RARC 1

Chapter 1

“Sir, your vodka is ready.”

Yeoneum took a sip of the vodka the flight attendant had brought her. The harsh liquor burned its way down her throat.

There was no way she could endure the long flight to Korea in a clear state of mind.

*What? Someone… died?*

A year earlier, Yeoneum had quit her job and gone to Australia on a working holiday. The phone call she received from Korea delivered news she couldn’t believe.

She abandoned everything and booked the earliest possible flight. Convinced there must have been some mistake, she returned home sooner than planned.

As she closed her eyes, trying desperately to suppress her anxiety, words she’d once spoken resurfaced in her mind.

*“Grandpa, isn’t it hard? These days everything’s done by machines. Who still does this kind of work by hand?”*
*“Food tastes deeper when it’s touched by human hands.”*

Yeoneum’s maternal family had run a brewery for generations.

Her grandfather, who had steadfastly guarded the Jeongju Brewery—where tradition and history lived on—had always given the same answer.

A stubborn old man clinging foolishly to tradition, and her mother who followed him without ever managing to bend that stubbornness.

Like a father and daughter who had worked in perfect harmony for decades, the two of them always repeated the same words.

*“Some things can be replaced by machines, and some can’t. No matter how hard it is, if human hands are required, then that’s just how it is. The taste is different.”*
*“People these days care more about how it looks on social media than how it tastes. Sure, taste matters too—but first impressions come first. That’s what’s important!”*

Yeoneum had argued passionately while looking at her mother’s swollen hands, stirring steaming rice with a massive wooden paddle. But neither of them listened.

*“Who do you think could change your grandfather’s mind? I won’t make you do it, so stop complaining and go.”*

Her mother, Haeju, wiped the beads of sweat from her smooth forehead with her rolled-up sleeve and waved Yeoneum away.

*“Honestly, both of them are so stubborn. Why suffer on purpose?”*

Those words had come from concern—for her exhausted mother and grandfather. Remembering how childish she’d been, Yeoneum pressed down hard on the lump rising in her throat.

The plane finally arrived at Incheon Airport.

She didn’t even wait for her luggage. What mattered was getting down to Jeongju as quickly as possible.

She jumped into a taxi waiting outside the terminal and abruptly asked the driver to take her to Jinhwa County.

“Where? Jinhwa County? This late in the evening? That’s not really—”

The taxi driver glanced at her through the rearview mirror, clearly hesitant.

In her dazed state, Yeoneum tried to fasten her seatbelt but fumbled clumsily, failing to secure it properly.

Thud.

At the simple refusal, her strength drained away. Her urgency had gotten ahead of her reason.

She opened the door to get out and muttered,

“I’m sorry. My… my mom… passed away… I was just in a hurry…”

The driver quickly grabbed her.

“Wait—wait. What did you just say?”

“The funeral hall… my mom—”

She couldn’t bring herself to finish. Tears blurred her vision.

Seeing her like that, the driver’s expression hardened.

If that was true, it changed everything.

With a grim face, he shifted gears and started the car.

“Fasten your seatbelt tight.”

The taxi pulled out quietly and sped down the road.

Yeoneum bit her lip, trying to hold it in, but soon tears streamed down her cheeks.

“It’s okay to cry out loud.”

The driver spoke softly, kindly—and that was the breaking point.

She still couldn’t believe it. She kept thinking it couldn’t be true. But once the tears started, they refused to stop.

“Hic… hhk… hngh… waaah…”

—

—

“Why does this taste like shit?”

At the man’s blunt remark, everyone in the lab stiffened.

Lee Hwido had become CEO of Daebok Liquor at a young age—not just because he was the grandson of Chairman Lee Bokcheol of the Daebok Group.

He developed a variety of soju and beer flavors suited to younger tastes, prioritized ability over seniority, and pushed aggressive marketing strategies, transforming Daebok Liquor from something old-fashioned into a trendy brand.

As a result, no one could deny his competence.

With an impressive physique and movie-star looks, he naturally drew attention wherever he went.

But his excessively strict standards, blunt speech, and cold, merciless personality made employees tremble whenever he appeared.

“Why are you here? This is still in development.”

The team leader tried to stay composed as the young CEO’s unannounced inspection threw the entire lab into panic.

The moment Hwido lifted the first glass to his lips, his brow furrowed and he slammed it down.

“We’re still in the interim evaluation stage. There’s time left in the scheduled aging process—”

As the team leader hurriedly explained, Hwido stepped toward one of the researchers.

Everyone watched his movements in confusion.

Hwido inhaled halfway—then his face twisted sharply.

“Not perfume… car air freshener?”

The researcher nodded, startled.

“H-how did you know? My girlfriend gave me one a few days ago—”

Hwido raised a hand, signaling he didn’t want to hear the rest.

Then, with long strides, he moved in front of Assistant Manager Kim.

Sniff.

“Did you smoke?”

Looking down at him with his head slightly tilted, Hwido spoke in a low voice. Kim felt goosebumps rise along his arms.

“I—I had just one this morning. I showered right after. Brushed my teeth again at work, washed my hands too—”

Kim sniffed himself frantically and asked the person beside him,

“Do I smell like smoke?”

*Don’t ask me.*

The researcher bit his lip, visibly uncomfortable. A flicker of disdain crossed Hwido’s face.

“It’d be better for this person to be transferred to another department. The order will go out this afternoon.”

“What? Sir—transfer? Suddenly?”

The team leader hurriedly intervened. A transfer was far better than being fired.

“Didn’t I make myself clear? This premium traditional liquor project requires special care. And yet—air fresheners? Cigarettes? From people who are supposed to be more sensitive to taste and aroma than anyone else?”

“I clearly instructed everyone not to smoke or wear perfume. I emphasized it repeatedly—”

Though the team leader had done nothing wrong, he cautiously tried to explain. Hwido raised one eyebrow, signaling him to continue.

“I apologize. We’ll be more careful going forward.”

Realizing Hwido wasn’t listening out of interest, the team leader corrected himself quickly.

“So… what about the tasting?”

“Dump it.”

Hwido left the lab without looking back.

—

—

*They say old men lose their grip, but it looks like his life’s still hanging on. Lost his daughter first, though. Hwido, you go see it yourself.*

Reclining in the backseat of a luxury sedan, Hwido pressed tired fingers to his heavy eyelids and asked quietly,

“How long?”

“Navigation says two hours and forty minutes. You worked late—you should rest on the way.”

Sixty years ago, when people barely had enough rice to eat, making alcohol from rice was a luxury.

When the law banned distilled soju made from rice, diluted soju made from industrial alcohol took its place.

That was how Daebok Liquor began—eventually growing into Korea’s top beverage conglomerate, producing soju, beer, bottled water, and soft drinks.

*The time has come.*

Chairman Lee Bokcheol, founder of Daebok Group, grasped the hand of his capable grandson—so much like himself—and spoke firmly.

“Soju, beer, drinks—we own them all. But how can we not have a home for traditional liquor?”

In recent years, traditional liquor had been quietly gaining popularity, then suddenly exploded among younger generations.

With Korean culture gaining global attention, the market was expanding rapidly. Traditional liquor was poised to become popular not just domestically, but overseas as well.

To commemorate Daebok Group’s 60th anniversary, they decided to build the country’s largest traditional liquor factory and tourist complex.

The location was Jinhwa County’s Cheonghyang Village—Bokcheol’s hometown, blessed with pure bedrock water from the Taebaek Mountains.

The place where Bokcheol had first learned how to make alcohol in his youth.

And so, Hwido drove through the night on the chairman’s errand—toward Jeongju Brewery.