<CHAPTER 3>

The face wasn’t unfamiliar.

The old man stared at me with his eyes wide open, as if he had seen something he absolutely shouldn’t have.

……Who was he again?

I searched through my hazy memories, and suddenly one person’s face came to mind.

“Chunbae, Grandpa?”

He was the elderly man who lived right next door and the oldest person in the village.

He didn’t talk much, and his stubborn personality made even the villagers quietly avoid him.

But at least he had never openly pushed my family away.

Wow, this old man is still going strong.

Thinking about it, it had only been a little over a month since I had been struck by lightning and collapsed.

Apparently, I had gotten confused because it felt like I had skipped over years of time.

“How long has it been? Are you doing well?”

But Grandpa Chunbae didn’t react much to my greeting.

Instead, his gaze slowly shifted from my feet to the vegetable garden.

“Health and all that nonsense.”

He muttered bluntly before lowering his voice.

“What were you just doing?”

“Pardon?”

“Right in front of the garden.”

His eyes narrowed.

“There were some strange little rats running around like this.”

……

He saw them.

He definitely saw them.

Thankfully, the Children of the Earth had already disappeared beneath the soil.

But Grandpa Chunbae’s attitude wasn’t that of someone who thought he saw something.

It was the attitude of someone who was certain he had seen it.

“Rats?”

For now, I forced a natural smile and tried to brush it off.

“There have been a lot of field mice lately. Maybe your eyesight tricked you, Grandpa?”

“My eyes haven’t gone bad yet.”

……

He really was still as sharp as ever.

Judging by his stubborn attitude, there was no way he would let this go easily.

“You were standing there alone, stomping on the ground, waving your hands around, and dancing like a crazy person.”

At that moment, the earth beneath my feet trembled ever so slightly.

Stay still.

I hurriedly gathered my divine power and pressed my foot firmly against the ground.

The earth became quiet, as if holding its breath.

“Haha. Maybe it’s because it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.”

I laughed as if trying to cover up the conversation and stepped closer to the wall.

“I thought about you a lot while I was in the hospital.”

“……Why are you being so creepy?”

Hearing his authentic Gyeongsang dialect was strangely comforting, but right now, more than anything, I needed to divert this old man’s attention.

“……Are you really alright?”

“Yes. I’m completely fine now.”

Grandpa Chunbae silently examined me for a long time.

From my head all the way down to my feet.

“Don’t overdo it. Don’t go wandering around again and do something stupid enough to get struck by lightning.”

Then, after a brief pause, he added.

“You’ve got kids at home.”

“……Yes.”

“Then you need to be even more careful.”

There was a warning hidden in those words.

Grandpa Chunbae turned around, but before leaving, he placed something on top of the wall.

“What’s this?”

Come to think of it, Grandpa Chunbae’s family had been beekeepers.

After hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke.

“I’m giving it to you so you can regain your strength. Don’t think it’s because I trust you.”

His words made me laugh for no reason.

“I’ll enjoy it!”

“Don’t just stuff your own face. Take care of your sister and the kids first!”

His footsteps slowly faded beyond the wall.

But even as he walked away, Grandpa Chunbae stopped several times and looked back.

Every time he did, I had no choice but to wave at him.

Because of that, I stood there unable to move for quite a while.

……He hasn’t stopped suspecting me.

I looked down at the jar of honey and quietly sighed.

I need to be more careful next time.

—

The moment I finished showering, I headed straight to the kitchen.

As I stood there alone, chopping ingredients with a cutting board and knife, my sister poked her head into the kitchen and immediately frowned.

“You’re okay, right? You don’t need to go back to the hospital?”

When I placed two containers of side dishes on the table, her eyes narrowed even more.

She clearly had a lot of questions she wanted to ask.

“Is it really that strange for me to cook?”

“Of course it is. You used to just lounge around at home. When have you ever cooked anything? The only thing you ever made was secretly boiling ramen with the kids.”

“Ahem. Th-that was the old me. The current me is going through a stage of transformation for the sake of the future.”

“What are you even talking about?”

Apparently, the old me had been nothing but a bundle of distrust in my sister’s eyes.

But the current me was definitely in the middle of changing.

A transitional period naturally came with doubt.

And if I wanted to overcome that doubt, I needed to work even harder.

“Where did you get the cucumbers?”

“I found them.”

“You didn’t secretly take them from Grandpa Chunbae’s vegetable garden, did you?”

I flinched.

She was sharp.

Of course, I hadn’t simply taken them.

I had replaced the empty spots with several cucumbers grown in our own garden.

So technically, my conscience was clean.

“Forget that. Just try them and give me your opinion.”

