Hidden Treasures – 1
A votive deposit — the term for relics hidden away inside a Buddha statue or a pagoda: sarira reliquaries, sutras, and the like.
'Out of Buddhist devotion, people would seal their most precious possessions inside statues and pagodas.'
Then, generations later, when the time came to restore one of those statues or pagodas, the votive deposit inside would be discovered.
Take the Mugujeonggwang Great Dharani Sutra — the oldest woodblock-printed text in existence. It was this very sutra that proved Korea pioneered woodblock printing, and it too was found among the votive deposits of the Stone Pagoda at Bulguksa.
And the Hunminjeongeum Haerye edition — the commentary on the original manuscript of the Korean alphabet — was discovered inside the body of a Natra guardian statue at Gwangheungsa Temple in Andong.
'What's even more fascinating is that so many votive deposits remain undiscovered to this day.'
Temples across the country held countless statues and pagodas, and the vast majority had never been opened. Out of reverence, they were left sealed as they were — untouched in their original state.
No one could say what historical treasures might come to light when those were finally opened someday.
'But this time, votive treasures were stolen from a temple on Mount Odae, of all places?'
It seemed an immense treasure had been looted by grave robbers.
I returned home and searched the news.
"...Nothing."
I searched using the temple name Lee Ho-young had given me. Not a single article about stolen votive treasures turned up.
Were they offering a hundred-million-won reward and running an investigation in secret?
When relics were stolen, failure to catch the thief quickly meant they could be smuggled overseas.
Years ago, when Goryeo celadon was discovered off the coast of Taean, divers had been deployed to recover the artifacts from the seabed. But the west coast was notorious for its extreme tidal swings, and underwater visibility was often poor — diving conditions the divers had exploited to secretly bury the Goryeo celadon in the mud. Once the official salvage operation was complete, they tried to quietly raise the hidden pieces and sell them off, and it had taken the National Intelligence Service stepping in to block the overseas export.
'Once something leaves the country, it never comes back — that's why the government mobilized at the national level.'
Was the NIS moving this time as well?
'Probably not.'
If the government had taken charge, they wouldn't have put up a hundred-million-won reward, I figured. There was something else — a feeling that they were keeping quiet about the fact that the votive treasures had gone missing at all.
Most likely, all they'd done was tell well-known figures in the industry — people like Lee Ho-young and Moon Sung-il — that a reward would be paid if anyone caught the looters.
Why keep it so hushed?
'I suppose I'll find out when they catch the thief.'
The next day, after farming school let out, I checked my phone and found a missed call from the Village Head.
"Yes, Village Head."
"Class just finished, did it?"
"Yes, I got out just now and called right away. Is something the matter?"
"The county office called. They want to know how many vacant houses we're planning to repair before anything else. Says they can't set aside the budget until we tell them."
So Governor Na Jeong-hwan really was keeping a close eye on us.
'Looks like our village's budget is coming out first in line.'
"Tell them twelve houses to start."
There were more vacant houses than that, but for the first phase of the project, that number felt about right.
"Twelve? What's your basis for that?"
"I heard at school today that the budget allocation goes up once you pass ten houses. But if we went with exactly eleven, it'd look like we were padding the numbers just to squeeze out extra money."
"Sharp as ever, aren't you? You're right — twelve is the smarter play."
It seemed the Ugok 1-ri vacant house renovation project was finally getting its start.
"Oh, and Village Head — about the crew working on my house. When you have a moment, could you drop by and tell them to do a good job?"
The insurance company had designated the contractor, so I had no idea how skilled they actually were.
"If it were Carpenter Jang I wouldn't give it a second thought, but I don't know how good these folks are. And honestly, a single word from you carries more weight than anything from me — I'm just a newcomer to the village, after all."
The Village Head answered as if to say I needn't worry.
"Got it. I'll go tell them if they do a proper job, there's more work coming — the vacant house repairs. Don't fret, just focus on your studies and take your time."
He seemed deeply grateful that I'd stepped forward to renovate the vacant houses that had long been the village's headache.
"Then I'll stop by the library on my way back, since I'm already out."
"The library? Is that what education does for a person? You've studied more than enough already, and still can't put a book down."
"Just looking something up."
"Ha! Modest to a fault. Alright then."
I had just ended the call with a smile when my classmates, chattering away in little clusters, came walking over toward me.
"Uh, Class Rep? Where are we heading for the after-party today?"
"Ah — an after-party... do we really need one?"
"Wait, so there's no after-party today?"
Everyone seemed reluctant to simply part ways. But if we held an after-party after every single class, then who was going to feed my chickens? And what about my pregnant cat?
It wasn't as if we only had class once a week, either. Three days of classes a week, plus weekend visits to each other's farms. Meeting four times a week — and every single time, eating together, drinking together, and then talking each other's ears off until the alcohol wore off?
'Count me out, thanks.'
I smiled and turned to the self-proclaimed agricultural aristocrat, Hwang Yu-hyeon.
"Yu-hyeon, it looks like I won't have time today. Could you recommend some good restaurants to whoever wants to go to the after-party?"
"...Me?"
The reply came back dripping with displeasure. True, I'd been making people uncomfortable ever since the river trout festival incident — but that gave him no reason to expect me to back down.
"Why? Do you have other plans today?"
"No."
"Exactly. You're going to the after-party. And you probably know this area better than anyone here, so do us all a favor and guide them."
Hwang Yu-hyeon simply stared at me, neither agreeing nor refusing.
"I'll do it."
Park Seok-tae stepped forward with his hand thrust high in the air.
"I'll collect everyone's share and handle the bill."
