The Mole That Got into the Herb Garden
“……There were other reasons, too. A problem came up with the important medicine.”
“What reason?”
Su Hwa-seon’s expression suddenly grew grave, and Yoo Eunhyeon asked in alarm, thinking something major must have happened.
Su Hwa-seon continued in a calm tone that seemed to carry some embarrassment.
“It’s not that there’s a problem with the medicine itself…… It’s more accurate to say there’s an issue with the supply.”
“A supply problem? Why? The medicine is gone?”
“No. The medicine is plentiful. After all, because of the side effects of Eoheolsangong, not many people in the family even learn it. But the real problem is what’s coming up.”
“You don’t mean there aren’t any ingredients left to make the medicine?”
Yoo Eunhyeon, following her logic, asked back, and Su Hwa-seon nodded silently.
“That’s right. It just so happens…… I’m glad you came.”
“Huh?”
Yoo Eunhyeon instinctively let out a stunned voice. Su Hwa-seon decided to show rather than explain, and rose to her feet.
“Come with me. It’s better to talk to the person in charge directly than to talk among ourselves.”
Yoo Eunhyeon still looked bewildered, but when Su Hwa-seon stood up, he followed without hesitation.
*
The day before, the night had been deep and the estate quiet, but by midday the atmosphere had changed completely. Inside, countless people hurried about handling their duties, and seeing it, it was clear that Su Gyeong-tak’s mention of urgent matters had not been an exaggeration.
Moreover, it seemed that the rumors about Yoo Eunhyeon had spread like wildfire in a single night. Everyone who passed by could not hide their glances and kept stealing furtive, uneasy looks at him.
“What a sight…….”
“It’s probably just because he’s unusual. Most people probably didn’t even know he existed.”
“Then it’s a relief…….”
“Just accept it. You need to get used to the looks people give you now.”
“Getting used to it…….”
“Everyone adapts. Here we are.”
As they walked and talked, Su Hwa-seon led Yoo Eunhyeon to a secluded corner of the family’s grounds.
“Eh? What’s this? It looks like a place where they grow things. It’s pretty big.”
“Our Uiseon Suga is famous for its medicine. We researched alchemy to treat the side effects of Eoheolsangong, and it naturally turned into this.”
“So you grow medicinal herbs here? I can smell the earth; it’s obviously that.”
“As expected of my son.”
After glancing at the building in the corner and the fields nearby, Yoo Eunhyeon immediately understood the situation and played along.
“Can I look around? I’m curious what they grow here.”
“You’ll get to see plenty later, so come in first. Once I explain why I was staying at the main house, everything will become clear.”
Su Hwa-seon scolded him lightly, as if she had expected this, and led him to the nearby main hall. Yoo Eunhyeon felt a warmth at returning to his hometown, following behind her.
The place Su Hwa-seon brought him was none other than a warehouse filled with everything needed for farming. Inside, farming tools were stored, each one impeccably clean yet left in chaotic disarray.
“Yu-ryeon! Yu-ryeon, are you here?”
Su Hwa-seon called toward a door deeper in the warehouse. A rustling sound came from inside, and the door opened to reveal a woman.
A woman with long hair neatly tied back, wearing a spotless outfit with not a single wrinkle. The tools around her looked as if she was the one who kept them tidy. Yet her long hair somehow looked tousled, and the dark circles under her bright eyes made it clear she was exhausted.
“Mom, you’re here.”
“You stayed up all night again? I told you to sleep, remember? You went with me yesterday.”
“Ehehe…… I did go, but I couldn’t sleep.”
“Haa…… How can you believe that? You were asleep but couldn’t rest.”
“I fell asleep, but I just couldn’t sleep. I had to do something…….”
“Whew…… Sorry I couldn’t help more.”
“No, no. Thanks to you being here, at least the worst was avoided…….”
The woman bowed her head deeply.
Su Hwa-seon, looking at her with pity, quickly pushed Yoo Eunhyeon forward.
“So I brought the solution. There won’t be any problems now.”
“A solution? Who is this person…….”
“My son. Yoo Eunhyeon. Eunhyeon-ah. Greet her. This is Ju Yu-ryeon. Have you heard of her?”
The word “son” made Ju Yu-ryeon’s eyes widen in surprise. Yoo Eunhyeon tilted his head at the name “Eunhyeon” as if unsure.
“Had I heard of her?”
“Huh. Didn’t Yeo-woo tell you? Yu-ryeon is Yeo-woo’s daughter.”
“Ah…….”
Now that he thought about it, he had heard. Yeo U-hui had mentioned a daughter of the same age as him, and this must be her.
“Mom? Did Mom come back?”
“You don’t even know that? Were you pretending to go to sleep to avoid me?”
“So…… ehehe.”
The instant lie was exposed, Ju Yu-ryeon gave an awkward laugh. Su Hwa-seon, on the other hand, smiled bitterly and offered no further scolding.
“Greet each other properly.”
Following Su Hwa-seon’s order, Yoo Eunhyeon stepped forward first.
