58

The perfumer said to Minhyuk.

“As an expert in fragrances, I can say for sure that it’s ambergris. However, to confirm it precisely, you’ll need to request a component analysis from a specialized institution.”

Apparently, it could only be recognized as real ambergris if it contained a substance called ambrein.

Therefore, he said that he could only sell it for a good price after receiving a component analysis from a specialized institution.

“Where should I request it?”

“There’s only one place in our country. Request the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology in Busan. I hope it’s real ambergris!”

“Thank you.”

Minhyuk took the lump of ambergris and left the perfume shop.

On the spur of the moment, he got in his truck and headed to Busan.

Thud-

He got on the Gyeongbu Expressway.

It was his first time driving a truck long-distance.

His main purpose for going to Busan was to get the ambergris’s components tested, but since he was going to be taking a break anyway, he decided to enjoy the sea breeze and eat lots of raw fish.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling-

Minhyuk turned up the music and drove down the highway in high spirits.

.

.

.

After driving for about 4 hours, he finally arrived at his destination.

<Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology>

Minhyuk got out of the driver’s seat and looked around.

The research institute building was situated in an open area overlooking the blue ocean.

‘The view is nice.’

On his way there, he had already called the research institute and spoken to the researcher in charge.

Since the perfumer had spoken positively about it, the researcher in charge also showed active interest.

So far, there has never been a case of real dragon incense being discovered in our country.

Minhyuk headed to the entrance of the research institute with the lump of dragon incense.

Then he stopped walking.

‘I’m getting it tested anyway…’

It seemed like it would be better to hand over multiple lumps rather than just one.

Finding dragon incense on the beach was as difficult as winning the lottery.

No, the lottery has a winner every week, but dragon incense has never been found in Korea, so it was statistically a much rarer event.

If the same person were to find dragon incense multiple times, it would seem very strange to others.

‘Let’s just sell a lot at once and get it over with.’

Minhyuk climbed up to the cargo hold.

And he put his hand on the refrigerator and said,

“Return.”

BAM-

With a flash of light, he was transported to the underground labyrinth.

And he said to the princess,

“Um… can I have a little more of your hair?”

This time, she couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked,

“Why do you need my hair?”

“Well… I really need it to unify the country. Trust me!”

It wasn’t a complete lie.

If he sold the dragon incense and secured a stable financial foundation in the real world, he would be able to focus more on unifying this world.

“How much more do you need?”

“I think about double what I got last time.”

SWOOSH-

The princess spread her fingers like before and brushed her hair.

She repeated the action several more times than before.

“Is this enough?”

He counted the strands of hair after receiving them, and there were about 20.

“This should hold me over for now. I’ll let you know if I need more later.”

Minhyuk put the princess’s hair in the refrigerator.

He didn’t just put it in; he cut it all off and put it in.

Then, all of the hair turned into lumps of dragon incense.

Cutting it into multiple pieces didn’t increase the number of lumps of dragon incense.

It’s like if you cut a 50,000 won bill into five pieces and took it to the bank; they wouldn’t exchange it for 250,000 won.

Here is a summary of the princess’s hair transformation:

1. If you put in one whole strand of hair, it turns into a bundle worth $100.

2. If you put in cut hair, it turns into lumps of dragon incense.

3. Cutting it into multiple pieces and putting it in doesn’t increase the number of lumps of dragon incense.

Minhyuk obtained 20 lumps of dragon incense.

The size of each lump was different.

There was a scale in the back of the truck.

I bought a scale a few days ago when I was getting the handcart ready.

When I weighed the lumps of ambergris, the lightest one was 4kg and the heaviest one was 10kg.

The total weight of all 20 pieces was 150kg.

At 40 million won per kg, it was worth 6 billion won.

I searched the internet and found that a few years ago, a fisherman in Thailand had found 100kg of ambergris.

So 150kg wasn’t an incredibly large amount.

Humming, I loaded the lumps of ambergris onto the handcart.

The handcart had a loading capacity of 180kg, so I was able to load everything at once.

