Chapter 56
"Will the rescue team… really come?"
Miryeong showed her unease.
"The rescue team will definitely come. The question is whether we can hold out and survive until then."
Seoyun said firmly.
"Our goal isn't to sit around helplessly waiting. It's to work together and find a way to survive on this island."
That was the Assistant Manager for you.
Her confidence suppressed everyone's anxiety and gave us something to focus on.
This was exactly the kind of 'leader' everyone wanted.
The Assistant Manager made up for what I couldn't do.
"So─ I'd like to ask you two for your help, too. Let's face this together and get through it!"
Yuna and Miryeong nodded vigorously, seeming to have shaken off all their earlier weakness.
"Yes!!"
I gently stroked Luka's blond hair.
"ルカも、救助隊が来るまで元気にやっていけるよな？
(Luka can stay cheerful until the rescue team comes, too, right?)"
Luka beamed.
"よゆー、よゆー！ 救助隊が来るまで、ルカがみんなを明るくしてあげる！
(Piece of cake, piece of cake! Luka will keep everyone smiling until the rescue team comes!)"
……Good.
With the mood at camp lifted, it was time to do something for Kim Woojin.
I spread my hand and summoned the Wind Glyph.
Whoooosh!
The air around me was sucked toward my palm and rapidly compressed.
Smaller.
Denser.
I layered the Preservation Glyph over the taut, swelling wind.
I held its scattered force in place, fixing it just before it burst.
I poured in enough mana to create a transparent wind pocket.
It looked like a soft pouch of air, but……
The moment it burst, the gust trapped inside would explode all at once.
"Mr. Woojin?"
Manager Han Jia tilted her head.
"Watch closely. I'll show you how to use it."
I brought the wind pocket over and gave it a light tap toward the outside of the fence.
Pop!
A powerful gust shot out, scattering the bushes.
"Whoa!"
Miryeong's startled eyes grew round.
"The harder you hit it, the stronger the wind."
Next, I lightly clenched my fist and gave it a tap.
Pwoom!!
The wind grew much stronger.
At this strength, it could knock over someone as small as Miryeong if she were standing in front of it.
"This is a weapon for your self-defense."
"A self-defense weapon─?"
"Yes. I don't want anything to happen while we're away from camp…."
I made several wind pockets and floated them outside the fence.
If anything carelessly touched the fence, a gust would erupt.
Still, it was much weaker than Wind Cutter, which had enough force to kill a wild boar.
It wasn't easy to preserve that much mana for a long time, and given the possibility of an unwanted accident, this was just right.
"This should be enough to startle an animal and keep it from coming any closer."
"I just have to hit it?"
"Yes. If you think of someone you hate and take a full swing, Manager, the gust should be strong enough to flip a wild boar right over."
"……Wow! That sounds like a great way to relieve stress."
But in an emergency, it would be hard to make such a deliberate move.
Even a panicked dash or a simple shove could startle an attacker──
That was all I was aiming for.
"But if something shows up that this won't work on, just startle it and then abandon the base and run away."
"Run away? But we have to protect this place…"
"No."
This time, I spoke firmly.
"This is only a temporary shelter. It's not worth risking our lives to defend. If we lose it, we can just build another one somewhere similar."
Of course, we'd accomplished a lot here.
I'd grown attached to the place, too.
But if I gave them the idea that they had to defend it no matter what, it could end in disaster, so I deliberately cut that thought off.
If something dangerous appeared, they had to run.
"So if anything dangerous happens, please make sure you run away."
"……"
Manager Han Jia smiled gently.
"Yes. I'll definitely run."
…That made me a little self-conscious.
"Mr. Woojin, you're really cool when you act like this."
"Husband…. I'm touched that you care about those of us staying behind, too."
"That's right~."
Even the Assistant Manager stepped in to tease me.
"You're not usually the type to go looking for things to do, Mr. Woojin."
"I've changed a little lately. I suppose this island's been threatening me with a knife…"
When it got to 'Do this or I'll kill you,' even Kim Woojin had no choice.
Preparing in advance──something that had always been utterly alien to me.
Even so, this still wasn't enough.
As the Assistant Manager said, this place was wide open on every side, which made it hard to defend.
But the wind pockets could startle an attacker or buy us time against someone with bad intentions or a violent animal.
Even this temporary measure put my mind somewhat at ease.
"Then we'll bring something back again today!"
The Assistant Manager waved goodbye on behalf of the exploring team, and we left camp.
"Have a good trip, Oppaaaa! Luka will wait patiently!"
"Husband, be careful out there."
"Have a safe trip!"
I'd ended up with quite a lot of people to provide for.
Being sent off so enthusiastically made me want to find something, at least.
"Where are we going?"
Yuna asked with a curious look in her eyes.
"For now… let's look around nearby, then head east."
