Episode 26: The Youth Association Chairman
‘It’s quiet.’
For a while, the Bonghwang Village valley had been quite noisy.
Many people had come and gone to tidy up the cemetery, and Areum had come over to play too.
There had even been trouble with the village head over the nutmeg yew tree, but now everything was resolved and it had returned to being a quiet rural village again.
It seemed the village head harbored some dissatisfaction toward me due to the protected tree designation, but I had been prepared for that much.
“I should hurry up and eat, then go pick up the tractor.”
Yesterday afternoon, I had received word from Arirang Machinery that the tractor had arrived.
It had taken about a month; finally, the first farming machine of my life was here.
It couldn’t be delivered to my house, so I had to go pick it up myself, and if I wanted to take the bus after eating, I had to hurry.
I was wondering what to eat simply, but at times like this, soy sauce egg rice was the best.
I opened the refrigerator to take out some eggs, but there were exactly two left.
“When did I eat them all?”
Last time, I was sure I had bought a tray of eggs and put them in the refrigerator, but before I knew it, they were all gone. Perhaps because I used a little each time I cooked, I felt they had disappeared more quickly.
I put oil in the frying pan when I suddenly thought of something Mom used to say.
‘Our son loves eggs so much, he’ll have to marry the daughter of a poultry farm someday.’
I had liked eggs since I was young, so she used to say that often.
Back then, I didn’t know exactly what a poultry farm was, but when she said if I married into one I could eat all the eggs I wanted, I had said I would.
“Should I raise some chickens?”
If I raised a few chickens, I would probably be able to get enough eggs for myself.
The problem was that I didn’t have a chicken coop right now, but when I recalled what chicken coops looked like from before, I thought I could probably build one by myself easily enough.
“Yeah, I’ll plant sweet potatoes and build a chicken coop.”
After planting the sweet potatoes, I hadn’t had any other plans, but building a chicken coop and raising chickens felt like it would give off the vibe of my old home, which seemed nice.
“Summer will be here soon, so having some chicken soup would be delicious too.”
I felt a little sorry, like I was taking everything from the chickens, but it was unavoidable for the sake of my healing.
****
“Boss, please drive carefully.”
“Yes, thank you.”
I received the tractor key from Yang Donguk, the president of Arirang Machinery, but now that I actually had to drive it, I was starting to get a bit scared.
I wasn’t a bad driver, but my entire experience driving a tractor consisted of the brief time Mandeok had taught me before.
Clack.
I opened the tractor door and climbed into the seat; it was incredibly high.
‘It seems higher than Mandeok’s tractor?’
Perhaps because I had chosen the largest and most powerful model among the tractors currently available, it felt quite different from sitting in Mandeok’s tractor.
‘Don’t get nervous. Just think of it as driving a car.’
If you hit the brake, it stops; if you hit the accelerator, it goes forward. It wasn’t very different from driving a car.
I started the engine and tried to move, but something was blocking my view.
I had heard it would be useful for various tasks or moving things, so a front loader bucket had been attached to the front of the tractor.
And that bucket was blocking the front, so I couldn’t set off.
“How did I move the bucket again…”
I tried to recall the training I’d received from Mandeok and adjusted the bucket by moving the lever next to the steering wheel.
When I moved the lever this way and that, the bucket began to move up and down, and I lowered it to a suitable height so it wouldn’t block my view.
“Phew, now I can see properly. Shall we go?”
To set off, I shifted gears and lightly stepped on the accelerator when suddenly, a tremendous sound rang out.
Screech.
Startled, I hit the brake immediately, and Yang Donguk, who had been watching me depart, shouted loudly.
“Boss, you have to raise the rotary!”
I looked back to see that I had started off with the rotary tiller lowered, touching the ground. It seemed the blades of the rotary had been scraping against the ground, making the noise.
“Will you be alright?”
Yang Donguk asked me with a worried expression, and I laughed out of embarrassment.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Using the control lever on the right side of the tractor, I raised the rotary tiller attached to the rear. With a loud noise, the rotary went up, and now only the matter of actually setting off remained.
I looked at Yang Donguk, who was still watching me with worried eyes, and waved my hand.
“Goodbye, boss.”
****
I had set off boldly, but couldn’t go as fast as I’d thought.
Partly because the tractor was a bit slow, but also because I was being extremely cautious since it was my first time driving it.
I could have gone faster by stepping on the accelerator harder, but I was still unaccustomed to the tractor’s size, speed, and controls.
‘Yes, better to adapt and go slowly than to cause an accident.’
However, if there was anything I was sorry about, it was the cars behind me that must have been frustrated to death because of me.
Honk honk!
Most roads in the countryside were two-lane, and as I occupied the road and drove sluggishly, they expressed their frustration actively.
I turned on my hazard lights and bowed my head in apology to the cars overtaking me, feeling terribly sorry.
‘I need to practice and get used to it quickly.’
Anyway, I needed to get used to the tractor quickly if I was going to plant sweet potatoes. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I resolved to keep driving around the house and fields for the time being to familiarize myself with the tractor.
Still, as they say, if you keep going you’ll arrive eventually, and though I was going slow, I kept driving and was able to reach near Bonghwang Village.
“There won’t be many cars from here on, so I can breathe a little easier.”
