Chapter 10: Laughter in the Outskirts

“I’ll harvest the rice, so you Divine Beasts lay them out neatly outside.”

Beep beep beep!

He also gave a task to the clamoring Ha-eul and her group.

“You guys pick up the rice that fell on the ground and move it. This is actually a very big job.”

Beep beep beep beep!

Their eyes lit up as he assigned them the task. They were natural-born workers.

Go Nam-tae first blocked the water inlet, drained the paddy, and dried the ground.

‘Dry, dry… and dry again!’

After repeating the skill while taking occasional breaks, the paddy floor dried up in no time.

Compared to pumping up seawater, it wasn’t even half the effort.

‘The sea… I’ll be able to go, right?’

Farming wasn’t just done on land.

Sea farming was still a long way off, but the sea was essential if he wanted to get salted seafood.

If he kept at it, he would reach the sea someday.

Go Nam-tae picked up a sickle.

The moment he grabbed a handful of rice and swung the sickle, a strange sense of exhilaration washed over him.

After that, it felt like he was in a trance.

By the time he came to his senses, the work was finished in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, he saw the familiar message.

[Skill has been activated.]

[Rice Harvesting]

Now, the automatic rice harvesting process would take place even if he didn’t use the sickle himself… as long as his mana was sufficient.

Harvesting the rice was only the beginning.

For rice to become the white rice we eat, it had to go through several more processes.

He had solved the drying with a skill, but the rest required tools.

When Go Nam-tae brought out a tool that looked like an upside-down fork, the creatures began to watch with curiosity.

“If you comb the rice through this, the grains will be separated.”

It was a thresher that looked like it belonged in the Joseon Dynasty, but it finished the threshing cleanly without missing a single grain.

After all, it was the [Boss’s Thresher].

Peeling the husks and milling was handled by a mortar and pestle that had been serving as decoration in a corner of the yard.

As soon as he made white rice with the first pounding, the skill was activated.

[Milling]

Then, the watching Divine Beasts stepped forward.

‘I want to try too!’

‘Me too!’

The little ones, having received the pestle, pounded the rice with excitement.

He let them do it, thinking it didn’t matter if they messed up, but they were actually doing a decent job.

Since they were having so much fun, he might have to leave the milling to them in the future.

Go Nam-tae washed the white rice and put it in the rice cooker.

From the moment he started washing the rice, his subordinates’ eyes sparkled as they smacked their lips.

Chuff chuff chuff!

As the pressure cooker weight rattled and the smell of rice spread, Go Nam-tae’s mouth watered as well.

Finally, the moment the lid was opened, their eyes widened.

Go Nam-tae first scooped out a large bowl of rice for himself, then divided the rest into three portions for the little ones.

“Sorry.”

“I don’t have any more rice bowls.”

Beep beep beep beep!

Thump, thump-thump!

‘We’ll share it well!’

They were good kids.

They shared the food well without fighting.

Go Nam-tae also began his meal.

The moment he took a large spoonful and put it in his mouth… a new heaven opened up!

“Wow…!”

Even eating the rice without any side dishes, it just slid down his throat.

Go Nam-tae didn’t realize it, but every time he ate, his mana bar was becoming slightly darker.

In short, his capacity was growing.

It had already started when he ate the corn, but it wasn’t at a significant level yet.

He polished off a bowl of rice in an instant.

Thanks to his enlarged stomach, he could enjoy the culinary pleasure even more, so he scooped another bowl.

Then, he brought out the kimchi he had been saving meticulously.

It was a taste that filled his appetite even if it didn’t have mana.

Once the kimchi met the rice, not a single drop of broth remained.

“Ah, this is really…”

The need to procure kimchi ingredients became very urgent.

Go Nam-tae found hope when he visited the chili pepper field.

Chili peppers the size of eggplants were hanging in clusters.

But even though they were that big, they were still young peppers with a green scent.

