Chapter 7
"What happened?"
Manager Han Jia realized something had happened as soon as she arrived.
"Ah, there was a really huge wild boar."
"A wild boar?"
"Yeah. I think we’ll need to be prepared next time we go in."
We should’ve expected there might be beasts like that in the jungle.
If we hadn’t noticed it with detection magic and it had come up behind us, one of us could’ve been seriously injured or killed.
After finishing, I gazed at Manager Han.
"Ah."
Jia said dejectedly.
"The rescue team didn’t come."
* * *
Han Jia was remembering what had happened during the day.
"You’re making that face, and she’s not even your girlfriend? (You’re making that face even though she’s not your girlfriend?)"
Luka, who wanted to keep Kim Woojin all to herself, had started it.
Jia, who’d been watching, was startled.
Were all young women so forward these days?
Jia’s generation hadn’t been like that. Women were supposed to be modest, and men were supposed to confess first.
"Even if I get along with Oppa, that’s not a problem, right?
(It doesn’t matter if I get along with you, does it?)"
"I see. So you thought if you got him to like you, he’d share the fruit with you?
(So you thought that if you got him to like you, he’d share the fruit with you?)"
Seoyoon scoffed and taunted her harshly.
"You’re quite good at this, acting helpless to get someone’s attention
(You’re really good at acting helpless to get someone’s attention.)"
Would it be okay not to intervene?
Luka wasn’t just going to take it, though.
"But you know, Oppa’s the one who found those, right? So shouldn’t Oppa get to decide?
(But Oppa’s the one who found the fruit, right? So shouldn’t he get to decide?)"
Seoyoon couldn’t find a rebuttal.
To other people, it looked like they’d found the fruit together, but Seoyoon knew Woojin deserved most of the credit for gathering it.
The gyaru’s jab—what gave her the right to claim ownership?—stopped Seoyoon in her tracks.
"If you’re saying I’m just relying on him, then what are you, unnie? Just standing beside him?
(If I’m just mooching off him, then what are you? Just standing next to him?)"
Luka continued her attack.
"If all you do is say no and still get fed, isn’t that even more unfair?
(If you can just keep saying no and still get fed, isn’t that even more unfair?)"
Aren’t you the one mooching off Kim Woojin───
You’re the one being unfair.
Luka’s words made Seoyoon completely lose her temper.
"Y-you little brat…!"
Kang Seoyoon was genuinely stung.
Even so, she felt that Woojin, who’d learned magic, had done immeasurable favors for their group.
Other groups had already gone into the forest, risking their lives to find fresh water and food───
Even groups with food stores still felt stressed about their water supply.
Kim Woojin was the reason they could wait for rescue without worrying about at least that.
Seoyoon felt her own contribution was lacking.
To proud Seoyoon, that hurt badly.
Lately, she’d also been stressed because her position seemed to have switched with the new hire she’d considered a useless deadweight until a few days earlier.
Luka had struck that weakness exactly.
How are you and I any different?
Of course, they were different.
Seoyoon wanted to believe she was different. She wasn’t shameless like that girl, relying on a pretty face and cutesy charm to get everything.
That was why the comparison made her angry. I am different from you.
I’m finding my own role────
'………'
Han Jia, watching them, felt a pang of guilt.
In truth, it was Han Jia who’d been hurt by the argument between Assistant Manager Kang and the gyaru.
She thought she was the one just taking and not pulling her weight, not Kang Seoyoon.
Seoyoon had contributed by joining the jungle searches.
But what about the manager?
She knew everyone had been considerate because she was older, from the very first expedition.
Normally, she should be searching too. Nobody should be exempt from finding food and water.
So Luka’s attack hit Han Jia the hardest.
The food and water she put in her mouth.
She hadn’t secured a single thing she needed to live by her own efforts; she’d begged for it all.
'What can I do──.'
Han Jia caressed her wedding ring and swallowed back tears.
She wanted to get off this island right now.
Being suddenly told to do whatever it took to survive—this situation felt like hell to Han Jia.
She couldn’t express how grateful she was that younger people were taking on the hard work for her.
Assistant Manager Kang, Kim Woojin──
At the company, their positions had been reversed.
Manager Han had been a guardian figure who looked after the clumsy temp, Kim Woojin.
Assistant Manager Kang disliked him because he was bad at his job, but Jia thought it was more a matter of social skills than work ability.
"Manager, I’ve told you we need to hire people who can do their jobs."
"Hoho. If Assistant Manager Kang teaches him well, I’m sure Mr. Woojin will get the hang of it."
Jia had also told Kang, who complained every time, to trust Woojin.
That confidence came from her experience with all kinds of people.
At a glance, Kim Woojin seemed like a hopeless incompetent who inconvenienced others, but he had a firm way of doing things of his own.
It just took him time to get along with other people.
