Episode 68: The First Autumn (1)

Healing With Loovely Druid

 Episode 68: The First Autumn (1)

"Kang Seunghyun?"

Hosu slammed her chopsticks down on the table.

"That's right. That piece of trash! The bully who used to beat you up all the time!"

Hosu yelled, bits of rice flying from her mouth.

Sihyeon wiped his face with a napkin and said, "Hey, lower your voice."

"……Sorry. I lose my mind when I get worked up."

"Yeah. I can see that."

Perhaps because the music from the geomungo (traditional Korean string instrument) was loud, no one paid them any attention. Sihyeon gestured to her.

"I get it, so just eat first. This is really delicious. It's so clean and savory."

Sihyeon unwrapped the sticky rice delicately enclosed in a lotus leaf and took a bite. Loaded with red beans, black beans, pine nuts, and chestnuts, the rice was wonderfully chewy and nutty. The savory side dish of sweet potato stems and shrimp sautéed in perilla seed powder also coated his palate perfectly. Sweet and salty—it was the absolute best.

"I wonder who first thought of eating even the sweet potato stems and leaves?"

"Hey. You shouldn't be unraveling the secrets of sweet potato stems right now; you need to dig up the secrets of Kang Seunghyun."

"I'll end up figuring out both anyway."

Hosu glared at him, chewing aggressively on a piece of tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties).

"That guy was your cousin?"

"Yeah. I didn't realize I'd forgotten something like that entirely."

He wondered just how maliciously the guy had behaved for his memory to completely expunge his existence.

"If you lived in the same house with that bastard like you said, that means you went through domestic abuse on top of school bullying. It would be weirder if you didn't have trauma."

"Whether it's due to the surgery or actual trauma, who knows."

Sihyeon filleted the bones out of the grilled scabbard fish and pushed it over to Hosu, and Hosu transferred the tteokgalbi from her side onto Sihyeon's plate.

"Mmm. This is delicious too. I should have ordered the tteokgalbi set."

"If you had ordered it, the scabbard fish would have looked better to you anyway."

"True."

Hosu, who had been focusing on her food, looked at Sihyeon as if she suddenly remembered something.

"But why did he do that? There was a four-year age gap between you two. Your brother was a toddler, sure, but you were only a second grader back then. It's hard to imagine now, but you were nothing but skin and bones back then, you know."

"It's fascinating how completely blank my memory is. I remember most things from college onward. I know about getting my certifications, and the routine of taking Siwoo on the subway to the practice rooms. But the parts intertwined with Kang Seunghyun are gone, as if they were surgically excised."

Hosu made a sour face.

"…If Siwoo brought up that bastard's name, doesn't that mean he did something rotten recently? Why didn't you ask him more about it?"

"It's not that. Apparently, after we left that house, we completely cut ties and didn't contact each other. But a text message came in a little while ago. Asking how he was doing. An utterly ordinary text checking in."

"Ugh." Hosu rubbed her arms.

"You know that's even more goosebump-inducing, right! What is he trying to pull now?"

Sihyeon furrowed his brow and pointed his chopsticks at a side dish.

"Wow, this is insane. Try this."

"Huh? What is it?"

"They said it's called gamtae (sweet green laver). It's my first time trying it."

"It looks like seaweed paper."

Hosu picked up a piece of gamtae, wrapped a little bit of rice in it, and put it in her mouth. Both of them nodded in admiration at the same time.

"It's sweet, bitter, and refreshing all at once."

"A bit like green laver, too."

"It's unique."

Since there were so many varieties of side dishes, they tried them one by one, and before they knew it, their rice was all gone. Hosu pointed at the menu and asked, "Are you still hungry? Want to order more?"

"No. I didn't realize it while eating, but I'm full."

"Traditional Korean course meals are magical like that. If you try everything one by one out of curiosity, you get full in no time."

The servers approached, quickly clearing the plates, and brought out a serving of milky-white ice cream.

Hosu's eyes lit up.

"This is delicious. Tofu ice cream."

"Oh??"

Sihyeon burst into laughter as he picked up a small wooden spoon.

"Ah, this is way too small."

"Your hands are just big."

"I guess so."

Sihyeon's eyes widened at the taste of the tofu ice cream, which he was trying for the first time. Though the spoon was small, the portion of ice cream wasn't very large either.

