When I Returned to Farming, National-level Big Juniors Flock - Chapter 11



Only Krnovel

11. Killing two birds with one stone

Oh Hyeon-seong, standing in front of the field, looked at the cleared land.

I had already made a rough plan when I first got the seeds, but I divided the areas while calculating in my head once more.

‘This is my first time farming, so I won’t be too greedy. I’ll just grow a few of the most necessary crops first.’

If it were up to me, I would like to gather seeds and grow different types of crops as much as my money allows.

This means that we will be able to taste again countless flavors that have been forgotten by mankind.

But if that happened, the aftermath would be a problem.

If you plant crops that grow very quickly without thinking, you will end up with a lot of crops that need to be harvested.

Even with the help of the spirits, I have never tested my capabilities to see how far I can handle it, so I decided to set the scale conservatively to be safe for now.

So here are some of the crops he decided on.

“First of all… this rice.”

The foundation of Koreans, a strong sense of rice.

Oh Hyeon-seong took out a handful of rice seeds from the bag.

According to popular belief, the happiness index of Koreans has been further reduced by half due to the current dirty tasteless rice.

Oh Hyun-seong also missed a bowl of warm rice the most.

A real bowl of rice, not some weird rice imitation that makes you play with clay in your mouth.

No matter what you cook in the future, you will likely eat it with rice.

In some ways, it could be said to be the most important of all the farming projects to be done today.

‘At first, I thought I had to bring in water to make rice paddies for rice farming… but fortunately, an alternative has emerged.’

Yoo Seung-su said that there is also rice that grows in fields, not necessarily in rice paddies.

They say it was called field rice, but it tasted different from what modern Koreans mainly eat, but they say there are now varieties that are no different through improvement.

However, Yoo Seung-soo said that it requires much more work and there is a difference in the yield, and that it is not considered a non-mainstream method for nothing.

In normal circumstances, I probably would have listened to him.

However, since Oh Hyeon-seong had spirits anyway, the difficulty of management was not a problem that mattered.

At this point, it would be a waste to undertake the major project of building a field.

“Okay, then let’s begin.”

Oh Hyeon-seong sowed rice seeds and planted the crops.

Since rice was given the largest area among the crops, it took quite a bit of time.

And when the rice season was over, he began to sow other crops.

From the potatoes that have run out to the new family members, sweet potatoes and corn.

Food ingredients such as peppers, onions, garlic, and green onions were also essential, so they were included in the first list.

In order to do serious ‘cooking’, this was more important than other major grains.

In addition, we finished sowing the beans, which we must not forget.

“And… now finally, the fruit.”

Oh Hyeon-seong quickly turned around.

A large pile of them, different in size from the small ones that had just been planted.

It was an apple tree sapling.

‘With the spirit boost, it shouldn’t take that long to grow even if you plant something like apple seeds… but I still wanted to plant good, well-managed ones if possible.’

These are the seedlings that were selected based on the strong recommendation of Seungsu Yoo, who said that if you are planning to grow apples, there is a good place.

It was difficult for an outsider to tell the exact difference, but they all had a good, deep-rooted feel.

Snap!

‘Still, since I’m a former hunter, it’s not that hard.’

He lifts up an apple tree seedling lightly and plants it in the ground.

Digging the ground and other things were more tiring than I thought, but since I was from where I was, it wasn’t a problem.

All I had to do was be careful not to step on my left leg incorrectly.

‘The strawberries have all been planted, and now it’s all finished.’

Oh Hyun-seong, who had finished sowing strawberries beyond the apple orchard, stretched his back and turned his arms.

With the last two fruits finished, all planned sowings were completed.

Oh Hyun-seong looked back with a strong sense of accomplishment.

Clap clap clap!

The spirits who were watching him applauded.

Oh Hyun-seong, who let out a hearty laugh, spoke to the guys.

“There’s no need to applaud. You guys have to work hard too.”

The spirits tilt their heads at his words.

