WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise

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◈ The Economics of an Alchemist ◈

Chapter 18

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A young man in a flashy silk coat looked around the cluttered semi-basement workshop.

“You graduated top of the Academy, developed the armor for a new tank that led the war to a resounding victory during your military service, and even received a medal. Does it make any sense for someone like you to be holed up in a rat hole like this?”

Frowning, he shook the mud off his shoes and grumbled.

“The mud at the entrance to the alley was so deep that I had to leave my carriage behind and walk in.”

As Edwin subtly avoided his gaze, his friend drove the point home with an exasperated look.

“Edwin, a successful alchemist isn't made on skill alone. No matter how amazing the things you make are, how are you supposed to sell them far and wide if you're holed up in an alley so narrow that even merchant carriages struggle to enter? If you want to make serious money, move somewhere on a main road where loading and transporting goods is easy. Get out of this rat hole right now!”

#

Jaeha dreamed of Edwin the night before.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the familiar ceiling of his home rather than a cobweb-covered workshop. He picked up the A-phone by his pillow and checked the time.

There was only one minute left before his alarm went off.

His sleep-deprived body begged him to sleep even that little bit longer, but Jaeha firmly refused and slowly sat up.

In the kitchen, he mixed a generous amount of honey into lukewarm water and gulped it down.

“What? You drink cola every morning when you wake up?”

It was a prescription for low blood sugar that Professor Park, his attending physician, had given him after being horrified by his morning routine.

Simple sugars were absorbed quickly, raising blood sugar immediately. Unlike the refined sugar in cola, though, they were less likely to cause a sudden crash afterward.

Drinking it warm or lukewarm also gently loosened up his stomach after a night of rest, killing two birds with one stone.

Jaeha went to the bathroom and started his shower.

Shhhhh.

As the stream from the showerhead struck his face, the nagging words from Edwin's friend in the dream strangely lingered in his ears.

‘An alley too narrow for merchant carriages...’

Valence's factory was in exactly that kind of place.

Carriages in Edwin's world were the modern equivalent of delivery vans and large freight trucks.

For now, even running at full capacity for twenty-four hours only produced around a thousand units a day, so delivery drivers' one-ton trucks could manage somehow.

But things would change once they brought in five or ten machines and began increasing production.

The Aegis Case itself was only palm-sized, but once each finished product went into individual packaging and then a shipping box, its volume ballooned to more than ten times its original size.

Once thousands, even tens of thousands, of shipping boxes started pouring out every day, one-ton trucks would no longer be enough.

Eventually, five-ton box trucks would need to drive directly to the factory and haul everything away in one trip.

The problem was that Valence's containers stood deep down an overly remote, unpaved dirt road.

If it rained and turned the road into mud, heavy box trucks would obviously hesitate to enter, worried that their wheels would get stuck. Just like Edwin's friend, who had complained about abandoning his carriage in the mud and walking the rest of the way.

‘I do need to move the factory somewhere with better transport access. It'll make hiring employees easier too.’

As time passed, the current factory would no longer be able to support Valence's growth.

Real estate was not an asset that waited patiently for the location, timing, and price to all line up. He needed to prepare before it was too late.

An hour later.

After dropping his younger brother Jaeseong off at the factory, Jaeha headed straight to the real estate agency that had helped him lease the containers in Gimpo.

Voices drifted from inside the agency's glass door, which stood wide open all year round to invite wealth and good fortune. Several middle-aged men were chatting away.

“I mean that container at the end of the dirt road back there. It's such a remote corner that you'd think even snakes wouldn't come out there, but delivery trucks have been going in and out these last few days. What on earth do they do there?”

“Was it about half a year ago? Some tall young guy leased it. He said he made cases for smartphones or something. It was quiet for a while, so maybe he got some work recently? I've been wondering about it myself...”

The agency owner spotted Jaeha entering and shot to his feet.

“Well, speak of the devil!”

“Were you talking about me?”

“Mr. Choi, this is the young boss I was just telling you about. So, uh...”

“I'm Kim Jaeha.”

“Right, Mr. Kim! Ah, this fellow I've been chatting with runs a small mold factory nearby. He's Mr. Choi.”

Jaeha gave Mr. Choi, who was studying him with interest, a slight bow.

“Ah! Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“Yes, please.”

“Don't just stand there. Have a seat. I'll mix up a killer cup of instant coffee for you.”

“Make one for me too.”

Once Jaeha sat on the sofa, Mr. Choi asked with an expression that showed he could no longer contain his curiosity.

“I heard from the owner here that you make smartphone cases? Ah, what am I doing? Young people these days don't like it when someone speaks casually when they've just met.”

“Not at all. You're about my father's age.”

“Hahaha, thank you. I've been using one of these smartphones lately, and the screen is certainly nice and big, but it looks like it'll shatter the moment you drop it. That's the sort of thing you make too, right?”

Mr. Choi seemed to use a smartphone despite his age.

Jaeha's eyes briefly turned toward the table.

There was a feature phone and Oh-seong Electronics' ambitious new CosmoS sitting on it. Jaeha thought he knew who owned the CosmoS.

“You use a CosmoS?”

“Oh, you recognized it right away? My daughter works at Oh-seong Electronics, and she replaced my phone, saying I needed one of these to keep up with the times. Your factory makes cases for this too, right? Since we've met like this, I'll buy one from you.”

“Thank you for the offer, but unfortunately, we only make cases for A-phones right now. The A-phone 4, specifically.”

“Only A-phones? More people use Cosmo phones, so why?”

The A-phone had pioneered smartphones. But as Mr. Choi said, the domestic smartphone brand with the biggest market share was Cosmo, not A-phone.

