Why did the bus keep stopping? A rural 'drive-thru' with a warm heart

An elderly man flagged down a rural bus at a spot with no stop, but instead of boarding, he reached out to the driver and said, "Here, try some of these," handing over pears and eggplants he had grown himself. The scene unfolded in Yeongdeok-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, just before the chuseok holiday.

A video filmed Sept. 17 inside a bus in Yeongdeok-gun went viral Wednesday on online communities and social media.

The person who posted the clip wrote: "Wednesday — quite a sight. He's not stopping the bus to get on. A drive-thru before the holiday? I'll eat well and come back."

The footage shows the bus making its way down a narrow country road when an elderly man by the roadside waves it to a stop. He steps on board and hands the driver freshly harvested pears, saying, "Here, try these — isn't this something?"

With both hands full of pears, the man told the driver, "You won't find anything like these. The skin is thick but they taste wonderful," before stepping off and heading back to his field.

A short while later, another elderly man waved the bus down. When it stopped and he climbed on, he held out eggplants he had grown himself, saying, "Here, here — take these eggplants. Make some banchan with them." The driver is heard replying, "That's so generous of you — thank you."

Viewers flooded the comments with warm reactions. "He's not a driver, he's a son," one wrote. "The sight of them waiting there is so moving." Others said the video reminded them of grandparents who used to stand at the door watching for grandchildren to arrive, and noted that the driver must have treated the elderly residents with great care.