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Jiwoong was once a god that was praised by the whole village, his small shrine used to be constantly filled with offerings of the people’s harvest. But even gods— especially lesser gods like Jiwoong, are not invincible. Jiwoong is a deity of nature who can only be truly empowered by human’s belief in him, and unfortunately, his people’s belief had slowly dissipated causing him to weaken.
Now, his shrine is frequently bare, no longer abundant with offerings. The villagers barely spoke of him at all, as the village itself is also no longer in its glory days. Despite Jiwoong still using what’s left of his power to continue blessing the people’s crops, it’s evident that the village is slowly fading as what’s left are only the elderly. Most of the younger generation have left, opting for a chance of a better life in the city.
However, Jiwoong still had a few villagers who remained loyal to him, never failing to place any available offerings on his shrine. One of them in particular was an elderly woman who continued to believe in Jiwoong ever since her younger days.
The woman used to bring her grandson along, however, she eventually visits the shrine alone more frequently. The last time Jiwoong saw her grandson was when he was a teenager, then he only accompanied his grandma every once in a while.
It was surprising for Jiwoong to see the now all grown up boy, holding his grandma’s arm as they walked slowly up to his shrine. Despite the welcomed surprise, Jiwoong immediately realized the woman’s current condition, it was clear that she does not have much time left— Jiwoong’s smile dropped as all he could do was only send his best wishes for his devoted believer, hoping she has a beautiful afterlife.
A week after that visit, Jiwoong knew the elderly woman had passed and he fully expected that no more villagers would continue to visit his shrine again. However, to his surprise, the woman’s grandson showed up a few days later and even placed some fruits onto his shrine.
“She’s no longer with us.. but even when she was bedridden, she asked me to take her here and to keep visiting once she’s gone. So, here I am.” The young man let out a sigh before clasping his hand together and bowing slightly.
“Thank you.. for your blessings, I guess? Sorry, I’m new to this.” He let out a laugh and that made Jiwoong chuckle too. Hey, at least his intentions were pure. His offerings will help anyways, Jiwoong thought to himself.
The young man returned 2 days later, this time bringing a potted plant with him instead of the usual fruits or vegetables. This confuses Jiwoong, but he’s certainly not complaining as any offer from nature would suffice.
“Sorry, I couldn’t come yesterday since I just finished moving in completely. Mom kept nagging during our calls too, always saying “Matthew, please don’t forget to water the plants, don’t forget to keep grandma’s room clean and yadayada—“ Sorry, I always end up yapping here.”
Jiwoong chuckled at the human’s antics. So, his name is Matthew. It’s nice to meet you Matthew— although you can no longer see or hear me.
“Anyways, I didn’t have time to pick some fruits back at grandma’s house since they weren’t ripe yet. I could only think of bringing this small succulent, it does have a small flower growing on it but it hasn’t bloomed yet. Hope you don’t mind!” Matthew then mumbled a thank you before clasping his hands together, quickly bowing before the shrine before making his leave.
The small flower growing on the succulent serves as a proof that it was taken care of pretty well, it showed no signs of being overwatered either. Jiwoong truly appreciated the offering, and decided to use a little of his powers to make the flower on the plant to fully bloom. He smiled to himself as he watched the flower slowly open up, a sense of relief also came over him as he realized that he’s still attuned with his powers.
Although Jiwoong was skeptical that Matthew would continue to visit, he can’t help but look forward to the young man’s arrival. Surprisingly, Matthew consistently dropped by the shrine for the next following days and he never forgets to leave a small offering. Yesterday, he brought some freshly harvested berries with him and he even brought a radish he received from a neighbor the following day.
However, today, Matthew brought another type of succulent with him. “It’s another plant this time! I noticed the flower on the previous succulent bloomed right away after placing it here. Hopefully, the same happens with this one too.” Looks like he thought it was just a coincidence. Well, he did take good care of the plants, they would’ve bloomed eventually anyway.
Jiwoong shrugged, although he knows Matthew doesn’t fully believe in him, his intentions when placing offerings are always sincere. Hence, all of the offerings he placed on the shrine truly did help Jiwoong in maintaining his powers. Unfortunately, receiving small offerings from just one person alone was not enough for the god to gain back his full strength.
