Ch.4343. Destroyed Village

After eating, I sat at the doorway looking at the sky, drinking a cola and talking with Kim Soo-jung.

It’s funny how family works—Soo-jung and I were practically enemies.

I rarely left my room except to eat or use the bathroom, and whenever I did, we’d end up arguing and fighting.

Some say siblings don’t necessarily have bad relationships, but that’s just how it was between us.

I don’t remember much from when we were younger.

Around puberty, I became completely absorbed in Farming World, and I have almost no memories from before that time.

But now, barely two weeks after receiving the Secret Farming Map and gaining abilities, here I am sitting side by side with Soo-jung—the same person who couldn’t stand me—having a serious conversation on this empty farm.

“Oppa. Actually, I was grateful? That guy was really annoying me.”

Soo-jung brought up how I dealt with that older guy who was harassing her in the dungeon.

“I just stepped in because he was causing trouble, not specifically for you.”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

She said her change in attitude wasn’t just because of that incident.

“And with the glass stone too. I think I didn’t understand you enough. I mean, you’ve been playing games since you were young. Maybe you just never had the opportunity… I felt a bit sorry.”

“…It’s not like that.”

My thoughts and attitude toward Soo-jung haven’t changed.

I tease her and treat her roughly simply because she’s my little sister, and that hasn’t changed much even now.

I gave her the glass stone because she’s family, and I didn’t need it. I figured she might get beaten up somewhere, so I just gave it to her—not out of any special consideration.

“The reason I go into dungeons is because it’s really fun. I enjoy exploring and adventuring in this new world. And I make money while doing it, so I’ve been trying to do well. I’ll work hard here, so please hire me, boss.”

“So that’s your conclusion.”

“It’s better to have someone trustworthy managing things, right? I learned a lot of cooking from mom, you know?”

“Hmm.”

After eating dinner, I had to admit her cooking did taste like mom’s.

“You’re the one who wanted to do this.”

“Don’t go easy on me because I’m family—work me hard! But in return, you have to help me hunt here later.”

That was the extent of our serious conversation.

We both knew there wasn’t much point in talking about working hard when we hadn’t even properly started yet.

Still, Soo-jung enthusiastically brought up various topics.

“Oh, Oppa. This place would be fun to broadcast. Any plans for streaming?”

“I’ve been thinking about it.”

Actually, when I first awakened, one of my first thoughts was becoming a streamer and getting people’s attention.

An SSS+ rank hunter.

I figured I’d get attention just by opening the farming window, but how much more attention would I get by showing beings from the Rift Dimension?

With that in mind, I had brought a body cam for recording.

“If you record, I’ll edit it for you.”

“Did you eat something weird?”

“Come on, seriously.”

We decided to do some recording when we felt like it, and that’s how Soo-jung’s first day at the farm came to an end.

———————

I woke up early, left the farming to Soo-jung, and headed straight to the village.

Since I had already cleared the path, it didn’t take long to get there using Leap Slash.

At the village entrance.

Stone walls that only looked impressive on the outside surrounded an empty village.

It was obvious at first glance that nobody lived there.

There were quite a few buildings and stone roads, but no living beings.

It clearly had been abandoned for a long time.

Places that were obviously a blacksmith, vegetable shop, seed shop, and so on.

The typical village shops you’d see in Farming World.

[Main Quest]

[Village Restoration]

[You’ve discovered a ruined village. It appears to have been abandoned for a long time, but restoring it could be very helpful.]

[You can revive the village by using Farm to infuse it with life energy.]

[You can revive the village by purifying the chaotic energy.]

[Let’s revive the village by choosing one of these two methods.]

[Reward: SSS+ Ability Selection Ticket x1, Farming Stat Points 20, 10,000 Farm, A-Rank Random Accessory Box x2, Achievement Points 3]

“What?”

In Farming World, the village hall restoration quest was a main quest that took about a year to complete.

It wasn’t difficult or challenging enough to take a year, but rather it was a quest to revive the village hall by gathering necessary items, including various resources that could only be obtained in specific seasons, so you inevitably had to wait until winter to complete it.

