When I Returned to Farming, National-level Big Juniors Flock - Chapter 75



Only Krnovel

75. New Neighbors

“There’s no need to do farm work today.”

“… Really?”

Yoon Seol-ha showed a puzzled reaction to Oh Hyeon-seong’s words.

He stopped her as she was packing up her farm equipment and heading to the field as usual, and spoke to her alone, excluding everyone else.

“Yeah, today is a special day off. I’ve been working hard these past few days.”

“There’s no need to do that…”

“Run one errand instead.”

“An errand?”

The errand that Oh Hyun-seong gave her was simple.

There is something you need from an acquaintance in the village, so go down to the village and get it instead.

In some ways, it was a simple errand that even a child could do, but Yun Seol-ha felt a bit awkward.

During that time, she only lived in Oh Hyeon-seong’s house and field, and never went down to the village or got involved with people.

All I could do was look down the hill at the village and the surrounding scenery.

I was also afraid of contact with people.

You can’t help but feel anxious because you know that your condition is not yet perfect.

But she couldn’t just throw away the errand she had already taken on, so she walked down the street looking around.

It was a quiet time, and as expected from a rural village with little population, there was no chance of running into anyone.

“Hoo…”

After safely arriving at her destination, she stood in front of the door and took a deep breath.

And then he knocked on the door.

Thump thump!

‘… I said he was my senior’s hometown friend.’

The circle of friends she knew of Oh Hyeon-seong was not very wide.

Of course, his network within the industry was wider than that of any other hunter active at the time, but this was a story about his relationships outside the industry.

Before I even became an adult, I was drafted into the military and became an agent. I was deployed to all kinds of sites and suffered from overwork.

It is natural that it is difficult to have normal human relationships.

But the fact that they kept in touch even while living that kind of hunter life means that they were very close friends.

Thinking of Oh Hyun-seong as her friend, she felt a strange sense of curiosity, but at the same time, she felt nervous.

Bam!

At that moment, the front door opened and the owner of the house appeared.

But contrary to her expectations, a woman dressed in flowing clothes appeared.

“who are you?”

“I came to retrieve… no, to receive the item you asked me to do.”

“Ah, you’re Hyunseong’s junior!”

The woman said, clapping her hands.

Yun Seol-ha was a little flustered at the sight of her smiling brightly.

“I heard from him. Come in first.”

She led Yun Seol-ha inside and introduced herself as ‘Lee Ha-na.’

And then they walked and chatted away.

“My husband is out of the office for a bit. He did call to say that a guest had arrived, but I think you’ll have to wait a bit. You’re not busy, are you?”

“Oh, yes. I’m not busy.”

“Please sit here. I’ll bring you a cup of tea.”

Lee Ha-na entered the kitchen cheerfully and soon brought out tea.

She accepted the teacup that gave off a strange scent and took a sip.

“greatness…”

She still suffers from the aftereffects of being consumed by psychosis, and her sense of taste has also become dulled.

But even so, I vaguely felt that it was much less tasty than the tea I used to drink at Oh Hyeon-seong’s house.

My senses, which had been in disarray while living in Changyeong-ri, are gradually recovering. This is because the quality of the two cars is so different.

“how is it?”

“…It’s delicious.”

“Right? My father farms a small amount. This is also grown there. These days, wild ones are getting a lot of attention, but before that, people who knew about them knew about them. They are definitely different from the ones produced in factories…”

Lee Ha-na continued to talk about little things.

Then Yun Seol-ha nodded her head, reacting somewhat awkwardly.

As time passed, Kwon Kyung-min arrived and the two exchanged greetings.

“Oh, I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“no.”

“Now, here’s what Hyunseong asked for.”

She received an envelope containing the items requested by Kwon Kyung-min.

I took a peek inside, wondering what it was, and saw that it contained small items like cold medicine and patches.

‘Does this matter to you, senior?’

Her head tilted as she saw the contents.

