n

n

nCrunch.

nThe scallion leaf was cut off with a pleasant sound, easier than expected. The texture was good as well.

nAhh.

nAs soon as he chewed the scallion, a spicy taste spread throughout his mouth. His body warmed up from the spiciness. His pores opened and sweat poured out like rain.

nSwallowing his saliva.

nSejun wiped the flowing sweat and continued to chew the scallion. However, the expected sweetness didn’t come.

n‘I thought the sweetness would be stronger because the spiciness became stronger…’

nIt seemed that the taste had become entirely spicy.

nGulp. .

nWhen he swallowed the scallion, the spiciness disappeared cleanly. Fortunately, it didn’t upset his stomach.

n‘I can eat the scallions when I crave something spicy.’

nCrunch.

nSejun continued to eat the scallions, which only had a spicy taste. For now, he had to satisfy his hunger.

nSo, Sejun seemed to have eaten about a foot of scallions while dripping with sweat. Somehow, the more he sweated, the lighter his body felt.

nCrunch. Crunch.

nSejun, who filled his stomach with scallions, mercilessly broke the scallions that provided shade in his spot. It was not because he was venting his anger since there was no sweetness at all.

n‘Well… let’s not say it’s absolute. I was a little hopeful.’

nHe laid the broken scallions in a place well-exposed to sunlight. Today, he started his work a little late because of the scallions, but it didn’t matter. The work was…

nDrip, drip, drip. 𝘦𝑎.𝒸ℴ

nBriefly watering the crops and

n“……”

nStaring blankly at the hole in the ceiling.

nStill, something had appeared to relieve his boredom.

nWhen he stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, the scallions had grown significantly in the meantime.

n“Do scallions usually grow this fast?”

nHe even checked the time on his smartphone to see if it was just his imagination. The scallions grew about 10cm per hour. An astonishing growth rate. Sejun, who had no farming experience, thought this was impossible.

n“Is it because they were grown in the tower?”

nThere was nothing else to suspect. They were just scallions that he had bought from the market. If the seeds had truly been scallions that grew 10cm per hour, they would have been called golden scallions.

n“But there’s no growth from these guys.”

nSejun glanced at the spots where he had planted cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes next to the scallions. If the soil was the reason for the scallions’ miraculous growth, then other things would grow well too.

nHowever, there was no change in the ground.

n“Is this soil only suitable for growing scallions?”

nWith a suspicious mind, he looked more closely.

n“Huh?!”

nUpon closer inspection, the soil where the sweet potatoes were planted remained the same, but the soil where the cherry tomatoes were planted seemed slightly bulging. Sejun lay down on the ground and stared intently at the bulging soil.

n“Ah!”

nThere it was!

n(…i…)

nA green stem with a shiny yellow head emerged shyly between the soil, revealing its appearance.

n“One, two, three…”

nThere were a total of 52 sprouts. Sejun stared at the cherry tomato sprouts for a long time.

n“Hehehe. So cute.”

nHe felt a sense of pride just by looking at the plants he had grown himself and seeing them grow so well. It made him feel accomplished.

n*****

nBeep-beep. Beep-beep.

nMay 15th, 6:00 am

nSejun welcomed the 6th day’s morning. Yesterday, he spent the whole day just looking at the cherry tomato sprouts. They didn’t grow as fast as the scallions, but watching them grow little by little over time made him feel full even without eating.

n“Ha!”

nSejun got up lightly from his seat. Lately, his body was getting lighter day by day. At first, he thought it was because the fatigue from overwork had been relieved, but recently, he began to think that it might not be the case.

n“Let’s see. Have our sprouts grown a lot?”

nAs soon as he got up, Sejun went to see the cherry tomato sprouts without washing his face or eating. He was very curious about how much they had grown while he was sleeping.

n“Oh!”

n(…”…)

nThe ends of the sprouts, their greenish yellow heads, were slightly split. However, a dark shadow blocked the sprouts. The scallions had grown back to Sejun’s height, blocking the light that should have reached the cherry tomato sprouts.

nCrunch. Crunch.

