The goat was lying on the floor, bleating in pain.
“Meeeeh…”
How much pain must it be in giving birth?
“It’s in a lot of pain.”
“What should we do?”
“Should we lay down some straw?”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll massage its belly.”
While Chloe massaged the goat’s belly, Hae-jun brought a bundle of straw and spread it out to make a soft bed.
After about an hour of labor, the goat finally gave birth.
To twins, no less.
“Aww, they’re so cute.”
Chloe said, looking at the newborn goats standing up on their wobbly legs.
The white, fluffy kids were adorable. The mother goat licked the dirt off her kids, and the kids, recognizing their mother, went to her side to suckle. It was a sacred scene.
‘Oh, I shouldn’t just stand here watching. I should get them some food.’
He gave the mother goat some fresh cabbage to eat after the ordeal of giving birth.
That wasn’t the only good news on the farm. Six chicks had hatched from the eggs that the hen had been sitting on.
“Meeeeeh…”
“Peep, peep.”
“Cluck, cluck!”
The farm was filled with the sounds of animals.
He also gave the hen some wheat as a reward for her hard work.
In the meantime, Chloe was staring at the goat suckling her kids.
“Look at them suckling. Aren’t they cute?”
“They are. They’re eating well.”
“Does mother’s milk taste that good?”
“It must. Goat’s milk is supposed to be especially rich and flavorful. It’s great for making cheese and butter, too. And it has a different flavor from cow’s milk.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“I read it in Father’s notes.”
“Your father’s notes? Was your father a farmer?”
“Something like that. I don’t know the details. I should finish what I was doing.”
Hae-jun got up and dusted off his butt.
He didn’t have time to sit around and watch the baby goats suckle.
He had to work hard to expand his fields and increase his crop yield. That was the only way to level up and unlock the fog-covered lands.
.
.
.
“Whew, I’m done.”
As soon as he finished his work, he leveled up.
This brought Hae-jun’s level to 5.
His stamina increased to 25, his skill to 17, and his fame… was still zero.
Rumble—
The fog lifted.
Hae-jun looked around from left to right, checking out the terrain that had been revealed by the receding fog.
This time, the area that was revealed was full of rocks and trees. There was nothing special about it. Just then,
“Meow…”
He heard a cat’s meow, accompanied by a soft, furry sensation under his feet.
A white cat appeared from nowhere and rubbed its body against Hae-jun’s ankles.
“A cat?”
The creature, with its piercing emerald eyes and somewhat sharp expression, circled around Hae-jun, its tongue darting out as if it wanted something.
“What? What do you want?”
“Meow.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Meow.”
“You are hungry.”
As if Hae-jun had guessed correctly, the cat sat down and licked its front paws.
“What do cats like to eat?”
He searched through his notes, but there was no information about cat food.
His father’s notes weren’t all-powerful.
“Hmm… cats probably like fish or milk.”
There was no stream nearby, so he couldn’t catch any fish, and there was no cow, so he couldn’t milk it.
In the real world, he would have bought a can of tuna and some milk from the convenience store, but there was no such thing as a convenience store here, so Hae-jun had to figure everything out for himself.
“Kitty, what do you like to eat?”
Hae-jun picked up the cat and looked it in the eye, asking it.
Looking at it up close, he realized that it had a pretty face.
“Cabbage?”
“…”
“Wheat?”
“…”
“Cucumber?”
“…”
“Potato?”
“…”
He listed off the things that he could give it right away.
But the cat didn’t react to any of them.
“You’re a picky eater. What about a boiled egg?”
“Meow.”
Finally, the creature reacted.
“You like eggs?”
“Meow.”
“You do.”
“Meow.”
“Just wait a minute. I’ll boil one for you.”
Hae-jun put the cat down and walked over to the chicken coop.
The hen and the chicks were happily pecking at the wheat, and the rooster was standing proudly on a tree branch. He carefully entered the chicken coop, gave them another handful of wheat, and took an egg.
