When I Returned to Farming, National-level Big Juniors Flock - Chapter 5



Only Krnovel

5. Unexpected guests

Boohoo!

A cool engine sound is heard from the car that was rumbling.

Oh Hyun-seong got out of the driver’s seat and came into the house.

“It’s all done, ma’am. It’ll start again now.”

“Thank you, Mr. Hyunseong. We’re already short-handed. I never would’ve guessed that you’d help me with the harvest and even fix my car. You came from the city, so where did you work in the garage?”

“No, I was just a civil servant. I know a little about cars, because I’ve had to take care of them a few times before.”

“Oh my. You’re so smart and tall, I want to introduce you to my daughters. When are you planning on going up to the city and getting married?”

“Ahahaha…”

Oh Hyun-seong let out an awkward laugh.

As intended, scoring points seemed to be a huge success.

As Mrs. Hwang was a well-known name in the village, her reputation would be a great help in blending in with the local community.

It was Kwon Kyung-min who had told her in advance that she would be busy with the fall harvest season.

“Hmm, hmm. He’s a top-notch groom.”

Eun-ha Yoo, sitting on the veranda, nodded and said.

She was munching on rice cakes while smiling faintly.

“Sorry, oppa. I already ate all the rice cakes.”

“…Can you stay here like this? I don’t even farm, but you guys have a pretty big facility.”

“I harvested all the potatoes last time, and I’m free now that the busy season is over.”

Oh Hyeon-seong sat down next to the floor.

After our last meeting, the siblings decided to speak straight to each other.

Even though we sat in different seats, our ages weren’t that different, and I was grateful when my next-door neighbor approached me in a friendly manner.

“The last time I went to Seoul, I went to deliver the harvested potatoes directly to a department store. And the advantage of expensive facilities is that they require less manpower compared to their size.”

“So you came here to help with the farm work out of kindness?”

“We usually get kimchi from the lady, hehe.”

Eunha Yoo lifted the remote control.

As I changed the channel from which an unpopular entertainment show was playing, an interview screen appeared on the news.

A man with a handsome appearance speaks leisurely in front of a large crowd of fans and reporters.

“Wow, Ryu Ji-hwa cleared the S-rank gate in the US again. And she did it solo. She’s going to shoot a ton of commercials.”

Eunha Yoo stared at the TV with her mouth wide open.

Although he tried not to show it, you could see that he had a secret love for fans.

“Huh? Now that I think about it, Ryu Ji-hwa also worked at the management office before joining the agency. Have you ever met her?”

“I’ve never run around the field with him or anything, but I’ve seen him before.”

“Huh… Really? That’s ridiculous! What does he look like in person? Is he that handsome when you see him in person?”

“well.”

A surprised Eun-ha Yoo came closer and asked, but Hyun-seong Oh just shrugged his shoulders.

He is now a huge superstar and the face of one of the three major entertainment companies, ‘Aegis’, but just a few years ago, he was a greenhorn rookie.

Not only did we not have time to work together as colleagues or juniors, we didn’t even have time to go out to the same site.

However, when Oh Hyeon-seong was often injured and unable to go out into the field, he trained his juniors as an instructor.

Among the disciples I taught at that time was Ryu Ji-hwa.

I remember training him very hard because he showed a lot of potential.

‘Seeing that foolish guy doing that in front of the camera… the world has really changed a lot.’

During the past five years in the hospital, I have felt that the world has changed a lot, especially in the world of mass media.

From terrestrial news to current affairs and entertainment channels, there was no place that did not talk about Hunter.

The hunters who have stepped into the open air have become people who have a great influence not only on the national power and security of the country, but also on society.

Of course, in rural areas like this, daily dramas and trot competition programs enjoyed overwhelming popularity.

“Okay, okay. You both worked hard, so eat and rest.”

“Wow, thank you!”

Before we knew it, Mrs. Hwang, who had brought the entire table inside, put down the food.

Eunha Yoo happily picked up her chopsticks at a table full of visually stunning dishes, including makgeolli and potato pancakes.

“Aren’t you going to eat, oppa? You must be hungry.”

“Eat, I’m going to eat.”

Although he picked up his chopsticks, Oh Hyeon-seong was not very active in eating.

That’s because after the shocking meal last time, Oh Hyun-seong was only eating lettuce at every meal.

I haven’t even eaten a bite of rice, so I’m starting to feel the lack of carbohydrates in my body.

Still, his diet remained the same, and this morning he ended up eating all the lettuce he had planted in the garden.

Eun-ha Yoo, who was diligently pushing in the soy sauce-covered potato pancake, looked at him and said.

“By the way, have you tried the potatoes we gave you?”

“No, not yet.”

“why?”

“I had some circumstances. I’m going to try it today.”

Oh Hyun-seong said with a smile.

He was already oblivious to the food in front of him and was full of anticipation for what would happen after he returned.

***

After the last meal with lettuce, Oh Hyun-seong searched the Internet for seed potatoes.

These are just ordinary potato seedlings, nothing special.

I didn’t go around to nurseries to find ones in good condition, I just bought a small amount from an unknown company on the internet.

