Healing in the Country Side with a Baby Dragon - CHAPTER 26 (Like a Fairytale)

I couldn't make a massive decision like this all on my own, so my first move was to summon the village elders, including our village chief.

On her end, Han Ga-ram called in her secretary, her legal team, and various staff members to help facilitate the contract. We all agreed to meet under the large apple tree stretching over my garden. When the Hanseong employees first arrived, they looked completely out of their depth, but they quickly regained their composure the moment they spotted Han Ga-ram sitting quietly in the shade.

Once the village elders settled in, I decided to break the ice. 

"Should we all get some food in our systems first?"

I brought out the bowls of noodles I had prepped beforehand. Around here, it’s a time-honored custom to share a hearty meal before diving into an important meeting.

"Oh my, Jin-sol, this tastes incredible!" one of the elders exclaimed.

"You really have a gift for cooking, kiddo."

"Goodness, how can a pumpkin be this naturally sweet?"

The elders' praise washed over me first. I turned to the stiff-looking employees. 

"Please, help yourselves."

"Go ahead. Eat up before it gets cold." Han Ga-ram added, giving them her permission.

The staff took their first bites, and their eyes practically doubled in size.

"I would have spent the rest of my life regretting it if I skipped this." one employee muttered.

Everyone nodded in furious agreement to the employee muttering, completely inhaling their noodles.

"Wow, this is seriously delicious."

"I've never tasted noodles like this in my entire life."

"Oh, try the pickled vegetables! You have to try them! They're way better than the ones at that famous kalguksu restaurant in the city."

Listening to the endless stream of compliments filled me with deep satisfaction. There really is no greater pleasure than watching people genuinely love the food you made for them.

Right on cue, a tiny voice piped up. 

"Hello!"

"Oh, look who it is! How have you been, Seol-ah?" the elders chimed in happily.

"Yes! Hello!" she chirped back.

"Oh my goodness, Seol-ah's here! Look how adorable she is."

"Bye-bye!"

Seol-ah was currently the darling of the neighborhood, wandering around and soaking up endless affection from the local elders. She waddled right up to me and bowed politely, but the moment she received a gentle pat on the head and a soft pinch on her cheek, she spun around to find her next target.

Naturally, the Hanseong legal team stood absolutely no chance against her.

"Hello!" she chirped, stopping right in front of an employee who looked incredibly stiff.

"H-hi." the employee stammered awkwardly.

Seol-ah waited right there, her eyes shining with pure anticipation. As the bewildered staff member rolled his eyes, trying to figure out what to do, Seol-ah took a deliberate step closer. Overwhelmed by her sheer, undeniable pressure, the employee slowly reached out and placed a hand on her head.

"Hehe~"

Seol-ah smiled bashfully up at her, leaving the employee staring blankly in sheer awe. With her silver hair fluttering softly in the breeze, her gentle blue eyes, and her cheeks as soft as freshly baked bread, she looked like the literal definition of happiness. A baby angel wouldn't even come close.

Having successfully stolen that person's soul with a single smile, Seol-ah immediately locked eyes on her next target. Her mission for today was crystal clear: melt the heart of every single person sitting in this yard.

The first employee was still staring down at the hand that had just caressed Seol-ah, looking entirely dazed. If I had to guess what was running through their mind, it would probably be: 'This feels like a dream.'

For people like them, life meant surviving a fierce, cramped existence inside a concrete jungle every single day. Others envied them for landing jobs at a massive conglomerate like Hanseong, but the reality was brutal. It was an endless cycle of overwork and intense pressure just to hold onto your spot without getting pushed out. A good night's sleep was a luxury they rarely got. They always had to keep their minds sharp and tense, constantly walking on thin ice.

But things were different here. A sense of peace seemed to wash over them. Unlike the rigid, exhausted expressions of office workers on their morning commute, their faces were opening up into bright smiles. In the cool shade of the massive apple tree, the delicious food pleased their palates. It wasn't just about the taste, either—the pure atmosphere of eating outdoors added a special magic that no indoor restaurant could ever replicate. Every now and then, as the leaves swayed in the gentle breeze, the fragrant scent of crisp apples tickled our noses.

And, of course, there was our little baby angel jumping happily between the guests.

When the team first arrived, they had been visibly shocked to see a warm smile on Executive Director Han Ga-ram’s face, considering she usually wore a completely blank expression. But before long, they realized they were wearing the exact same smile. If we were back in Seoul, someone would have probably scolded them for looking so relaxed while on the clock, but out here, nobody cared about that. It had been far too long since any of them had enjoyed true peace.

Looking around at her team's faces, Han Ga-ram clearly felt a swell of quiet pride. 

