They Told Me to Build Good Karma by Selling Side Dishes - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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79. Buckwheat Jelly Noodles (3)

I could not define the reason myself. Had I struggled to live, there would have been a path. But what lay immediately before me was death.

‘If I follow the Divine Being… will it be warm?’

The Dokkaebi tilted its head at the question. How long had it been since hearing the word warmth?

Decades? Centuries? I couldn’t say.

‘It won’t be warm.’
‘Then.’

The child lifted its head.

‘Will you abandon me?’
‘…No.’

The child carefully tucked the cloth back into its embrace. The Dokkaebi said nothing. It simply turned and headed toward where it would go next.

‘I will follow you.’

The child walked silently behind the Dokkaebi. The footprints left in the snow were small.

‘How small.’
‘The Divine Being is small too.’
‘Where?’
‘That’s just how you look.’
‘Heh.’

The Dokkaebi laughed softly.

‘A strange human, indeed.’

As the night deepened, the Dokkaebi kindled a fire. In the child’s hands was a small cloth bundle. Inside were half a piece of dried barley cake and a round rice ball of unknown origin.

‘Would you like some?’

Dokkaebi couldn’t eat even if he wanted to. Eating would upset his stomach.

‘Go ahead, give it to me.’
‘Yes…!’

The child eagerly held out the rice cake. How could I refuse when he was so delighted to give me just one cake?

‘Why do you follow me?’

Dokkaebi finally asked.

‘It’s better than being alone, isn’t it?’
‘Why did your parents abandon you? You seem quite useful.’

The child spoke quietly.

‘They said I was useless.’
‘Tsk.’

Dokkaebi clicked his tongue.

‘They simply don’t understand.’

The child carefully rose and sat beside him, extending his hand.

‘It’s hot.’
‘Be careful. I command fire, but fire is not warmth.’

The child nodded and didn’t withdraw his hand. Not until his fingertips turned red.

It was from that day onward.

‘I told you to be careful.’
‘But the Divine Being is here, isn’t he?’

Dokkaebi never allowed anyone close to him. But he allowed this child near.

The seasons flowed on without pause.

When spring arrived, the child would pluck wildflowers whose names I didn’t know and lay them before the Dokkaebi.

‘Are you leaving these here to kill me?’
‘No. Because they’re beautiful.’

When summer came, the child couldn’t bear the heat and clutched at the Dokkaebi’s sleeve.

‘What is it?’
‘It’s so hot….’

The Dokkaebi had no choice but to pull the child close and breathe cool air into them.

‘Better now?’
‘Yes….’

By autumn, the child’s height had grown noticeably. They laughed while treading on the Dokkaebi’s shadow, swept up fallen leaves, and kindled a fire.

‘Divine Being! Divine Being!’
‘What.’
‘Look, please.’

The child tossed the gathered leaves high into the sky.

‘Autumn snow.’

The way the child perceived the world was truly beautiful.

‘It is beautiful.’

And then winter drew near. When snow fell, the child now ventured ahead of the Dokkaebi.

‘It’s slippery here.’
‘I know.’

The child came to a halt on the snow-covered mountainside.

‘Let’s rest here.’
‘Why.’
‘There are many beast tracks. If we wait, they’ll pass.’

Gradually, the child learned to read the world. Through the way we survived together. The child wiped their eyes and stacked stones, creating a shelter from the wind.

‘Divine Being.’
‘Speak.’
‘When I grow bigger…’
‘When you grow?’
‘Can I call your name?’

The Dokkaebi pondered for a long time.

‘Do not.’
‘Then… even if I grow, is it okay if I just stay by your side?’

I did not answer that question. Instead, I placed my essence upon the child’s shoulders.

‘Let’s go.’

The child accepted my essence. That is how we crossed the winter.

When spring finally arrived, the child was no longer a child. Their steps were steady, and their gaze was crystal clear.

‘Should we plant this?’
‘We don’t know what will grow.’
‘But if we wait, something will come out, won’t it?’

I took the seed and buried it in the soil.

‘If you do, what will you give me.’

At this question, the child averted their gaze.

