Chapter 5
Jia held my hand and tried to pull me forward as she skipped along, while Jiwoo quietly walked beside me with both hands tightly clasped together.
“Do you like going to kindergarten that much?”
“Hehe. I like going to kindergarten, but I like it even more because I’m going with Uncle!”
Jia’s cheerful answer naturally brought a smile to my face.
Well, from the children’s point of view, it had been months since they had been able to go to school with their uncle, so it made sense that they were excited.
Of course, “going to kindergarten” only meant walking down to the village entrance and putting them on the kindergarten bus.
“Unca. You’ll come with us every day now, right? You’re not sick anymore?”
“Yeah. Uncle’s completely fine now. Here, look.”
“Wow~!”
I lifted Jiwoo, who was holding my hand tightly, high into the air.
Jiwoo bounced up and dangled from my arm for a moment before landing back on the ground. It only lasted a second, but his cheeks turned red and his eyes sparkled as if he had just ridden an amusement park ride.
“Uncle! Me too! Jia too!”
“O-Okay. Here we go!”
“Ahaha~!”
By the time I had taken turns lifting both little kids as we walked, the kindergarten bus was already waiting for us at the village entrance.
The children inside the bus leaned out the windows and shouted toward us.
“Ah! It’s Lightning Mister!”
“Super Mister!”
Lightning Mister? And what was Super Mister supposed to mean?
As I looked at them in confusion, a woman stepped off the bus and approached us with a smile as bright as the morning sun.
“Hello. Jia and Jiwoo couldn’t stop bragging that their uncle had come home. I’m glad to see you’re looking healthy.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Leaving the noisy children behind, the teacher walked over to me.
My eyes naturally fell on the name tag pinned to her chest.
Han Song-i.
There had definitely been a kindergarten teacher by that name.
Still, I had only seen her in passing during drop-offs and pick-ups, so I couldn’t remember much else.
“Alright, Jia and Jiwoo. Shall we say hello?”
At Teacher Han Song-i’s words, Jia and Jiwoo neatly placed both hands in front of their stomachs and gave a polite bow.
“Hello~!”
“Hello!”
Mm. Cute.
Such good manners.
It was obvious the kindergarten was teaching the children well.
“Now say goodbye to your uncle too.”
“Okay! Uncle, we’re going to kindergarten!”
“Bye-bye, Unca~!”
The two little ones climbed onto the bus without showing much sadness about leaving me.
Meanwhile, their uncle already felt lonely seeing them go…
“Then, see you later.”
“Yes. Please take good care of them.”
I waved goodbye to my nieces and nephews before giving Teacher Han Song-i a small nod as well.
Looking at her bright, cheerful face somehow made my heart feel a little ticklish.
I have a feeling dropping the kids off is going to become a lot more enjoyable.
I watched with satisfaction until the kindergarten bus disappeared past the village entrance before finally turning around.
“Hmm… When am I ever going to finish fixing all this?”
After dropping the children off, I stopped by the village hall just long enough to show my face before heading straight to our greenhouse.
The inside was in even worse condition than I had expected.
The plastic covering was torn in several places, and many of the steel support frames had bent noticeably.
When I pressed one of the supports with my hand, it wobbled slightly.
If I left it like this, the whole greenhouse might collapse the next time strong winds came.
“This definitely needs some repairs…”
The ground wasn’t in good shape either.
The soil washed in by the typhoon had piled up on one side, completely ruining the raised planting beds.
Normally, water should flow evenly through the furrows, but in this condition it would obviously collect in one place.
When I lightly stepped on the ground, it sank beneath my foot.
The soil was soaked all the way through.
“I’ll have to rebuild the beds first.”
I released just a tiny amount of divine power into the ground.
Immediately, I felt a faint movement beneath the soil.
Nothing was visible, but the Children of the Earth, spirits that controlled soil and water, had responded.
“So this is still my limit…”
Perhaps because my divine power was still lacking, the raised beds didn’t visibly rise.
However, the collapsed edges slowly regained their shape, and the places where water had pooled gradually became level again.
To anyone else, it would simply look like someone had done a bit of tidying.
But for me, this was the ideal result.
If my divine power had been fully restored, I could have repaired an entire greenhouse in an instant.
That would attract far too much attention.
For now, the only choice was to slowly mix divine power into my farming work little by little, without anyone noticing.
Just as I was about to head farther inside—
Clang.
