Chapter 6
I rubbed my eyes and looked at the translucent hologram window again.
A 500 ml bottle of water: 1,000,000 won.
Instant noodles: 1,000,000 won.
"Crazy."
A curse slipped out before I knew it.
Wasn't this basically highway robbery?
Even those shady vendors at beaches and valleys don't rip people off this badly.
The most expensive item on the list, the tent, cost more than a decent car.
When I waved away the hologram window with its ridiculous prices, a mechanical voice came from the drone above my head.
【Reels-nim's current balance: 0 won】
"...Are they messing with me?"
0 won.
Nice and clean.
Being a nobody streamer is rough.
Who would donate to a nobody streamer?
I swallowed dryly as I watched Yerin chug the not-even-cold water from the plastic bottle.
"Kyaa! I can live again!"
What a reaction.
More importantly, it was hot as hell.
The blazing sunlight didn't look like it had any intention of letting up.
I turned my eyes away out of sheer envy and muttered,
"If it were me, I'd never buy it at that price. I'm not some sucker."
Just then, Yerin spotted me, her eyes lighting up as she waved.
"Oh, it's Lizard Girl!"
....
Somehow,
that felt like a really weird nickname.
Yerin strode over with the water bottle in hand. She stopped in front of me and smiled brightly.
"You're Reels-nim, right?"
"Yup."
Looking at Baby in my arms, Yerin asked,
"What was this lizard's name again...?"
"Baby."
"Ah, right! Baby."
Then she lightly shook the water bottle in front of me.
"You're super thirsty right now too, aren't you, Reels-nim~?"
Swish.
The water left inside sloshed from side to side.
....
My eyes were drawn to it against my will.
Because I really was thirsty.
Yerin must've noticed too, because the corner of her mouth curled up.
"Do you want some water?"
She was going to let me drink million-won water for free?
How could anyone be this nice?
I was never the type to refuse when someone offered me something in the first place.
I hurriedly reached out to grab the water bottle in her hand.
Whoosh.
Yerin quickly pulled her hand back. Then, still smiling, she said,
"There's a condition, though."
"What is it...."
"Become my party member."
"...?"
As expected.
In this harsh world, there's no such thing as kindness without a reason.
I immediately whipped my head away.
"Don't want to."
"Ehh~ why not~"
"I don't wanna become a slave for one sip of water."
"But this is a million-won bottle of water?"
"I'll just find some and drink it."
"Ooh~ look at you~"
Yerin giggled like she found it amusing.
The sunlight grew harsher and harsher as it beat down on my skin. My sensitive skin stung.
"...Ugh."
If I stayed on the shore like this, I might actually get burned.
I immediately turned my gaze toward the jungle.
First, I needed to get into the forest.
The densely packed trees would block at least some of the sunlight.
Ignoring Yerin as she taunted me, I picked up Baby and headed for the jungle.
@
Streamer Yerin.
300,000 subscribers, 2,000 average viewers.
Average monthly income: 30 million won.
Male viewer ratio: 93%.
Yellow hair and sharp, slanted eyes.
A woman who knew better than anyone how to charm people.
At least, Yerin herself thought so.
And in reality, she wasn't wrong.
One bit of aegyo, one smiling glance with her eyes, and donations would pour in.
That was how she'd climbed this far.
But now, that very same Yerin
was trailing after a little girl with a lizard on her back.
"Let's go together~"
Crunch, crunch.
The little brat named Reels walking ahead didn't even look back. Every now and then she'd glance over her shoulder and say in an annoyed voice,
"Don't follow me."
That was all she'd toss out.
"...Wow."
Yerin let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
Was she seriously being treated like extra baggage right now?
Her? Yerin, a girl streamer with 300,000 subscribers?
If the first person she'd met had been a male streamer instead of that arrogant little brat,
he would've hesitantly come over to her first,
—Yerin-nim, want to go together?
—Just trust me.
—This must be really hard for you right now, huh?
saying things like that and fawning over her without even being asked.
