Chapter 24
Busy modern people have a saying.
"Never skimp on your chair or your bed."
That's because most people sit in a chair for over eight hours a day while they work,
and when they finally drag themselves home exhausted, they collapse straight onto their bed.
It basically means they spend most of their twenty-four hours in either a chair or a bed.
The reason I'm making bamboo cord right now isn't much different.
Ever since coming to this deserted island and sleeping on a hard stone floor, my whole body has been aching.
Especially my back.
Every morning when I get up, it screams for someone to save it.
I twisted thin strips of peeled bamboo fiber between my fingers and muttered,
"At last, I'll finally be able to sleep comfortably."
Now that I had a knife and could actually make use of bamboo, improving our quality of life was only a matter of time.
It was already late today, so for now I'd just finish the cord,
and tomorrow I planned to start building the bed for real.
Just thinking about it already made my back feel better.
I nodded in satisfaction and made several lengths of bamboo cord.
Then.
A familiar mechanical voice came from the drone circling inside the cave.
Beep.
[Hello, participants.]
Yerin and I both turned toward the drone at the same time.
[This is Mystery Rich.]
Yerin muttered under her breath.
"...An announcement?"
The drone's mechanical voice continued calmly.
[We will now provide an update on the participants. Deserted island, day 3. 11 days remaining. There are currently 15 survivors.]
And then came the next line.
[Already, five participants have been eliminated.]
"...."
Yerin's eyes shook slightly at that.
Hmm... that's a lot more eliminations than I expected.
It's only day 3, and five people are already out.
So aside from Yerin and me, that means there are 13 others left now.
Still.
Don't these streamers have a little too little grit?
This place wasn't even that bad.
There's a water source, and there's a bamboo grove.
Compared to the jungle my older brother went to, this place is practically paradise on earth.
Yerin lowered her spear to the ground.
"...It really must be rough."
"I guess so."
The drone left one final message.
[Then I wish all of you the best of luck.]
Beep.
The mechanical voice cut off,
and once again the cave was left with only the sound of firewood burning.
Crackle.
After a moment of silence, Yerin quietly spoke up.
"...Rils. They said five people are already out."
"Yep."
And she was already counting her chickens.
"At this rate... do you think we might actually win?"
Her eyes sparkled as she pressed herself right against my arm, her face full of anticipation.
Why was she acting like this? It was kind of burdensome.
"Rils."
"Yep."
"Meeting you really was a stroke of luck sent by God."
I scratched my cheek with a slightly awkward expression.
"Please don't flatter me too much."
That kind of reaction was a little embarrassing.
Sure, I watched survival documentaries a lot. But that didn't make me some veteran survival expert.
I'm just an ordinary modern person too.
But unlike what I was thinking, Yerin, already full of expectations, gently placed a hand on my shoulder.
Our eyes met, like we were in a staring contest.
"No."
"...?"
"Don't be so modest."
"...."
"Even if the apocalypse hit and modern civilization collapsed, I feel like you'd survive just fine all by yourself."
That felt like a bit much.
@
While Team Rils was warmly exchanging encouragement,
the mood among the other participants was steadily getting worse.
And of them all, Kim Woong's party was at its breaking point.
On the outskirts of the jungle, beneath a roughly lashed-together shelter.
Kim Woong stared at the two women with a look that said he'd had enough.
His hair was a mess from sweat and humidity,
and the skin beneath his eyes had sunk in hollow.
"Haa...."
In the end, he spoke in an irritated voice.
"I can't keep going around with you two anymore."
The atmosphere instantly turned cold.
The long-haired woman asked back as if dumbfounded.
"So what are you saying?"
"What do you think?"
"...."
"I'm the only one doing any work. You two just sit there and watch."
His voice was thick with all the resentment he'd built up until now.
"I built the shelter too."
"...."
"I'm the one who goes out looking for food and water too."
"...."
"So what exactly do you two even do?"
At that, the short-haired woman laughed in disbelief.
"Oppa, you're hilarious."
"...."
"Who do you think is the reason we've lasted this long?"
She pointed at the bottled water and canned food piled up beside them.
"If we hadn't bought supplies through the API, we'd have retired ages ago."
"...."
Kim Woong bit his lip with a bitter expression.
She wasn't wrong.
Their survival skills were awful, but they were excellent at pulling in donations.
A little coyness, one teary look, and the simps would start donating.
With that money, they'd kept buying water and food.
Meanwhile, Kim Woong, who got fewer donations, worked himself to the bone to cover their share too.
At first, he didn't mind.
He'd always thought it was natural for a man to do the harder work compared to women.
But as time passed, he gradually started hitting his limit.
In this party, he was less a teammate and more like a servant.
"Whatever."
Kim Woong waved his hand with a tired face.
"Let's just go our separate ways."
"Fine."
The women reacted with surprisingly little attachment. If anything, they answered as if they'd been waiting for this.
"But."
"...?"
"You ate and drank with our money, so we'll be taking the shelter and the knife."
Kim Woong's face twisted instantly.
"What?"
"Why? It's not like the donations you got even reached ten million won. Do you have any idea how much just one day's worth of food and water costs?"
It stung, but she was right.
As long as they hadn't found a water source, they had no choice but to rely on the API.
Kim Woong clenched his teeth for a long while, and then.
In the end.
"Do whatever you want."
He threw the machete down on the ground with a heavy thud. Then he turned away just like that.
"Keep it. I don't even want the damn thing."
"Hmph."
He could hear them snickering behind him, but Kim Woong didn't look back.
He kept walking until he reached the beach.
Crash.
