Chapter 3: Sprouting

Crunch.

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

Ahh.

As 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.

Swallowing his saliva.

Sejun wiped the flowing sweat and continued to chew the scallion. However, the expected sweetness didnt come.

I thought the sweetness would be stronger because the spiciness became stronger

It seemed that the taste had become entirely spicy.

Gulp.

When he swallowed the scallion, the spiciness disappeared cleanly. Fortunately, it didnt upset his stomach.

I can eat the scallions when I crave something spicy.

Crunch.

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

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

Crunch. Crunch.

Sejun, 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.

Well lets not say its absolute. I was a little hopeful.

He 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 didnt matter. The work was

Drip, drip, drip.Aall west chptrs on n.o./vli/n/(.)cm

Briefly watering the crops and

Staring blankly at the hole in the ceiling.

Still, something had appeared to relieve his boredom.

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

Do scallions usually grow this fast?

He 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.

Is it because they were grown in the tower?

There 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.

But theres no growth from these guys.

Sejun 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.

However, there was no change in the ground.

Is this soil only suitable for growing scallions?

With a suspicious mind, he looked more closely.

Huh?!

Upon 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.

Ah!

There it was!

(i)

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

One, two, three

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

Hehehe. So cute.

He 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.

*****

Beep-beep. Beep-beep.

[May 15th, 6:00 am]

Sejun welcomed the 6th days morning. Yesterday, he spent the whole day just looking at the cherry tomato sprouts. They didnt grow as fast as the scallions, but watching them grow little by little over time made him feel full even without eating.

Ha!

Sejun 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.

Lets see. Have our sprouts grown a lot?

As 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.

Oh!

()

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

Crunch. Crunch.

Sejun mercilessly broke off the scallion leaves.

Phew.

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

Splash! Splash!

He quickly finished washing his face and

Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.

filled 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.

I dont hate you, you know.

He especially gave the scallions plenty of water.

When he finished watering,

Gurgle.

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

Time to eat breakfast.

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

Crunch. Crunch.

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

His stomach didnt feel empty, nor did he feel drained of energy. Somehow, it felt like carbohydrates were being absorbed.

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

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

Looking 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.

No one can predict affairs. Who would have thought that he would be stranded in an unknown place like this?

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

Thud. Thud.

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

And then,

Trickle, trickle.

Grow big and strong.

He 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.

The sky is nice.

The 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.

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

I never really looked at the sky for days when I was working at the company Im living a good life.

However, that feeling was short-lived.

I feel like somethings missing. If only I had coffee here

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

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

Beep. Beep.

He 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 couldnt completely prevent battery consumption.

Lets charge it with this for now.

Se-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.

Blink.

The 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 hadnt finished at the company and had intended to complete at home.

Click.

Se-jun closed the Excel window without any hesitation. Of course, he didnt save anything. Although it was an estimate he had worked on for several days, he didnt feel any regret. Besides, it was already too late.

Someone else will do it instead.

He felt a little sorry for the person who would take over, but it wasnt a situation where he could do anything about it.

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

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

No matter how many times he looked, it made him feel good.

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

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Water dropped from above.

What? Is it raining?

Se-jun knew that wasnt the case, even as he spoke. Apart from a few floors, the tower always had clear weather.

Could it be a monster?!

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

But,

Huh?!

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

Is that a monster too?

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

Squeak!

As the rabbits eyes met Sejuns, it let out a cute cry and jumped down from the hole.

Boing.

Uh?!

Its Dangerous!

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

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

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

At that moment,

Squeak.

The 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.

Can you eat this?

Squeak!

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

Here.

Snap.

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

Squeak!

Crunch. Crunch.

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

Snap. Snap.

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

From 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.

Crunch. Crunch.

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

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

Uh?!

( )

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

How much time had passed?

Gurgle.

The 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.

At that moment,

Squeak?

Feeling Sejuns gaze, the rabbit woke up with a start.

Shake.

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

And then,

Squeak!

It jumped with a powerful cry.

Flick.

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

Squeak.

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

You just eat and run away.

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

While Sejun waved, the rabbit left.

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

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

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

Grow up, guys.

A little later,

(Y)

As 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.

Beep. Beep.

[May 15th, 10 PM]

The alarm to announce the evening rang.

However, he didnt want to sleep tonight. He wanted to keep watching the seedlings grow and then fall asleep.

!

Splat. Splat.

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

Huh? What is it?

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

Umm, what time is it?

Sejun checked the time.

[May 16th, 5 AM]

It was an hour earlier than his usual waking time.

But whats with your outfit?

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

At that moment,

Squeak.

Another rabbits cry was heard.

Huh?

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

And then,

Nod.

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

Whats going on here?

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

Chapter end