But that little brat Reels had no interest in her at all.
'She was scared of getting a shot, but I guess the jungle doesn't scare her.'
On a deserted island where you never knew when you'd run into another person, it was lucky she'd found someone this fast.
That was why she'd followed her.
Besides, when she'd looked over the contestant list beforehand,
that streamer named Reels
was a nobody.
Not just a nobody, but a complete nobody.
She'd only stood out because she was the only nobody streamer participating in the deserted-island project.
Both her subscriber count and viewer count were downright pathetic.
So of course Yerin had assumed Reels would want to get on her good side and treat her well.
But Reels's reaction was nothing like what she'd expected.
'...What's her deal?'
Yerin pouted for no reason.
"Reels-nim."
"...What."
"You don't know me? You saw me when we got our shots. And I'm pretty famous in this scene."
"I don't know you."
....
For a moment, Yerin was speechless.
Every time Yerin tried talking to her, Reels made it painfully obvious she found it annoying. And it didn't feel like she was forcing herself to act uninterested, either.
She honestly looked like she had no idea who Yerin was.
As a girl streamer who'd spent years in internet broadcasting, her pride took a hit.
"Reels-nim, slow down. It's hard to keep up."
"...."
"Are you always this quiet?"
"...."
"Huff, I'm seriously at my limit. Reels-nim, let's rest for a bit...."
Only then did Reels stop. Then, with a face that looked genuinely curious, she said,
"Aren't you hot?"
"Of course I am. I feel like I'm dying here. Huff, huff."
"If you talk too much, you'll get even hotter. You'll burn through water faster."
"...."
Yerin was speechless again.
What was that?
Was that her way of telling me to shut up?
Or not?
Either way, something about the way she said it was seriously irritating.
Baby, riding on Reels's back, turned to look at Yerin and flicked his tongue.
—Idiot.
'...Even that lizard kind of feels like it's looking down on me.'
The deeper she followed Reels into the forest, the heavier the air became.
It was sweltering.
With every breath, it felt like hot humidity was pouring into her lungs.
In the end, Yerin frowned.
"It smells weird here. Didn't we go the wrong way?"
And she wasn't wrong.
The smell of damp earth.
The smell of rotting leaves.
And mixed in with it all was a strange stench.
Meanwhile, Reels, who'd been walking ahead, instead had her eyes light up before stopping in her tracks.
'What is she, a dog or something?'
Sniff, sniff.
Reels really did start moving her nose around like a dog.
"Wait a second."
Then she slowly started walking toward the source of the strange smell.
Where Reels parted the brush and came to a stop,
there lay a brown lump on the ground.
"Blech..."
Yerin's face scrunched up on reflex.
Anyone could see it was droppings.
But then,
Reels casually crouched down in front of it and reached out a finger.
Press.
She pushed down on it with her finger.
"...?!"
At the sight, Yerin's eyes grew as round as full moons.
"W-what are you doing?!"
Was she insane?
Why was she suddenly touching somebody else's poop?!
At Yerin's reaction, Reels only tilted her head instead.
"What? I was checking its temperature."
"...Huh?"
"It hasn't hardened yet. Judging by the size, it could be from a medium-sized animal, so we should be careful."
Reels calmly wiped the poop off her fingertip on a leaf and said,
"The animal might still be nearby."
"...."
Yerin got goosebumps for a moment.
More than the idea that there might be a fairly large animal nearby,
it was Reels's expression as she said it
that was way too calm.
'What the hell is this kid?'
@
[Our gallery queen got a party member lol]
Posted by: (135.11)
(A gif of Yerin shaking a water bottle at Reels)
But the second they met, she started water-teabagging her lol
Our gallery queen was instantly like fuck this and headed into the jungle, and Yerin started trailing after her
ㄴLmao shaking the water bottle at her was obnoxious as hell
ㄴReels looked so pitiful lol
ㄴNo but seriously, is 1,000,000 won for one bottle of water for real?
