"Urgh... Bleeegh!"
Chilbok's dry heaving echoed through the marshland from early dawn.
In front of a pit we had temporarily dug beside the shack.
Chilbok had gone beyond merely holding his nose. He had wrapped his face round and round with his clothes.
"B-Big Brother... please save me. This truly isn't something a person should have to do."
"Stop being dramatic. Open the lid."
"Ugh... Manseok, you do it. I really can't..."
Chilbok slowly backed away.
Manseok did not look pleased either, but with his usual steadfastness, he lifted the lid off the jar.
WHOOOOSH—!
The moment the lid opened, an unbearable stench exploded forth like invisible poison gas.
It was a hellish fragrance of rotten fish, sewers, and the strangely sharp sting of ammonia.
"Cough! Cough!"
Manseok coughed as tears streamed down his face.
"The smell... it stabs my eyes, Big Brother!"
I acted calm, but I was holding my breath as well.
This was the special liquid fertilizer I had ambitiously prepared over the past ten days.
It was a highly concentrated nutrient mixture fermented from assorted fish caught in the marsh, frogs Chilbok had caught, rotting reed water, leaf mold, and, as a bonus, the urine of all three of us(...).
It was rich in nitrogen, making it perfect for growing leaves and stems.
In modern agricultural terms, it was like pouring in urea fertilizer.
"Nice color."
I stirred inside the jar with a long stick.
The thick black liquid heaved.
Bubbles rose to the surface, showing that the fermentation had gone perfectly.
"What... exactly is that? Is it shit water?"
Chilbok shouted from far away.
"It's more precious than shit water. Let's call it a growth potion."
"A... potion?"
"It's like medicine that makes you taller when you drink it. Of course, if a person drinks it, they die. If you give it to plants, they grow like crazy."
I took out two dippers.
"All right, dilute it. Mix one part of this with ten parts water."
Holding our noses, we mixed the liquid fertilizer with water.
The smell eased a little once diluted, but it was still foul.
"Let's go to the field."
We carried buckets sloshing with fertilizer water to the field.
It had been fifteen days since sowing.
The field looked different from how it had on the third day.
At first, the pale green dots had been scattered about, but now they had grown thick enough to erase much of the soil's color.
The radish leaves had grown as large as an adult's palm, while the rice had sprouted several sharp leaves and was preparing to tiller.
"Spread it."
"Yes!"
Manseok splashed fertilizer water over the plants with a dipper.
Black droplets fell across the leaves and seeped into the soil.
"Drink lots and grow big~"
Manseok had apparently grown used to the smell, since he was even humming.
Such a simple fellow.
Just then, villagers passed by beyond the ridge between the fields.
An old man sniffed the air and frowned.
"Good grief, what's that smell? Is that household scooping shit again?"
"How pungent. At this rate, they'll kill someone."
The villagers waved their hands and hurried past.
Yet their eyes kept glancing toward our field.
Even while cursing us, they could see it.
Their own fields had only just sprouted or were growing weakly, while the crops in our foul-smelling gravel field were strikingly dark green and full of life.
"Big Brother, they're insulting us."
Chilbok watched their reactions.
"They say getting cursed makes you live a long time. Ignore them."
I looked over the field with satisfaction.
Once this liquid fertilizer went in, the growth rate would begin accelerating from today.
As though the crops had been fitted with turbo engines.
***
That afternoon.
It was time for a meal as sweet as honey after labor.
A meal had been set out on the raised bench in front of the shack, which Manseok had roughly woven from reeds.
This was no longer a meal of grilled frogs and grass roots.
There was steaming mixed-grain rice.
Not a single grain of actual rice had been mixed in. It was a rough meal of millet, barnyard millet, and barley, but at least the bowls were piled high.
There was also stir-fried freshwater shrimp seasoned with salt, as well as dressed cattail shoots.
"Thank you for the meal!"
Manseok lifted his bowl and shoveled the food into his mouth as though drinking it.
He chewed with his cheeks bulging to the point of bursting, like a starving bear.
"Slow the hell down. Who's going to steal it from you?"
Chilbok scolded him, yet he polished off his own bowl as well.
I took a spoonful too.
The rough millet rolled about in my mouth, but the more I chewed, the richer it tasted.
More than anything, the feeling of being full was blissful.
Buying food with that one silver tael had been a masterstroke.
"Big Brother."
