Debt Free, Wall Down
A month and a half since I started farming.
After setting aside taxes, material costs, and all the other expenses that cropped up here and there, the money left over in pure profit came to just over 600 million won.
The money was coming in faster than I'd expected.
"At this point, I think it's about time we had that conversation."
Last time, Mother had stubbornly refused, and the whole matter had been smoothed over by deferring to Father instead. The subject: using this money to pay off the debt in my parents' names.
I worried I might ruin yesterday's good mood, but I couldn't just let something that needed doing pass me by.
"……You want to spend that money?"
A shadow fell over Mother's face. Even without her saying a word, I could practically hear what she was thinking.
This reaction was awfully similar to last time. It looked like I was about to get rejected again.
……However! This time, I'd prepared my counterarguments in advance.
"But Mother, think about it."
"……?"
"You, Father, even Grandfather — you're all tied up in this farm right now. Which means this isn't just my money. It's the family's income."
"Well, that's……"
It wasn't wrong, so she had no rebuttal. In fact, the monthly interest payments were already being covered by the money from selling crops.
"If you and Father had earned a lot of money, what would you have done with it? Money from farming is the same. Naturally, it should go toward paying off the debt. And once the debt is repaid, the monthly interest disappears too — which means I can farm without as much pressure hanging over me."
I'm sorry, Mother, but there was a slight lie mixed in there.
Even after the debt was fully paid off, I had no intention of farming just for fun. Knowing that money made the family prosperous, it was only natural to earn more, earn again, and stockpile the results.
I widened my eyes into my best pleading, sparkling gaze and looked up at Mother.
"Mother, let's use this money to pay off the debt quickly! Even after it's all gone, there's still money left over!"
The scale of the debt I'd overheard about long ago was 500 million won. Pay it all off, and the account would still have just over 200 million left.
On top of that, once my parents' credit recovered from having the debt fully settled, the range of things I — a minor — could actually do would widen considerably. Thinking of the future, repaying the money now was non-negotiable.
Mother's expression was grave. I could see exactly what she was turning over in her mind.
Five hundred million was no small sum, and she probably felt like she was saddling her son with a huge burden.
But if we're talking about debt, I was already carrying a far more enormous one. Wasn't using Seo Ji-on's body the way I was now a debt in itself?
Before long, though, Mother nodded.
"All right, Ji-on. We'll do it your way. But…… I think this needs your father's agreement too."
The next obstacle, then, was Father?
Steeled with resolve, I threw myself into the meeting with him. How much persuading would this take……
"Ji-on, if that's what you want, then that's what we'll do."
……Fat chance.
All my preparation was for nothing — the answer came back with astonishing ease.
"I feel terrible, like you're carrying the burden of your failed parents' shame. But there's no real alternative at this point, is there?"
Watching Father slump his shoulders with a bittersweet smile left me feeling strange. It wasn't as though I'd brought up paying off the debt just to see him looking so deflated.
I endured a moment of silence, then opened my mouth.
"Father, once we pay off the debt and your credit recovers — then let's go look at land."
"Hmm?"
"I want to turn the farm we're running now into a proper family business."
Jolt—
At my words, tension ran through Father's body. The reaction of a man who'd just heard something interesting. It seemed I'd succeeded in catching his attention.
A family business.
I hadn't originally planned to bring this up yet, but I wanted to rekindle his spirit.
"You mean you want to set up a farm run by the family?"
"No. Something even bigger than that."
Spending those few days with Chairman Choi, the man who had built Taeram Food, had taught me one thing: my goals were too small.
Was simply paying off the family's debt the extent of my task? No.
As long as I was borrowing Seo Ji-on's body and living as one of them, I wanted to create their comfort and happiness — and keep protecting it.
In that sense, I couldn't let the family business begin and end with farming.
For ordinary people, farm work was anything but easy. It was grueling, punishing labor. I could handle it in no time with magic as my aid, but for the rest of my family, who had no talent for magic, farming was nothing but hard work.
So they needed something else — something easier, better suited to them. And if the business grew, all sorts of roles would become necessary. Wouldn't the family be able to work comfortably in jobs that fit them?
As for farm labor, all I had to do was raise people with magical talent to assist. There were already one or two students at school showing a spark of mana sensitivity, after all.
"Father, the farm won't be the end of it. We'll branch out and build a family enterprise."
Just like you used to. A massive corporation built for the family's peaceful life — a fortress-solid, untouchable company that no one could threaten.
Father's eyes changed. Gone was the helplessness of a moment ago; in its place, eyes brimming with shrewdness and vigor.
"Business is never simple. Once you start, you'll be fighting a war you can never retreat from."
A harsh world would spread out before his young son — one that couldn't be described easily to a child. A world that devoured and was devoured.
"I'm confident I won't give up. I take after you, don't I?"
Choked up— Father's eyes reddened as if deeply moved.
Right. If a storm sweeps toward my son, I'll be the one to block it.
Whatever gales came, he'd already weathered them over decades of running a business. Enduring would be hard — but not so hard as to be impossible.
Having steeled his resolve, Seo Jae-mun gripped his son's shoulder and spoke.
"All right. This family enterprise you're talking about, Ji-on. Let's build it."
It was done!