ㄴThat bastard Mister Rich is seriously vicious
ㄴIt makes sense when you think about streamer incomes
ㄴIf it were cheap, this would just turn into a camping stream
ㄴfr
ㄴBut why is Yerin following Reels?
ㄴShe was all what-do-I-do by herself, then she ran into another person
ㄴTiny little Reels is charging straight into the jungle without a hint of fear
ㄴAnd she's even carrying a lizard lol
[The Nongnong Squad are broke-ass losers lol]
Posted by: GirlCamLover
Is Reels really sitting at 0 won in donations?
She takes up a huge chunk of the gallery, and you still can't even buy her one bottle of water?
The girl-streamer squad runs this gallery now
ㄴFreeloading eyeballs lol
ㄴThe Nongnong Squad went broke huh
ㄴIt's hilarious that no donations are coming in just because she's a nobody
ㄴNo but seriously, 1,000,000 for water is insane
ㄴYerin bought bottled water right away though
ㄴThat's the class of a girl streamer
ㄴHer oppas' wallets are gonna be hurting
[But Reels is giving off veteran vibes, isn't she?]
Posted by: (211.03)
She started gathering information the second she woke up
While all the other streamers were freaking out
going Water! Shelter! Fire!
she immediately started checking the coastline to see if there was any food
ㄴWasn't she just sightseeing?
ㄴfr
ㄴPoster, you idiot. Our queen just got excited because she's at the ocean
ㄴThat lizard gets cuter the more I look at it
ㄴGuess you've been lizard-pilled
[Live: our gallery queen is touching poop]
Posted by: (175.61)
(A gif of Reels pressing an animal dropping with her finger)
Holy shit, I thought maybe she would, but she really touched it
Even Mister Rich doing the live commentary got flustered lol
ㄴ?????
ㄴWhy the hell would she touch that?
ㄴIs she insane?
ㄴHer expression is so serious that it's even scarier
ㄴYerin's shocked face is cracking me up lol
ㄴShe says she was checking if it was warm, holy shit
ㄴDo you really have to check it like that?
Because of Reels's bizarre antics, the gallery grew noisy.
The reactions in Mister Rich's live chat were no different.
-Why the fuck is she touching poop?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Damn, that's actually shocking
-She pressed that with her bare hand?
-What if she gets some kind of infection from that?
Inside the cruise ship's studio, Mister Rich was hosting the live commentary broadcast.
A middle-aged man was seated beside him.
He was a fairly well-known survival expert in Korea.
He was someone who often appeared in jungle survival documentaries and military-related programs.
A show like this is more fun to watch with an expert around, so he'd invited him on as a commentator.
Mister Rich looked at Reels on the screen, trying to hold back laughter, before finally asking,
"Pfft... Professor."
"Yes?"
"What exactly is she doing?"
On the screen, Reels was still calmly pressing the animal droppings with her finger.
The survival expert scratched his head for a moment.
"...Hmm."
Then he spoke with an odd expression.
"I think she probably watches a lot of survival videos or documentaries."
"Is that so?"
"Checking the temperature of animal droppings is actually something experts do all the time. If the droppings are still warm, it means there's a good chance the animal is nearby."
"Oh... so there was a reason for it?"
"Right. And droppings that size could especially belong to a wild boar."
At that, Mister Rich's eyes widened slightly.
"Wouldn't a wild boar be dangerous?"
The expert nodded.
"It's quite a dangerous situation. Adult wild boars will attack people too."
"...That's bad. Should we send people in for safety?"
"No. I don't think that'll be necessary. Ms. Reels noticed that right away and is already taking a detour through the forest. She's quite skilled."
Once the expert finished explaining,
a flood of Reels-praising comments started pouring into the chat.
-No but holy shit, she's actually a veteran
-I thought she was just some kid out here for fun
-Now that I hear the expert explain it, touching poop suddenly looks cool
-fr it was all calculated
-The Nongnong Squad rises again lol
-Ahh, O great GOAT
Mister Rich looked at Reels on the screen with interest.