But soon she looked away, nodded naturally, and turned her head to leave the house.

At that time, Kwon Kyung-min spoke to her.

“By the way, have you eaten?”

“Ah… no.”

“That’s great. We were just planning to have a meal, so why don’t we take it with us while we’re here?”

“Hey, what’s for dinner?”

“Is that okay?”

“That… that…”

When Lee Ha-na joined in, Yoon Seol-ha hesitated in embarrassment.

It was an unexpected turn of events for her, who was trying to quickly get the items and escape.

Then, Lee Ha-na came up to her side, quickly linked arms with her, and brought her into the house.

“Come in and tell me a story about Hyunseong.”

“Uh… huh?”

Yun Seol-ha was dragged with her arms linked and led to the table.

This meal was also not very tasty.

****

A few more days passed after that.

Oh Hyeon-seong sent her on errands every day, and it became routine for her to go down to the village and stop by Kwon Gyeong-min’s house during her spare time.

The items that were asked to be brought as errands changed every day.

They were all so petty that it made me wonder if they were making people come and go with such trivial things.

But somehow, Yun Seol-ha began to look forward to that time.

“Oh, Seol-ha is here?”

“Good morning.”

As expected from a village elder, Kwon Kyung-min was very friendly.

His wife, Lee Ha-na, is also the same.

Thanks to that, she was able to feel comfortable dealing with people.

“Oh, thank you.”

“What is it?”

Slurp,

She took the tea and drank it.

Yun Seol-ha’s sense of taste had improved, and thanks to that, the taste of tea could be felt more clearly.

Of course, by distinct here I meant that the tasteless tea became even more distinctly tasteless.

‘But… it’s not bad.’

She took a sip of tea.

The taste wasn’t that good, but I felt warm inside.

“How is it, are you getting used to life here?”

“Yes, a lot. Sometimes it feels like this has been my home from the beginning.”

“You know what I mean. There have been cases where city people came and left after a day or two, but I’ve never seen anyone like Seol-ha stay for several days and then hate it.”

Kwon Kyung-min nodded with a very pleased expression.

Because he was so proud of his village, he couldn’t help but be satisfied with Yun Seol-ha’s words.

“You said it’s been several weeks since you came down.”

“Yes, I’m going to help you with the farm work too.”

Yun Seol-ha nodded.

Of course, he didn’t say that he was a hunter, and he thought he was just a regular employee who worked at the management office like Oh Hyeon-seong.

The story is that he retired due to complicated circumstances and had nowhere to go for a while, so he ended up staying at the house of his close senior, Oh Hyeon-seong.

“So how long will you be staying?”

“… I have to leave soon. It’s a shame, but I can’t depend on you forever.”

“Why don’t you just live here?”

Lee Ha-na also suddenly interrupted his remark and said:

“Yes, there’s a vacant house right next to ours. The lot is spacious and there’s a garden attached to it. It’s not just a joke, it’s really great.”

“We could have fun if we lived together as neighbors.”

“I wish I could, but… I have some difficult circumstances.”

Yun Seol-ha said in a voice filled with regret.

They also felt regret at her answer, but they already knew that she had complicated circumstances that she couldn’t speak of.

I didn’t bother to ask why.

“There’s nothing I can do. But if your situation changes at any time, please let me know. I’ll be happy to help you, no matter when.”

“That’s right. I need to say goodbye before I leave, so please tell me a little bit. Then, take this back and try it.”

Lee Ha-na handed her a basket full of beautiful fruits.

As she reflexively took a step back, Lee Ha-na quickly approached and handed the basket to Yoon Seol-ha.

Skilled movements that are one step ahead of even the nation’s top hunters.

“Even if I receive something like this…”

“What’s wrong with this?”

“…”

Yun Seol-ha stared intently at the basket of fruit laden with abundant produce.

Just as Oh Hyeon-seong lived a life isolated from society and had limited interpersonal relationships, so did she, who was in the same special task force.

