Chapter 180 – The Druid of Yangchon Village (2)

“Grandma, these people are here to help. They’ve been on TV a lot, you know them, right?”

“Yep, I know ’em. Of course I do. This one here is that… what’s-her-name, the evil woman who killed people.”

Seo Hyun-ji flinched at the grandmother’s words. It was true she’d played a role like that in a past drama.

“Oh dear, why’d you bring these busy experts all the way out here? This is just how it is in the countryside.”

The grandmother waved her hands dismissively, as if to say her granddaughter worried too much.

“No, I think it’s a good thing we came….”

Behind the grandmother, a brown ox and a black ox could be seen, having abandoned their plow to drive a cultivator.

“Please, speak comfortably. Just think of us as some good grandkids you can order around now that us young folks are here.”

The grandmother gratefully clasped Hyunbin’s hand with both of hers.

“Oh my, you’d make a fine husband for my granddaughter. So reliable and handsome.”

And so, the grandmother began laying a trap to secure a husband for her grandchild.

“Hey, Grandma. I just met him for the first time today, what are you talking about?”

“Is there anyone you don’t meet for the first time? I had a first time meeting your grandpa, too. Young man, you got a girlfriend?”

“Not yet…”

Suddenly, the atmosphere turned into a matchmaking session in the middle of the street.

Seo Hyun-ji quickly cut in.

“Ah, right. We should check out your grandma’s house before it gets dark, right?”

“You’re right. Grandma, let’s get going. And I’m hungry.”

“Alright, my darling. Look at me, losing my head.”

The stooped grandmother smiled at her granddaughter, then glared at Seo Hyun-ji.

Seo Hyun-ji swallowed without realizing it.

They say that sometimes, older people tend to think the villains from TV shows are real.

When that happens, actors take it as a sign that they performed really well.

But Seo Hyun-ji couldn’t smile. Because the grandmother’s two oxen were also staring at her as if they wanted to eat her alive.

She wasn’t particularly afraid of cows. She just disliked beef.

“Alright, let’s go home. My grandbaby needs a warm meal.”

“Grandma, is it okay to leave them here?”

“Yep, it’s fine. They won’t go anywhere.”

It was unclear why the grandmother was so confident, but the ox was indeed driving the cultivator with a cigarette dangling from its mouth.

So much so that you had to wonder why it was using a manual plow in the first place.

No, that wasn’t the important part.

“Excuse me, Director.”

Seo Hyun-ji whispered to Hyunbin, who was storing Jin-hee’s car in his inventory.

“Those oxen, aren’t they strange?”

“Strange? Ah, I guess they are.”

“Right? I mean, for an ox to be bipedal…”

“Looks like the ox has been doing its leg days. It can’t be easy to walk on two feet.”

“…”

“Look. Even animals work out their lower body like that, so why don’t you? Are you doing the routine I wrote for you every day?”

“Who would do a routine that makes an actress’s legs look like a grasshopper’s? No, more importantly, isn’t that a minotaur, not an ox that’s been working out?”

It was clearly a monster. But Hyunbin’s reaction was far too relaxed.

“It’s not a minotaur. Think about it. Does it make sense for a monster to be farming?”

“Well…”

It didn’t make sense. No, everything about this was abnormal in the first place.

“Then what about that?”

Seo Hyun-ji pointed to a rice paddy.

The sight of a farmer spraying pesticides on the rice to prevent pests.

To avoid the chemicals, grasshoppers wearing masks made of leaves were evacuating.

“The mysteries of nature.”

“Then what about that?”

A unicorn was hitting on a country maiden.

“Love Blooms on the Jujube Tree?”

“And that.”

A corn stalk was bombarding a passing zombie.

“The ecosystem is always evolving.”

“…What are you even saying?”

“Hyun-ji.”

“What is it?”

Seo Hyun-ji felt bewildered as she watched Hyunbin shake his head in exasperation.

The situation in the village was obviously strange. And yet, Hyunbin was answering with such nonchalance.

“The countryside is a very different place from the city.”

