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 didn’t 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 didn’t 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... let’s not say it’s 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 didn’t matter. The work was...

Drip, drip, drip.

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 there’s 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 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.

“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.Findd new stories on nov/e(l)bin(.)com

“Let’s 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 Sejun’s 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 don’t hate you, you know.”

He especially gave the scallions plenty of water.

When he finished watering,

“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 Sejun’s 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 didn’t 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 what’s 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 rabbit’s 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.

“What’s going on here?”

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