Waterway Maintenance

"I'm back!"

"Good job. How are the kids doing?" Seung-wan asked, welcoming her friend back to the office.

Do-hee had stepped out to feed lunch to Bo-ri, her kittens, and Ttorang-i.

"Oh, they're great. Now that they've grown a bit, they're running around and playing with each other. Ttorang-i doesn't seem to have much of an appetite, though. She's barely picking at her food."

"Sigh, I want to see them too. Seeing them only in the morning is causing a severe cat deficit. I need some animal therapy."

"Pfft, you see them in the evening too. What do you mean, cat deficit? Besides, we've just been too busy lately."

"Sigh, I wanted to be the one to feed Bo-ri and the kittens if possible," Seung-wan muttered dejectedly.

But just as Do-hee said, she couldn't leave her desk.

The final edit for the video scheduled to be uploaded soon wasn't finished yet.

"Maybe we should have just stuck to uploading one or two videos a week."

When she first started working here, there certainly wasn't this much work.

In fact, there was so little to do that she had practically nagged Dojin for work.

But then, more animals joined Sekki House.

With CCTV and action cams providing a mountain of raw footage, the number of uploads began to skyrocket.

To be precise, it was because Seung-wan's editing instincts had flared up, leading her to schedule uploads by content category, which caused the workload to explode.

"What can you do? You brought this on yourself," Do-hee teased, not missing the chance to poke fun as she handed over a freshly brewed iced Americano.

Seung-wan glared at her friend before sighing.

"Still, as an editor, how could I just let this footage rot? That would be a dereliction of duty."

A sense of responsibility to upload videos?

That was a feeling she had never experienced back when she worked as an editor for internet broadcasters.

Back then, she had often blocked scheduled videos ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from being uploaded.

Once the broadcasters became famous and blinded by donations from big spenders, they tended to push the boundaries of what was acceptable on stream.

For Seung-wan, who had to edit live streams and upload them to YouTube, every single day felt like walking on eggshells.

The subscribers constantly demanded more provocative content, but catering to them risked getting the channel demonetized, which would wipe out all video revenue.

And above all, the comments were so filthy.

It was inevitable once the broadcaster transitioned into a suggestive female streamer, but it was still painful to watch the broadcaster she had once cared about get pelted with sexual harassment.

Yet, the broadcaster herself was perfectly satisfied as long as the subscriber count and views went up.

She had even complained to Seung-wan for hesitating to upload the videos.

Perhaps because of those accumulated grievances, she hadn't felt much regret when she was fired.

But this place was different.

"Sigh, look at this. Just looking at Samsaek-i makes me so happy. How can a creature this beautiful exist on Earth?"

On the screen Seung-wan was watching, Samsaek-i was standing on his hind legs, batting at a mobile.

The sight of him frantically swinging his short front paws to hit the mobile was enough to make anyone squeal with delight.

Click.

"And what about Jam-bo? Anyone who sees this will want to poke his belly."

Jam-bo, who had finished his lunch at some point, was fast asleep again.

He slept in a peculiar human-like position, flat on his back, with his belly sticking out round and plump.

"And the others? Bo-ri is so lovely too. How could I not upload these videos? The whole world needs to witness this level of cuteness!"

"...Seung-wan, calm down."

Do-hee, accustomed to calming Seung-wan down whenever she went into overdrive, turned her head.

On the whiteboard hanging on one side of the office, the upload schedule for each content category was written:

"...No matter how many times I look at it, that schedule is insane."

Although their subscriber count was now on par with major YouTubers, this wasn't a schedule that a small-scale operation like Sekki House, with its tiny staff, could easily handle.

Since Seung-wan was solely responsible for editing, she was essentially carrying the entire schedule on her back.

"But at this point, aren't we basically an animal channel?"

Out of all the videos uploaded in a week, Dojin only appeared in one.

He might show up in the miscellaneous videos if there was an emergency like the recent fire, but normally, it was just once a week.

Hearing Do-hee's remark, Seung-wan countered.

"Mr. Dojin actually shows up in the other videos quite a lot. In the animal videos, they're always clinging to him."

"No, I mean the main focus is different."

If they counted guest appearances like that, Bo-ri and Ttorang-i appeared in the Monday maintenance videos even more often—sometimes taking up more screen time than Dojin himself.

Just then, Seung-wan stretched her arms and cheered.

"Whoa! Finished!"

"Good job. You can rest for a few days now."

