Darkness fell throughout the village, and the sll of cooking at ho died down.
After dinner, residents gathered one after another at a hall in the center of the village.
Today everyone gathered to discuss the issues related to the wild wasps.
Originally, it would be a village eting where I would not participate, but since I had decided to get involved in the wasp problem, I inford Uncle and Brother Junho about the consultation with Director Lee and headed to the hall with them.
Many villagers had already settled down.
We headed for a corner where there were not many people.
So of the villagers were bothered by the gathering, but most of them seed to be interested in the wasp issue and actively participated.
Among them, a man in his 50s with a virtuous impression stood out.
He moved from one person to another and talked loudly.
He was talking so loud that his face turned red even before the start of the eting.
Junho leaned toward and whispered in my ear.
Do you rember him?
Who is he?
Dont you rember the guy that sends snacks and toys to our elentary school? Its Kim Changsoo, the richest man in the village.
Ah.
I rembered after Junhos explanation.
There were sotis people who sponsored our rural elentary school from where I graduated, and that man was the most famous of them.
They lived here for generations and had a lot of influence, and his family was the so-called maintainers of the region.
"I didn't know when I received snacks and toys that he was such a black-hearted person"
..
"That's the guy who actively pushed for building a factory in the village. The village governnt agency is full of his acquaintances, and even in the political arena, his personal connections are no joke. Rumor has it that the investor who is building the factory is also a close relative of that man."
Naturally, I didnt get a good impression of the man nad Kim Changsoo from Junhos explanation.
A short scenario was roughly drawn in my head on how the situation was going.
The intention to build a factory against opposition in a peaceful rural village did not seem very good.
"Now, now, now! I think everyone has arrived. So why dont we get started."
The village head with a generous atmosphere stepped forward.
The noisy atmosphere gradually cald down.
"Today, we are holding this eting in accordance with the request of the villagers and executives. As you all know, the agenda is about the increasing damage caused by the wasps."
As soon as the village head's brief explanation was over, one of the villagers jumped up and spoke out.
"How long are you going to keep talking like this? There are more than five elderly people in the ergency room this month because of the wasps."
"Calm down for now."
"How can I calm down? You said you will take care of the wasp's issue, but there have been no signs of things getting better. Am I wrong?"
No!
Then how can you expect to be calm!?
Many residents supported the angry cry.
The village head turned pale in the ferocious atmosphere.
It shows how much the villagers were driven to the edge by wasps.
Before the Village head could calm the noisy atmosphere, Kim Changsoo, stepped forward and drew everyones attention.
"Everyone! Don't say an things to the village head. The county office has already let go of this issue and even the request to the guild failed. It's not an easy problem to solve."
"Then, what are we going to do now?"
"As I told everyone last ti, if you can help a little bit, I'll try to reduce the damage as much as possible with continuous support."
RUMBLE.
Kim Changsoo's words created a stir in the crowd.
As soon as the topic of construction of the factory ca, an expression of anguish appeared on the faces of the villagers, but the atmosphere seed to flow toward accepting Kim Changsoo's proposal.
Kim Changsoo continued,
"You think it's bad to build a factory? There are plenty of good things, too. Once jobs are created, many young people will co in, and once active investnts pour in, the governnt will be able to attract developnt support.
People who expressed disapproval began to look shaky at the confident attitude of that person.
At that ti, Uncle stood up and shouted.
"Don't mislead people with aningless words!"
"aningless words?!"
"Even if you build a factory and there's a job, will young people in the city co here?"
"Even if active investnt poured in and governnt support followed, isn't it obvious that it will be profitable only for those who invested money, not for the villagers?"
Kim Changsoo's face distorted at the logical rebuttal.
"If you dont like my plan, do you have one? If so, tell !"
"Of course, I have a plan!"
"?!"
Uncle answered confidently and looked at next to him.
Although his eyes full of trust were a little burdenso, it was inevitable since I decided to solve the problem myself.
When I got up from my seat, people naturally looked at .
"Hello. My na is Lim Sihyeon. I don't know if any of you rember. It's my father who once used to raise cattle and ran a farm in this village."
My introduction raised the buzz among the villagers.
"Whose son is it?"
"That's Lim's son who was raising a cow outside the village." I heard he ca back with his mother since it was his father's anniversary."
"It must have been hard without your father. He has grown up nicely."
When the buzz died down a little, I opened my mouth again.
"It's been a long ti since we left the hotown. I heard you're having a hard ti with the wasp problem. Even though Im not living in the village now, I want to help the village where my father lived his whole life."
Most of the villagers were friendly to my story.
In particular, elderly people looked at with teary eyes.
Of course, not everyone responded positively.
Kim Changsoo and so people stared at with expressions of disapproval.
The village head asked , calming down the uproar.
"Its Sihyeon, right? I appreciate the desire to co back to the village and help us after a long ti, but how are you going to help us specifically?"
