When I Returned to Farming, National-level Big Juniors Flock - Chapter 17



Only Krnovel

17. Stew Thief

Joo Ji-hye is a typical city person.

I was born in the prime location of Seoul and have never left the city.

Life outside the city was completely unknown to her.

However, often times, when I go out to the field or film a drama, I have to go down to the countryside.

Through such experiences, her thoughts became more solid.

The countryside is disgusting.

I hated the rough, unpaved dirt floor, the annoying bugs, and the pitch-black darkness at night.

No matter how old she gets and how much she retires, she plans to live among the skyscrapers, popping champagne bottles.

Surely, surely it would have been so.

“What the hell is going on…”

Joo Ji-hye got out of the car and blankly looked around.

A remote mountain village without any tall buildings.

Not only was it a rural area I had never heard of before, but she was standing in front of a house tucked away in a corner.

“Come in. This is where you will be staying from now on. It might be uncomfortable to stay in the same building, so you can use the separate building while you are staying.”

Oh Hyeon-seong, who brought her into the yard, pointed to the annex and said.

What a thoughtful landlord.

Oh Hyun-seong nodded in agreement at his own consideration.

But Joo Ji-hye was still in shock.

“You said you’d treat me? I thought it was some kind of secret research facility, and now you’re telling me to stay here?”

“The best treatment for the aftereffects of being a hunter is rest. If you rest in the countryside with good air and work up a sweat, your illness will go away.”

“What, what the hell is that!”

Joo Ji-hye sat down with a thud.

For her, who had come with hope, it was a real blow to her head.

Choi Jeong-il, who was standing behind him, also glanced at him and asked.

“Senior… Is this correct?”

“It’s only for a few days anyway. Even if you say no, I’ll send you back to Seoul, so just leave it to me for a few days. Oh, and do you want to stay here with me in the meantime? I don’t mind.”

“Oh, that’s… I have some urgent things to do…”

“Well, you’re a businessman, so you must be busy. I admit it.”

Sweat was pouring out of Choi Jeong-il, who had received a special pardon.

I heard that you had become a farmer, but I didn’t know that the plan to cure your illness was what brought Ju Ji-hye here.

“Why, can’t you see it?”

Oh Hyun-seong said with a sly smile.

Then Choi Jeong-il, who had been staring at him, shook his head.

“No way.”

To be honest, Choi Jeong-il had no idea what he was thinking.

But not understanding and being able to trust are two different things.

The Oh Hyeon-seong he knows is not the kind of person who would do something like this without thinking.

Also, this isn’t the first or second time that such incomprehensible decisions have been made.

Oh Hyun-seong often came up with plans that even his team members found difficult, and each time, the team members would express dissatisfaction that was not dissatisfaction.

But looking back, his words were always correct.

In extreme situations, those incomprehensible decisions saved Choi Jeong-il’s life several times.

Even at that time, the team members who knew this fact eventually nodded and followed Oh Hyun-seong’s words.

Choi Jeong-il also just nodded as if it was a past habit.

“Then… I will ask for your help.”

Choi Jeong-il bowed his head deeply toward his long-time senior.

With the same courtesy and respect that we have always shown.

***

“…”

Joo Ji-hye, who was placed in a room in the annex, was sitting with her knees bent in the corner.

‘They said it would cure that damn insomnia… That’s why I postponed my schedule and followed you all this way…’

If it were her usual self, she would never have believed it.

My first impression at the department store was the worst, and I couldn’t trust someone who wasn’t even a doctor to suddenly say something like that.

But she believed.

This is because he was a first-generation senior who was personally guaranteed by Choi Jeong-il, and if he was a hunter of that caliber, there might be a way.

Because she was the one who would grab onto any small scrap if it meant getting rid of this annoying disease.

But what ultimately came was despair.

‘Are you mocking me like this because I made a mistake when we first met? I have a serious illness that makes me want to die?’

Joo Ji-hye chewed the fingernails of her trembling hands.

If he hadn’t known the representative, he would have done something or other a long time ago.

In the first place, now I have doubts as to whether Choi Jeong-il was scammed by a serious con artist.

‘What should I do? Should I escape right now?’

But she soon shook her head.

This is because Choi Jeong-il threatened that if he caused another accident this time, he wouldn’t let it end with words.

I’ve had a few missteps and stacked up before, so this time I really need to listen.

‘Yeah, I told you to hold out for just one week… Just hold out until then. Be prepared, CEO. I’m going to mention this incident all over the place and rip you off a lot when we renew our contract.’

Joo Ji-hye suppressed her anger by grumbling.

But then, a delicious smell wafted in from somewhere.

Her head turned around, as she had already skipped all her meals today.

‘What is this? How can something this delicious smell come from such a remote corner of the countryside…?’

Joo Ji-hye, who woke up without realizing it, went outside, drawn by the smell.

As she entered the main building, she encountered Oh Hyeon-seong standing in the living room.

“Oh, you’re just here. I was going to call you anyway. Since we’re going to eat dinner, you should sit down and eat too.”

“…Eat? There’s nothing to eat.”

“There’s a table over there.”

Joo Ji-hye’s gaze turned to the prize belatedly.

But the table was laid out so shabby and simple that she didn’t even realize it was a meal at first.

“This is one meal?”

“What’s missing? There’s soybean paste stew, rice, and a few basic side dishes.”

“No, who eats soybean paste stew these days?”

Joo Ji-hye looked at the stew with a frown.

Doenjang jjigae is one of the worst foods that has degenerated from the past.

That’s understandable. Compared to other foods, cheap factory-made soybean paste is particularly the worst.

It smelled bad and tasted bad, so unless you had really little money or had unique tastes, there was no reason to eat it.