Choi Hogyeong, ever the artist, offered to help him out too.
"Seok-tae's hopeless at arithmetic."
"But great at English."
"You two have been sharing a car, and already you're finishing each other's sentences?"
At my words, Choi Hogyeong scowled fiercely.
"No! It's not like we got close and started carpooling. Seok-tae sold his old car and bought an electric truck."
"If you're going to haul farming equipment around, you need a truck, that's all."
Choi Hogyeong shot back at Park Seok-tae's grumbling.
"Then why aren't you driving the truck, hmm?"
"Because I haven't gotten the hang of it yet, I said!"
Park Seok-tae and Choi Hogyeong both lived in Ugok 3-ri. Whether they'd grown close since moving to the same village, or whether something really rubbed them the wrong way about each other and this was genuine bickering, I couldn't tell.
'Then again, they do share one thing — both look anxious because they know far less than they'd like to admit.'
I looked back and forth between the two of them and said,
"Then for today, let's have Seok-tae act as interim class rep and Hogyeong as treasurer. From next time, how about we rotate the roles?"
"If the Class Rep says so, then fine."
At Choi Hogyeong's words, Park Seok-tae nodded along.
"Taking turns is only fair. Leaving everything to Yoonho all the time just wouldn't be right."
Something about that remark seemed to trip his seizure switch — Hwang Yu-hyeon spun on his heel and stormed off.
"Haha, well then, that's settled. I'll be off."
I flashed everyone a smile and slipped out of the building.
Leaving the Agricultural Technology Center, I headed for the library.
I'd decided to dig into the records on Wolsang Temple — the place where the votive treasures had supposedly been stolen. But searching the name online turned up nothing but travel blogs about summer vacations and temple stays.
Sifting through useless information was a job in itself. It seemed the old-fashioned way would serve me better.
'Let's see here.'
Wolsang Temple had been founded during the reign of Queen Seondeok in the Silla era — and then expanded during the Joseon dynasty?
'Does that even make sense?'
Joseon had adopted Neo-Confucianism as its state ideology and pursued a policy of suppressing Buddhism — strictly banning the expansion of temples or the holding of large ceremonies. And yet, in Wolsang Temple's case, the court had actually granted permission for the temple to re-roof its halls with donated funds and even build a dharma hall for public services.
'Oh — here's why. This one line caught my eye.'
According to rumor, a single line in an old record claimed that praying at Wolsang Temple would bless a woman with a son. That was it — just that one line.
In other words, noblewomen desperate for heirs — women whose prayers for sons were precious and highly sought — had showered the temple with donations and offerings, and that very devotion was what had lifted Wolsang Temple clear of the blade of Joseon's anti-Buddhist policies.
'Hmm. So Wolsang Temple must have prospered handsomely for a thousand years, then.'
Founded in the Silla era, famous even in the Goryeo dynasty — which revered Buddhism — as a place where prayers were said to truly work. And donations kept flowing generously into the Joseon era, funding grand dharma assemblies.
The ritual instruments used at those ceremonies, Buddha statues, sutras, and all manner of porcelain and gilded objects...
Such things would surely have survived as votive deposits.
'And yet a looter stole something from among them — and the temple still hasn't filed a report?'
Now, that was interesting.
It seemed Wolsang Temple was sitting on a secret it absolutely could not afford to reveal.
"Up until last year, the fence wasn't collapsing like this."
With the weather easing slightly, I set out with the Village Head to select twelve vacant houses in our village. Once the owners of the twelve we picked signed over their property rights, we planned to receive subsidies from the local government and begin repairs.
The renovated houses would be used for month-long stays, monthly rentals, and as lodging for Pyeongcheong River experience programs.
'If someone truly homeless with nowhere to go wanted to move in — someone like Ms. Han Mija had been — I'd be more than willing to rent at a nominal price. But I had no intention of advertising free housing from the very start.'
Tell people they can live somewhere for nothing, and rather than gratitude, they might start wondering whether they're somehow being cheated. And there was no telling what sort of person might move in — someone could demolish the house halfway through and simply walk away.
I decided to take a conservative approach and be selective about tenants.
"First off, easy access means easier repairs, so let's stick to houses near the village roads. And we need to prioritize the ones that'll cost the least to fix — that keeps the budget down too."
"I don't see a single house around here that won't cost a bundle to repair."
"I mean we should skip the ones that are practically collapsing, like that one."
The Village Head pointed at an abandoned house. Its walls had tilted until the roof had sunk down with them.
"Still, that jangdokdae held up remarkably well. Do you think we could reach the owner of that place?"
"What do you need their number for?"
"Those jangdok jars are lovely. I want to ask if I can put them to use."
The Village Head let out a long sigh at my question.
"The old woman who used those jars has passed, and her son — if he's even alive — is probably in a nursing home somewhere. Just take them and do what you like. I'll vouch for you."
"Still, if you find a contact number, let me know later, would you?"
"Got it. Ahhh. They said the thaw had come, and now it's turning cold again?"
The Village Head shuddered — the older he got, the less he could stomach the cold, apparently.
"Let's move fast, then."
"Right."
Circle the village with the Village Head, settle on twelve houses — done. And then, on the way back...
I stepped quietly into the house with the jangdok jars I'd just seen, because my heightened senses were telling me someone was hiding inside.
'I baited them with all that talk about the jars, and they didn't so much as twitch.'
Hiding in an unheated, abandoned house in this cold? Whoever it was, I'd best assume they were a criminal.
Planning to stay hidden indefinitely? Or waiting to make their move after nightfall?
I muted my footsteps and crept close to the sagging front porch.