TGMC 09

chapter 09

The views are rising at an unusual pace…?

“Son, wake up! Something’s happened!”

I was deep in a sound sleep.

At first, I thought it was a dream—the urgent voice kept echoing.

But it wasn’t a dream.

I struggled to open my eyes and saw my mom leaning over me.

Still half-asleep, I asked,

“Uh… Mom? What’s going on?”

“Son, something serious happened. Get up quickly.”

“What is it? Something serious? Haaah…”

I yawned widely and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

Mom looked at me and said,

“The waste disposal company sent a truck, but something went wrong. You should go check it out yourself.”

“Something went wrong? That can’t be…”

It didn’t make sense.

I threw on my jacket over my pajamas and stepped outside.

Across the street, a 5-ton grapple truck from the waste disposal company was waiting.

Shouldn’t they just collect the waste piled up in the yard? What could possibly be the problem?

Then…

“Huh?”

Something was off.

Was I still half-asleep? I rubbed my eyes, but nothing changed.

“Where… did all the waste go?”

The piles of debris from last night’s demolition were supposed to still be in the yard.

But by morning, every single piece had vanished.

It was like a ghost had taken them.

At that moment, a man approached and greeted me.

“Hello, Mr. Song Min-woo, right?”

“Ah, yes. I’m Song Min-woo.”

“We’re from Speed Waste Disposal Center. We came to collect the waste, but we can’t find it anywhere. Where did you pile it?”

“….”

How was I supposed to explain this?

Do I tell them that the massive piles of debris disappeared overnight? Would they even believe me?

It was a bizarre situation.

I had a suspect in mind, but I couldn’t say it out loud—it was a spirit only I could see.

“So, you mean there’s no waste for us to collect?”

“Yes. Sorry. There must have been some confusion at the site.”

“Can’t be helped. Next time, take a photo and send it to us. We’ll come after seeing the pictures.”

“Yes, understood. Really sorry. Here, take this for your fuel.”

I handed over some cash. The employee, initially frustrated at having to return empty-handed, finally softened.

After they left, I headed to the backyard.

As the renovations began, Bangul, Hoya, and Deomdeom had temporarily moved to my mom’s backyard.

When I opened the gate, I saw Deomdeom sleeping soundly on its back, belly exposed.

When I first met it, Deomdeom was so shy it barely made eye contact. But over the past two months, it had grown a little more comfortable, occasionally lingering near me.

Still, I had never heard it speak.

I wondered if it couldn’t speak, but Bangul said that wasn’t the case. I just needed to build more rapport.

“So cute.”

Deomdeom looked adorable as it slept on its back.

I gently touched it; its belly was soft and plush.

At that moment, Deomdeom woke up.

Startled, it rolled away from me.

[Good morning, sir! Did you sleep well?]

Bangul appeared in front of me, cheerful as ever.

“Yeah, I slept well. But something unexpected happened while I was asleep.”

[Unexpected? What do you mean?]

Bangul’s big eyes sparkled with curiosity. Hoya, lying on the roof at an angle, perked up its ears in interest.

“Last night we demolished my grandmother’s house completely. There was a huge amount of debris, but it all disappeared overnight. I wanted to find out who did it.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Bangul and Hoya’s gaze turned in one direction.

Deomdeom was peeking out from the dirt it had buried itself in, staring at me with only its eyes visible.

Then, as I kept watching, sweat appeared on Deomdeom’s face. It kept avoiding my gaze, looking guilty.

“Deomdeom, I won’t be mad. Tell the truth. Did you get rid of the debris we piled up last night?”

Deomdeom nodded.

“Can you show me how you did it?”

Deomdeom whispered something to Bangul, and a moment later, Bangul translated.

[Uh, um… Deomdeom says it just ate it.]

“…Ate all the debris? That stuff can’t be good for you. Are you okay?”

[Deomdeom says it was like junk food. It wasn’t good for the body, but it was tasty, so it didn’t matter.]

Ah, so for Deomdeom, the debris was junk food.

Not healthy, but delicious.

Humans created it artificially, so for a spirit of the earth like Deomdeom, calling it junk food made sense.

“Once you eat it, does it get digested?”

[Nope. It turns back into soil.]

Bangul pointed toward the vegetable patch.

I went over and saw a mound of rich, dark soil.

It was compost.

“Wow, Deomdeom, that’s amazing.”

Deomdeom ate the waste and recycled it into compost.

It wasn’t just a cost-saving move.

