CH6 | MCT

Molybdenum Mine, and Brothers (2)

The miner swung his pickaxe with practiced ease.

With each strike, a cloud of stone dust rose into the air.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

After a long while, a sharp crack echoed through the tunnel as a section of the wall crumbled away.

A hidden chamber was revealed, like a secret vault.

This is it!

That thick, unmistakable scent of money.

It was coming from there.

"What is that?"

"What do you mean?"

"That—over there, the silvery-looking stuff."

"Oh—"

The miner raised his pickaxe again, expertly chipping away at the rock.

He held up a raw ore sample to the light, inspecting it closely.

Then, he handed it to Kang Han-soo.

"At first glance, it looks a lot like graphite. But this here is suyeon (水鉛)."

"Suyeon?"

"To be precise, it’s called hwisuyeon-seok (輝水鉛石). It was widely used in making guns, cannons, and planes—also known as a war mineral."

"…!"

Han-soo turned to Tae-soo, his face struck with realization.

As expected of the ANSP’s sharpest blade.

"You don’t mean—"

"Yeah."

"This is… molybdenum, isn’t it?"

"Exactly."

"We actually found molybdenum? This is insane."

Molybdenum.

A national strategic resource and a highly valuable mineral.

Most notably, it was used to create Chromoly steel—an alloy of chromium and molybdenum.

High-strength and corrosion-resistant.

Power plants, military manufacturing, petroleum and gas industries, chemical industries—

There were endless applications.

Filaments, extreme-pressure lubricants, engine oil additives—you name it.

This stuff is everywhere.

Perfect. This is it.

Tae-soo clenched his fists in triumph.

But the one actually jumping for joy wasn’t him.

"This is huge! HUGE! It’s a molybdenum vein!"

The miner was more excited than the mine owner.

"A hidden molybdenum vein behind an abandoned mine wall? This is unbelievable! How is this even possible?!"

Foaming at the mouth in excitement, the miner lunged for his pickaxe, ready to start hacking away again.

Tae-soo barely managed to hold him back.

"Let go of me! I have to dig this up!"

"Calm down."

"Calm down?!"

The miner huffed out sharp breaths, nostrils flaring.

"Do you see this? A molybdenum vein stretching out right in front of our eyes! And you expect me to stay calm?"

Then, he suddenly grabbed Tae-soo by the shoulders, his eyes practically sparkling.

"What's your secret?"

"...What?"

"There has to be a secret! You specifically pointed to this wall and told me to break it down!"

"…"

Yeah, no way he could be honest about this.

The more flustered Tae-soo looked, the more vigorously the miner nodded, convinced he had figured something out.

"I get it. You can't just give away your secret, can you? As a fellow professional, I was out of line trying to pry into your trade secrets."

Just like that, he convinced himself.

"To think you have keener exploration skills than even me, a self-proclaimed expert! Incredible!"

And now, he was admiring him.

"Oh-ho! Now I see! This is what you noticed! This is the secret to finding molybdenum veins! Ooooh!"

He had now realized something.

Completely on his own.

"Simply amazing! How could someone so young know something like this? They say the world is full of talent, and today I’ve seen it firsthand! You've opened my eyes—thank you!"

He gasped in awe, then thanked him.

Tae-soo just smiled awkwardly.

Man, this is great. I don’t even have to explain anything.

The miner suddenly raised his arm.

His hand firmly gripped his pickaxe.

"Don't stop me! I’m going to properly trace this molybdenum vein!"

They emerged from the mine carrying freshly extracted molybdenum ore.

Han-soo still looked like he couldn’t believe what had just happened.

"They say even a blind cow can step on a rat… but this is ridiculous."

He stared at the ore in his hands, unable to deny the reality in front of him.

"It’s really molybdenum… So, what now?"

"What do you mean, what now? We mine it and sell it, obviously."

Han-soo smirked knowingly.

"Molybdenum in a forgotten mine. No one else found it all these years, and yet you did?"

"I just got lucky."

"Lucky, huh? You knew this place had molybdenum, didn’t you?"

"Huh? Then how’d you figure that out?"

"You told me to find a miner skilled enough to immediately recognize molybdenum."

"…"

This was a mistake.

"I'm dying to know—how the hell did you know it was molybdenum?"

Well, because Oh Choon-shik was going to make a fortune off a molybdenum mine.

But there was no way he could actually say that out loud.

Screw it.

Tae-soo shut his eyes and just blurted it out.

"A fortune teller told me. Said if I dug here, I'd strike it rich with molybdenum."

"Cut the crap."

"I'm serious! I just had absolute faith in what the shaman said."

"…"

Han-soo was speechless.

"A few days ago, you went to a fortune teller with Yongshik, didn't you?"

"Wait—how do you know that?"

"The guys told me. Said you got all possessed and started bawling your eyes out."

