Episode 3: A Walk
“Uuuugh.”
I stretched and rose from my seat.
Sleeping here really had cured my insomnia. The doctor had said psychological factors were important, and he was definitely right.
It felt like I had woken up from a proper deep sleep for the first time in a while, but then I realized it might also be because there was no alarm.
When I was working, I had to be at the office by nine in the morning, so I always set three alarms.
On top of not sleeping well, I was already in bad shape, and barely dragging myself out of bed to commute—no wonder I had grown so sensitive and stressed.
But there was no need for that anymore.
Freedom from commuting and overtime. If returning to farming had another advantage, this was it.
I got up and went to the refrigerator, took out some water, and drank.
*Glug, glug.*
The cool water flowed down my throat, refreshing my chest, and I felt myself waking up a bit.
After finishing the water, I went back to my room and started changing my clothes.
I planned to take a walk around the house. After changing and stepping outside, the fresh air set my heart pumping.
Drinking water had helped clear my head, but my body had still been stiff; after taking one breath of the air, I felt my body loosen up completely.
“I felt it yesterday too, but the country air really is something else.”
In the city, exhaust fumes and fine dust made it hard to even open the windows. And because of my anxiety, my chest often felt tight, and I frequently had trouble breathing.
But out here, breathing felt fundamentally different. After all, the green mountains all around were constantly producing fresh air.
Good air was only natural here.
Outside the house, I stretched in the large open yard in front.
There was a big empty lot in front of our house. I had heard from Father that he had brought leftover cement from when they built the nearby road and laid it down here.
It used to be just a dirt lot, but with the cement laid down, it didn’t get muddy when it rained, and various tasks could be done comfortably, so he had said it was good.
But I felt a bit of regret.
“Strictly speaking, this could be called a garden…”
While looking up materials on returning to farming, I had often seen people living in country houses with lawn gardens in front where they would grill barbecue—it had looked wonderful.
“Isn’t that returning to the village rather than returning to farming?”
Either way, it had been one of my dreams, and it was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t create that kind of atmosphere.
At the left end of the lot was a large storage shed, used as both a garage and a warehouse.
Inside were the truck I had parked yesterday and various farming implements that had been left virtually abandoned since Father passed away last year.
Some things had rusted from not being used for a while, but since I planned to start farming bit by bit, once human hands began handling them again, the rust would gradually wear away.
Coming out of the shed, my eyes caught a tree towering large on the opposite side.
A banyan tree boasting enormous size.
Its trunk was incredibly thick, and Father had said it had been here since before I was born.
When Father first decided to become a farmer and chose a place in the countryside to live with Mother, he had fallen in love with this tree and settled here.
In summer, shade formed beneath it, and we would rest and eat watermelon—memories seemed to spring up anew.
Standing beside the banyan tree and looking down, this time I saw the rice paddies Father had left behind.
Rice paddies of about ten *majigi*.
In the countryside, people used the word *majigi* more than *pyeong*.
One *majigi* of rice paddy was about 200 *pyeong*, so ten *majigi* meant roughly 2,000 *pyeong* of land.
Father had cultivated rice here and sent it to me, so I had always lived without worrying about rice.
And now, to eat rice, I had to grow it myself.
Originally, in the countryside, preparations for rice farming had to begin in March.
I had planned to try rice farming first after returning to farming, but after winning the lottery, I changed my mind.
Rice farming seemed quite difficult for a novice farmer like me. With no experience and no equipment, if I tried it right away, the stress I had finally reduced might increase again.
Since money wasn’t urgent now, this year I planned to gain farming experience by growing easier crops instead of rice.
“It’s nice to have this kind of leisure.”
Other people returning to farming probably couldn’t think like this. But I wasn’t just any returnee.
A lottery-winning return-to-farmer.
There was no need to go the same way as everyone else.
After viewing the paddies, I started going up the slope above the house.
Going up the road leading down to the house in reverse, a small vegetable patch appeared, and above it was a slightly larger road; following this road would lead to the village center, where the village hall was.
It was where most of the villagers lived. It was a bit of a walk, but since the village bus came there, when I was in elementary school I would get off there and walk up here.
If you went up above the road rather than below, our field where my parents’ grave was appeared, and further up, a road connected to the mountain leading to the opposite village, but after a certain point the paved road ended and an unpaved road began, so it wasn’t very good for cars.
I followed the road and looked at our field; last year, cabbages had been planted here.
Since Father had passed away and I couldn’t harvest them myself, I had sold the whole field, but Father had always said it was land where vegetables grew well.
This year, I planned to grow various vegetables here and taste the joy of harvesting for myself.
As I looked around the field, I thought of Father.
After I became an adult and left for the city, Father had often asked if I wouldn’t farm together with him.
He had said that if you worked hard, you could earn money in the countryside too, but having left the countryside for the city, the idea of going back didn’t appeal to me, so I had refused.
It was a thought I only had after he was gone, but I realized Father had probably just wanted to live with me.
Mother had passed away first, and Father had been lonely too.
If I had been with him, he probably wouldn’t have drunk so much.
It was too late for regrets, but since I was returning to farming anyway, I wondered how things would have been if I had come earlier.
Lost in various thoughts, I walked along the path, and before I knew it, I was heading down toward the village.
