It started The Day the Vegetables Rebelled, as most of Jaehyun's worst days did, with a scream.
"DIRECTOR! THE LETTUCE IS HOLDING A MEETING!"
He sprinted out of the cabin, shovel in hand. "WHAT?!"
Sure enough — in the middle of the field, a perfect circle of vegetables sat in solemn silence.Tomatoes. Carrots. Even the bok choy.At the center stood a single towering sunflower, glowing faintly gold, its petals turning to follow him.
"So," it said calmly, "you are the one they call… Farmer."
Jaehyun blinked. "...I'm hallucinating."
Minho, already sketching in excitement, whispered, "A talking sunflower! Possibly divine!"
Yeonjin, sipping tea nearby: "It's polite. I like it."
Jaehyun: "Why does no one else find this horrifying?!"
The sunflower bowed slightly — a regal motion that somehow carried cosmic weight.
"We, the flora of this reborn world, have reached consensus. We demand autonomy."
Jaehyun blinked. "You're vegetables."
"Sentient vegetables."
"Same thing."
The sunflower's leaves bristled. "We are life itself! You exploit our existence, harvest our kin, and drown us daily!"
"That's literally how farming works!!"
From the sidelines, Bongyu clapped in his sleep. "Go plant…"
Minho whispered, "Son, maybe it's time to negotiate with the crops."
"Dad, I am not signing a peace treaty with my dinner!"
After several hours of shouting (and Jaehyun briefly attempting to weed the rebellion leader), the sunflower finally explained its existence.
"I am Solaria. The First Sunflower. Born when light and earth first touched mana. I have watched ages rise and fall. I have seen humanity destroy what it cannot nurture."
Jaehyun squinted. "...You're literally a flower."
"A wise flower."
Minho whispered reverently, "A divine being of agriculture…"
Yeonjin smiled gently. "Aww, look at his little serious face."
Jaehyun: "WHY DOES EVERYONE TREAT IT LIKE A PET?! IT JUST THREATENED TO UNIONIZE!"
Tensions escalated fast.
Half the crops declared loyalty to Solaria, demanding "equal photosynthetic rights."The other half — mostly carrots and bok choy — sided with Jaehyun, chanting, "Long live the Director!"
By noon, the Green Kindergarten field had split in two — banners made of leaves, signs written in mud.
Yeonjin and Minho sat on a picnic blanket eating sandwiches while watching the chaos.
"This is better than those old drama series," Yeonjin said fondly.
Minho nodded. "My son's leading a vegetable rebellion. I've never been prouder."
Jaehyun, in the middle of the field, shouted, "STOP TAKING SIDES AND HELP!"
A potato rolled past him wearing a headband that said 'Free the Seeds.'
Just when the "war" was about to turn into actual chaos (the cabbage army was preparing a catapult), Bongyu finally woke up.
Still groggy, he toddled over to the battlefield, yawned… and released a wave of pure green mana.
Everything froze.
The fighting plants shimmered, their anger dissolving. The fields turned radiant green again — harmonious, peaceful.
Solaria blinked. "What… was that?"
Bongyu rubbed his eyes. "Nap time… too noisy…"
Then he fell asleep standing up.
Jaehyun stared at the baby, then at the now-bowing sunflower.
"The Ancient One yields to the Small One," Solaria whispered in awe."The Cycle continues."
Jaehyun sighed dramatically. "Of course. My successor is a baby who naps through revolutions."
That evening, peace was restored — sort of.
The plants agreed to "mutual cooperation," Jaehyun promised to "stop yelling at lettuce," and Minho wrote an epic song titled "Ballad of the Bok Choy Brotherhood."
At dinner, Yeonjin served vegetable stew.
Solaria stared from the window, horrified. "You… you EAT THEM?!"
Yeonjin smiled politely. "Don't worry, dear. We thanked them first."
Jaehyun put his head on the table. "I want to go back to scavenging ruins. At least concrete didn't talk back."
Bongyu, drooling in his bowl, mumbled, "Good soup…"
Later that night, Solaria glowed faintly, whispering to the stars.
"The green has returned… and so has the cycle. But the world's roots run deep. Something below still stirs."
Far beneath the fertile land, black veins twitched — the decay adapting, learning from the green.
For now, though, all was quiet.Peaceful.Mostly.
Until Jaehyun's yell echoed from the house:
"WHO PLANTED A TOMATO IN MY SHOE?!"