Time flies and winter is soon approaching, although the snow has not even started to fall, Matthew noticed that most of his grandma’s crops are already wilting. “Huh? The temperature only dropped by a bit, the plants should still survive. I should ask the neighbors.. maybe I did something wrong.”
Matthew headed over to his next door neighbor’s home, hoping he’d receive any tips about maintaining plants in winter. However, he was instead greeted with a worried expression by his neighbor.
“It was never like this before, my plants and your grandma’s plants always survived during this time around.” His neighbor’s son, Gunwook, stepped in and also spoke up about his worries. “That’s true, I even heard that some of the other livestock have been unwell.”
Since Matthew lived half of his life in the city, he was not expecting this situation to be this concerning. “We need to stock up on the crops we have left, it’d be hard for us to buy anything from the other villages nearby because of the distance.” His neighbor continued, letting out a sigh as he glanced at his partly wilted crop field.
“Let me know if you need anything, I’m pretty sure grandma’s carrots and some other vegetables can still be harvested.” The neighbor thanked him and offered Matthew the same before Matthew bid his goodbye.
Matthew rummaged what was left of his grandma’s crops, all he could gather was a few berries and carrots. Although the radish and wheat fields look like they can still survive, they cannot be harvested yet. He sets aside anything else he can find to eat later on, before picking the leftover vegetation to bring as offerings.
“I don’t know what’s going on.. but the villagers look really worried. I guess things aren’t usually this tough before winter? This is all I can gather for now.” Matthew placed the small plate filled with a mix of berries and vegetables onto the shrine. “Grandma used to tell me that you’re the reason why the plants are growing well. I guess you’re a god of nature? If you are.. then, I hope you can help us out.”
Jiwoong is well aware of the village’s condition, however, his powers are not strong enough to strengthen all of the crops overnight. He knew it’d be risky, but he also knew that Matthew is his only chance to regain enough power to help his people.
Jiwoong mustered up enough of his powers to form a whisper, it’s all he can do as he can’t retain a physical body yet. “Please plant a Lily of the valley and I’ll do my best to make it grow fast. The flower would make a great offering for me, then I can finally help my people once more.”
Matthew jumped and let out a loud gasp, he was shocked to say the least. He visited the shrine often but he never experienced anything weird. Now, he’s suddenly hearing a whisper?
Despite the initial fear, Matthew tried to calm down and was hit with a sudden flashback of one of his dreams when he was younger. He remembered dreaming of a very good looking man, dressed in a traditional but regal hanbok. The man only smiled at him, saying a simple “Thanks.” and the dream ended there.
”W-wait.. so you’re REAL?! Dude? I wasn’t hallucinating as a kid?!” Jiwoong couldn't help but sigh as he held back a laugh. Looks like I’ll end up using a lot of my energy. “Yes, Matthew. I’m real, please trust me. I’m no longer as strong as I once was. I am sincerely grateful for all the offerings you and your grandma gave to me, but I still need more of your help to regain my powers.”
Jiwoong already felt exhausted just from trying to communicate with Matthew. Meanwhile, Matthew still stood in front of Jiwoong’s small shrine, not moving an inch as he was still in shock. A few moments passed before the young man finally spoke up. “O-okay.. I’ll plant the flower for you. I really hope I’m NOT hallucinating, please be actually real.” Matthew’s hesitation is to be expected, after all, it’s not everyday a god directly asks a human for help.
In the past, Jiwoong would occasionally visit some of his believer’s dreams— including Matthew’s grandma, solely to voice out his gratitude for them. Other than that, Jiwoong only watches over his people from afar, for a god can only maintain indirect communication with humans. However, Jiwoong has grown desperate and he can only hope that the other gods will understand his situation.
As Matthew walked back home, he practically had an internal battle with himself, he was struggling to convince himself that what happened was indeed real. Nevertheless, Matthew trusted his gut feelings and decided to follow through with the god’s request. He decided to visit one of his neighbors before going home, since he remembered that the neighbor practically had a whole flower garden in their front yard.