'I knew I couldn't be the only one experiencing this.' she probably thought. 

She had accepted my contract offer with the exact intention of letting them experience it too.

Let's be honest—who could possibly resist this combination of heavenly food, peaceful scenery, and Seol-ah’s lethal cuteness? As expected, it was completely impossible. Everyone's expressions were thoroughly softened, looking as though they had completely surrendered to the relaxation. If outsiders saw them right now, they would be terrified to see these notoriously cold-blooded corporate workers laughing so warmly.

Of course, Han Ga-ram wasn't exempt either. Before she knew it, three puppy brothers had completely surrounded her. Nurungji was wandering the perimeter, keeping a vigilant watch. Siru was sniffing the air contentedly. And then Seol-gi, without a single care in the world, climbed right up into Han Ga-ram's arms and hugged her tight.

I could practically hear her screaming internally: 'Gyaaaah!'

While she sat there entirely moved, keeping her mouth shut so she wouldn't squeal, Seol-gi gave her hand a soft lick and looked up at her with a blank, innocent face. Then, he stretched out his front paws, proudly showing off his pink, jelly-like paw pads. It looked exactly like a little pose saying, 'Do you want a bite too? It's delicious.'

While Han Ga-ram was clutching her chest from the sheer weight of the cuteness, Siru curled up right there and fell fast asleep.

'This place... is heaven!'

I bet they wanted to stay here forever. Han Ga-ram frantically whipped out her smartphone and fired off a rapid message to her team:

|"Give them anything they want. Seriously. Anything."|

Only after seeing that flashing screen did the legal team nod in absolute, solemn agreement. 

*Click*—Han Ga-ram immediately went right back to snapping a relentless series of photos of Siru and Seolgi sleeping soundly between her knees.

After a thoroughly satisfying meal, we transitioned into the actual negotiations over a fresh dessert of sweet apples and tomatoes. Contrary to my initial anxieties, the paperwork moved at a blistering pace.

"This is a massive blessing for our village, a total lucky charm!" the chief cheered. Every time the legal team put forth a new suggestion, the elders' mouths would drop open in sheer amazement at how generous the terms were.

Road improvements, waterway upgrades, renovating aging village facilities—Han Ga-ram and her legal team pinpointed every single thing our community desperately needed. The elders were especially thrilled to hear about the establishment of a dedicated courier reception desk.

"It’s been such a hassle having to travel all the way into town every single time we need to mail a package." one elder sighed with relief.

"You're saying you'll take care of our shipments too? Goodness, so all I have to do is leave it out front?"

"They'll even come collect the items and help us pack them up safely!"

"Oh, that is going to make life so incredibly comfortable."

Because most of our neighbors are small-scale individual sellers living deep in the countryside, logistics were always a nightmare. Kim Sang-do used to be the main person handling it, and things had gotten a bit easier recently since I joined in to help out. Since we had a massive volume of Golden Bell Tomatoes to ship out, I had originally hoped to set up a contract with a personal delivery service and eventually loop the rest of the village into it to ease their burden.

But now, Hanseong was completely taking care of it.

"Just think of it as a state-of-the-art logistics center being built right on your doorstep." the legal representative explained smoothly. 

"If you place your items outside, Hanseong personnel will handle the entire packaging process from scratch. You won't have to lift a finger to tape a box ever again."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" the chief asked, blinking.

"Just focus on growing the incredible, high-quality crops you always do. We will also ensure the shipping costs are kept to an absolute minimum."

"Is that really true?"

"Of course, sir. This is Hanseong we are talking about."

"Wow—a global corporation really operates on a completely different level!"

The elderly villagers were absolutely ecstatic. The name Hanseong carried a massive amount of weight and credibility. Long before it established itself as one of the top five hunter guilds in South Korea, Hanseong Group was one of the nation's leading traditional conglomerates. In other words, they were a powerhouse from the very beginning. Now that they had taken over the hunter industry, they were rapidly expanding past the domestic market into a global empire. Because of that stellar reputation, the village elders trusted them implicitly.

At first, the locals had been incredibly wary of these intense men in sharp suits suddenly barging into our quiet countryside, but they dropped their guard completely the moment they realized how friendly and accommodating the team actually was.

"Are you absolutely sure it's not a burden?" the chief asked me quietly, still a bit stunned that they would handle the packaging. Honestly, wrapping everything up was always the most tedious part of farming.

Han Ga-ram, who had been sitting back quietly, smiled and shook her head. 

"Of course it's not a problem. A minor detail like packaging is easily handled."

I leaned in closer to her, lowering my voice so the elders wouldn't hear. 

"I don't mind the packaging, but is it really alright to put your corporate employees on manual labor like that?"