The reason was clear.

Once an A-phone broke, it became a headache. Repairs were expensive, and there were far too few service centers, often leaving customers anxious for days while they waited.

Private repair shops had sprung up everywhere for a reason.

Cosmo phones were different.

Oh-seong Electronics service centers were everywhere. Even if the screen broke, you could take a number, grab a coffee, and come back to find it repaired like new. Their service network was insane.

On top of that, they had DMB, which let users watch professional baseball and dramas for free, as well as batteries that could be swapped out in a second.

It was inevitable that Cosmo, a domestic brand that perfectly hit Korean consumers' tastes, would take the top spot in the local market.

Naturally, Mr. Choi found it strange that Jaeha's factory made cases only for A-phones instead of Cosmo phones, which had the most users.

Jaeha answered his question with a relaxed smile.

“Because A-phones break more easily. The strength of our cases is their protective ability, preventing the screen from cracking when they're dropped.”

Compared to the Cosmo, which used plastic, the A-phone, covered in glass on both the front and back, was far more vulnerable to impacts.

With orders pouring in from a single machine already, it was more efficient to first target the customers who needed the Aegis Case most desperately.

“Hahaha, so that's why! Young people really are smart these days. Well, Oh-seong does make everything sturdy.”

Of course, dedicated cases for the CosmoS, the domestic market leader, were also a gold mine he needed to enter quickly. That was why he had come to the real estate agency.

“What are you two talking about so happily?”

The agency owner returned from making coffee. Jaeha accepted the paper cup he offered and got straight to the point.

“Thank you for the coffee. The reason I came today is that I'd like to look for a new factory site.”

“A factory site? You moved into the current one only about half a year ago.”

“The dirt road is inconvenient. Could you look for a place where five-ton box trucks can come and go regularly? If I hire employees, they'll need to commute too, so somewhere near a subway station or bus stop would be good.”

Mr. Choi, who had been drinking his instant coffee, choked at Jaeha's words.

“Cough! Cough!”

“What? A place where five-ton trucks can come and go easily, with convenient public transportation for employees?”

The agency owner let out an incredulous laugh, and Mr. Choi wiped his mouth with a tissue as he explained why.

“Wow, Mr. Kim. You've got big dreams! A place big enough for a five-ton truck to turn around in the yard, with good public transportation too? That's not a factory site. That's a building site in Gangnam! A prime piece of land like that costs whatever the owner says it costs!”

The agency owner eagerly added to that.

“Exactly. Even when a listing comes up, rentals are practically nonexistent. They're all for sale. It might not cost as much as a Gangnam building, like Mr. Choi said, but even if a rental does appear, the deposit alone is several hundred million won. Mr. Kim, have you made that much money already?”

Naturally, he did not have that much cash yet.

But considering how explosively orders were rising, it was clear that he would need a factory of that size before long. Real estate was all about timing. If he started looking only when he needed it, it would be too late.

“I don't mean that I'll move in tomorrow. But I'll need a place that large soon, so I'm asking you to keep an eye out for listings in advance.”

“S-soon? Are smartphone cases really selling that well? I only recently heard delivery trucks had started coming and going... Mr. Kim, I could tell from the first time I saw you that you had big ambitions!”

Jaeha smiled to himself.

He remembered the agency owner's face when he had introduced the land where Valence's factory now stood, clearly looking annoyed by the hassle.

“There's something else I want to sign for today. You said the vacant lot right beside the containers I'm using also belongs to the same owner. I'd like to sign a lease to use that land too.”

“Huh? Did I say that? It's empty land you could use as soon as tomorrow, but... what are you planning to do with it?”

“Bring in more machines. About five for now. And maybe two more containers.”

Mr. Choi, who had been listening beside them, tilted his head.

“Will two containers really be enough if you're bringing in five more machines?”

“Our machines aren't that large. Honestly, more than space for machines, what we urgently need is a warehouse for storing products and bathrooms for the employees. Once our volume increases, thousands or tens of thousands of shipping boxes will be pouring out every day. The current setup won't be nearly enough.”

“Tens of thousands?!”

The two men listening to Jaeha widened their eyes. Then the agency owner suddenly looked as if he had remembered something.

“Wait, Mr. Kim! You said earlier that you were looking for a place where five-ton box trucks could enter. What are you going to do with that dirt road once you add machines and your volume explodes?”

Jaeha raised the corner of his lips at the agency owner's pointed question.

“When that happens, I'll split up the shipments as a temporary measure.”

“Split them up?”

“Yes. If I sign contracts with everywhere possible, like Korea Post, Hanguk Logistics, and Hanjun, and divide the volume between them, one-ton trucks can just come in, load up, and leave.”

Mr. Choi slapped his knee.

“Mr. Kim, your mind works brilliantly. With the amount of volume you mentioned, the courier agencies will see you as a VIP. Won't they keep sending one-ton trucks back and forth as shuttles on their own?”

The agency owner, who had been listening, nodded vigorously.

“That's right. It'll be easy to keep them under your thumb by saying you'll give the volume to someone else if they don't schedule trucks properly! Business really should be left to young people. So, Mr. Choi, you should hurry up and hand your company over to your children too.”

“Not a chance! That's still a long way off. They have more to learn.”

“What are they supposed to learn when their teacher comes here every day to sit around and chat?”

Listening to the two men talk, Jaeha took a sip of his instant coffee.

Valence's factory was still made of containers, but in his mind, production lines were already running, churning out tens of thousands of cases a day.

Footnotes:

DMB is South Korea's mobile broadcast service, which allowed users to watch television on compatible phones.

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