The timing was great, as Matthew spotted the elderly woman watering her flowers just as he was approaching her house. ”Hi! I hope you remember me, I’m Matthew, Umji’s grandson who moved in last month.” Matthew greeted the elderly woman with a smile, not forgetting to bow politely.
“Oh, Of course I remember you! You greeted all of us when you moved in. My grandson, Taerae, will visit soon and he’s around your age. I’ll ask him to meet you later on.” As expected, the woman was excited for a conversation. So, Matthew listened to her go on about her family first, before finally speaking up about his main mission to retrieve the flower seeds.
“You have a very beautiful garden! I was wondering, do you have this one flower called Lily of the valley? I heard it can grow during winter.” The elderly woman was pleasantly surprised to see that Matthew seemed to be knowledgeable about flowers, so she tugged on his arm and brought him towards her backyard.
“Why yes, I’ve even grown some of them myself.. but, they haven’t bloomed yet. It’s been harder to grow any plants nowadays. I wonder, has the soil in this village become less fertile?” Matthew was saddened hearing the woman’s words, as he is now aware why the once abundant village is slowly fading.
“I’ve been wanting to grow flowers myself, is it okay if I try to plant one of them back home?” Matthew’s reasoning wasn’t actually a complete lie. Ever since he returned to the village, he had to take care of his grandma’s leftover plants and he slowly grew fond of learning about them.
The woman happily gave Matthew one sprout of the flower, moving it into a smaller pot just for Matthew to take home. “This is exciting! Youngsters nowadays don’t have gardening as their hobby. I hope you’ll succeed in growing the flower, maybe then you can teach my grandson how to garden too!”
Matthew was relieved that he could successfully get the flower seed with no delays. Once he was home, he immediately prepared one of his grandma’s available pots and planted the flower seed. He could only hope and pray that planting this flower will actually help the village. “I really hope that everything is actually true and this will help everyone out.” Matthew sighed, before slowly falling asleep.
The next day, Matthew found that the seedling he planted was already starting to grow, the sprout of the flower now visible. This was confirmation that Matthew was indeed not hallucinating. This excites Matthew and he quickly gets dressed to head over to Jiwoong’s shrine, not forgetting to bring any available vegetable he had around along with the flower sprout.
Jiwoong could sense that Matthew was approaching, and he couldn’t fight back his smile when he saw that the young man actually succeeded in growing a Lily of the valley. “Thank you so much, Matthew.” For now, Jiwoong still could only thank Matthew through a whisper but he’ll make sure to do so in person once he regains enough strength.
Matthew was flustered upon hearing the god’s whisper, as Jiwoong’s voice felt so close, it was as if the deity was right beside him. “I— you’re welcome, I hope you can make it grow faster, though. This is all I can do for now.” Jiwoong understood that now it was mainly up to him to make this work.
Over the next few days, Matthew made sure to visit the shrine with any offerings he could bring. Before they knew it, the Lily of the valley was almost in bloom thanks to Jiwoong’s powers and Matthew’s consistent offerings.
One night, a week after Matthew handed the flower to Jiwoong, the Lily of the valley finally blossomed. Jiwoong was elated as he could feel most of his powers returning as the flower fully bloomed. With more power, Jiwoong is now able to help his people and he started with strengthening the fertility of the village’s soil.
The next day, Matthew was woken up by a knock on his door. Once he opened the door, he was greeted by an excited Gunwook. “Hyung! Most of our crops have suddenly revived. We’re practically all set for the rest of winter now, it’s a miracle!” Matthew’s eyes widened and he broke into a grin, fully aware that it was due to Jiwoong’s powers. We really did it.
“Gunwook, you gotta trust me on this but we really have to head for the shrine as thanks.” Gunwook was taken aback at Matthew’s suggestion, but he quickly realized that he had forgotten the village’s once praised deity. “You mean— Alright, you have a point.. it’s been so long since my family headed up there, though.”
Both of the young men went to Jiwoong’s shrine, this time Matthew brought more crops thanks to Gunwook’s help. Matthew didn’t waste any time, doing his usual routine of clasping both hands together and slightly bowing after placing the offerings on the pedestal. Gunwook followed him a little awkwardly, but Jiwoong could tell that the younger man was sincere.
