Chapter 2

“Healing Farm Life?”

‘That’s the farm game I played in my hospital room, isn’t it?’

There wasn’t much a patient confined to a hospital could do.

With such limited options, what I mostly did was read novels and play games.

Healing Farm Life had been the most fun of the lot.

But the system floating in front of me wasn’t quite the same as that game.

So it wasn’t just a simple game interface—it was a full profile.

That wasn’t something the original game had.

What bothered me most… was that unknown blessing blacked out in little squares.

And why was Winterberg crossed out?

Looks like I had to click separately to see my stats.

And my skills were…

Purification, Cultivation?

“Purification… does that mean I can purify contaminated land?”

I hurriedly checked the skill description.

“Wow. It’s real.”

It was a shame it was only one pyeong, and only once a day, but still.

And “Cultivation” was, as the name suggested, a farming-related skill.

“…Sacred Touch?”

What’s that?

When I tapped it with my fingertip like I was touching a screen, the explanation popped up at once.

“Oh….”

It sounded downright broken. I didn’t even know what “special effects” entailed, but still.

‘Healing Farm Life was more realistic, and way harder.’

This system, though… it felt like it was just openly handing out cheat codes.

“Hm….”

After staring at the floating guidance message, I nodded after a moment and stood up.

If I wanted to survive here, I had to do whatever it took—even if the suggestion came from a system of unknown origin.

When I walked slowly up to the contaminated area, a pop-up appeared as if it had been waiting for me.

In this world, the root cause of “contamination” was something that had happened long ago: spirit hunting.

What was spirit hunting?

Exactly what it sounded like—catching spirits and killing them.

Chrrrk!

That was when it happened. The status window flipped like a page in a book, then transformed into something like yellowed parchment.

And as if someone were writing with a quill, the original story appeared, accompanied by a faint scratch-scratch sound.

「Spirits were beings that naturally faded away in time, but someone discovered a way to kill them and siphon their power, and thus ‘spirit hunting’ began.」

My eyes widened as I stared at the scrap of parchment.

It was actually explaining the original story for me this kindly!

Was this some perk for transmigrators, too?

「After the mad frenzy of spirit hunting ended, many regions across the continent were cursed by spirits and became contaminated.」

「In contaminated lands, flora and fauna can live on as usual, though their appearance becomes grotesquely altered. But it is impossible for humans to settle and live there.」

Everything produced in contaminated land was poison to humans.

You couldn’t hunt animals for food, gather plants for use, or even drink the water.

And farming? Not in your wildest dreams.

‘Not unless I purify the contamination’

I bent my knees and crouched down.

Pressing both hands against the polluted soil, I focused on purifying this exact spot—and whispered silently in my mind.

‘Purify.’

Instantly, a brilliant, iridescent light poured out from my hands.

“…!”

Startled, I stared wide-eyed.

The light seeped into the ground, then quietly faded away.

And the earth that absorbed it…

‘It turned from that dull blackish-purple into a nice, healthy brown!’

I scooped up a handful of dirt and ate it—no, I didn’t—and instead brought it to my nose.

Not the acrid stench of contamination, but the familiar scent you’d find in ordinary soil.

Exactly one pyeong had turned into healthy ground where crops could grow.

The area was small, sure, but this was incredible in its own way.

‘If I purify one pyeong a day for ten days, that’s ten pyeong…!’

And if I grew vegetables or fruit there, that would solve the food shortage!

“…But where am I supposed to get seeds or seedlings?”

It was at that exact moment.

The status window appeared again and displayed a message.

Oh. No way.

All I did was purify the ground—and it gave me coins as a bonus?

And there was even a shop! I had a feeling it would be incredibly useful.

Brimming with anticipation, I clicked [▶Enter Shop].

The window expanded, and a screen appeared that looked like an online shopping mall.

“Wow…!”

With my heart pounding, I browsed the items for sale.

Seeds, seedlings, saplings… It even sold mature trees? Fully grown fruit trees and flowering trees, too…. But they were insanely expensive.

‘I only have 10 coins…. This is brutal.’

How was I supposed to scrape together 2,000?

“Potatoes. Let’s buy potatoes….”

There were so many items that searching seemed faster.

When I tapped the search bar, a keyboard-like input window appeared, and I typed “seed potato.”

Chrrrk!

The screen changed quickly, and seed potatoes appeared at the top.

The price was…

‘Cheap!’

Compared to those suspicious trees with grand descriptions that cost thousands of coins, plain seed potatoes were dirt cheap!

“Good. Ten seed potatoes right now—!”

“H-Huh?”

A system message abruptly cut in.

Ah. Right.

‘Digging with bare hands would be a pain.’

After putting five seed potatoes in my cart, I searched for a hoe.

Several kinds appeared, large and small. The most basic one cost five coins.

‘That makes ten coins total. Perfect.’

It was a shame I could only buy five seed potatoes, but…

I put the hoe and potatoes in my cart and hit [Purchase]. The status window warped into something like a black hole, then spat the items out.

Five pieces of seed potato and a hoe, wrapped not in plastic or vinyl you’d see in modern society, but in paper.

…Well. Should I try planting them?

Cradling the seed potatoes and hoe like precious treasure, I ran to my makeshift field (1 pyeong).

---

Meanwhile, at the Duke of Winterberg’s estate.

Back in his office, Raul received a report from a servant not long after.

“We’ve delivered a month’s worth of daily necessities and food to the cabin. Everything’s been placed inside.”

“Good. You’ve done well. Leave.”

“Yes, my lord!”

In truth, the servant had stolen every last bit of the supplies and swallowed them down for himself, yet he lied shamelessly.

Because he believed it didn’t matter.

After all, surely the lord wanted that woman dead as well.

If that wicked woman starved to death out there, it would save the lord the trouble.

The lord had ordered him to go to the cabin once a week to check whether the wicked woman was doing well, but…

‘No need to bother. The Tierney bitch dying is what we all want.’

Only when the vile Muriel Tierney died would the duke finally be happy.

The servant believed that with all his heart.

After the servant left and closed the door behind him.

Raul lifted his gaze from the paperwork for a moment and looked out the window.

What was she doing now, that woman abandoned in a rickety cabin?

It would be hardship beyond what a Tierney daughter, who had lived in luxury her entire life, could bear.

‘She brought it on herself.’

If that wicked woman had truly just lived quietly at the Winterberg estate, none of this would have happened.

But Muriel committed evil after evil, and Raul could no longer tolerate her.

So even if she died out there…

“…….”

Raul lifted his teacup, then paused, his mouth hardening.

A memory of the first time he’d met Muriel surfaced without warning.

‘I-I’m Muriel Tierney….’

Her head bowed low as she mumbled in a timid, uncertain voice.

Through her emerald-silver hair, he’d caught a glimpse of ears tinged red.

Those clear green eyes that stole shy glances at him had held a kind of innocence.

“…….”

Raul took a sip of tea and let out a quiet, humorless laugh.

It had all been an act.

A disgusting woman.

And yet… he couldn’t be sure.

‘Do I really want her to die?’

…If she simply died out there, then everything would be neatly resolved.

He could break the peace agreement with Tierney, and the woman who offended his eyes would be gone.

Yes. So…

He shouldn’t care whether she lived or died.

Muriel Tierney—the wicked woman—was a blot he needed to erase from his life.

---

Footnotes

1. pyeong (평): A traditional Korean unit of area equal to approximately 3.3 square meters (~35.5 square feet). Commonly used to describe the size of apartments and rooms. ↩