But here, there weren’t even any NPCs, just a ruined village. I was curious how it would progress, but unlike Farming World, it seemed I wouldn’t have to wait a year to proceed more quickly.

There were two methods:

One was to revive the village using Farm.

The other was to purify the chaotic energy.

“This is tougher than I thought.”

If it were just about gathering various resources, most could be found in level 0 biomes, so it would just take time investment. But using Farm would be difficult in my current state, as it’s not easy to obtain apart from what I’d get from completing quests.

In terms of hassle, it’s certainly easier than waiting a year while gathering resources and growing worthless crops.

As I approached each shop, I could see how much Farm was needed:

[Blacksmith: 500 Farm needed for restoration]

[Seed Shop: 500 Farm needed for restoration]

[Tavern: 1,000 Farm needed for restoration]

Considering I only had 1,200 Farm, reviving the entire village was out of the question.

“I’ll have to go with removing the chaotic energy.”

It’s not entirely impossible if I complete various sub-quests, since the 1,200 Farm I’ve collected came from completing a few tutorials and the Big Rats dungeon quest.

Clearing the goblin village would give 3,000 Farm, and there are various sub-quests… even just completing the basic system tutorials from Farming World that I haven’t bothered to activate yet would give enough Farm to revive the entire village.

But Farm is a precious resource.

Reviving the village isn’t the end—once NPCs move in, you need Farm for recovery herb seeds and various other things, so using Farm to revive the village isn’t ideal.

If there’s a way to do it with physical effort, that’s the better choice.

And purifying the chaotic energy was the perfect option for me.

[Remove the ‘Corrupted Tree’ where chaotic energy has gathered in the level 0 biome south of the village]

[Quest completes upon defeating the ‘Corrupted Ogre’]

“That’s easy.”

Not all the information matches what I know.

The ‘Corrupted Tree’ didn’t exist in Farming World, and I’ve never heard of a ‘Corrupted Ogre’ monster either.

But looking at the rewards, I can tell:

“This should be easy, right?”

Surely there won’t be an S-rank monster in a level 0 biome.

I accepted the quest right away.

There was no reason not to.

I’ll check out the Corrupted Ogre, and if it’s too much, I can always use Farm instead.

I need to progress the main quest eventually.

That’s how the next main quest appears and how I can encounter new quests in the next level biome.

Above all, the rewards were insane.

“Wait, wasn’t the SSS+ rank just a one-time opening gift?”

Honestly, I thought even one SSS+ rank was already excessive.

That’s how difficult the map should be.

Or so I thought.

“So this isn’t a hardcore map but a map where the host gets free money?!”

My excitement wouldn’t settle down, which was rare for me.

When rewards exceed the difficulty, people get high on dopamine and stop fearing the danger.

The sense of achievement is greater when you take risks for rewards beyond what you expected.

“20 farming stat points, 10,000 Farm, two A-rank accessory boxes, and 3 achievement points…”

The rewards were packed with valuable items.

“I’ve got a slave for farming now. Time to get serious.”

My motivation is burning.

All the complicated thoughts in my head have been neatly organized.

My ultimate goal?

Why do I need something like that?

Even when I played Farming World for 10 years, I didn’t set some grand goal like building my own kingdom.

From the beginning, this lazy good-for-nothing doesn’t live with long-term goals or clear plans.

If I have any strength, it’s that I chase immediate benefits and big dopamine hits without giving up.

After 10 years of building my map, it was chosen by something—a god or whatever—and I received this map.

So maybe continuing in the same way isn’t wrong this time either.

I immediately returned to the cabin and took out my emergency potion.

“Are the goblins here?”

“Huh? No. What’s that for? Where are you going?”

“The house is going to get bigger today, so have some beef ready for dinner.”

I drew my sword and asked Lulu:

“Where do those goblin bastards live?”

“That’s…”

“If you don’t know, just guess a direction.”

“East…maybe?”

I immediately started running east.