Han Ga-ram leaned in and whispered softly back.

"We need a legitimate, everyday excuse to station high-level security around this perimeter. Having men in black suits constantly loitering around a peaceful farming village for no apparent reason would make the elders feel incredibly uneasy."

'Ah. That makes perfect sense.'

I had been wondering how she planned to structure the village's defense grid, and this was her brilliant solution. A massive corporation doesn't grow to that size by accident. She was being incredibly considerate of the elders, ensuring they stayed perfectly safe and comfortable without even realizing they were being guarded. I felt a deep wave of gratitude toward her.

Once all the negotiations were wrapped up and the contracts were officially signed, the Hanseong team piled into their cars for the drive back to Seoul.

Looking out the window, Han Ga-ram already felt a pang of longing. To comfort her heavy heart, she opened her phone to scroll through the mountain of Seol-ah photos she had captured today.

When it was time to leave, she had knelt down. 

"Seol-ah, you have to say goodbye to everyone."

The moment Seol-ah looked up at her with big, tearful eyes upon realizing they were actually leaving, Han Ga-ram had almost dropped to her knees right then and there to stay.

"I promise I’ll come back to visit very soon. I cross my heart." 

Han Ga-ram had vowed.

Only after making that solemn promise did Seol-ah stop crying, bowing deeply in a polite farewell. Han Ga-ram had desperately wanted to shower her chubby, tear-stained cheeks with kisses, but she reminded herself that they needed to get a little closer first.

Inside the leading car, the head of the legal team sitting in the front passenger seat was the first to break the quiet. "What an exceptionally beautiful place."

Hearing him initiate a casual conversation was an incredibly rare event, which only proved how deeply Jin-sol farm had impacted him.

"Team Leader Kim, you feel the same way, don't you?"

"Yes, ma'am. It felt... just like stepping into a fairy tale."

"A fairy tale.." Han Ga-ram repeated softly. 

The two shared a brief, warm laugh as they realized they had thought of the exact same description.

But a second later, the atmosphere inside the vehicle turned completely freezing.

"And yet, there are people foolish enough to target this exact fairy tale. Have we identified them?"

Team Leader Kim's voice went completely cold. 

"Yes. We have completed a thorough verification of all entities involved."

"Crush them." she commanded flatly.

"Understood. I will ensure they are completely wiped out."

This farm had to be protected at all costs. From that exact afternoon, under the combined might of the Hanseong corporate legal team and the powerhouse Hanseong Guild, a silent storm swept through the underworld. Not only were the thugs who had been actively plotting against the farm completely eradicated, but the predatory organizations that had been systematically extorting innocent, defenseless farmers were quietly and systematically dismantled from the inside out.

The public only heard rumors that the massive Hanseong Group had made some aggressive structural shifts. Absolutely no one outside of that car knew that a global superpower of a company was tearing down organizations all for the sake of a single, quiet countryside farm.

Back at the farm, our little family had become the absolute biggest celebrities among the local elders. While Seol-ah was obviously the main star because of her astronomical cuteness, my own reputation—along with Oh-sik’s—had skyrocketed right alongside hers.

"Oh-sik is a true, blue worker! A certified powerhouse!" the neighbors would cheer.

"Ever since Jin-sol moved back here, this entire village has finally come alive."

Hanseong's construction crews wasted absolutely no time getting to work. The elders looked absolutely overjoyed watching the heavy machinery roll in, realizing the company wasn't just building a sleek new logistics center, but was actively repaving our cracked, ancient roads as well. Meanwhile, Oh-sik was practically marching around the village, taking immense pride in his new identity as a dedicated laborer. Watching our usually quiet, stagnant village bursting with vibrant energy, village chief Ham Bong-seok looked like he was ready to burst into a joyful dance right in the middle of the road.

"They gave me this to bring home!"

"This was a gift from the granny down the lane."

"I got this one too!"

Thanks to the endless generosity of the neighbors, our living room floor was constantly piled high with homemade side dishes, fresh ingredients, and gifts.

The new lifestyle brought some hilarious changes for Oh-sik too. He completely stopped wearing the heavy, intimidating armor he used to live in. To be fair, bulky battle armor isn't exactly the most practical choice when you're helping out with rural farm work. Instead, he started curating a brand-new "combat uniform" suited for the fields: tight bodysuit pants, cooling arm sleeves, and a massive, wide-brimmed straw hat. I was getting a front-row seat to the vivid evolution of a fierce warrior transforming into a seasoned, full-fledged countryside farmer.

As for me, I spent most of my free time these days glued to the morning news.

[Seoul Hanseong Hospital Discovers Groundbreaking Treatment Pathways Utilizing Dungeon Crops.]

