"Holy shit.”

Oh Hyunseong’s eyes widened.

There was no meat, no rice, no other ingredient.

All he had done was stuff a piece of lettuce into his mouth.

Yet the taste of that single leaf was nothing short of shocking.

“What the hell is this?”

It had no bitterness and a crisp texture.

Most of all, the lettuce brimmed with fresh vitality, as though color were being painted onto a drab, monochrome world.

I ate lettuce just last week, but that can’t even compare to this!

Factory-grown lettuce was notorious for being dry and having the texture of chewing paper.

Excessive bitterness was a given, and if you chose a particularly cheap brand, you were lucky if it did not reek of mildew.

Naturally grown lettuce was not much different.

Now that Earth’s environment had been affected by impure energy, naturally grown crops also had to sacrifice many things in order to grow while resisting its encroachment.

But with this lettuce from his kitchen garden, before he could even consider its texture or smell, it was as though he could taste the very word fresh in his mouth.

Vibrant vitality burst across his tongue.

It was just like the vegetables from before the Gate crisis.

This isn’t the time for that!

Crash!

Oh Hyunseong bolted outside and picked the lettuce from the kitchen garden.

Without even thinking to grab a basket, he returned with both arms full of lettuce.

He shook off the dirt, rinsed it once with water, and went back to the table.

Chomp!

Good God...

It was delicious.

How could a mere leaf taste this good?

He would gladly accept living as an herbivore for the rest of his life if it meant he could eat nothing but this lettuce until the day he died.

Even when everyone else complained... I ate whatever they put in front of me without caring... and now food has shocked me this much.

He munched ravenously on the lettuce.

Then he took a spoonful of rice.

“Urgh...”

Oh Hyunseong quietly set down his spoon.

The rice was a lost cause.

Not even lettuce from his kitchen garden could save it.

“Did you make it delicious on purpose?”

He asked the life spirit that had been staring intently at him, but it shook its head from side to side.

It had not been intentional.

The spirits had merely made the lettuce grow quickly and healthily. It had simply become delicious from their touch.

What in the world did these little guys do...?

What exactly had happened in the kitchen garden overnight?

Oh Hyunseong decided he would have to watch what the spirits did there.

But just as he finished every last leaf of the lettuce he had brought inside—

Ding-dong!

“Hmm?”

The doorbell rang outside.

Kwon Gyeongmin, who had spent the day tirelessly showing him around, would be spending time with his family now, and Hyunseong had not ordered any deliveries.

Wondering who could possibly be visiting him, he opened the front gate.

A young woman and man stood on the other side.

“Oh, it’s open.”

“Wow, you’re really young! Hello!”

Faced with their cheerful greetings, Oh Hyunseong asked uncertainly, “Who are you?”

“We’re your neighbors.”

“My neighbors... Ah!”

He belatedly nodded.

He remembered the house a short distance down the road to the west.

By city standards, it was far too distant to be considered next door, but they were indeed his closest neighbors.

Their house was also located quite far south of the village center.

There was no other house that could be called the one next door to Oh Hyunseong’s rather isolated home.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Oh Hyunseong. I moved in yesterday.”

“I’m Yoo Eunha. Hehe, Gyeongmin told us a little about you.”

“I’m Yoo Seungsu. We live across the way. Have you seen the wooden house over there?”

“Of course. I actually stopped by earlier today, but no one was home.”

“We had some business in the city and were on our way back then. Once we got home, Gyeongmin gave us an earful, so we hurried over to introduce ourselves. Haha.”

He and Yoo Seungsu exchanged a vigorous handshake.

Come to think of it, it seemed Kwon Gyeongmin was already being addressed as an older man by these two.

He was only in his early thirties, yet they called him that.

Was it because he had a family, or because he looked somewhat older than his age?

Either way, Hyunseong felt strange at the thought that he might be lumped in with Gyeongmin and addressed the same way by fellow adults.

Before his five-year hospitalization, he had still been firmly in his twenties.

“Are you two siblings?”

“As expected, you could tell right away!”

Yoo Eunha raised an index finger with a snap and nodded.

Only two people had arrived, yet the previously quiet house suddenly felt much livelier.

It was not the unpleasant sort of noise.

“Instead of standing around here, why don’t you come inside?”

“Excuse us~”

After entering, they sat on the wooden platform in the middle of the yard.

At the appearance of strangers, the spirits scurried into hiding.

Once they concealed themselves, they truly vanished without a trace.

Perhaps thanks to the siblings’ outgoing energy, the conversation flowed without any real awkwardness.

“So you finished introducing yourself to everyone today?”

“That’s right. Everyone was very kind.”

“We settled here two years ago. Since it was our first time moving to the countryside and taking up farming, we were worried about hostility toward outsiders, but there wasn’t any. It’s a good village.”

“Let’s stick together as fellow city people turned farmers!”

Oh Hyunseong chuckled at Yoo Eunha’s words and nodded.

He was glad that these two were his closest neighbors.

Unlike in the city, where one could simply put up walls and keep to oneself, living beside a difficult neighbor in the countryside would have been exhausting in all sorts of ways.

Since they had all come from the city, they were less likely to clash over differences in values.

He had also gained someone who could advise him from the perspective of a fellow newcomer to farming.

“But you’re really handsome. And incredibly tall. Are you a hunter, by any chance?”