Besides, it’s not even time to plant fall potatoes, and I haven’t done the basic plastic mulching for growing them.

I just planted it without any prior preparation.

But even so, the potatoes he planted grew well.

The potatoes grew so quickly in just one day that it took longer for the seed potatoes to be delivered than the growing period.

“The harvest is over. Now it’s time for the final battle.”

Oh Hyeon-seong sat in front of the table with a determined expression.

Steamed potatoes, divided into two bowls, were giving off steam.

At first glance, they looked like the same potatoes, but they had completely different origins.

On the left are premium varieties of potatoes supplied to a department store, a gift from the Yu siblings next door.

On the right are potatoes from a bare garden touched by the hands of a novice farmer.

Ugh.

Oh Hyun-seong, with a nervous expression, picked up the potato on the left.

First, I took a big bite of the potato I received as a gift.

He nodded after pondering it carefully.

‘Is it true that verified high-class potatoes are different?’

It was just steamed potatoes, but it was definitely more delicious than Mrs. Hwang’s potato pancakes, which were made with much more care.

This is not a difference due to lack of cooking skills, but rather a difference that comes from the ingredients.

Unlike factory-grown potatoes or regular wild potatoes which have a poor texture, these were much less mushy.

It tasted even better when I ate it with salt or sugar to hide the flaws.

‘The typical sloppy taste of potatoes produced after the Gate incident is still there, but… at this level, it can almost be compared to high-end synthetic crops.’

It wasn’t for nothing that the siblings confidently told me to try it.

It created a difference that even those who are insensitive to taste can clearly feel.

However, there were still many shortcomings.

Even though they were clearly top-quality potatoes, his mind kept wandering around the lettuce he had eaten that morning.

Gulp.

Oh Hyun-seong put down the half-eaten potato.

Then he brought out the potatoes in the bowl on the right.

A strange smell had been tickling his nose for a while now, so he picked up some potatoes from the garden with both hands and brought them to his mouth.

‘…is crazy.’

A shock as if I had been hit hard on the back of the head.

I could feel the flavor and texture of a ‘real potato’, not a crude imitation.

With every bite, a handful of soft potatoes filled my mouth.

I rolled the potatoes around in my mouth in a hurry while they were still hot, but even that process was delicious.

‘Have I… lived my life forgetting this taste?’

It’s shocking.

If lettuce was only a supporting ingredient, potatoes had a terrifying destructive power even on their own.

Looking back on my eating habits over the years, it is a series of shocking scenes.

After all of humanity compromised for survival, a state of numbness bordering on resignation followed, but once you get a taste, your eyes are opened again.

Oh Hyeon-seong, who was eating potatoes absentmindedly, made eye contact with the spirits.

Huh?

The spirits of the four attributes are looking at him with a puzzled look on their faces, as if they have never seen him before.

“Yeah, I feel awkward too. Thanks to you guys.”

Oh Hyun-seong patted the guys on the head as if he was amazed.

After planting the seed potatoes the night before, he spent some time observing the spirits’ behavior and the appearance of his garden.

And then I got to see the growth process with my own eyes.

All the things the spirits did to the crops.

‘The fact that the crops grew so quickly was also thanks to the hands of the spirits of life. The spirits of the earth ate away the turbid air in the ground and provided abundant nutrients. The spirits of fire provided warmth to maintain the optimal temperature, and the spirits of water provided pure, unpolluted water.’

It completely removes turbidity, supplies pure nutrients, and optimizes the surrounding environment for crops.

So, unlike crops exposed to factory farms or polluted air, they could not be tasteless.

As spirits are part of nature, it was easy for them to read the state of plants.

In fact, from the spirits’ point of view, they were simply helping the poor plants exposed to the toxic air to grow properly.

But their care was of a kind that no facility with the latest technology or capital could ever replicate.

The result is a clear and unprecedented difference, from lettuce to potatoes.

‘It wasn’t just about whether the quality was good or bad… It felt like eating decent food before the Gate incident. No, it wasn’t a feeling, it was a conviction.’

Oh Hyun-seong put down the potatoes and became lost in thought.

In the meantime, mankind has chosen to ‘imitate’ as much as possible in order to get its hands on delicious foods of the past again.

So that the taste and texture are as similar as possible to foods of the past.

But this is not a made-up level.

This single potato itself was like a perfect crop before the Gate incident, and there was a difference that could not be expressed in words but could never be ignored.

“This… is more unusual than I thought.”

At first, I was just happy about the delicious food.

But when I thought about it a little more, it became clear that the scale of the incident could have been ridiculously large.

Empty!

While he was considering various cases in his head.

A knock on the doorknob was heard from outside the yard.

A sudden visit without any prior notice.

Are they the siblings next door? Or Kwon Kyung-min?

“Excuse me. Are you there?”

A woman’s voice was heard from beyond the front door.

Oh Hyeon-seong jumped up from his seat in surprise.

He went outside, opened the front door, and faced the woman standing before him.

“you…”

A tall, slender woman dressed in a neat and tidy suit.

But even that kind of attire couldn’t dilute her gorgeous features.

“It’s been a while, senior.”

His long-time junior, Han Su-yeon, smiled faintly.

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