"…"

Well, seeing his life flash before his eyes had brought up a lot of regrets.

"Unbelievable."

Han-soo shook his head and turned away.

Then, without another word, he strode off.

Tae-soo just stood there, not sure whether to be confused or offended.

"Wait, that's it? He actually bought that?"

Han-soo wasn’t stupid. He was sharp—quick on the uptake.

There was no way he hadn't realized that was complete BS.

"So, he's just letting it slide? Because I'm his hyung?"

Pfft.

That guy... he’s so bad at pretending.

Watching Han-soo’s back as he walked away, Tae-soo suddenly shouted after him.

"Han-soo! Wait up, man!"

What the hell? Who just runs off like that all of a sudden?

The miner, having finished his business, headed down the mountain.

Now, only the two brothers remained in front of the abandoned mine.

Han-soo spoke first.

"You said you’re gonna mine and sell the molybdenum, right?"

"Obviously."

"There's another way—you could just sell the whole mine."

"For dirt cheap?"

The mine was worth, what, a hundred thousand won?

"If we prove there's molybdenum here, we can sell it for a fortune."

"No way. We keep it. The whole thing."

Tae-soo shook his head, unwavering.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Just wait and see—I’ll make so much money off molybdenum that you’ll be begging to call me a genius."

"Tch. Big talk. You really think making a fortune is that easy?"

"What's so hard about it? Sometimes life just hands you a lottery win."

"...A lottery?"

"..."

Uh... what would be the equivalent here?

A housing lottery, maybe?

Damn, how the hell was he supposed to explain this?

Tae-soo scratched the back of his head.

Han-soo, meanwhile, found his brother’s carefree attitude completely unfamiliar.

"Why don’t we just sell the whole mine?"

"That’d be a waste. We wouldn’t even get a fair price."

"Running a mine isn't exactly easy, you know."

"Pfft. We’ll figure it out."

Back in the day, Tae-soo had run the Cheongil Group, after all.

That bastard Han Il-kwon was too busy doing shady shit to actually manage the company.

And with over a hundred subsidiaries, it was a miracle things hadn’t completely collapsed.

Somehow, Tae-soo had managed—by keeping the CEOs in check and making it work.

Thinking about how he’d been used still pissed him off, but he couldn’t deny he’d gotten good at running a business.

Not that Han-soo had any way of knowing all that.

All Han-soo saw was his brother talking big again, and it worried him.

Tae-soo had always been like this—jumping headfirst into things without thinking.

"I thought you'd changed, but nope. Do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass it was cleaning up your messes? You want me to do that again?"

"Yeah… you did, didn’t you?"

Surprisingly, Tae-soo admitted it right away.

Han-soo was actually caught off guard.

Tae-soo’s gaze softened as he looked at him.

'Han-soo always had my back—feeding me top-tier intel from the ANSP, quietly dealing with obstacles in my way, pulling me out of trouble when I got in too deep.'

Back then, he hadn’t realized just how much that had meant.

But after Han-soo was gone?

The power struggles had been relentless. It had been hell.

Now, he finally understood why the chaebols had been so eager to recruit Han-soo.

"I never even thanked you properly. And you’ll never know how much I regret that."

Tae-soo looked at Han-soo with a rare, wistful expression.

"You’re right. While I was always charging forward, you and Holjjook were covering my back—making sure I didn’t trip, didn’t get blindsided."

"…"

"You must’ve taken on all the dirty work for me. Took the hits meant for me, fought the battles I should’ve fought, got hurt in my place."

"..."

Tae-soo awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Uh… S-Sorry. And… thanks."

It was something he’d repeated to himself a thousand times after Han-soo had died.

Words he’d regretted never saying—until it was too late.

"I was so busy charging ahead, I never realized you were running right alongside me."

"..."

"You never gave up on me. Even when I was a reckless idiot of a brother. You stayed. For that… I’m truly grateful. You have no idea how much that meant to me."

"Ugh..."

Han-soo clenched his fists.

Something swelled in his chest, raw and overwhelming. He bit down on his lip.

He couldn’t face Tae-soo. Instead, he turned his back.

"Enough with the cheesy crap. That’s not like you at all. Doesn’t suit you."

"Alright, Han-soo. From now on, let’s go together. If you run, run next to me."

"You're too slow."

Han-soo tilted his head slightly.

"So work on your sprinting. Then I’ll think about running with you."

"Hahaha. Alright, got it."

When Han-soo glanced back, Tae-soo was grinning from ear to ear.

'He really has changed a little, hasn’t he?'

Without realizing it, Han-soo felt the corners of his lips tugging up, too.

Without realizing it, he was beginning to open his heart—just a little.

'Yeah. Let’s do this together.'

They had actually found molybdenum in the mine.

Now, all that was left was to make a fortune.