Sihyeon finished the ice cream in three or four bites, then sipped the orchid tea that was served next. The subtle, sweet aroma was wonderful.

"Wow, that was an incredible meal."

Today's dinner was deeply satisfying in many ways. The violet medicinal properties glowing like amethyst on each side dish were practically dazzling. People always said that seasonal Korean course meals were a tonic rather than just food, and it was true.

"You know the Chairman's card has no limit, right? Ask me out often. Let me eat some delicious food too."

"You can just eat using your own card. What's the point of working overtime every day if you don't? You should at least eat well."

"Food always tastes better when it's bought with someone else's money."

Hosu giggled, then suddenly turned serious.

"Now that we've had a great meal, let's finish the conversation we were having earlier."

"Yeah. I'm asking you to tell me anything you remember about Kang Seunghyun, too. If he's a despicable coward who beats up his younger cousins, I need to be prepared."

"First of all, you need to keep a voice recorder app right on your phone's home screen. In case you ever cross paths with him, it'd be best if you could record a video, but if you can't, you need to at least get an audio recording. And if possible, it's best to let the people around Siwoo know."

Sihyeon nodded. Since Siwoo had mentioned he was hesitating on whether to tell Manager Woo, Sihyeon planned to persuade him one more time.

"But what does that bastard even do for a living now?"

"Ah, about that. Hang on."

Sihyeon held out his phone.

"They say this is the guy."

Hosu took the phone and her jaw dropped.

"Is this r-really him? The name is different, though??"

"It's probably a stage name."

"Holy crap. I've seen him a few times in dramas."

Hosu adjusted her glasses, her face contorting as memories seemed to flood back.

"Wow. You really can't judge a book by its cover."

"He looks pretty decent, right?"

"Yeah. ……Wait. Hold on a second. His nose and jaw look different."

"You remember that?!"

Hosu tapped her temple with her finger.

"I recognized you, didn't I? I told you, I have a pretty good memory."

"Really? Did his face just change as he grew up?"

"No—. He got work done."

Sihyeon tilted his head.

"What?"

"Two-jaw surgery and a nose job."

"Ah? No way."

"You can see the breakdown just by looking at it. He had a prominent underbite back then, and his nose was crooked. I'm certain."

Sihyeon's eyes went wide.

Hosu smirked, raising one corner of her mouth as she muttered, "Well, well. Look at that bully bastard. Kang Seunghyun is working as an actor??"

"He only plays supporting roles, but he seems to pop up here and there."

Hosu let out a long breath.

"And Siwoo had to watch that for years?"

"Yeah. Apparently, we both knew about it, but referencing anything related to Kang Seunghyun was an unspoken taboo."

"I hope he hasn't turned over a new leaf. Right? Then I'll happily expose my face and testify that this piece of trash is a school violence perpetrator."

"Why would you expose your face?"

You're a bit scary. Your expression looks exactly like the village chief's when she gets serious.

"You know what? It can't be compared to what the victim goes through, but for some people, failing to stop something like that back then becomes a scar of its own."

Hosu looked directly into Sihyeon's eyes.

The front yard in September had grown serene.

The extravagantly blooming roses and wildflowers had vanished, and the leaves that had been a deep green were slowly starting to lose their color. In the vegetable garden, sprouts of young summer radishes, winter kimchi radishes, spinach, and autumn carrots were peeking through the soil, though they were still mere seedlings.

On the other hand, the apples that had been the size of plums had now grown as large as fists, and the persimmons had turned a deep orange hue, though they still felt hard and carried a bitter scent.

Cosmos, common zinnia, and wild chrysanthemums bloomed across the mountains and fields. Sitting on the wooden porch and looking out at the colorful clusters of flowers blooming on the distant mountains, Sihyeon recalled what Carpenter Yu—the man who built his house—had said: The garden of a hanok is the mountains and fields themselves. It made his heart feel spacious.

"It's going to be absolutely beautiful when the autumn leaves change color."

Lately, Sihyeon had been traversing the mountains and fields, gathering poisonous plants that glinted with a blue-green sheen.

Toxicity and medicinal value were separated by a paper-thin margin; where medicinal herbs flourished, poisonous plants grew as well. Sihyeon had collected quite a few varieties of poisonous mushrooms around Orin. Even from the spots where wild ginseng grew, he pulled up monkshood and forest poppies by the roots. Adding these to the foxglove and lily of the valley he was growing in the greenhouse, he planned to craft a druid's poison—one nicknamed Cerberus.

