Chapter 54
It might have been my imagination. The sensitive trap could have come loose by accident when the wind blew, or a passing animal might have disturbed it and run away.
Unexpected things happened often in the wilderness, after all.
But something in the back of my mind felt unsettling.
It was an unpleasant feeling, like one piece of a puzzle had slipped out of place.
I looked around once more.
Hmm.
Still, it was awfully neat.
“Rils.”
“Yep.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I shook my head at Yerin’s words.
It wasn’t as though worrying about it would change anything.
There was no point lingering around and making myself feel uneasy, so I decided to get on with what I had planned to do.
I carefully reset the loose trap and moved on.
“Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“To brush our teeth.”
The salt Yerin had made by evaporating seawater yesterday.
Salt was one of the everyday necessities humans had used for the longest time.
It was used to season food and to preserve ingredients.
Most importantly, it could be used to brush your teeth in place of toothpaste.
I dipped my index finger into the salt in the bamboo tube and rubbed it against my teeth.
Crunch.
Along with the sound of the coarse grains scraping across the surface of my teeth.
‘Ugh. It’s too salty.’
A salty taste filled my mouth.
Still, if I didn’t want to go to the dentist, I had no choice. I had to brush my teeth like this, at least.
Yerin and Kim Woong hesitated before following me and dipping their index fingers into the salt.
Crunch.
The overwhelming saltiness made Yerin stick out her tongue with an expression as if she were about to throw up.
“Ueegh. Is this really effective?”
“Why?”
“It’s way too salty! I almost threw up while brushing my teeth.”
“Ms. Yerin, salt is salty by nature.”
Kim Woong, who had been brushing his teeth indifferently with salt, also frowned.
“Benefactor, it’s better to stay away from salt.”
“Huh?”
“Excessive sodium intake causes swelling and affects exercise efficiency. Since it’s healthier to avoid seasonings as much as possible, it’s better to stay away from them.”
“Ah… okay.”
Since we had camped until late last night, we planned to rest in the cave until lunchtime before moving on today.
We could make do with coconut chips for breakfast.
‘Ugh. But it really is salty.’
The salty taste still lingered in my mouth.
@
Day 9 on the deserted island.
Putty stretched his entire body and yawned inside the tent.
Crack.
His stiff joints popped.
“Haa.”
Still, it was a decent morning.
Jay was still asleep beside him, and a little farther away stood the tent Baek Seol-ah used by herself.
Putty stepped outside the tent and looked up at the sky.
A clear blue sky without a single cloud.
‘The weather’s going to be beautiful again today,’ Putty thought.
“You’re up early, Mr. Putty.”
He heard Jay’s voice behind him as Jay woke up.
“Yes. I find that I sleep less as I get older. You’ll understand when you’re my age, Mr. Jay. Haha.”
“Come on. At your age, you’re still young, Mr. Putty. By the way, what should we eat for breakfast? Do we have to eat ramen again…?”
The corners of Putty’s mouth lifted slightly at Jay’s words.
“I don’t think we need to eat ramen for breakfast today.”
“Huh?”
“We have the meat we caught yesterday.”
A rabbit they had found near the water source.
Since there was even a trap set up, it was obvious that someone had been trying to catch an animal.
But what could they do?
In survival, whoever got there first was the owner.
This was how it all began.
The afternoon of Day 8 on the deserted island.
The Putty Party was heading toward the water source as usual.
They needed water for washing and had to replenish their drinking water, too.
When they arrived near the water source, they heard a strange sound.
Screeech!
It sounded as though something were struggling.
Baek Seol-ah stopped walking first and spoke.
“Did you hear that? I heard some strange sound.”
Jay nodded.
“I heard it too. Where’s it coming from?”
Putty lowered his voice as he pointed toward the place the scream had come from.
“Let’s go check it out.”
The three of them cautiously moved in the direction of the sound.
And they discovered the cause.
“Huh?”
Baek Seol-ah’s eyes went wide.
“It’s a rabbit!”
A rabbit was caught in a trap set between the branches, struggling desperately.
Putty carefully examined the area.
“It seems someone set up a trap to catch an animal.”
“A trap?”
“Yes.”
Baek Seol-ah stared at the snare around the rabbit’s leg and muttered.
“Poor thing. Why did it have to stupidly get caught in a trap?”
Jay, who had been carefully examining the trap, spoke as if he were impressed.
“I don’t know who made it, but they’re pretty skilled.”
Putty nodded in agreement with Jay.
