Fiction REINCARNATION, Vol. 1

Hidden Valley Club

Part Two: Alien Syndrome

<9> Hidden Valley Club

When I arrived at the convenience store, ten boxes of cherry tomatoes and melons were piled up. The name Park Bong-sik is printed on the package. Yu-jin's father must have sent us the crops he reaped in return for taking care of his daughter. In-gyu said they arrived last night and many customers asked if they were for sale.

I called Park and thanked him. I asked how Yu-jin is doing these days and what kind of crop he is growing. He told me that his daughter became bright and healthy after she returned from Seoul. He thanked me repeatedly and said his daughter is waiting for the winter vacation to see us.

"In-gyu, can we sell them?"

"Did you see housewives coming to the convenience store to shop? But if we process them and make salads, they may sell. Vegetarians and dieters eat salad instead of the regular meal. Since Sang-ho trades in various kinds of agricultural products, he is the best person to make a salad."

"That's right. I'll ask him to make us a salad. Let's sell the salad at this store and introduce it to other stores if consumers respond well. If he could sell more than 1,000 salad packs a day, He could make a profit."

I called Yoon-hee and Sang-ho and promised to meet them. Yoon-hee is no less devoted to helping Yu-jin than I am, so I have to share the gifts with her. And I'll ask Sang-ho if he is willing to make a salad and deliver it to the convenience store. He'll be interested to hear me because he is eager to sell his produces to my store.

In-gyu also talked about the Hidden Valley Club. I have never dropped by the club office while I was immersed in Yu-jin's problem. In-gyu only attended the meeting for a few months, so I miss the members. We decided to visit the village of Liaobien in Laos again this year to conduct volunteer work, and the date of departure is drawing nearer.

"Since you and Yoon-hee haven't stopped by the office for a while, the members are wondering."

"I was so careless about club work to help Yu-jin. Didn't you tell them what happened?"

"I didn't elaborate on the fact that you and Yoon-hee were helping the troubled child with her past life."

"I hope the members don't get wrong anyway."

"They won't get it wrong. Today we're talking about the Salaban project. We should both be there, right?"

"I will keep the store and you will be there alone."

"Members will want you to attend rather than me."

"I'm expecting the conclusion of the meeting, so you go alone. If you're curious about my opinion, you can call me."

In-gyu headed to the Hidden Valley Club office and I took over the work of a convenience store. The Salaban project involves the commercialization of a coffee farm in Laos. We set up a coffee farm three years ago in Liaobien village near Salaban. We looked for ways to dramatically increase the incomes of the villagers and decided to use sufficient labor and land to create a coffee farm. In accordance with the decision, we planted coffee seedlings on nearby hills. We promised the villagers to import the coffee produced there into Korea and coffee beans will be harvested for the first time this year.

During my college years, I visited Southeast Asia for the first time as a member of an overseas cultural tour team, and went backpacking every year. Then, we decided to do something meaningful rather than just sightseeing. We decided to visit a poor remote village and do volunteer work. We imitated the Saemaul (New Village) movement method verified in Korea as a way of volunteering. It was six years ago that we formed such a volunteer club. Since then, we changed places and did volunteer work every year.