nSejun mercilessly broke off the scallion leaves.

n“Phew.”

nAfter breaking all the scallions, Sejun hurried to the pond.

nSplash! Splash!

nHe quickly finished washing his face and

nGulp. Gulp. Gulp.

nfilled a water bottle and plastic container with water to water the soil around the cherry tomato sprouts, as well as the scallions and sweet potato field.

n“I don’t hate you, you know.”

nHe especially gave the scallions plenty of water.

nWhen he finished watering,

nGurgle.

nHis stomach demanded payment, as if there could be no unpaid labor.

n“Time to eat breakfast.”

nSejun put a scallion he had just broken into his mouth.

nCrunch. Crunch.

nAfter eating only scallion leaves yesterday instead of sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes, he thought he could satisfy his hunger well enough.

nHis stomach didn’t feel empty, nor did he feel drained of energy. Somehow, it felt like carbohydrates were being absorbed.

nAnd, most importantly, there was plenty of it. Growing about 180 cm per day, there was actually so much that it was difficult to handle.

n‘For now, I need to dry them well and store them.’

nLooking at the current situation, it seemed unlikely that the well-growing leeks would suddenly stop growing, but Se-jun decided to prepare for the unexpected.

nNo one can predict affairs. Who would have thought that he would be stranded in an unknown place like this?

nHe decided to plant the remaining cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes for more food in the future.

nThud. Thud.

nSe-jun dug into the soil and planted the cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

nAnd then,

nTrickle, trickle.

n“Grow big and strong.”

nHe gave them plenty of water along with his encouragement and sat on his designated seat, a flat rock where the sun shined well. He felt a sense of accomplishment after doing something productive.

n“The sky is nice.”

nThe blue sky was clear and beautiful. The human heart was fickle, He thought to himself. Despite feeling suffocated yesterday, he found the sky to be pleasant today.

nCome to think of it, he had been staring at the sky for days.

n“I never really looked at the sky for days when I was working at the company… I’m living a good life.”

nHowever, that feeling was short-lived.

n“I feel like something’s missing. If only I had coffee here…”

nHe really wanted an iced Americano with an extra shot. He missed his city life.

nAs Se-jun looked at the sky, reminiscing about city life,

nBeep. Beep.

nHe received a notification that his smartphone battery had dropped below 20%. He had set the screen to low power mode and only looked at it when needed, but he couldn’t completely prevent battery consumption.

n“Let’s charge it with this for now.”

nSe-jun opened his laptop and pressed the power button. A smartphone that consumed less power than a laptop and informed him of the time to wake up and sleep was more useful.

nBlink.

nThe laptop screen lit up, showing an Excel window with work he had been doing. It was an estimate to send to a client, which he hadn’t finished at the company and had intended to complete at home.

nClick.

nSe-jun closed the Excel window without any hesitation. Of course, he didn’t save anything. Although it was an estimate he had worked on for several days, he didn’t feel any regret. Besides, it was already too late.

n“Someone else will do it instead.”

nHe felt a little sorry for the person who would take over, but it wasn’t a situation where he could do anything about it.

nSe-jun connected his smartphone and laptop and charged his phone. He also turned on low power mode for the laptop to reduce battery consumption.

nAnd while his smartphone was charging, he looked at the cherry tomato sprouts.

nNo matter how many times he looked, it made him feel good.

nAs he was watching the cherry tomato sprouts for a while,

nDrip. Drip. Drip.

nWater dropped from above.

n“What? Is it raining?”

nSe-jun knew that wasn’t the case, even as he spoke. Apart from a few floors, the tower always had clear weather.

n‘Could it be a monster?!’

nHe got goosebumps imagining a monster looking down at him and drooling. Se-jun hastily looked up.

nBut,

n“Huh?!”

nIn the hole in the ceiling, there was a small white rabbit, drooling as it looked down through the hole.

n‘Is that a monster too?’

nSejun was wondering if the rabbit he saw in front of him was a ferocious monster when suddenly,

nSqueak!

