Grandma Mak-sun's Land - 1
"Grandma!"
Mak-sun Halmeoni was sitting in the living room watching TV, cracking the hard shells of peanuts.
"Who is it?"
At my call, she turned her head.
"Is that Chang-soo?"
Just yesterday she'd recognized me fine, but today her mind had grown hazy, and she'd mistaken me for her son.
Still, it was such a relief how well she'd settled into the neatly repaired house. I'd been worried she might wander around insisting her home had disappeared.
"Yes, it's me."
I simply pretended to be Kim Chang-soo. That was the only way she could feel at ease.
"Why are you so late?"
"Work ran late. Where in the world did you get so many peanuts?"
"I grew them myself."
"Oh? Where?"
Kim Chang-soo had sold off every last patch of her land, leaving Mak-sun Halmeoni with nowhere to farm.
And yet her basket was now brimming with fresh peanuts.
"The hillside plot's so full of rocks nobody ever farms it, so I planted peanuts there, and look at that, hahaha. Don't they look lovely?"
Apparently she'd sown peanuts on some abandoned land no one was using.
Was Mak-sun Halmeoni some kind of farming goddess? She must have grown them organically, without money for fertilizer, and yet the peanuts were wonderfully plump and beautifully shaped.
When she snipped open a thick shell with her scissors, a plump, springy peanut tumbled out.
"Someone scattered chicken manure all over my field and planted radishes. Good heavens, they never even thinned the sprouts, so the greens grew thick and lush while the radishes themselves never got to grow at all."
Kim Yong-gu was in the business of drying radish greens and selling them as siraegi — a much more profitable trade than selling the radishes themselves.
But Mak-sun Halmeoni knew none of this. She only fretted that the radishes had been planted so densely she couldn't get a single one to eat.
"I tried to go thin them out, but that scary old man threatened to break my legs if I set foot in his field one more time. That's why I can't farm my own land anymore."
Halmeoni spoke with a sullen expression, watching my face carefully.
"I'm sorry, Chang-soo. I think someone's stolen your mother's land."
"I'll get it back for you."
"R-really?"
Seeing her eyes sparkle with hope made my own spirits lift in spite of myself.
"Yes. I'll give that wicked old man what he deserves and bring your land back."
"Oh, how wonderful."
Making someone happy because of me — it worked a kind of magic that made me feel like less of an ordinary man and a pretty decent one instead.
It was a different thrill entirely from the one I'd felt when a meteorite made me rich. Something warm filled my chest.
A faint sheen of moisture gathered in Mak-sun Halmeoni's eyes.
"Just thinking that I might farm my own land again... the tears want to come all on their own."
"Don't cry — smile. Only good things are coming your way from now on. I promise."
At my words, the blurred focus in her eyes began slowly to sharpen.
The vacant expression on her face changed.
Then, as though her mind had suddenly cleared, Halmeoni sprang to her feet and bowed her head to me.
"Thank you. Thank you so very much."
"H-Halmeoni?"
"Yoonho, my boy, I don't know how you mean to get my land back, but don't push yourself too hard."
Mak-sun Halmeoni had recognized me.
Once her mind clouded over, she usually failed to recognize people for days at a time, yet right now her gaze was strikingly clear, and not a single word slurred.
A miracle?
Or had her broken spirit mended itself out of sheer joy at the thought of reclaiming her land?
"The man who took my land is a nasty piece of work — he'd swing a club at anyone, that one. If you got hurt, Yoonho, I'd grieve. Don't fight him."
Moved as I was, the moment passed. Anger at Kim Yong-gu dragged my voice down into something heavy.
"Did that wicked old man hit you with his club?"
"He did. My head and my shoulders. It hurt a great deal."
Another crime added to Kim Yong-gu's list.
Assaulting a dementia-stricken elderly woman?
Soon he'll pay for that sin twice over. Three times over.
Kim Seong-hoon was already being hauled before the audit team for questioning, and once a confession and corroborating evidence surfaced, he and Kim Yong-gu would find no escape from a police investigation either.
All that was left for me to do now was wait.
No. 1 would soon need to return to his host body anyway, and he'd torment Kim Yong-gu viciously until then. The call would come soon enough.
