I'll Go on a Journey

The life of a long-lifer is long. Incredibly long. So long it seems endless.

It's tiresome to death.

"So boring, it's boring. Haa......"

Ian yawned, stretching his mouth wide. Through his half-closed eyes, his farm spread out before him.

"When am I supposed to harvest all that? Not a single thing has wilted—everything's growing so well."

Ian's farm is vast.

Incredibly vast.

So vast it feels endless.

Countless crops were growing in that enormous farm.

Which meant there was a mountain of work to do.

It was only natural for the farm, which fed and slaughtered countless lives within the domain, to be this large.

The problem was that there was a torturously never-ending amount of work because of that.

"Why are the workers so slow? And where are the Praerians? Why aren't they around? Where did everyone go?"

After finishing his yawn, Ian opened his eyes wide and looked around the farm.

With eyesight that hadn't declined even after all those years, he scanned every nook and cranny.

Praerians—in other words, long-lifers like Ian—were known for being lazy. You have to understand that to some extent. How can you be diligent every day when you have to live for so long? It's perfectly understandable.

On the other hand, one could also understand why the short-lived races might not want to work that hard. Their brief lives—how could they spend it all just working?

Ian was incredibly understanding.

That's good, being understanding. But thanks to that, all the work ended up piling onto Ian. If no one else works hard, then someone has to do it. That's Ian.

And why? Because Ian is the master of the great farm, the lord of this domain.

A domain so staggeringly vast that "great farm" almost seems inadequate.

He used to take pride in it, once. In being both a farm owner and a lord. Fueled by a sense of duty, he expanded the farm even more.

"Why on earth did I do that...? What was I working so hard for?"

Ian grumbled. Because of his diligence, the farm grew as if it were self-replicating, and the amount of work snowballed.

The number of lives living in his domain—the lives Ian was responsible for—also increased exponentially. Both long-lifers and short-lifers found it easy to survive and kept multiplying without end. Too many to count.

Ian worked night and day on the endless farm just to feed all those lives. Of course, he didn't only keep them alive; there were plenty that had to be harvested as ingredients, too. Anyway, whether it was living or killing, Ian did it all.

"I've spoiled them."

It took nearly a thousand years for Ian to realize he was doing too much.

Of course, the farmwork wasn't actually that hard for Ian. He wasn't plowing fields by hand or weeding like the short-lifers.

As mentioned, Ian is a master of a great farm and a lord. He's a Praerian. A race that knows the laws of nature and controls magics—one who has reached the highest level among his kind.

So farmwork was never a challenge for Ian. He could do everything with telekinesis, without getting a single speck of dirt on his hands.

It wasn't hard but...

"It's boring!"

Ian had spent his long, endless years solely on this farm. Of course, he hadn't never left the domain—he'd gone to neighboring lands, but never far.

Other Praerians traveled to the ends of the continent; some even journeyed to other planets or dimensions.

"I can't take it anymore. I need a vacation too. I'm going on a journey. A vacation fit for a long-lifer—a vacation so long it never ends."

Ian finally made up his mind.

Even golden ages only last a day or two. Ian needed new stimulation. He resolved to travel somewhere truly unknown. Just thinking about it made his heart race.

No matter how tolerant and understanding he was, Ian couldn't think of his domain and its lives forever. Or, rather, perhaps this decision was for their sake as well.

Those lives who became lazy and comfortable thanks to Ian, now needed to learn how to live for themselves.

"They can't just depend on my strength. I mean, really, what would they do if I died?"

He said that, but Ian didn't really think the lives in his domain would outlive him. In fact, he couldn't even imagine his own death.

Anyway, Ian would slip away by himself, and the creatures of his domain would learn to survive on their own.

"All right! I'm leaving. I don't know if this will be a vacation or my retirement. Anyway, I'm off!"

Ian, as excited as a child, spoke with a delighted voice.

When a person lives for nearly a thousand years, their soul can become as pure as if they'd circled a cosmic lifetime.

Thus, Ian possessed a heart and spirit purer than anyone else on the Praeri Continent.

Authority doesn't always need to be voiced with stiff words; sometimes, it simply seeps from one's being.

Caring little about appearances, Ian bounced into his castle, cheerily shouting like a child, "I'm leaving! I'm off!" as he packed for his journey.

* * *

Ahn Bin was drinking alone at a bar in town.

He'd come a little far on purpose, just in case people from the village saw him.

He was never much of a drinker, but since moving to the countryside, he'd started having a glass or two.

He was so anxious, he thought he might as well try drinking.

'Nothing ever goes my way. Bramble vines, of all things...'

Today's worry was the bramble vines that had overrun Ahn Bin's land.

Vines that had sprouted overnight and swallowed up all his crops.

'How could they grow so fast?'

Ahn Bin couldn't believe it. He was afraid to go home. At this rate, the brambles would have overtaken his house, too.

"I really underestimated country life. Didn't even know about bramble vines..."

He was grumbling to himself when the man sitting next to him suddenly leaned over and chimed in.

