Tinkle.
“We’re here.”
“The door seems to be open even earlier today? When did you get here?”
“You’re early.”
The Hyeon siblings greeted me coolly as they stepped inside today as well.
And then.
“….Do you start your Jang this early? You’re a diligent fellow.”
“Dusik, you came too?”
Dusik followed in behind them.
He looked at me with a strange expression, as if the fact that I had opened the Tea house at this hour was surprising.
“Who even comes if you open the door now?”
“They’re right here. These people.”
“How much could these two possibly buy to help your business?”
“Hey now, Mister, that’s a hurtful thing to say. We buy a huge amount, you know?”
“That’s right. We buy this much every single day.”
The protest from the Hyeon siblings wasn’t wrong.
They paid quite a bit of money while receiving Tea every day.
That amount had also increased significantly recently.
At first, it was ten thousand won for a cup, and fifteen thousand won for one Material Jars.
Now, they were dropping several tens of thousands of won at a time.
‘It’s probably because they realized it’s a special Tea.’
They give back as much as they receive.
Because I knew their hearts, I didn’t refuse the money.
It was also true that it had added up to quite a bit.
“Quiet down. Here, today’s Tea. It’s a set again today. Share it between yourselves.”
“Okay.”
“Is it the same as the last one?”
“It’s similar, but I tried improving it a bit. Drink it later and let me know how it feels.”
The Hyeon siblings took the two tumblers placed in front of them.
Since finding out about the special nature of the Tea, I had been conducting several tests using the Tea I gave to those two.
They were a sort of guinea pig, in a sense.
Perhaps because they knew it wouldn’t harm their bodies, the two of them cooperated obediently.
I handed a cup of Tea to Dusik, who was watching the scene with interest.
“Dusik, this one is yours.”
“Mine?”
“Yes. Please drink.”
“…Did you call me at this hour just to give me a cup of Tea?”
Dusik grumbled, his brow furrowing deeply.
It was understandable.
If I had told him to come out at this dawn just for a single cup of Tea, he had every right to be annoyed.
“Just try it first. I have something to give you after that.”
“….Fine.”
Without much further complaint, Dusik drank the Tea I placed before him, but his face contorted immediately, as if the taste wasn’t what he expected.
“Ugh, hey! What kind of taste is… guh, guh.”
“Ah, just bear with it and drink. They say medicine that’s good for the body tastes bitter.”
“This isn’t just bitter! Oh, man. I thought my tongue was being pricked by needles.”
“A grown man like you, making such a fuss. Come on, hurry up and finish it.”
At my words, Dusik shuddered and looked back at the cup.
It seemed the taste was truly awful.
But it made sense.
That Tea.
To be honest, I couldn’t drink it twice either.
“What did you make this with? Are you trying to kill me?”
“You won’t die. Why would I give you something like that?”
“But what in the world….”
“Ah, don’t be like that and just gulp it down. Gulp. It won’t have an effect unless you drink it all.”
At my words, Dusik’s mouth hung open as he agonized for a long time, but well, it didn’t last long.
“Dammit, how can something taste this bad? How do you even run a Tea house?”
“You did well.”
“Are you treating an elder like a child?”
“Haha. Have this. It’ll feel a bit better.”
I held out a piece of candy to him after he downed the rest of the Tea in one shot.
It was the first candy I had ever made, but the sweetness was quite strong, so it was enough to comfort his palate.
Dusik crunched on the candy and shuddered.
“I’ve tried all sorts of herbal medicines that are good for the body, but that was the worst.”
“I understand. It really did taste terrible.”
“And yet you fed it to me?”
“Well, because it was necessary.”
It wasn’t visible to Dusik’s eyes.
However, I could see it.
‘As expected, the effect is appearing properly.’
A faint light began to flow from Dusik’s body.
Should I call it cobalt blue?
That kind of light was wrapping around Dusik’s entire body like a coating.
‘I was worried because he spilled a little, but thank goodness.’
It would have been a shame if that little bit prevented the effect.
Then Dusik would have had to drink that tasteless thing all over again.
Now that I had confirmed the effect had clearly appeared, it was time to proceed to the next step.
I called out to Hyeonung, who was playing with the children in the Tea house.