I turned to Mak-sun Halmeoni.
"If you get your land back, will you plant peanuts again?"
"No, I'll plant potatoes."
A Gangwon Province woman through and through.
Halmeoni declared her grand ambition: to raise a potato crop and cook wonderful potato dishes.
"I'll make you potato sujebi and potato pancakes too, Yoonho."
"Haha, thank you."
Perhaps it was all the talk of food, but hunger came stealing over me all at once.
"Halmeoni, the ladies' association president packed us a lunch box. Let's eat."
When I opened the two-tiered box, I found freshly steamed rice, snail-infused soybean paste, braised tofu, and kimchi and braised radish packed in tight. She'd pressed everything down so firmly in case there wasn't enough that the contents practically leapt up when I lifted the lid.
"Wow, I had no idea braised radish could be this good?"
"She made the broth with anchovies. She really does have a gift for cooking."
There were only a few side dishes, but every bite clung deliciously to the tongue.
Halmeoni and I finished the meal without leaving a single grain of rice behind.
"Now that we've eaten, I'll steam you some peanuts. Or should I stir-fry them with oil and salt?"
Halmeoni scooped shelled peanuts into a basket and rose to her feet.
This house didn't even have so much as a gas range. What was she planning to do?
"I-I'm full, actually."
"Hm? Still, there's always a separate stomach for peanuts, isn't there? They were dug up today, so they'll be delicious."
Mak-sun Halmeoni was determined, one way or another, to feed me the peanuts she'd harvested today.
"W-well then..."
I hesitated a moment before speaking.
"Let's roast them over a fire."
"Peanuts?"
"Yes."
I smiled warmly.
"I'll roast them for you."
It was a ten-minute walk from Mak-sun Halmeoni's house to my tent, where I was staying long-term.
By car, it took less than a minute.
I helped Halmeoni into the car, parked in my yard, and offered her a camping chair.
"Please sit here. I'll have a fire going in no time."
When I flicked on the yard light switch, the LED bulbs twinkled to life.
"Wow!"
Halmeoni clasped her hands together and gasped like a young girl. Come to think of it, this might have been her first time here at night.
"Would you like some music too?"
"Music?"
"Yes. I'll put on songs by that singer you like, Na Woon-a."
"Is today my birthday?"
"Sorry?"
"Bringing me to such a lovely place, playing music for me..."
The first and only trip Mak-sun Halmeoni had ever taken with her son had been to Gyeongju.
After being abandoned there, the village head had brought her back, and she hadn't left the village since.
She had grown old in this tiny village, farming season after season, never once getting to see the world beyond it.
"I'm sorry. Tell me your birthday, and I'll take you to the sea."
"I like it here better than going somewhere far away. And the best day of all is your birthday. Today is my birthday."
Halmeoni put on an excited expression as she admired the yard glittering with pretty lights.
A lump rose in my throat. I bit my lip hard and turned the music up loud.
Soon a rich, mellow trot melody drifted through the air.
"Where the cosmos flowers bloom..."
Halmeoni hummed along, following the tune.
I stacked charcoal in the fire pit and lit it with a torch.
While the charcoal heated through, I looked up how to roast peanuts on my phone: stir them over low heat until the shells turn golden brown.
I added no oil to the wok, tossed in the raw peanuts, and shook them around until they cooked evenly.
Before long a nutty aroma rose, and the shells began turning brown.
"They're done — now! Any longer and they'll taste burnt."
"Yes, ma'am!"
I poured the roasted peanuts onto a stainless steel tray to cool and pulled out a brand-new frying pan.
Now it was time to roast the peanuts Halmeoni had already shelled.
"These are the ones you said to do with a little oil and salt, right?"
I heated oil in the pan over low heat, added the shelled peanuts, and rolled them gently as they cooked.
"Mm, these smell different from the shell-on ones already."
A far richer nuttiness wafted up. Just as the peanuts finished cooking, I sprinkled salt over them and emptied the pan onto a plate. Steam curled up in soft ribbons.
"Here — which would you like to try first?"
"This one."
Halmeoni started in on the peanuts roasted in their shells, blowing on each one before popping it in her mouth.
