Chapter 5
“That’s okayyy~~ everythiiing is gonna be alright~~.”
To lift her sunken spirits, Onyu forced a cheerful hum.
She was thinking about whether to dig through the backyard storage again tomorrow when she suddenly stopped walking—after spotting a black sedan parked near the house.
More precisely, she stopped at the sight of Kang Iwan, leaning lazily against the car while smoking.
“Wow…”
A gasp escaped from Onyu’s slightly parted lips. The image of Iwan with a cigarette between his long fingers, talking on the phone, looked like a scene from a painting.
He furrowed his brows in displeasure at something, took a long drag from the cigarette, and exhaled the smoke.
His handsome, sensual face emerged through the softly swirling smoke. The orange glow of the sunset only enhanced the atmosphere.
Her damn ex-boyfriend Baek Jiho, who used to pride himself on his looks, couldn’t hold a candle to him. No, Iwan was on a completely different level.
Unconsciously staring, Onyu found herself locked in direct eye contact as Iwan turned his head.
“!”
Startled, she gave him a polite nod as if they’d just run into each other. Iwan said something briefly before ending his call and walking toward her with long strides.
When he stopped a few steps in front of her, Onyu looked up and asked,
“Didn’t you go back to Seoul?”
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t.”
With a faint smile, Iwan stuck one hand in his suit pants pocket and added,
“I just came from checking that banner at the lottery store.”
“Ah…”
‘So he didn’t believe me. Well, not that I blame him.’
Her internal muttering came out as a short sigh.
“Show me the peach orchard.”
“I told you, I’m not selling.”
Onyu flatly rejected his sudden request. The way this man talked was strange. Polite in tone but very close to a command.
Well, what do you expect from a third-generation chaebol? Born with a diamond spoon in his mouth, probably spent his whole life giving orders from atop a throne.
Even understanding his background, Onyu found it irritating.
“You’re not never selling it, are you?”
As if he expected her reaction, Iwan replied calmly.
“Whether you find the ticket or not in three months, you’re going to sell it anyway, right?”
Onyu couldn’t deny that bluntly accurate point.
If she found the winning lottery ticket, of course, she planned to sell the house and orchard and cash in on the reward. That would be the true jackpot—just like the name of this town.
“Let’s go.”
Iwan started walking confidently, as if that settled everything.
Without realizing it, Onyu followed his natural and assertive lead. When she came to her senses, she was already guiding him to the peach orchard.
The two walked in silence, side by side.
Iwan matched his stride to hers, his eyes narrowing slightly—was it the orchard nearby? The sweet scent in the air tickled his nose.
He normally hated sweet things, but this lingering fragrance oddly didn’t bother him. More like… it kept catching his attention.
After about five minutes, they arrived. Iwan scanned the area sharply, examining the landscape and the orchard’s size.
“It’s not very large.”
“It used to be much bigger.”
Onyu replied with a bitter smile.
At one time, most of the farmland in the village had belonged to the Na family for generations.
But her grandfather started selling it off, bit by bit, to fund his business ventures. In the end, only the peach orchard remained.
Her grandmother, having lost all faith in her incompetent husband, took drastic action. To protect what was left, she buried the house and orchard deeds in the peach field.
Maybe that’s why—
After searching the house from top to bottom with no luck, her grandmother began to suspect the orchard too.
Somehow, they managed to protect the orchard. It became the Na family’s main income source and had been sold off piece by piece to pay for her late father’s and Onyu’s tuition.
During better times, when Onyu’s business thrived, she even bought back some of the land.
“I have a question.”
Iwan’s heavy voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up to meet his gaze.
“If you find the lottery ticket, will your grandmother sell the house?”
“Probably… yes.”
‘It’s early-stage dementia. The symptoms will get worse. The medicine only slows it down—it’s not a cure.’
Remembering what the doctor said, Onyu nodded slowly.
Just as Iwan guessed, if they couldn’t find the ticket, she planned to at least claim the reward and bring her grandmother to Seoul.
“‘Probably’ isn’t reassuring.”
Iwan frowned slightly at her vague answer.
“She will sell it.”
Only after Onyu gave a firm answer did Iwan nod with satisfaction.
“Good. If she’s willing, then I’ll take care of it.”
“Take care of what?”
“That damn eight billion. I’ll find it for you.”
“What?”
Onyu’s eyes widened in shock.
“Tomorrow, I’ll bring people to search the house and dig up the orchard. We’ll probably find it in a week—”
“W-Wait!”
Panicking, Onyu raised her hand and cut him off mid-sentence, as if he were rattling off a suspect lineup.
“You think I didn’t think of that? I’ve torn the house apart again and again!”
Sighing in frustration, she shook her head. Iwan frowned too, as if she were some clueless, helpless girl.
“This isn’t a detached house in the city. This is a tiny village with barely 20 households. If you call in a whole crew to turn the place upside down, the rumors will spread in no time.”
“Everyone will be tight-lipped—”
“There’s no such thing as a permanent secret.”
Onyu’s tone was firm.
“This has to be done quietly and discreetly.”
“So you’re saying…”
Iwan touched his lips with a restless hand and gave a thin, dry smile.
“We have to search that whole huge house by hand? Quietly and discreetly?”
“Yes.”
Onyu nodded with a dead-serious face. A dry chuckle escaped between Iwan’s teeth.
“Damn it, I’m going insane…”
He tilted his head back and swallowed the curses swirling in his mouth. All the plans he had made on the drive over were already crumbling.
Do I have to marry her? Seriously?
Just from what she said, he already felt on the verge of a meltdown. But Onyu added another bombshell.
“And we can’t touch the orchard until the end of June.”
“What?”
Iwan blinked in disbelief.
“Why not?”
All pretense of politeness gone, he demanded in a blunt tone.
“Grandma said we have to wait until after this harvest.”
“Why didn’t you stop her?”
“I tried. But the orchard belongs to her. Whether to dig it up or not is entirely her decision. Honestly, saying she’d let us dig at all was a huge deal.”
“…”
“Our peaches are early-ripening, so the harvest is relatively fast.”
“Not fast enough…”
Iwan muttered blankly. If things went badly, the digging might not start until July.
“If the harvest is delayed as much as possible… when will it finish?”
“Hmm… usually no later than July 10th.”
“Ah…”
A sigh of relief escaped him. He silently thanked every god he’d never believed in. It could’ve been worse.
As he silently cheered on the peaches to grow faster, Onyu made a request.
“If it’s about being urgent, I’m in a bigger hurry than you. So please wait just a little. I’ll contact you the moment I find it. And when the time comes to persuade the villagers, I’ll help however I can.”
Promising cooperation, she looked up at the sky, which was now painted with the fading light of dusk.
“I should head back now. I need to get Grandma her dinner.”
She turned and took a few steps—then tripped over a sunken patch of ground she hadn’t noticed.
“Whoa—!”
Her arms flailed like wings as she tried to regain balance.
But her body tilted forward—straight into the pile of compost left behind from a few days ago.
No, no no!
Realizing she was about to face-plant into the pile, she let out a horrified scream.
And this compost—let’s be clear—was organic fertilizer made by the whole village. Ingredients included livestock manure, food scraps, weeds, straw, and fallen leaves.
In short, it was a field of eco-friendly poop.
