I came for Healing, but a Gate Appeared

One Hundred Pyeong with a Human Heart

With the sound of countless birds chirping in turn, Ian finally opened his eyes.

It was morning.

Bright sunlight poured into the room.

He had slept soundly. Slept as if he were dead.

He couldn't even remember the last time he had slept so deeply. It was truly satisfying.

"Looks like Earth is compatible with me. Good. I made the right choice coming here. Let's see how things go."

Throwing off the blanket, he opened the door and walked outside.

Last night, it had been too dark for him to properly see the surroundings, so now he wanted to take a good look.

Sure enough, the first thing that caught his eye was the mountains.

There was a mountain in front of the house, another behind, and even higher mountains were stacked one after another beyond them.

"Wow, amazing!"

Ian expressed his genuine admiration. The impression he felt now was even more overwhelming than what he'd felt yesterday.

To someone who had lived his whole life gazing only at flat lands, the compact, clustered mountains were deeply appealing.

Green forests spread out in layers, from fresh light green to deep bluish green.

The beautiful undulating lines looked like the waves of the sea.

Though the Praerian continent had forests to rival any, mountains with these winding curves had a unique kind of beauty.

"Earth has quite a lot of green, huh? I'd heard cities were highly developed here... Well, anyway, I doubt there's a food shortage. Not sure how many Earthlings there are, but—"

Ian was still thinking in the mindset of a Praerian.

He slowly strolled around the front yard.

The house was perched halfway up a mountain.

If you followed the narrow cement road—which barely fit a single car—up the hill, you would find Ian's house and a humble farm.

"It's high and nice here. Feels like the whole world is beneath my feet..."

Since this was a mountain village, all the houses were dotted along hillsides.

Of them, this house was at the highest point.

Yesterday, when he rode up with the village head, he'd seen that the entire village clustered further down below.

There were only two nearby houses, and even those were further down than this one. From the front yard, he could see their rooftops below.

Being the highest, the view was also the best. He had a clear view of the ridgeline of Mount Jiri and the valley far below.

He'd heard the area above here belonged to the national park, so no houses could be built there.

That meant the view Ian now saw was the best possible scenery of Mount Jiri from any residence.

"How did that kid manage to get a house and land in such a remote place?"

They'd said he'd decided on rural life out of exhaustion from city and people, but he must have been truly worn out.

Ian clicked his tongue. He felt sorry for the young man; it must've been tough for him. Besides—

"To think he ended up all the way out here, only to leave without ever getting to really live... What a pity."

Anyway, Ian made up his mind to make good use not only of the body left behind, but the house and the land as well. That way, the young man might be happy too.

In any case, the remote location suited Ian as well. He wasn't yet fully adapted to Earth, so drawing attention would be no good.

After enjoying the view to his heart's content, Ian headed to the field beside the house.

"Let's see, what did he plant?"

He hadn't been able to check properly last night due to the darkness, but crops were, after all, Ian's greatest interest.

He was curious about what kind of crops Earthlings grew.

But then—what was this?

The field was overflowing with bramble vines from the ashen desert.

Common on the Praeri Continent, he recognized it immediately.

Ashen desert bramble vines had spread in tangled messes in every direction.

They were creeping out, even crossing the borders of the field and stretching toward the house.

"My goodness. Why would anyone grow this? Do Earthlings eat ashen desert bramble vines?"

Given how frail humans looked, he thought it odd they ate something so tough and spiky.

But suddenly, his head buzzed. The memories of the body's previous owner rushed in.

"Oh, that's not it. The bramble vine wasn't being grown for food, it was a nuisance."

That made sense. Only creatures like lizards living in the cracks of desert rocks would eat bramble vines.

Human mouths weren't made to endure such rough trials.

"So what were the original crops...?"

When Ian closely examined the field, he saw plants wilting away beneath the bramble vines.

He saw some leafy greens, some fruit-bearing plants, and although there were mere traces left, some grains, too.

"That's what they're supposed to eat."

All of them were dying off, stopped midway in their growth by the bramble vines.

The kid had already messed up even this meager attempt at farming.

Ian clicked his tongue, then rolled up his sleeves.

He figured he'd have to clear the bramble vines first and began to gather energy to his fingertips.

With something like this, he could flick his fingers and—

"Huh?"

Nothing happened.

He didn't feel any strength.

Ian once more pictured his energy and tried gathering it to his fingertips.

But it didn't work.

"It's not working...? It won't work?"

Ian's face turned as pale as beach sand in an instant.

This couldn't be. The master of a great farm's arts weren't working? The Praerian strength wouldn't rise?

But after a moment's thought, he realized it made sense. Right now, Ian's body wasn't that of a Praerian, but an Earthling.

But his spirit was perfectly fine!

His mind was his own, so shouldn't the Praerian strength naturally come forth?

After all, strength came from forming intent.

Maybe it was because the nature of this place was different. Praerian strength ultimately originated from nature.

'Still, with all this greenery, not a bit of strength comes out...?'

Either way, nothing worked. No matter how Ian pictured his intent, no change occurred.

"Haaa... It's not working. So how am I supposed to farm?"

Of course, Ian wasn't entirely ignorant of the answer.