No, it was actually worse.

Oh Hyeon-seong also had a tendency to be somewhat wary of others due to the habits he developed during his service, but Yoon Seol-ha did not go to that extent; he lived his life as if that were part of his daily life.

She has always worked as a spy in a foreign country, and even the smallest daily tasks were part of the operation.

Anyone who wasn’t a colleague in the same special task force was a suspect who could stab him in the back at any time, and such unreasonable favors from others were extremely unfamiliar.

“… thank you.”

Accepting the unfamiliar hospitality, she stood up from her seat.

Now it was time to go home.

Yun Seol-ha, who was carrying a bag and an errand, was about to leave the yard.

“Ugh…!”

At that moment, a strong shock hit her.

Yun Seol-ha, who had stumbled and fallen, barely managed to hold on to the wall, but her trembling hands slipped away.

“Seol-ha?! Are you okay?”

‘Oh, no… why now of all times…’

Yun Seol-ha’s two eyes shook dangerously.

A sudden seizure struck her.

Of course, the occasional seizures she would experience were recently getting better, so she was able to calm them down on her own.

But the people right in front of me were the problem.

A civilian, not a hunter.

They are not strong beings like Oh Hyeon-seong who can suppress them even if they run wild, but rather very fragile beings who can be harmed with just a slight impulse.

With such an object before her eyes, she felt even more anxious.

‘This is not right. If I lose consciousness here…’

Cold sweat flowed down Yun Seol-ha’s forehead.

Rather, as I became more conscious of it, it became more difficult to keep my composure, my breathing became more erratic, and my shoulders began to shake violently.

“Go, come closer…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

At that time, a warm hand wrapped around her.

Lee Ha-na approached her cautiously, who was reacting sensitively, and hugged her tightly.

Then, surprisingly, her heavy breathing gradually subsided and her seizure symptoms also disappeared.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“That… That… Just now…”

“No, you don’t have to say anything.”

Lee Ha-na hugged Yoon Seol-ha in her arms without saying a word.

A fragile being whose life can be ended with just a snap of the fingers.

As a civilian and a hunter, she was always the one who had to protect him.

But now it was completely different.

She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the warmth that was incomprehensible but cozy.

****

“I think this will suffice.”

A place in the back mountains where there are no people.

Han Su-yeon stands alone.

I didn’t come here to sneak out and have fun.

I just came here to check something out.

‘Since coming here… I feel a definite change in my body.’

Han Su-yeon caressed her own danjeon.

The cause was, of course, the food eaten here, namely the spirit crops.

The crops created by the spirits had a more powerful effect on the hunters than any elixir.

But that’s not why I came here.

The mechanism by which the spirit crops worked was to neutralize the turbid energy in the body and normalize the body’s condition.

Just reducing the negative impact of turbidity can bring about many changes in your body.

Those who have been in the field for a long time, including Han Su-yeon, inevitably have a lot of accumulated turbid energy in their bodies, so it was natural that they would see greater effects.

Han Soo-yeon also remembered being surprised by the sudden increase in the power of her supernatural powers after eating potatoes for the first time.

‘But… the change now is different. It’s not just that the turbid air is neutralized and your condition improves.’

Changes that began to occur while living here, as they ate crops that had matured over a sufficient growing period.

At first, she didn’t notice it because the change was so subtle, but since she was very sensitive to magic due to her special constitution, she was able to notice the change in herself.

Tsk tsk tsk tsk!

She stood up and revealed her magical powers.

He performed a simple ritual and created a blue sphere of magical power in front of him.

It was the same composition that had been demonstrated in front of Joo Ji-hye in the past.

‘But this is…’

There was something clearly different from then.

The exact size of the sphere.

A gigantic sphere of magical power, nearly twice its size, began to emit light, and she stared blankly at the forest filled with a splendid blue light.

“What the heck is this?”

────────────────────────────────────

────────────────────────────────────