Sihon stood there wondering why the old lady was staring at him the way she was. When she finally spoke, she addressed the bird sitting on his head and asked whether the bird was his pet, and it was her words that made him realise there was a crow perched up there. Jong expressed his surprise, saying that in all his long life he had never seen a crow sit that comfortably on anybody's head.
The village chief finally told him that she was there to see whether he was having any trouble with the house. Sihon asked her what she meant. She pointed out that the house was run down, and admitted that when she heard a young man from Seoul was moving in, she had wondered whether it might be uncomfortable for him.
He was surprised to realise that the village chief had only come to visit because she was worried. He had been uncomfortable at first because of her sharp look, but it turned out she was a warm person. He told her that the house needed some repairs but had no major problems, and he thanked her for checking on him.
Just then Jong noticed that he had set up a garden, and Sihon suggested they take a look. Jong got there and was left in shock that the things planted only days before had already sprouted that much. Sihon quickly cleared the air to avoid suspicion, saying he had planted seedlings, and the old man replied that the seedlings must have been very healthy.
Sihon took solace in the fact that he had not lied, since the tomatoes and carrots had been seedlings and the grapes had been saplings. The village chief expressed her surprise that he had planted all sorts of things, when she had expected a city boy like him to grow nothing but lettuce. He told her he had to eat a lot of vegetables because he was trying to reduce his weight.
The village chief then shocked him by telling him that he actually looked handsome as he was, so he must have girls lining up for him. Jong asked whether there was anything else he needed, and the question confused Sihon. Jong pointed out that he was from the city, so it was obvious he would know nothing about country life.
He urged Sihon not to struggle on his own and promised that he would help if he was asked. Sihon was glad he had asked, and let him know that he did need a favour. The favour was the construction of a greenhouse, and the village chief wasted no time putting somebody on it. Soon afterwards the structure was finished, leaving Sihon completely blown away.
He mentioned that he was planning to grow various flowering plants, and that some of them should not be exposed to rain. Seeing how passionate he was about plants, the village chief decided that he must know a great deal about flowers, and she told him she had an orchid at her house that was wilting. She asked whether he would like to take a look at it whenever he was free, and he agreed to do so.
A moment later Jong suggested that they leave, because his animals' feeding time was getting closer. As they were about to go, the village chief urged Sihon to work hard on his farming, because it might bring in some good money for him. He thanked her for the advice and wished them a safe trip back. And so Sihon got his own greenhouse, and he began to take his content creation more seriously.
He wasted no time recording a video inside it, showing everything he had in there and giving a detailed explanation of how he planned to tailor the sun's exposure to each plant's needs. Then he paused the recording to use his nature force to stimulate the activity of the living organisms in the soil, driving the earthworms and microbes into motion to enrich the ground.
He picked up a handful of soil to examine it and was blown away by how active it was, which was something he had not seen in a long time. In his past life as a druid he had lived in the heart of an oak forest, close to a vast plain of wide wheat fields, and the crops he had known were olives, grapes, apples and pears.
This mountain, though, was full of rare edible mushrooms and a great many medicinal herbs. Sihon was completely overwhelmed at the thought of growing so many different things. Since there was a limit to what he could learn from the internet, he decided that buying some books and studying properly would help. Just then he received notifications from the video he had posted, and to his surprise they were all positive comments.
He was blown away, because he had never expected that kind of reaction. He had assumed people would not be interested in a personal, boring video. As it turned out, people were still drawn to a real story. It was as if they were experiencing the whole journey with him, curious, using his journey as motivation to change themselves.
With everything going so well, Sihon had to admit that coming to the countryside had been the right idea. The following morning he checked his weight and was surprised to see that he had gone from a hundred and fifty kilograms to a hundred and twenty-nine, a loss of twenty-one kilograms. His body was also getting stronger, even though he had not done all that much.
If he kept this up, he would regain his health in no time. He picked up his phone to record his daily vlog and told his viewers that he planned to water the garden. After that he would visit his neighbour's house, because the old man had said he had something to give him. He also told his viewers that he would like to do a question-and-answer session with them as he walked.
The first question was how tall he was, and he replied that he was a hundred and eighty-three centimetres, assuring them it was accurate because he had been measured at a hospital. Another viewer asked whether he used pesticides, because in his last video there had been bug bites on his perilla leaves. Sihon replied that he did not like pesticides or chemical sprays and would rather avoid them, since he ate whatever he grew.
He did have plans to use the mint he was growing to keep the bugs away, and he let them know that mint gave off a scent that pests hated.