mind, the alcohol transformed by my ability had a heavy, sweet first taste, a smooth swallow, and a slightly refreshing finish.

From my perspective, I might actually prefer Ryeomisae, which clears the mind.

“Hey, Count Severio! This is an amazing alcohol!”

“Truly remarkable ability! Not only did you cure the Emperor’s baldness, but you also helped the Three Ministers perform excellently in bed, and now you’ve let us taste such delicious alcohol!”

“If you sold this alcohol, you could become incredibly wealthy! Could you possibly visit our family?”

“Hey, man! Follow the order! You should visit from the nearest province in turn! In the end, you can visit the great family with a port!”

The great family heads, having recovered from the ecstasy brought by the alcohol, rushed to me and began stating their demands.

At this point, I must have made a deep impression on the great family heads, right?

‘Listen carefully, Dongsik. You should always serve high-quality alcohol to important people and elders. That’s how you gain their favor and make the impossible possible. Understand?’

Watching the great family heads competing to invite me to their families, I recalled what my terrible boss once said while treating business partners to expensive liquor at a high-end bar using company money.

‘Thank you, boss. I hope you become a better person during your time in prison.’