At first, no one noticed.The fields still thrived. The air smelled faintly of earth and rain — real rain.
But Jaehyun began to feel it: a faint hum below the soil, like something breathing under his feet.When he tried to sleep, the floorboards pulsed softly — a rhythm too alive to be normal.
"Maybe I'm just tired," he muttered. "Or maybe the farm's trying to kill me."
Minho poked his head in through the door. "Son, why are you staring at the floor?"
"I think the ground is… humming."
Minho blinked, nodded gravely. "That's how music starts, Jaehyun. Congratulations."
"I'm being haunted by basslines, Dad."
The next morning, part of the field had turned black.Perfect circle. Perfectly dead.
No rot. No smell. Just… absence.
Yeonjin examined it silently, her light aura flickering as she knelt. "It's not decay," she said finally. "It's something absorbing life. Slowly."
Solaria, the sunflower, drooped. "The Underroot stirs…"
Jaehyun squinted. "The what now?"
"When mana and death mix too long, something beneath begins to move.It is hunger given form."
Jaehyun sighed. "Great. So, the planet has a stomachache."
Minho, hero instincts kicking in, puffed out his chest. "We need to investigate! I'll go first!"
Yeonjin: "No, dear. You panic when you see worms."
Minho: "That was one time—!"
Yeonjin raised a brow. "It was last week."
Jaehyun pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mom, Dad. Please. Not in front of the abyss."
Bongyu, still half-asleep, pointed at the dead soil. "Scary…"
Yeonjin picked him up. "Don't worry, sweetie. If anything bad comes out, your daddy will protect us."
Minho immediately hid behind her. "Emotionally, yes!"
Jaehyun reluctantly led the small expedition — Yeonjin, Minho, and Solaria — to the center of the blackened patch.They dug down. The soil was dry, then damp, then… empty.
A hollow space yawned beneath them, faintly glowing with sickly black light.
Jaehyun stared down the hole. "Fantastic. My farm has a basement now."
Yeonjin conjured a sphere of light. "Stay close."
They descended carefully, roots twisting like veins along the earthen walls.The air smelled of iron and rain — old, heavy, breathing.
And then… they saw it.
It wasn't a monster.It was a colossal root, black as obsidian, pulsing faintly like a beating heart.From it, smaller tendrils stretched into the soil — draining life, swallowing mana.
Solaria bowed deeply. "The world's core. Corrupted. It seeks to reclaim what we took."
Jaehyun took one step closer. "So you're saying my bok choy farm is sitting on a global death root."
"Precisely."
He sighed. "Perfect. Maybe I'll just open a coffee shop instead."
Yeonjin extended her aura to purify it — golden light flooding the chamber.For a brief moment, the blackness receded… then screamed.
The sound wasn't physical — it hit inside their skulls, a low vibration that made the air quiver.The root thrashed, cracking the cavern floor.
Minho grabbed Yeonjin's arm. "Pull back! It's reacting to light!"
Jaehyun, covering his ears, yelled, "Why does the ground sound like a broken vacuum cleaner?!"
Then — silence.The light faded.The root stopped moving.
For a moment, it looked like it was over.
Then a single whisper echoed in Jaehyun's head.
"Grow… me…"
He froze. "Did the evil root just ask me to farm it?"
They resurfaced, shaken but alive.Above ground, the black circle had spread slightly — small veins creeping into the soil.
Solaria's petals drooped. "It begins anew. The world's hunger remembers."
Yeonjin folded her arms, eyes serious. "If that corruption spreads, it will consume every green aura on the planet."
Jaehyun stared at his farm, then at Bongyu peacefully drooling in his sleep."Okay," he muttered. "We fix this. Somehow."
Minho saluted. "Operation Root Removal!"
Jaehyun: "Dad, this isn't plumbing."
As Jaehyun sat alone on the porch, the farm glowed faintly under the moonlight.The plants rustled — not from wind, but from awareness.And deep beneath, the black root pulsed once, whispering.
"You cannot stop growth. You only choose what kind it becomes."
Jaehyun sighed into the night, dragging a blanket over his head.
"Fantastic. I'm arguing with agriculture again."