Of course, crushed concrete can be recycled as aggregate, but filtering out impurities is difficult and can even lead to structural failures in buildings.

In this sense, Deomdeom had found another eco-friendly way to recycle concrete and wood waste.

Deomdeom blushed shyly at my praise.

‘I wanted to ask Deomdeom for help in the vegetable garden…’

Mom had a garden in the backyard. I was planning to have Deomdeom help till it in spring.

But I never imagined it could recycle waste into compost.

‘Bangul also has a special ability…’

Bangul’s special ability is healing.

When I had reflux that prevented me from sleeping, drinking water given by Bangul made the symptoms disappear, at least temporarily.

Over time, with proper diet and continued use of Bangul’s water, my gastritis and reflux were completely cured.

Not only that.

‘My skin seems to have improved too.’

Acne and blemishes were gone; my skin became plump and firm.

When visiting friends in Seoul, they’d often say my face looked brighter, thanks to rural life and healthier habits.

But my skin’s improvement was more than that—it felt like going back to childhood, soft and smooth.

‘I should give Mom Bangul’s water too.’

Mom, living in the countryside for years, had aged skin and often mentioned wanting to visit a clinic for wrinkles or blemishes.

I always told her to go, but she waved it off, saying, “What good is looking pretty at this age?”

Still, wanting to look beautiful is instinctual. At sixty, Mom’s desire to look nice was just as strong.

‘Instead of artificial treatments, giving her Bangul’s water might naturally improve her skin.’

That would be better—natural beauty avoids greed.

I regretted not giving Mom the water when I first started using it. At the time, I didn’t know it could improve skin; I only used it for reflux relief.

Now I knew.

“Bangul, can you do that?”

[Of course. But it only works in this area. You must stay within this region.]

“What area exactly?”

[The land you live on now and the area where your grandmother’s old house stood. My abilities only work fully within this zone.]

Bangul’s powers were limited to Mom’s and Grandma’s houses.

Would the same be true for Deomdeom?

[Yes! Deomdeom can only use its abilities within this area too.]

Ah, so they rely on the natural energy of this land to use their powers.

“This isn’t related to our contract, right?”

[No! The contract with you only lets us move freely. It doesn’t affect other abilities.]

So sending Deomdeom to process all the waste into compost elsewhere wouldn’t work.

Regardless, demolishing the old house revealed unexpected facts.

Both Bangul and Deomdeom have special abilities.

‘Wait… Hoya might have a special ability too?’

I asked Hoya,

“Hey, do you have any special abilities like them?”

[…….]

Hoya scratched itself, avoiding the question.

Aside from understanding cat language, Hoya didn’t seem to have any other abilities.

‘It was useful when rescuing Jeomsun’s family, but…’

I expected this footage to get attention on YouTube. But YouTube proved tricky.

After rescuing Jeomsun’s family, I uploaded stories about them for two months.

The kittens had grown mischievous, sometimes causing trouble, but since I raised them from birth, they barely distrusted me and purred when petted.

Yet the views were stagnant.

Two months in, the first video had 121 views; others had only a few.

I thought YouTube would be a hit, especially after discovering Hoya’s ability and communicating with Jeomsun, but the response was minimal.

Maybe my editing wasn’t engaging enough.

‘I hope my YouTube channel picks up…’

I was lost in thought when Jeomsun near the vegetable garden started acting strangely.

It crouched, lowered its body, and twitched its rear—hunting posture.

I switched my phone to video mode and started recording.

Through the bushes, something slithered.

A snake.

Jeomsun had spotted its prey.

“Go, Jeomsun!”

Before I finished speaking, Jeomsun leapt like a spring, striking the snake with its paws.

The snake staggered from the blow, attempting to bite Jeomsun, but it was too fast.

Jeomsun repeatedly struck the snake’s head, overpowering it.

The snake eventually collapsed, and Jeomsun picked it up in its mouth, walking toward Mom’s restaurant back door.

There, Jeomsun placed the dead snake.

“Why there?”

“Meow. Gift.”

Jeomsun answered briefly and returned to the shed.

Mom discovered the snake a few minutes later.

“Ahhhh!”

Her high-pitched scream sounded like a scene from a sitcom.

‘This would be perfect for YouTube.’

I immediately began editing and uploaded the video titled “The Cat That Brought a Gift After Hunting.”

A few days later…

“Huh? The views are rising unusually fast?”

Had the algorithm finally noticed?

At last, YouTube was responding.