Today was Thursday, the day Ttorang-i's video was scheduled to go up.

As one of the two major pillars of their channel's animal content, Ttorang-i had a massive fanbase.

Naturally, her videos required a lot of effort, but the video scheduled for Friday didn't require nearly as much.

Tomorrow's "Animal POV" video was just footage from the action cams attached to the animals, so editing it was a breeze.

The weekend videos were closer to compilation re-edits, which took even less time.

Under these circumstances, she was practically done with work for the week.

"Phew. Now, should I check the comments for the first time in a while?"

"Ah... I wouldn't recommend that..."

Seung-wan tilted her head at Do-hee's warning, but she quickly realized why her friend had tried to stop her.

While they weren't as toxic as the comments on her former BJ's channel, there were still plenty of nasty comments.

Snap.

Seung-wan, who had been engrossed in reading the comments, looked up at the sudden sound and smiled bitterly.

She looked down at the broken Monami ballpoint pen on her desk.

She was still holding the other half in her hand. She must have clenched her fist without realizing it as she got absorbed in the comments.

"Oh my gosh! Seung-wan, are you okay?"

"...Yeah."

Do-hee, who had heard the snap, was more startled than Seung-wan herself.

Though Seung-wan wasn't hurt, Do-hee couldn't help but worry after seeing the pen snap in half.

But Seung-wan was actually more worried about Do-hee.

"Are you okay?"

"Huh? Me? Why wouldn't I be?"

"I mean, you must have seen the comments too. Doesn't it bother you?"

At Seung-wan's question, a shadow fell over Do-hee's usually bright face.

Seeing that, Seung-wan realized Do-hee wasn't unaffected either. But just as she was about to speak, her friend's face cleared up again.

"To be honest, it does hurt a lot. But I'm trying not to care."

"Huh? Is that... even possible?"

"Well, it's hard, but... my brother told me to do that."

"Mr. Dojin did?"

"Yeah. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said that no matter what kind of videos we upload, haters are going to hate. He said instead of wasting energy on those people, he'd rather focus on us living a happy life."

"..."

Do-hee's words silenced Seung-wan.

She had always thought Dojin was mature, but this was on a whole different level.

He's only twenty-nine...

He seemed to possess a level of maturity that transcended his twenties.

He must feel so wronged.

Seung-wan felt a deep sense of admiration for Dojin, but at the same time, she felt incredibly guilty.

After all, it was her suggestion that had prompted Dojin to drive the heavy machinery and clear the weeds himself.

"I asked the village chief, but he said there are no tractors available to borrow right now."

"Oh, really? None of the residents own one?"

Dojin's question made Seung-wan shake her head.

"Apparently, many used to own them, but once they stopped farming, most of them sold their tractors to other villages."

"Ah, I see..."

"There were three left in the village, but one is broken and sent for repairs, the owner of the second one is traveling abroad, and the last one was damaged in the recent fire and can't be operated."

"..."

Given the fire damage, it must have been parked near Sun-ja Hal-meoni's house.

Although the houses near her home didn't catch fire directly, they had suffered heat damage, and it seemed the tractor was one of the casualties.

"The chief asked the neighboring villages if we could borrow one, but they all refused."

"Well, it can't be helped. Everyone must be busy at this time of year... By the way, do you happen to know the name of that neighboring village?"

Dojin, who was about to nod and let it go, suddenly asked for the village's name.

The words of Director Wang had flashed through his mind.

And the answer he received only made him feel more uneasy.

"It's Mabong-ri, the village right next door. They all claimed they were too busy. The chief said it was strange since it's not even harvest season yet..."

"...Understood."

Seung-wan tilted her head slightly at Dojin's response.

For a split second, Dojin's expression had hardened.

Since she had never seen him make such a face before, she was secretly surprised.

"Well, I tried to rent heavy machinery, but it's hard to find operators around here right now. The big companies are mostly tied up with the new town construction, and the other firms have been deployed for monsoon damage restoration."

"Ah..."

This year's monsoon season had brought disastrous consequences to the upper reaches of the Imjin River.

Various waterways and dikes had collapsed, and many low-lying buildings were flooded, prompting Paju City to carry out massive restoration works.

To exaggerate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slightly, heavy machinery companies from Dongducheon, Ganghwa County, and Gimpo had all been called in, not just from Paju.

This meant it was practically impossible to hire decent operators in the vicinity.

"...Should we just do it ourselves?"