“…”

“The countryside, you see, is a place where people live as friends with nature, unlike in the city. City folks sometimes long for the countryside, sometimes think of it as their hometown. Well, even if they only visit during the holidays.”

“…Excuse me.”

Seo Hyun-ji, dumbfounded at Hyunbin’s lecturing tone with his arms crossed, opened her mouth to speak.

Just then, Hyunbin moved closer to Seo Hyun-ji.

Startled by Hyunbin suddenly closing in, Seo Hyun-ji flinched and tried to step back, but it was too late.

“If you act like you’re completely clueless about this world, it’s no different from advertising that you’re from another one.”

“Th-that’s…”

“You know I might lie, but I don’t joke around. Just act natural. Natural.”

“Ah, I get it, so back off!”

Seo Hyun-ji found herself agreeing with Hyunbin’s words.

Yes, even if she couldn’t trust anyone else in this world, she could trust Hyunbin.

She muttered to herself.

“Grandma.”

“Yes.”

“The village seems a little different.”

Jin-hee recalled her old memories.

The elders used to gather under the wisteria to play Go and Janggi.

But that sight was nowhere to be seen now.

The spectacular view of ripe rice in the paddies, creating golden waves in the wind, was always a magnificent sight. Even that was gone.

“That’s right. Nobody really farms much these days.”

“They don’t farm? Why?”

Seo Hyun-ji understood.

For a long time, people have been flocking to Seoul and the metropolitan area.

All the young people left for the cities, leaving only the elderly behind.

It was said that even they were finding it too difficult and were starting to give up farming.

Yangchon-ri, too, was likely suffering from this rural exodus.

“Oh dear, these old folks got a second wind in their old age.”

The elderly, stooped grandmother walked with difficulty.

A desolate countryside. The scenery, which felt almost dreary, exuded a sense of loneliness.

“They all went hunting.”

“Hunting?”

Vrooom-vroom-vroom!

The sharp, unusual roar of a cultivator’s engine echoed.

Riding it was an old man in a straw hat, his arms crossed and his clothes flapping in the wind.

The village chief and other elders, riding cultivators, headed for a field overgrown with weeds, each holding pickaxes, shovels, and sickles.

In the direction they were heading stood a giant corn stalk.

“Uh, i-isn’t that dangerous?”

Despite Seo Hyun-ji’s worries, the elders set out to hunt as if it were routine.

“Their formation is quite impressive.”

Hyunbin remarked in admiration, stroking his chin.

Just as he said, the elders held their positions, executing evasive maneuvers to dodge the corn bullets.

Soon, the corn creature let out a groan and collapsed, and a system message appeared.

-You have successfully harvested the corn.

-You have acquired 25 sacks of corn.

“A system message?”

The appearance of a system message meant that a dungeon field had been activated in this area.

“See? I told you something was weird! Director?”

“If something’s strange, you should go to the dentist.”

At Hyunbin’s words, Seo Hyun-ji’s face scrunched up in genuine annoyance.

“Such a random dad joke…”

“You don’t know that this is how farming is? To grow crops, you have to pour in all your effort and fight against rainstorms, typhoons, and pests.”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

Seo Hyun-ji wondered if she was dreaming.

Hyunbin could be a bit eccentric at times, but this was taking it too far.

*That’s right.*

Seo Hyun-ji remembered dozing off in the car earlier.

This is a dream. It has to be a dream.

Seo Hyun-ji pinched her cheeks and arms repeatedly.

Trying to wake up from the dream.

She expected to open her eyes any second and see Hyunbin laughing at her, asking if she was enjoying her nap.

*Why am I not waking up?*

But she didn’t wake up.

Which meant it wasn’t a dream.

*Maybe some kind of concept energy was activated when we entered the dungeon.*

Seo Hyun-ji recalled the basic Hunter training she had received.

When a gate forms and stabilizes, a dungeon field is generated.

The area where a dungeon forms can no longer be considered part of the Republic of Korea.

Because it becomes a world governed by the field, with its own new set of rules.

Sometimes, certain dungeons have unique options.

