The First Harvest

Gulp.

Minhyuk kept his nerves drawn tight and picked his way into the jungle. A baby meerkat could only tell him when a magical beast was near. It couldn't protect him, and it certainly couldn't stand and fight one. An early-warning device, nothing more. So even as he pushed deeper, he kept glancing over his shoulder, careful to leave himself a way out. The second anything feels off... he would run, and he wouldn't look back.

Fortunately, nothing suspicious registered on the baby meerkat's radar. Before long, he found water.

"F-found it!"

A thin stream trickled along like a brook. From the look of it, it had branched off some distant river and wound all the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way here. Minhyuk cupped the water in his palms and drank. A cool, clean wetness—something the cucumbers had never quite given him—soaked his throat.

"Ahh—!"

"Kkureung! Kkureung!"

What? You want some too?

A tiny tongue flicked across his palm. The baby meerkat lapped up the water, then shivered from nose to tail.

"Kkureuung—!"

"You were thirsty too, huh?"

Minhyuk snorted a laugh and turned toward a leaf lying on the ground. It was nearly the size of a picnic mat, the sort of thing you would never see on Earth. He folded it as neatly as the lid of a cup noodle, and just like that he had an eco-friendly water basket.

"Hup!"

He scooped up a full basket at once. Water sloshed over the rim, but none of it leaked through the bottom of the leaf. Better still, it was just about the right amount to water the crops for a day.

"Good. Let's head back!"

"Kkureung!"

Leaf basket brimming, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he left the jungle under the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠baby meerkat's escort.

Back on the beach. Minhyuk stepped smoothly into the Safe Zone, but the baby meerkat could not follow. It was as if a transparent wall had risen in front of it. The little thing looked, for all the world, like it was doing mime.

"Kkureuung……?"

"What are you doing over there?"

Aha. So that was why.

Minhyuk thought it over. If I take the baby meerkat on as an official member... it would mean another mouth to feed, but the little thing wouldn't fail to earn its keep. Half a cucumber a meal, at most. Excellent fuel economy. And being alone has been bothering me, too...

Meerkats lived in groups, and they watched their young with particular care. If this one's family had been anywhere nearby, they would have come scurrying after it by now. But this one...

"Did you lose your family?"

"Kkureung……."

The baby meerkat nodded, downcast. Poor thing. That was rough.

"Do you want to stay with me until you find them?"

"Kkureung-kkureung!"

The baby meerkat nodded so hard its whole body shook. All right. If both sides wanted the same thing, that was an automatic yes.

"Come in."

The moment Minhyuk accepted, the baby meerkat darted into the Safe Zone.

"From now on, you're Kkureung. I'm busy, so go play nicely with Wilson over there."

"Kkureung!"

Little feet pattered across the sand. Chirping all the way, Kkureung settled in beside Wilson.

The important part's done. I've got water. Time to start the cucumber farming in earnest.

First he dug holes for the seeds. Maybe because it was a beach, the sand gave way smoothly under his bare hands, no tools required. Then he turned toward the food stores to collect cucumber seeds—and stopped.

"...Huh?"

A few days ago he had stuck a cucumber in Wilson's mouth and told him to eat it. By now it had yellowed like an overripe Korean melon, and an item window he hadn't seen that morning was floating above it.

He could harvest seeds from it?

"Wilson... you had a plan all along...?"

Minhyuk had been about to split a perfectly good cucumber. Instead he reached straight for the overripe one stuck in Wilson's mouth.

That was the last of the preparations. He dropped the seeds into the holes, mounded the sand thickly over them, and carefully trickled the water from the leaf basket on top.

"...Is this right?"

The result looked disturbingly like someone playing in the sand. Minhyuk tilted his head. Tsk. No idea. Still, the Fertile Soil effect had said he could grow crops regardless of the land.

"It'll be fine... probably."

Either way, the day's work of planting cucumbers was done. He called to Kkureung, who was busy messing around in the sand.

"Kkureung! Come here."

"Kkureung-kkureung!"

Gathering cucumbers in the jungle had been capped at twenty a day. A low-risk, low-return strategy, as he'd been calling it. But now that he had a pocket-sized radar detector, it was time to change tactics.

"Let's go!"

"Kkureung!"

Might as well rack up some experience, widen the Safe Zone, and pick a few more cucumbers while he was at it.