Every time a car passed by, I felt apologetic, but once I passed through the village entrance, there was little need for such worries.
Having grown somewhat accustomed during the ride, I tried increasing the speed a little, and felt awe at the majesty of the tractor whirring along.
‘If they see the tractor alone, they’ll think I farm a lot, won’t they?’
I had once seen a video on YouTube about the reactions of surrounding cars when driving a good car versus a bad car.
Seeing how starkly different the reactions were depending on the car, I understood why people wanted to drive nice cars; I had also heard that in the countryside, this very tractor was a symbol of a wealthy farmer.
Large, high-quality tractors were expensive and costly to maintain, but it was also proof that one was cultivating enough crops to need such a tractor.
Because of this, I had worried quite a bit when buying the tractor at first, but with the thought of reducing work time, I purchased the largest one.
I saw the sign announcing the village entrance and could finally breathe a sigh of relief. I wanted to hurry home and try working with the rotary tiller too.
As I passed through the village and was heading home along the rice paddies, a man suddenly approached, waving toward my tractor.
I slowly came to a stop, and when the tractor halted, the man came to the side and spoke to me.
“I’m sorry, but could you help me out for a moment?”
“Pardon?”
“My wheel fell into an irrigation ditch, and I don’t think I can get it out easily… Could you pull me out a bit with your tractor?”
I looked in the direction the man was pointing and could see a truck tilted slightly.
“I see. But I only picked up the tractor a short while ago, so I’m not good at driving it.”
I wanted to help, but if I made some driving mistake and ended up damaging the truck, it could cause an even bigger problem.
So I was about to refuse, but the man quickly spoke.
“It’s fine. I have a tow rope in the car; if we tie it on and you just pull from a distance, that’s all it takes. If you could just take a moment to help…”
The man pleaded with a sincere expression, and my resolve wavered a little.
“Do you happen to live in Bonghwang Village?”
“Yes, I do.”
Since I didn’t know all the village residents, I had asked just in case, and as expected, he was a resident of the village.
“Well then, let’s go take a look first.”
I drove the tractor and followed the man to the vicinity of the accident.
The man’s truck had its rear wheel stuck in the irrigation ditch beside the paddy field; it seemed to have happened while backing up.
‘The land leveling is well done here…’
And I could tell that the rice paddies around the village were a bit different from the ones near my house.
Here, the paddies were neatly arranged in tidy rectangular shapes; Mandeok had told me that fields that had undergone land improvement looked like this.
There were irrigation ditches around the paddies with water flowing through them; this way, there would be no fighting over water, and working the paddies with a rotary tiller or transplanting seedlings would be much easier.
“If you pull from the front a bit, don’t you think it’ll come out?”
The man asked me, and it looked sufficiently possible.
“But first, promise me this. Even if something goes wrong, I won’t take responsibility.”
Since he had asked, I would help, but I was afraid that if a problem arose while pulling him out, he might blame me.
So I wanted to get a definite answer before starting the work.
“I’m not so tactless as that. Please don’t worry.”
“Then I’ll give it a try.”
At my words, the man took out a tow rope from his truck and began tying the tractor and truck together tightly.
After tying them up, I climbed onto the tractor, and the man climbed into his truck and started the engine.
And I began carefully pulling the truck.
As the tractor slowly moved, the truck also lurched and began to move, and when I pressed the accelerator a little, the truck started to come up out of the irrigation ditch.
Thanks to the tractor’s power, it came up far more easily than expected, and the man got out of his truck and thanked me profusely.
“Thank you. I would’ve lost money calling the insurance company for no reason, so this is a relief.”
“It’s fortunate it came out in one go.”
“I figured it would come up easily if a tractor pulled it. But you seem new around here; do you live here?”
The man asked, and I pointed toward my house as I spoke.
“I’m Lee Minu, and I live up there in the valley.”
“Ah, so you’re the son of Uncle Donghui who returned to farming.”
The man seemed to know my father as well and spoke pleasantly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Nice to meet you. I had wanted to stop by and say hello, but it’s the busy farming season, so I haven’t had the time. I’m Yoon Cheolmin, the chairman of the Bonghwang Village Youth Association.”
The man looked to be over forty, so I was a bit surprised to hear he was the youth association chairman.
But then I remembered that my father had also said he used to belong to the youth association.
“I should have gone around the village to pay my respects too, but I’ve been out of it, so I’m late.”
“Well, since we’ve met like this. I hope we can greet each other and get along well if we meet on the road from now on. By the way, how old are you?”
“I’m thirty this year.”
“I see. My face is tanned black, so I look older, but I’m exactly forty this year.”
“I see. You’re my elder, so please speak comfortably from now on.”
Yoon Cheolmin laughed at my words and said,
“I heard you used to live here; did you happen to graduate from Okcheon Middle School?”
“Ah, no. I graduated from middle school in the town.”
“Is that so?”
He looked disappointed at my answer; it seemed he had wanted to find a connection with me.
“Then did you perhaps go to elementary school in the town too?”
“I graduated from Okcheon Elementary School.”
“Really? Then you’re my junior. Let’s get along well from now on.”
At the words that we had graduated from the same elementary school, he smiled broadly, showing his teeth, and I felt pleased as well.
And I bowed my head to greet him once more.
“Pleased to meet you. Senior.”