Good thing I'd spoken quickly. Father's spirits had come roaring back to life.
"Today, let's celebrate paying off the debt! We had delicious food yesterday too, but how about grilling some meat for dinner tonight?"
"A barbecue party sounds great! We'd better keep it a surprise from your mother. I've been worried about her — she worked so hard yesterday."
I agreed with Father. Preparing and clearing up meals for twice the usual number of people was practically manual labor.
Having finished our little conspiracy, the two of us quietly roped Grandfather in from the fields. Mission accomplished — he'd joined the plot.
We spent the entire truck ride to the market drawing up plans for everything ahead. The blueprint that had once been so vague was growing more detailed by the minute. And the more we talked, the more I marveled at the practical knowledge Father had built up through experience.
Grandfather chimed in too, putting his own sales savvy to work and sharpening the plan even further.
Today we'd enjoy ourselves; starting tomorrow, we'd get busy moving. For the family's success — for our happy home!
Thump—
Arms full to overflowing with meat, I climbed down from the truck. Since we'd made it out to the township for the first time in a while, I'd also picked up several new varieties of seeds to plant, and my mood was excellent.
Father would be manning the grill, so all Mother had to do today was sit back and relax. She'd been run ragged serving that huge crowd of guests yesterday — she'd more than earned a holiday.
The three of us headed into the house, thoroughly pleased with ourselves.
But what awaited us was Mother — completely, falling-down drunk.
The holiday we'd planned to give her had apparently existed only in our heads.
Gulp, gulp—
She was sitting alone at the table draining one bottle after another, and the moment she saw the three of us walk through the front door, the tears burst out of her.
"WAAAAAHH!!"
A full-on bawl.
What could have been eating at her so badly?
I rushed over to her.
"Mother, what's wrong?"
Father and Grandfather, flustered, followed — still carrying the meat, not even able to put it in the fridge before hurrying to the table.
"Everyone went off somewhere without me!"
Mother started jabbing an accusing finger at Grandfather and Father. Her flailing arm nearly knocked over the two soju bottles sitting on the table.
"Whoa there."
I caught them quickly, and nothing broke. How much did she drink? We'd had a drinking party yesterday too, but never anything like this. This was the first time I'd ever seen her wasted.
"It's supposed to be a family thing, so why are you all leaving me out!!"
Kim Mi-suk roared.
When the midday sun was blazing hot, she'd let Father and her husband watch the fields in Ji-on's place while he was at school. Making meals alone at home for the men was certainly a necessary job — but there was no helping the feeling of being left on the sidelines.
And then today, the three of them had vanished without a word to her. No text, no phone call, naturally. She'd checked the fields — nobody. The storage shed — nobody. They weren't meeting Park Byung-gyu at the Nonghyup either.
So where on earth had they all gone, leaving her behind?
In the end, the resentment she'd been quietly stacking up for weeks exploded.
"You never let me come out — too hot, too hard, just rest! I'm family too! I can do what everyone else in this family does, I can……!"
Only then did it dawn on me what was really in her heart.
"Still, drinking this much without a single thing to snack on — what am I going to do with you?"
Father clicked on the gas burner with a worried look. He apparently intended to start grilling right away.
"We figured you'd be worn out from all those guests yesterday, so we tried to sneak off and fix you a proper dinner…… We never dreamed you'd think you'd been abandoned."
Grandfather soothed her as well, pulling every vegetable in the fridge out onto the table. I cleared away the soju bottles. One, two, three…… she'd downed four of them all by herself. Was this even real?
Three of us scrambling to throw together a meat dinner at top speed. But before anyone could even raise a glass, Mother was the first to faceplant.
"I told her she was drinking too much."
Father muttered as he cleared the dishes from around her slumped form.
"Still, buying meat with our own money and throwing a party like this — it feels good, doesn't it?"
At his words, Grandfather nodded and took a long, satisfying swig of cold beer.
"Khh~ Seo, you said it right there. This is what real happiness is."
Watching them bask in their happiness, I found myself thinking I needed to earn even harder. The debt could be repaid now, but that couldn't be the end of it. Life has a way of throwing endless varieties of hardship at you, and to brace for them you needed plenty of money — no, lots of money.
Of course, even while thinking that, it had never once occurred to me that such a calamity might arrive right now.
……A complete delusion. How could a mere mortal ever predict the disasters that arrive without warning?
It was happening this very instant.
Kuwuguung—
The sudden tremor left the four of us at the table gaping in confusion. The walls shook, and a fine powder drifted down from the ceiling.
In that instant, I sensed the presence of something enormous behind me.
KWAANG—!
"Ji-on!"
The kitchen wall came down entirely. Father's voice called out to me in panic.
"I'm fine over here—"
I was fine. Me, specifically. Only me.
I turned my head to survey the collapsed wall. The entire back of the kitchen had crumbled clean through to the front yard.
And standing there before the rubble was a baby bear with a dazed, blank expression — with Seo Bong-gu perched on top of its head.
Looking thoroughly deflated, Seo Bong-gu offered his defense.
"I-I didn't mean tooo…… (Th-this wasn't supposed to happen……)"
"……"
And through all of this, Mother still hadn't woken up.
Small mercies, I suppose?
No — mercy, my foot!
THE HOUSE JUST COLLAPSED!!