4
# Chapter 4
“Wow....”
“Man....”
“Is this really Yangjibareun Teahouse? We didn't come to the wrong place, did we?”
The Hyeon siblings looked around in amazement the moment they stepped inside, uttering something between admiration and
disbelief.
Other than Noran, they were my first customers.
“You two have no patience, do you? You came just a few hours after I told you to.”
“Hey, even one day was too long.”
“We were curious.”
When I'd met the Hyeon siblings yesterday, they had been shocked to hear that I was living here and had grabbed me by
the shoulders and shaken me.
They'd pestered me because they wanted to hear the details, but unfortunately, they didn't have the time.
They grew watermelons, and this was their busiest season.
So I'd told them to come to the teahouse later, but I hadn't expected them to show up before the day was even over.
The Hyeon siblings ran their hands over the tables and windowsills before speaking in amazement.
“I didn't know this place could get this clean.”
“It looks like it was built yesterday.”
“How did it become like this? It wouldn't have been strange if it had collapsed any moment.”
“It was still like that when we passed by three days ago. How could it become like this in just a day or two?”
I was amazed by it too.
There was no way to explain it, so I simply gave them a faint smile.
The Hyeon siblings looked around every corner, but ultimately couldn't solve the mystery.
If I couldn't figure it out, how were they supposed to?
“Sit down. I'll get you something to drink.”
While boiling water, I searched through the recipe book.
There had definitely been something in there related to the Hyeon siblings....
As I slowly went through the recipes, Hyeon-ung suddenly spoke.
“You look like Grandpa when you sit there like that.”
“Yeah, you're right. I was wondering why you looked familiar, and that's exactly it.”
I didn't remember them coming here that often when we were in high school.
Maybe that had happened after I moved to Seoul.
“Did you two come here often?”
“Sometimes?”
“I came often. After drinking Grandpa's tea, I didn't feel as tired that day.”
“Oh, right! That's why we drank Grandpa's tea a lot around this time of year.”
“After Grandpa passed away, you have no idea how much I missed it.”
“Is that so?”
I could have simply dismissed it as a coincidence, but somehow, it felt entirely possible.
It wasn't just any tea.
It was tea made by my grandfather.
It wasn't some deus ex machina or anything.
But whenever my grandfather was involved, even things that made no sense somehow became possible.
Just then, I found a particular tea in the recipe book.
A tea specially made for the Hyeon siblings.
Red Peppermint Tea.
“Red Peppermint Tea?”
“Yeah. That's the tea Grandpa used to make for us.”
“It's written in there? Then we can have that tea again?”
“I'll give it a try, but don't expect it to have the same effects.”
I didn't know whether the tea itself had special abilities or whether my grandfather had used magic.
So I told them not to get their hopes up before gathering the necessary ingredients from the storage room.
As I prepared the tea bag according to the recipe in the book, the Hyeon siblings each asked me a question.
“Chan-seong, didn't you say you were working in Seoul? What made you come back?”
“Hmm....”
Where should I even begin?
I couldn't exactly tell them that I'd suddenly regressed.
“It's just... I got tired of struggling so desperately to survive there. I started wondering what the point of living
like that was. It felt like I was forgetting the things that mattered to me.”
“...Hey.”
“What?”
“You're not Lee Chan-seong.”
I turned around.
The Hyeon siblings were staring at me suspiciously through narrowed eyes.
They didn't believe a single word I'd said.
“Try believing me a little.”
“If you were us, would you believe it?”
“What did you say all the time when you were in high school? You said you'd succeed no matter what and get out of this
countryside.”
“That's why you even went to college through the rural-area admission program and lived in a semi-basement in Seoul.”
“You two know an awful lot about me.”
I hadn't come back here in quite a long time.
They almost seemed like people who had been watching my life from right beside me.
“Grandpa told us.”
“And Gi-hyeon came by every once in a while too. What a heartless bastard.”
I couldn't really argue with that.
The me from the past deserved to hear things like that.
“I'm not like that anymore.”
“What did you eat? Why are you acting like this?”
“Something happened.”
“Something big.”
“You're not going to tell us, are you?”
There was no way I could explain my regression to them, so I didn't answer.