As Gunwook was about to leave, Matthew decided to stay for a while. He could tell that Jiwoong had been holding back in Gunwook's presence.
Once Matthew was alone, he suddenly felt a light breeze brush against his face, making him close his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he was greeted by the sight of a man who looked ethereal– a man with blonde hair, dressed in a regal yellow traditional hanbok, and is slightly taller than him.
“It’s thanks to you that I can help the people, Matthew. You have my gratitude.” Jiwoong spoke up, breaking the silence as he smiled at the mortal. Matthew’s mouth was still hung open in disbelief, he did not expect the god to appear right before him like this. “I-I.. thank you, Jiwoong-nim? My lord? What should I call you? I swear I mean no disrespect.” Matthew babbles.
However, the god just chuckled, reaching out to gently ruffle Matthew’s hair. “Just call me Jiwoong-hyung.” Matthew slowly nodded, his ears slightly turning red at Jiwoong’s sudden gesture. “Okay, Jiwoong-hyung.”
It was Jiwoong’s turn to be flustered, but the god quickly brushed it off by clearing his throat. “You and your late grandma have done a lot for me, I feel that I should thank you in person. I’m sorry if I startled you.”
Matthew shook his head, laughing nervously as they took another glance at Jiwoong. “You’ve done a lot for us too. I’m glad I can help and.. thank you for letting me see you. I’m honored.” Jiwoong was taken aback, but he quickly lit up and smiled.
“I’ve always enjoyed your presence here, is it okay if we talk a little more before you head home?” The deity knew it was a bold move, however, he’d like to make the most out of this moment while he still had sufficient power.
The mortal nodded eagerly, surprised but excited at the unexpected offer. “I’d like that a lot actually.” And with that, the two of them sat by the small stone stools near the shrine.
There was still some tension at first, as Jiwoong feared that he’d scare Matthew away and the younger man worried about embarrassing himself. But, they soon warmed up to each other once Jiwoong started talking about his past experience with the village— especially with Matthew’s grandma.
Matthew now knows that Jiwoong had watched over him when he was younger, “You were always helping your grandma and listened to her well. You were adorable— Well, you are still adorable now too.”
At first, Matthew chuckled as the god recalled how he behaved as a child, but Jiwoong’s added compliment caught him off guard. “Ah.. I bet it’s cus’ I look funny when I’m surprised, huh?”
Jiwoong shook his head, “No, it’s your smile. I never noticed that you had such a warm smile before, but now I do. I hope you’ll always keep smiling, Matthew.” The mortal was taken aback, but a smile lit up his face once he processed what Jiwoong said.
“Thank you, hyung. I can’t promise I’ll always smile, but I can definitely smile a lot more when I’m with you.” This was new to Jiwoong— Matthew’s warmth. The god has been accustomed to his solitude, so much so that he only just realized how much he’d actually been longing for someone’s presence.
The two continued talking, with Matthew sharing more about what brought him back to the village and Jiwoong describing how life there had changed during Matthew’s absence. Before they knew it, the sun began to set, casting a warm glow over the village.
”I should head back now,” Matthew said as he stood up to stretch. “But I’ll be back tomorrow.” He winked, and Jiwoong couldn’t help but grin, already looking forward to his return. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Matthew,” Jiwoong replied as he gently pats the top of Matthew’s head, earning him a bright smile from the younger man.
With a nod, Matthew turned to leave, glancing back at the god one more time before he disappeared from Jiwoong’s sight. As Matthew walked home, Jiwoong watched him, feeling most of his energy still remaining, but he decided to save it wisely. The god wanted to be able to fully appear whenever Matthew visited— he knew this was risky, but somehow he felt that the mortal was worth the risk.
This newfound bond was special, something they both wanted to deepen but not yet ready to admit aloud. Jiwoong knew the challenges that lay ahead, as relationships between gods and humans were fragile, prone to unpredictable challenges along the way. And so, he wanted to be there for Matthew but knew he must remain wise, for both of their sakes.
With winter approaching, Jiwoong readied himself for the days to come. The god is more hopeful now since he has Matthew by his side. Although Jiwoong still felt a little worried about the future, he chose to savor what they had, ready to strengthen their connection as best as he could.