Chapter 2
“Ahh! This countryside scenery, countryside atmosphere, countryside smell!”
As the view outside became more and more familiar, I rolled down the passenger-side window and shouted at the top of my lungs.
Even the wind hitting my face felt welcoming.
If you compared only the air, the other world—with its less developed civilization—was much cleaner and fresher.
But to me now, I liked the smell of this place much more.
It was the smell of my hometown, the place I had wished so desperately to return to.
“What got into you? Before your accident, you said you’d rather die than stay in this place.”
From the driver’s seat, my older sister clicked her tongue as if I had lost my mind.
“I’m going to think positively from now on.”
“Hmm. You’ve grown up?”
“You could say it’s about thirty years’ worth of growth.”
“What are you even talking about?”
She shook her head as if I were speaking nonsense.
Today marked one week since I had opened my eyes in the hospital.
After completing my discharge paperwork, I was riding home in my sister’s truck.
The fact that I had woken up at all was such a miracle that even my doctor couldn’t hide his shock.
But there was something even more surprising.
“You were in the ICU for three whole weeks, you know? There wasn’t any sign of improvement, but every test came back normal. Then we finally moved you to a regular room, and ten days later you woke up. If that’s not a miracle, what is?”
It really was a miracle.
The thirty years I had spent in the other world left no trace on my body here, as if they had all been a dream.
It was as though time itself had skipped over me.
Thirty years over there had been only one month here.
I was still twenty years old.
And…
‘My divine power is still here.’
I still had my young body.
On top of that, I still possessed the power to control nature.
There was almost nothing I couldn’t do in this world.
‘There couldn’t be a better power for farming.’
Crops that ignored the weather.
Plants that didn’t care about the quality of the soil.
Land that would never collapse even during disasters.
To any farmer, those were dreamlike things.
I clenched my fist.
‘I won’t be a burden to my sister anymore.’
My sister and I had been abandoned by our parents and raised in an orphanage.
She was older than me, so when she became independent, I naturally followed her.
We drifted from place to place, barely surviving.
Just when it looked like she’d finally found happiness after getting married, my brother-in-law’s accident destroyed everything.
Even so, we endured because of my niece and nephew.
Jia and Jiwoo.
Those two children became the reason we found the strength to keep going.
Four years ago, we moved to Cheongun Village and finally thought we were settling down.
Then I was struck by lightning, fell into a coma, and disappeared.
After dragging me away and making me work for thirty years, did they suddenly start feeling sorry for me?
‘Judging by the retirement package they gave me…’
Maybe the Goddess of Abundance wasn’t completely heartless after all.
Anyway, with this power, I could give my sister and the children a much better life.
While I was making that promise to myself, the truck entered Cheongun Village.
But the closer we got to home, the stranger I felt.
‘Why is nobody working in the fields?’
And then…
“The roof?”
A blue roof was sitting all by itself in the middle of a rice field.
“A huge typhoon hit not long ago.”
My sister answered calmly.
“There isn’t a single field that wasn’t damaged. Every greenhouse got blown away, barns collapsed… the whole village is like a funeral house.”
“…”
“At least nobody was seriously hurt.”
It was fortunate that there had been no casualties.
But that also meant one thing.
Before I could start anything with my power, there was an enormous amount of damage that needed fixing.
“Uncle!”
“Unca!”
As soon as we parked in front of the house, Jia and Jiwoo came running from the neighbor’s house where they had been staying.
“Magic! Uncle, show us magic!”
“I told all my kindergarten friends! My uncle is a magician!”
Ah…
They still believed that.
“Magic?”
“Ahem! They mean it’s like magic that I woke up.”
“Oh, I see.”
My sister tilted her head but carried the luggage inside first.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, I hurriedly whispered to the children.
“Shh! Did you forget our promise? We hooked pinkies.”
“We did! But if there’s no penalty, it’s okay to break a promise!”
“…Who told you that?”
“Banatoki!”
…What was that?
“It’s a children’s program kids like these days.”
After setting the luggage down, my sister came back and explained.
I tilted my head.
Was that really something children should be watching?
“You should come inside too. Wash up and get some rest. Oh, and we’re having meat for dinner.”
“Meat?!”
“Meeeat!”
Watching my niece and nephew jump around the house shouting with excitement was adorable.
But somehow, it also made my heart ache.
…Had they not eaten meat lately?
‘The hospital bills must have been expensive… and then the typhoon hit too… Don’t tell me she even cashed out all her savings?’
Unfortunately, my fears weren’t unfounded.
“As expected… it isn’t in good shape.”
A quick look around the house was enough.
The fence had collapsed.
The earthenware jars that used to sit in the yard had completely disappeared.