“I can pick them tomorrow!”

He finished harvesting the cabbage, radish, and corn, except for the seeds.

Looking at how the bean pods were turning yellow, it seemed they could be harvested soon as well.

When he put the harvested crops into the storage, Toto displayed the count.

[160 heads of Cabbage, 106 Radishes, 2,326 Corn]

Even though the germination rate was low, the fruits themselves were numerous, making the harvest enormous.

The cabbage and radish were more than twice the size of conventional ones, so those alone formed a mountain.

However, even with that much going into the storage, there was plenty of space.

[Not restricted by storage space.]

It was thanks to the storage’s characteristics.

It was sufficient even though the storage efficiency was still in the 50% range.

He felt grateful to Toto once again for recommending the storage.

Putting the harvested items into the storage concluded today’s farming work.

But there was one more important task left.

“Alright, let’s try again!”

Go Nam-tae stood before the mirror with a look of grim determination.

He desperately needed the sub-ingredients for kimchi.

Since the first day, he had been opening the mirror once a day, but every time, only random places appeared.

A bathroom, a ticket booth, an auto repair shop, a tollgate, and that damn factory again…

Opening the door right into Kim Gu-bok’s car on the first day had been the luckiest of luck.

When the factory opened again, he looked for Kim Gu-bok’s car, but it was nowhere to be seen.

The fact that his car, which was parked in the same spot every day, wasn’t there during working hours made him a little hopeful.

“He must have sold the stones as I instructed in the note, right?”

Go Nam-tae opened the mirror again with anxiety.

“Oh, this time it’s… huh?”

He saw Kim Gu-bok.

Go Mi-young was with him.

Go Mi-young, thinking that he wouldn’t be able to eat well living alone, would call him to eat whenever she had the chance.

She had called him her nephew, and after eating together often, he really felt like she was a real aunt.

However, in the end, he had felt like he would be a burden, so leaving without a word had weighed on his mind.

The place where the two were was unfamiliar.

The couple was cleaning a vacant space that looked like a storefront.

The fact that a man who worked at a factory all year round without a vacation was in a place like this was quite a hopeful situation.

He hoped that place was his new workplace.

“Ah, the note!”

“I have to send a new note!”

Just as Go Nam-tae was hurriedly looking for a note, a system window popped up.

[The Boss’s influence has been strengthened.]

[You can bring items from Earth.]

Right on cue, two-way traffic was opened.

“Oh…!”

However, chaos broke out on the other side.

“H-Honey!”

“A-A rift!”

“A rift…!”

The couple, turning pale, spun around in terror.

‘Ah, right, I didn’t think of this…’

Whether to call this a stroke of luck or not, at that moment, Go Mi-young tripped and fell.

There was no time to send a note or anything.

Sometimes, a physical object is faster than an explanation.

While Kim Gu-bok was supporting his fallen wife, Go Nam-tae hurriedly packed various things into a basket.

Corn, corn, corn…

Other things seemed to be mixed in occasionally, but it didn’t matter.

Go Nam-tae immediately poured the basket’s contents through the mirror.

A small mountain of corn, radishes, and cabbage tumbled out into the middle of the well-organized shop.

“Uh, uh, uh…”

While the startled couple was stuttering, Go Nam-tae hurriedly sent a note.

It’s me, Nam-tae.

Hello, Uncle and Auntie!

Fortunately, Kim Gu-bok recognized the fluttering note and picked it up immediately.

“Uh… it’s Nam-tae!”

“Nephew Nam-tae!”

Only then did the fear disappear from their faces.

All that remained was joy.

Go Nam-tae was also glad and apologetic.

Still, he was relieved to have communicated like this.

He immediately fixed the coordinates.

“Auntie, Uncle, you’ve been well, right!”

“Nam-tae, is it really true… that you sent this from over there?”

“Yes, it’s me!”

However, even though he could hear the two of them, Go Nam-tae’s voice did not reach them.

