WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
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◈ The Economics of an Alchemist ◈
Chapter 4
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Jaeha stood in the kitchen with his arms folded, staring at the sink.
‘Sour, spoiled wine... If fruit wine has gone bad... vinegar?’
Half doubtful, Jaeha opened the cabinet beneath the sink. A bottle of supermarket-bought brewed vinegar was rolling around inside. He took it out and set it on the table.
‘And the white powder is baking powder?’
His gaze shifted to the refrigerator. There was no baking powder, but there was something with a similar name.
In the corner of the top shelf, which reeked of kimchi, he spotted a bag Seo-yun had roughly torn open and stuffed in there, saying it would absorb odors.
[100% Natural Multipurpose Baking Soda]
After checking it, he saw that baking was listed among its uses. Jaeha set the bag of baking soda beside the vinegar.
‘Could I substitute these?’
He wasn't sure, but he decided to try. If it didn't work, it didn't work. With that thought, he poured the two ingredients into a ramen pot.
Hiss!
Foam bubbled up violently. It was exactly like the scene young Edwin had witnessed in the attic of his dream.
Jaeha's eyebrow twitched.
‘This actually works?’
He put the pot on the stove.
Crackle, crackle, whoosh.
He simmered it over low heat until the liquid turned clear, then put on the lid and placed it in the refrigerator to cool.
Thirty minutes later.
A pot filled with rippling liquid sat on the table. It looked no different from ordinary cold water.
Jaeha held the hex bolt he had taken from the toolbox. It was a catalyst to replace the bead Edwin had used in his dream.
Swallowing hard, Jaeha dropped the bolt onto the transparent surface.
Crack!
Pure white crystals began growing explosively. Before long, all the liquid in the pot had solidified.
He cautiously reached out.
“...”
It was hot. The ice-like crystals gave off heat like freshly brewed coffee.
“Ha...”
A hollow laugh slipped out.
He had used knowledge learned in a dream to create a solution he had known nothing about. Could that really have happened by chance?
Just as he was staring at the white crystals with a complicated look in his eyes,
Beep, beep, beep.
The door lock suddenly sounded.
Jaeha flinched and hurried to clear away the remnants of his experiment, but it was too late. His youngest brother, Jaeseong, came in through the front door.
“Huh? Hyung! You're back early... Ugh, what's that smell? Did you boil vinegar or something?”
“Why are you home so early? Don't you have class today?”
“The professor said he had some conference, so class was canceled.”
Jaeseong took off his shoes and came inside. He wrinkled his nose as he sniffed, then widened his eyes at the sight of Jaeha's face.
“Whoa, why did you lose so much weight? You look like a skeleton. You said you'd been eating properly. Anyone would think you'd been hospitalized for ages, not traveling.”
“...I walked a lot.”
Feeling guilty, Jaeha looked away and offered a vague excuse. Jaeseong's gaze shifted to the pot Jaeha had been hiding.
“This is a supersaturated sodium acetate solution.”
“You know it? Have you made one before?”
“Of course. Back in the elementary school gifted class, I think? But why were you making that?”
“...I was just bored after seeing it online...”
Jaeha gave a feeble excuse.
“You just got back. Go wash your hands. I'll clean this up.”
He shoved his brother, who was looking at him suspiciously, toward the bathroom, then opened the window to air out the room.
‘...Not yet. I need to test this further.’
Maybe his brain had unconsciously dredged up an experiment Jaeseong had talked about as a child and reconstructed it into a dream.
That was far more convincing than the idea that knowledge learned in a dream could be put into practice in reality.
After quickly cleaning up, Jaeha shook the water from his hands and looked over at his brother. Jaeseong was sitting on the sofa, absorbed in his phone.
Sensing his gaze, Jaeseong looked up.
“Oh, hyung. When are we going to buy our A-phones? Should we go right after Seo-yun gets off work today?”
“I'm not buying one.”
“Come on. Seo-yun said she won't replace mine if you don't replace yours too.”
“Perfect. Save your money instead.”
“Oh, please.”
“I'm tired. I'm going to rest.”
Avoiding Jaeseong, who was trying to cling to him, Jaeha fled to his room and sprawled across the bed. Being tired wasn't just an excuse.
A moment later, a heavy fatigue dragged his eyes shut.
#
A quiet study.
Edwin swallowed hard as he watched the man seated across from him. Behind cold glasses was an indifferent face. He was a genuine alchemist hired by the family.
The man placed a small music box on the table. Its surface was covered in geometric patterns.
“I heard you have a great interest in alchemy.”
Edwin nodded tensely, and a faint smile spread across the man's face.
“You have read quite a few books through self-study. But anyone can read words and observe the surface of the world if they put in enough time. To become a true alchemist, you need the absolute condition necessary to peel away that outer shell.”
“...You mean the third eye, the All-Seeing Eye?”
“Correct. Whether I remain at this estate for the time being or pack my bags immediately depends entirely on whether the young master awakens it.”
The man took a small mineral from his coat and handed it to Edwin. The light-filled stone glittered brilliantly.
“This is diamond, the hardest and most perfect substance in nature. Do you know why diamond is so hard?”
“...Because it's made of carbon?”
“Wrong. Graphite is made of the same material, yet it crumbles easily. What determines a substance's form and strength is not the material that forms its outer shell. The answer lies in the microcosm within it.”