The Hyeon siblings merely pouted and didn't ask any further.
I poured the water, which had reached the proper temperature, over the tea bag and placed the cups in front of them.
The water in the teacups turned green, then gradually began changing to a reddish hue.
I'd never seen tea like this before either.
But the Hyeon siblings brightened as though they'd seen it many times.
“I haven't seen this in forever.”
“I thought it was fascinating the first time I saw it. I never thought we'd see it again.”
“Wait a little. Once the colors mix....”
“Then you take the tea bag out?”
“We know, idiot.”
As we waited, the two colors blended together, gradually turning into a soft yellow.
Once the tea was finished, I removed the tea bags.
In the meantime, I placed some almond cookies I'd baked today in front of them.
“Oh, cookies.”
“I baked them myself.”
“Wow. Grandpa never had anything like this. You're better.”
“Hmm, but the tea doesn't taste as good as Grandpa's.”
“...That's only because I've just started. Give me some time.”
I watched the two of them take sips of tea and pick up the cookies before casually asking,
“Are you two still farming?”
“What else would we be doing?”
“It's watermelon season, so we're busy. But even though we're busy, it's... difficult.”
The two of them sighed simultaneously.
“What happened? A bad harvest?”
“It's hard to call it that.”
“They don't taste as good as last year. The sweetness is lower.”
“We've gotten fewer top-grade watermelons, and now even ordinary-grade ones are showing up.”
“It wasn't this bad before.... The quality's been getting worse for the past few years.”
“There's nothing left after we deduct labor costs.”
I didn't know much about what they meant by the different grades, but judging from their tone, it seemed like they were
having a poor harvest.
Seeing them pressing their eyes with their fingers, I wanted to do something for them.
“Does the tea actually have any effect?”
“Hm? Yeah. The taste is a little different, but I think it works.”
“I feel less tired.”
“Then stop by tomorrow morning before you go pick watermelons. I'll make you some tea.”
“Huh?”
To reconnect a relationship that had grown loose, you had to put in just as much effort.
I wanted to become close with these friends again as I lived here, so I should be the one to take the first step.
“Hey, we leave at dawn. Four-thirty.”
“Then come by at four. How long does it take me to make tea? Or should I bake some cookies for you to have as a
mid-morning snack? I'm going to make rusks tomorrow too.”
“...Really?”
“Hyeon-seo, why are you tearing up?”
“Damn. I thought I'd never get to eat stuff like that in my life.”
Hyeon-seo wiped away tears of emotion.
She had become a farmer because she loved farming, but Hyeon-seo was still a woman in her twenties.
She envied the time other friends spent at cafés drinking coffee and eating desserts.
Knowing that such things were practically a luxury for farmers, perhaps she was simply moved by the thought of
experiencing something similar.
“And come by often from now on. I'm going to keep the teahouse open until late.”
“Chan-seong, I love you. Let's get married.”
“No. I'm not doing that.”
Marriage.
I'd tried it before, and I knew exactly what it was like.
I wasn't doing it twice.
Hyeon-ung, who had been watching from the side, snickered.
“Who'd take a farmhand like you? You look like you'd eat an obscene amount of rice too.”
“Shut your mouth before I tear it apart.”
“Shut my mouth? What're you gonna do, huh?”
“You son of a—”
The sibling battle began in an instant.
Calling it a battle was generous.
It was more like one-sided violence.
But this time, I didn't stop them.
Hyeon-ung was clearly the one at fault.
“Chan-seong. Are you going to make coffee and stuff too?”
“I'll get an espresso machine soon. I'll make other teas too, but I like coffee.”
“Chan-seong, I may not have any money, but I've got 200 pyeong of farmland. Let's get married.”
“I said no.”
“Two confessions, two rejections. Pfft.”
“Shut up!”
“Hey, did you know she used to like you—”
“I said shut up!”
Chatting and bickering with the Hyeon siblings made me feel as though I'd returned to my school days.
Despite having the soul of a man approaching sixty, even my mind seemed to be getting dyed with youth again.
We exchanged old stories and talked about this and that, and before we knew it, night had fallen.
I wanted to keep talking all night, but the Hyeon siblings had work tomorrow.
