The Stolen Harvest
Was I bewitched by Levi Nas's ability to make my cabbage plants grow? For days on end, I'd planted crops all over the park without a moment's rest. Watching them sprout and thrive the instant I put them in the soil was pure joy, like playing a game. Since things had come to this, why not turn the whole park into a farm? The work was grueling, but the satisfaction was immense, so I lost track of my body's limits and dove headfirst into planting.
"...Gyeowol, how about taking a short break?"
"Just this one more..."
"Kid, you'll collapse at this rate."
"Mm... I'm still okay."
There were still piles of unplanted seeds waiting. I couldn't stop now. Like any gaming addict crying "just one more round," I grabbed my gardening kit and headed for the next empty patch of grass.
"Ugh..."
Was it the exhaustion from all that nonstop labor? My legs suddenly buckled. My vision blurred, my head spun—I felt like I was about to drop any second.
What?
Why was my body acting up like this? As the question flashed through my mind, I lost my balance completely and crumpled to the ground.
Thud!
My face buried in the rich brown soil. I couldn't breathe. I pushed at the earth with both arms, but my weak limbs only trembled uselessly. With no other choice, I managed to turn my head to the side—toward Sophia.
"Sophia... my body won't move."
"Aigoo, kid, after all that work, did you really expect it to?"
"Ugh... mm..."
Maybe I'd treated physical labor too much like a game. I'd been too late to notice the fatigue building up.
"Uwahaha! Levi Nas has defeated the king!"
Hop, hop. Levi Nas bounced away like a rabbit, dashing out of the park. She poked her head out beyond the boundary, then yelped at an alarm from her collar and fled back into the container house. Unlike me, she was full of boundless energy.
"...At least she's childlike in a good way."
Sophia shot Levi Nas a glance, then turned to me. It was the look of someone who had words but chose not to say them.
"S-sorry. I got too carried away and didn't realize how tired I was."
"...Enough. Kids move around without knowing when to stop anyway."
"Mm... yep..."
She must have meant my young body. Maybe, as she said, being in a child's form had dulled my sense of exhaustion even more. Before, I'd always caught it just before collapsing.
"Even I, back in my youth, would run around until I dropped like a log."
"R-really?"
"Yes. The problem with you, Gyeowol, is collapsing from work..."
Collapsing from play or from work—both left you wiped out, didn't they? Tilting my head, I let Sophia help me to my feet.
"Sophia, why's the park so empty today?"
"Everyone's off tackling a Level 7 dungeon. En Sia and Argo went along to claim their share too."
"Aha..."
A Level 7 dungeon. Were they planning to bag a dragon or something? I worried a bit, remembering how the guild members had struggled in Level 5. Sophia must have read my expression, because she patted my back reassuringly.
"Don't worry too much. The Guild Master went with them."
"The Guild Master?"
"Yes. That man's a real monster. He'd handle a Level 7 dungeon solo without breaking a sweat."
"Whoa..."
So the Yeomyeong Guild Master was that much of a beast. I found myself gazing up at the top floor of the guild HQ building, where he might be, when Sophia nudged me forward.
"Rest for today, at least. You look beat."
"Yeeeah..."
A mountain of a dragon let out a final bellow as it crashed to the ground. Han Yeoreum huddled in the shadow cast by its corpse, gasping for breath.
"Haa..."
She felt ready to collapse herself. Yeoreum propped herself up with the sword she'd stabbed into the floor.
"Yeoreum."
Tap, tap. Someone patted her shoulder. The slight impact sent Yeoreum toppling sideways.
"Urk."
"Ah, sorry."
"It's fine. Just tired."
Yeoreum lay on the ashen ground and looked up at the one who'd tapped her—Han Seong-woo, a teammate from the Black Dragon Dungeon raid team's third squad.
"I wanted to say thanks."
"Thanks?"
They'd all gone in together and taken down the black dragon. What was there to thank?
