Heading Out to Hunt

Making a bamboo bed isn't hard.

First, find the flattest spot you can inside the cave.

Lay thick bamboo on the ground at regular intervals to make a frame,

then place several split bamboo pieces on top to form the basic bed.

If the gaps are too wide, your body will sink into them, so the key is to pack them as closely as possible.

Then use the cord I made yesterday to lash the bamboo together tightly in X-shapes,

and finally, spread dried grass or large leaves over the top.

Of course, it's nowhere near as soft as a modern bed, but compared to sleeping on hard ground, it's heavenly.

I climbed onto the finished bed and rolled around on it.

Bwahahahaha.

Seeing that, Yerin asked,

"...What are you doing?"

"Testing how it feels."

Yeah, this is definitely nice.

The bamboo had just enough spring to support my body, so my back hurt less too.

A perfect night's sleep was officially guaranteed now.

I patted the finished bamboo bed with my palm and said to Yerin,

"It's seriously so comfy."

Yerin climbed onto the bed carefully, looking doubtful.

Creak.

It must have felt pretty good, because her eyes went round.

"...Huh?"

"Nice, right?"

"...Wait."

Yerin promptly flopped onto her back. Then she rolled around on it a few times, and her expression brightened at once.

"Whoa."

"...?"

"This is a whole new world."

"...."

"This is seriously amazing."

Seeing someone who looked like she'd only ever slept on luxury-brand beds be that impressed made me weirdly proud.

Yerin happily patted the bed.

"I don't think I can ever sleep on the floor again."

"People are meant to sleep in beds."

Anyway.

Just adding one bed had noticeably improved our quality of life.

We lay on the bed for a while and rested. A cool breeze drifted into the cave, and birds chirped outside.

At this point, isn't this basically a deserted-island hotel?

Still, we couldn't just lie around forever.

After our blissful break, I slowly sat up.

"Now that we've rested, we need to go find food."

"Not larvae, right?"

"Nope."

I picked up the newly made bamboo spear.

"We're going to try some hunting while we're at it and test its performance too."

Yerin's eyes flashed.

Had the word hunting scared her?

"...Hunting?"

"Yep."

"Then does that mean we can eat meat?"

"......"

Yerin had gotten a lot bolder compared to when I'd first met her.

After spending the last few days wandering all over this jungle, there's one thing I've really felt in my bones.

This island practically has no predators.

The place my brother went had large predators like jaguars, crocodiles, and pumas all over the place.

This deserted island only has the occasional snake at most.

Of course, snakes might be venomous, so you still have to watch your step at all times.

Even so, compared to a normal tropical jungle, it was incredibly tame.

It felt like Mystery Rich's side had deliberately removed most of the dangerous elements.

Like a deserted island made specifically for streamers.

If it had been the real wild, there would've been an accident long ago.

We might've even gotten a live broadcast of a starving jaguar munching away on the contestants.

I ran a finger along the spear tip as I spoke.

"Hunting here is probably on the easy side."

"...Really?"

"Yep. If there aren't any predators, then there should be that many more herbivores."

With that, we left the cave with our newly made spears in hand.

@

"Y- Yerin-nim! That way!"

"Yeah. Just trust m—ah, shit! Why is it so fast?!"

Rustle!

A small brown blur shot out between the bushes at insane speed.

It was a cute rabbit.

But it was way faster than I'd imagined.

Clutching my spear, I hurriedly changed direction.

"Left!"

"I saw it!"

Yerin ran after it too, spear in hand and completely flustered.

But the real problem was the terrain.

If it were flat ground, that'd be one thing, but the area was packed with trees, vines, and undergrowth.

The rabbit dove through those gaps like mad.

Humans, on the other hand...

"Ack!"

"Are you okay?"

"It went into the vines...! Ugh! This is so annoying!"

This kind of terrain was ridiculously inconvenient.

It looked all pudgy and pathetic, but its speed was absolutely insane.

It was basically the Usain Bolt of the forest.

Rustle!

In an instant, it hid itself in a narrow gap beneath a rock.

I tried to follow it, then stopped. Even with this smaller body, there was no way I could squeeze in there.

"We lost it."

"Haa... haa...."

Yerin bent over with both hands on her knees, gasping for breath.

"No."

"...."

"Why is a rabbit this fast?"

"Animals are naturally good at running away."

"That tiny little thing is so fast I can't catch it...."

Yerin puffed out her cheeks in grievance.

"I thought if it was a rabbit, it'd get caught all dumb and easy!"

Rabbits didn't become the GOATs of escaping predators and reproducing for nothing. Despite how they look, they're unbelievably fast.

I stared at the brush where it had vanished for a moment, then slung the spear back over my shoulder.

"Hmm."

"What do we do?"

"I don't think hunting is going to work."

Especially in conditions like this.

Maybe if we made traps.

But chasing them around with our bare bodies wastes way too much stamina.

I wanted to test the spear since I'd made it, but as expected, it wasn't easy.

After glancing around for a moment, I picked up a small rock nearby.

