The line between "farming" and "combat" gets blurry when your students can photosynthesize explosions.
Morning in Paradise (…Sort of)
Sunlight streamed through the greenhouse. Birds chirped.And Jaehyun woke up to a screaming chorus of:
"DIRECTOR! THE CABBAGES ARE FIGHTING AGAIN!"
He groaned, pulling the blanket over his head. "Tell them to settle it peacefully."
"But they're… evolving!"
He opened one eye — and froze.
In the middle of the garden, two bok choy plants boxed each other with leafy arms. A crowd of cheering kids surrounded them.
Minho stood proudly with a whistle. "I call this Botanical Combat Training!"
Jaehyun screamed, "DAD, THEY'RE VEGETABLES, NOT SOLDIERS!"
Training Begins (Against His Will)
Jaehyun, now the official "Combat Instructor," stared at the chaos before him:
One kid used vines as nunchucks.
Another summoned sentient sunflowers for "moral support."
Bongyu accidentally grew a tree in the middle of the lunch table. Again.
Minho saluted him. "The sprouts show promise! A few years and we'll have an unstoppable eco-army!"
Jaehyun deadpanned. "Yeah, we'll defeat hunger with interpretive gardening."
Jaehyun's Existential Breakdown #27
Later, Jaehyun sat slumped on a hay bale, muttering to himself.
"I was supposed to be a normal farmer… I just wanted bok choy. Now I have children who grow sentient spinach."
Minho sat beside him, patting his shoulder. "It's destiny, son. The world chose you."
"The world has bad taste."
Signs of the Black Aura
During afternoon lessons, something strange began happening.One of the older kids, little Hyunjae, frowned at his plant pot.
"Teacher," he said softly. "The soil feels… cold."
Jaehyun knelt to check. The dirt pulsed — faintly dark, as if something was leeching the life from it.The sprout inside had turned black at the edges.
He blinked. "Weird… nutrient imbalance, maybe?"
But then Bongyu toddled over, aura shimmering green — and the black wilted away instantly.
Jaehyun felt a chill. "...No. That's not normal."
The Coward Hero's "Investigation"
Later that night, Jaehyun found his father sneaking around the greenhouse with a lantern, dramatically whispering to himself.
"I, the Wind Hero, shall uncover the darkness lurking among the vegetables…"
The lantern flickered. A dark root slithered by his foot.
"AAAAAAAAA—!!!"
Jaehyun found him five minutes later, tangled in vines and crying.
"Dad. Stop investigating my soil."
"It attacked me first!"
"It's dirt!"
"I FELT MALEVOLENCE!"
A Lesson in Fear and Growth
The next morning, Jaehyun gathered the kids.
"All right, listen up. Some of you may have noticed weird stuff happening to your crops. Black spots, dead leaves, plants whispering your names at night—"
"Mine asked for taxes," said one old man.
Jaehyun rubbed his temples. "Okay, that's new."
He knelt, serious for once. "This black aura… it's different from ours. It's not life. It's decay. If it spreads, the world might starve for real this time."
The kids went quiet. Bongyu clutched his sleeve.
"Jaehyun… are we gonna be okay?"
He smiled tiredly. "We'll figure it out, sprout. After all, I'm the only adult here… unfortunately."
Foreshadowing — The Dark Bloom
That night, Jaehyun stood outside watching the horizon.Faint glimmers of green aura danced over the farmlands — the result of his students' training.But beyond that, deep in the city ruins, a strange black light pulsed once… twice… then vanished.
Minho joined him quietly."You feel it too?"
"Yeah," Jaehyun muttered. "Something's rotting the world again. And this time, it's growing faster than we can."
Minho gulped. "What should we do?"
Jaehyun stared at the sky, exhausted but resolute.
"…Make sure the kids don't find out. Tomorrow, we teach them composting."
When the world decays, even hope must learn to bloom faster.