an old man standing by. All of the villagers peer into the dark, seemingly bottomless hole that appears deep enough to reach the center of the earth.

This typhoon-created hole becomes a curiosity, drawing attention from the media and people outside of the village.

The news traveled fast and a car from the newspaper company rushed over. In no time a scientist came out and, with an all-knowing expression on his face, he went over to the hole. Next, a bunch of gawking curiosity seekers showed up; one could also pick out here and there men of shifty glances who appeared to be concessionaires. Concerned that someone might fall into the hole, a policeman from the local substation kept a careful watch.

The reporter tries to assess the hole’s depth by inserting a weight tied to the end of a long cord. He never hits the bottom, and the cord breaks when he tries to pull it up. A scientist tries to find the hole’s bottom by using a high-powered bullhorn to shoot in sound, but the hole just absorbs all the sound and returns no echo. He gives up and says the hole should be filled in.

In exchange for building new shrine (with an attached meeting hall) for the village, a concessionaire is awarded the job of filling in the hole. Before he does, however, his company turns the hole into a major attraction—a place for anyone to dispose of anything unwanted. Despite the villagers’ initial worries, nuclear power plants dispose waste products into the hole. Profiting from the burial of nuclear waste, the village starts to grow and develop.

Into the bargain, very shortly a magnificent road was built from the city to the village.

More people get in on the action—for example, government officials dispose boxes of unnecessary classified documents, and universities dump corpses of lab animals used in contagious disease experiments. People in the city nearby join in and develop profligate attitudes.

The hole gave peace of mind to the dwellers of the city. They concentrated solely on producing one thing after another. Everyone disliked thinking about the eventual consequences.

In addition to toxic chemical waste and pathogens, anything repugnant is tossed into the hole, like emotional debris, counterfeit bills, incriminating evidence, and more.

Whatever one wished to discard, the hole accepted it all. The hole cleansed the city of its filth; the sea and sky seemed to have become a bit clearer than before.

So the typhoon seems to have impacted the village positively, bringing it business and progress (e.g., new roads and skyscrapers). However, are the cleanliness and progress only temporary, and do they come at a price?

The story ends ominously. The echo of the young man’s earlier call foreshadows the return of all the detritus. The shiny, developed village will be buried with the horrible rainfall of all the waste and garbage the people tried to bury. Their sacrilegious acts of pollution—all in the name of money and convenience—will be punished; they will suffer for their disrespectful and cavalier attitude toward the earth and the holy spot.