"Delicious."
"Wow, you're right. So wonderfully nutty."
Apparently they're at their best — that perfect firm crunch — once they've cooled a bit, but hot as they were, they were soft and the nutty flavor was simply superb.
"It's like eating peanut butter."
"Peanut what?"
Halmeoni tilted her head and pressed a peanut to my lips.
Chewing, I explained.
"I meant you're such a fine farmer that your peanuts taste incredible. Let's keep cooking delicious things out here together from now on."
"Yes!"
Halmeoni couldn't touch alcohol — it upset her stomach — so I poured her a soft drink and had a glass of whiskey myself.
Peanuts alone just made you crave a drink, somehow.
She bustled about cracking shells, popping peanuts into my mouth as she went, insisting that anything stronger than a soft drink would wreck her insides.
A little while later —
"Oh? Look, there's a car coming."
"So there is."
In the distance, headlights were climbing the village road toward us.
There could be only one reason anyone would drive all the way up this dead-end road at this hour.
Is Kim Yong-gu coming to see me?
The car soon came to a stop, and a hulking man built like a judo athlete threw the door open and climbed out.
If you rolled Kim Yong-gu back thirty years, would this be exactly the face you'd get?
"Mr. Kim Yoonho? I'm a police officer. Come with me, please."
Kim Yong-gu's eldest son was a cop, I'd heard. This had to be the one.
The moment I frowned slightly, Mak-sun Halmeoni suddenly shouted in outrage.
"See here, mister! You'd better say which precinct you came from and why you're trying to take Yoonho away before anything else!"
Whoa. Wasn't Mak-sun Halmeoni remarkably sharp just now?
I burst out laughing and reassured her.
"Halmeoni, that man is a lost cause, but there must be some circumstances. Don't worry."
"That cop looks like a bad man."
"He is one. He's his son."
"Should I tell the village head?"
"No, I can handle this myself."
I leaned close and whispered so that only Halmeoni could hear.
"I'm going to get your land back. Sleep well now."
A short while later, I walked Halmeoni home, then got into Kim Seong-gyun's car.
Word from the county governor was that he'd passed the patrol officer exam and served twenty-two years on the force.
Where did the money come from, that he drove around in a fully loaded luxury midsize sedan?
Was this what the gold rings Kim Yong-gu swindled out of village elders bought — this, and the money he made growing manure-fertilized radish greens, splashed freely on his sons?
Maybe that was exactly why his sons acted as Kim Yong-gu's hands and feet.
Nice ride, though.
I had just settled back into the seat and was enjoying the smooth handling when —
Screeeech!
Kim Seong-gyun pulled off the national highway and stopped the car on a secluded mountain road.
"Out."
I glanced out the window. It was pitch black, as if ink had been spilled across the world.
There didn't appear to be a single house nearby, let alone a livestock shed.
I sank deeper into the seat and spoke.
"I thought Kim Yong-gu wanted to see me? Let's hurry, then — I'm a busy man."
You're only trying to scare me, and if you keep it up, you're the one who'll get hurt.
"You f-! Get out before I drag you!"
"And if I don't want to?"
"You little — nobody would ever know if I killed a man out here and dumped him in the mountains. How's that possible, you ask? Because this is the middle of nowhere."
"So?"
"What do you mean, 'so'? It means you're going to spill everything that's been going on before you meet my father! Damn it!"
Kim Seong-gyun panted like a wild boar crashing through the underbrush. Every time he did, the leather gave off a damp, fishy odor, like hide soaked in rain.
Beneath it lurked something else too — the scent of iron filings falling from rusted metal. A faint smell of blood.
"You've been beating someone. Haven't you?"
The smell alone told me exactly where Kim Seong-gyun had been.
"The hell are you talking about?"
"Men who don't wash. Body odor, foreign spice. Ah — now I get it. You've been selling betel nut to migrant workers. Do you deal fentanyl too?"
Thanks to the sharpened senses I'd gained after bonding with No. 1, I had confirmed yet another of Kim Seong-gyun's crimes from his scent alone.
"You — you... what the hell are you?"
"Me? A grim reaper."