The Unexpected Effect of My Crops
"Huaaaaaah…"
Na Hyunseo let out a massive sigh, her shoulders heaving. Surrounding her were impeccably uniformed high-ranking government military officials, all at a loss, their eyes darting around nervously.
"So… the Saintess went into the Dungeon Entrance without reporting it… and Kim Chaerin, who went in to rescue her, hasn't been heard from in over a day… Haa…"
The meeting had wrapped up quickly right when Kim Chaerin headed off to save the Saintess. They'd decided to form a joint rescue team from the hunter forces and dungeon defense units for the ordinary awakeners stranded at the Dungeon Entrance, while leaving the Saintess's extraction to Kim Chaerin.
And for good reason—it was the first time since the Gate Incident that a secret agent directly under the Blue House had been deployed. They weren't called secret agents just for the mystique or shadowy image. These were talents who had awakened with extraordinary abilities at a young age, nurtured and trained at the national level. Even among the elite graduates of the Awakener Specialized Training High School, they were the cream of the crop. Every aspect of their training and education was classified, so their true capabilities remained shrouded in secrecy.
Upon graduation, instead of heading to the upper-tier Academy, they were absorbed straight into the government military as Blue House direct agents. Known as secret agents, they were undoubtedly the strongest awakeners affiliated with the government, operating alongside dungeon exploration teams.
Kim Chaerin was a familiar face from all those government military recruitment ads, but secret agents were normally veiled in anonymity. Na Hyunseo knew because of her high position, but most people might recognize Kim Chaerin's name without realizing she was a secret agent.
In any case, a secret agent like Kim Chaerin getting hurt, lost, or—god forbid—killed at the Dungeon Entrance? Absolutely impossible.
Then what the hell is this? Isn't she a secret agent?!
With no results even after deploying such a secret agent, Na Hyunseo—whose prestige as head of the countermeasures headquarters had hit rock bottom—received a direct call from the presidential office: Go in there yourself and bring out the Saintess!
"Haa…"
Na Hyunseo now held tremendous authority to command the entire government military. She might not butt heads with the Minister of National Defense, but she could certainly cross her legs and share a meal as an equal. As another heavy sigh escaped her lips, the generals tensed up.
Among them, the three-star commander in charge of the entire Gangwon Province mustered his courage and spoke up.
"I'll go in with you too…?"
"You're not even an awakener—where do you think you're going?!"
"Ah, haha… but I've got all that military experience…"
"Aaaah~~~ I don't want to hear about the military!!!"
Her near-hysterical shout made the commander who had spoken up back off, and the other commanders and staff watching from behind turned away as if it had nothing to do with them.
Na Hyunseo clicked her tongue inwardly at the sight.
What the hell? Is it National Defense Day or something? Why are they all crawling out to fan the flames in a burning house? Got nothing better to do?!
It was just their way of sucking up to her, the government military's number two, but she didn't enjoy seeing these uncles twice her age groveling. And sure, she was number two on paper, but she was in a whole different league from the actual head of the government military.
Government Military Commander Kim Gyu-tae was a national hero who had mastered both pen and sword, thwarting national disasters multiple times in the past. Na Hyunseo? Not so much. There'd been parachute accusations from day one of her enlistment, and though she'd climbed to the top on pure merit, rumors swirled that she was Commander Kim Gyu-tae's mistress because of her youth. She knew all about it.
Still, power was a bully—she could yell at these generals with over twenty years of service under their belts. But she didn't like this atmosphere.
Hiiing… I should've just stayed in grad school… What was I thinking…
Scouted into the Strategic Planning Office—the hardest unit to join in the hunter forces—she'd risen to the top in record time. But Na Hyunseo, who'd spent her life buried in books, wasn't used to this hands-on fieldwork.
Classified as an attack-type awakener, but honestly, awakening hadn't changed the fact that she was a bookworm at heart. She'd have been better off locked in a lab for a month straight, just researching…
Ugh… I hate that too! Hate it! I hate everything!
The memory of her grad school days—withering away under her professor's torment—made her claw at her hair. It only terrified the onlookers more, but Na Hyunseo didn't care about their stares.
The old her with the bird's nest hair, dragging her flip-flops, scratching her ass without a care—that was the quintessential Korean grad student who ignored everyone's gazes.
In the end, Na Hyunseo assembled a rescue team of all A-rank and above government military awakeners and stood before the gate.
"Okay~ Everyone huddle up~ Yes~ Smile a bit~ Now, make a fist and thrust it forward~ On three, shout 'Fighting!' Okay~ One, two, three! …Ah, um… ma'am, could you maybe take off your coat… haha…"
No matter how much attention was pouring down from the top brass, she hated this kind of pomp and circumstance. But what could she do? When they say jump, you jump—and you gotta look good for the higher-ups to get by in society.
The photographer's request to remove her coat irked her, but since they weren't asking her to strip down to her combat gear for the photo, she obliged.
"O… good! Alright, taking the shot… one, two, three! Fighting!"
As they posed for the group photo, Na Hyunseo struggled to force a smile that just wouldn't come. Her mind was on smashing any Jam Tigers—or their daddies—she ran into today, plus thoughts of I wanna quit… With the "Saintess Rescue Team" group shot done, she looked up at the gate.
A colossal gate that could swallow Lotte Tower whole. Even with access restricted, the number of tourists flying into Korea just to snap photos from afar hadn't dropped much. Na Hyunseo had to admit it was impressive.
The gate shimmered with iridescent colors, blazing like fire with a mysterious allure that drew people in.