The world didn't only consist of long-lifers like the Praerians. Even those without powers—the short-lifers—all farm in their own way.

Humans must be the same. Even with this frail body, they had to work diligently to grow crops.

"No helping it. Guess I'll have to live like a human on Earth—for now at least."

Ian decided he'd tackle the strength and arts problem over time. He was sure he'd eventually find a solution.

As always, Ian shook off his discouragement and went straight to the shed.

In the small shed beside the house, he found several tools similar to what the short-lifers used in Praeri.

"These should work, right?"

Ian brought out a rake and a sickle and returned to the field.

He tried raking away the tangled bramble vines, but it was no use. These weren't dried-up vines, but lively, healthy bramble vine.

Tossing aside the rake, Ian grabbed the sickle.

He had to cut the vines one by one from the outside.

"This is it."

Ian began swinging the sickle vigoriously.

The problem was, though, he had no strength. The young man's body was extremely frail.

No matter how hard he tried, his body wouldn't follow his will.

In no time at all, sweat was pouring down all over Ian's body.

It was unbelievably exhausting.

"Ugh, this is killing me."

He'd wanted to keep his head down until all the bramble vines were cleared, but he just couldn't.

He put down the sickle, feeling like he really might die.

"Wait... Let's just rest a bit..."

He looked up to see how much he'd managed. It looked like he'd done less than a tenth.

"My god... Is a hundred pyeong really this large?"

Finally, Ian was looking at this hundred-pyeong field from a human's perspective.

Spacing out and glaring at the demon-like bramble vine, Ian's gaze drifted toward the back of the house.

He followed the line of the bramble vine to find where it began. Its flow clearly stretched out from behind the house into the field.

There was a small yard behind the house, and beyond that a retaining wall made of large stones. The bramble vine was creeping out from between those rocks.

'How did ashen desert bramble vine end up growing here, in the mountains rather than a desert?'

Suddenly, he was curious.

But as he stared quietly at where the bramble vine had begun, he thought he saw a faint blue light shimmering there.

"Huh? That light...?"

It was very faint, but it unmistakably had the same feeling as the light he'd seen when passing through the dimensional travel portal.

Was there a portal open there?

No way. Who would open a portal?

Perhaps he was so worn out and dazed from fighting the bramble vine that he was just seeing things.

Right then, Ian's stomach rumbled loudly.

His memories started swirling madly.

'Ah, I'm hungry. I'd love to boil a pot of savory doenjang jjigae, grill some Spam, and eat it all on steaming white rice.'

He really was hungry. He'd been working in the field with nothing in his stomach, so it was no wonder he felt empty.

But... doenjang jjigae? Spam? What was that?

No matter how he thought, this wasn't his own idea. It was like someone else was giving orders.

He found himself drooling as he thought about food he'd never even tasted.

"What is this? Is it the kid's memories? But why does it feel so vivid? It's like...not a memory, but a living will."

While pondering this, Ian had already dropped the sickle, washed his hands at the yard faucet, and headed back inside.

Once indoors, his feet naturally carried him to the kitchen.

He immediately opened the sink cabinet, took out a pot, filled it with water, and put it on the stove.

Then he opened the refrigerator and took out fermented soybean paste.

"Ah! Have to start with anchovy broth and dissolve the paste."

Ian moved as if on autopilot. For some reason, his heart was fluttering, as if excited about the tasty food he would soon eat.

"Wait! What's going on, really?"

He stopped his busy hands. Ian's soul put on the brakes.

No matter how he looked at it, the desire to cook was coming from the kid's ego, not Ian's own. But how?

Wasn't he supposed to be totally dead?

A line of sweat trickled down his spine.

He didn't feel afraid, exactly. But if the young man's ego was still alive, what did that mean?

He needed to check.

"Hey, kid... No, was your name Ahn Bin? Ahn Bin! Are you there?"

Ian called out cautiously. Just in case the ego was still present, he stopped calling the kid by his old nickname.

If he was alive, he should be treated with respect.

The young man's name was Ahn Bin. For some reason, it resembled Ian's own. Perhaps it, too, was fate.

After calling out, Ian listened carefully, but heard nothing in reply.

Well, Ian's mouth was now the young man's mouth, so if there was a response, it would come from the very lips that asked.

It was quiet.

Ian tried again.

"Ahem. My name is 'Ian von Valle de Fundo Praeri.' Somehow, I'm now living in your body. Anyway, nice to meet you. If you're there, answer me. We should at least know each other."

He waited in silence for a response.

Still nothing. With Ian's mouth closed, the world was perfectly quiet.

'Guess not...'

Ian tried to think calmly and rationally.

He couldn't still be alive. Otherwise, Ian wouldn't have been able to possess his body.

Since memory makes up the ego, it wasn't entirely impossible that memories transferred through possession could behave as if they were an ego.

Whether that meant the ego was alive or dead, he wasn't so sure.

At any rate, yes, that must be it.

Even if not alive, memories could still twitch as if they had their own will, like an ego.

"But why that will, of all things...?"

When he was struggling to cut the bramble vine, nothing had happened, but as soon as it was mealtime, the will had suddenly sprung to life.

It boldly chose the menu, staking its own claim.

"What a coincidence. Does he only want to enjoy good food or what?"