Chapter 92: Chapter 93: Empty Harvest (2)

The portrayal of characters requires careful consideration.

This is especially true in works of art that are viewed by a large audience.

Isn’t that so? If a character is too one-dimensional, understanding the subject may be straightforward, but it becomes challenging to feel deep immersion or attraction. The character may appear to be a mere machine reacting to predetermined stimuli.

On the other hand, characters should not be overly complex either.

Characters that demand extremely meticulous observation and understanding may drift away from the purpose of popular culture, which aims to be “enjoyed” through analysis alone.

Therefore, I often turned to using motifs as a solution to such problems.

By incorporating the distinctive features of easily observable subjects in the vicinity into the medium, consumers can imagine the depth of the subject using only a part of it.

The method is not particularly difficult.

Just incorporate the “thought mechanism” of the subject serving as the motif into the character.

In a broad sense, one could liken it to programming.

Analyze the elements of the subject, list them, and output them through the medium of the character. This aspect is especially noteworthy.

It was no different this time.

“Oh, Mr. Yeonho, there are cherry blossoms outside.”

I decided to extract the thought mechanism applicable to the farmer from Yang Gilsang, who was smiling as he looked out the window.

In grandiose terms, it was the conclusion that the reaction of Yang Gilsang in the emptiness and self-loathing after loss, and the emotional context of a farmer cultivating and losing crops, would be similar.

A perspective on loss was necessary.

So, I experimented a little.

There were no malicious intentions whatsoever.

“Mr. Gilsang,”

“Yes?”

“Do you really not need to go to the hospital?”

The possibility of him not caring about hair loss was approaching zero.

After all,

“You keep saying it’s not hair loss.”

If it wasn’t hair loss, why would he think of a hospital for hair loss without even mentioning what kind of hospital it was?

Yang Gilsang shrugged his shoulders and denied reality again.

“I haven’t been sleeping well lately. It’s stress-related. Stress.”

“That’s…”

“Stop.”

“…”

Yang Gilsang turned his head away from me.

Well, maybe I went too far.

I was still thinking.

“…Yeonho, sir.”

Yang Gilsang spoke up.

A bitter expression formed on his face as he turned to me.

I started to feel a bit sorry.

Was touching his hair a mistake, no matter what?

“…No.”

Still, I should say something.

Excluding my personal agenda, it was necessary.

It’s been just five years since he went from a full head of hair to a skinhead.

If it stop it now, he might be able to maintain the pomade hairstyle he likes until his forties. Even for his sake, we should show consideration, right?

It’s not even a matter of seeing each other for a day or two; if we neglect it now, I might feel a sense of guilt when I see his shiny middle-aged hair in the future.

But was that even my narrow-minded thinking?

Yang Gilsang spoke.

“…You don’t have to say it. I know. Why loss hurts. Because we can’t go back to the more abundant times? Because the current me looks too pathetic? Wrong.”

My body froze in the midst of a deep and poignant nostalgia.

Yang Gilsang, who was speaking, paused as if searching for the right words.

“Well, it’s because I suffered so much in the process of losing. It’s sad because I suffered so much, yet there’s nothing left in my hands.”

There was a profound sense of mystery in his words.

His laughter, light and gentle like the moonlight, penetrated deep into me, helping me understand Yang Gilsang a little better.

“I, well, if I can’t stop it, I try to accept it. I think of it as a love affair where parting is inevitable. Even if you know you’ll break up, if you love each other now…”

“…Then?”

When I asked, Yang Gilsang smiled mischievously.

“…It means giving your best in the present to make the pain of separation less after breaking up.”

His words made me reflect.

‘Was that what it was?’

I realized that the reason he hadn’t taken measures against his increasingly severe hair loss was probably because of that. Instead of worrying about when it would happen, he wanted to try various hairstyles without regret before it happened.

In my mind, memories passed by—Yang Gilsang with a forehead exposed in a past life, Yang Gilsang with permed hair, Yang Gilsang tying his hair at the back, and so on. Now, those memories added credibility to his words.