Manseok asked with rice stuck around his mouth.
"Can we really eat those plants? I understand the radishes, but that rice... will it really produce grain?"
Manseok still looked half doubtful.
Rice growing in a gravel field was impossible according to Goryeo's common sense.
"It will produce grain, all right. And lots of it."
I picked up a side dish with my chopsticks.
"The villagers are all running out of food now, right?"
"Yes. When I went to town yesterday, I saw people already digging up grass roots and tree bark. The price of rice is like gold."
Chilbok answered.
It was now the fourth lunar month. The beginning of the spring hunger season—the barley famine.
The food harvested in autumn had run out, while the barley was not yet ripe. It was the season of death.
A time when poor commoners starved to death.
"Don't worry about us. While everyone else struggles with hunger, I'll make sure you eat until you burst."
"Really? Are we going to eat white rice?"
"White rice and meat soup. I promised, didn't I?"
Manseok and Chilbok's eyes gleamed at my words.
Simple, but the most powerful motivation.
"So use that food energy and work. This afternoon, we're weeding."
"Ah... yes..."
The two of them's shoulders slumped.
***
One week after spreading the liquid fertilizer. (Day 22 after sowing)
The changes were astonishing.
The effect of the liquid fertilizer was immediate. The crops that had drunk in the nitrogen began to grow wildly.
The growth of [Great Peace No. 3 (Super Radish)] was especially terrifying.
"B-Big Brother... please come look at this."
Chilbok, who had been making his morning rounds, came running over with his face pale.
"What? Bugs again?"
"No! The radishes... the radishes are strange!"
"Strange?"
I followed him into the field.
Then an involuntary laugh escaped me.
"Ha ha..."
The radish leaves had grown to knee height.
Ordinary Goryeo radishes had slender leaves that spread sideways, but these ones had broad, sturdy leaves standing straight toward the sky.
They looked more like plants from a tropical rainforest.
Even more astonishing were the radish shoulders rising above the ground.
The upper portions of the white radishes had begun emerging as they pushed through the soil, and their thickness was anything but ordinary.
"Big Brother, are these really radishes? Isn't a tree trunk growing here?"
Manseok tapped one of the radishes with a thick finger. It was hard.
"That's right. But they're a little big, aren't they?"
"They're not a little big! They're monsters! The radishes in the village fields are only this big!"
Chilbok held up his little finger.
That was right. The village's traditional radishes had only just produced a few true leaves.
But our radishes had already entered the stage where their roots thickened.
An ultra-fast-growing variety that could be harvested in forty days.
Only twenty days had passed, yet they were already showing signs of being ready for harvest.
"At this rate... we might pull them up to eat in fifteen days."
As I muttered, Manseok swallowed.
"Are we eating all of those?"
"We'll eat them all and still have plenty left to sell."
That was when it happened.
"Young Master!"
Someone called from beyond the ridge between the fields.
It was the Village Chief. Behind him, several strong village men carrying plows had stopped as well.
Their expressions were pure shock.
Only a week ago, they had laughed and said, "Grass has grown."
But what spread before them now was a forest of gigantic crops, so dark green that they were nearly blue-black.
The Village Chief started to enter the field, then hesitated.
He had been overwhelmed by the harsh smell of liquid fertilizer and the imposing vitality of the crops.
"W-What kind of crop is this? It's too big to call a radish..."
The Village Chief's voice trembled.
I leisurely plucked off a radish leaf.
Then I bit into the leaf stalk.
CRUNCH.
Juice burst out with a refreshing sound.
Ordinary radish greens were tough and fibrous, but these leaves were tender enough to eat like a salad.
"They're radishes, Village Chief. They simply grow rather well."
I held out the radish leaf I had been chewing.
"Would you like to try it? It's sweet."
As though entranced, the Village Chief took the leaf and put it in his mouth.
He chewed it slowly, then his eyes opened wide.
"What...? Sweet juice comes out of the leaves?"
"Really?"
The village men behind him began murmuring.
Their faces had turned yellow from hunger. At the sight of fresh vegetables, their eyes almost went wild.
"They aren't fully grown yet. Once they are, I'll give you one each, so wait patiently."
I gently ushered them back out of the field.
"I'm raising these with my secret method, so you mustn't come close. It'll bring bad luck."
"Ah, all right... What a strange thing..."
The Village Chief and villagers left, but they kept turning around to look back.
