STVS 04

~Chapter 04~

“…So does that mean the job at the cattle ranch is off the table now? Maybe by now they’ve already found someone…”

“That, I can’t say. The Hwang family who manages the ranch’s servants can be a bit picky. You’d have to ask them directly to know for sure. But from what I can see… they probably haven’t found anyone yet.”

Only then did I snap out of my daze as I overheard Mr. and Mrs. Po’s conversation.

Right, now is not the time to be spacing out.

If I wanted to get this valuable information, I had to approach Soyeon-ri, and to do that, I needed to enter the cattle ranch.

And now that a servant job had come up there, it couldn’t be more perfect!

“Um…”

Having made up my mind, I finally spoke.

“About the servant job… could I ask again, please?”

“What?”

Mr. Po looked surprised at my words.

“I just thought it would be a shame to let the opportunity pass. If they haven’t found anyone yet, I’d like to do it myself…”

“But is that really okay? Your body’s not fully healed, and your memory isn’t complete either.”

“I’m fine! My body is a little sore, but not to the point where I can’t move. And as for my memory… won’t it come back naturally over time? Even if it doesn’t…”

I had no choice in my situation.

Seeing my wry smile, Mr. Po’s eyes softened even more. Don’t look at me like that! This is all part of my plan to turn my life around.

Still, my “poor me” act seemed to have worked, because Mr. Po nodded shortly after and said,

“…Alright! Since you’ve already made up your mind, I can’t really argue. I’ll ask about it first thing tomorrow.”

“Thank you so much!”

“In the meantime, eat well, sleep well, and rest properly. If your body gets worse, how will I ever face Mrs. Sa? Got it?”

“Yes!”

From then on, Mr. and Mrs. Po kept giving me worried scoldings. I carefully played along while secretly thinking,

‘This should be enough, right?’

Only half of it was done.

There were two things I had overlooked.

First, I hadn’t told Mr. and Mrs. Po my gender or explicitly asked to take on the “controversial work.” Second, I didn’t even know what the “servant job” actually entailed.

Whether fortunate or unfortunate, Mr. Po had indeed found a job. More accurately, it was still open because no one had taken it yet.

‘What on earth could the job be?’

With a faint sense of unease, I headed to the cattle ranch. And when I met Mr. Hwang, whom Mr. Po referred to as “the Hwang family”…

“W-what kind of work am I supposed to do?”

“What? Why are you so slow to understand?”

Mr. Hwang shouted angrily,

“Clean up the poop! The poop!”

And just like that, I became a servant at the cattle ranch.

To be precise… I became a poop-carrying servant at the cattle ranch.

Damn it.

Six months later.

I was scrubbing dung buckets by the creek.

The round wooden barrels were smeared with dung residue everywhere—a sight that could make anyone gag—but I scrubbed them clean without batting an eye.

Half a year had already passed since I had inadvertently started working as a poop-carrying servant.

To sum up my life during that time…

“It was nothing but hardship and adversity.”

The work itself wasn’t difficult. I had worked like a slave in my previous life, so what could possibly be hard?

The problem, if any, was the nature of the work itself.

“Cleaning poop isn’t easy at first, but anyone gets used to it over time. I’ll teach you properly,”

Actually, the work wasn’t very hard.

It was mostly repetitive labor. When it was time, I collected the manure, transferred it to a central pile, and once a sufficient amount had accumulated, delivered it to the farms.

Of course, the ranch was so large that the load often couldn’t be handled by a single carrier, and sometimes I had to pull a dung cart—but that wasn’t the main issue.

The real problem was something else.

“Ugh!”

The smell.

Collecting a dozen or more buckets of dung wasn’t exactly pleasant. Especially when dumping all the contents of the buckets together, the stench was overwhelming…

“Ugh… uuuugh!”

“Hold on! Just think of it as mud!”

“Where’s there mud that smells like this… ughhh!”

At first, I vomited like crazy. Later, when there was nothing left to throw up, I could only retch stomach acid—and it was excruciating. After half a day, Mr. Hwang laughed with relief at my pale face.

“See? It’s not so bad once you get used to it. Later, you’ll even be able to eat next to the buckets!”

At the time, I silently cursed his words, thinking, What nonsense is this? But he was right. Sometimes, I did eat snacks beside the dung buckets…

“This is the last one!”

Only after scrubbing the final bucket did I stretch fully. On the water’s surface, I caught a reflection of a boyish face—familiar yet strange.

A broad face with free-spirited features, dark skin, a slightly upturned nose, and densely packed freckles—a countryside boy…

That was me.

Realizing this, a fresh wave of frustration surged.

‘This is me?’

Other people, when transmigrating, often admired their cute, charming forms and thought, This is me? But why did I have to groan over my ugly face and think, This is me?

At least there was one saving grace—my rough, unpolished appearance had kept my male disguise undiscovered.

“You won’t get a decent wife looking like that.”

Mr. Hwang laughed uproariously at my messy appearance, covered in dung and eating like a pig.

I had worried that my gender might be discovered quickly while working, but that worry was completely unnecessary. My ugly face and the stench of dung ensured that no one suspected I was a girl.

Damn it. Pretty cross-dressing heroines only exist in novels.

Should I be happy about that or not? I’d have to deal with secondary sexual characteristics eventually—what then…

While worrying over such things, I finished cleaning up, and the sun was already low. I had to hurry. Unlike the other servants who stayed in the servant quarters, I commuted from home.

Pulling the empty bucket-laden cart, I saw Mr. Hwang approaching.

“Hey, you done already?”

“Yes! Are you heading home after work too?”

“I was just looking around. Let’s see…”

Mr. Hwang picked up one of the buckets from the cart and examined it with sharp, hawk-like eyes. After a brief silence, he nodded in satisfaction.

“You’ve got a steady hand. Good job.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. You’re flattering me.”

“At first, I wondered if a skinny kid like you could handle the work, but that worry was unnecessary. Few work as diligently as you. Impressive…”

He pressed something into my hand, and I looked down in surprise. A few copper coins were resting there.

My mouth dropped open.

“Ah… sir…!”

“Eat well, kid. You’re not earning that little—why aren’t you gaining weight? Doing your duty is good, but you need to take care of your body too.”

“Sir…”

I gazed at him with gratitude. Mr. Hwang waved his hand awkwardly.

“Eh, it’s not much. Don’t dwell on it. Now go—otherwise it’ll be dark soon.”

“Thank you so much, sir! I’ll work even harder!”

“Good grief, you’re already working hard… how much harder do you need to work? Now go, go!”

He turned and left in a hurry despite telling me to go first. I watched him walk away before calling out loudly,

“Sir, thank you so much!”

“Hurry up!”

I giggled softly at his shouts, feeling my chest warm.

Maybe I’ll buy some meat on the way home. Mother would be happy too.

I carried the coins and entered the yard. Just then, I met a woman leaving the house.

“Dana, you’re back?”

Her name was Sa Yeong-jeong, the ailing mother of the Seodan household who had clutched me and cried on the first day.

Fortunately, she had recovered shortly after fainting. But when she learned from Mrs. Po that I had lost my memory, she turned pale again, nearly fainting.

“You… you can’t remember? Nothing at all? Do you… do you not know who I am? Who I am…?”

I hesitated but shook my head. I neither knew her nor could I lie in front of her—it didn’t feel right.

The woman stared at me in disbelief. Finally realizing I truly knew nothing, tears welled up in her eyes again.

“It’s because of me. Because of me, our Dana…”

All I could do was silently watch the grieving mother sob uncontrollably.