Chapter 44
While heading back to the cave with the prepared meat and rabbit hides,
Rils started acting strange again.
“Yerin, could you hold this for a second?”
“What now? What are you planning?”
“I have something to do.”
With a machete in hand, she started cutting into several trees.
Just like someone practicing swordsmanship.
‘What in the world is she doing now?’
By now, Yerin had gotten somewhat used to Rils's sudden antics, and she walked over to Rils, who was busily carving marks into the trees with a knife, and asked,
“Why are you picking on perfectly healthy trees?”
“I'm not bullying them.”
On closer inspection, the trees had V-shaped cuts in them.
It almost looked like she was marking them for something.
No matter how hard she thought about it, Yerin still had no idea what meaning there could possibly be behind this behavior.
In the end, she couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked Rils,
“Are you carving some sort of mark? So we don't get lost?”
Rils looked at her like she was the village idiot.
“No, I'm making cuts in conifer trees.”
“Conifers?”
“Yep.”
“How do you know that?”
Rils lifted her head and pointed at the leaves with a finger.
“If the leaves are sharp like needles, they're conifers. If they're broad like a palm, they're broadleaf trees.”
“You saw that in a documentary too?”
“Yep.”
Yerin gave up trying to understand.
Whether it was conifers, broadleaf trees, or even Gas Hwalmyeongsu, what on earth was the point of this action?
Rils touched the wounded part of the tree with her finger and frowned.
“Looks like it needs some time.”
@
The reason for cutting into the trees was simple.
Well, not because there was some grand reason or anything.
It was because there was something to gain from it.
The resin that comes out of conifer trees.
After Putty told me about low tide last time, I'd been wanting to go tide-pooling.
There's no way we can wander around the pitch-black sea at night barehanded.
Since I'd also gotten lucky and found some rabbit hides, if I slathered them with plenty of resin, wrapped them around the ends of bamboo poles, and lit them, the torches would last much longer.
“It's not coming out as much as I thought.”
I touched the cut in the tree with my finger.
Sticky.
A very small amount of liquid did come out.
But there's so little that, at this rate, it'll take forever to fill a bamboo tube.
“Did resin have that kind of effect?”
Yerin asked in fascination.
I nodded.
“Yep. And trees are living things too.”
“…?”
“When they're hurt, they send resin out from their bodies to heal the wound.”
It's similar to how a scab forms over a wound when a person gets injured. Trees also secrete resin to heal the damaged part.
It blocks insects from getting in and also keeps bacteria from invading.
In a way, it's a natural bandage.
“Oh.”
Yerin stared at the conifers with interest.
“Then it must take quite a while for a lot to come out, right?”
“Yep.”
Anyway, time is the one thing we have plenty of on this deserted island.
I'd cut into several conifers, so if we came back tomorrow, they'd be oozing resin by then.
I looked at Yerin, who was standing there blankly, and said,
“Then let's go eat the meat.”
The moment she heard the word meat, Yerin's eyes sparkled brightly.
Pig.
@
When we got back to the cave, Kim Woong was facing off against Baby in a weird posture.
Exactly.
It was less a standoff than Kim Woong talking to Baby while keeping a suitable distance.
“Baby-nim, where did everyone go?”
Baby, annoyed by Kim Woong's constant chatter, lay sprawled on the bamboo bed and kept flicking its tail.
“Did they go to get some water?”
Baby blinked with a face full of exhaustion.
But Kim Woong looked more serious than anyone.
“After disappearing without saying a word, I guess our benefactor still doesn't trust me.”
Thump.
Baby's tail thumped the floor once, as if agreeing.
I blankly watched that stupid sight and thought,
As expected, streamers are all morons.
“What are you doing?”
I walked over to Kim Woong and asked.
Then he jolted and turned around.
“Oh! Benefactor, you're back!”
His eyes were shining brightly.
I held the lump of meat out in front of him.
“Th-this is?”
“I caught a rabbit.”
Kim Woong's eyes went wide at that.
“As expected, Benefactor, you never waste time. I should learn from you.”
Yerin watched that with amusement, then said to Kim Woong,
“But Kim Woong, I've been curious for a while—why do you speak so politely to Baby?”
Kim Woong was silent for a moment before answering.
“It's a matter of respect for the strong. Baby-nim even hunted the snake that invaded the cave.”
“……?”
The cave went quiet for a moment.
Baby, somehow looking rather smug, tapped its tail against the floor.
Looks like it understood that it was being praised.
@
There's also a way to dry the meat and store it.
But.
Hoard it and it turns to crap.
It means that if you keep saving it, it turns to shit.
With only three adults eating, one rabbit was nowhere near enough, so there was no reason to be stingy.
Even if it was a plump little thing, a rabbit was still a rabbit. So we threw a few yams on the charcoal fire too.
Kim Woong rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.
“Benefactor, leave it to me.”
“Yep?”