Chloe was still sitting in front of the goat pen, her eyes sparkling, and Pote was nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, the cat he had met earlier followed Hae-jun around.
“You’re cute. You follow people around so well. Are you a cat or a dog?”
It may have looked fierce, but it acted just like a puppy.
Hae-jun boiled two eggs over the fire in the oven and cracked them open for the cat.
“Meow.”
It wagged its tail happily and devoured the eggs in no time.
Hae-jun, who had grown fond of the cat, stroked its head and back while it ate.
And he opened his notebook and wrote about cats.
[Cat: Likes boiled eggs. Might like fish more. I’ll have to experiment more later. When it wants something, it meows.]
The cat, which had been playing near his ankles, jumped up and curled up on Hae-jun’s lap.
Hae-jun added ‘follows people around well’ to his notes.
***
A day passed.
When Hae-jun returned, Chloe, who had been harvesting the eggs, greeted him. When he was away, Chloe helped him harvest the short-season crops and the eggs.
The cat, which had been curled up in a sunny spot, also came over to Hae-jun’s feet and rubbed against him, acting friendly.
“It only acts friendly when you’re around.”
“What about with you?”
“It doesn’t even acknowledge me.”
“Why not?”
“It probably just likes you better.”
“Meow~”
As if to agree with Chloe, it meowed at just the right moment.
Hae-jun picked up the cat, amused by its behavior.
“Really?”
“Meow.”
“See. It doesn’t even meow when I ask it something. It only does it for you.”
“That’s strange.”
“The little traitor. It even drank the milk I gave it, but it only acts friendly towards you. Hmph, I’m not giving you any more milk from now on.”
Chloe said to the cat, as if warning it.
The word ‘milk’ caught Hae-jun’s attention. Milk was an ingredient for making bread, and it was something that he couldn’t get on the farm. But milk?
“Milk? Where did you get milk?”
“Well… technically it’s not milk. I got it from the mother goat. You told me. You said it was rich and flavorful.”
“Oh, right.”
He had forgotten about the simple fact that if he couldn’t get cow’s milk or milk right away, he could use goat’s milk instead to make bread.
‘But how did you know how to milk a goat?’
Hae-jun looked at Chloe curiously.
“Why?”
“No reason. I’m just curious how you know how to milk a goat.”
“Hmm? I do. How did I learn that?”
Chloe put her finger to her lips, lost in thought.
But with her amnesia, it was hard for her to remember.
Instead, she showed Hae-jun how to milk a goat. Unlike Hae-jun’s clumsy movements, Chloe’s hands were very skillful and delicate. She was clearly not a beginner.
“Were you a shepherdess? Maybe you lost the goats you were herding and came here looking for them, and then you got caught in the fog. Something like that.”
It wasn’t an implausible guess.
After all, he had found the goats in that forest.
“Well, I’m sure I’ll remember eventually. Until then, I’m going to take it easy. I like it here.”
Chloe said with a smile.
Hae-jun felt the same way.
“By the way, have you named that cat?”
“Name? No.”
“It follows you around so much, you should give it a name.”
Hae-jun thought about it for a moment.
“Name? Hmm, how about Mongchi? It looks like a ball of fluff when it curls up.”
“Meow~”
The cat meowed again.
“It seems to like it.”
“I guess so. Okay! Your name is Mongchi from now on.”
“Meow.”
Hae-jun put Mongchi down and headed to the bakery to check on the yeast he had made yesterday.
The color had changed a bit, but there was no other noticeable change yet. It was written similarly in the online materials he had consulted, so there was nothing to worry about. Still, Hae-jun hoped that it would work, so he added the same amount of ingredients to the yeast dough and covered it with a cloth.
‘If only the yeast turns out right, I’ll be able to bake bread.’
He had already asked Chloe to milk the goat, so all he needed was the yeast to be done properly and he would be able to bake bread.
This time, he was determined to make delicious bread and restore his honor.
“Mr. Hae-jun!”
Pote flew in just as he was finishing up.
The creature only showed up when it was needed.