Finally, parting ways with the remaining hair and embracing the bald look. He had truly committed to the present.

I couldn’t understand why love stories were intertwined with falling hair, but regardless, I apologized.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I… I was short-sighted. I’m sorry. It’s just that there are some friends around me who worry about hair loss these days.”

“I understand. At our age, it’s common. Those visible signs are just starting.”

Thankful for his understanding, I jokingly added, “Yes, you can even put a coin on my receding hairline.”

“Hehe, maybe I should try some tricks or practice.”

Suddenly, I thought about it.

There was something to learn from this person as a human.

Not being anxious about something disappearing, but rather making the best choices. His attitude towards accepting what cannot be changed and giving his best in the present was admirable.

Apart from the admiration, he had been personally helpful.

Through Yang Gilsang’s words, I could better define the character of the farmer.

‘The reason for the painful loss…’

With a surge of inspiration, I sat down in front of the monitor.

This marked the tenth day of writing Chapter 1 of the scenario.

On that day, a piece of information came from Miso(Jo Ayoon), who listened to gossip.

“Uh, Mr. Gilsang started taking hair loss medicine!”

“Hmm.”

***

E-40 helped the farmer for a week.

Mostly, it involved assisting with the harvest or dealing with wild animals trying to ruin the crops.

It was a time to get to know the farmer better.

“Now, I don’t even remember what I wanted to do. It’s sad. Maybe it’s my fault. I ended up regretting not pursuing what I really wanted to do just because I had to do farming. The past ten years.”

He occasionally talked about what he wanted to do.

It was a regretful tale, and ultimately, he always spoke about other choices.

“What if I had given up being a farmer? For example, if I had challenged myself more to get a face suitable for what I wanted to do?”

When he reminisced about the past, he always created a voice that seemed to dream.

However, the moment he returned to reality, it became truly melancholic.

“Oh, if only I had rebelled a little more at that time. I wanted to be an adult and a cool person, but I was wrong. I was just a foolish person pretending to be cool.”

E-40 listened silently to those words.

In the first place, he couldn’t speak.

The farmer said, “Well, this year’s harvest is over. The tax collector will come tomorrow. You better leave now. If they find out you’re a criminal, you might face severe punishment from the Empire’s authorities.”

E-40 tilted his head in contemplation, but the farmer remained nonchalant.

“Well, thanks anyway. It feels a bit better to pour my grievances to you. After winter passes, I’ll probably go through meaningless repetitions again, but at least this year might be less painful.”

Those words solidified E-40’s determination.

At that moment, he felt something unreasonable from himself.

Despite always being melancholic, he never managed to express a sad expression. Drowned in loss, he had to wear a sun-wrinkled face.

He couldn’t even properly convey his own emotions.

According to Miso, he was as pitiful as he who couldn’t express sadness.

Tap, tap!

E-40 tapped the ground with his sword, pointing it in the opposite direction with purpose.

“Abandon this land? That’s not possible. I might become a criminal if I do that.”

He was wrong.

E-40 didn’t want to label his desire to become what he wanted as a crime.

For someone who had forgotten his dreams and was sad, what he needed was not resignation but resistance.

E-40 insisted once again.

Then, the farmer suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“…Scary. It would be too sad if I became a criminal and still couldn’t remember my dreams. Even if I manage to recall my dreams, it would be the same. As long as this face exists, I must live as a farmer forever.”

E-40 lowered his head as he felt the farmer’s struggle.

Now he understood.

Everyone was born to become the person they desired.

Thunk!

E-40 raised his sword high.

He gestured with his body, and the farmer surprisingly understood his words well.

“Can I really do it?”

It was then.

“Look! I’ve come!”

The tax collector with the ‘Strict Face’ arrived a day early to find the farmer.

He was shocked when he saw E-40 with someone hiding his face.

“What! Being with a face-covered person! Farmer! Are you planning rebellion with a criminal!”