The man wound the music box's spring. Whirr. The sound of gears meshing stimulated Edwin's ears.
When the man removed his hand from the spring, a clear melody began to play. On the surface, it was simply an ordinary, beautiful tune.
But Edwin felt a strange sense of discord. It was as though something humans could not hear was hidden within it.
As if responding to that alien melody, the finely carved geometric patterns on the music box's surface began to take on a faint glow.
“Once you awaken the All-Seeing Eye, you will naturally understand why diamond is the hardest substance in nature.”
“...?”
“If I may offer you a tip, do not try to see with your eyes. Focus on the sensation between your brows. The music box's melody will help somewhat.”
Edwin swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut. As the man instructed, he focused on the space between his brows and pictured the diamond in his hand.
But nothing happened. The only result of forcing himself was that the area around his brows trembled.
‘Why isn't it working? Why...?’
Just as he was about to become sad, wondering if he was unqualified to become an alchemist, the melody lingering by his ears subtly changed.
It was strange. Every other sound in the world vanished, and only the music box's melody seeped into the background.
His mind settled calmly.
Then.
A peculiar sensation blossomed deep between his brows.
It felt like soft feathers gently brushing beneath his skin. The pleasant tickle became a shiver that swept through his entire body.
Flash!
Edwin saw himself with his eyes closed. Soon, his consciousness was drawn beyond the abyss inside the diamond.
‘Ah...!’
Countless red suns throbbed with heavy life force. Small blue stars orbited them at furious speed.
Hundreds, thousands, countless solar systems intertwined into a vast Milky Way. It seemed alive and breathing.
The stars' orbits interlocked perfectly in every direction, above and below, left and right, diagonal, woven as tightly as a spiderweb.
The stars pulled one another with extreme gravity, allowing not even a speck of empty space.
There was no need for rational formulas or logic. The moment Edwin witnessed that absolute order with his own eyes, he understood the hardness of diamond.
#
“Ugh...”
Jaeha opened his eyes sharply and frowned.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart was beating abnormally fast. The pounding in his chest echoed all the way into his ears.
He hurriedly got up from the bed and rummaged through his bag. His hands shook so badly that he could barely peel off the wrapper. Irritation rose with his panic.
‘Damn hypoglycemia.’
In the end, he tore the wrapper open with his teeth and hurriedly put the candy in his mouth. He instinctively chewed and swallowed it, then wolfed down five or six more candies in quick succession.
His breathing gradually began to settle.
With a sigh, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Looking at the clock, he saw that less than an hour had passed since he fell asleep.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jaeha frowned as he considered the dream he had just had.
‘This is the first time I've dreamed twice in one day.’
He had thought he dreamed Edwin's life as though randomly opening a thick book. But perhaps that wasn't it.
When he began to suspect that it was more than an ordinary dream, the dream gave him the knowledge to make a reusable hand warmer solution in reality.
When he felt that he needed more certain proof, the dream showed him a miracle that could never happen in reality.
As if answering his question.
‘Am I delusional?’
Rationally, the most convincing explanation was that his unconscious had created an appropriate dream to fit the situation.
Since the dream he had just had was so far removed from reality, Jaeha gave that hypothesis even more weight.
‘Was it the All-Seeing Eye?’
It sounded like something out of a ninja manga he had read as a child. Remembering those immature days made Jaeha's face flush slightly.
With a faint snort of laughter, he got up from the bed to head to the kitchen. Then his eyes fell on the wardrobe.
His mother's keepsake was stored there. Her wedding ring, set with a very small diamond that she had treasured in life.
‘...There's no way it will really work.’
Reason scoffed at him for wasting his time, but Jaeha approached the wardrobe as though bewitched.
He reached deep inside and took out an old velvet box. When he opened the lid with a click, a small ring shimmered beautifully inside.
He stared blankly at the ring for a moment.
‘I'll try it just once. Then I'll think of that stupid dream as a side effect of the medicine and stop reading too much into it.’
Jaeha held the ring to his chest and closed his eyes. Just as Edwin had done in the dream, he poured all his awareness into the depths between his brows.
One minute. Two minutes.
Just like Edwin, only his eyelids trembled from forcing tension into his brow.
‘Was this really a waste of time?’
Jaeha let out a self-mocking sigh and was about to open his eyes. Then he suddenly realized that the conditions differed from those in his dream.
The music box's melody.
There was no way to recreate it, since such a thing did not exist in reality. But Jaeha's abnormally improved memory recalled the tune perfectly.
He drew out the melody of the music box Edwin had heard in the dream.
An imagined melody lingering by his ears.
At first, it seemed meaningless. But when he completely surrendered his awareness to the tune, something unbelievable happened.
Every other sound in the world disappeared, and the faint background melody began awakening each individual brain cell.
‘Huh?’
A pleasant tickle rose from deep between his brows, like soft feathers brushing beneath his skin. Jaeha broke out in goosebumps. It was the same sensation Edwin had felt in the dream.
A sharp thrill raced down his spine.
Flash!
His closed field of vision expanded explosively.
Though his eyes remained shut, the form of the ring in his hand appeared clearly in his mind. Soon, the hard diamond scattered into transparency, and a bottomless abyss opened within it.
He saw it. The sight Edwin had seen.
“Th-this...”
So shocked that he dropped his mother's diamond ring, Jaeha let it fall to the floor.
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