“Huh?! You look a little different.”
Pote’s appearance had changed subtly.
The tree on its head was fuller and its body seemed to have grown a little.
[Haha. You noticed. This is all thanks to you, Mr. Hae-jun.]
“Me?”
[Yep! Thanks to you leveling up so diligently, I’ve regained some of my strength.]
“Oh, really?”
[I still can’t do much, though.]
“What can you do?”
[Well… hmm! Mr. Hae-jun, you’ve been carrying around Mr. Charles’s notes, haven’t you? It must be inconvenient.]
As he said this, Pote snapped its fingers in the air.
At that, Father’s notes floated up and a golden light poured out from within. The waves of light swirled in the air and were sucked into Hae-jun’s body.
‘What’s going on?’
[Hehehe… it’s done.]
“Done with what? And what happened to the notes?”
Hae-jun looked around in confusion and saw a new dot on the left side.
The first blue dot was the information window, and next to it was a new dot that he had never seen before.
The way to call it up was probably the same as before. Hae-jun called out ‘notes’ in his mind.
[Agriculture][Livestock][Recipes]
As expected, a hologram window with three tabs appeared.
When he activated the agriculture window, a list was generated below it.
[Wheat] - Can be ground into flour to make bread, cookies, noodles, etc.
*Favorite food of chickens.
[Cabbage] - Used as an ingredient in various dishes.
*Favorite food of goats.
…
The livestock window also had detailed descriptions and pictures of chickens and goats, and the last window, the recipes window, had all the information that was in Father’s notes.
[Ta-da~ If you write new information with this magic pen, it will be updated continuously. What do you think? Isn’t it amazing?]
Pote, who was beaming with pride, handed Hae-jun a pen with a rainbow feather.
As a test, he added more information about the cat, and it was really added as if by magic.
[And one more thing.]
“Is there more?”
Pote dropped a few light brown seeds into Hae-jun’s palm.
“What are these see—oh?”
[Hehehe, what do you think?]
“W, what is this? Did you do this, Pote?”
[Yep!]
The changes weren’t limited to the new hologram window.
Hae-jun could see things that he couldn’t see before.
[Cherry Tomato Seeds]
The words floated next to the seeds.
This must be what these seeds were.
[Isn’t it great?]
“Amazing. Can I see other things too?”
[You can see anything that’s been grown in this dimension.]
As Pote said, the crops that Hae-jun had grown had their names displayed.
[Wheat], [Cabbage], [Cucumber]…
Even the hen, the rooster, and the chicks.
It seemed like a very useful ability.
It was a good ability to have, especially since he had mistaken limes for lemon trees when he first found them.
“Thank you, Pote.”
[You’re welcome. Use this ability to make your farm even bigger!]
***
It had been three days since he had started making the yeast.
There was a change in the dough.
Bubbles had formed in the thick dough, creating air pockets.
“Oh!”
“What is it, what is it? Can we eat bread now?”
Chloe asked, her eyes sparkling at Hae-jun’s exclamation.
“Not yet. I think it’ll be ready in another day.”
“Tomorrow? … I’m excited.”
“I told you. Be excited.”
Hae-jun said in a cheerful voice.
Now it was the final step in making the yeast. He added 600g of wheat flour and 600ml of water and mixed it all together.
“I’ll make you some delicious bread tomorrow, so look forward to it.”
“Okay.”
.
.
.
The long-awaited morning of the fourth day arrived.
Hae-jun hurried to the farm bakery.
With anticipation in his eyes, he took out the yeast dough that he had left in a cool place for 12 hours.
“Oh!”
“Wow!”
“Meow!”
[Amazing. It’s full of bubbles!]
Bubbles were bubbling up in the thick dough.
This was proof that the fermentation had gone very well.
When he poked it with a spatula, the yeast dough stretched out like cheese.
He took out half of it and added more water and flour to the rest. This way, he could keep making yeast.
Everyone’s eyes sparkled with anticipation at the thought of eating proper bread.
