“Excuse me. Aren’t you going to draw?”
“Ah. I’ll do it.”
I reached for the chicken-shaped wooden raffle box. The box felt strangely damp and humid.
What I drew was…
“A dud.”
Huu.
Agent Bronze also carefully drew, and again got a stick that said ‘Miss’.
“That’s too bad. It would’ve been nice if you’d at least won something.”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje pointed to the middle-aged man with the megaphone in the village square.
“Would be awesome to hit the jackpot.”[If you win the special prize, treasure is coming your way!]
On the corner of the banner the man was pointing to, there was a very lifelike print of a gold rooster statue.
It wasn’t possible to guess the actual size, but from the details, it looked fairly large.
“Wow.”
“That looks like at least 100 don!” (Approx. 4kg)
“Has anyone ever actually won that thing?”
If you ask me…
But there are no eyewitness accounts of anyone winning the special prize yet.
That’s right.
Considering that guests draw more than half the sticks, the odds really are strange.
I suspect it’s a kind of selection ritual within this supernatural disaster.
(According to the branch’s investigation, there’s a folk tale that someone who won 52 years ago ended the village’s drought and was enshrined as a deity at the village shrine, but its credibility hasn’t been verified.)
And just as Agent Choi said, the special prize didn’t come out this time either.
A look of deep disappointment crossed the face of the villager with the megaphone.
[Thank you again, everyone! May the fortune of Jisan be with you!]
And just like that, that day’s festival came to a close.
“Aww.”
“Isn’t this a scam?”
“Hey, still, the booze and meat are free.”
The outsiders started to get up, but because so many had drunk the free alcohol, a lot of their group couldn’t drive home.
“Jeez, what a situation this is…”
“It’s fine. This person said we can stay over!”
Quite a few outsiders ended up accepting the kindness of the friendly country folk and agreed to stay the night as if at a guesthouse.
It looked like a pretty warm scene.
But if you look closely, you can see that the villagers are quietly gathering here and there, collecting the leftover raffle boxes and muttering something among themselves.
They take turns drawing sticks from the leftover raffle boxes, too.
Once the raffle for outsiders ends, the villagers gather and draw the remaining sticks one by one.
Until they find the ‘special prize’ stick.
At this time, they recite a strange phrase.
“OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountlesspeaks.”
“OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountlesspeaks.”
– It’s probably a spell or prayer of some sort… It’s not exactly a proper shamanic phrase, but don’t pay too much attention to it. Spells in supernatural phenomena almost never have positive effects.
And finally, someone finds it.
The stick with gold attached at the end.
“Ah…!”
Tears fall from the person who drew it.
People surround the winner, shouting as if in celebration.
“OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountlesspeaks!”
“OChosenOnedeliveruntoustheblessingofJisanofthecountlesspeaks!”
At the branch, there are rumors that the villager who draws the special prize is given a special role at the next festival.
“……”
I turned my head.
Baek Saheon was watching all of this with calm eyes.
“Excuse me.”
Baek Saheon only shifted his gaze.
I asked politely,
“Is there anywhere in this village where we could stay for the night?”
“……You’re not saying you’ll eat and sleep in someone else’s house for free, are you?” he asked back.
Assistant Manager Eun Haje, carrying a sack of rice, suddenly interjected.
“I’ll pay. It must be fate that we’ve met like this.”
“Pardon?”
“Here. Will this be enough?”
Then, Assistant Manager Eun Haje handed over a fairly thick wad of cash to Baek Saheon.
Baek Saheon looked a bit startled, but soon his gaze settled and he snatched it up.
“…Follow me.”
“Okay.”
“Wait! You said you’re a reporter? You should head back now. This is our—”
“Trying to kick out the person who paid? Capitalism might be dirty, but some things still need to be respected. Geez, what a stick-in-the-mud geezer.”
“……”
I heard Agent Bronze quietly mutter, ‘Geezer?’
Good grief.
With a feeling like I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut, I started walking after Assistant Manager Eun Haje, who was following Baek Saheon as if nothing was wrong, and asked,
“…Should I carry the rice sack for you?”
“Oh, little brother, are you paying me back for the lodging? At least you’re doing things right.”
I took the sack of rice from Assistant Manager Eun Haje, who probably still had trouble with her hand. Agent Bronze, wearing a sour expression, helped as well.
“Too late, buddy.”
“……”
Just as Agent Bronze was looking at Assistant Manager Eun Haje with an incredulous expression—
“Hey! Goddamn fucking country hicks! Cucumbers? Do you think I came all the way to this backwoods village for cucumbers?”
Whack!
There was a loud voice and a crash nearby.
A box thrown to the ground burst open, cucumbers rolling through the dirt.
A drunken outsider was now rolling on the ground, making a scene.
“Give me gold, gold!”
“Aigoo, dear guest.”
“You still have two more chances left!”
The villagers, still smiling, coaxed and soothed him.
…It was hard to believe they’d just been cursed out, yet their kindness was unchanged.
Offering him dinner, suggesting he stay and try again tomorrow, telling him about the nice hot springs. Drawn in by these offers, the troublemaker disappeared with some of the friendly villagers into one of the houses.
It was one of the few tiled-roofed houses in the village.
The house in the center of the village looked unusually large.
“……”
I stiffly turned my gaze away.
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