She thought that once Seoyoon understood Woojin’s methods and learned how to make good use of him, they’d make a great team.
'I’ll look out for him until then.'
Han Jia had been a capable manager at Serin Cosmetics.
Faced with prickly overseas buyers, she brought together their desired unit price, MOQ, lead time, and packaging with the conditions both her company and the buyers wanted, making actual deals possible.
There might’ve been plenty of people in Korea better than Han Jia, but few managers at small companies handled products, sales planning, and delivery schedules all at once.
The problem was that those skills were useless on the island.
There were no suppliers to coordinate with or buyers to close deals with.
Useless.
That thought had been quietly lodged in Jia’s heart, and Luka had dragged it out into the open.
I have to do something.
Just mooching off them like this is too cruel.
I’m actively eating away at the others’ chances of survival.
But what could she do?
「I’m sorry you have to look at a middle-aged woman’s body like this」
「You’re plenty attractive, Manager」
A memory suddenly crossed her mind.
Han Jia was thirty-seven this year, ten years older than Woojin.
It was quite a shock that someone young enough to be her nephew had looked at her that way.
Having devoted herself to her family, she’d never had a chance to seriously think about how popular she was with men.
She was afraid that if she thought of herself as still being in her prime, people would call her a ridiculous old woman, so her defensive instincts kicked in first.
But──
'Does Mr. Woojin see me as a woman, too?'
Jia thought maybe this body of hers could be useful after all.
Before the younger ones made their move…
'If it means I can go back and see my children, there’s nothing I won’t do.'
Yulha, Jain…
Jia repeated her children’s names to herself.
* * *
"Mr. Woojin."
Manager Han sidled up beside me.
Whoa. The manager, braless and busty.
The closer she got, the harder it was to look away from her swaying breasts.
"Yes, Manager."
"You worked hard out there exploring~."
"It was nothing."
Thinking of the busty manager waiting at home made me want to work hard.
Was that how her husband felt, too?
The more I thought about it, the more I envied him.
Han Jia watched my face as if gauging my reaction. She seemed to have something else to say.
"You got sweaty, right? I’ll wash your clothes for you."
Clothes?
Come to think of it, I’d been wearing this suit for quite a while.
It was the suit Mom bought me when I got a job. Before that, I hadn’t even made the effort to go to a job interview, so I didn’t own a single suit.
But it was breathable and didn’t get in the way when I moved, so I guess I’d never thought about changing.
Maybe that was natural since it was tailored to fit me.
I suddenly remembered Seoyoon worrying about her smell.
"Do I smell, too?"
"Ah…"
Jia trailed off, as if she didn’t know how to answer.
"It’s been a while since I washed."
"You do smell a little sweaty…"
"Got it. Then would you mind?"
"Of course!"
A new employee asking a manager considerably older than him to do his laundry. That was pretty messed up…
But if she offered, no man would refuse.
If anything, I’d gladly take her up on it.
"Assistant Manager Kang, give me yours, too. I was resting, so I’ll do it."
"Ah, then could I ask you to?"
I took a suitable pair of pants and a T-shirt from the passenger luggage.
Honestly, clothes were what we had the most of now.
We used them for shade and windbreaks at our temporary shelter, and the clothes underfoot were other people’s, too.
Clothes were the easiest thing to scavenge from passenger bags…
I remembered the women being frantic about scavenging underwear on the first day.
But I didn’t need to rush.
Men’s clothes that fit my body could only be worn by me.
'First, I’ll wash up.'
I went to the edge of the jungle, hid behind a tree, and summoned water.
I slowly tested how much pressure I could build up.
'Was it about this much when I attacked the boar earlier?"
Fwoooosh!!
Oh, o-oh!
The water pressure was insane.
It wasn’t suited for attacking, but it worked almost too well as a shower.
The Hydro Pump shooting up from the ground made my balls shake.
Brrrrrrrr──
It was strangely fun.
I wished I could change the water temperature, too, but it was a shame I could only get lukewarm water.
Anyway, like the clothes, I’d grabbed some body wash from a passenger’s bag and rubbed it over myself.
I worked it into a lather. Then I rinsed off.
For someone stranded on a deserted island, I was washing up luxuriously.
As I came out, drying my wet hair with a towel, I wished I’d done this sooner.
Since I’d been stranded and thinking conservatively about everything, I’d apparently gotten used to 'If it’s not absolutely necessary, don’t do it.'
But……
After washing like this and changing clothes, it started to feel like I was really living here.
Meaning we were going about our daily lives.
"You washed up?"
When I returned to the shelter, Seoyoon looked up.
"Yeah. I indulged a little."
"……"
She looked envious.
"…You should try washing with seawater, too. You as well, Woojin."
"……Pardon?"
"Never mind. Nothing…"
"Want me to wash you, too, Assistant Manager?"