The goat was lying on the floor, bleating in pain.
“Meeeeh…”
How much pain must it be in giving birth?
“It’s in a lot of pain.”
“What should we do?”
“Should we lay down some straw?”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll massage its belly.”
While Chloe massaged the goat’s belly, Hae-jun brought a bundle of straw and spread it out to make a soft bed.
After about an hour of labor, the goat finally gave birth.
To twins, no less.
“Aww, they’re so cute.”
Chloe said, looking at the newborn goats standing up on their wobbly legs.
The white, fluffy kids were adorable. The mother goat licked the dirt off her kids, and the kids, recognizing their mother, went to her side to suckle. It was a sacred scene.
‘Oh, I shouldn’t just stand here watching. I should get them some food.’
He gave the mother goat some fresh cabbage to eat after the ordeal of giving birth.
That wasn’t the only good news on the farm. Six chicks had hatched from the eggs that the hen had been sitting on.
“Meeeeeh…”
“Peep, peep.”
“Cluck, cluck!”
The farm was filled with the sounds of animals.
He also gave the hen some wheat as a reward for her hard work.
In the meantime, Chloe was staring at the goat suckling her kids.
“Look at them suckling. Aren’t they cute?”
“They are. They’re eating well.”
“Does mother’s milk taste that good?”
“It must. Goat’s milk is supposed to be especially rich and flavorful. It’s great for making cheese and butter, too. And it has a different flavor from cow’s milk.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“I read it in Father’s notes.”
“Your father’s notes? Was your father a farmer?”
“Something like that. I don’t know the details. I should finish what I was doing.”
Hae-jun got up and dusted off his butt.
He didn’t have time to sit around and watch the baby goats suckle.
He had to work hard to expand his fields and increase his crop yield. That was the only way to level up and unlock the fog-covered lands.
.
.
.
“Whew, I’m done.”
As soon as he finished his work, he leveled up.
This brought Hae-jun’s level to 5.
His stamina increased to 25, his skill to 17, and his fame… was still zero.
Rumble—
The fog lifted.
Hae-jun looked around from left to right, checking out the terrain that had been revealed by the receding fog.
This time, the area that was revealed was full of rocks and trees. There was nothing special about it. Just then,
“Meow…”
He heard a cat’s meow, accompanied by a soft, furry sensation under his feet.
A white cat appeared from nowhere and rubbed its body against Hae-jun’s ankles.
“A cat?”
The creature, with its piercing emerald eyes and somewhat sharp expression, circled around Hae-jun, its tongue darting out as if it wanted something.
“What? What do you want?”
“Meow.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Meow.”
“You are hungry.”
As if Hae-jun had guessed correctly, the cat sat down and licked its front paws.
“What do cats like to eat?”
He searched through his notes, but there was no information about cat food.
His father’s notes weren’t all-powerful.
“Hmm… cats probably like fish or milk.”
There was no stream nearby, so he couldn’t catch any fish, and there was no cow, so he couldn’t milk it.
In the real world, he would have bought a can of tuna and some milk from the convenience store, but there was no such thing as a convenience store here, so Hae-jun had to figure everything out for himself.
“Kitty, what do you like to eat?”
Hae-jun picked up the cat and looked it in the eye, asking it.
Looking at it up close, he realized that it had a pretty face.
“Cabbage?”
“…”
“Wheat?”
“…”
“Cucumber?”
“…”
“Potato?”
“…”
He listed off the things that he could give it right away.
But the cat didn’t react to any of them.
“You’re a picky eater. What about a boiled egg?”
“Meow.”
Finally, the creature reacted.
“You like eggs?”
“Meow.”
“You do.”
“Meow.”
“Just wait a minute. I’ll boil one for you.”
Hae-jun put the cat down and walked over to the chicken coop.
The hen and the chicks were happily pecking at the wheat, and the rooster was standing proudly on a tree branch. He carefully entered the chicken coop, gave them another handful of wheat, and took an egg.
