Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 6: I Bought an Abandoned House
"You found a wild ginseng patch! Look at this, Yunho! This is a jackpot! How did you find a place like this?"
The ground around where I was standing was covered with identical-looking plants.
They said all of this was wild ginseng.
"I’ve never seen a spectacle like this in my life! Good heavens, how many roots are here?"
The Village Foreman couldn't hide his astonishment, exclaiming what a miracle this was.
"It seems the Mountain God looks favorably upon you. Before you dig the wild ginseng, hurry and bow to express your gratitude."
Normally, I would have asked what kind of absurd nonsense that was.
But perhaps because of the military dog tag I had found, I spoke with a solemn heart.
"Just bowing feels a bit lacking, so I think I should offer some sincerity."
Just as I was about to put down the metal detector to take out the nutritional rice cake and rice wine I had put in my backpack...
Beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep!
The detector alarm rang in succession.
A total of 10 military uniform buttons and bullet casings were found in that area.
That was the amount without even scratching the ground with a hoe.
There must be skeletal remains beneath this ground too, right?
The owners of these remains, who couldn't be recovered, must have been full of resentment.
They would have been someone's son, father, or uncle.
Because they couldn't return home and were buried here.
Their descendants must have waited for those who never returned until they grew weary, and in the end, likely held funerals by burying empty coffins.
"I lost my way and can't find my home, so please help me."
Is the skeleton of the person who visited my dream last night also down here?
‘I think I heard there is a Ministry of National Defense Agency for KIA Recovery and Identification. I should report this as soon as I go down the mountain.’
I carefully packed the artifacts into my backpack and took out the nutritional rice cake and rice wine I had brought for lunch.
I placed the rice wine neatly next to the rice cake and bowed twice.
I will make sure everyone is returned home.
For those who might not have descendants, the country will hold funerals for you as unknown soldiers.
I will also come occasionally to offer liquor.
So please, don't come looking for me first. Especially not in my dreams. I want to sleep soundly.
Since that part was the most important, I made the request repeatedly.
"Then, please help me dig the wild ginseng. I'll share it with you."
"Share it?"
The Foreman blinked as if seeing me in a new light.
"I'm keeping the biggest ones, but I don't intend to hog it all myself. So everyone, please lend me a hand."
The place where the dog tag was found.
It was a place where many people lost their lives and their remains became part of the soil.
Wild ginseng seeds must have fallen there, germinated, and formed a colony over 75 years.
‘Maybe they thought that if the wild ginseng grew sturdy, someone would come to find them.’
If I hogged the wild ginseng grown in such a place all to myself and got labeled as greedy, how would I handle the bad karma?
And if the Foreman hadn't told me that the place I rolled down to was a wild ginseng patch, I would have just thought it was a patch of weeds.
I couldn't help but think it was thanks to the Foreman.
"Come on, hurry. If we don't dig them up, the people who came for meteorites will dig them all up. They said they're coming back."
"Right, if rumors spread, they'll clean the place out. Let's dig them all up."
On the first day of picking pine mushrooms, everyone was too busy digging wild ginseng to care about anything else.
Ten days later, the season for harvesting pine mushrooms ended.
I kept the sturdiest wild ginseng for myself and wrapped two roots in moss to give to my parents.
The marketable wild ginseng was put up for sale at the Agricultural Co-op auction house along with the pine mushrooms.
I heard that wild ginseng harvested in Korea is usually auctioned in Jecheon through the Wild Ginseng Diggers Association.
But the wild ginseng I dug didn't even make it to the auction floor; the head of the Agricultural Co-op union bought it all.
He said I received a more generous price than I would have at the Jecheon wild ginseng auction.
‘Apparently, sometimes dealers swarm the wild ginseng auctions and mess up the prices?’
As for the wild ginseng that wasn't pretty enough to be marketable but was estimated to have good medicinal effects...
I shared those with the village elders. Thanks to that, I was able to win their hearts.
"This is a Sarcodon Mushroom! The king of mushrooms! If you eat it raw, you'll get an upset stomach, so put it in boiling water and drink it like barley tea, or buy a chicken and boil it thoroughly to eat."