"Does the compass app still work?"
"No. The battery's dead. I tried to conserve it, but…… I marked the trees with lipstick, so we'll be fine."
East was where Bika's hideout was.
If we were looking for higher ground, that seemed like the right direction.
After exploring the island several times, I'd learned that the southern forest was a low-lying area with broad alluvial flats, gentle streams, and abundant vegetation.
Farther east, there were plenty of hills and high ground.
It wasn't exactly rugged, but we had to watch our footing so we didn't twist an ankle or fall.
"Mr. Woojin, tell me as soon as you find something."
"Yes."
She really knew how to make people work for her.
I focused my awareness on the mana flowing through the island.
Invisible presences took shape.
Even the smallest movements among the trees, rocks, and bushes…
Everything around me became clear in my mind.
"There's some red hawthorn fruit. Let's pick it before we go."
"Huh? Already? That's great news!"
Yuna, who'd followed along without knowing what to expect, stared wide-eyed at the red berries hanging from the branches.
"Wow!! Are those edible berries? They look so, so delicious."
"You've never seen these before?"
"No!!"
Oh, right. She was a complete deserted-island newbie.
……I was a newbie, too.
I finally had a chance to introduce red hawthorn fruit to someone who'd been living on grass.
Seoyun and I exchanged glances and smiled without a word.
It reminded us of the first time the two of us had found these and put them in our mouths.
"Ha, remembering how the Assistant Manager gobbled them up like she was starving…"
"Pfft!? Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden, Mr. Woojin?"
"But they're so high up. How are we supposed to pick them?"
Swish.
I used the wind to pluck the fruit.
Seoyun calmly caught the berries as they drifted down, as if she'd been expecting them.
The two of us made a perfect team.
"Want to try one?"
I wiped the fruit clean and handed it to Yuna. She swallowed hard.
She slowly brought it to her mouth…
She cautiously took a big bite, then grabbed it with both hands and devoured it.
Haha. She was like a hamster. Cute.
"Mm!! Mmm. Mm-mm! It's yummyyy, so delicious!"
"It's sweet, right?"
"It's sweet… so sweet. It feels like my cheeks are melting."
Everyone reacts like that the first time.
I was surprised by how sweet the red hawthorn fruit was, too.
This deserted island had plenty of things that made it possible to get by.
"At first, I wanted to grow them so I could eat them every day……"
"You liked them that much?"
"I mean, they're better than the melons I get to eat twice a year!"
"I…… liked the sauce the Assistant Manager made."
Seoyun blushed bashfully.
"Ahem……. Should I, should I make it again?"
"Yes."
Hehe. I'd successfully gotten another meal out of her.
"Amazing… How do you spot things like this so quickly?"
"An Employee of the Month has to be able to do at least this much."
"……Wow. Woooow."
Having a twenty-year-old admire me without a second thought felt pretty good.
We gathered the red hawthorn fruit and put it in our bags.
There were three of us, so with more bags, we had more room to carry things.
A good start.
The red hawthorn fruit was always a great find, and the bright southern-forest sunshine made it all the more pleasant.
"I wish I could show you the rocky area and where the pandanus grows, but it's a shame. We have to head east today to stay on schedule."
"What's there?"
"Crabs and clams. And remember the piece of fruit I gave you yesterday to chew on? The sweet one."
"Yes!"
"There are some of those, too."
"Wow…."
Yuna kept marveling, then drooped a little.
"There's so much food here. Why did we wander around in circles like idiots?"
"…We found vegetables, didn't we? It's okay. We hadn't been able to find those before."
"Wait a moment!"
Yuna suddenly pulled out a pen and notebook.
Then she sketched the red hawthorn fruit and the tree.
Oh, the sketch looked pretty convincing.
"Did you study drawing?"
"Yes, I majored in visual design. I want to sketch it so we can keep a record."
"Good idea."
Beside the sketch, she'd written 'Red Hawthorn Fruit.'
We continued farther east.
Come to think of it, I'd come here with Bika, but this was the first time I'd brought anyone else.
"Ugh. This uphill climb…"
"Haaah, the ground's slippery."
Was it really that hard?
I hadn't noticed at all, but it seemed to be pretty strenuous for them.
"Don't you remember? You and Miryeong met here."
"Oh… right."
Yuna seemed to remember.
"I remember there were a lot of bugs around here, and we had a pretty hard time."
There were bugs…… Well, they were still following us now.
I spread the Wind Glyph to drive them away.
"I'll keep the flying bugs away. Don't worry."
"Thank you."
The flat ground grew scarcer as we went on.
It was still primeval forest, but the slope was definitely steep for the women to climb.
Thick tree roots stuck out of the soil, forming natural steps.
"It looks like it rained here."
Seoyun said.
Just as she'd said, the surface was slick with rain.
"Take my hand, Assistant Manager."