‘I don’t know.’
‘Tsk.’

As the seed grew rapidly, flower buds bloomed. They were wildflowers.

‘You take it.’
‘…Yes!’

The child who held the wildflower grew into an adult. They cherished it as though they had obtained the entire world.

‘Why do you insist on staying by my side? It would be better if you lived like everyone else.’
‘I like being next to you, Divine Being.’
‘You shouldn’t speak so carelessly.’
‘Why not?’

The Dokkaebi rose without a word. A body that could not live like a human, in human ways.

A body that could neither die together nor live together. Every time the child treated the Dokkaebi as human.

‘My way of life differs from yours.’
‘….’
‘Understand that.’

I thought the child would fall silent at this.

‘What do you like?’
‘…Buckwheat.’
‘Would you like buckwheat jelly noodles?’

Time flowed on, and human years accumulated upon the child’s body. Now they wore their hair up, and traces of laughter lingered at the corners of their eyes.

The Dokkaebi, however, remained unchanged. No matter how time passed, the Dokkaebi did not change.

But time, that transformation, was something humans could never overcome. It began with the smallest cough.

‘It’s fine.’
‘It is not fine. Let us visit a physician at once.’

The Dokkaebi took the child’s hand.

‘Divine Being.’

The child released the Dokkaebi’s hand. Instead, they comforted the Dokkaebi.

‘I suppose I’ve grown old as well.’
‘You’re still young to me.’
‘I must seem young to the Divine Being.’

The Dokkaebi hastily cradled the child in his arms and searched for a nearby healer.

‘The Divine Being said so.’

The child spoke in a tone as though releasing everything.

‘…What.’
‘That I cannot be by the Divine Being’s side….’
‘Why would you say such a thing? That was then.’

Tears spilled from the child’s eyes.

‘…I want to be by your side.’

The Dokkaebi held the child close and sat for a long time. No matter how much cold he breathed into them, it was a warmth that could not be undone.

Though the Dokkaebi’s time was endless, human time had an end.

‘…You may stay by my side.’
‘….’
‘You may stay forever. So….’
‘….’
‘Live on.’

It was the Dokkaebi’s true heart, spoken for the first time. Carrying the child, whose eyes were now completely closed, on his back, the Dokkaebi walked toward a distant place.

‘Do you know about the Dokkaebi?’
‘About what?’
‘There’s a Divine Being in a certain Mountain Village who loves humans.’
‘A Divine Being who loves humans? That makes no sense.’
‘It does. Go see for yourself.’

One need only go there.

When the snow ceased and spring arrived, the Dokkaebi looked back upon his time with the child.

‘You shouldn’t be here.’
‘…Divine Being.’
‘Why are you carrying a dead human? Lowly Dokkaebi.’
‘This lowly Dokkaebi has a request for the Divine Being.’
‘The Divine Being dislikes you.’

Hae-tae lifted a front paw and licked it with her tongue.

‘This child must be saved.’
‘If you save her? The Divine Being does not favor those who defy human time.’
‘…That is.’

The Dokkaebi could not speak. The Divine Being despised those who defied the world’s order. So if the Dokkaebi were to reverse human time, there was no telling what punishment would be inflicted.

‘The Divine Being said so.’
‘…?’
‘At least let her have a proper farewell.’

The Dokkaebi’s hand froze in the empty air. The world shifted before my eyes, and the child’s breath in my arms vanished. Yet her form remained. She lay quietly in my embrace, as if she had not yet departed.

‘Divine Being. Divine Being….’

The promise that if you wait, they will come.

‘You promised. You said if I wait, you’ll come.’
‘You….’

She smiled and pressed her hand to her chest.

‘The world. It was warmer than I thought.’
‘….’
‘So….’

She took one final step forward and embraced the Dokkaebi.

‘Divine Being… you’re not alone.’

That moment.

A spring breeze swept across the land. Wild flower petals scattered and dispersed, and her body dissolved among them. In the blink of an eye, nothing remained in my hands.

‘…What a terrible liar.’

She had said seeds would grow into flowers, that she would stay by my side.