“Hyeonung, is there room left in your truck bed?”
“There is.”
“Then load these up. We’re going to spray them on Dusik’s Rice Paddy.”
I came out carrying 2-liter PET Material Jars that I had stored in the inner room.
The Material Jars containing a transparent liquid looked just like water bottles at a glance.
“….What is this that you want me to spray on my Rice Paddy?”
“It’s medicine. Medicine to spray on the rice and the soil.”
“What kind of medicine?”
“Mister, you trust me, right? Then just do it without asking. Hey, hurry and load them.”
“Ah, okay, man. Dusik, for now, just do as Chansung says. You have nothing to lose anyway.”
While grumbling, Hyeonung spoke to the older man and took the Material Jars from me.
Dusik watched this and then suddenly reached out.
“If it’s going on my Rice Paddy, why give it to that fellow? I could just carry this much myself.”
“There are thirty of them. Do you want to carry them all?”
“….Hyeonung, is there space?”
Dusik quickly changed his stance.
A laugh burst out from Hyeonung’s side, but he soon began moving his body instead of speaking.
With the Hyeon siblings helping, the medicine was moved in no time.
“Phew. Hey, what on earth did you make?”
“It’s something. It’s a bit of a special medicine. Oh, Dusik. Today, no one other than you should enter the Rice Paddy.”
“Who else would go into my Rice Paddy besides me?”
“Anyway. If anyone else enters, they might get hurt.”
That medicine to be sprayed on the Rice Paddy was quite potent.
It was because while the purification effect was maximized, the toxicity had also been strengthened.
If an ordinary person entered, they might not be able to sleep properly for days and might end up bedridden.
That was why I had intentionally made that foul-tasting Tea to grant Dusik a protective effect.
“What kind of medicine is like that? It’s not like it’s poison.”
“Anyway, just tell people you applied chemicals and make sure no one can enter. Understood?”
“….Fine. Since I’ve already decided to trust you, I might as well go all the way.”
Once you’ve decided to trust someone, you have to see it through to the end.
Backing out now would leave things half-finished.
“Then, I’m off.”
“We’re leaving too. Thanks for the Tea today.”
“Yes, get Home safely. You guys take care too.”
Dusik nodded and left along with the Hyeon siblings’ truck.
I watched them go for a moment before rubbing my tired eyes.
‘Ugh, I’m exhausted.’
I hadn’t even slept for two hours because I was making the Tea for Dusik and the medicine for the Rice Paddy.
I hadn’t been this fatigued lately, and I was completely drained.
“I should leave things to Siu today and take it easy.”
I’d probably get scolded for running the business sloppily, but what could I do?
We do all this just to make a living.
Of course, that didn’t mean I would make the Tea sloppily.
I couldn’t serve such a thing to the elders.
“Let’s get some shut-eye first.”
Whether it was the results of Dusik’s Rice Paddy or the reactions of the elders.
Those were things to check later.
***
Three days passed since Dusik had visited.
During that time, Dusik did not come to the .
According to the rumors, he had gone somewhere and hadn’t even returned Home, and the state of his Rice Paddy had changed beyond recognition.
And today.
Tinkle.
“Chansung, are you here?”
“Ah, Dusik. Have you been well…?”
“Here, take this.”
Without a word of explanation, Dusik placed something large on the bar table.
This size… it’s similar to what I know.
“…Is this a cow?”
“What, how did you know?”
“Hyeonung and Hyeonseo brought something like this before. But I didn’t expect you to bring one too.”
“I picked it out from a place I know well. Try it. Even if you just grill it without anything else, the taste will be incredible.”
Dusik spoke boisterously and grinned.
Seeing that smile, I knew.
“I heard you’ve been busy lately, was the problem resolved well?”
“Resolved? You’re asking that?”
Dusik came over to my side and slapped my back heartily.
“Totally, cleanly! Everything is resolved!”
“Ow, that’s good. But why are you hitting me instead of just saying it?”
“It’s because I’m proud of you. Proud.”
He patted me a few more times before leaning against my shoulder and speaking.
“To be honest, I didn’t believe it. I don’t know what you gave me, but I’ve tried every single thing to save that Rice Paddy, you know? But nothing worked.”