Only the sound of the waves remained.
Kim Woong dropped down heavily onto the sand.
"...Ha."
Right now, he wanted to give up this damned deserted-island life altogether.
His body was exhausted, and his mind was being ground down.
If he raised his hand even now, he could go home immediately.
He could order fried chicken, lie down on a bed, and sit under cool air-conditioning.
But he couldn't do that.
Before coming here, he'd talked himself up way too much in front of his viewers.
-I'll make at least the Top 10.
-It's not even a month, just two weeks. I can handle that easily. Want to bet?
-I'm going to show you the true power of a fitness YouTuber.
The things he'd run his mouth about in front of his viewers still lingered in his head.
If he got eliminated right here, it'd be a total humiliation.
Kim Woong covered his face and muttered.
"...Ah, shit. I'm screwed."
At the very least, he had to endure until those obnoxious women were eliminated, or until there were only ten people left at minimum.
His pride as a man was on the line.
@
Morning came on day 4 of life on the deserted island.
Had we started getting used to this life little by little before we knew it?
As soon as Yerin and I opened our eyes, we naturally headed for the water source.
We washed our faces, gave ourselves a rough rinse,
chewed bamboo fibers instead of brushing our teeth,
and gargled with water.
By now, it was practically a routine.
"Wow."
After washing her face with the cold water, Yerin looked satisfied.
"People really do need to wash."
After cleaning ourselves up a bit, we headed straight for the bamboo grove.
Today's goal was making a bed.
Now that we had a knife, we should be able to make a proper sleeping place.
It was just as we stepped into the bamboo grove.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
A strange sound came from somewhere.
Yerin tilted her head.
"What is that?"
"Maybe a woodpecker."
But the sound was a little strange.
We slowly walked toward where it was coming from. Then a familiar male figure came into view.
"...Huh?"
A massive build.
A physique like some kind of barbarian.
The man who had given me a cola candy.
But.
He looked awful.
He was much more haggard than when I'd seen him a few days ago.
His hair was wild, his beard had grown thick and scraggly,
and his clothes were a mess of mud and sweat.
More than anything, he was alone.
Had he split up with his group or something?
He kept chipping away at bamboo with a stone.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
When a little water started seeping out through the cracks he'd made, he hurriedly pressed his tongue to it and licked it up.
"...."
Wow. That was genuinely desperate.
Yerin, standing beside me, must have been thinking the same thing, because she whispered softly.
"Wow... I feel really bad for that guy."
Sensing our presence, he noticed us. He looked blank for a moment, then hurriedly got to his feet.
"...Ah."
Maybe embarrassed for no reason, he even gave an awkward little cough.
"Haha... hello."
I looked at him for a moment in his pitiful state, then thought to myself.
He had given me a cola candy, after all.
Wouldn't it be okay to show him a little kindness?
For the price of one piece of candy, this was already a pretty generous return.
I cut down a nearby stalk of bamboo and handed him the water inside.
"Here, drink."
"...Huh?"
The man's eyes widened, and he hurriedly took the bamboo from me and gulped it down on the spot.
Gulp, gulp.
His Adam's apple bobbed like crazy.
He really must have been terribly thirsty.
"Haa...! Th-thank you."
"...."
"Thank you so much. I'm Kim Woong."
Last time, he'd spoken casually to me even though we'd just met, but after I gave him some water, manners were installed immediately.
As expected, material things are king.
Grrrrowl.
A huge sound rumbled out of Kim Woong's stomach,
and his face turned red in an instant.
I asked the gaunt man named Kim Woong.
"What were you doing out here?"
"...Drinking water."
Now that he said it, that was true.
But unlike last time, he seemed a little too empty-handed.
"Where's your machete?"
"...."
For a moment, Kim Woong's expression stiffened in an odd way. Then he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"...I lost it."
...Idiot.
How do you lose an essential survival item like that?
Kim Woong couldn't say anything and only laughed awkwardly.
I placed a roasted yam in his hand, one I'd been carrying around to snack on as a makeshift breakfast.
"At least eat this."
"Th-thank you! Really!"
The way he hurriedly bowed his head and ate the yam was almost pathetic.
If his parents were watching the broadcast, this would be a guaranteed sobbing moment.
I cut another piece of bamboo. Then I split one end into several prongs.
Shhk, shhk.
Lastly, I secured the split end with the thin bamboo cord I'd made yesterday.
A simple fish spear.
I placed the finished bamboo spear in his hand.
"Use this to catch some fish, at least."
"...."
Kim Woong stared blankly between the spear and me.
And then.
His eyes suddenly grew a little red.
You're not about to start bawling with a build like a bear, are you?
If you are, turn in your balls.
That's a disgrace to manhood.
Holding the spear I'd given him, Kim Woong spoke in a resolute voice.
"...Thank you so much. You said your name was Rils, right?"
"Yep."
"This kindness."
"...."
"I swear I'll repay it somehow, even if I have to stake my life on it."
He was suddenly saying something terrifying.
All I'd done was feel sorry for him and give him a yam and some bamboo lying around.
Why would you stake your life on that?
Streamers might really all be missing a screw.
I gave a lazy wave like it was a hassle.
"It's fine."
Kim Woong clutched the spear tightly and bowed several times. Then he hurried off and disappeared toward the edge of the forest.
Yerin stared blankly at his retreating back before speaking.
"...That's really grim."
"That's what survival is like."
I slung the machete over my shoulder again and looked deeper into the bamboo grove.
"Alright."
"Huh?"
"We still need to make the bed, so start moving bamboo."
"...Okay."
Today was going to be pretty busy.