“Ah... Not at all. I worked in that field, but I was just an office worker who cleaned up after everyone else. I was simply a civil servant.”

Oh Hyunseong shook his head as he answered.

Just as his longtime friend Kwon Gyeongmin believed, he introduced himself only as a civil servant and concealed his true identity.

Now that his unit had been disbanded, he no longer needed to adhere strictly to his oath of secrecy. Still, nothing good would come of people learning that he was a hunter when all he wanted was a quiet life in the countryside.

More importantly, although he had fought on the front lines, the general public did not even know his name.

Back then, hunters did not operate as openly as they did now, and his unit in particular had been a state secret.

Consequently, apart from the people who had served alongside him, there were not many among today’s hunters who knew much about him either.

“You’re really not awakened?”

“Hey, why would a hunter come to a backwater place like this, let alone some regional city? Do you have any idea how much hunters are worth these days?”

Yoo Seungsu chided his younger sister.

Even so, she tilted her head and muttered, “That can’t be right... No matter how I look at you, you’ve got the face of a hunter...”

In the past, people had thought of celebrities when discussing standards of beauty.

After all, they were the quintessential profession for those who made a living from their looks.

But things were different now.

High-ranking awakened were generally born with extraordinary physiques.

They had long, straight limbs and exceptional proportions.

Their skin remained so clear and flawless that a blemish was almost unimaginable.

Not all of them were like that, but handsome men and beautiful women were far more common among the awakened than among ordinary people.

The trend was particularly pronounced among higher-ranking awakened.

The more talented a hunter was, the more likely they were to have been born with outstanding looks.

Most hunters looked no different from anyone else, but people rarely saw them. The hunters who received media exposure were the select few with exceptional abilities.

As a result, the public had formed a particular image of the profession, and hunters had now surpassed even the celebrities of the past.

They saved people on the battlefield and defeated monsters.

As indispensable members of society, they naturally commanded the full attention of the media.

On top of that, they possessed looks and star power that everyone envied.

There was simply no way they could fail to become popular.

Unlike in the past, when they had operated in the shadows, the hunter industry had rapidly entered the public eye over the last few years and grown into an enormous business.

That was why management agencies devoted exclusively to hunters had appeared.

“You must have seen plenty of famous hunters, though. I’m jealous. If you worked for the government, did you ever see Han Suyeon? It’s my dream to see her just once.”

“Ask something realistic. How would an ordinary employee ever get to see Han Suyeon?”

“He could’ve passed her in the hallway, idiot! Are you going to keep picking apart everything I say?”

The siblings began bickering with each other.

Oh Hyunseong quickly changed the subject.

“What brought the two of you here?”

“Well... I was completely worn down by my company... Haha.”

Yoo Seungsu gave an awkward laugh.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean we came here just to escape. We came with ambition.”

“Ambition?”

Just as Hyunseong wondered what sort of ambition someone could pursue after moving to a farming village, Yoo Seungsu thrust forward the box he had brought.

Hyunseong opened it to see what was inside and found the large box piled high with potatoes.

“Freshly harvested new potatoes. We prepared them for our new neighbor.”

“Ah, thank you. But isn’t it a little early to harvest potatoes?”

“Normally, it would be. But synthetic crops weren’t the only ones to benefit from technological advances. There are clear limitations because so many resources have to be devoted to resistance against impure energy, but all sorts of naturally grown varieties have been developed as well.”

“The older folks stick to the varieties they’ve always used, but we’re different. And with the right equipment, those limitations can be overcome to a much greater extent.”

The siblings launched into a fluent explanation.

They had invested in an advanced, next-generation smart farm that allowed them to cultivate new varieties impossible to grow in ordinary fields.

They could plant any crop regardless of the season, reliably increase yields by reducing damage from impure energy, and, most importantly, grow premium varieties whose flavor had been significantly improved.

“Everything we grow is supplied to Hangyeong Department Store. That lets us command a much higher price.”

“Hmm? Don’t department stores only carry premium synthetic crops?”

“That used to be true. But perceptions have changed considerably over the past two or three years, and a meaningful market for naturally grown produce has emerged even among the upper class. Until recently, the difference in taste compared to premium synthetic crops was simply too great, but continuous improvements have brought the flavor to almost the same level.”

“We also invested heavily in our facilities, so our produce is even higher quality. That’s how we managed to become a supplier for the food hall at Hangyeong Department Store, which is notoriously selective.”

“Oh...”

They had not spoken of ambition for nothing.

At this level, they were not merely experienced farmers who had moved to the countryside before him. They were first-rate agricultural professionals.

“Then these potatoes must also be...”

“Of course. They’ll taste incredible. Enough to make your eyes pop open.”

Yoo Eunha spoke with complete confidence.

After offering a few more explanations about their cutting-edge facilities and the latest agricultural trends, the siblings left, telling him that he absolutely had to try the potatoes later.

Oh Hyunseong exchanged contact information with them and handed over the gift he had nearly forgotten to give them.

“Interesting.”

Oh Hyunseong looked down at the box full of potatoes.

If they were good enough to be supplied to the food hall of Hangyeong Department Store, reputedly the best in the country, then they had to be among the most delicious naturally grown potatoes available.

Once the siblings disappeared, the spirits that had been hiding slowly wriggled out around him.

“Then... shall we run a little test?”

Which would taste better?

Oh Hyunseong picked up his phone and began searching for instructions on how to grow potatoes.

Chapter 4

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