Chapter 17
Morning of the second day stranded.
Fortunately, they’d avoided the worst.
"Yaaawn…"
Perhaps thanks to warming herself by the campfire all night, Yu-ri was in much better shape than the day before.
Of course, she was still tired and hungry.
But at least the fogginess in her head and the trembling in her body had mostly gone away.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. Much better than yesterday."
Tae-seong nodded.
"Then let's look around a little today."
Waiting for rescue was important, but they couldn't stay in the cave without knowing anything about their surroundings.
Whether there was a path people used nearby.
Which way the water flowed.
Whether there was a place where they could send a distress signal.
There were countless other things to check, too.
The weather couldn't have been sunnier, but they couldn't let their guard down.
They had to get moving before it rained again.
"Hup."
Yu-ri picked up the clothes they'd hung near the campfire.
Fortunately, the heat from the fire had dried them thoroughly overnight.
It was time to put the clothes back on.
Tae-seong's hiking clothes, with their roomy, loose sleeves.
It was time to return the clothes that had kept Yu-ri warm all night.
Yu-ri gazed at the hiking clothes for a moment.
Strangely, she felt a little reluctant to part with them now.
"Thank you, Boss. They kept me warm."
She held the clothes out carefully.
Tae-seong took them from her.
He began to look like himself again.
His upper body, fully exposed as he'd handed Yu-ri the clothes.
His firm, well-built shoulders and arms.
His broad back and sharply defined abs.
All of it disappeared beneath the hiking clothes.
"Ah..."
Yu-ri found herself staring at him.
Yesterday, she'd been distracted by all sorts of things.
She'd been freezing and panicked by the fact that they'd been stranded.
But now it was different.
Once she'd calmed down a little, she couldn't help noticing.
'He's really big...'
She'd never noticed before because she hadn't paid much attention.
Now she understood why people said Tae-seong had a good build.
She'd heard that he worked out regularly, but seeing him in person was different.
His body was much firmer and bigger than she'd expected.
'His clothes had been hiding it...'
Yu-ri couldn't take her eyes off his body for a long time.
Then—
"U-Um, Yu-ri?"
"..."
"Are you going to keep staring?"
"...!"
Yu-ri's eyes widened.
Only then did she realize how long she'd been staring at Tae-seong's body.
"N-No!"
She hurriedly looked away.
"It's not that..."
She couldn't finish her sentence, her face turning red.
Tae-seong awkwardly looked away, too.
"Well, I mean..."
He cleared his throat, seeming a little embarrassed, too.
"You kept looking."
"I'm sorry."
Yu-ri said quietly.
"I just... You were..."
She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought.
No matter what she said, the fact that it was incredibly embarrassing wouldn't change.
Tae-seong calmly nodded.
"At least working out paid off."
His composure only made Yu-ri feel more embarrassed.
Yu-ri grumbled softly.
"...You're not bothered at all, are you, Boss?"
"By what?"
"...Forget it!"
She'd even worked up the courage to call him oppa, and—
He didn't seem to be thinking about what had happened last night at all.
Still, Tae-seong had started speaking casually, so it wasn't as if she'd gotten nothing out of it...
But she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
'...Am I the only one thinking about it?'
A strange flutter stirred in her chest.
Yu-ri pouted.
She knew Tae-seong hadn't meant anything by it.
But the way he was acting so unaffected, as if she were the only one dwelling on what had happened yesterday, was a blow to her pride in more ways than one.
'...Tch.'
If he'd looked even a little flustered or awkward, she could have laughed it off, too.
But since he was acting just as usual, she felt like she was the only fool here.
'Hmph.'
She simply felt wronged.
Why was she the only one who had to be so conscious of him?
Yu-ri's eyes shifted slightly.
'I'll get you back for this, Boss.'
Every time Tae-seong looked at her, he'd avert his eyes for no reason.
Even when he tried to act as usual, he'd get a little awkward.
He'd find himself thinking about her without realizing it.
That much shouldn't be too hard to pull off.
It was the moment Yu-ri settled on her new goal.
*
"Hmm."
What should I do now?
I'd never been stranded in the mountains before.
Of course I hadn't.
How often would an ordinary modern person get lost in the mountains?
My phone was useless.
No GPS, no internet.
It was one of those moments when I really missed the map app I used whenever I went somewhere unfamiliar.
The conveniences of civilization I'd always taken for granted were no help here at all.
"...Boss."
Behind me, Yu-ri was looking only at me.
"Sigh..."
As her boss and her senior.
Above all, as a man.
A strange sense of responsibility weighed on my shoulders.
'I have to do something.'
My first priority was to survive in these mountains with the frail, delicate Yu-ri.
I knew almost nothing about the mountains myself,
but I knew one thing for certain: we had to get moving.
After all, if we just stayed here, we'd starve to death.
'For now, let's head back toward where I gathered branches yesterday.'
I had to find some kind of clue.
I was just about to take a step forward when—
【Eye of the Observer activates.】
"...?"
For an instant, the view before me shimmered slightly.
It was as if everything had gone blurry through a lens that didn't fit,
then snapped back into sharp focus.
