The Rice Mill and the Growth Catalyst
The rice mill wasn't very far. When I thought about it, there was no reason for a rice mill to be far away. It was an incredibly important facility, after all. It might have been old, but it was actually very old. It was hard to believe that milling operations were still being conducted in a place like this. I couldn't help but wonder, Is this really okay? But I figured it was best to just pretend I didn't notice. Well, it wasn't like they could do the milling in a clean room like a semiconductor production line.
The rice milling machine was quite large. And these things weren't exactly easy to move. That meant they would have to bring the rice here one by one. Well, it was still better than using a mortar and pestle. I examined the equipment carefully. But this machine used three-phase 380V power. Ah. A portable generator wouldn't even come close to handling this. To run something like this, you'd need a massive portable generator—the kind used for events, broadcast stations, or the military. Where would I even find something like that? Was there a military base nearby? Or maybe a broadcast station?
I had talked a big game, so it would be pretty embarrassing to back out now. I had a reputation to maintain, after all. That wouldn't do. But then, in one corner of the mill, I spotted some smaller equipment. And it even had "Cheonhajangsa Rice Mill" written on it.
"Sir, is this also a rice mill?"
"Aye, it is."
"Oh... then you can turn rice into white rice with this, right?"
"Aye, that's what I'm sayin'."
"Then you should just take this with you."
"Take it where? There's no electricity."
"You can just make electricity. We can bring a generator. With this, the generator doesn't even need to be that big."
Things had just gotten easier. Plus, this equipment ran on 220V. Since the capacity didn't look that high, it could easily be powered by a reasonably sized portable generator. It wouldn't guzzle fuel like crazy, either.
"Where would we get something like that?"
"For now, let's head back. It's getting dark. I'll move it tomorrow. I need to prepare a few things."
We headed back. And I prepared to return to my base.
"Hey, come early tomorrow morning. I'll give you some food."
"I don't really eat breakfast. I'll get things ready and come by around lunch. Give it to me then."
"Why don't you eat breakfast!? You need to eat three square meals to get by. You'll ruin your health!"
Even as he said that, the old man waved his hand dismissively, as if telling me to hurry up and go. But even in that indifferent gesture, it felt like he was telling me to be careful on my way. I hadn't even asked for that kind of concern.
On the way back to my base in the car, I found myself laughing. I couldn't believe it had gone so well. But acting friendly was incredibly difficult. I was faking it well enough, but there wasn't a shred of sincerity in it. It just felt like dealing with NPCs in a game. It would be nice if I could do it with more genuine feeling—really pouring in the emotions. But that wasn't easy. Honestly, it was impossible right now. I was only doing this because the probability of them stabbing me in the back was extremely low; if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have even approached them in the first place.
The next day, I moved as soon as the sun rose. First, the most important thing I needed was a forklift. I had to load the equipment. Fortunately, it looked like I could somehow fit the rice mill I saw yesterday into my truck. Well, it wasn't like anyone was going to pull me over for loading it strangely. So, the first thing I needed was a forklift. I had to use it to lift the machine and load it onto the truck. Since I had already spotted a forklift with my drone, finding it wasn't difficult. Furthermore, when I entered the adjacent building, which looked like an office, I was able to find the forklift keys. Thank goodness. It was lucky that the keys were there. I could have found a way to get a forklift, but getting the keys wouldn't have been easy. So, I was relieved.
With the forklift secured, the next thing was the generator. Finding a generator wasn't as hard as I expected, either. You could find them just by going to any construction site. Some were even already loaded onto trucks. I was about to go get the forklift when I thought for a moment. Suffering alone didn't help me at all. Someone needed to watch. They had to see the whole process to truly appreciate the favor. This was clearly for the sake of showing off.
So, I went to the old man's house. I wanted them to watch what I was doing. And to help out on the side. That was how you built a bond. If we worked together and achieved results together, their favorability would rise accordingly.
"Elders, I'm here."
As soon as I arrived, the four of them welcomed me. They asked if I had eaten and told me to have a bite if I hadn't. I had clearly told them yesterday that I didn't eat breakfast. I guess that didn't matter to them. Well, that's how old folks are.
I put the two old men in the truck and pretended to look for a forklift. I already knew where it was, but I drove around for a bit, listening to the two of them chatter away. After driving around here and there a few times, I passed by the spot where I had discovered the forklift earlier, acting as if it were a coincidence.
"Oh! There it is!"
We went to where the forklift was, and I went into the adjacent building, pretending to know nothing. Then, I came out jingling the keys with a proud expression.
"I found it! The keys were right there!"
Since I had to drive the truck, one of the old men climbed onto the forklift. When I asked if he knew how to operate it, he boasted, "I can do anything like this!" and turned the ignition on. And funnily enough, the old man drove the forklift quite well. Well, it wasn't that different from farm machinery. Even if he wasn't skilled at moving the forklift forks, the driving itself wasn't that difficult.
He drove the forklift to the mill. Honestly, this wasn't a situation I particularly liked. Even though I knew there were no people or zombies around here, I still didn't feel great about this behavior. Walking around so openly like this... I didn't know what kind of people I might run into. But I did it anyway. At least I had the old men with me. No matter who the opponent was, if I was with two old men, their guard would be lowered if we happened to run into someone. It wasn't like everyone in the world was desperate to kill each other.