A drop or two would paralyze the body, and anything beyond that would cause extreme, agonizing pain for three days and nights before culminating in death.

……Not that he actually wanted to kill anyone.

First of all, manufacturing poison and preserving toxic plants required a delicate, immense amount of focus, which carried the benefit of blocking out all other thoughts in those moments. This was an old habit of his to manage the sense of helplessness he felt whenever his mind grew anxious or when things spiraled out of control. Right now, he was using it to manage the anger-control issues brought on by his unpleasant memories.

On the other hand, he wanted to use the toxicity to enhance medicinal properties. Since the toxic plants he used to cultivate in West Forest weren't available here, he had to make do with the ones native to this world.

The same applied to the muscle ache remedy he was currently making. He was curious to see if a careful formulation of the poison would yield a powerful analgesic effect, just as he envisioned. Perhaps he could even swap out the lily of the valley for greater celandine or another plant from the poppy family.

"If only I had belladonna, the effect would be guaranteed. What a shame."

Sihyeon stood up and opened the dehydrator. The well-dried lily of the valley let out a crisp, rustling sound.

Sihyeon poured the lily of the valley onto a wooden cutting board and picked up a wooden knife.

Thud. Thud.

Cutting the toxic plants into small pieces, he placed them into a brown glass bottle and affixed a label inscribed with a druid's symbol. In a few weeks, it looked like he would run out of shelf space in the medicine cabinet.

"Bind."

The ivy vines wrapping around the cabinet slid outward, locking the glass bottle firmly in place.

[Day 144] 91kg (―2kg)

Chirp, chirp—.

Cheep! Cheep!

"Hello. The location I'm at today is the mountain behind the house. Someone left a comment mentioning they were curious about it, so today I'm going to do a quick tour of the backyard mountain."

"This is also my first autumn here. I want to share a few things you need to be careful about in the autumn mountains."

Safety accidents always happen in places close by, much like stubbing a toe on a threshold.

"First of all, make sure to read the warning signs."

Sihyeon read the warning sign printed clearly on a yellow piece of plastic word for word. "Unauthorized entry prohibited, 200,000 won fine. Illegal harvesting of chestnuts, acorns, mushrooms, or wild herbs is punishable by up to 7 years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won."

"This might sound a bit old-fashioned, but it's best to avoid doing things you're told not to do, right? For reference, there were actual people who were punished over the summer. This isn't just a simple warning; it's a serious crime. There are people who actually cultivate forest products on these mountains for their livelihood, so you must absolutely never harvest illegally."

The camera panned to the words "Beware of Snakes" printed in red.

"Before going into hibernation, snakes are highly sensitive and quite aggressive. Not all snakes you encounter on the mountain are venomous, of course. But it won't be easy to judge whether a snake that pops out from beneath the fallen leaves is venomous or not just based on its appearance."

Sihyeon crouched down and pointed the camera at the carpet of fallen leaves.

"Can you see the snake here? I'll give you five seconds to find it."

When they used camouflage among the fallen leaves, distinguishing whether it was a snake or not was no easy task.

"……I don't know how many of you will actually be able to spot it,"

Sihyeon gave the fallen leaves a gentle nudge. In an instant, a single brown snake that had been hidden by its camouflage glided away, burrowing into another spot.

"Now, everyone. Did you think there was only one snake? You thought wrong."

The moment Sihyeon nudged the spot right next to it, another snake flicked its tongue and vanished. Sihyeon explained as he lifted the leaves.

"As you just observed, they are very hard to see. So how could you possibly check if its head is a triangle or a square? In moments like that, you should proceed with caution, operating under the assumption that every snake could be venomous."

Thick socks and sturdy hiking boots would make you a bit safer.

"What if you took precautions but still got bitten? First, call 119 immediately. Do not move, and follow the instructions given by the emergency operators. You absolutely must bring your phone with you, right? Lastly, if a family member gets bitten, do not try to suck the venom out with your mouth. If you have even a tiny wound in your mouth, it can become incredibly dangerous."

The old folk remedy of placing one's mouth over a venomous snake bite to suck out and spit the venom was a truly dangerous act. He used to know a few people who lost their lives doing that in the past.

"……It can be life-threatening."

Sihyeon spoke softly as he stood up.

Next, it was time to warn them about what happens when you slip and fall on fallen leaves.