“I may not look it, but I worked part-time at a barbecue joint for a few years. I'm confident when it comes to grilling meat.”
“Then why didn't you grill the fish last time?”
“I've never grilled fish before.”
Aha.
A strange argument, but somehow convincing.
Kim Woong crouched down in front of the charcoal fire and, wearing a serious expression, turned the meat this way and that.
Anyone watching would think he was grilling A5 wagyu.
“How you grill meat is what matters most.”
Then he began explaining his own meat philosophy to us.
“The most important thing is the quality of the meat. This is a freshly caught rabbit, so it's incredibly fresh, right?”
“...”
“But if you want it to taste even better, you need to know how to handle the fire. Every part has to be cooked to the same doneness to taste best.”
Hey, I wasn't that curious.
Could we just grill it quickly and fill our stomachs?
Unaware of my feelings, Kim Woong made tiny, precise adjustments to the angle of the meat, one painstaking tweak at a time, like a Swiss master craftsman.
Sizzle, sizzle.
As time passed, the rich aroma of meat kept creeping deeper and deeper into my nose.
The smell of land-animal meat was definitely nothing like fish.
If fish smelled like the sea with a faint fishiness mixed in, meat felt much heavier.
If fish smell is a jab, meat smell is a hook.
A smell that directly provokes the instincts of a hungry person.
Yerin was swallowing hard beside me, too.
I mean, she'd been chanting meat, meat! the whole time.
After eating snake meat, it'd be enough to make anyone lose it when they saw rabbit meat.
Kim Woong looked at the rabbit meat dripping with oil and said with a satisfied expression,
“It seems perfectly done.”
Exactly three minutes.
No, it might have been less.
The rabbit meat, which had been a glossy golden brown, was now stripped so clean you couldn't even recognize its shape anymore.
Only the bones were left.
Yerin picked the meat stuck between her teeth out with her fingernail, then clicked her tongue in disappointment.
“Tsk. One more rabbit would've been perfect.”
Is this really what a real female streamer is like?
How had she even managed to hit 300,000 subscribers?
I started to suspect she'd used some kind of agency.
The seed of distrust toward her subscriber count was starting to sprout inside me.
Still, Kim Woong's grilled meat was definitely delicious.
The surface had been cooked evenly, and the juices were sealed inside, so it was crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.
Come to think of it, these people are actually pretty useful.
Yerin, the mood-maker with nimble hands.
Kim Woong, the all-purpose laborer with strength and stamina.
Looks like I was pretty lucky with the members I picked.
Grrr.
Baby, upset that we hadn't saved any for it, lay face-down on the floor and angrily smacked its tail down.
“Are you pouting?”
Baby jerked its head away instead of answering.
Seeing that, Yerin snickered.
“Then from now on, we should make sure Baby's portion comes first.”
“It's got a big appetite. We can't let it become an obese lizard.”
I thought about it for a moment, then picked up one of the rabbit bones left beside the charcoal fire.
Most of the meat had already been stripped off, but there were still a few scraps clinging between the bones.
“Here.”
Baby rolled its eyes sideways.
It didn't seem to like being handed leftovers.
“Put up with it for today.”
Grrr?
“Next time we catch something, I'll make sure Baby gets some too.”
Baby stared at me for a moment.
Thump.
Its tail struck the floor once.
Looks like its mood had eased up a little.
I snorted a laugh and scratched under its chin.
Baby quickly seemed to feel better, stretching its neck out and rumbling softly.
Yerin watched Baby like that and gave a small laugh.
“It's totally like a dog. Shouldn't it be on one of those 'Amazing Animal World' shows?”
“What kind of show is that?”
“Like, a program that introduces smart animals—genius dogs, cats that go for walks, stuff like that.”
“I had no idea that existed...”
Before long, a drowsy atmosphere began to settle inside the cave.
Everyone was nicely full.
The heat rising from the hearth warmed the cave.
Another day had passed very peacefully.
I yawned and threw myself onto the bamboo bed.
It wasn't as soft as a real bed, but compared to sleeping on the dirt floor when I first got stranded on the deserted island, it was hotel-suite level.
Yerin also flopped down beside me.
“Haa...”
“Why?”
“Humans really are creatures of adaptation.”
“That's right.”
“I've even gotten used to this deserted-island life now.”
Kim Woong suddenly started doing push-ups beside the hearth.
“You need to digest your food and then sleep. Yerin-nim and Benefactor should also think about your health and exercise...”
Yerin and I immediately rolled over and ignored Kim Woong.
Doing strength training even after coming to a deserted island.
Gym rats really are impossible to understand.
Anyway, another day had ended safely today, too.
The rain had stopped, and we'd secured food.
If I wanted to stay busy tomorrow, I needed plenty of sleep.
“I'm going to sleep now.”
“Okay.”
“Good night, Benefactor!”
Day 7 on the deserted island.
And so, the night drew to a close.