Chapter 42
“Ah. Sex!”
At Yerin’s brazen shout, silence fell over the studio inside the cruise ship.
“…….”
“…….”
Mister Rich and the survival expert were about to lift their coffee to their lips, but froze in place.
It was a pretty awkward situation for them, though.
But the chat was hotter than ever.
-Yas, agreed
-Ah, fuck hahahahahahahaha
-I just got here, and what the hell are these sex-addled freaks on about?
-That was definitely yas.
-The chat is fucking hilarious hahaha
-Feels like some adult site chatroom.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
-Look at how cheap that wording is lol
-But that was seriously high praise, yeah.
-Agreed. He summed up the taste in one word.
-Yas! Yas! Yas!
For a while, Yerin had the entire Mister Rich chat flooded with yas.
@
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
Yerin asked, chewing on her food.
“…….”
Kim Woong and I looked at Yerin with dazed expressions.
Is it okay for a cam girl to say that?
What’s more, everything we were doing right now was being streamed live on Mister Rich’s broadcast.
That meant an unspecified number of viewers were watching.
Of course, there are people who don’t give a damn what others think.
But she’s a cam girl, and managing her image is essential.
“Yerin-nim.”
“What.”
“Is it okay for a cam girl to use language like that?”
Yerin thought for a moment, then shrugged.
“So what? Streamers are people too.”
Casually, Yerin picked up a piece of crayfish in front of her and put it in her mouth.
“I swear on stream all the time anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
Munch, munch.
“And that’s not the important part right now.”
“Then what is?”
“I’m telling you, this is insanely good. Reels, Kim Woong, hurry up and eat.”
Maybe Yerin’s usual broadcast vibe was just laid-back, because she didn’t seem concerned at all.
Well, it’s not like a small-time nobody like me has any room to worry about it.
I’m sure she’d handle it just fine.
I immediately scooped up a generous chunk of the crayfish’s pale, tender meat.
Nom.
The moment I put it in my mouth.
“……!!!”
Th-this taste...?
Farewell to all the crab sticks I’d ever bought at convenience stores!
Springy texture and juices that burst out the more you chewed.
A rich sweetness that felt like someone had mixed only the umami of shrimp and crab together.
And because it had been grilled directly over charcoal, it had just enough smokiness to deepen the flavor even more.
It was so good that comparing it to crab sticks felt insulting.
“Wow.”
It was easily the best thing I’d eaten since coming to the deserted island.
The MSG-loaded ramen was delicious too, but it was a stretch to put lobster-like crayfish on the same level as ramen.
Kim Woong took a huge bite out of the hot crayfish, then buried his face and started tearing into it.
He looked like a shredder. He must have been starving from all that hard labor.
“Benefactor.”
“Yep.”
“I really feel like I’m going to cry.”
Kim Woong clenched his fist with a solemn expression.
“I could die right now without regrets. To think I could enjoy such luxury thanks to Benefactor…!”
“Is that so…?”
I looked at Kim Woong with a baffled expression.
Why was he thanking me?
He was the one who’d swum there and back and gone diving three times, after all.
All I did was make him dive while carrying a rock, didn’t I?
Yerin was holding her stomach and laughing.
“Pwahaha... I’ve never seen Reels so flustered.”
Anyway.
We ate the crayfish in silence for a while.
People naturally get quieter when they’re eating something delicious.
If there’s one good thing about having a smaller body...
it’s that you need fewer calories as well.
“Phew.”
I patted my stomach with satisfaction.
I really ate until I was about to burst.
Yerin and Kim Woong, who had already finished an entire crayfish each, were also rubbing their stomachs with happy expressions.
I gathered up the leftover meat and handed it to Baby.
“You should eat too.”
Maybe because it was a food it had never seen before, it didn’t eat right away.
Sniff, sniff.
Instead, it wiggled its nose and sniffed for a while.
Lick.
It stuck out its tongue, licked the meat a little, then started inhaling the crayfish at a crazy speed.
Thankfully, it seemed to suit Baby’s taste.
Seeing that, Yerin snorted with a laugh.
“Baby must have expensive taste too. What are you going to do, Reels? You’ll have to work hard to cover the food costs.”
“It costs more to feed Baby than to feed me.”
I patted Baby on the head as it happily ate.
Baby devoured the crayfish in the blink of an eye, then narrowed its eyes in satisfaction and hopped onto my lap.
I was full, and my mood felt like it could float away.
What a fresh start to the day.
Of course, that didn’t mean I could just sit around.
I still had to check the traps I’d set yesterday, and living in the wild is ridiculously busy.
But humans are lazy creatures by nature.
Once you’re full and warm, you start getting sleepy.
I yawned once and lay down on the bamboo bed.
“Let’s rest a little.”
Yerin raised her hand high.
“I vote yes!”
“I’m in favor too.”
Kim Woong said, sprawled out on the ground near the fire pit.
They looked like they’d run out of energy.
Good. Then let’s rest for exactly 30 minutes.
Watching Baby start to doze off on the bamboo bed, I slowly closed my eyes.
@
[Where’d the silver-spoon brigade that was living vicariously through that streamer go?]