Under it, I could see earthworms wriggling through the damp soil.

I picked out the plump ones and put them into a bamboo tube.

Wriggle~

Seeing that, Yerin asked with a puzzled look,

"Why worms all of a sudden?"

"I'm going to eat them."

Yerin's face instantly turned pale. Then she looked at me with eyes full of revulsion.

"...What?"

"They're protein."

"Rils."

"...?"

"Please...."

Even her voice was trembling.

In the end, I couldn't hold back my laughter.

"Puhaha. Just kidding."

"...."

"Even if you eat worms, the payoff's terrible."

Only then.

Yerin let out a long sigh of relief.

"Haa... thank goodness."

With a relieved look, Yerin rubbed her chest and muttered,

"Sometimes when I'm with you, I really can't tell how much of what you say is a joke."

I shook the wriggling worms at her.

"I'll have a use for these later."

"I seriously thought you were going to eat them."

"I do have taste buds too."

"I don't think that means much coming from someone who ate larvae like they were delicious."

@

[Unshakable Comfort]

Posted by: (143.34)

(image of Rils and Yerin lying on the bamboo bed)

Our guy's team even made a bed;;

While all the other streamers are sleeping on the ground,

only our guy's team looks comfy as hell

ㄴTheir rate of progress is fucking insane

ㄴHe makes spears and all sorts of stuff out of bamboo

ㄴOur guy looks like he'd be good at Tetris

ㄴYerin looks comfy as hell

ㄴ"This is a whole new world." <- she was 100% serious

ㄴAfter sleeping on stone ground, that thing would feel like heaven

ㄴI wanna lie on a bamboo bed at least once

ㄴAt this rate is he gonna build a house too?

ㄴWith Rils, you really never know

ㄴNext episode: Two-story detached house complete

ㄴRils: "Now I'll install the boiler."

ㄴㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

ㄴThe gap between them and the other teams is seriously way too huge

[Our guy failed at hunting lol]

Posted by: Nongnongnongnongnong

His stride's so damn short he couldn't keep up with the rabbit lol

So our guy does fail sometimes too

ㄴHim running his little heart out on those short legs was adorable lol

ㄴHe was toddling after it

ㄴFrom the rabbit's perspective it probably looked funny as hell

ㄴ"Y- Yerin-nim! That way!" <- he was so panicked lol

ㄴSo Rils does get flustered

ㄴHonestly, up till now he'd been way too good at everything

ㄴThe rabbit was way faster than I expected

ㄴWith terrain like that, there's no way they're catching it

ㄴYerin nearly tripped after getting tangled in a vine

ㄴBut the second they failed he started picking up worms

ㄴI freaked out too because I thought he was gonna eat earthworms;;

ㄴSince he has a history of eating larvae, it didn't even sound like a joke

ㄴHonestly, if it's our guy, I can totally see him eating earthworms

ㄴㄹㅇㅋㅋ

ㄴBut it's even funnier that instead of saying humans obviously shouldn't eat worms, he said the efficiency sucks lol

ㄴIt's nice how the mood stays bright even after they missed the rabbit

ㄴThe other teams are losing their minds, but over here it just feels like a camping stream

ㄴWhy does Baby keep eyeing the worms lol

@

For now, I decided to give up on hunting.

With terrain like this, there was just no way we were catching anything by running after it.

And the rabbit had been much faster than I'd expected.

As usual, what you see on TV and reality are completely different.

My brother would've crept up on it, snatched it like lightning, and twisted its neck.

My respect for him was surging.

A newbie like me could only get out of breath trying it myself, with nothing to show for it.

With the spear slung over my shoulder, I sank into thought.

"Hmm."

"What now?"

"I think we should go to the sea and get food like we'd planned from the start."

Still, it wasn't a total waste.

At least we confirmed that rabbits live here.

I cut another piece from the bamboo we had left over after making the bed.

Shhk.

Then I started splitting one end into several long prongs.

Slice, slice.

Yerin watched me from the side for a while, then asked,

"But like before, why do you split the end into a bunch of pieces?"

"So it's easier to hit something."

"...?"

I spread the split bamboo end apart with my hand.

Several pointed prongs fanned outward.

"Say you were the target."

"Okay."

"One spear coming straight at you."

"...."

"Or several at once."

"...."

"Which do you think would be easier to dodge?"

Yerin thought for a moment, then answered right away.

"One?"

"That's right."

I nodded.

"It's the same for fish."

With a single-pointed spear, you have to stab accurately.

But fish are incredibly fast in the water, since that's their home turf.

And because of light refraction, it's easy to misjudge the distance.

But if you make it like this with several prongs, then even if you miss, the odds of another tine catching it go up.

Yerin looked at the tip of the harpoon with an impressed expression.

When I held the finished harpoon up to the sunlight,

the tips looked plenty sharp.

This should be more than enough to catch fish.

Yerin and I each took one of the newly made harpoons and headed for the sea.

Grilled fish sounds really good for dinner tonight.