"K-kkureung...! Kkureureung...!"

"KYAAAAK—!"

Right. Of course he didn't manage to pick any.

"AAAAH! Run!"

"K-kkurung—!"

Still. They were alive. That counted.

Day 11.

Something pushed up through the sand he had been so unsure about. A sprout.

"Ooh—!"

Minhyuk whooped at the fresh green shoot. A result, no less, from seeds he had planted only a day ago.

Just as the window said, the seeds germinated in no time. With nothing but water—no fertilizer at all—they grew lush and strong. Minhyuk smiled, pleased, at the little shoot peeking out of the sand.

"Heh. Why does something this small feel so good?"

Back when he was an office worker, even landing a major project had brought him nothing but irritation and fatigue. Here, a single sprout breaking the surface filled him with a satisfaction he couldn't put into words. Am I built to be a farmer? It felt as if he had only just found his true calling. Should've gone back to the countryside instead of getting a job.

Thinking that, he watered the sprout. Drink up. Grow big and strong, and grow fast.

Day 14.

While the finger-sized sprout stretched into a proud cucumber vine, a change came to Minhyuk's Safe Zone as well.

The Safe Zone had grown to twelve pyeong. No other level-up reward came with it.

"Hiss... that's a little disappointing."

Levels 2 and 3 had given him something. So it wasn't every time, then. In place of the reward he'd expected, something else arrived instead.

They tasted good, and he never got tired of them, so he had eaten his fill. And for that, he had been granted a title.

It felt strange. He, a born cucumber-hater, now bore the fearsome name of Cucumber Slayer. As for the effect...

After eating three cucumbers in a row, Minhyuk gave his arms a light spin. They whipped around at a remarkable speed. Does my body feel lighter than before...? Anyway.

Warm sunlight poured from a cloudless blue sky, and waves rolled in off the wide sea to break into white foam. A leisurely afternoon on a deserted island.

"Haaahm..."

Minhyuk yawned at his ease. He had been busy since morning, though. Gathering the day's cucumbers. Going deeper into the jungle with Kkureung to draw water. Watering the vines. And sticking a cucumber in Wilson's mouth so it would turn overripe. A pretty full day.

"Maybe I'll take a nap too."

For the record, Kkureung was already fast asleep, belly up and purring. Minhyuk lay down just as he was and closed his eyes. The fierce sunlight, however, would not let him drift off. An error born of napping for the first time. And sleeping in the shaded jungle was not an option either.

Purr, purr, purr...

Then a good idea popped into his head. He picked up the limp little meerkat and laid him over his eyes.

"Kkureuung..."

Mm. Perfect. The size and the length were just right, and the fur was so fluffy that sleep came creeping in.

Day 18.

The cucumbers were finally fully grown, and it had only taken a week. They had shot up so fast that his doubts on the first day were embarrassing, and now the vines packed every inch of the Safe Zone except the space where he slept.

"Ahh— look at that color."

Minhyuk admired the cucumbers hanging in clusters from the vines. People always thought ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their own children were the prettiest in the world, but even accounting for that, the ones he had raised himself looked special. That luminous color. That flowing sheen. Whoever had grown them, those things had come out handsome in a way that promised flavor.

"Shall I have a taste?"

Mouth watering, he reached for a cucumber on the vine.

"Kkureung-kkureung!"

Kkureung held out paws no bigger than little rice balls, plainly hoping for a share. Unfortunately for him, no. Even plain water had a pecking order. The farmer who grew them got the first bite.

And the moment Minhyuk picked the cucumber from the vine, a chime rang, and a new item window rose.

Huh? That's weird. A lot more had been added since the first time. He could let the extra note at the very bottom slide, but— a special effect...? Minhyuk blinked. It soothes skin inflammation, and it heals wounds too?

Cucumbers were good for the skin to begin with. Seeing a special effect stamped on one this openly, though, he had no doubt the results would be enormous.

"Whoa... this is honestly too good to eat alone."

Delicious, good for the body, and a sure thing for the skin. Wasn't this a true superfood? The kind that would sell out the moment it hit the market, with a selling point you couldn't argue with.

At that moment—

Message windows cascaded up after it. Minhyuk stared at them, blank.

"M-merchant summon...?"

What. He could actually sell these?