Thud.

I used the lift to lower the ambergris into the back of the truck.

Then I pulled the cart into the research institute building.

The place that would perform the component analysis was on the third floor.

I took the elevator up and went to the room where the researcher in charge worked.

One of the researchers sitting at a desk asked Minhyuk,

“Are you the one who called earlier? You said you wanted to request an ambergris component analysis.”

“Yes.”

The researcher stood up and approached Minhyuk.

Then, looking at the lumps of ambergris on the handcart, he exclaimed in surprise,

“There’s this much? If this is real ambergris, you’ve hit the jackpot! Lotto! No, it’s better than the lotto. You don’t even have to pay taxes on this.”

Minhyuk filled out the analysis request form and submitted it, then asked the researcher,

“When will the test results be ready?”

“It will take about two days. I’ll contact you as soon as the results are out.”

.

.

.

While waiting for the component analysis results, Minhyuk enjoyed his trip to Busan.

I parked the truck in a paid parking lot on the outskirts of Busan.

The parking fee was a bit expensive, but it was a place with good security facilities.

And I had installed a camera and an alarm in the back of the truck and reinforced the door, so there was no problem.

Crash.

I walked along Haeundae Beach, where the waves were crashing.

It wasn’t peak season, so there weren’t many people.

It was quiet and had a nice atmosphere, which was even better.

I also ate raw fish and grilled octopus at Jagalchi Market.

And I went to Gukje Market and saw the street that had appeared in the movie.

Traveling alone was a bit lonely, but I could feel the charm of spending time just for myself, without having to worry about anyone else.

As I spent my time enjoying and fulfilling my time, two days had passed before I knew it.

picon

Before I knew it, two days had passed as I spent my time enjoyably and in a fulfilling way.

Ding-dong.

A text message arrived on the phone.

It was a message from the researcher in charge.

<I’ve sent the test results by email. Congratulations on hitting the jackpot!>

Even without checking the email, he could tell just from the message.

It had been determined that it was real ambergris containing ambrein.

‘Nice!’

He had assumed it was 99.99% real, but it felt twice as good to have it definitively proven through an expert agency test.

Now all that remained was to sell it.

The best way to get rid of ambergris for a high price was to put it up for auction.

Minhyuk uploaded the 150kg of ambergris to the auction site, attaching the ingredient test results.

Ding-dong-

Another message arrived on his phone.

This time, it was a message from the man in Vietnam.

<I’ve gathered the entire quantity.>

It said that he had secured 1,000 bottles of the liquor.

Everything was going smoothly.

‘Good!’

Minhyuk immediately headed to Incheon Airport.

He would finish up the work in Vietnam while the ambergris auction was underway.

He checked the refrigerator as accompanied baggage and boarded the plane.

After flying for almost 5 hours, he arrived at Hanoi International Airport.

As he picked up his baggage and exited the airport, he felt a humid atmosphere that was hard to experience in Korea.

It felt real that he had come to a warm southern country.

He had finally come to Southeast Asia, where many people traveled, as they said the travel expenses were cheaper than Jeju Island.

Of course, he hadn’t come purely for the purpose of traveling.

Bang-

A car horn sounded.

He turned his head and saw a van parked there.

“Minhyuk!”

Park Kwang-nam got out of the passenger seat and greeted Minhyuk.

“You must have had a hard time getting here!”

He pointed to the large box that Minhyuk had brought and asked,

“What is that?”

“It’s a refrigerator.”

“What did you bring a refrigerator for?”

“I brought it because he told me to.”

He gave a vague answer, saying that the ‘virtual acquaintance’ who had asked him to find the liquor had asked him to bring it.

“Let’s go to the hotel and unpack first. The liquor is at the hotel too.”

As Park Kwang-nam waved towards the van, a Vietnamese local got out of the driver’s seat.

It was the driver that Park Kwang-nam had hired for a few days to buy the liquor.

The driver swiftly lifted the refrigerator and loaded it into the van’s cargo area.