"……"
The assistant manager’s eyes widened for a moment, then she looked away, embarrassed.
"If you were jealous, you could’ve said so."
"……But."
「How could I say, 'Give me water so I can wash?'」
"We’re living together, so if there’s anything you’re uncomfortable with or need, tell me."
"Living together…"
Yeah, literally, we were living together.
We practically slept together, too.
"Then… could I ask you for a favor?"
Sure.
I decided to provide the assistant manager with water to wash with.
The principle was similar to when I’d opened the deserted-island hair salon, but since the assistant manager didn’t want to put on a naked shower show for me,
I hid behind a tree while she washed, gathering water into a raincloud and letting it fall on her.
Swooshhhh.
"Mmm, ahh. This feels so good."
The assistant manager was delighted.
"I’ll keep this up until you tell me to stop."
"Thank you, Mr. Woojin!"
She seemed happier than when we’d found food.
It was a little sad that I couldn’t smell the manager anymore, though…
"Haa… Ah, don’t you dare peek!"
"Y-yes. I’m not looking, so go ahead and wash."
Hearing a woman wash herself right next to me was a strange experience.
Seoyoon came out and sprawled there, looking completely refreshed.
Meanwhile, the manager washed the clothes and strung them up on the makeshift drying rack.
She seemed to have used a little body wash or shampoo along with soap to wash them in seawater.
'Somehow, this is really starting to feel like home.'
Everyone was bustling around, not just us.
Fewer people were now staring blankly out to sea, waiting for rescue like before.
Anyway, to survive here───
You have to put up with the tedious chores and row.
What should I do in the meantime?
Hmm.
We have to do what it takes to survive───it’s obvious.
So it was nice not to have stray thoughts like I did back in society.
If you don’t, you die.
How simple.
'That boar.'
Next time we meet, I should teach it how terrifying humans can be, right?
More precisely, human wizards.
I’d thought about using magic with its lethality in mind, but this was the first time I’d actually researched it.
I sat cross-legged, let out a long breath, and focused.
The familiar sound of the waves, shwaa, brushed my ears.
"What are you doing, Mr. Woojin?"
I heard Kang Seoyoon’s voice.
"──Concentrating. I’m training."
"To beat that boar to death?"
"Yes."
"Maybe don’t… It’s too dangerous…"
When I opened my eyes, I saw Seoyoon’s frightened face.
……
Seeing her look at me like that only made me more stubborn.
"I’ll use magic, so it’s fine."
"A new spell?"
"Yeah."
I had to get stronger.
The first meaning I’d recalled was 'change.'
The first pattern I’d seen after coming here hadn’t meant 'water' but 'change.'
If I added a little imagination to my hypothesis, my body was in the process of changing into one that could sense mana.
I wanted to accelerate that change first.
I calmly watched how the flow of mana worked in my body.
It was an application of 'detection magic.'
When I sensed things through mana, it looked as if mana couldn’t enter other people’s bodies because they were sealed along their outlines.
My body had gaps.
But gaps alone might not be enough.
I started by circulating mana over and over, becoming aware of impurities and pushing them out.
'I feel like my body is changing into one that’s better suited to sensing mana.'
This process took more stamina than I expected.
Sweat poured down me. Sometimes it got so hard that I had to tighten my abdomen and endure the pain.
I pushed out the impurities accumulated in my body and filled it with the circulation of mana.
A slow, tedious, difficult process.
But───
It might be a lot more fun than working at the company.
I could feel my body changing.
There was no easy-to-understand system message or anything, but I enjoyed gradually making it my own, relying on my senses.
'Sorry for being so lazy all this time.'
If I’d known the paths of mana would welcome me like this, I would’ve visited them sooner……
Hooooo……
'It’s coming.'
Mana that filled even my brain with clarity.
By the time the moment had passed, evening had fallen.
"Hoo……"
When I exhaled deeply and opened my eyes, the women were staring at me.
"Are you done? You were concentrating so intensely."
"Yeah."
Something felt different.
Now, even without focusing, mana flowed in with every breath, swirling through the slightly emptied-out space inside me and out again.
I wanted to test it. See what kind of change I’d undergone.
Just then……
"Oppa~ you’re awake?"
There was one more woman.
Luka openly threw herself into my arms, holding one of the fruits we’d gathered…
"This one~ can Luka eat it, Oppa? Please? Hmm?"
"……?"
Was she speaking Korean?
I was surprised by how fluent Luka’s Korean was, but then I immediately realized that wasn’t it.
I was the one understanding her.
My brain was naturally interpreting it into my native language──
Then if I spoke with the meaning arranged the way I understood it, would she understand?
"Just have one. Say, 'Thank you.'"
Seoyoon looked at me in surprise.
But Luka seemed to understand, and smiled brightly.
"Thank you, thank you. I love you so much, Oppa♡"