Yeoreum shrugged in confusion.
"I never dreamed I'd get to enter the Black Dragon Dungeon. It's all thanks to that dandelion tea. Sure, I was just providing rear support, but still."
"Ah... that."
The Black Dragon Dungeon's minimum entry requirement was magic resistance. You had to cloak yourself in mana to fend off the ambient magic, so only those with high mana pools could enter. For Han Seong-woo, whose mana fell just short even after every doping trick in the book, the tea's extra boost must have been a godsend.
"You sure it's okay selling mana-boosting tea for just 100,000 won?"
"Yeah. Gyeowol wanted to price it as low as possible."
Han Gyeowol. I saw her once in the beginner dungeon back then. Han Seong-woo rubbed his neck, a pang of guilt hitting him for ignoring a kid who needed help.
"What've you heard about the kid lately? Saw a new container house pop up."
"She's... learning about the world, little by little."
She's getting better, bit by bit. Yeoreum swallowed the words that nearly escaped, along with a sigh. It wouldn't be "better" until Gyeowol could face life head-on.
I miss Gyeowol.
What was she up to right now? Yeoreum had wanted to talk, but she'd been too buried in farm work. With their promise, she wouldn't work herself to collapse, right?
Yeoreum rose, thinking those thoughts. Time to clean up the dragon corpse and hurry home.
The next morning, I woke before dawn, earlier than anyone.
"Mm..."
Something was on my stomach. Rubbing my eyes and looking down, there was Levi Nas, sprawled across me. Her outstretched feet were even shoving at Sophia's cheek.
Oh boy.
What a wild sleeper. I gently adjusted Levi Nas's position and slipped out of the container house.
"Ugh..."
Maybe from overdoing it for days. My whole body creaked; moving hurt. Even with this kid body's great stamina and recovery, it was rough. Sophia was right—I'd pushed too hard. Still, it'd been fun. No regrets.
Should check on the cabbage.
I'd planted it next to the azaleas. Dragging my weary body, I went to inspect it.
"My cabbage...?"
The cabbage patch I'd come to check was barren. Not a single head left.
"Cabbage?"
Where had my cabbages gone? Heart pounding, I raced to the lettuce patch—but no trace of lettuce anywhere.
"My lettuce...!"
I'd toiled nonstop for a week straight. Who could have stolen every last crop overnight?
Despair hit so hard I collapsed backward.
Frosted...!
I'd seen news like that on my old Earth. "Frost"—romanticized old-school term for crop-raiding thieves who stripped fields bare. One even hit experimental crops. Never imagined I'd be their target.
This was planned...
Most of the guild was in the dungeon, no oversight. They must have sneaked in during the gap. I'd planted in hidden corners out of sight, and the park was so vast I'd let my guard down, figuring no one would come.
"Argh."
Weeks of hard work, gone to waste. Covering my face in despair, I heard footsteps approaching.
"Gyeowol, what're you doing out here?"
"...Cursing the thief."
"Th-thief?"
"Yeah. Someone stole all my crops."
I wanted to cry, but held back. This wasn't my first brush with utter hopelessness.
"What'd you plant way out here?"
"Yeah. The stuff I planted without rest for days..."
"...No breaks? You didn't collapse from overwork, did you?"
"...Th-that's not the point right now."
I waved urgently at Yeoreum. She looked like she had plenty to say, but nodded—thief first.
"Right, let's catch the thief first?"
"Y-yeah..."
Catch them and then what? I stared at the ground.
But how do we catch them?
My nose was sharper now—maybe track by scent like a dog? As I pondered seriously, I spotted footprints in the dirt.
"Footprints here...?"
"Huh? Yeah, there are."
"Yep."
I followed the tracks with Yeoreum. From cabbage patch to lettuce, radish, carrot fields. The trail led to a black van.
"My cabbage...!"
Piles of my crops in the back seat. We chased desperately, but the engine roared to life, and it sped away.