Chapter 7
As long as there was still a chance an animal was nearby, I had no choice but to change course.
The odds of running into it directly were slim, but there were always variables.
With my body changed, my stride shorter, and an unexpected detour slowing me down, it took much longer than I expected to finally reach the area near my destination.
The rocky mountain towering over the center of the island.
Water flows from high places to low places.
Which meant there was a high chance of a water source somewhere near terrain like this.
A ravine.
A spring.
Or even a small trickle.
And judging by the size of the droppings I'd found on the way over, the animal was probably fairly large.
At least medium-sized?
Every creature needs water.
It's one of the most essential things for life.
If an animal that big lived here,
then there had to be water somewhere on this island.
I adjusted Baby in my arms.
"Let's go."
Flick.
From behind me came Yerin's drooping voice.
"Do we still have to go farther...?"
"Yes."
"...I wanna go home."
The deeper we went into the jungle, the more sweat kept running down my forehead.
My throat was getting drier too.
Yerin, on the other hand, was in even worse shape.
"Haa... huff..."
Maybe she never exercised, because she was practically staggering with every step.
I glanced at the water bottle in her hand.
It was completely empty.
"You already drank it all?"
"I was thirsty...."
I was briefly at a loss for words.
She'd drunk a one-million-won bottle of water just because she was thirsty?
No way.
There was no way I could keep bringing her around with me.
Her stamina was lousy.
She whined too much.
Most of all, she was slow.
As I was thinking about how to shake Yerin off, I spotted a patch of damp mud off to one side.
"Oh."
Squelch.
The soles of my safety boots sank slightly into the wet mud.
"What is it?"
Yerin, who'd followed after me, asked with a look of disgust.
Instead of answering, I scooped up a handful of mud.
Splat.
Then I started smearing it all over my face and the back of my neck.
Yerin's expression went bad in an instant.
"What are you doing?!"
"Mud can work as sunscreen. It can also mask your scent from animals with sensitive noses."
"...Huh?"
I calmly rubbed the mud over the backs of my hands too.
"People didn't start smearing mud on themselves for no reason back in the old days."
In fact, mud can block some UV rays.
It's especially effective on skin that isn't covered by clothes.
The ultimate eco-friendly sunscreen.
The moisture in the damp mud on my skin slowly evaporated.
It felt like the heat burning through me was easing a little.
"Haa... so cool."
I narrowed my eyes, my face full of satisfaction.
Seriously, this was paradise.
Humans really are creatures that adapt to their environment.
Yerin was staring at me with a thoroughly put-off expression.
"...Reels-nim."
"Yes."
"Does that really work?"
I nodded calmly.
"It blocks UV rays, and it cools you down. It's good for your skin."
Then I held up the mud still left on my hand.
"Want me to put some on you?"
"...Huh?"
"I'll do it for free."
Yerin's expression stiffened at once.
"No way?!"
"Why not? It's nice and cool."
"Why use mud when you could just put on sunscreen?"
"We don't have sunscreen."
"...."
Yerin glanced at the drone filming us. Then her expression changed in an instant.
She looked into the camera with a sultry gaze.
Even her lips jutted out a little as she put on a coy voice.
"Oppaaaas~"
Here she goes again.
Yerin cupped her cheeks with both hands and whined.
"Yerinie's skin is all stingy and hurty... waaah...."
Bzzzzzz~
The drone zoomed in on her face.
"The sun's way too strong hereee. What if Yerinie's skin gets ruined? Oh nooo. Boo hoo."
Ding!
The sound effect rang out immediately. Then, from far off in the direction of the cruise ship, another drone started flying over at high speed.
"Thanks, oppaaas~ Love you~ Mwah!"
It really came right away.
The drone dropped a small box in front of Yerin with a plop.
Yerin ripped it open like she'd been waiting for it.
Inside was
a premium sunscreen.
I could only marvel at how good she was at shaking down her viewers.
How much money did girl-streamer fans even have?
A price tag popped up in the air.
【Premium Sunscreen: 5,000,000 won】
"...Crazy."
Five million won for a single sunscreen?
I'd rather just smear mud on myself.
As if it were only natural, Yerin started squeezing sunscreen onto her face.
Rub rub.
"Ah~ I can finally breathe again."
She carefully spread the sunscreen over her face, then glanced at me and curled her lips into a smug little smile.
"Want me to put some on you too, Reels-nim~?"
"Is it free?"
"If you sign a slave contract, it is."
"No thanks."
"I'm kidding."
Yerin snorted and waved her hand.
Watching her, I thought to myself,
'Come on, this is basically cheat mode.'
If you had money, a drone would deliver things to you on the spot.
Was this even survival?
Of course,
when you considered the deranged price of five million won for one bottle of sunscreen, it wasn't like it was all upside either.
Was this girl actually an idiot?
She'd spent six million won on sunscreen and water.
You could go on a trip to Europe without spending that much.
I looked down at the mud on the back of my hand.
Right now, no matter how I looked at it, damp mud was working better than sunscreen.
It was slowly cooling my elevated body temperature.
I shook my head and got to my feet.
"Let's go look for water now."
"You're really not going to put on sunscreen? I told you I was jokinggg."
Yerin held out the sunscreen to me and beckoned with her hand.
"Later. If there's mud here, there's a good chance there's water nearby too."
Damp ground.
High humidity.
They were all good signs.
I slowly looked around.
"Let's split up and search."