"Bramble vines? Not pueraria? Anyway, you have to sever all the vines and pull them out by the root. Leave them and they'll be a pain. You must be new to farming, huh?"

The man smiled broadly.

He could read that expression well. It was the look people gave when mocking newcomers to the countryside.

Ahn Bin wanted to leave the bar. Nothing good ever came from conversations with people who approached him with that look.

And the problem was, they weren't even wrong. Ahn Bin's country life was such a disaster that he could hardly object to being looked down on.

Nothing worked out.

He'd chosen to move to the country after getting completely worn out by corporate life.

His sales job, dealing with people every day, had never suited him.

He wanted to live quietly alone in the remote hills.

He had no delusions about farming. Ahn Bin knew it wasn't easy work. He never thought he'd make a fortune from farming.

Farming, he figured, was just for growing enough to eat himself, a humble ambition.

So, if it was only the farming that failed—well, he was just a beginner, he'd tell himself, and try to console himself.

But the real problem in the countryside was people, just like in the city.

"He must've left Seoul because something went wrong. All the way out here in the mountains."

"Maybe he did something and ran away here, who knows."

"That's not how you plant that. I told you before. Young man's got no sense."

"Don't be too harsh. If he was skilled and smart, would he have come to this backwater?"

Country folk had as much to say as city folk. They gossiped behind his back and talked openly to his face.

Their subtle hostility was exhausting. Ahn Bin found it hard to bear.

'Ah... I want to leave.'

The thought came naturally.

But where would he go? He'd already run away from Seoul, where he was born and raised.

With the little villa his late father left him and all his retirement money, he'd bought a house with a field at the foot of Mount Jiri and moved in.

Where else could he go? He was stuck, with nowhere to turn.

He felt hopeless. But he didn't want to die. Just once, he wanted to live his life as he wished.

He wanted to live without worrying about what others thought. To enjoy delicious food among beautiful scenery, and live in peace.

'Where could I go to live as I please? Maybe the problem isn't the place. Maybe I need to change.'

Ahn Bin put down his glass and got up. For now, he decided to just avoid that smiling man beside him.

"Why, leaving? City folk, huh? Why are you so stiff? Can't even respond when spoken to. You don't even appreciate it when I teach you things."

As expected, voices of criticism chased Ahn Bin as he paid and left the bar. At this point, they spoke informally. It was best not to reply at all.

Outside, the early summer night breeze was cool.

"Let's go. Just go home."

He considered how to get home, then decided to just walk. It was quite a long way, but he felt like it. He didn't have anything to do anyway.

He didn't even want to meet people on the bus.

For some reason, the mountain seen in the distance felt reassuring.

Its dark blue-green wasn't frightening but comforting, like an embrace. Ahn Bin's house was there.

'I fell for that sturdy mountain, that's why I decided to move here.'

Suddenly, Mount Jiri looked magnificent again. Whether from drinking or not, his worries seemed to fade for a while.

He began walking toward the mountain. After a while, his legs felt wobbly.

He'd been walking for about two hours. Now, it was completely dark.

"Farther than I thought."

But after just one more turn, he should see the hill of his house. He pushed himself onward.

Suddenly, a bright light flooded over him. The headlights of a truck, speedily rounding the corner, dazzled Ahn Bin's eyes.

The moment he thought to dodge, the truck had already hit him. Ahn Bin's body was lifted into the air.

'Am I... dying like this?'

A sense of emptiness ran through Ahn Bin's heart. Then, consciousness faded.

* * *

"Uwoaaaaaah!"

Ian shouted at the top of his lungs. It was exhilarating. This was the intense stimulation he'd been craving.

It was a bit more intense than he'd expected, though.

The sensation of passing through a dimension couldn't be described as mere trembling or dizziness.

It felt like every cell in his body was being split and scattered. No, more like being disassembled into units even smaller than that.

But it was still enjoyable. He had to enjoy it. That's why Ian yelled noises at the top of his lungs, ones no one else could hear.

Finally, as he passed the last boundary of light, Ian felt himself float up and then crash down somewhere. It was far from a smooth landing.

Ian immediately assessed his surroundings.

He could smell grass. He could smell water.

'Huh? Did I come back to my farm? I specified coordinates for a world with an extremely advanced city.'

He slowly opened his eyes.

Yet something felt off. Sure, nothing was visible because it was dark, but his body felt strange. Like it wasn't his own.

"What's with this... sensation?"

At the words that slipped out, Ian flinched. It was an unfamiliar voice in a strange language he'd never heard.

But he understood the meaning perfectly.

He quickly checked his body. He was so shocked he almost fell over—well, he was already lying down, anyway.

It was a body he didn't recognize.

And on top of that, it was the body of a human—rumored to be among the weakest.

Blood was dripping all over the body.

"What on earth... is going on?"

Ian was horrified once again by his unfamiliar voice.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Ian is a long-life race, Ahn Bin is a Korean.Ian crossed dimensions, got sucked into Ahn Bin's dying body after getting hit by a truck...Reverse possession?【【_】a(⩌ᴗ⩌ )】

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