“We should get going. We have to wake up at four again tomorrow and get ready.”
“You guys work hard. Stop by before you go.”
“Are you really going to prepare all that? You don't have to.”
“Think of it as customer acquisition. I need to start doing some business before the reopening.”
“If you put it that way.... We won't argue anymore.”
They looked genuinely apologetic, but it wasn't really difficult for me.
Back when I worked at the company, there had been times when I left work at midnight and came back at four in the
morning.
I'd really been a workaholic.
The two of them patted me on the shoulder, feeling both sorry and grateful.
“Don't overdo it.”
“You two should be careful too. Get home safely, and I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
The Hyeon siblings waved before getting into their Porter truck and leaving.
I watched them disappear into the distance before returning inside and cleaning up.
I divided up the remaining cookies I'd made as prototypes, then closed the teahouse.
On the walk home, stars seemed to pour down from the sky.
Looking at scenery like this, I could feel it.
These moments, one after another, were what I'd wanted all along.
---
There was still a long time before sunrise.
Even in summer, dawn was cold.
I shivered lightly as I opened the door of Yangjibareun Teahouse.
I had already prepared the Red Peppermint Tea for the Hyeon siblings in a thermos with ice and took out the cookies I'd
portioned out yesterday.
It would be difficult for them to eat while working, but they could at least nibble on them beforehand.
Jingle.
“Ugh, it's cold. I'm sleepy.”
“Chan-seong, we're here.”
“Come on in. You tired?”
The Hyeon siblings approached like half-dead zombies and took over the bar table.
I served the tea I'd brewed in advance.
The two of them could barely open their eyes as they sipped the tea, slowly melting into the chairs.
“Ahh, I'm alive.”
“I really feel alive after drinking this.”
“This is our elixir of life.”
“Lee Chan-seong, the man who gave us life. Is he a god?”
“Stop being so dramatic. Here, this is Red Peppermint Tea chilled with ice. Take it with you and drink it later.”
The Hyeon siblings accepted the thermos and grinned gratefully.
I could see some of the fatigue leaving their eyes after just one cup of tea.
Seeing them like that made waking up before dawn worthwhile.
“Hey, seriously, thanks.”
“If you're grateful, give me some watermelons. I'll make drinks with them.”
There were all kinds of drinks I could make with watermelons.
Watermelon smoothies, for example, or Thai-style watermelon juice. Even simple fresh watermelon juice would be good.
Whatever I chose, with a watermelon in hand, making a summer drink would be ridiculously easy.
Hyeon-seo's eyes lit up at my words.
“Then come by later. We'll set aside a few top-grade watermelons for you.”
“Top-grade? Aren't those the ones you sell? Just give me some leftovers.”
“Come on. We can't give a friend something that's already been eaten.”
“That's right. What's so special about country hospitality? This is it. I'll pick out some big, tasty ones for you.”
“If you put it that way....”
If they were giving them to me, I should gratefully accept.
The two hurriedly finished the rest of their tea and stood up.
Timing was everything when it came to farming.
If they wanted to get a good haul today, it was time to head out.
“We're off. Make sure you come by at lunchtime.”
“Got it. Work hard.”
“Okay.”
I saw them off as the Porter grew smaller in the distance, then returned inside.
After cleaning up, it was only four-thirty.
There was still plenty of time before sunrise.
I could bake some cookies and make some rusks in the meantime.
And if I still had time left, I could leisurely read some books.
I should finally take my time with the books I hadn't been able to read in my previous life.
Oh, and while I was at it, I should also make a plan to change the interior a little.
I'd put bookshelves wherever I liked and fill them with all kinds of books.
I was humming to myself, enjoying the thought, when—
Jingle.
The little bell hanging on the door rang weakly.
Nobody should be coming at this hour.
If anyone did, it would probably be the Hyeon siblings.
“Did you leave something behind?”
I turned my head toward the doorway.
There was a familiar face standing there, but it looked completely unfamiliar.
“Noran? What are you doing here at this hour...?”
“Mister....”
Noran stood at the entrance, her eyes dark and sunken.
One step.
Then another.
She approached with great difficulty.
Then—
Thud.
“Noran!”
Right before my eyes, she collapsed.