‘But you….’

The Dokkaebi touched the wild flowers blooming where the child had vanished and spoke.

‘To me, you were a blessing.’

The Dokkaebi stood at her grave. The world flowed on as if nothing had happened.

Even as her time had stopped, spring remained in full bloom.

***

After hearing this past, I found myself unable to speak. The Dokkaebi gazed toward where Hae-tae had gone and continued.

“So there was nowhere else to go, and she rested well beside Hae-tae.”

The Dokkaebi looked beyond the Buckwheat Field and spoke. Even now, there was longing in that gaze.

‘Is this what it feels like to miss Grandmother Hyang-suk?’

“How was it? Glad you heard the story?”

I too gazed beyond the Buckwheat Field and answered.

“Yes. I’m glad. It’s… somehow comforting.”
“Comforting, you say?”
“I have someone I miss too.”

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through. I squinted my eyes as I gripped the buckwheat in my hands.

The buckwheat stalks all leaned at once, then straightened again.

“So I learned something too.”
“What?”
“That being by someone’s side isn’t everything—that remembering them is also a form of being by their side.”

For some reason, those words felt like gratitude directed at me.

“That’s right.”
“Hae-tae was kind, wasn’t he?”
“Kind… was… he?”

The Dokkaebi cut in with his response.

“What do you mean?”
“I had nowhere else to go, so I stayed by his side. You have no idea how much of a glutton and how rude he was.”
“Still no manners now, though….”

The mere fact that Hae-tae had made room beside him for a Dokkaebi with nowhere to go made him seem kind.

‘Is this what they mean by blood running thicker than water?’

I transferred the bundle of buckwheat to the cart.

“Want to know a secret?”
“What is it?”

The Dokkaebi spoke in a low voice toward Hae-tae, who was approaching from a distance, deliberately avoiding his gaze like a horse.

“Hae-tae hated humans.”
“Hated… humans?”
“Yeah. To be precise, he didn’t trust them.”
“How so?”
“Humans approach and then leave. Even if they make promises, even if you give them your heart, they eventually let go and depart. Hae-tae witnessed that far too many times.”

He must have lived far longer than I had.

‘I suppose that makes sense.’

“That’s why I didn’t give myself to him. I deliberately acted cold, needlessly pushed him away first. It hurt less that way.”
“….”
“Hae-tae only ever believed in the Divine Being.”

I unconsciously gripped the buckwheat stem tightly. Buckwheat seeds scattered from my palm.

“That’s why I found it strange.”
“…Strange how?”
“Your behavior toward him is different.”

The Dokkaebi continued speaking without looking at me.

“You never acted this way toward the human from before. Probably.”
“…Probably?”

I wanted to hear more, but Hae-tae returned.

“I’ll tell you that when we eat the buckwheat jelly noodles.”
“What are you talking about?”

The Dokkaebi laughed softly.

“See? Right now too.”
“See what right now?”

Hae-tae looked up at us. His nose wrinkled as if displeased.

“I told you not to say pointless things.”
“It’s not pointless.”
“That’s exactly what makes it pointless.”

Hae-tae said nothing more and came closer, then flopped down beside us.

“Are the frog and Squirrel doing okay?”
“Meow.”
“We’re going to leave the Dimensional Space now….”

I carefully lifted Hae-tae and placed him on the cart.

“Let’s go. We need to dry the buckwheat.”
“You harvested S-grade?”
“Yeah. I was harvesting the whole time we were talking.”

I pushed the cart out of the field and glanced back over my shoulder.

“Aren’t you coming too, Dokkaebi?”

The Dokkaebi blinked, still gazing at the field.

“Of course I am~”

The marks left in the snow gradually receded behind us. The boundary of the Dimensional Space began to come into view. The snow beneath my feet grew thinner, and the border between the otherworldly space and reality became sharply defined.

“What were you saying earlier?”

Hae-tae rested its chin on the edge of the cart, eyes narrowing to slits.

“Who knows.”

I chuckled and tilted my head with a puzzled expression.

“I learned about Dokkaebi’s past.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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