Go Nam-tae sent another note.

These are things I grew with my ability.

You’ll be able to sell them as Labyrinth produce.

Can I ask this favor of you, Uncle and Auntie?

“Wow, see?”

“I was right!”

“Of course!”

“Why even ask?”

“My husband was already preparing the shop, saying that Nephew Nam-tae must have become an Awakened!”

“Where are you, Nephew Nam-tae?”

I’m a bit far away.

Slowly, the signal for the mirror to close began.

“Which Labyrinth is it?”

“Should we go find you?”

There were 17 Labyrinths across the country.

As if perfectly matched, there was one in each major administrative district.

Wanting to come find him immediately without even knowing which Labyrinth it was was very much like Kim Gu-bok.

I’m sorry, you won’t be able to meet me even if you come.

Opening the door like this is also my ability, so don’t worry, it’s not a rift.

But the time is short.

Please try what I sent you first.

And please get rid of the notes.

The door closed as soon as he sent the note.

His conscience pricked him.

‘It is a rift, though…’

Slowly, the rift closed.

Fear, shock, astonishment, welcome, joy…

Pushed out by the flood of collective emotions, the couple plopped down in their seats.

Go Mi-young came to her senses first and spoke.

“Honey, he said these were ‘Labyrinth crops’, right?”

“Nephew Nam-tae planted these himself?”

“Yeah, it clearly says so here…”

“Honey, the notes, the notes!”

“Burn these first.”

“Oh, right, okay!”

The couple, having hurriedly collected and burned the notes, breathed a sigh of relief.

“Young man Nam-tae must be farming in a Labyrinth.”

“You can gather things in a Labyrinth, but… is farming even possible?”

“We haven’t heard of it until now, right?”

“But it means Nam-tae can do it!”

“That’s truly amazing!”

The couple’s eyes turned simultaneously toward the crops piled up like a mountain.

“Our first items for sale…”

“…have been decided, haven’t they?”

“Hahahaha!”

How long had it been since the couple laughed out loud like this together?

“Nam-tae is our benefactor, a real benefactor.”

“Yeah, and that money too…”

The shop they set up was near the 11th Labyrinth.

It was the second-largest Labyrinth in South Korea, a place where many hunters frequented.

There were quite a few shops like this near the Labyrinth.

However, the prime locations were occupied by large corporate stores, and the rent was incredibly expensive.

Thus, the place the couple secured was a point where the Labyrinth was barely visible.

To be honest, it was so far out on the outskirts that one had to insist it was near the Labyrinth.

Nevertheless, more than half of their capital went into securing the shop alone.

After installing a mana measuring device, which is the core of a resource exchange, they even had to leave the house they were living in.

From now on, they had to eat and sleep in the small back room of the shop.

To start trading with hunters here, they needed seed money, but they didn’t have much left.

Who would give goods on credit to people with no credibility?

Go Nam-tae had saved them again.

Although they couldn’t know, the moment Go Nam-tae marked that place, no other rifts could occur around the shop.

The two marveled at the appearance of the produce.

“The color is really great!”

“……But what if they don’t sell?”

Crops like corn wouldn’t be treated as rare Labyrinth gathered items.

Of course, the size was several times that of normal corn, but the problem was that it was still unknown.

An even bigger problem was that their shop was so far out on the outskirts and their recognition was zero.

“Usually, for food, you have to give out samples.”

“Should we boil a few ears of corn first?”

“S-Should we?”

“If they don’t sell, we can just eat them ourselves.”

“Then let’s try boiling a few.”

Even before they boiled them, their mouths watered.

Raw corn wouldn’t normally give off a scent, but it was because they were enveloped in mana powerful enough to tempt even ordinary people.

Even with a giant pot mobilized, they could only barely fit and boil three ears of corn.

After turning the heat to the maximum for a moment.

The smell of ripening corn began to spread.