After the Storm
The world was quiet again.Too quiet.
The night after the Blightfang attack, the air smelled of smoke and iron. The moon hung pale above the farm, casting silver light across what remained — half a field, a shattered irrigation line, a single surviving scarecrow listing to one side.
Jaehyun crouched beside the smoldering remains of the bok choy plot. His fingers traced the blackened earth. "You worked so hard…" he murmured.
Tiny sprouts pushed weakly against the ash, trembling but alive.He should've been proud. He felt nothing but hollow ache.
The children were safe.The baby, Bongyu, was asleep again, nestled inside a crate padded with blankets.His siblings were tending to repairs, using mana barriers to contain what little energy was left.
But Kim Kitae — the old man who had once boasted he could "outgrow weeds with sheer willpower" — lay unmoving near the barn.
Jaehyun approached slowly, his breath catching. The old man's shield still shimmered faintly, a cracked dome of pale green. It had protected them through the worst of the attack.
"...Old man?" Jaehyun's voice was quiet. Too quiet.
Kitae's eyes flickered open, dull with exhaustion. "Still… standing, eh, Farmer?"
"Don't talk," Jaehyun said sharply. He pressed a glowing hand against Kitae's chest. "You'll be fine. Just—just hold on."
His healing aura flared. The wounds closed. The burns faded.
But the coughing didn't stop.
Blood stained Kitae's lips. His breath rattled.
"Inside…" Jaehyun whispered, horrified. "It's… internal. I can't—"
The green light sputtered. His hands shook.
Kitae chuckled weakly. "Told you… I'm too old for this…"
Hana knelt beside him, face tight. "Hyung, there's no priest here. Even if we send for one—"
"He'll be gone before they arrive," Jinwoo finished grimly.
Jaehyun looked between them, desperate. "There has to be something. Some potion, relic, anything—"
Kitae's hand lifted — rough, trembling — and patted Jaehyun's arm. "Stop. Don't waste it on me."
"Don't say that."
The old man smiled, faint and cracked. "You've got… green hands, kid. Use them for the living. Not the dying."
The shield shimmered again, collapsing into dust. He'd been keeping it up even now — protecting the farm, the children, Jaehyun.
"Why didn't you let go sooner?" Jaehyun whispered.
"Couldn't," Kitae said simply. "Kids… were behind me."
His chest rose once. Twice. Then didn't rise again.
Jaehyun sat there long after the others carried the body away.His aura flickered uncontrollably — green sparks bleeding into the soil.
He had healed countless scratches, burns, and broken bones.But now he realized the truth of his power: it couldn't save everything.
Hana crouched beside him, eyes red. "You did what you could."
Jaehyun didn't look up. "No. I didn't."
Jinwoo said nothing. He just put a hand on his shoulder — and that silence spoke louder than comfort ever could.
Dawn came gray and silent.The farm workers — children, elders, Jaehyun's siblings — gathered before a newly repaired terminal that flickered with a system message.
[Chain Quest: The Seed of Salvation — Phase 1 Activated]Destination: Ruins of Sector 12-A, Central ContinentObjective: Locate the "Root Core" — a pre-collapse relic of pure mana life.
Warning: hostile guilds detected en route.
Jinwoo exhaled. "So it begins."
Jaehyun stared at the prompt. His reflection in the holographic glass looked… older.He accepted.
[Quest Accepted: Party Leader — Choi Jaehyun]
"Pack light," he muttered. "We leave by sunset."
Just before departure, Jaehyun found the hooded recruit — the quiet druid-like newcomer from before — kneeling near the rebuilt greenhouse.
"Name?" Jaehyun asked.
The man bowed his head. "Seol Aran."
"What can you do?"
Aran pressed his palm against the soil.The ground responded instantly — twisting roots spiraled up, not green but silver, pulsing like veins of moonlight.
Jinwoo whistled. "Never seen that before."
"Silver growth," Aran said softly. "I can accelerate mana conduction through living matter. Plants, beasts… even people."
Jaehyun's brows knit. "So, what, a natural amplifier?"
"Or a very effective weapon, if misused," Aran said quietly.
The air between them tensed — both knowing they'd need that kind of power soon.
By late afternoon, the Green Guild was ready.Children watched from the gate, waving, clutching seed packets as charms.
Hana checked the transport. "We're short on rations again."
Jinwoo shrugged. "We'll forage."
Jaehyun shouldered his hoe, now wrapped with talismanic vines. "Forage, huh? Great. I'll try not to cry when the bok choy ghosts haunt me."
Jina smirked. "You cry, I'll post it."
He glared. "You wouldn't."
"Watch me."
Even as they joke, the air held something new — a tension that wasn't just fear.Purpose.
Before leaving, Jaehyun paused by a small mound beneath a young sunflower.No headstone. Just soil.
He set a seed on the ground, pressing it gently. "You said to use my hands for the living, old man. I'll do that."
The seed glowed faintly — green light merging with the dirt.
As he turned to leave, the sprout began to grow — slow, steady, unwavering.Just like Kitae.
Their vehicle hummed across the wasteland. Ahead, the horizon glowed faint red, where cities had collapsed and dungeons had taken root.
Inside the transport, the new recruit, Aran, stared out the window. "You feel it too, don't you?"
Jaehyun glanced at him. "Feel what?"
"The earth shifting. Like it's waking up."
Jaehyun closed his eyes, leaning back against the window."Let's hope it wakes on our side."
Outside, the cracked ground pulsed faintly — as if something beneath the world had just opened its eyes.
"The Old Man's Funeral"
The funeral was simple.No priests, no holy rites — just a hand-dug grave, a field of wild marigolds, and the scent of wet soil.
The survivors gathered quietly as the first drizzle began to fall.
Jaehyun stood still, shovel in hand, watching the last handful of dirt fall over Kim Kitae's rough wool blanket. The man who'd cursed the weather more than anyone else was now part of it.
No one spoke for a long time.Even the wind seemed to hesitate.
Then the silence broke.
"—Aaaaaaaa!"
The cry ripped through the air, raw and furious. Bongyu, the youngest, was in Hana's arms, kicking and thrashing, face red and streaked with tears.
He'd been calm through the entire burial until now — until the moment the shovel's final scrape sounded.Now he wailed, small fists pounding the air, as if trying to claw back someone he could no longer see.
The others watched, helpless.
Jaehyun swallowed hard. Bongyu didn't have words yet — but somehow, he knew.He knew there would be no more loud laughter echoing across the farm.No more Kim Kitae stomping barefoot through puddles, carrying him around half-naked like a trophy melon, shouting,
"Look at this fat little miracle! Future guildmaster of Green Farm!"
Now that voice was gone.And in its place — only the rain, and a child's wailing that refused to stop.
Hana's hands shook as she tried to soothe him. "Shh… Bongyu, shh, it's okay, baby—"But the crying grew louder.
Jaehyun turned away. His vision blurred.He didn't know if it was from the rain, or the fact that the old man's laughter still echoed faintly in his head.
Later, when the others had gone, Jaehyun stayed behind.He knelt by the grave, pressing a small seed into the earth — one of Kitae's favorites, a stubborn sunflower that always grew no matter how poor the soil.
"Sleep well, old man," he whispered."Your field's safe now."
Behind him, Bongyu's cries had finally turned into small hiccups — exhausted, heartbroken sounds.
Jaehyun glanced back, voice rough. "Hey, kid. We'll… we'll keep the farm growing, okay?"
Bongyu stared at him with tear-blurred eyes and reached one chubby hand toward the grave.
The sunflower sprout shimmered faintly, as if responding.