Chloe was still sitting in front of the goat pen, her eyes sparkling, and Pote was nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, the cat he had met earlier followed Hae-jun around.
“You’re cute. You follow people around so well. Are you a cat or a dog?”
It may have looked fierce, but it acted just like a puppy.
Hae-jun boiled two eggs over the fire in the oven and cracked them open for the cat.
“Meow.”
It wagged its tail happily and devoured the eggs in no time.
Hae-jun, who had grown fond of the cat, stroked its head and back while it ate.
And he opened his notebook and wrote about cats.
[Cat: Likes boiled eggs. Might like fish more. I’ll have to experiment more later. When it wants something, it meows.]
The cat, which had been playing near his ankles, jumped up and curled up on Hae-jun’s lap.
Hae-jun added ‘follows people around well’ to his notes.
***
A day passed.
When Hae-jun returned, Chloe, who had been harvesting the eggs, greeted him. When he was away, Chloe helped him harvest the short-season crops and the eggs.
The cat, which had been curled up in a sunny spot, also came over to Hae-jun’s feet and rubbed against him, acting friendly.
“It only acts friendly when you’re around.”
“What about with you?”
“It doesn’t even acknowledge me.”
“Why not?”
“It probably just likes you better.”
“Meow~”
As if to agree with Chloe, it meowed at just the right moment.
Hae-jun picked up the cat, amused by its behavior.
“Really?”
“Meow.”
“See. It doesn’t even meow when I ask it something. It only does it for you.”
“That’s strange.”
“The little traitor. It even drank the milk I gave it, but it only acts friendly towards you. Hmph, I’m not giving you any more milk from now on.”
Chloe said to the cat, as if warning it.
The word ‘milk’ caught Hae-jun’s attention. Milk was an ingredient for making bread, and it was something that he couldn’t get on the farm. But milk?
“Milk? Where did you get milk?”
“Well… technically it’s not milk. I got it from the mother goat. You told me. You said it was rich and flavorful.”
“Oh, right.”
He had forgotten about the simple fact that if he couldn’t get cow’s milk or milk right away, he could use goat’s milk instead to make bread.
‘But how did you know how to milk a goat?’
Hae-jun looked at Chloe curiously.
“Why?”
“No reason. I’m just curious how you know how to milk a goat.”
“Hmm? I do. How did I learn that?”
Chloe put her finger to her lips, lost in thought.
But with her amnesia, it was hard for her to remember.
Instead, she showed Hae-jun how to milk a goat. Unlike Hae-jun’s clumsy movements, Chloe’s hands were very skillful and delicate. She was clearly not a beginner.
“Were you a shepherdess? Maybe you lost the goats you were herding and came here looking for them, and then you got caught in the fog. Something like that.”
It wasn’t an implausible guess.
After all, he had found the goats in that forest.
“Well, I’m sure I’ll remember eventually. Until then, I’m going to take it easy. I like it here.”
Chloe said with a smile.
Hae-jun felt the same way.
“By the way, have you named that cat?”
“Name? No.”
“It follows you around so much, you should give it a name.”
Hae-jun thought about it for a moment.
“Name? Hmm, how about Mongchi? It looks like a ball of fluff when it curls up.”
“Meow~”
The cat meowed again.
“It seems to like it.”
“I guess so. Okay! Your name is Mongchi from now on.”
“Meow.”
Hae-jun put Mongchi down and headed to the bakery to check on the yeast he had made yesterday.
The color had changed a bit, but there was no other noticeable change yet. It was written similarly in the online materials he had consulted, so there was nothing to worry about. Still, Hae-jun hoped that it would work, so he added the same amount of ingredients to the yeast dough and covered it with a cloth.
‘If only the yeast turns out right, I’ll be able to bake bread.’
He had already asked Chloe to milk the goat, so all he needed was the yeast to be done properly and he would be able to bake bread.
This time, he was determined to make delicious bread and restore his honor.
“Mr. Hae-jun!”
Pote flew in just as he was finishing up.
The creature only showed up when it was needed.
