TGMC 25

A thief had broken into the vegetable garden.

A thief?

I hurriedly looked around.

But there was no way the culprit was still here.

They had already run off long ago.

“I’ll check the footprints first.”

It was dawn, with the sky just starting to brighten.

I turned on my phone’s flashlight and examined the ground.

‘It’s not a person.’

There were no shoe prints.

No human footprints either.

They were much smaller than that.

One of them had a U-shaped mark.

It almost looked like horns.

Another footprint was bigger, but there was a clear hoof-shaped mark at the back.

From the looks of it, it was an animal.

Still, it was too early to be certain.

This time, I looked around the garden itself.

There were chaotic traces of something digging up the ground.

The sweet potato vines—roots and all—had been pulled out and thrown outside the garden.

And there was more.

When I picked up a sweet potato vine, I saw that the leaves, which should have been thick and lush, were completely gone.

Something had eaten every last one.

“Son, do you think it was wild animals?”

“Yes. I think so. Probably wild boars and water deer. I heard they both love sweet potatoes…”

Even though the weather had gotten warmer,

it was still winter.

It wasn’t an easy season to find food.

But somewhere, a delicious smell had spread.

Lettuce, cucumbers, mallow, green onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes.

All kinds of crops planted in the garden behind the restaurant had grown rapidly overnight.

The starving animals must have smelled it and come all the way here, only to completely wreck the sweet potatoes we had worked so hard to plant yesterday.

‘Hoya, can you call Deomdeom? And interpret too.’

Deomdeom couldn’t speak.

Only spirits could understand what Deomdeom was trying to say.

So I asked Hoya to interpret.

Given the situation,

even Hoya, who would normally be picky, behaved quietly today.

Hoya immediately called Deomdeom.

[…]

Deomdeom stared straight at me.

I had Hoya convey my thoughts.

‘Ask who ruined the sweet potato field last night.’

[…]

Hoya translated Deomdeom’s words.

[A whole family of water deer came and ate all the new sprouts on the sweet potatoes, and a wild boar that came down a few hours ago completely dug up the field.]

Just as I had expected.

It was a perfect match.

Wild boars and water deer.

They were the ones who ruined our garden.

They must have come because they were starving,

but they were still villains who made all the sweet potatoes we planted yesterday inedible.

I looked up what to do if you suffer damage from wild animals.

It said that if you contact the Environmental Sanitation Department, a local government official would come, assess the damage, and decide how much compensation to give.

I considered calling, but decided not to.

It was still winter.

Yet our garden was already overflowing with all kinds of crops.

No matter how you looked at it, it was impossible for plants to grow this fast just by transplanting seedlings.

If someone saw this scene, they would be full of questions.

A government official would be no exception.

Being suspected by someone was not a good thing.

Especially when the situation was abnormal.

‘We need a fence—no, a wall.’

We needed a wall.

That way, animals like wild boars and water deer couldn’t trespass so easily, and it would also prevent people from getting suspicious.

At first, I thought about asking the workers building the hanok pension to do it.

But this was something that had to be done quietly, without anyone knowing.

In the end, it seemed I had no choice but to ask Deomdeom for help.

‘Hoya, ask Deomdeom if he can build some kind of wall around the garden.’

[He says it’s not difficult. He’s asking if he should do it right now.]

‘Yeah. Build it right now.’

[Got it. I’ll tell him.]

The area around the house was still quiet.

But soon, the workers would start gathering.

We had to finish before then.

I hadn’t expected the crops to grow this fast either.

For now, I had no choice but to trust Deomdeom.

After hearing Hoya’s words, Deomdeom started rolling around.

Then, in an instant, he disappeared.

Huh?

Weren’t you going to build the wall?

Then, from far away, Deomdeom came rolling back at incredible speed.

Normally, he was only a little bigger than a fist, but now his body had grown as large as a human head.

Deomdeom returned with his whole body swollen, opened his mouth, and began spewing out dirt.

Guuoooo—

The ground shook.

The terrain surged upward.

And an earthen wall began rising around the garden.

Before I knew it, the wall had reached ankle height.

Deomdeom returned to his original size and rolled again.

After he went back and forth several times like this,

a wall as tall as a person’s waist had been built.

“Wow.”

In just a few minutes, Deomdeom had created a fortress around the garden.

“Deomdeom, you’re really amazing.”

Between how he plowed through the field yesterday and what he showed today,

he deserved a big thumbs-up.

[…]

Deomdeom looked at me with pitiful eyes.

Hoya, acting as his spokesperson, looked at me and said,

[He’s hungry. He wants to eat something tasty. He’s asking for twice as much of the junk food you gave him last time.]

“Alright. I’ll make sure to get it for you.”

Soon, it looked like I’d have to visit a nearby waste disposal site and bring Deomdeom lots of presents.

But for Deomdeom to leave this place, he would eventually need to make a contract with me.

What worried me was whether I could form a contract with Deomdeom, who had difficulty communicating.

‘Can Deomdeom and I make a contract?’

[If I act as your agent, you can.]

‘Alright. I want to make a contract with Deomdeom!’

[Wait a moment. I’ll ask him first if he wants to make a contract.]

A little later, Hoya spoke to me.

[He’s asking if you can give him junk food often if you make a contract.]

Bangul made a contract because she wanted to go to New Zealand with us.

As for Hoya—

Bangul insisted she had to come along, so he was forced into it.