“Indeed.”
Jay tilted his head.
“Was there a streamer among the participants with this kind of skill? It’s not like they’re some kind of hunter.”
Despite their conversation, Baek Seol-ah’s attention was focused entirely elsewhere.
“This one’s really fat. How cute….”
The rabbit was struggling desperately to stay alive, but Baek Seol-ah just kept repeating how cute it was.
Jay suddenly opened his mouth.
“But we can eat rabbit, right? I don’t know what it tastes like, though.”
Putty nodded.
“Rabbit meat is rarely sold these days, but people often ate it in stews or grilled it back when food was scarce.”
“Oh. Really?”
“I hear it tastes pretty good, too.”
Baek Seol-ah’s expression twisted as she quietly listened to their conversation.
“Wait. Are you seriously thinking about eating this cute little thing?”
Baek Seol-ah gazed at the rabbit with pity.
“That’s so cruel…. Can’t we just let it go? We have ramen, anyway.”
Putty looked dumbfounded at her words.
“Let it go? Absolutely not.”
What use was cuteness in a survival situation?
A perfect opportunity to get meat had presented itself.
There was no reason to let such good fortune slip away.
Fortunately, Jay, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, supported Putty’s opinion.
“The only food we have right now is the ramen we bought with the API and the fish Mr. Putty catches. We’re in no position to be picky. Donations haven’t been coming in much lately, either, remember?”
Baek Seol-ah puffed out her cheeks.
“But… it’s pitiful.”
Jay glanced at the rabbit.
“That’s true. But given our situation, we can’t help it. We came all this way, so shouldn’t we at least try to win?”
Baek Seol-ah couldn’t refute Jay’s words and merely moved her lips.
Putty looked down at the trap and spoke with concern.
“But there must be someone who set this trap. Is it really all right for us to take it?”
Jay calmly surveyed the area before smiling.
“I think it should be fine.”
“Why?”
“Think about it, Mr. Putty.”
Jay pointed at the rabbit struggling in the trap.
“The rabbit has been screaming like that all day, but no one besides us came. If someone set a trap and hasn’t come to collect it, there’s a good chance it was set by a participant who has already been eliminated. We just happened to find it.”
Putty slowly nodded.
Jay’s opinion certainly made sense.
The number of participants was continuing to dwindle.
There was nothing strange about assuming it was a trap left behind by an eliminated participant.
The only thing that bothered Putty was that the trap had been set near the water source.
“You have a point, Mr. Jay.”
“Right?”
“It could be an ownerless item.”
Putty and Jay quickly reached an agreement.
The vote was two to one.
The rabbit became the Putty Party’s food.
Recalling what had happened yesterday, Putty chuckled.
Whatever the circumstances, they had obtained meat by chance.
That rabbit was becoming their breakfast.
Sizzle.
The rabbit meat, bled and partially dried beforehand, was browning nicely in the frying pan.
Baek Seol-ah frowned as she watched the frying pan.
“That’s cruel….”
“It’s simply the law of nature. You eat beef and pork just fine, Ms. Seol-ah.”
“That’s true, but it was alive until yesterday….”
“That’s why it’s fresher.”
Putty chuckled and flipped the frying pan.
Being able to live this well was all thanks to the API.
Jay and Baek Seol-ah.
They were the platform’s most popular female and male streamers.
Thanks to them, points came in steadily, and they were able to purchase quite a lot of necessary supplies.
Everyday items like pots and frying pans.
In a system where money really could buy anything, wealth was practically a cheat code.
“I think it’s done.”
Jay was the first to pick up his chopsticks and put a piece of rabbit meat into his mouth.
Smack, smack.
“It’s better than I expected. It’s really delicious.”
Putty immediately picked up a piece of rabbit meat and ate it as well.
The more he chewed, the more savory juices spread through his mouth.
It had a texture similar to chicken, but was slightly chewier.
Putty also marveled at the flavor of the meat he was tasting for the first time in a long while.
“This is incredible. As expected, meat really is the best.”
Baek Seol-ah finally picked up her chopsticks, as if she had given up.
Her hand trembled as she held the chopsticks, perhaps because she still found it instinctively unpleasant, but soon she carefully picked up a piece and put it in her mouth.
“Ugh… I feel like I’m committing a crime….”
The three of them ate the rabbit meat in silence for a while.
The meat they were eating for the first time in ages was incomparably better than ramen.
Putty thought to himself.
‘It seems the goddess of victory is smiling upon us.’