Even the lawn my sister had lovingly cared for for the children had been torn up in several places.
The typhoon’s damage was much worse than I had imagined.
“I doubt the greenhouse survived either.”
When we first settled here, we knew absolutely nothing about farming.
We had started with a single 100-pyeong greenhouse growing cherry tomatoes.
Now, after four years, we had been preparing to expand it to 200 pyeong.
But judging by the condition of the village, there was no way the greenhouse had escaped unharmed.
“First, I need to check how much power I have left.”
After making sure my sister and the children had gone inside, I took off my shoes and socks and stepped barefoot into the yard.
The sensation beneath my feet felt both strange and familiar.
It was a feeling I had experienced countless times in the other world.
The very first connection I had learned when mastering divine power.
‘There’s no way nothing will happen… right?’
This wasn’t like making a tiny drop of water float in the hospital.
That had been inside my palm, in a very limited space.
But this…
This was nature.
This was the earth itself.
I slowly steadied my breathing and took a step forward.
Carefully, I let the small amount of divine power I had gathered in the hospital flow into the ground.
Nothing happened immediately.
My heart sank.
‘Don’t tell me… it won’t work?’
Then—
A tiny sound came from beneath my feet.
Without realizing it, I held my breath.
‘…It works.’
The soil trembled ever so slightly.
It was like something that had been asleep for ages was grumbling as it slowly woke up.
“Wake up.”
I whispered softly.
The dirt beneath each of my footprints swelled upward, taking on tiny shapes.
Small dolls that looked like a mix of humans and animals stretched as they slowly came to life.
The Children of the Earth.
Or, as I usually called them…
The earth children.
“Haha. You guys don’t look so great either.”
Back then, they had been much larger and much clearer.
The reason they looked so crude now was because my divine power was only a fraction of what it used to be.
Still, there was only one reason I had summoned them.
“Start by restoring the yard. Got it?”
“…!”
The little creatures nodded.
Then they scattered across the yard with tiny running steps.
Wherever they passed, holes filled with dirt.
Dead patches of grass slowly lifted their heads once more.
Watching the earth children busily running around, I became convinced.
I could use my powers in this world too.
To be honest, I had been worried before coming home.
Unlike the other world, this world had suffered so much environmental destruction that I wasn’t sure whether the earth children would still be able to use their powers properly.
But they had answered my call.
“I wonder if the vegetable garden is okay.”
I headed straight to the backyard.
It was in even worse condition than I expected.
Weeds had completely taken over.
The vegetables that remained had broken stems and dried leaves.
“My sister really must have been overwhelmed…”
This used to be a place she checked every single day.
A place where she planted seeds with the children, watered them, and laughed together.
Now it looked like abandoned land.
It hurt to realize she had been so busy that she hadn’t even had time to care for this small garden.
I stood in the middle of the garden.
Then slowly raised both arms.
“Let’s start here first. Come on, everyone.”
A faint stream of divine power flowed from my fingertips.
As I murmured softly and snapped my fingers, the earth children slipped into the soil.
Rumble—
The ground shook.
The entire garden seemed to take one deep breath.
Matching that rhythm, I swung my arms wide.
The flow of divine power spread through the air.
Rustle—
The change began wherever the light touched.
First came the soil.
The dry, hardened earth softened and began to breathe again.
Beneath the surface, unseen roots twitched gently.
The wilted stems slowly straightened.
Soft green color spread along the veins of the leaves.
Whoosh—
The vegetables planted here were cucumbers.
The shriveled, dying cucumbers gradually filled out, as if time itself had begun flowing backward.
I watched the entire process until the end.
My breathing grew heavier.
The little divine power I had left was rapidly draining away.
‘I’m definitely nowhere near what I used to be.’
Who would have thought restoring such a tiny garden would take this much effort?
But…
Crunch.
The moment I picked a fresh cucumber and took a bite—
A deep sense of satisfaction spread throughout my body.
The taste.
The nutrients.
Even its quality.
Everything was excellent.
“As expected…”
My strength had returned.
Not completely.
But undeniably.
Most importantly, I could feel divine power contained within the cucumber itself.
A smile spread across my face.
At this level, anything I grew would have incredible market value.
The problem was efficiency.
Compared to the amount of divine power I had invested, the amount stored inside the cucumber wasn’t all that much.
“With so little divine power… growing crops this way isn’t very efficient for the effort involved…”
Well.
I could think about that later.
“First, I’ll restore our home…”
Just as I muttered that and stood up—
The earth children, who had been busily running around, suddenly collapsed.
“Huh? What’s wrong with you guys?”
But I immediately found out why.
“What are ya doin’ over there?”
“Gah!”
An elderly neighbor was staring at me with wide eyes from the other side of the small fence.