"I belong to a guild. I think I can borrow the help of so powerful awakeners there."
As soon as I was done answering.
One of the villagers who looked at with an incredulous expression complained.
"You an you're going to get our money and call those high-horsed guild awakeners again?"
The villagers' expressions hardened slightly as soon as the money story was bought.
However, my explanation imdiately reversed the mood.
"I don't think I'll need any financial help from the villagers because I'm planning on doing it personally."
"It doesn't cost any money?"
"Is it true?"
The village head looked at with wide eyes when I said they didn't have to pay.
The person who made a complaining noise was greatly embarrassed, and he began to say whatever ca to his mouth and tried to find a flaw.
"Does it make sense that we don't need to pay for it? Aren't you just bringing in scamrs?"
I frowned at a very malicious question.
I answered him in a slightly stiff tone.
"My guild is called Guardians Guild. It is one of the best guilds in Korea. Don't worry about that."
"I looked it up earlier and its an amazing place. It's a place thats not only recognized in Korea but also abroad."
When Junho ca forward and added an explanation of the Guardians Guild, expectations began to rise on the faces of the villagers.
"If it's such a famous place, we should trust it."
"Huh, I never thought there was such a successful figure from our village."
"He had a bright look since he was a kid even though he caused a lot of accidents here and there."
I knew he would succeed like this."
Kim Changsoo and so people frowned.
They glared at as if I took away their rice bowl.
Uncle and Junho smiled pleasantly at the people's reactions.
Thanks to the positive response of the villagers, Kim Changsoo got pushed out, and I took the lead.
The village's eting ended earlier than expected, and Kim Changsoo, who seed offended, hurriedly left the room with so of his followers.
On the contrary, the village head and the elderly, who felt better, flocked around .
Before I knew it, they had a drink and a glass in their hands.
This ti, I couldn't get out like before, and I had to drink along with them.
When I barely got out of the hall, there was a bright moon above my head.
"Uh-huh"
I opened my eyes with a throbbing sensation in my head.
Even though I controlled the alcohol recomnded by the elderly as much as possible yesterday, I felt like I drank a little more than my original drinking capacity.
The unpleasant feeling of a hangover rushed in after a long ti.
While looking around with blank eyes, I realized that this was the living room of Uncle's house.
On my left, Junho was still asleep snoring, and on my right, Speranza in pajamas was sticking to .
When I ca in late at night, only Junho and I fell asleep here, I think Speranza ca here in the middle of the night.
Are you up?
My mother appeared from the kitchen with sothing in her hand.
Oh, Mom.
Ughhhhh! The sll of alcohol! How much did you drink with Junho?"
"I didn't drink it because I wanted to. I just took what the elderly gave ."
"I got so honey water. Drink this and hurry up, go wash up. Junho's mom is making breakfast right now."
Yeah.Okay."
I drank the honey water my mother made and slowly got up from my seat.
After covering Speranza with a blanket to prevent her from waking up, I quickly washed in the bathroom.
When I ca out of the bathroom, Junho, who woke up, was receiving honey water from my mother.
He opened his mouth in a completely hoarse voice, saying,
"Uh Are you okay?"
"It's better after drinking honey water and washing up."
"Uhhhhhh! I'm dying. Those elders don't know when to stop once they start drinking."
"Get up and wash up. Co on!
"Ah, alright. Don't push like that! My head shakes."
I sent Junho to the bathroom and organized the blanket.
And Speranza, who was still asleep, woke up slowly.
"Speranza, you have to wake up now. Dont you want to eat breakfast with grandma?"
"Um Papa"
Speranza moved her body slowly and ca into my arms.
I laughed softly at her cute sleeping habit.
"Aren't you going to have breakfast with grandma? Grandma would be disappointed."
"Uh I'm going to eat With grandma"
She twisted her body once while sleep-talking and then opened her eyes.
When I slightly pinched the chubby and warm cheeks, the focus returned to the dim eyes.
Are you up now?
Un.
I straightened her frizzy hair that stood up, by hand.
"I'm going to say good morning to grandma."
"Okay."
Eunyul ran away screaming,
"Grandmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The admiring voices of my mother and aunt ca from the kitchen.
It was probably very cute from the morning.
When I was about to clean up the rest of the blankets, the ringtone of my phone that I left at my bedside rang.
Who is it? This early in the morning
I checked the na on the screen and took the call.
And as soon as the call was connected, a familiar voice ca out.
Where are you?
"What's this nonsense from the morning?"
Answer , where are you?
I was speechless for a mont because of the stubborn question, however, I soon cald myself and answered.
"I'm in my hotown."
I know that because I heard that. I've arrived at your hotown town hall. Where should I go?
"what?"
What are you so surprised about? You said you needed help.
"No but "
I was once again at a loss for words as everything was going much faster than I thought.
(To be Continued on Sept 5{MON})
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