nAs the rabbit’s eyes met Sejun’s, it let out a cute cry and jumped down from the hole.

nBoing.

n“Uh?!”

nIt’s Dangerous!

nSejun instinctively reached out his hand towards the falling rabbit, not knowing if it was a monster or not.

nHowever, the rabbit adjusted its falling direction using its long ears, avoiding Sejun’s hand, stepped on his shoulder with both feet, and safely landed on the ground.

n“……”

nIt was quite embarrassing to have his hand outstretched in the air.

nAt that moment,

nSqueak.

nThe rabbit cautiously approached him while walking on two legs and pointed to the scallion with its trembling finger. Seeing it walk on two legs, it was not just an ordinary rabbit.

n“Can you eat this?”

nSqueak!

nThe rabbit answered, nodding its head vigorously. There was a desperate plea in its eyes for approval.

n“Here.”

nSnap.

nSejun broke off a whole scallion leaf and gave it to the rabbit.

nSqueak!

nCrunch. Crunch.

nThe rabbit started eating the scallion leaf Sejun handed over without hesitation.

nSnap. Snap.

nWhile the rabbit was eating the scallion, Sejun broke off more leaves. He decided to break them all.

nFrom then on, Sejun planned to cut the scallions once at 6 am and once at 2 pm so the cherry tomato seedlings could get some sun.

nCrunch. Crunch.

nThe rabbit was still eagerly eating the scallion. So far, it had eaten a length equivalent to two finger joints.

nSejun watched the rabbit and then looked back at the cherry tomatoes.

n“Uh?!”

n(…’ ‘…)

nThe tips of the cherry tomato seedlings were gradually opening. Soon, they would have leaves.

nHow much time had passed?

nGurgle.

nThe sound of the rabbit sleeping could be heard next to him. It seemed sleepy now that its stomach was full. Its soft snoring was quite cute.

nAt that moment,

nSqueak?

nFeeling Sejun’s gaze, the rabbit woke up with a start.

nShake.

nThe rabbit shook its head to get rid of its sleepiness.

nAnd then,

nSqueak!

nIt jumped with a powerful cry.

nFlick.

nThe rabbit held a scallion in one hand and easily climbed back up to the hole.

nSqueak.

nBefore leaving, the rabbit bowed its head to Sejun in gratitude.

n‘You just eat and run away.’

nAlthough it was ungrateful, Sejun waved goodbye. It was a brief encounter, but it was pleasant.

nWhile Sejun waved, the rabbit left.

n“……”

nEven though it was only for a moment, it felt empty.

nSejun left the emptiness behind and looked back at the cherry tomato seedlings.

nIn the meantime, the seedlings had gathered strength and spread their leaves even wider.

n“Grow up, guys.”

nA little later,

n(…Y…)

nAs if knowing Sejun was waiting, the cherry tomato seedlings began to unfold one by one, revealing two bright green leaves each. The sight of the delicate but vibrant leaves emerging was quite wondrous.

nBeep. Beep.

nMay 15th, 10 PM

nThe alarm to announce the evening rang.

nHowever, he didn’t want to sleep tonight. He wanted to keep watching the seedlings grow and then fall asleep.

n“…!”

nSplat. Splat.

nSejun woke up to the feeling of something lightly hitting his cheek.

n“Huh? What is it?”

nWhen he opened his eyes, the rabbit that had run away yesterday was slapping his cheek with its paw to wake him up.

n“Umm, what time is it?”

nSejun checked the time.

nMay 16th, 5 AM

nIt was an hour earlier than his usual waking time.

n“But what’s with your outfit?”

nThe rabbit wore a straw hat with holes for its ears to stick out and held a watering can in its hand.

nAt that moment,

nSqueak.

nAnother rabbit’s cry was heard.

n“Huh?”

nSejun looked towards the sound, and there was another slender rabbit wearing an apron.

nAnd then,

nNod.

nThe rabbit that made eye contact with Sejun politely greeted him.

n“What’s going on here?”

nDay 7 of being lost. Sejun woke up a little early, and a rabbit couple had joined the cave.

nUpdated from

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