78
Minhyuk, who arrived at the ginseng appraisal center, looked up at the signboard.
Small letters were written below the name of the store.
＜Affiliated with the Korea Ginseng Association＞
He didn’t come here just because it was close to his house.
According to what he found online, the ginseng association that this appraisal center belonged to was the largest in Korea.
The association had also brokered the multi-million-dollar wild ginseng that was featured in the newspaper a few years ago.
“Welcome!”
The appraiser greeted Minhyuk.
He asked, looking at the large box that Minhyuk was carrying.
“What’s that?”
“What do you think it is?”
“No way!”
Minhyuk put the box on the table and opened the lid.
20 thick ginseng roots were revealed.
Wow-
The appraiser’s mouth fell open.
He asked Minhyuk, looking as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Am I dreaming right now?”
“I don’t think we’re close enough to appear in each other’s dreams.”
“You’re right. This is reality!”
Minhyuk said bluntly.
“I want to sell all 20 roots.”
“Understood! I’ll contact the association right away.”
The appraiser told Min-hyeok after finishing the call.
“The association president will come here in person. Would you like a cup of tea while you wait? Coffee, green tea, or oolong tea?”
“I’ll have green tea.”
Clink-
As the appraiser poured the tea, a delightful aroma filled the air.
“Did you find the mountain ginseng you brought today while hiking?”
“Yes.”
“May I ask where you found it?”
This time, Min-hyeok revealed the location.
He would have to reveal it when he sold the ginseng anyway.
“Do you know Bongryongsan Mountain in Hongcheon-gun?”
“Yes. I sometimes go there to gather herbs.”
“I recently purchased a forest near there.”
“Did you find it there?”
“Yes.”
“Wow! You bought a great piece of land! It’s a gold mine! No, it’s much better than the lottery. Nowadays, even the first prize is often less than 1 billion won after taxes.”
Jingle-
The association president appeared with the sound of the doorbell.
He was an elderly man who looked to be in his 70s.
His eyes widened when he saw Min-hyeok’s ginseng.
“I’ve never seen such ginseng in my life! Did you find all of this yourself?”
“Yes.”
“You are truly blessed by heaven!”
“Blessed?”
The association president explained that a skilled and experienced ginseng digger is called an ‘eorinmani’.
“I just stumbled upon it while hiking.”
“That’s amazing!”
“Really?”
“Centuries-old ginseng has a mystical aura. Is it logical that skilled ginseng diggers in a small country like Korea wouldn’t have found it in hundreds of years? It’s because the ginseng hides itself with its mystical aura.”
Are you saying the ginseng can use stealth?
Min-hyeok just smiled as he listened to the association president, who spoke convincingly despite the lack of scientific evidence.
“You found 20 of these mystical creatures at once! You must have extraordinary spiritual power. Were you a mountain spirit in your past life?”
After indulging the association president’s chatter, Min-hyeok got down to business.
“I’ll sell all 20 through the association if you promise me one thing.”
“Just tell me!”
“Keep my personal information confidential.”
After selling the dragon incense, his personal information was leaked, and he had to move.
He couldn’t let that happen again.
And there was no benefit to being known for having a lot of money.
The world is a dangerous place, and you never know what might happen.
How foolish it is to show off your wealth on a personal broadcast and end up getting robbed and injured.
“As befitting a mountain spirit, your vessel is different! Usually, you’d make a big deal in the newspaper and hold a flashy auction to get even a penny more for the mountain ginseng. But what do you think of this? We’ll buy all 20 roots from the association.”
If the association bought them all and sold them to consumers, Minhyuk’s personal information wouldn’t be revealed to many people.
“There’s no chance of my personal information getting leaked within the association, right?”
“Don’t worry. Aside from this friend of mine and myself, no one will know.”
That meant that only the appraiser and the association head would know about Minhyuk’s identity.
“Please include compensation for damages in the sales contract in case my personal information is leaked.”
“I understand!”
Now that the basic conditions had been met, they began to discuss the actual sale price in earnest.
The association head was the first to suggest a price.
“For 100-year-old Cheonjong mountain ginseng, the general price is 20 times the price of gold. The mountain ginseng that was recently sold for 600 million won was also priced that way.”
Minhyuk had already checked this online.
If he put it up for auction, he might be able to sell it for more.
However, protecting his personal information was much more important than earning a few extra bucks.
“Let’s do it the usual way.”
The appraiser put the mountain ginseng that Minhyuk had brought on a precision scale to measure it.
Of the 20 roots, the smallest was 400 grams, and the largest was 700 grams.
When he added up the weight of all the ginseng, it came to over 10 kilograms.
The appraiser tapped away at his calculator and said,
“At 20 times today’s gold price, that comes to 19,830,000,000 won.”
The association head continued,
“We’ll buy it for a clean 20 billion won.”
It wasn’t Minhyuk’s business how much the association sold the ginseng to consumers for.
After all, it was ginseng made from seashells.
“Sounds good.”
.
.
.
The sale proceeded at lightning speed.
In less than a week, they had finished receiving the payment.
When he searched the internet, there was only one article related to Minhyuk.
＜Mr. Yangmo (pseudonym) of Gangwon Province has harvested 20 roots of wild mountain ginseng estimated to be over 300 years old…＞
The exact location where the ginseng was dug up wasn’t specified, and his surname was misspelled.
The association head had done as Minhyuk had asked.
‘This should be enough to put my mind at ease.’
Minhyuk checked his account balance on his phone.
