The Strongest Farmer

003 An Odd Premonition

The very next day, Jaka dove back into the job hunt.

He figured it would only take a month or two to land on his feet.

Temanggung was crawling with factories, after all, and with a solid year of experience under his belt, he felt his odds were still good.

Reality, however, delivered a swift backhand.

His first application went unanswered.

The second met the same fate.

Then the third, the fourth, the fifth, and so on.

At first, Jaka tried to stay optimistic. Maybe the timing was off. Maybe the hiring process was just dragging out. But as weeks bled into months, a grim realization settled in: something was very wrong.

Nasty rumors were making the rounds among the HR departments.

Somehow, his name had been tied to the fire at his previous factory. He had no idea who started the whisper campaign, but the damage was done.

Every application vanished into the void. Whenever he showed up in person, he was met with icy professionalism and hollow excuses.

"We'll be in touch."

"The position has been filled."

"You can just leave your resume at the front desk."

The words were polite enough, but Jaka wasn't stupid. The doors were slammed shut before he even reached the threshold.

Left drifting in a months-long limbo, Jaka finally decided to shift his focus and help his father farm.

They weren't wealthy by any means, but they had a decent plot of land, more than enough to keep the whole family busy.

Every morning, Jaka headed out to the fields with Bejo. Hands once accustomed to hauling heavy plywood quickly grew familiar with the rough grip of a hoe, sinking into mud, pulling weeds, and turning damp earth.

The exhaustion of the fields was entirely different.

At the factory, fatigue felt like being worked to the bone by an unfeeling machine. Out here, the exhaustion came from the sun, the wind, the soil, and the slow, steady march of time.

But there was a profound peace to it. No overbearing supervisors breathing down his neck. No coworkers looking for a scapegoat.

No suffocating, closed-off rooms reeking of chemical glue and wood dust that left his head pounding.

And yet, despite the farm doing reasonably well, Jaka couldn't stop thinking about landing a real job out there.

It wasn't out of shame.

He never once looked down on his father’s line of work.

But deep down, something felt painfully unresolved. It was a lingering sting, a small wound that refused to heal.

He felt like someone who had been violently shoved off a path he was still meant to walk. Every time he saw Dina pulling on her school uniform, the reality check hit him all over again: this family still needed a much more stable income.

After the harvest season passed, when the fields grew quiet and the late afternoon mountain breeze turned serene, an unexpected urge washed over Jaka.

He wanted to climb Mount Sumbing.

It came out of nowhere.

No grand plan.

No specific goal.

Just a strange, inexplicable premonition pulling him toward the peak.

Jaka wasn't the type to blindly follow raw, animal instinct. He was a creature of logic and common sense.

But this... this felt different. It wasn't just a casual itch for a hike. It felt like a faint, echoing call from somewhere far away.

In the end, he decided to trust it.

If nothing else, it would be a decent distraction.

When Jaka brought it up, Bejo didn't object.

"Go ahead if you need to clear your head," Bejo said, casually scraping dried dirt from his hoe. "Just be careful. The mountain isn't a playground."

"I know."

Susi, meanwhile, went into full over-preparation mode. She stuffed his backpack with an absolute feast, rice, simple homemade sides, snacks, plenty of water, and an extra jacket. And, of course, she repeated her warnings like a broken record.

"Don't forget to eat. If it gets cold, put that jacket on immediately. Don't play tough."

"I know, Mom," Jaka replied, offering a resigned smile.

Then came Dina.

"I wanna go too, Jaka!"

"You have school."

"Skipping one day won't kill me!"

"No."

Dina puffed out her cheeks in blatant defiance. But since skipping wasn't actually an option, she pivoted to her backup plan: relentless nagging.

"You have to promise, okay? Next time, I'm coming with you."

Truthfully, Jaka had no idea if he'd ever climb a mountain again after this. But looking down into his little sister's pleading eyes, he couldn't bring himself to shoot her down. For Jaka, she already sacrificed enough of her own desires just because of their family's situation.

So, he gave her a soft nod.

"Yeah. Next time, we'll go together."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

To be continued...