"Ah─."
I climbed ahead, planted my feet, and reached out a hand.
Seoyun hesitated for a moment, then took my hand firmly.
I held on tight and pulled her up.
Behind us, Yuna supported Seoyun around the waist.
"One, two."
All three of us pushed at once, and Seoyun hauled herself up over the ledge.
This time, Seoyun turned and offered Yuna her hand.
It was a path where we could easily have slipped if we'd been alone.
'I almost fell myself when I was hurrying back before.'
We moved forward carefully, checking whether the ground was firm or muddy and whether it was slippery.
We'd all gotten tougher from life on the deserted island.
We made our way along the rough path, sweating but not complaining once.
After we got past the slope, we reached a flat area where the stream slowed briefly.
Tall grasses grew along the edge of a shallow wetland, where the trees were sparse enough to let sunlight through.
"Oh, isn't that edible grass?"
Seoyun stepped over without paying any attention to the mud.
That looks familiar.
"It's wild rice! Mr. Woojin, we might be able to eat rice!"
At the tips of the stalks hung things that clearly looked like grains. Long seeds enclosed in brown husks.
With their fine awns sticking out, they looked exactly like rice.
"Haaah, could we, c-could we turn this into rice as it is?"
"There isn't a magic spell for making rice…."
"We might be able to grow rice, though."
The Assistant Manager was incredibly excited.
No matter how much meat and water spinach we had, rice was special to Koreans.
No, it was special to Japanese people, too, and to everyone from a rice-eating culture.
Caught up in her excitement, I grabbed one of the stalks, too.
Rustle.
As soon as I touched it, several brown grains fell onto the mud.
"I don't think this is going to work…."
It was obvious at a glance that this wouldn't do.
On a single stalk, there were already empty husks, green grains, and blackened, dried-up ones mixed together.
Even if we could mill them, they wouldn't look much like the rice we ate.
"Mmm. That's too bad. I got my hopes up because everything grows so well on this island."
This was probably a bust. It didn't seem like the amazing find the spirit reading had hinted at.
"Still, I'll take some seeds."
Seoyun couldn't give up on it.
"If they grow this well in the wild, who knows what might happen if we get the soil and water right?"
"I'm not doing that. It's a hassle."
"Mr. Woojin~~. Could you do it? I'll help, too."
"I'm not growing rice."
Vegetables that took root and grew on their own were fine.
But growing rice? Me?
I'd rather not until I got a spell that could turn rice plants into a meal.
"I'll take some seeds anyway…. Just in case…"
"All right."
Seoyun carefully held on to 「the possibility that this might become rice」.
Well, it was true that the southern forest had plenty of flat land that seemed good for farming.
If we had some time, it might be nice to try expanding our crops little by little.
As we went farther, the ground began to slope. The low bushes thinned out, replaced by thick roots and rain-darkened rocks.
Moss clung thickly to the bedrock, and ferns spread their leaves from every crevice.
"Phew…."
When I looked up, the canopy was much higher.
In the southern forest, the leaves seemed to press down low over our heads. In the eastern rainforest, they were layered far above us.
Great trees held up the sky, with mid-sized trees stretching their branches beneath them.
Vines and plants filled the gaps, forming a canopy like a vast green cathedral.
'It's nice that it blocks the sunlight.'
The shade was deep, but it didn't feel stifling.
The first thing I noticed when we entered was the cool smell of water.
I could hear water flowing constantly somewhere nearby.
There wasn't just one stream. To our left, a thin trickle ran through a cleft in the rocks, while below us on the right, the creek beat against the stones.
From higher up came a low rumble, as if a small waterfall were spilling down.
This was the first time I'd come this far, too.
"It feels wetter than the forest we were in."
Yuna was right.
It felt like the entire mountainside was filled with water, rushing down.
Amazing……
It felt as though I were wrapped in the embrace of awe-inspiring nature.
I'd thought I'd gotten used to the southern forest, but I felt overwhelmed all over again.
There were so many unfamiliar insects and animals. It felt like stepping into a grass-covered universe where living things sparkled like stars.
"……Haa."
I breathed in the fresh air, filling my lungs.
At the same time, an unfamiliar flow of mana coursed through my body.
I felt good.
My mind grew remarkably clear.
"Wait."
Something registered on my Detection magic.
Seoyun and Yuna, who were following behind me, immediately stopped, too.
I sensed a faint movement below in the valley. One low, swift presence, like an animal.
A little higher up was another presence that barely moved.
A person.
"Is someone there?"
"Yes."
Both silhouettes were ones I'd seen at the beach.
But I'd only spoken with one of them……
Should we pass by, or go down and say hello….
Say hello……
……Did we really have to?
Seoyun made the decision for me.
"Let's go down!"
"Yes."
I followed Seoyun and Yuna slowly down the slope.