＜Balance: 20,075,765,345 won＞
Since he had sold to the association, there were no brokerage fees.
From Noble mtl dot com
However, he would have to pay taxes.
If I earn more than 30 million won from selling ginseng, I’ll exceed the tax-free range, so I’ll have to pay income tax after filing my comprehensive income tax return in May next year.
‘I have to pay taxes while I live.’
I’ve already made hundreds of billions of won in cash that I can account for by selling clamshells, so I don’t mind paying taxes at all.
‘What can I do with 20 billion won?’
It was enough money to buy a small building near my house.
However, I’ll buy the building once I’ve sold more ginseng and have 100 billion won.
‘If I’m going to buy it, I should buy something big.’
By the way, I’m already thinking about what item to make money with after ginseng.
If I want to make hundreds of billions or even trillions of won, there’s a limit to how much I can make by picking up and selling dragon’s beard incense and digging ginseng.
When I was living in a Gosiwon, I used to think that way when I saw the chaebols on TV.
They have so much money, why do they run around trying to make more?
But once I got my hands on some money, I understood.
If you have 10 billion, you’ll want to make 100 billion,
If you have 100 billion, you’ll want to make 1 trillion. It’s a natural mentality.
That’s what Wang Jianlin, the famous Chinese tycoon, said.
If you want to make money, you have to set very small goals and achieve them.
He said to start by saving 100 million yuan (about 20 billion won in Korean currency).
‘I’ve made 20 billion won, so have I achieved a very small goal?’
Ding-dong-
The doorbell rang.
I checked the monitor and saw that a truck carrying two-seater bicycles had arrived.
Minhyuk opened the entrance to the parking lot and went outside.
Then, together with the truck driver, he brought 20 bicycles into the parking lot.
Bang-
The delivery truck drove away.
Minhyuk put all the bicycles in the refrigerator.
It was a 10-pyeong freezer, so 20 bicycles fit in very easily.
“Return.”
Pop-
With a flash of light, I returned to Asdel’s fortress.
“Inventory.”
Pop-
A giant refrigerator appeared before my eyes.
There were 20 pairs of Gaon inside the refrigerator.
Minhyuk first took out only two pairs.
He could take things out of the refrigerator with a gesture, as if using telekinesis.
First, he placed the Gaon connecting Asdel and Melbeck.
And then he installed the Gaon connecting Asdel and Tamirn Fortress.
With more Gaon, he could now install instant movement gates anywhere he wanted.
‘This is great!’
Later, I’ll catch another dragon, pluck out its heart, and put it in the fridge.
If the dragon’s magic orbs become something that can be easily mass-produced, I can easily restore the altars of the other castles I will conquer in the future.
‘Should I resume the unification project now?’
Minhyuk called General Drake and asked.
“Are the scouts ready?”
He had ordered him to select the best soldiers and form a scout party.
For over a decade, Silphir had no contact with Asdel or Melbeck.
Therefore, there was no information about the place.
Before the full-scale conquest, it was necessary to investigate the situation there.
Depending on the situation, peaceful absorption and unification might be possible, or it might be necessary to wage war.
“Yes, we are ready to leave for Silphir at any time.”
“Send them right away.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
***
The 30 scouts were divided into 10 groups and moved to Silphir.
Since it was a mission that required secrecy, they could not move together.
They were the most talented among the soldiers under Minhyuk’s command.
While reorganizing the army, Minhyuk subdivided the positions of the soldiers.
For example, the artillery was divided into ground-to-ground and anti-air, and the anti-air was further differentiated into short-range and long-range.
And he trained the soldiers professionally according to their positions.
It was an imitation of a modern army.
However, talented people who were good at everything were also needed.
In order to carry out missions such as infiltration, reconnaissance, bombing, assassination, and kidnapping, it was not enough to be good at just one thing.
So he selected the best talents and gave them harsh training.
He created a special forces unit.
The scouts dispatched to Silphir were also part of the special forces unit.
And among the 10 scout groups, there was a group composed entirely of women.
They were General Tarman’s daughter Lynn, General Drake’s confidant Rebecca, and Princess Christina.
There was no special reason for forming a group of only women.
It was because it was easier to solve physiological problems such as urination and defecation while performing missions in the field.
Lynn and Rebecca had been outstanding since they were young, having learned martial arts.
However, Princess Christina was not.
She had learned it lightly for self-defense.
However, as she honed her swordsmanship while burning with a desire for revenge against Mina, her skills became quite outstanding.
She was selected as a special forces member by competing with other soldiers based on her skills alone.
At first, her relationship with the unit members was awkward because of her status.
However, after receiving rigorous training together, they have now become close.
To the point that her colleagues comfortably call her by her name, not the title of princess.
“Christina, did you check the map properly?”
The princess nodded at Lynn’s question.
Then Rebecca opened her mouth.
“This is strange. If the map is correct, we should be able to see the Silphir Citadel by now.”
It had been ten days since they had set out from Asdel.
They were already near the Silphir Citadel, as indicated on the map.
At this distance, they should have been able to see the castle walls, but there was nothing.
“We should have entered the guardian’s territory by now. Is the map wrong?”
“It can’t be. The priests visited the Silphir Citadel decades ago with this map.”
“How strange. Did the castle just up and leave?”
For the time being, they continued in the direction they were headed.
And then, a sight they had never expected unfolded before their eyes.
The castle walls had crumbled, leaving only ruins.
‘Oh my god!’
The Silphir Citadel was completely in ruins.