[Dungeon Crops: Heartwarming Stories of Patients Miraculously Cured by 'Apples of Life.']

I watched the broadcasts with a swelling heart. One of the non-negotiable clauses I had written into my contract with the Hanseong Guild was that my Apples of Life had to be used to heal the sick. Han Ga-ram was executing that mission flawlessly.

[The Infinite Potential of the Apple of Life Sparks New Era of Drug Development.]

[The Crop Grower's Vision: Creating a Universal Cure for the General Public, Not Just Hunters.]

She was actually going far beyond what I had initially dreamed of. They were using the apples to treat terminally ill patients at the group's charitable hospitals, and they had even launched a massive research division to develop new pharmaceutical treatments from them. Honestly, the whole drug development angle was something I hadn't even anticipated.

The most embarrassing part was that the media was attributing every ounce of credit directly to me, the humble crop grower. I explicitly told Han Ga-ram that she didn't need to put me on a pedestal like that.

"We don't steal credit in this company, Jin-sol." she had replied with absolute, unyielding firmness. 

"This miracle was only possible because you grew and provided the apples in the first place."

Fortunately, everything was kept strictly anonymous under a pseudonym. I honestly have no idea how they managed to maintain such flawless operational security against the relentless media, but I suppose that's just the terrifying power of Hanseong's public relations department.

Fearing that excessive market competition would cause chaos, we decided to give Hanseong exclusive consignment rights to sell the Apples of Life. However, our original farm website and blog were still up and running perfectly. We still had an endless influx of desperate parents looking for our golden bell tomatoes to cure their children's severe atopic dermatitis, and the overall demand for our standard, everyday crops had recently gone completely through the roof. Because these were high-grade dungeon crops, word of mouth about their otherworldly taste was spreading like wildfire.

Plus, there were always sweet comments left on the blog posts by fans who absolutely adored Seol-ah.

"My lord, you absolutely have to look at this." Oh-sik said, marching over and holding out his smartphone screen toward me.

[The Supreme Majesty of K-Crops! China is Shocked, Japan is Envious, and America is Utterly Obsessed! The Mind-Blowing Reason Why South Korea Now Rules the Global Agricultural Market!]

I stared at the screen, my eyes growing dizzy just reading that insanely dramatic, over-the-top, nationalistic video title.

"Did you actually watch this, Oh-sik?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As expected, the entire world has no choice but to bow before your immense greatness, my lord! I have always believed in your supremacy!"

'No, seriously, what exactly are you believing in?'

Lately, Oh-sik had become completely addicted to YouTube. It seemed like experiencing modern video media for the very first time was just too exhilarating for him to handle. Seeing a massive, powerful warrior sitting on a tiny stool, entirely engrossed in hyper-dramatic nationalistic YouTube videos, was quite the sight. Well, if this counted as peace in its own unique way, I wasn't going to complain.

I pulled Seol-ah gently into my lap, grabbing a soft brush to comb through her beautiful silver hair while I drifted into thoughts about what we should have for dinner.

"Seol-ah, what do you feel like eating today?"

"Hungry?"

"Yeah, what should we have for dinner?"

Oh-sik chimed in instantly from the corner. 

"How about a traditional beef stew that leaves China shocked, Japan envious, and the United States completely obsessed?"

I masterfully pretended I hadn't heard a single word he said.

Seol-ah, who had completely melted into my touch as I brushed her hair, tilted her head back and looked up at me with sparkling blue eyes. When I playfully extended my index finger, she opened her mouth wide and gave it a soft, completely harmless little nibble.

"Dad, your finger isn't tasty!"

"Brrrrrr~!"

I gave her chubby, radiant cheeks a gentle squeeze. Seol-ah burst into a bright laugh and took off across the clean floor. The three puppy brothers, who had been lazily dozing in a sunbeam a second ago, instantly scrambled to their feet and tore after her.

"Dad have to catch Seol-ah and get her something to eat! Waaang!"

"Byaaaa~!"

The living room dissolved into a chaotic, joyous game of tag.

"I caught the dragon!" I laughed, scooping her up into my arms.

"Bbulrur~!"

"And now, you get the tickle punishment!"

I leaned down, pressing my face right against her soft belly and making loud blowing noises. Seol-ah screamed with absolute delight, kicking her tiny legs as she laughed uncontrollably.

Just as we were completely immersed in our favorite daily game—

*Wheeeeezing—Kwaang!*

A heavy, low echo reverberated through the air. I froze for a fraction of a second, a knowing smile breaking across my face.

'Ah. I know that exact sound.'

After a long period of quiet, a very familiar, welcome sound was finally ringing in my ears.