Perhaps because it was spring, nameless weeds were growing beside the road. I brushed them with my hand as I slowly moved my feet.
When I was in the city, I mostly sat at a desk working on a computer, so I rarely had time to walk around like this.
I had only walked a short distance, but I was already sweating a little, and it felt like exercise. I had often been told to exercise frequently because of my bad back.
I thought taking a walk like this every morning for exercise wouldn’t be a bad idea.
*What would the elders say if they saw me?*
Some might criticize me for wandering around like an idler without working, but I didn’t plan to worry too much about what others thought.
Right now, soothing my mind came first.
How far had I walked?
I saw an elderly woman walking uphill pulling a small walker. I wondered who it was, and when I recognized her, I quickly greeted her.
“Hello, Grandma.”
Grandma Mandeok.
Her grandson’s name was Mandeok, so everyone called her Grandma Mandeok.
She had been on good terms with our family since my parents were alive, and since Mandeok and I were the same age, she had doted on me since I was young.
Grandma stopped the walker she had been pulling and looked at me, smiling kindly.
“Oh, it’s Minwoo.”
“What brings you all the way here?”
“If you look at that slope, mugwort grows well there in spring. I came to dig some.”
“Mugwort?”
I remembered hearing that mugwort was the herald of spring. It seemed there was a place where it grew here too.
“Yes, if you go over there, you’ll find some.”
Grandma pointed to a bend in the road. When I went there, there really was mugwort.
“This is mugwort?”
“Yes, that’s mugwort.”
I smiled at her words. If Grandma hadn’t told me, I probably would have mistaken it for just another weed.
Having found the mugwort, Grandma took out a small knife and a black plastic bag from her walker and settled down to sit.
Grandma thrust the knife among the mugwort, and it came off cleanly. I was fascinated because it was my first time seeing someone dig mugwort like this.
“Grandma, that looks easy.”
“Right? Minwoo, do you want to try?”
“Me?”
“Yes, give it a try.”
Grandma handed me the knife. I took it and squatted down like her. The position was a bit uncomfortable, but I focused on the mugwort.
“Hold the lower part of the stem and cut as close to the ground as possible.”
I dug the mugwort as Grandma explained; it wasn’t very difficult.
“Oh, Grandma, is this how you do it?”
“Yes, well done. That’s how you dig mugwort.”
“But why are you digging this mugwort?”
“To eat, of course. If you add a little to doenjang stew when you boil it, the aroma is good and it tastes delicious.”
At Grandma’s words, I remembered the doenjang stew I had eaten yesterday.
“Ah, right. I boiled soup with the doenjang you gave me yesterday.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, it was incredibly delicious.”
The doenjang stew I had boiled and eaten yesterday was made with homemade doenjang given to me by Grandma Mandeok.
“You even cook your own meals. You’re much better than our Mandeok. If you run out, tell me. Grandma will give you more.”
“Yes, since you gave me doenjang, I’ll dig the mugwort for you today. Grandma, please sit here and rest.”
Grandma said it was fine, but I took her hand and seated her on the walker.
Since I had nothing special to do that morning anyway, I started digging mugwort while chatting with Grandma about this and that.
***
“If you have leftover doenjang stew, you can wash this and put it right in; it should taste fine.”
After digging all the mugwort and giving it to Grandma, she shared some with me as she spoke.
“Yes. Grandma, shall I escort you home?”
“No, it’s fine. I can pull this down. It must be lunchtime, so you must be hungry. Hurry home.”
Talking while digging mugwort, before I knew it, it had become lunchtime. I saw Grandma off as she headed back down toward the village and returned home.
I took the mugwort to the water tap beside the house and got ready.
When I turned on the water, at first lukewarm water came out, but soon cool water was flowing. I started washing the mugwort I had dug myself under the running water.
*If I put this in doenjang stew like Grandma said, it will be delicious.*
I shook the dirt off the mugwort with water, and a pleasant fragrance began to rise.
Imagining doenjang stew with the scent of mugwort spreading, my appetite seemed to stir. I felt like I could enjoy a different taste from yesterday.
While washing the mugwort, thinking that I should eat lunch quickly, I suddenly heard a loud noise.
I got up and saw a truck coming down toward the house. Curious who it was, I quickly looked.
The truck parked in our yard. Seeing the person getting out of the car, I quickly greeted him.
“Hello, Village Head.”
Hwang Changsik.
He was the village head in charge of all the big and small affairs of the village.
“Yes. Have you finished moving?”
“Yes, I still have some unpacking left, but if I finish by today, I think I’ll be done.”
“I see. It’s nothing special, but I heard you decided to return to farming?”
“Yes. I’ve decided to do so.”
I had told some elders I met while moving that I was returning to farming; it seemed the village head had heard as well.
“Yes, it’s nothing special, but since you’ll be living in the same village from now on, make sure to follow the village rules so we don’t get on each other’s bad sides. And if you have any difficulties farming, ask me or the other residents; it will help a lot.”
Honestly, I didn’t know the village head very well. Still, I felt grateful that he had come personally and seemed to care.
“Thank you for your concern.”
“That’s why I’m saying this… I think you’ll need to pay the village development fund…”
“Excuse me? What is that?”
“The village development fund.”