One grandfather came to find me holding a Sarcodon mushroom bigger than a human palm.
"G-Grandfather, this is expensive. Why don't you sell it at the market? Or give it to your children."
"I'm 90 this year. My children are 70, you know? Shouldn't they take care of themselves by now? I probably haven't received even a quarter of what I dedicated to them my whole life. But didn't I receive wild ginseng from you, young man?"
"That's right. This is an elixir. Just tear off a tiny bit, put it in boiling water with jujubes, and you won't catch a cold."
Grandfathers brought mushrooms they picked from the mountain, and grandmothers brought dried wild vegetables, dried wild wolfberries, pungent fast-fermented bean paste, and handmade tofu.
‘I just shared wild ginseng I got for free, but look at this generosity.’
Originally, when the pine mushroom harvest ends, they hold a feast after distributing the profits from the sales at the auction house.
Those who picked a lot of pine mushrooms donate a bit more money, and those who picked less finish the year by tasting pine mushroom dishes.
‘I should make a donation to the village.’
A huge cauldron was hung in front of the village hall, and a wood fire burned brightly beneath it.
The village elders were all delighted, saying this year’s feast table was unprecedentedly abundant. That was because I bought a whole pig!
I also donated to the village hall's operating fund.
It was intended to be used for boiler oil so the elders could come to the village hall during the winter and warm their backs.
The savory smell of the whole pig roasting over the blazing wood fire filled the air.
I honestly worried how we would eat such a big pig, but that was because I didn't know the appetite of rural elders.
Everyone ate so well that half the pig disappeared in no time.
"Women's Association President, when are you going to make the rice?"
"Doing it now!"
Even after filling their stomachs with meat and rice wine all day, the village elders insisted they absolutely had to eat rice.
Sizzle.
Washed and soaked rice was poured into the cauldron, and pine mushrooms cut into long strips were sprinkled on top of the rice.
Even before the rice water started boiling, the scent of pine mushrooms, full of pine aroma, lingered at the tip of my nose.
"Wow, it smells delicious already."
When I swallowed my saliva audibly, Mrs. Han Su-ja spoke while slicing pine mushrooms.
"You have to eat it raw to truly savor the taste of pine mushrooms."
Mrs. Han Su-ja dipped a beautifully sliced piece of pine mushroom in sesame oil and salt and put it in my mouth.
The pine scent spread, and the chewy texture was exquisite.
So this is why people make a fuss about pine mushrooms!
"Mmph! Shouldn't you give some to the Foreman first?"
"Is this the time to worry about the Foreman? From now on, in our village, Yunho is the main man!"
Mrs. Han Su-ja gave me two thumbs up.
Among the people playing Flower Cards over there, one grandmother turned around and laughed at me.
She was about to inflict a "triple go" and a "blood penalty" on the others but stopped mid-game to say,
"That's right! Even after wandering around to pick bracken for 50 years, I couldn't even see bellflowers well with my eyes. It's clear he made a good impression on Him."
"Him?"
When I tilted my head and asked, Mrs. Han Su-ja waved her hand.
"Oh my, she's just talking nonsense. Her mind comes and goes."
A grandmother whose mind comes and goes plays Go-Stop that well?
"It's a Double Match!"
When the grandmother slammed the flower card down with force, the card bounced up and did a somersault in the air.
‘She seems to have good strength, too.’
Mrs. Han Su-ja put a rather large piece of sliced pine mushroom in my mouth.
"Just hurry up and eat."
"No, if I keep eating like this..."
"You said it's your first time eating pine mushrooms in your life, right? Eat a lot."
"Haha, our Yunho must be happy. He's getting his stomach filled with pine mushrooms fed to him by the Women's Association President. Even if she's like that, the President is the greatest beauty in our village. She was Miss Korea."
Excuse me, isn't Mrs. Han Su-ja 74 years old this year?