He shouted, waving a black stick.

The farmer, hesitating to defend himself, looked at E-40.

E-40 nodded and pounded his chest.

“Alright!”

The farmer replied decisively and shouted to the tax collector.

“I won’t farm anymore! I’m sick of it! I never wanted to farm in the first place!”

“Daring to defy the will of the empire! You’re a rebel! Prepare to face the consequences!”

The tax collector rushed in.

The tax collector’s strict face was a terrifying one, making punishment even more painful.

But E-40 was not a simple enemy.

He was a former top knight with the most special smile in the world.

“Ugh!”

The tax collector fell, and the situation became irreversible.

The farmer sat down, stunned by the astonishing sight.

“Who on earth are you?!”

E-40 sensed that he could no longer hide the truth.

He removed the black cloth covering his face.

The farmer gasped.

“Smile…! The symbol of the royal family!”

He trembled in fear, trying to lower his head.

Realizing the misunderstanding, E-40 quickly stopped him.

It wasn’t a good choice.

If he wasn’t the royal family of the empire, the only thing left was being a top-tier criminal with a smile.

“Grgrk!”

The farmer foamed at the mouth and fainted.

“Kukuruk!”

E-40 realized he had to act quickly to avoid further misunderstandings.

E-40 scratched the back of his head.

“Uh… “

He woke up the next day.

After calming his mind, he belatedly realized that he had become a criminal himself, yet surprisingly, he seemed at ease.

“Yeah, living like this would probably lead to a miserable death. Let’s rebel! I feel like I’ve lived foolishly. I never even thought about resisting until someone pushed me. Oh well, once we reach the end of the wheat field, we’ll part ways, alright?”

E-40 nodded.

They left, and as soon as the farmer noticed something after the wheat field ended, he stopped abruptly.

“Oh…!”

At the end of the wheat field, a dirt road stretched far into the distance.

Wildflowers were blooming delicately beneath the farmer’s steps, even in this chilly autumn.

The farmer’s body trembled.

To E-40, it looked like a trembling caused by passion.

He wasn’t wrong.

His voice trembled.

“I… I remembered!”

He knelt down and carefully reached out to touch the petals.

“I actually wanted to grow flowers. A garden full of small, beautiful things blooming.”

His voice held a hint of moisture.

E-40 wished he could express admiration for the scene.

The sight of the farmer caressing the flowers was etched on his retina like a painting, radiating a strange beauty.

In the midst of the scenery that touched the heart, what happened next was completely beyond E-40’s control.

Unconsciously, he reached out, touched the farmer’s face, and gently peeled it off.

And there it was revealed.

“Huh…? Why does my face feel like this?”

Beneath the peeled-off ‘sunburned face,’ the farmer wore a dazzling smile.

It seemed natural from the beginning.

The farmer shouted, “Ah! This is bad! I’ve become a top-level criminal too!”

Watching the farmer running around in a panic, E-40 recalled the last words with a smile.

“In fact, the smile spreads.”

E-40 vaguely understood the meaning of those words.

***

Ultimately, I think it turned out well.

Perhaps Yang Gilsang needed someone to push him to go to the hospital?

Now that he’s started taking medicine, his hair loss shouldn’t progress any further.

I’ve altered his sad future.

There can’t be many moments as gratifying as this for a regressor.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about something else.

“The harvesting system is roughly complete.”

While revising the scenario, a prototype of the harvesting system was completed.

In front of me was the QA report related to it.

It was a document that needed careful reading.

Well, isn’t QA about more than just finding bugs? It’s the most immediate feedback the development team can collect during the development stage, right?

In any case, I unfolded the document.

“Hmm?”

I could have a quite interesting reaction.

『―Harvesting and cultivation were fun.

―It would be nice if there were separate lands for cultivation content.

―Will there be more cultivation items?』

Unexpectedly, the QA team showed a slightly greater interest in harvesting and cultivation than in combat.