“And then?”
“After applying that medicine you gave me, it only took The Day. In just that one day, I could see the change.”
Dusik’s words were long-winded and rambling, but the conclusion was one.
The water in the Rice Paddy became clean, the soil became healthy, and the pests that were eating the rice gradually disappeared.
The task that he had given up on as impossible had been resolved.
“To check in detail, I brought some professors I know and asked them, and they said the rice is very healthy. They even wanted to have a celebratory drink, saying it’ll be a bumper crop this year.”
“Is it that much?”
“It is. Well, we won’t know for sure until the harvest. But for now, it’s definitely different from before. And that…”
Dusik swallowed his next words and looked at me.
Before and after meeting me.
That’s how much had changed.
“Mister?”
“….That land. That’s the land your Grandfather told me to try farming on.”
“Eh?”
What kind of talk was this now?
“I told you your Grandfather came from out of town, right? When I was still just a kid.”
“Yes.”
“At that time, he told me this. If I was going to keep farming, I should tend to the Rice Paddy on that land. I thought the old man had gone senile, since he didn’t know the first thing about farming.”
“It is a bit out of the blue.”
“But it hit the jackpot there. I was able to live without any lack.”
Dusik’s voice became serious.
“It seems you’ve inherited your Grandfather’s divine powers.”
“Divine powers…”
“Didn’t you know? Your Grandfather was rumored to be a Sinseon. Just one glance from him and it would be a bumper crop.”
“I’ve heard stories about him being famous, but this is the first time I’ve heard him called a Sinseon.”
I knew my Grandfather was well-known, but I didn’t know such words were being whispered behind his back.
“Well, everyone kept it quiet. If we annoyed your Grandfather and he left, the loss wouldn’t have been just a simple loss.”
Everyone became happy through the Grandfather’s grace.
Therefore, everyone made sure no harm came to him.
That was the story.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Everyone in the Ma-eul knows that my ruined Rice Paddy has come back to life. There’s no way people wouldn’t know in a small Ma-eul like this. Right?”
“That’s true.”
“I’m going to tell them that some nameless old man who was just passing by helped me.”
Dusik’s words were indirectly saying that he would hide my existence.
It was similar to the words and actions of Sun-yeong Halmeoni and the Hyeon siblings.
“…Why?”
“Because there’s something your Grandfather said when we were having a drink together.”
The words my Grandfather left behind.
“He said that The Day would come when you, Chansung, would come down here. That you would come down to take a long rest after going through many hard things.”
“He said something like that?”
“Yeah. So do you have any idea how surprised I was when I saw you had come down?”
“I don’t know. You didn’t show it at all.”
He had treated me as if he’d just seen me yesterday.
He didn’t even act surprised.
Dusik chuckled briefly and then spoke.
“Anyway, your Grandfather said this. To help you out, Chansung. To make sure no hard things happen to you, and to lend a hand if there’s work to be done. He said that would be the repayment for all the help he’s given until now.”
At Dusik’s words, I remembered the incident at Sun-yeong Halmeoni’s The Field last time.
The reason why Dusik had given up his rest and come out onto the Prophesied Rain road without hesitation.
There had been such circumstances hidden there as well.
“Why are you only telling me this now? You should have told me sooner.”
“Hey, I was planning to keep it buried for a lifetime. It’s not cool to talk about things like this. But seeing what you’ve been doing, I changed my mind.”
“What did I do?”
“You’re going to keep helping whoever asks for help in the future, aren’t you?”
At those words, I couldn’t readily say no.
I might be selective about the people, but if there was something I could do to help, I wanted to help.
At my reaction, he clicked his tongue and said.
“That fellow. He’s too kind.”
“Is being kind a sin…?”
“Heh heh. If being kind were a sin, everyone in this Ma-eul would have to be locked up. Anyway, once my thoughts reached that point, I got a strong feeling. That this was my chance to pay back the debt I owe to your Grandfather.”
Dusik said that and slapped my shoulder one more time.
“So that’s why I’m saying this. If you ever need help, tell me anytime. Understood? No matter what it is. I will help you.”
Those words were thankful, and they were also reassuring.