"To Yunho's eyes, the Women's Association President probably looks like a wrinkled old lady. What nonsense... Ah, you know Manager Seo from the Agricultural Co-op? Her father owns over 20 cows. She's a daughter of a rich family."
"Is that so? Their ages seem to match roughly; should I act as a matchmaker?"
"Ahyu, no. It's fine."
I waved my hand, saying I had no intention of getting married.
"By the way, what does the Ministry of National Defense say? Are they coming to find the remains?"
"They said they will check the artifacts and compare them with the list of missing persons to find the families."
"The ground will freeze soon."
As the atmosphere sank for a moment and no one spoke, the Foreman suddenly jumped up.
"Shall I sing a song? Hmm?"
"No! Don't give the mic to the Foreman! Once he grabs it, he never thinks of letting go!"
"How about we listen to a song from our Yunho?"
At someone's suggestion, all the elders clapped and cheered.
"That's right!"
"Yunho, fire off a song!"
"If you can't sing, you can't get married~ Ah~ pretty young man."
Everyone is so old, where did they learn things like that?
I refused repeatedly but eventually had to stand up.
Even at the bank talent show, I absolutely never grabbed the microphone, but I figured no one here would nitpick even if I sang a tune.
"Foreman, please press 4597."
"Oh, sure."
The Foreman punched the number into the karaoke machine the village had purchased communally.
"With You?"
"Ah, yes, yes."
"Build a picture-perfect house on that green meadow..." Since the lyrics were like that, I thought it would fit the atmosphere perfectly.
"Look at this. Our Yunho seems to want to get married."
"I know Manager Seo's father. I must act as a matchmaker."
"I guess that would be best, right?"
"If Manager Seo and Yunho get married, what happens then? Will a baby be born in our village too? Oh my god, such a miracle!"
A few elders were dancing joyfully.
Since the interlude ended in the meantime, I had no choice but to start singing.
"On that green meadow~ Oh yeah!"
Live it up, live it up! Ah, who cares!
I sang excitedly.
Late at night, when only the bones of the whole pig barbecue remained.
"Young man, a moment please."
A grandmother with white hair combed neatly into a bun called me aside.
"Yes, Grandmother. Shall I walk you home?"
I was just walking today's "Go-Stop Queen" to her home. After shouting "Triple Go" all day, she had passed out after a few cups of rice wine.
The grandmother calling me now might also fall and get hurt walking alone on the pitch-black night road, so I intended to walk her home happily.
"Did you perhaps see something strange or anything like that?"
"Yes? Strange?"
"I mean, like a yellow dog with an injured leg, or a limping old man who looks similar to the yellow dog, things like that."
My eyes widened.
"Grandmother, do you know something about the grandfather in the New Village hat? The Foreman wouldn't tell me anything."
"Of course he couldn't speak of it. The Foreman isn't of that caliber."
"Not of that caliber?"
"Right. Not just anyone should be a Foreman."
The grandmother lowered her voice as if she wanted to speak only with me.
"You said you'd take me home, right? Shall we talk on the way?"
"Yes, understood."
I grabbed my flashlight and left the village hall with the grandmother.
"Your house is this way too, right? I'm this way as well."
It seemed the grandmother's house was among the scattered rural houses on the way from the village hall to the abandoned house.
But then.
"Shall we stop somewhere for a moment? The house where the Foreman before the previous one lived is halfway up this hill."
"The Foreman before the previous one?"
"Yes. He is the very person you saw. I recognized early on that you were different from others, but I didn't know your Spirit Eye was so fully opened."
"Spirit Eye opened..." or "Spirit Eye unblocked."
Doesn't that mean shamans or people with spiritual abilities can see spiritual entities or phenomena invisible to ordinary people?
‘I have no desire to go that deep...’
Even so, out of curiosity, I gulped and said,
"Grandmother, you seem like a special person too. You speak so fluently, like a young person."
"Tsk, tsk. I'm an outsider who settled in this village 40 years ago, so I guess it shows."
"40 years ago?"
Then wouldn't it be more appropriate to call her a native rather than an outsider?
But the story the grandmother revealed was...