WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Economics of an Alchemist ◈
Chapter 12
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Of the two younger siblings left frozen like statues by the Aegis Case performance Jaeha had shown them, Jaeseong, the engineering student, was the first to react.
“Hyung... give it to me. Let me touch it just once.”
As though spellbound, he snatched the A-phone 4 from Jaeha’s hand.
There was not a single scratch on the front screen, the corners, the back glass, or even the case that had struck the ground.
“How did it absorb that much impact? Hyung, do you have any detailed test data?”
“It offers nearly 100% protection from the kind of two-meter drops phones commonly take in everyday life. Unless the screen lands face-first on a rock.”
“That’s incredible! This thing is absolutely insane! If my A-phone had this case, its screen never would’ve shattered.”
Wonder in his eyes, Jaeseong removed the Aegis Case and held it up to the fluorescent light. He bent it and scratched it with his fingernail.
“No matter how I look at it, this is cheap TPU, but it shouldn’t be capable of absorbing impacts like that. Hyung, what exactly is the principle behind the technology that professor taught you?”
Jaeha calmly recited the cover theory he had prepared.
“The professor said that if you use carbon nanoparticles as a catalyst and expose it to ultraviolet light at a specific wavelength, the urethane molecular bonds rearrange into a nanotube lattice structure. Rather than concentrating at a single point, external impact energy instantly spreads across the entire surface like a spiderweb.”
“A nanotube lattice structure...? You strengthen molecular bonds with ultraviolet light at a special wavelength? Hyung, by exactly what mechanism...?”
Realizing Jaeseong was about to bombard him with questions, Jaeha raised a hand to stop him.
“I don’t know the details either.”
“Huh? But if you’re going to make the product...”
“What I know is the process order the professor taught me, along with things like the machine settings.”
“What if the machine breaks down?”
“I learned how to fix it all. The production equipment is modular. If the black-box cartridge, the core component, reaches the end of its life or has an error, I can replace it myself. The professor made quite a few spare cartridges before they passed away, and they left me manuals for making them too.”
Seo-yun, who had been listening quietly, nodded and spoke.
“So you’re basically a master technician? You don’t know the scientific principles behind the core technology, but you can perfectly control the system that implements it?”
“That’s right. So we won’t have to shut down the business because the equipment stops working.”
“What about the unit cost? And the selling price?”
“The unit cost is 2,000 won. I’m thinking of pricing it at 19,900 won for now.”
“A cost ratio of 10%?”
An unimaginably outrageous margin for manufacturing. Seo-yun, who spent every day poring over company financial statements and tight ledgers, felt a tremendous jolt run through her mind.
“Oppa, wait. From what you’re saying, it sounds like you’ve already set up machines in a factory. Did you take out a loan?”
“No. After paying the deposit, machine setup costs, and raw materials for the initial production run, it came out to almost exactly the money I’d saved.”
A lie mixed with half-truths. Nearly two hundred million won from his deal with Genovanta was still sitting in Jaeha’s bank account.
“You mean you don’t have any spare cash? You absolutely need cash flow! Even after you sell the products, if you go through escrow or an open marketplace, it takes at least two weeks to a month before the money reaches your account. How are you going to cover raw materials for additional production and shipping costs in the meantime?”
Seo-yun bombarded him with facts and figures.
But Jaeha did not panic. He had expected that reaction.
Just as he was about to answer,
“Hyung, what about this case? Not a sudden impact like when it falls, but a heavy load pressing down slowly. How much can it withstand?”
Jaeseong cut in, unable to contain an engineering student’s academic curiosity.
“I haven’t tested that yet. Why?”
“You said the case instantly spreads the impact it receives like a spiderweb. If pressure is distributed evenly across the whole surface, I think its limit could be extremely high. Do you think it might even survive being driven over by a car?”
At Jaeseong’s excited engineering deduction, Seo-yun laughed in disbelief.
“Hey. No matter how tough it is, how could it survive a car driving over it? Though if it really could, it would definitely attract huge attention.”
“This is why I can never get through to you non-STEM types. Forget this, let’s go out and test it right now.”
“Hey, it’s late at night and raining. Where are you going?”
Despite Seo-yun’s scolding, Jaeseong was already heading for the front door. He gripped the A-phone 4 fitted with the Aegis Case tightly in one hand.
“You expect me to let a lead this crazy pass by? Once you have a theory, an engineering student’s duty is to test it immediately. Hyung, noona, hurry up.”
The drive of an engineering student was terrifying.
Jaeha was just as curious, so he chuckled, picked up his car keys, and stood. Seo-yun, who had been watching with an incredulous expression, eventually gave in to curiosity and put on her coat.
A short while later, in the apartment’s outdoor parking lot.
In the drizzling winter rain, Jaeha’s old SUV engine gave a heavy rumble. Jaeseong placed the A-phone 4 face down on the asphalt in front of the headlights.
‘There’s no way that’ll work, right?’
Holding an umbrella, Seo-yun held her breath as she watched.
“Hyung! Come forward slowly now!”
Seeing Jaeseong’s hand signal, Jaeha carefully lifted his foot from the brake. The tire rolled forward slowly and heavily crushed the phone on the asphalt.
Seo-yun’s shoulders flinched as she expected a crunching crack. But all she heard was the wet tire rubbing against the pavement.
Once the front wheel had completely passed over the phone, Jaeha rolled down the window and asked,
“How is it?”
“Hyung, to be sure, back up and drive over it one more time.”