‘But… what’s that smell coming from the soybean paste stew?’

But contrary to her preconceptions, the smell from earlier had strongly stimulated her hungry sense of smell.

It smelled like a completely different food from the soybean paste stew I had smelled before.

But she, who had been wriggling her arms, got up from her seat with a jerk.

“Eat it alone. I can’t eat this kind of food because it makes me sick.”

“You know there’s no restaurant in this neighborhood that sells a ten million won course meal? I wouldn’t care if you starved to death.”

“What’s the point of starving to death? If you just die, the CEO will apologize.”

Joo Ji-hye suddenly turned around.

Oh Hyun-seong scratched his head as he watched her back turn around with a thump.

“Hmm… I have to feed it, but it’s difficult.”

The reason Oh Hyun-seong brought her.

They were brought here to conduct clinical trials on the spirit crop.

If the downgraded version alone had that effect on Ju Ji-hye, then the effect would be even greater if she ate the real crops here.

But if you don’t eat, you won’t be able to watch the progress.

‘Well, if you keep doing that and get hungry, you’ll probably eat on your own.’

The time I promised her was a week.

Perhaps out of pride, he seemed determined to endure a week without eating anything and then leave the place.

But that’s really a foolish idea.

I don’t know about hunters these days, but even hunters can’t fight hunger.

Even though you may feel like you have gained superhuman strength and abilities and become a great being, the moment when you most keenly realize that you are also an ordinary human being is when you are starving for a long time in the operation area.

Rather, it is an experience that allows us to look deep into the depths of humanity.

‘Maybe that’s why there was a starvation period at least once during the training camp.’

He didn’t really care and finished setting the table.

And then he looked proudly at the lavishly laid table.

At first, just making gochujang stew with white rice took a lot of effort.

Since everything had to be done one by one without any external materials, it was bound to require a lot of work.

However, now the range of dishes that can be prepared has expanded, and the number of basic side dishes has also increased.

This is because the system has been established to some extent and the types of crops have increased.

‘If it were normal, I would have given the spirits snacks, but… they’re hiding and not coming out because of strangers.’

Oh Hyun-seong picked up his spoon, once again expressing his gratitude for the food at the table.

“thank you for this food!”

***

In a dark room.

A rustling sound can be heard in the quiet silence.

“…ha.”

The pain of insomnia isn’t simply the inability to sleep.

The problem was that even though my body and mind were extremely tired, I couldn’t actually sleep.

Severe insomnia is essentially a horrible state of constant floundering, unable to do anything.

“This is driving me crazy.”

Joo Ji-hye rested her chin on her forehead.

My body was tired, I couldn’t sleep, and I was hungry.

In particular, my stomach was growling so much that I wondered if not eating for just one day could be this painful.

‘It’s all because of this smell.’

The smell of that stew that has been wafting through the door since a while ago.

Even though his sense of smell was already more developed than that of an average person, his senses were on edge because he was hungry.

Thanks to this, the smell that was normally unnoticeable was amplified in her nose, driving her even more crazy.

“Ugh… I can’t stand it!”

Eventually she got up from her seat.

If things continue like this, I’ll die and won’t be able to sleep even if I wake up.

Of course, pride must also be protected.

‘Just take one bite. I don’t know what makes it smell so good, but after tasting that disgustingly bad soybean paste, you’ll lose your appetite.’

She moved stealthily and searched the inside of the main building without making any noise.

Oh Hyeon-seong was seen sleeping through the crack in the door.

‘You’re sleeping without knowing anything about the world. You won’t get caught.’

Joo Ji-hye smiled faintly.

When she was trained separately by Choi Jeong-il at Aegis, she also learned the art of stealth that kills one’s presence.

Of course, it was only superficial and embarrassing compared to experts, but it was enough to fool ordinary people or mediocre hunters.

Besides, Oh Hyeon-seong was already a retired hunter and was fast asleep, so he thought he could fool him at any time.

Suddenly.

When I opened the pot in the kitchen, there was still some soybean paste stew left.

The strong smell made her dizzy.

She pulled out a spoon and carefully ate the soup and garnish.

Joo Ji-hye’s eyes widened.

Someone once said that the snacks you eat without your mom knowing are the best in the world.

But I wondered if cold stew could taste this good.

Because of that, my original plan to just take a bite went nowhere, and I found myself moving my spoon busily.

‘It’s delicious! It’s delicious!’

Salty broth with tofu, onions, and zucchini.

The violent taste of the vivid ingredients blending together in my mouth made me forget about the taste that would come back the next day.

But while I was eating so absentmindedly.

“…thief?”

Suddenly a voice was heard from behind me.

Joo Ji-hye turned around in surprise.

‘What, what is it?’

It’s not Oh Hyeon-seong.

A woman looking at her through the pitch-black darkness.

It was the appearance of an intruder whose identity was unknown, and above all, it was not an ordinary sound.

‘…It’s dangerous!’

Ju Ji-hye instinctively sensed the threat and raised her arm.

She immediately activated her telekinesis.

He took control of the surrounding space in an instant and tried to crush the opponent’s entire body.

But at that moment.

Surprisingly, Joo Ji-hye’s vision suddenly turned upside down.

Kkudangtang!

“Ugh…!”

Joo Ji-hye, who was pinned to the floor, took a deep breath.

For a moment, my vision became blurry and I had difficulty breathing, so I couldn’t even breathe properly.

‘Oh, that’s ridiculous.’

Even though we took the initiative, we were overwhelmed in return.

It was only for a split second, but she felt that she had completely lost control of her magical power to the opponent.

It’s something that can’t even be imitated unless there’s an absolute difference in skill.

“…What are you?”

A woman who approached in the darkness.

Han Soo-yeon stared down at her.

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