A dull metallic sound echoed as something struck the ground.
Then came the sound of rough, heavy breathing.
I stepped halfway out of the greenhouse and looked outside.
In the neighboring field, Grandpa Chun-bae was alone, cleaning up the damage left behind by the typhoon.
Bent over with his farming tool in hand, he didn’t look to be in very good condition.
I almost asked if he was alright, but stopped myself.
The memory of nearly having my abilities discovered not long ago flashed through my mind.
I’d rather not give anyone another reason to be suspicious.
Besides, everyone in the village knew Grandpa Chun-bae as the grumpy old man.
Even when people greeted him, he usually only nodded—or ignored them completely.
That probably explained why he hadn’t shown up at the village hall today.
“…Working all by yourself?”
I couldn’t help speaking after watching him struggle alone.
Grandpa Chun-bae merely glanced at me before looking back at the hoe in his hands.
“None of your concern.”
His blunt tone hadn’t changed.
But something about the hoe caught my eye.
The blade was badly bent to one side, and the joint connecting it to the handle rattled slightly.
It looked like it would break with just a little more force.
“That must be hard to use.”
“It’s all I’ve got.”
With that, Grandpa Chun-bae swung the hoe again.
But the bent blade bounced off the ground instead of digging into the soil.
“Oof.”
The recoil threw him forward.
Thankfully, he didn’t fall, but it was obvious the strain had gone straight to his back.
…I can’t just leave it like this.
If I offered to help, he’d reject me nine times out of ten.
I’d probably just get scolded for sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.
First, I quietly looked around.
Grandpa Chun-bae was walking around to the far side of the greenhouse.
He was probably going to get some water.
Now’s my chance.
I quickly ran over and picked up the hoe he had been using.
The moment it settled into my hand, a familiar sensation stirred in my palm.
Divine Tool Manifestation.
A Divine Tool was an object created through divine power.
Normally, I would weave divine power itself into a brand-new tool.
But in my current state, that was impossible.
So instead, I chose the next best method—
infusing divine power into an existing tool.
Carefully, as though regulating my own breathing, I let divine power flow into it.
The divine energy seeped along the blade.
There was no glowing light.
No dramatic sound.
Only the subtle feeling of the metal growing firmer beneath my fingertips.
The bent blade slowly straightened, as though it had always been that way.
The loose joint where the handle connected became solid once again.
It didn’t become shiny and brand new.
The rust remained exactly as it was.
Anyone looking at it would simply think,
“Wasn’t it always like this?”
This should be enough.
I placed the hoe back exactly where it had been.
Then I casually pretended to tidy up around the outside of the greenhouse.
A moment later, Grandpa Chun-bae returned.
Without saying a word, he picked up the hoe and struck the ground again.
This time, it was different.
The blade cut smoothly into the soil.
He swung it again.
Then again.
Suddenly, his movements stopped.
“…”
He stared down at the hoe.
His brows slowly furrowed.
Not because he was happy—
but because he simply couldn’t understand it.
“…It wasn’t like this before.”
Without looking up from the greenhouse support I was pretending to adjust, I replied,
“Maybe it’s old enough that it works better some days than others.”
“…Did you touch it?”
The question came suddenly.
I shrugged, pretending nothing had happened.
“I just brushed some dirt off while I was cleaning.”
Grandpa Chun-bae stared at my face for a long moment.
Then, at last, he gripped the hoe once more.
“…You’re a strange kid.”
He muttered the words under his breath before returning to his work.
Compared to before, his movements were much smoother as he cleared away the washed-up weeds and rebuilt the collapsed edges of the raised beds.
Each strike of the hoe landed with a steady, satisfying thud.
“…Hmph.”
A quiet breath escaped him.
Whether it came from exhaustion or because something lingered in his mind, I couldn’t tell.
I didn’t speak again.
After watching him for a moment from inside the greenhouse, I turned my attention back to my own work.
As I left the greenhouse and headed toward the house, my steps somehow felt lighter.
Partly because I had spent the day working—
but also because I could feel my divine power had grown, even if only by the slightest amount.
“Not a bad harvest for today.”
I muttered to myself.
Just then—
Yip—!
A familiar bark reached my ears.
“…Tofu?”
I looked up.
Sitting proudly in front of our front gate was a small brown bundle of fur.
It was the very same puppy that had bitten my finger and run away at dawn yesterday.