I opened the lids of the containers.

The refreshing scent unique to cucumber salad spread softly through the kitchen.

“But why did you separate them?”

The two containers held cucumber salad that looked exactly the same.

So it was only natural that she was suspicious.

The truth was, one was made with cucumbers secretly taken from Grandpa Chunbae’s garden.

The other was made with cucumbers grown using divine power.

A super, ultra, organic cucumber salad.

I wanted to find out what changes occurred when people consumed crops containing divine power.

“I just made the seasoning slightly different. You decide which one tastes better.”

“Hmmm, really?”

Still looking doubtful, my sister picked up the ordinary cucumber salad first.

“Hmm. It’s not bad. But it’s a little bland.”

“Really? Then what about this one?”

Just as my sister moved her chopsticks toward the cucumber salad containing divine power—

“What are Uncle and Mom eating?”

“Whaaat are you eating~?”

Jia and Jiwoo, who had been playing in the living room, suddenly rushed over, filled with curiosity.

“Uncle made cucumber salad. Do Jia and Jiwoo want to try it?”

“Cucumber? Hmm……”

Jia immediately scrunched up her face.

Right.

Jia absolutely hated cucumbers.

“Jiwoo wants to eat it! Did Uncle really make it?”

“Of course.”

Crunch.

The sound of chewing was clear.

A moment later, Jiwoo’s eyes sparkled.

“Woooow! Uncle! This is sooo delicious! It’s a hundred times better than Mom’s!”

“Really? It’s good?”

“More! I want more!”

Her reaction was almost exaggerated, but I couldn’t help feeling pleased.

Watching her reaction, my gaze naturally shifted toward Jiwoo’s body.

The divine power is spreading.

I could sense a very subtle change in the flow inside Jiwoo’s body.

It was as if something blocked had been opened, allowing the energy of divine power to circulate.

Of course, divine power couldn’t accumulate inside an ordinary person’s body.

Right now, it only gave them a temporary boost in vitality.

But if they continued consuming it regularly, it would definitely help their health.

When divine power was infused into crops, it could enhance their natural characteristics.

It could strengthen their unique flavors and aromas as well.

“I want some too! Mom! Me too!”

Unable to resist Jiwoo’s excitement, Jia hurriedly clung to me and accepted a bite of cucumber salad.

Crunch.

“……Huh?”

Jia froze.

“This is strange.”

“Why?”

“I thought it would taste bad…… but I kind of want to keep chewing it.”

Even Jia, who hated cucumbers, was eating them happily.

My sister looked at me suspiciously.

“You didn’t put something weird in this, did you?”

“What would I even put in it? I only used things from the house. You watched me make it.”

“That’s true, but the kids’ reactions……”

“Here. You try it too. This one came from our own garden.”

“Hmm……”

My sister reluctantly took a bite.

Then her eyes widened as she looked at me.

“The texture is definitely cucumber……”

I picked one up and ate it while listening to her mutter.

The crisp sensation.

The burst of moisture.

And the faint flow of divine power slowly seeping into my body.

Beyond taste, it felt like life itself was filling me.

I stored the weak divine power contained inside the cucumber within my body.

Because the cucumber had been grown rapidly, the amount of divine power stored inside was tiny.

But even that was enough.

This confirms it.

Divine power works even on modern genetically improved crops.

It could become a new form of nutrition.

A special power unique to us.

A crop that nobody dislikes.

What could possibly be more incredible than that?

First, I’ll start with our greenhouse.

There was no need to expand too quickly.

I could watch the market’s response and slowly increase production.

More importantly, the damaged vitality of the earth in modern civilization couldn’t be restored with simple fertilizer.

I thought it would be fine since this was a rural area close to nature, but even here, the land had been damaged.

Nature never lies.

Even the typhoon damage was merely the result of nature’s balance being broken.

To farm this land properly, I would need a considerable amount of preparation.

Especially because there’s far too little divine power.

Just restoring a small vegetable garden and the yard had nearly drained all the divine power I had gathered during my month in the hospital.

For now, my goal was to recover enough power to use even the smallest amount of my authority.

For my family.

I turned my head and looked at my sister, Jia, and Jiwoo.

The nieces and nephew who had been demanding meat earlier were now happily devouring the cucumber salad I had made.

My sister was so busy taking care of the children that she barely ate herself.

Life had always been difficult for her.

Yet she had never once complained.

Watching her made my resolve grow stronger.

I’ll make sure my sister lives a comfortable life.

And while I’m at it, I’ll help her remarry too.

I’ll take responsibility for my nieces and nephew until they get married.

To do that, there was something I needed to do first.