“I’m Yoo Eunhyeon. I’ve heard a lot about you from your aunt.”
“Yes, I’m Ju Yu-ryeon. Nice to meet you.”
“Why are you two so awkward? You’re the same age; just be casual.”
Su Hwa-seon clapped her hands on their shoulders, urging them to get along. Yoo Eunhyeon smiled awkwardly, but Ju Yu-ryeon gave a light smile.
“Come inside first. It’s a bit cramped, though.”
Yoo Eunhyeon nodded, and Ju Yu-ryeon led them into a small room inside the warehouse. Once inside, Ju Yu-ryeon sat down and spoke.
“What did Mom say about me? It wasn’t anything good, right?”
“She just said she has a daughter who doesn’t listen well.”
“Haha. Mom scolds every day, so I look like that, don’t I.”
Su Hwa-seon chimed in from beside them.
“Yu-ryeon is still a good kid. Our son is amazing.”
“What am I…… I’m good too, you know.”
“Uh-huh. Our son is good. He came all the way here just to see Mom.”
Su Hwa-seon stroked his hair with obvious pride. Yoo Eunhyeon gently pushed the hand away and looked around.
“Tell me why you brought me all the way here. Is there a big problem?”
“There is. We’ve talked about the medicine our family eats, right? It’s called Yongseoldan…… It’s made by combining five herbs.”
“Ah. So the herbs we saw outside are those?”
“Yes. They’re not rare herbs; you can buy them anywhere. But medicinal herbs are always unstable in supply. That’s why Yongseoldan is like life itself to our family…… If the supply is unstable, we’re in trouble. So we grow the herbs ourselves to ensure a stable supply.”
Yoo Eunhyeon nodded at her words.
Indeed, if external supply lines were attacked, it would be problematic. With Uiseon Suga’s strength, growing them themselves was no issue, so it was the right choice for stability.
“The fields I saw outside must be the ones. Since you said there’s a supply problem, the cultivation is not going smoothly, right?”
That was exactly the kind of thing Yoo Eunhyeon could help with. He asked subtly, and Ju Yu-ryeon jumped in.
“For Yongseoldan, we need five herbs: Maemundong, Jugwanghwa, Chimnyeoppi, Chueunhwa, and Jijungsam. Of course, we grow all of them.”
“Hmm…… Except for Jijungsam, the others aren’t difficult to grow.”
Yoo Eunhyeon had grown various herbs in the mountains before. Though he hadn’t touched them directly, he knew the principles.
“You’re right. Jijungsam’s supply is the problem.”
“Really? But even if it’s hard to grow, Mom should be able to fix a normal problem, right?”
As he spoke, he turned his head. Su Hwa-seon let out a long sigh.
“You don’t want to see. I can only fix the symptoms. That’s why I’ve been staying here.”
“Why?”
“You’ll understand if you see. Let’s go out again.”
The three of them stood up from their seats and went outside. Following the two, Yoo Eunhyeon began to tour the fields where each herb was cultivated.
It looked nothing like the fields he had in the mountains. Unlike the fields prepared with only external cultivation in mind, this place had a herb garden built inside the hall itself.
“Interesting…… You can do this kind of cultivation even on flat land. But with this, the yield per unit area…… We really shouldn’t grow anything too big. We’ll have to manually adjust ventilation and shading…… it’ll take a lot of effort…….”
As Yoo Eunhyeon murmured while carefully inspecting everywhere, Su Hwa-seon, who had been standing behind with Ju Yu-ryeon, whispered in his ear.
“Looking at this, you don’t look anything like Dad, do you?”
“That’s right. He’s exactly like Uncle. Uncle once said he wanted to make something like this after coming down from the mountains. It’s so sad that he passed away.”
“Dad came here?”
At that moment, Yoo Eunhyeon asked as he approached.
“He came periodically to bring medicine. He gave a lot of advice back then.”
“It wasn’t advice. The field itself is old, but since Dad came and fixed it, the production has more than doubled. Thanks to that, we worried a lot less.”
Su Hwa-seon’s eyes reddened slightly at the mention of Yoo Dong-gi. Yoo Eunhyeon stared at the fields, then spoke to Ju Yu-ryeon.
“But why does the field look like this? It’s been a year since Dad passed, so even if it’s been a while, it shouldn’t have deteriorated this badly.”
After inspecting every field, Yoo Eunhyeon could only sigh. He hadn’t said anything unnecessary; every field he had seen was in terrible condition.
Especially the natural energy flow that made up the fields had completely broken down. The soil, the foundation and core of the fields, had deviated far from its nature.
And because the soil was ruined, it was obvious that people had tried to artificially compensate elsewhere, which had further ruined the overall balance.
Even if management would slowly cause deterioration, this was the field Dad had looked after periodically. With Uiseon Suga, there was no way they would abandon it.
Yoo Eunhyeon’s murmur made Su Hwa-seon and Ju Yu-ryeon nod in understanding. At that moment, Ju Yu-ryeon muttered meaningfully toward him.
“Of course there’s a reason. Recently, a…… giant soil-dwelling rat has appeared in here.”