I used the forklift to lift the rice mill and load it onto the truck. It was a tight fit. If the rice mill had been even a little bit bigger, I would have had to find another truck. I brought the rice mill to the old man's house and now went to get the generator. As it happened, one of the old men knew the location of the construction site I had spotted earlier. So we went there, and once again, I acted as if I had discovered it by chance, knowing nothing.
Things were going so well that the two old men seemed to be in a great mood. Plus, at the old man's request, we stopped by a barbecue restaurant on the way, and we were able to get two crates of soju from the back warehouse. The two old men were grinning from ear to ear. I was almost envious. To think that just two crates of soju could make them look like they owned the whole world. Anyway, we headed back to the old man's house. And we connected the rice mill to the generator and turned it on. The loud noise of the generator. The rice mill working properly. Wow. Look at that noise. I wouldn't even turn it on if someone gave it to me. I probably would have done it deep underground or found some way to deal with the noise. Well, there was no reason to operate something like that in the first place.
The old men were excited. They poured the rice they had into the mill, and it soon came out as pure white rice. Wow. It was fascinating, indeed. This is why modern civilization is good. Even if you spent all day using a mortar and pestle and winnowing, you wouldn't get that much rice. Even though the rice mill was small, it produced rice in no time. And it was even the new rice harvested just this year.
"Sir, I have a question to ask you."
"Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead."
The old man, who had already cracked open a bottle of soju, said with a laugh. The sun hadn't even set yet, and he was already like this? I guess they had plenty of it.
"By any chance, did the rice grow well this year? Like, much better than usual?"
"Rice? Oh my. It's a bumper crop! This is a massive harvest! I've never seen such a good harvest since I started farming!"
"Then, what about things other than rice? Like the things growing in the garden or things like that?"
"Oh, it's not just the farming!? Look at those cabbages and radishes, they're growing like crazy! The green onions and pumpkins are all this big, aren't they?"
One of the grandmothers in the back said that. As she said it, she strode to the garden behind the house as if to show me herself, and picked a truly huge eggplant. Wait, were eggplants originally that size? If women used something like that for... never mind.
"Wow. Are they all like that?"
"Aye! I don't know what they ate, but they keep growing like this! It was like this last year, too! And it's like this this year!"
It was just as I thought. The growth promoter that IBRA sprayed seemed to be affecting almost all plants now. So, it was only natural to be worried. Was it really okay to eat those things? What kind of problems would arise in the human body? I had eaten dinner here yesterday and lunch today, but I didn't think eating one or two meals would cause serious problems. Besides, these people had been eating such plants for several years. Perhaps the food I had purchased and stockpiled also contained plenty of those plants? It hadn't been just a year or two since IBRA sprayed the plant growth promoter. For now, I would have to watch. At the very least, it was true that I had a lower intake than them. So, if a problem arose, they would be the first to experience it. I just had to watch that phenomenon.
"Next time I come, I should bring some fuel, too. This thing is going to eat up fuel, isn't it?"
"Don't worry about fuel! We have a place to get it."
"Oh? You have a place to get fuel?"
"Aye! We do! If you go to that gas station over there, fuel is scattered everywhere!"
"Can you bring fuel from a gas station? The pumps won't work because there's no electricity."
"There's a way, that's why I'm saying so."
Come to think of it, they used a combine. That meant they hadn't brought fuel just once or twice.
"But fuel has an expiration date, too. You might be able to use it this year, but you probably won't be able to use it like this next year."
"What are you worrying about? I don't even know if I'll be alive next year."
"Hahaha. That's right! It wouldn't be strange if I died at any moment, so what does next year matter!?"
With that, the two of them giggled. My goodness. Is this what a life with nothing to lose is like? Or is it because they don't have to do the mortar and pestle and winnowing anymore?
"Since we have a rice mill, we should harvest all the rice in the paddies now."
"Brother. Let's start with Mr. Park's land over there. The rice grew well there. It'll be easy to harvest, too."
"Aye. We should do Mr. Park's and the village head's place over there, too. And the rocky valley over there and Mr. Gamcheon's place down here."
The two of them looked happy. They probably had a lot of paddies they had given up on because it was too much of a hassle to turn the rice into white rice even after harvesting. But now that they could harvest everything, they would probably try to harvest it all before the grains fell off.
"Elders. By any chance, do you need more people?"
"Why? Do you know someone else?"
"No, it's not that, but when I look around while coming and going, it's not like there are absolutely no people wandering around. So I asked."
"It doesn't matter. As long as they don't act like a nuisance."
"They have to be able to pull their own weight! We won't just accept anyone who comes!"
Saying that, the old men giggled again. They seemed to be in high spirits, perhaps because of the alcohol. Anyway, that was enough. Then, it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring in a few more people. The more experimental participants, the better. And it was a bit unsettling with only four old people. I didn't know when some crazy people would come here and take everything, including the harvested rice. Then, I would have to find other experimental participants now. Selecting them would be a bit tight, but there would be suitable humans, right? Surely there would be, right?