They make people entering the dungeon adapt naturally to its concept, so they don’t feel a sense of dissonance.

*Perhaps.*

He, of all people.

It was strange that someone like him wouldn’t recognize this situation, but no one is omnipotent or infallible.

*I have to protect him.*

A sudden sense of responsibility washed over Seo Hyun-ji.

Until now, the Hero had only ever shown his ridiculously strong side.

Worrying about him had always felt embarrassing, but today was different.

*Get a grip, Seo Hyun-ji.*

She had always been the one receiving help from Hyunbin, the Hero. But today would be different.

“It certainly doesn’t look like they need to farm.”

“Right? It’s so strange.”

Jin-hee also reacted to Seo Hyun-ji’s words with amusement.

Wrinkles that seemed to mark the passage of time formed around the stooped grandmother’s eyes.

“It wasn’t like this from the start.”

“Since when?”

She needed to gather information.

“About a year now? They were all simple folk who made their living from farming, but now it’s all ruined. Since they can get produce easily by catching pests, everyone’s gotten hooked on hunting instead of farming.”

The grandmother was genuinely heartbroken that the place she had lived in was being ruined.

“If they were looking for an easy life, they should’ve just gone to their graves. Everyone’s gotten strange.”

The corruption of her friends, who were like family.

How much pain must the grandmother have felt watching it all happen?

Even with the wisdom of an old woman who had weathered the storms of time, there was nothing she could do in this apocalyptic world.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to solve this for you.”

“Alright.”

“Grandma. Hyun-ji might be a villain in the dramas, but she’s so nice in person. She’ll sort this out for you.”

“Of course.”

*I wish she’d left out the part about being a villain.*

Seo Hyun-ji held her tongue. That wasn’t the important thing right now.

“Grandma. When people started changing, was there anything that stood out? Something that wasn’t there before suddenly appearing? Or seeing something one day that you’d never seen before?”

If a dungeon field had formed, there had to be a boss controlling it.

Defeating the boss was how most dungeons could be cleared.

If they could just clear the dungeon, this peaceful village would return to normal.

“I dunno. Everything’s the same. We’re just old folks with nothin’ to do, so every day is just like the last.”

“But if you think carefully, Grandma… huh.”

Seo Hyun-ji, who was trying to find even the smallest clue.

Just then, a house unlike the other ordinary homes came into her view.

A towering five-story building.

Neon signs glowed on the house, which was filled with lavish colors.

A mansion with the atmosphere of a nightclub. As she stepped inside, the stooped grandmother put on a pair of sunglasses.

“Huh? Grandma. Your house looks different.”

“Them experts from the government came and did that remode-thingy for me.”

She probably meant remodeling.

Seo Hyun-ji wondered if the government provided that kind of support, but she soon realized who the ‘experts’ the grandmother was talking about were.

“Grandma. Who are those people?”

“Oh, them. They’re the volunteer-somethin’s the government sent to help.”

It seemed she meant volunteers.

But the things inside were not the friendly-looking types you’d expect from volunteers.

Jet-black compound eyes. And atop their heads, antennae and hard-looking beaks.

Dozens of ants were bustling about.

In the front yard, poisonous mushroom people were smoking cigarettes in the smoking area.

A three-headed hellhound bounded over to greet the grandmother, a roll of toilet paper in its mouth.

Startled, Seo Hyun-ji immediately formed a hand seal to summon a spirit.

But what she feared did not happen.

The dog, which was the size of two people combined, rolled over in front of the grandmother, exposing its belly.

“You little rascal. You brought the toilet paper again.”

The grandmother familiarly patted the Cerberus’s belly.

Dinner was being prepared.

A poison mushroom sliced off a handful of its own head and began julienning it on a cutting board.

All while wearing a meaningful smile.

The chickens from the coop came out one by one and started putting their eggs into a pot.

Staring resentfully at the newly arrived guests.

“We don’t have many ingredients at home, so I’m not sure if this will suit your tastes.”

Seo Hyun-ji had discovered a wild boss.

*The grandmother is the boss!*