Their gazes had changed.
The ridicule and mockery were gone, replaced by fear and greed.
There was food in that field.
And plenty of it.
"Big Brother."
Chilbok spoke in a low voice. He was quick to notice things.
"Those people's eyes don't look good. What if they come steal crops at night?"
"Let them come."
I chewed and swallowed the radish leaf.
"Manseok is here if they do."
"Pardon? Me?"
Manseok flexed his muscles.
"And..."
I looked at the scarecrow standing tall in the middle of the field.
Chilbok had made the scarecrow, but I had secretly altered it a few nights earlier.
"They won't be able to enter carelessly. The rumor that this is haunted land will protect us."
***
That night.
The moon was hidden behind clouds, and the night was pitch-black.
Rustle. Rustle.
There was a presence by the ridge between the fields.
Just as Chilbok had expected, some petty thief from the village who could not endure hunger—or perhaps someone consumed by curiosity—had crept in.
I opened my eyes inside the shack.
I considered waking Manseok, then decided against it. He was tired, so I should let him sleep.
Instead, I grabbed the cord I had prepared beforehand.
It was a thin string, like fishing line, connected from the shack to the field.
Rustle.
Footsteps entered the field.
'Now.'
I yanked the cord hard.
The scarecrow in the middle of the field clattered strangely.
At the same time, the empty jars I had placed inside it struck one another, producing a deep resonant sound.
WOOOOOM—CLATTER! SCREEECH!
Mixed with the wind from the marshland, it sounded like a ghost wailing.
"Aah! G-Ghosts!"
"Save me!"
Screams rang out in the darkness, followed by the sound of people crashing down.
Three or four people tangled together, rolled about, then ran away with frantic footsteps.
"Pfft."
I released the cord and lay back down.
"Big Brother... didn't something make a noise?"
Chilbok, who had been awakened, asked sleepily.
"It's frogs. Go to sleep."
"Ah... yes..."
The field was safe.
And it was growing steadily.
I dreamed.
A dream in which a radish grew as large as a person and bowed to me.
***
One month later. (Day 35 after sowing)
At last, the day had come.
Before the morning dew had even dried, I stood in the furrow.
Lush leaves rose to my thighs.
And massive radishes showed their white bottoms above the soil.
Each one was as large as the torso of a small child.
I grabbed the leaf stem of the one that looked the fullest.
"Manseok, Chilbok. Are you ready?"
"Yes, Big Brother!"
The two of them watched, swallowing hard.
It was time for the harvest.
"I'm pulling it!"
With a shout, I pulled.
SCHLOOOP—!
With the pleasant sound of soil parting, a beautiful white radish came free.
It looked easily fifty centimeters long. Its heavy weight settled in my hands.
"Woooow!"
Manseok let out a cheer.
"This is crazy! It's really crazy! Big Brother, is that a radish or a club?!"
Chilbok jumped up and down.
"Great Peace No. 3. The first harvest."
I roughly brushed the dirt from the radish and tossed it to Chilbok.
"Wash it. Let's taste it."
A short while later.
A clean, white radish sat before us.
I cut it into thick slices with a knife. Moisture dripped from the cross-section.
We each took a piece.
"Eat."
CRUNCH! CRACK!
The instant I bit down, cool moisture exploded through my mouth.
It was barely spicy, sweet and crisp like a pear.
It tasted even better than the Jeju winter radishes I had eaten in South Korea ten years ago.
"Wahh... Big Brother..."
Manseok suddenly burst into tears.
"Why are you crying? Does it taste bad?"
"No... It's so delicious... I've never eaten a radish this good in my life... It tastes like honey..."
He chewed the radish as tears streamed down his face.
Chilbok also seemed overcome, unable to continue speaking.
"It's sweet... really sweet... To think it grew from eating dirt and shit..."
I took another bite as well.
It was sweet.
And filling.
This one radish could fill a belly even without barley rice.
And there were thousands more just like it in this field.
I looked toward the village.
To those people still struggling through the barley famine and digging up grass roots, these radishes would be an unimaginable shock.
"All right, if you're done eating, get up."
I sprang to my feet.
"Now it's time to make money. Manseok, take up the carrier. We're going to town."
"Yes, Big Brother!"
Our first harvest.
It was a new beginning for the foolish young master abandoned by the Choi Clan of Cheorwon.