Author: (231.41)
(meme of the Reels crew napping after their crayfish feast)
Poor folks: crayfish
Rich kids: ramen
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
ㄴFact) The self-sufficient Reels team is eating better
ㄴAh, fuck hahaha
ㄴRamen VS wild crayfish
ㄴOkay, this is a bit much hahaha
ㄴThis is so damn funny, seriously.
ㄴDid the silver-spoon squad go into hiding?
ㄴThey always disappear when things go bad.
ㄴThey’re probably in their tent eating ramen right now.
ㄴMeanwhile, the Reels team is tearing into lobster hahaha
ㄴIs crayfish really on par with lobster?
ㄴI tried it, and they’re about even.
ㄴNo wonder it looked insane.
[Yerin really shattered her image here]
Author: Cam Girl Fan
Using such cheap wording is so fucking off-putting.
That’s exactly why cam girls get called cyber sluts.
ㄴBullshit, you fucking moron.
ㄴIf anything, it’s super likable. How are you supposed to resist a laid-back older sister with a great body?
ㄴFor real.
ㄴWay better than those old hags who always pretend to be frail on stream lol. They were trash on the inside anyway.
ㄴI like that she feels human.
ㄴNo, but that wording was just too perfect hahaha
ㄴYou could feel her soul in that reaction.
ㄴShe lost her mind after eating crayfish.
ㄴYou can’t fake that hahaha
ㄴHer image wasn’t shattered; she was just like that to begin with.
ㄴThis asshole was pretending to be a Yerin fan, but he wasn’t, lol.
ㄴWas that a disguise? What a disgusting bastard. I had a feeling he was writing posts to make Yerin look bad.
ㄴIf I were in that situation, I’d have shouted 'yas' too.
ㄴYerin favorability +3
ㄴKim Woong favorability +3
ㄴReels favorability +10
ㄴBaby favorability +999
ㄴThere are so many Baby moms now. I’m a Baby mom too—nice to meet you.
@
It had been a while since I dreamed.
It was a dream from when I was little.
In a pure white hospital room, a machine beeped at regular intervals.
A faint smell of disinfectant.
And a sharp injection needle.
A woman lying on the hospital bed called my name in a gentle voice.
“Yuyeon.”
As a child, I was sitting in the chair beside the hospital bed.
I was holding a tangerine in my hand and watching the small TV mounted on the wall.
A documentary was playing on the screen.
A herd of gazelles being chased by lions on a vast plain.
Among them, one small baby gazelle was falling behind.
Just as the lion’s claws were about to reach the baby gazelle,
the fleeing mother gazelle suddenly turned around and charged at the lion.
A contradictory scene: prey charging at the predator.
The mother gazelle had her throat bitten by the lion and was devoured on the spot.
I stared at the screen with a look of incomprehension.
“Mom.”
“Hm?”
“The gazelles are weird.”
“What?”
“They should be running away from the lion, so why did it turn back?”
The woman looked at the screen for a long moment, then smiled quietly.
“Yeon-ah.”
“Yeah.”
“Why do you think the mother gazelle turned back?”
“Because she was worried the baby would get caught by the lion…?”
“Right. The mother sacrificed herself instead. So what do you think will happen to the remaining baby gazelle?”
“Hmm... Animals can’t really survive on their own without their mothers anyway.”
The woman fell silent for a moment. Then she gave a bitter smile and gently stroked my hair.
“That’s not always the case.”
“Huh?”
“There are children who do just fine even when left alone. Maybe that baby gazelle, left all by itself, can live well too?”
“Still, it’s pitiful.”
The woman patted my head once more.
“Then let’s pray, Yeon, that the baby gazelle grows up safe and sound, so it can live well even if it ends up alone.”
“Yeah!”
“@&@&@&@@@&”
Crackle.
In an instant, the woman’s voice blurred as if static had cut in.
It was like this every time I had this dream.
It feels like she’s saying something, but I can’t hear it at all.
Then someone else’s voice reached me.
“Reels, wake up!”
My eyes flew open.
“Huh?”
I sat up with a dazed expression.
The first thing I saw was the familiar cave ceiling. And Yerin, standing in front of me with her arms crossed.
“You’re finally awake. Were you that tired?”
“…….”
Wait.
How long did I sleep?
I hurriedly looked outside the cave.
“Ah.”
The sun was slowly sinking.
The orange sunset was dyeing the forest red.
A sign that the sun was slowly setting.
I only meant to rest my eyes for a moment, but it seemed I’d fallen into a deep sleep.
“This is bad. I slept way too long.”
“No kidding.”
Yerin said with a dumbfounded expression.
“You said you’d sleep for just 30 minutes.”
“How long did I sleep?”
“I don’t have a clock, so I’m not sure. Maybe around three hours? I did wake up about an hour ago, though. You were sleeping so soundly that I didn’t wake you.”
Well... I’m screwed.
Still, it wasn’t completely dark yet.
There was still a little time left.
I hurriedly got to my feet.
“Where are you going?”
“To check the traps I set yesterday.”
“Now?”
“Yep.”
Even though I overslept, I still had things to do.