So what? Right now, Na Hyunseo was weighed down by the absurd demand of "no dungeon destruction," the mission to "rescue the Saintess unharmed," and the task of "locating the missing secret agent"—all on her shoulders alone.
"Huuuaaaaaah…"
With one final lament to the heavens, she moved to pass through the gate.
But then, a ripple stirred at the gate's entrance, which had been sealed shut for two days. The black sphere at the center undulated like rippling water when someone passed through.
"…?!?!"
And out came three figures: man and two women.
The Saintess Choi Eunji, secret agent Kim Chaerin… and the guy from the screen footage.
★
One hour earlier—rewind to me, Ho Tae, clutching my chest in shock from Kim Chaerin's surprise pepper kiss, overcome with emotion. Then Choi Eunji grabbed my collar, shaking me.
"Cheating already?! Is this how easy you are? Then what am I? Hah! Answer me!!! Snap out of it!!! Your… your face looks weird!!!"
I ignored the Saintess yelling her head off behind me as Kim Chaerin stepped out of the safe zone farmland.
The Jam Tigers swarmed around her, and she started pulling fruits and veggies from her pockets, tossing them out.
"Ogu ogu~ Eating well~ Hee~ So cute~"
She squatted there feeding them for a while, and as I finally regained my senses, a dizzy spell hit me again. I yelled at Kim Chaerin.
"Hey! Kim Chaerin! Get back in here quick!"
Hundreds of Jam Tigers had already gathered around her. I wasn't a coward, but with those black furball meow-punch fighters encircling her, I couldn't just stroll out of the farmland. I stomped my feet in frustration.
"Hurry up and get in!"
I shouted again, and only then did Kim Chaerin look my way.
She beamed—grinning ear to ear—and I clutched my heart once more. But I couldn't just stand there gawking.
I knew Kim Chaerin was on another level as an awakener, but even she might not handle hundreds of Jam Tigers attacking at once.
In reality, Jam Tigers avoided humans and rarely approached, so their threat level was low. But living in the "Hill of Good and Evil," famous for its poison snake apples, their blood was laced with venom—even a graze could poison you.
One bite wouldn't be fatal, but hundreds? Different story.
In the end, I pulled my trump card from inventory and bellowed.
"Eat this and scram, you Jam Tiger bastards!!!"
It was the leftover tomatoes from synthesis.
I'd harvested 30, synthesized 9, split one each with Choi Eunji, leaving 19. I chucked the double-delicious tomatoes one by one in the opposite direction from Kim Chaerin, and the Jam Tiger horde charged—thud thud thud—
They waddled on two legs, hilariously cute, but hundreds thundering along was eerie. And with their perpetual smiles, the scene felt downright spooky.
Leaving that behind, I dashed out, wrapped my arms around Kim Chaerin's slim waist as she dusted off her butt, and hauled her back into the farmland.
"Eek… that tickles…"
"What the hell are you doing, messing around like it's no big deal!!!"
Easy to spit in a smiling face, but I was pissed. She seemed a bit dim sometimes, but no sense of danger at all?
"Hee… Oppa was worried about me… What? What do you mean? No way… Oppa isn't scared of Jam Tigers, right?!"
She clung to my side, muttering to herself again. But something felt off as I listened.
So I asked.
"Aren't you scared of Jam Tigers?"
"Eh…?"
"Look at them. Aren't you really scared of those things?"
"Why would I be?"
Her big, sparkling eyes turned the question back on me, leaving me speechless for a moment.
Yeah… why am I scared?
It was weird they were even in a pack, and their smiling charge had spooked me a bit. But they hadn't attacked us or tried forcing their way into the safe zone farmland.
I'd just pegged Jam Tigers as enemies because of the scary word "poison" and this unusual pack behavior.
The shop window comments mentioned that too… total annihilation? Wait, no—isolated, not wiped out.
Meaning the defense team got spooked by the huge numbers, fled, and got scattered and lost. No reports of actual deaths anywhere… probably?
Looking at Kim Chaerin's innocent face, I set her down in the farmland and asked.
"So you're saying they're not dangerous?"
"Yeah! Of course! They won't hurt humans unless we attack first! Right?! Yeah, exactly."
"Who said that? Iri… Iris?"
"Yes! Iris can command the earth spirits, and the earth told her."
"Earth spirits…?? ……?"
Was this girl crazy? Or actually communing with some insane entity?
Either way, I'd heard of spirit summoners who commanded spirits, but never an old-school elf chatting with them through an awakener.
Wait, is she some advanced form of spirit summoner?
I couldn't buy into something so out of left field, but the scene outside made Kim Chaerin's words ring true.
"So they're really safe?"
"Yeah! They came for the yummy smell."
"Yummy smell?"
"Yeah! Oppa gave it to them. The delicious veggies!"
"Uh… huh?!"
Glancing around at her words, the tomatoes I'd thrown were gone. A few who'd scarfed them down lay on their backs, purring contentedly; others thumped their chests like gorillas. The rest—hundreds strong—were rumbling back toward us.
"Oppa has even yummier stuff? What? You want some too… Huh? It's not food… What do you mean!!!"
I ignored her bickering with Iris and thought.
"Even… yummier…? What's that…?"
I'd tossed everything from inventory. The carrots listed in the shop had time left, so technically they were in the shop window.
Which left only…
No way… the quadruple-delicious To-carrots? Synthesis had worked, but I still had those nine ugly bastards in inventory, unregistered.