Thud-

After driving for about 20 minutes from the airport, they arrived at the hotel.

The room that Minhyuk had booked for Kwangnam Park was a suite with two bedrooms and a living room.

In one corner of the living room, there were numerous boxes of betel nut neatly stacked.

Each box contained 12 bottles.

“We’ve collected a clean 100 boxes.”

The original goal was 1,000 bottles, but they had gathered 1,200.

It didn’t matter if there were a few extra, since they had said so.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“But how are we going to transport this to Korea?”

“Well… let’s go get something to eat first. Is it because the in-flight meal was so bad? I’m starving.”

Minhyuk changed the subject.

“Really? Then let’s go eat quickly. I know a really good place.”

“I’m looking forward to it!”

Minhyuk followed Kwangnam Park to a restaurant not far from the hotel.

There, they ordered a variety of local dishes.

“You should have a drink, too.”

“Good idea!”

Kwangnam Park welcomed Minhyuk’s suggestion.

He hadn’t had a single drink since coming to Vietnam because he had been so busy gathering betel nut.

“What’s the famous alcoholic drink in Vietnam?”

“It’s a vodka made from glutinous rice called Nep Moi.”

“That sounds good.”

A restaurant employee brought over a bottle of liquor and glasses.

When the bottle was opened, it gave off a strong aroma of scorched rice.

However, like vodka, it had a high alcohol content.

It was 40 proof, much higher than soju.

‘Perfect!’

Tonight, he could transport the betel nut to the other world.

“Cheers!”

Minhyuk filled Kwangnam Park’s glass to the brim.

He then handed Minhyuk the bottle, who filled his own glass.

“Who would have thought that we’d be drinking together in a foreign country?”

The two chatted about this and that as they happily drank their glasses of alcohol.

And as they finished off two bottles of glutinous rice vodka.

Thud-

Kwangnam Park’s head hit the table.

As expected, he had passed out after drinking like water.

Minhyuk knew his drinking habits better than anyone.

‘Don’t think too badly of it.’

Minhyeok returned to the hotel, supporting Park Kwangnam.

And laid him down on the bed.

Buzz-

He fell into a deep sleep, snoring.

Minhyeok closed Park Kwangnam’s bedroom door and went to his own bedroom.

And spoke to the refrigerator after unpacking it.

“Return.”

Poof-

He returned to the underground labyrinth with a flash of light.

Minhyeok said to the princess,

“I have found Charon’s potion pouch, so now let’s go outside.”

The two of them escaped from the labyrinth and arrived at the underground graveyard.

From Noble mtl dot com

Minhyeok was going to go up to the ground right away, but the princess had to stay here for 30 days.

“Then I’ll see you later.”

Minhyeok said, looking back at the princess as he walked towards the exit.

“Let’s have coffee later outside… no, a cup of Doni tea.”

She nodded with a bright smile.

.

.

.

Minhyeok returned to the mansion.

The blacksmiths and alchemists were waiting for him.

“Inventory.”

Whoosh-

Charon’s potion pouches poured out of the refrigerator.

The people who were watching were speechless with surprise.

They had all heard rumors about Minhyeok’s abilities, but it was amazing to see it in person.

Someone picked up a potion pouch and examined it, saying,

“According to legend, Charon’s potion pouches are indestructible.”

Then Balin cut the belt of the potion pouch with the Star Dagger.

Not even a small scratch was made.

“It’s true.”

“Then can’t we use that characteristic to use the potion pouches for something other than their original purpose?”

The blacksmiths began to have a serious discussion.

Meanwhile, Minhyeok kept going back and forth between this world and the other world, carrying barrels of liquor.

.

.

.

Park Kwangnam came out of his bedroom in the morning and opened his mouth.

“Vodka definitely has less of a hangover than soju.”

Then, he was surprised to find the living room empty and asked Minhyuk.

“Where did all the rice liquor go that was here?”

“I moved it all last night.”

“Huh?”

Minhyuk smiled and continued.

“Since we’re all done, let’s do some sightseeing before we head back to Korea.”

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