Seo Sowoo also looked aggrieved, but he only dared to mutter under his breath, "I don't know who was the one always sneaking into the kitchen first. At least I help out in there! Unlike someone who just comes to steal food..."
The moment he finished speaking, a hard flick landed on his forehead.
"You dare to talking back to me now, huh?! You brat, I'm warning you—if you don't catch at least three… no, five rabbits today, forget about eating dinner! Your portion of food is mine!"
Bok Taejin: ???
That's all they had to do?
There were several hunting teams in the village, each consisting of five to eight people.
Im Beomhyeon was a special case—he could join any hunting trip whenever he wanted, and when the mood struck, he would drag Seo Sowoo along.
The only person who could order Im Beomhyeon into the mountains was Second Uncle, and that only happened when winter was approaching, and the village didn't have enough meat stocked up.
If the situation ever got that dire, though, Im Beomhyeon wouldn't need to be told—he would march into the mountains every day on his own to make sure he could continue eating well through the winter.
Just like now. Although it was only late autumn, they had already begun preparing for winter.
Some of the meat stored for more than half a year needed to be consumed first.
It wasn't quite the twelfth lunar month yet, so it wasn't the best time for making cured meat.
However, the village's rice fields had just been harvested, and there were freshly dried straw stacks, it was perfect for making fire-roasted meat.
Therefore, every year, shortly after harvesting rice, the people of Hwayang Village would frequently go hunting in the mountains to make fire-roasted meat.
At the same time, they would prepare their winter vegetable harvest—either storing it for the cold months or fermenting it into pickled vegetables and salted greens.
By the time their preparations were mostly done, winter would already be upon them.
The last hunt for making cured meat would take place in the twelfth month, after which it would no longer be suitable to go up the mountains.
At that point, they would stay in the village for the winter.
Given the hunting achievements of the village's hunting team, Bok Taejin believed that catching three to five rabbits should be an easy task for Seo Sowoo.
But when he saw Seo Sowoo's constipated-looking expression, Bok Taejin immediately knew it wasn't that simple.
Thinking about it further, he realized something was off.
Based on Seo Sowoo's age, he should be a permanent member of the hunting team.
Yet, he always helped out in the kitchen, which didn't quite fit.
The village's hunters were all strong and sturdy, and even when they weren't hunting, they would work in the vast farmland doing heavy labor.
How could someone like Seo Sowoo be an exception?
For now, however, Bok Taejin couldn't find an answer.
Im Beomhyeon had already taken Seo Sowoo and the others up the mountain.
Bok Taejin finished another bowl of porridge and two buns before heading off with Second Uncle to check on the whiteradishes.
Some members of the cooking team also wanted to tag along.
Bok Taejin glanced at Second Uncle, and since the old man had no objections, he had no reason to refuse either.
As a result, a rather lively group—both men and women—headed toward the back of Im Beomhyeon's house.
Bok Taejin and Second Uncle walked in front, surrounded in a semicircle by the others.
The white radishes were thriving.
Compared to when Bok Taejin had checked them earlier that morning, they seemed to have grown even taller.
But the sun was already up.
The llants needed sunlight for photosynthesis, and growing faster during the day than at night seemed natural.
The villagers were clearly startled by how quickly the crops were growing.
They only knew that Im Beomhyeon had planted one batch the day before yesterday and another batch yesterday.
However, who would have thought that the white radishes would grow this fast after being planted?
Heo Taegeon, who had come to take a look, clicked his tongue in amazement. "My goodness! These things grow faster than weeds! Even in summer, weeds don't grow this fast!"
The difference in growth between the two batches was obvious to everyone.
With just one more day, they could clearly see how much they had grown.
Everyone started chattering about it, but Second Uncle remained silent.
He crouched down and examined ten radish plants one by one, his brows furrowing and then relaxing, only to furrow again.
Bok Taejin initially wanted to ask Second Uncle for his opinion, but seeing his serious expression, he decided to let him think in peace.
The others, sensing the old man's deep contemplation, also refrained from speaking, afraid of disturbing his thoughts.
Heo Taegeon even tugged at Bok Taejin's sleeve and whispered, "Don't interrupt Second Uncle. He always does this. Whenever he makes that face, he's thinking about something really important. If you interrupt him, the consequences will be terrifying!"
Seeing Heo Taegeon's lingering fear, Bok Taejin didn't even dare to joke around.
He simply nodded his head in agreement.
While Second Uncle couldn't be disturbed, Bok Taejin himself could be questioned.
Thus, after marveling at the white radishes' growth, everyone turned to Bok Taejin with a barrage of questions.
As usual, he gave them a half-truthful answer, saying that these were spirit seeds left behind by his master and that he had no idea why they grew so fast.
With that explanation, the others stopped questioning it.
Instead, they excitedly started calculating how many days it would take for the radishes to be fully grown, how large they would be, and how many people they could feed.
Someone even joked about whether a single radish could be big enough to make a dish for the entire village.
The others laughed and called it wishful thinking, saying that it would probably take ten radishes to do that.