“Do you want to eat something as delicious as the potatoes you ate last time?”

This time the spirits nod their heads vigorously.

These guys were just beginning to appreciate the taste of food, but were very disappointed when they couldn’t eat it after the potatoes ran out.

Oh Hyun-seong said to those guys.

“When these crops grow, they will give us delicious food. The healthier they grow, the more delicious the food they will give us, and we will be able to enjoy even happier meals.”

Squeak! Squeak!

The spirits respond with enthusiastic reactions, their eyes shining.

From guys hugging each other and jumping around, to guys dancing excitedly.

It’s like the scene of some grand festival.

Of course, expectations were high for Oh Hyun-seong as well.

Some seedlings have been planted and the growing times will not all be the same, but most crops, like potatoes and lettuce, will be ready for harvest starting tomorrow.

I can’t help but look forward to the next day.

“Hyunseong-ah! Oh Hyunseong-ah!”

“Hmm…? It’s Kwon Kyung-min, right?”

His gaze quickly turned to a familiar voice coming from afar.

I can see Kwon Kyung-min coming up from far away.

Although he was within sight, Kwon Kyung-min could not find him.

Thanks to the barrier set up by Han Su-yeon, his figure standing inside the field cannot be seen.

Of course, you can’t see the crops that were planted like this either.

All the fields above the house were distorted and appeared as empty land.

“Oh, this guy. He’s not home. Where did he go?”

Kwon Kyung-min appears to be looking for him.

But unexpectedly, Eun-ha Yoo was walking behind him.

He said this with a very serious expression on his face.

“Brother! If you can hear me, come out quickly! This is a real emergency!”

Anyway, it seemed like something had happened.

***

“Watch out. It’s right over there.”

“hmm…”

Oh Hyeon-seong approached the planter that Kwon Kyung-min was pointing at and tilted his head.

Tsk tsk tsk!

The guy who showed up within.

The pitch-black pit is dug deep.

A black aura that instinctively causes rejection is slowly rising.

“There really is erosion.”

Oh Hyun-seong said, frowning slightly.

The identity of that black aura, as if it were pitch black, was ‘Takgi’.

This is the very energy that has tormented humanity since the Gate incident and that Oh Hyun-seong has encountered countless times.

“Then what should I do?”

“To be more precise, it is a sudden ‘partial erosion’ phenomenon caused by turbidity. When the turbidity remaining in the ground accumulates to a certain amount, it gathers in one place and flows backwards. This is also a hole created by melting the ground and floor and flowing backwards.”

Oh Hyun-seong stretched out his finger and scanned the hole.

Those who were watching shuddered at the mere sight, but he brushed away the black energy rippling from his fingers without any emotion.

“Has a gate ever appeared in this town?”

“No, not recently. Nothing like this has happened since I’ve been here.”

“Then what if we expand the scope a little more in the village?”

“Ah! By the way, I heard that the gate opened several times in the mountains a few kilometers away. But they were all put down without a problem…”

“Then maybe that was the problem.”

Oh Hyeon-seong nodded at Kwon Kyung-min’s words.

Then, Eun-ha Yoo, who was biting her fingernails, intervened and asked.

“It’s not like a gate opened in the village or a monster appeared?”

“Partial erosion is the cumulative damage to the surrounding environment caused by continued exposure to turbid air. This doesn’t happen right away when a monster just shows up.”

“Phew, so that means no monsters will attack?”

“It’s not 100% theoretical, but you can look at it that way for now.”

Oh Hyeon-seong nodded to Kwon Kyung-min’s question.

In Korea, a much more dense detection network than before was spread throughout the country.

If a gate had appeared around the village where such a person lived, the sign would have been detected immediately before the gate was even created.

If monsters had been hanging around the village long enough to cause this erosion, they would have discovered and attacked humans long ago.

A defenseless rural area like this is an easy meal for monsters.