At Seung-wan's hesitant suggestion, Dojin looked at her.

"Ourselves?"

"Yes. Actually, since we've only been uploading animal videos lately, some of the early subscribers have been complaining. They're asking if the channel owner is just slacking off while only doing basic weeding or painting."

"Hmm... I thought I'd been keeping pretty busy."

In truth, Dojin was the busiest person at Sekki House.

He regularly cleared weeds and was still personally painting the detached buildings like the warehouse.

On top of that, he regularly took Ttorang-i and Bo-ri to the vet, and even hiked up the mountain to forage for wild mushrooms and bellflower roots.

But to the subscribers, even that seemed mundane.

"Well, it lacks the impact of our early videos. I noticed that area has a lot of weeds too. Why don't we film a video of you completely clearing it out?"

"Hmm... I suppose you have a point. We have the equipment, so there's no sense in just waiting around for workers."

The newly acquired land spanned about 3,000 pyeong, but he had already cleared a similar area when he first took over the school and cleaned up the playground.

Perhaps because of that experience, Dojin didn't hesitate to drive the machinery out.

And he almost got bitten by a snake.

Feeling guilty that it had happened because of her suggestion, Seung-wan had found the comments even harder to stomach.

Yet, Dojin, the actual target of the comments, didn't seem to care at all.

While Seung-wan was feeling a strange wave of emotion, Dojin's voice crackled through the walkie-talkie in the office.

[Testing, testing. Can you hear me?]

"Oh? It's my brother. What's going on?"

At some point, the three of them had started carrying walkie-talkies.

Since it was faster and more convenient than calling on a phone, they had set them to a different channel from the security team.

"Yeah, what's up?"

As soon as Do-hee spoke into the radio, Dojin's reply came back.

[The waterway construction is finished. Come out and take a look.]

Hearing Dojin's message, the two of them headed outside without hesitation.

Do-hee hesitated for a moment at the front gate, but she quickly caught up with Seung-wan and headed toward Dojin.

"Wow."

"It's so clean."

Since the land was adjacent to Sekki House, they could check the state ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the waterway immediately.

The waterway, which had originally been about the width of a sheet of paper, was now wide enough to easily fit a large cardboard box.

After consulting with the waterway construction company, Dojin had ultimately decided to expand it.

Thanks to that, unlike its previously clogged state, clean water was now flowing smoothly through the new channel.

"You're here?" Dojin walked over and greeted them as he saw the two arrive.

"Yeah! But seeing it cleared out like this feels so refreshing."

"I agree. It's completely different from before."

"I guess there's nothing money can't solve," Seung-wan said with a chuckle.

Dojin smiled at Seung-wan's remark.

This waterway project was funded entirely by Director Wang.

When she saw the photos of the waterway Dojin had sent, she was shocked by how bad it was.

She was so startled that she insisted on fixing the waterway before building the temporary shelter, even sending a professional construction crew all the way from Seoul.

They had stopped Dojin, who was trying to clear the waterway by himself, and swept through the work in no time.

After seeing what a professional crew with specialized equipment could achieve, Dojin had quietly put his own tools back in the warehouse.

Well, I'll need those tools for maintenance later anyway.

While Seung-wan and Do-hee laughed at Dojin's slightly embarrassed excuse, the construction crew had quickly wrapped up the project.

And so, after three days, the new waterway construction was finally complete.

"At this rate, we won't have to spend much time maintaining it."

The other two nodded at Dojin's words as he inspected the waterway after the crew left.

A waterway three times larger than before seemed like it would maintain itself without much intervention.

However, their expectations didn't even last a week.

"Sigh, it's clogged again."

"Huh? Again? Isn't this the third time already?"

"Yeah. I'll go clear it out first."

Hearing Dojin's report after checking the waterway, worry clouded Seung-wan and Do-hee's faces.

It was only natural to worry when a vastly superior waterway was getting clogged once every two days.

Clearing the blockage was quick, but at this rate, they would have to check it almost every single day.

And it wasn't just one waterway getting clogged.

A total of four waterways were getting clogged in rotation.

"This is... weird. The way they're getting clogged in rotation feels too deliberate."

"Hmm, that's true... but it's also strange to think someone is doing it on purpose."

Seung-wan thought for a moment at Do-hee's words, then looked at the cameras in the office.

"For now, let's install cameras around the clogged spots. If we watch them for about a week, we'll find out the cause."