"...Huh?"
"It'll be faster."
Yerin's face froze up like a puppy that suddenly needed to poop.
"Splitting up is a little...."
"Why?"
"I'm scared to walk around by myself."
"Don't go far. Just search nearby."
"...Mmm."
Yerin hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly nodded. She grabbed my arm and earnestly warned me,
"If you really find water, yell right away, okay? You can't run off by yourself."
"Okay."
"If you really run away, I'll follow you forever and curse you."
"Okay, okay."
"Look at how halfhearted that answer was."
I more or less tuned Yerin out and started pushing through the brush around us.
The smell of wet earth grew stronger and stronger.
But strangely, I couldn't hear water.
If it were a ravine, I should've at least heard a little trickling.
"...Hmm."
I slowly started circling around the rocky mountain.
Water always leaves traces when it flows.
I had to find them.
Crunch.
The soles of my safety boots pressed down on the damp fallen leaves.
The air was getting more and more humid.
Good.
There was definitely water somewhere around here.
The problem was that it wasn't easy to spot.
"Haa... huff...."
From far off, I could hear Yerin gasping for breath.
"Reeels-niiim... aren't you going too far...?"
"Just a little more."
"You've said that more than five times already."
I lightly ignored what Yerin was saying and placed a hand against the rock face.
Cold.
And damp.
I slowly lowered my gaze.
One side of the ground was slightly sunken in, and strange footprints were stamped all over it.
The prints ranged from small to large.
Marks that looked like something had been passing through here over and over again.
"An animal trail?"
Paths frequently used by large animals were often hollowed out like this.
And
animals gathered where there was water.
I followed the trail and started walking again.
The slope gradually grew steeper.
The ground was slippery too.
Squelch.
Mud clung to the bottoms of my shoes.
Then, at that very moment,
Drip.
A cold droplet of water fell onto the back of my hand.
"...?"
I slowly lifted my head.
From a crack in the rock, a single thread-thin stream of water was trickling down.
@
[Our gallery queen turned into a mud monster]
Posted by: (118.02)
(A gif of Reels caked all over in mud)
No, seriously, she went full castaway lol
ㄴnong lmao
ㄴWith the lizard too, she really looks like some tribe member
ㄴShouldn't they smear mud on Baby too?
ㄴLizards are good at regulating their own body temperature
ㄴLook at Yerin's expression, it's gone completely rotten lol
ㄴWhy bother with sunscreen? Just slap on some mud~
[Yerin really burned 5 million on sunscreen lol]
Posted by: (223.17)
5 million for one bottle of sunscreen, seriously?
Streamers seriously have zero sense of money
How are you even supposed to buy that at that price?;;
ㄴAdd the water and it's 6 million lol
ㄴI'd rather save that money and buy a tent
ㄴBut from a girl-streamer's point of view, skin is everything, so she can't really help it
ㄴIf she gets badly tanned out there, it'll definitely hurt even after she goes back to streaming
ㄴfr
ㄴJust learn from Reels and put on some mud
ㄴIsn't she just in forced budget mode because her balance is 0 won?
ㄴThey told her to put on sunscreen and she refused lol
[The Nongnong Squad bums are watching for free again lol]
Posted by: GirlCamLover
Can't even buy Reels a bottle of water
and you're really making her smear mud on her skin? lol
I'm seriously tearing up because I feel so bad for her
ㄴYeah, and your girl-streamer's 5 million just vanished~ *burp*
ㄴA 5-million-won sunscreen really is legendary
ㄴThe Nongnong Squad is too broke to donate anyway
ㄴFreeloader eyeballs ㄷㄷ
ㄴBut seriously, Reels really isn't getting any donations
ㄴThe item prices are too expensive, so nobody can bring themselves to send anything
ㄴI was going to chip in 50,000 won too, but I gave up
[But Reels seems insanely sharp]
Posted by: (175.61)
She saw the mud and immediately figured there had to be water nearby
ㄴThere's a reason she's a survival-game veteran
Honestly, I thought she'd be the first one out within a day
I feel like she might last surprisingly long
She probably won't win, though
ㄴSo there was a reason she kept circling the rocky mountain
ㄴHer seeing the sunken ground and instantly clocking it as an animal trail gave me chills
ㄴBut why was she touching poop with her bare hands...
ㄴSurvival instincts MAX
ㄴSocial skills: nonexistent
ㄴYerin's starting to lose it
ㄴShe said she'd follow her forever if she ran off alone, total yandere
ㄴReels's replies are so soulless it's pissing me off lol
Streamer Gallery.
It had already been on fire over the whole deserted-island thing,
but now it was practically nothing but talk about Reels.
The gif of her crying while getting a shot.
The gif of her walking around with a lizard in her arms.
The gif of her touching droppings.
The gif of her smearing mud on herself.
Every time a hit post about Reels went up, the view count shot up like crazy.
And before long,
Reels's share of the gallery, which had made up 30 percent,
started pushing past 50 percent.
YouTube comments.
Live chat.
Even the reactions on other communities.
Everywhere, it was nothing but talk about Reels.
And there was one man quietly watching it all.
Community nickname.
nongnongnongnongnong.
Silently, he opened the donation window.
And then
he typed a number into the amount field.
【10,000,000 won】
A full 10 million won.
The man smirked.
"Don't you ever disrespect the Nongnong Squad again."
Click.
He hit the donate button without hesitation.