Icey made a contract with me because he wanted to stay by Bangul’s side.

Each of them had their own reason for making a contract.

And Deomdeom wanted compensation from me.

But what he wanted wasn’t a big deal.

Junk food—trash, in other words.

That wasn’t hard to provide.

Even now, people often illegally bury waste on others’ land because they don’t want to pay disposal fees.

If I took Deomdeom there and let him eat the illegal waste?

It would be an eco-friendly way to get rid of it, and the land would become fertile thanks to Deomdeom—killing two birds with one stone.

‘Deomdeom, I’m counting on you.’

[…]

I made a contract with Deomdeom.

My fourth spirit.

Come to think of it, my family had grown quite a bit.

Bangul, Hoya, Icey, and Deomdeom.

I wanted to meet even more spirits in the future.

‘Come to think of it, what is Icey even doing these days?’

Ever since returning from New Zealand, I hadn’t seen Icey much.

I should check on him soon and see what he’s been up to.

Mom and I harvested the vegetables from the garden together.

Crops that had grown in just one day.

They looked fresh and full of nutrients.

More than anything, they smelled incredible.

I could smell nature itself, mixed with the scent of soil.

‘At this rate, we don’t even need to buy ingredients from the market.’

Originally, the plan was to serve the garden produce to customers who arrived early, and use ingredients ordered from the wholesale market to make up the shortage.

The land was only about 200 pyeong.

No matter how much we harvested, there would be limits, and it would be hard to serve over a hundred customers a day.

But just looking at today’s harvest, the amount was enormous.

It was worthy of being called blessed land.

After finishing the harvest, dripping with sweat, Mom headed to the kitchen.

She was going to make side dishes with the freshly picked vegetables.

I helped her beside the counter.

“Son, look at this. Doesn’t it look delicious?”

“It really does. We didn’t even season it much, but it still looks amazing.”

I couldn’t resist and tried some freshly picked lettuce.

“Wow.”

There was a gentle sweetness to it.

And that wasn’t all.

Suddenly, my body felt energized.

The pain in my stiff shoulders and lower back was cut in half.

Even my wrists, which had been worn out from editing for days, felt much better.

Mom’s eyes widened in surprise.

She was older than me.

She must have been feeling the effects even more strongly than I was.

“I think I understand why the wild boars and water deer came down to the garden.”

This was on a completely different level from what we had eaten before.

Back then, the effects were mild.

But now, it was different.

The fertile land created by Deomdeom.

And Bangul had watered the crops planted on it.

The earth spirit and the water spirit.

The synergy created by the two was incredible.

At this level, you could practically call it a cure-all.

Of course, the effects didn’t last forever.

To maintain them, you had to keep eating the food.

Eating it for just a day or two only gave temporary effects.

“Don’t you think the customers’ reactions today will be amazing?”

“Yeah. They’ll all love it, right?”

“Of course. It’s delicious, and it’s good for your body. There’s no reason not to like it.”

Until now, our restaurant had been praised mainly for three things: stir-fried pork, rice, and soybean paste stew.

The side dishes, on the other hand, were generally considered above average.

In fact, many customers came to Happy Restaurant more often for dinner than lunch.

That was because stir-fried pork and soybean paste stew were only served in the evening.

But starting today, things would change.

After tasting the freshly made side dishes, both of us were confident.

“Uh? Was there always a wall over there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think it was there just the other day…”

The construction workers, who came early in the morning and then headed to Happy Restaurant for lunch, tilted their heads when they saw the wall surrounding the backyard.

Yesterday had been a day off for Happy Restaurant.

So they had taken a day off work too.

Until a few weeks ago, they would still work, but since Happy Restaurant was closed, they had no choice but to go all the way down to Bukyeong Restaurant at the village entrance to eat lunch.

And the food there had been terrible.

Unlike Happy Restaurant’s glossy, savory rice, Bukyeong Restaurant’s rice tasted ordinary.

After that day, they decided to take breaks on the first and third Wednesdays of every month.

Those were the days Happy Restaurant was closed anyway.

So after two days, they were back at Happy Restaurant.

But now, a wall they had never seen before was there.

They wondered who had built it and when.

“I heard they were growing a vegetable garden inside that wall. Maybe they built it to keep wild boars and water deer from coming down.”

They didn’t think much of it and went inside the restaurant.

More than anything, they just wanted to eat a good lunch quickly.

They handed their meal tickets to the owner’s son at the counter.

“Oh? You came again today. Thank you, both of you.”

“Of course we’d come here. Where else would we go? We want to come for dinner too, but there are so many customers we don’t even dare. The kids keep begging to eat the ramen they had last time. Man, that’s been driving us crazy.”

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry. But as time goes on, the number of customers should go down, and evenings will be more relaxed.”

It was true that although the restaurant had once been overflowing with customers, the numbers were slowly decreasing.

“That’s a relief. We’ll definitely come with the kids next time.”

“Yes, alright. I’ve received your tickets. Take as much as you want and eat to your heart’s content.”

The two nodded and picked up their trays.

They took small portions of the side dishes, lots of soup, and piled their rice high.

The rice and soup were delicious, but the side dishes were usually average, so many customers served themselves like this.

But today would be different.

One of the workers, who had brought his kids before, mixed his rice into the soup and took a spoonful.

As soon as he tasted the rice, a happy expression spread across his face.

Then, when he picked up one of the side dishes with his chopsticks—

The twist began.