“Huh?! You look a little different.”
Pote’s appearance had changed subtly.
The tree on its head was fuller and its body seemed to have grown a little.
[Haha. You noticed. This is all thanks to you, Mr. Hae-jun.]
“Me?”
[Yep! Thanks to you leveling up so diligently, I’ve regained some of my strength.]
“Oh, really?”
[I still can’t do much, though.]
“What can you do?”
[Well… hmm! Mr. Hae-jun, you’ve been carrying around Mr. Charles’s notes, haven’t you? It must be inconvenient.]
As he said this, Pote snapped its fingers in the air.
At that, Father’s notes floated up and a golden light poured out from within. The waves of light swirled in the air and were sucked into Hae-jun’s body.
‘What’s going on?’
[Hehehe… it’s done.]
“Done with what? And what happened to the notes?”
Hae-jun looked around in confusion and saw a new dot on the left side.
The first blue dot was the information window, and next to it was a new dot that he had never seen before.
The way to call it up was probably the same as before. Hae-jun called out ‘notes’ in his mind.
[Agriculture][Livestock][Recipes]
As expected, a hologram window with three tabs appeared.
When he activated the agriculture window, a list was generated below it.
[Wheat] - Can be ground into flour to make bread, cookies, noodles, etc.
*Favorite food of chickens.
[Cabbage] - Used as an ingredient in various dishes.
*Favorite food of goats.
…
The livestock window also had detailed descriptions and pictures of chickens and goats, and the last window, the recipes window, had all the information that was in Father’s notes.
[Ta-da~ If you write new information with this magic pen, it will be updated continuously. What do you think? Isn’t it amazing?]
Pote, who was beaming with pride, handed Hae-jun a pen with a rainbow feather.
As a test, he added more information about the cat, and it was really added as if by magic.
[And one more thing.]
“Is there more?”
Pote dropped a few light brown seeds into Hae-jun’s palm.
“What are these see—oh?”
[Hehehe, what do you think?]
“W, what is this? Did you do this, Pote?”
[Yep!]
The changes weren’t limited to the new hologram window.
Hae-jun could see things that he couldn’t see before.
[Cherry Tomato Seeds]
The words floated next to the seeds.
This must be what these seeds were.
[Isn’t it great?]
“Amazing. Can I see other things too?”
[You can see anything that’s been grown in this dimension.]
As Pote said, the crops that Hae-jun had grown had their names displayed.
[Wheat], [Cabbage], [Cucumber]…
Even the hen, the rooster, and the chicks.
It seemed like a very useful ability.
It was a good ability to have, especially since he had mistaken limes for lemon trees when he first found them.
“Thank you, Pote.”
[You’re welcome. Use this ability to make your farm even bigger!]
***
It had been three days since he had started making the yeast.
There was a change in the dough.
Bubbles had formed in the thick dough, creating air pockets.
“Oh!”
“What is it, what is it? Can we eat bread now?”
Chloe asked, her eyes sparkling at Hae-jun’s exclamation.
“Not yet. I think it’ll be ready in another day.”
“Tomorrow? … I’m excited.”
“I told you. Be excited.”
Hae-jun said in a cheerful voice.
Now it was the final step in making the yeast. He added 600g of wheat flour and 600ml of water and mixed it all together.
“I’ll make you some delicious bread tomorrow, so look forward to it.”
“Okay.”
.
.
.
The long-awaited morning of the fourth day arrived.
Hae-jun hurried to the farm bakery.
With anticipation in his eyes, he took out the yeast dough that he had left in a cool place for 12 hours.
“Oh!”
“Wow!”
“Meow!”
[Amazing. It’s full of bubbles!]
Bubbles were bubbling up in the thick dough.
This was proof that the fermentation had gone very well.
When he poked it with a spatula, the yeast dough stretched out like cheese.
He took out half of it and added more water and flour to the rest. This way, he could keep making yeast.
Everyone’s eyes sparkled with anticipation at the thought of eating proper bread.