Without complaint, Jaeha nodded and shifted into reverse.
Once the car returned to its original position and stopped, Jaeseong rushed over and picked up the phone that had been lying on the ground.
Seo-yun approached, swallowing hard. Jaeha, who had gotten out of the car, looked over as well.
Only tire marks remained on the back of the phone case that had been driven over. The A-phone 4 itself, both its front screen and back glass, was perfectly intact.
A suffocating silence.
Only the sound of rain filled the parking lot. Jaeseong grinned at the speechless Seo-yun.
“See? I was right. Noona, you’re not a STEM major, so you might not know this, but nature is full of things that can endure tens of thousands of times their own body weight. Have you heard of the diabolical ironclad beetle? It can be driven over by a car and be fine. Its shell fits together like puzzle pieces, spreading the pressure in every direction.”
Jaeseong tapped the Aegis Case with a finger as he showed off his knowledge.
“The nanotube lattice structure Hyung mentioned earlier sounds exactly like that principle. If impact spreads like a net instead of gathering in one place, then theoretically, it should be able to withstand the pressure of a car driving over it.”
Then, back in the living room.
Seo-yun’s eyes were completely different from when she had come home from work. She looked like a stock investor who had found the investment of a lifetime.
“Oppa, I’m going to cancel the savings account I’ve been diligently building since I started working tomorrow. I’ll invest it as our company’s initial capital.”
The company was not even registered yet. It did not truly exist. Yet Seo-yun was already naturally calling it our company.
“A 10% cost ratio and insane performance that can survive a compact SUV driving over it. You could sell this blindfolded with your toes and it’d still be a huge hit. And you have exclusive rights to the core technology, Oppa.”
She lifted her chin and looked at Jaeha.
“When we incorporate later, make sure I get a proper share. Got it?”
Jaeha smiled inwardly.
Seo-yun’s money was not essential for getting the business running right away. It was a secret from his siblings, but he still had nearly two hundred million won in ample funds.
“Sure. I’ll make sure you get plenty.”
From the beginning, Jaeha had intended to persuade Seo-yun to invest once she asked about spare cash.
He needed Seo-yun and Jaeseong. He desperately needed executives who could help build the bones of a vast empire and meticulously manage its affairs.
There could be no more suitable people than the two of them. They were the most trustworthy blood relatives in the world, people he would never have to worry about stabbing him in the back.
When the time came, they would also be the only two people he could fully tell the secret of alchemy, which was still too early to reveal.
Seo-yun could strengthen the company’s foundations from a financial perspective, while Jaeseong could disguise the impossible miracle of alchemy as plausible modern engineering.
But if he only gave to them one-sidedly because they were family, the relationship would become distorted. Jaeha believed they could become true partners bound by the same fate only if they recognized its value for themselves and invested their own hard-earned capital.
“Hyung, what about me? I have 100,000 won in my account. If I invest even that...”
“Go study.”
Seo-yun sharply cut him off.
“Helping Oppa and me means keeping your scholarship and graduating safely, just like you are now. Got it?”
“Ah... I want to invest in Hyung’s business too. Hyung, I’ll use every connection I have and promote it hard. Can’t you give me a spot?”
“Like Seo-yun said, studying hard is helping. If you want one foot in Hyung’s business that badly, don’t just focus on your major. Broaden your horizons.”
“Broaden my horizons?”
“Besides mechanical engineering, study a wide range of fields. New materials, chemistry, physics, biology, and so on. Be omnivorous.”
Jaeseong tilted his head.
“Biology too, for making phone cases?”
“I have a plan. If you don’t want to, forget it.”
It was Jaeha’s big picture for his future Chief Technology Officer.
To perfectly disguise and defend alchemy as modern science, knowledge in one field alone would be nowhere near enough.
“Who said I didn’t want to? It would be a waste for someone like me to study only mechanical engineering. Fine. Like you said, I’ll become the Leonardo da Vinci of the twenty-first century.”
Jaeseong spread his arms and legs, imitating Leonardo da Vinci’s study of human proportions. Jaeha and Seo-yun both chuckled.
“Then, would you like to try some amazing ramen cooked by the future talent joining Hyung’s plan? I had some beef earlier, and now I’m really craving a spicy broth.”
“Sure.”
“Me too!”
“Weren’t you on a diet, noona?”
“What diet on a day like today?”
“Okay. I’ll add chopped green onions and crack in an egg, then serve it right away!”
Before long, a large aluminum pot billowing with steam was placed in the middle of the table. Amid cheerful slurps, the three siblings’ dessert began.
As Seo-yun chewed the springy noodles, she suddenly remembered something and asked Jaeha,
“By the way, Oppa. Have you decided on the company name?”
He set down his chopsticks, thought for a moment, then spoke.
“I have one in mind. Valence.”
“Hyung, is that Valence, meaning atomic valence?”
“That’s right.”
“Oh... it really has the feel of a new-materials startup. Right, noona?”
“Yeah. It seems nice. But if it is an atom, should the name not be Atom?”
“Not atom. Valence. It’s a measure of an atom’s ability to bond with other atoms when forming compounds or molecules.”
“Oh, as expected of an engineering student.”
The voices of the three siblings chatting idly over ramen broth filled the living room with warm comfort.
An old display cabinet stood in one corner of the room.
In the framed photograph resting atop it, their parents stood shoulder to shoulder, their faces wearing bright, gentle smiles as if they possessed the whole world.
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