“Once you contact the administration and it’s taken care of, it shouldn’t happen again for at least a few years.”

“I’ve been enduring this for ten years, really. I was worried that I should clear out the entire village and evacuate. It’s a good thing we have experts like you.”

Kwon Kyung-min said, sweeping his chest.

Although he was not a hunter who could subdue monsters, he could fully rely on the presence of Oh Hyeon-seong, who worked in the relevant department.

Since there was no way that such an expert could exist in such a small town, his presence alone, with his extensive knowledge of gate-related matters, was a great relief.

“Then I’ll go down and tell the elders. They’ll all be surprised since this is their first time experiencing something like this. Oh, and I’ll tell them about your accomplishments too.”

Kwon Kyung-min patted his shoulder as if he was a gentleman and left the facility.

I wonder if this is considered a contribution to the village.

Oh Hyun-seong scratched his head.

“ha…”

But, a bewildered sigh was heard from next to me.

It was the sigh of Yoo Seung-soo, who had been sitting alone for a while.

“Damn, I kept having these ridiculous glitches. Why didn’t I think of this? I should’ve figured it out right away…”

“Hey, how could we have known this would happen?”

“No, I should have thought about it. If I couldn’t do it, then it wouldn’t have happened.”

Despite his brother’s words, Yoo Seung-soo covered his face with both hands.

Around the hole in the empty table.

The crops within that radius were rotten and turned pitch black.

“What’s wrong? Is it because of the crop damage?”

“that’s right.”

Eunha Yoo clicked her tongue and shook her head.

Seeing Yoo Seung-soo looking more desperate than expected, Oh Hyun-seong asked with his eyes why he was acting like this.

“That’s… The strawberry supply that was supposed to be delivered to Hankyung Department Store this time has all flown away.”

Thanks to the early discovery, not many crops died.

But the impact of erosion was broader than it appeared.

Crops that were indirectly affected by erosion were deformed or had a significant taste problem and had to be discarded.

Although other species are doing relatively well, strawberries growing in this area have suffered catastrophic damage.

Most of them died, and those that survived were so badly deformed that they had to be discarded.

The damage was so severe that it could never be repaired.

However, strawberries were one of the main products of the brother and sister farm.

Strawberries have been attracting attention as a fruit suitable for smart farms since the beginning, and have made significant progress among natural crops.

Nowadays, if you have the right varieties and excellent facilities, you can quickly cycle through all four seasons and raise the taste to a high level.

Thanks to this, the wild strawberries from the siblings’ farm tasted just as good as high-end synthetic strawberries.

However, the problem was that Hankyung Department Store also paid that much attention.

“We were planning a small event where our strawberries would be the main event, and we were going to negotiate preferential terms next month. We could have raised the unit price and increased the delivery volume… but if something like this happens, it’s over for sure.”

Yoo Seung-soo clutched his head and cried in pain.

Not only did they squeeze into the food section of the famous Kyunghyang Department Store, which is known for being picky, but they have also been faithfully delivering without a single puncture.

But just as we were about to reap the fruits of our labor, this happened.

If you have built such a large facility, the initial investment cost must have been significant, so you cannot ignore the profit.

‘This guy, I’ve never seen him like this before… He must have been shocked. But I can’t give him my strawberries.’

He happened to be on his way back from sowing strawberries in the field.

But that doesn’t mean I can give them the strawberries I harvested there instead.

The crops grown by the spirits will surely boast incredible flavor this time as well, but the problem is that the flavor is so overwhelmingly delicious.

‘If you suddenly release something like that into a famous department store, the whole world will be in an uproar. Powerful people from all over the world will be watching, so of course the source won’t want to leave it alone. That’s difficult.’

Oh Hyun-seong sighed deeply.

He was racking his brain trying to come up with a solution, and his eyes widened.

It came to mind.

A way to make money without getting involved in any annoying problems.

“Maybe I can help you out a bit… Can you give me the contact information for the person in charge there?”

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