And gradually, I began to see.
"...!"
A broken twig.
Flattened grass.
Animal tracks, worn into the ground by repeated passage.
Moisture drifting up from the ravine.
All the information came together in my mind.
They were traces an ordinary person would have simply passed by.
The signs of the mountain, things only seasoned outdoorsmen could recognize, came to me naturally.
'I couldn't see any of this yesterday...'
Last night, after Yu-ri had fallen asleep,
I'd scouted the area in case there was anything that might help us.
I'd bought a skill called 'Eye of the Observer,' thinking it would be useful for scouting.
But yesterday, I hadn't seen anything at all.
The rain had been pouring down like crazy, and everything around us was pitch-black.
It was so dark I could barely make out anything a few meters in front of me.
All I could see in those conditions were trees and rocks.
But now it was different.
Information the mountain hadn't shown me before
began to appear before my eyes, as if it had been there all along.
Had the conditions just been too harsh yesterday?
"..."
I slowly looked around, following the skill's guidance.
And then I was sure.
'That way.'
The mountain was showing me the way.
I moved forward as if entranced.
"B-Boss! Wait for me!"
Yu-ri hurried after me.
A little while later.
"...There."
A tree came into view.
Plump red berries hung from every branch.
"B-Berries!"
Yu-ri's eyes sparkled.
She stared at the berries with her mouth hanging open, as if she might start drooling at any moment.
She must have been really hungry.
She'd used up all her energy keeping warm last night,
and hadn't eaten anything proper from morning until now.
"...But."
Yu-ri swallowed and asked cautiously,
"Are they safe to eat?"
"Good question."
I was wondering the same thing.
If they turned out to be poisonous, that could be even worse than going hungry.
'Wait.'
Could I use the skill for this, too?
The Eye of the Observer had guided me this far.
I quietly used the skill while looking at the berries.
A translucent window appeared at once.
【Wild raspberries (edible)】
【Safe to eat】
【Harmless to humans.】
"...Wild raspberries. They're edible."
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Really?!"
Yu-ri's face lit up in an instant.
She looked ready to pounce on them at any moment.
"Still, just in case."
I reached out and picked a wild raspberry.
"I'll try one first."
Crunch.
The tiny berries popped, and sweet, tart juice spread through my mouth.
'Oh.'
So this was what wild raspberries tasted like.
Hunger really was the best seasoning.
Since I was hungry, even the unfamiliar taste seemed pretty good.
I waited a little to see if anything happened, but I felt fine.
"They're fine."
I handed the remaining wild raspberries to Yu-ri.
"You can eat them."
"...!"
Yu-ri's eyes sparkled.
"Thank you!"
As if she'd been waiting for me to say so, she picked up a raspberry and popped it into her mouth.
Crunch.
One, two, three, four….
Wow, she could really put them away.
She must have been really hungry.
Yu-ri was stuffing her cheeks like a hamster, greedily popping wild raspberries into her mouth.
"Mmm, haa..."
And yet, she didn't seem the least bit ravenous.
If anything...
'Cute.'
Maybe it was because she was so pretty to begin with.
Even looking like a total mess, she just seemed cute.
How many minutes passed like that?
"...Ah."
Only after she'd polished off all the wild raspberries did Yu-ri look down at her hands.
Her palms were stained red with berry juice.
Realizing what she'd done, her face turned red, too.
"B-Boss... I'm sorry! I ate all of them by myself—"
She bowed her head, not knowing what to do.
I couldn't help smiling at how cute she looked.
"It's okay."
I'd expected her to be hungry in the first place.
If anything, something else was on my mind now.
【Eye of the Observer】
I kept the skill active and looked around.
The direction the leaves were swaying.
The chill mixed into the air.
The faint sound of running water.
"..."
'There.'
"Yu-ri."
"Yes?"
"I think there's water nearby."
"Really?"
Yu-ri's eyes widened for a different reason this time.
She looked even happier than when she'd found the raspberries.
It was only natural.
'Water is a major priority.'
Food was important, but in a survival situation, the most important thing was ultimately drinking water.
People could go without food for days, but without water, their limits came quickly.
There was also the matter of washing up.
Since we'd been rained on and rolled around in the dirt, we both looked like a mess.
If we could at least wash our hands or faces, we could live a little more like human beings.
Water was the most important resource for survival in our situation.
"Let's go."
I slowly headed in the direction indicated by the Eye of the Observer.
*
Whoosh...
As we pushed through the trees, a clear stream came into view.
"W-Water!"
Yu-ri let out a cheer when she spotted the stream.
The water sparkled in the sunlight and looked clean at a glance.
It looked clean enough to drink right away.
Still, just in case, I used the skill one more time.
【Stream water】
【Safe to drink】
【Harmless to humans.】
"...We did it."
Without realizing it, I clenched my fist.
We'd secured drinking water.
We'd overcome one of the biggest hurdles to survival.
But there was something even more surprising than finding water.
'This skill... it's way more broken than I expected.'
It's like having a guide right beside me.
The system's skills were far more extraordinary than I'd expected.