Chapter 18
Since discovering the stream, our life had become much more comfortable.
"We should move our base over here."
The stream was right beside us.
There was a tree bearing wild raspberries just a short walk away, and dry branches were easy to find nearby.
Best of all, if we climbed a little higher, there was a high spot with a clear view.
"We can send a distress signal from up there, too."
Choi Yu-ri nodded.
We gathered a few belongings and moved our base near the stream.
On the high ground, we arranged large branches to spell out SOS.
In case a helicopter happened to pass by.
We hoped it would catch someone's eye, even if only a little.
“Well, now..."
I looked at the stream.
The clear water glittered in the sunlight.
"Want to wash up?"
...
There was no answer.
We felt grimy, so we really ought to wash.
"...Want to go first?"
...!
Choi Yu-ri's face turned bright red in an instant.
"...Boss."
"Yeah?"
"Seriously..."
She stuck out her lower lip.
"...Are you doing this on purpose?"
Thump, thump.
Her small fists pounded my arm.
“Hey, hey, that hurts."
Choi Yu-ri stopped swinging at me and covered her face with both hands.
The tips of her ears were noticeably red.
"You can't just say things like that so casually—."
"No, I was just being considerate and offering to let you wash first."
I looked at her with a genuinely puzzled expression.
“Then should I go first?"
"You can't just say things like that so casually—."
Choi Yu-ri stared at me without a word.
At last, she let out a deep sigh and muttered,
"...Idiot."
"...?"
"It's nothing!"
Choi Yu-ri hurried toward the stream, her face red.
I watched her retreating figure and chuckled softly.
'It's hard pretending not to know.'
I wasn't an idiot.
I knew why Choi Yu-ri was reacting that way.
I had that much sense, at least.
But teasing her for no reason,
or bringing up sensitive topics, would only make things awkward between us when we still had to live together.
'If this keeps up, I'll be in trouble, too.'
We were in a remote part of the mountains, with no one around to see us.
And there was the young, beautiful Choi Yu-ri.
Meanwhile, Kang Tae-seong's body was still overflowing with desire, as if he were in his prime.
Choi Yu-ri didn't know it, but I was holding myself back in more ways than one.
'Hold it in. Just hold it in...'
Pretending not to know was the easiest thing for both of us.
*
Choi Yu-ri hesitated before speaking.
"B-Boss."
"Yeah?"
"...You can't peek."
I answered with a soft chuckle.
"I won't."
I thought for a moment, then added,
"Should I go way over there? Then you can wash in peace."
"No!"
Choi Yu-ri hurriedly shook her head.
"Why?"
"...I'm scared."
Her voice grew quieter and quieter.
"...But you can't stand too close... and you can't go too far away, either..."
"You have a lot of conditions."
"S-Sorry..."
I couldn't help laughing.
She was troublesome and a handful, but somehow I didn't mind.
"All right. I can stay here, right?"
We kept a reasonable distance from each other, with the stream between us.
I sat on a nearby rock with my back turned.
A little while later.
Splash, splash.
I could hear the gentle sound of her splashing in the water.
The sound of her cupping water in her hands.
The sound of her brushing her hair back.
"Brr... It's cold..."
Even the faint tremor in her voice.
I cleared my throat for no reason.
'This feels like a test of my patience.'
When I heard what sounded like her rubbing her skin, I tried my hardest not to picture Choi Yu-ri.
Time passed more slowly than I'd expected.
And so the grueling wait went on.
"Boss."
Choi Yu-ri's voice came from behind me.
"I'm done washing. I'll get dressed in a minute, so just wait."
"...Take your time."
I meant, you don't have to narrate every little thing.
I let out a quiet sigh to myself.
Rustle.
I heard her adjusting her clothes.
"You can... turn around now."
Only then did I turn around.
Choi Yu-ri was awkwardly smiling as she shook out her wet hair with her hands instead of a towel.
"It's your turn now, Boss."
"...All right."
I smiled and headed toward the stream.
*
Choi Yu-ri had never actually dated anyone.
Whenever she told people, "Actually, I've never had a boyfriend," every single one of them was surprised.
Just looking at her, you'd assume she'd dated plenty.
In middle school, too. And high school.
Even after she became an adult and went to college.
Confessions had never stopped coming.
But Choi Yu-ri herself had never been in a relationship even once.
The reason was simple.
'There just aren't any guys I like!'
She had slightly unusual taste.
Handsome men.
Intelligent men.
Kind men.
For some reason, she just wasn't attracted to the kind of men most women liked.
'Someone bear-like.'
That had been Choi Yu-ri's ideal type for as long as she could remember.
The type she'd mentioned on the bus had been the absolute truth, with no exaggeration.
Choi Yu-ri's hobby was watching documentaries.
There was one in particular that had left a lasting impression.
<King of the Mountain: The Bear>
It was a documentary about the lives of bears in the mountains.
-Bears exert overwhelming influence within their own territory in the mountains.
-Whoa....
Their huge frames.
Their fierce vitality.
They could be fiercer than anyone when necessary, yet quietly guard their territory the rest of the time.
As a child, Choi Yu-ri had watched with shining eyes.
And now, as an adult,
Choi Yu-ri was looking at the man before her.
The man before her, who was strangely bear-like.
"Let's use this as our base camp."
Kang Tae-seong said as he looked around.
"There's high ground just a little way up, so it'd be good for sending a distress signal. And if we use the stream as a landmark, we're less likely to get lost."
Kang Tae-seong's judgment was perfectly rational.
He handled the mountain like it was his own home, as if he'd been stranded before.
They made the newly discovered stream their base and gradually expanded the area they could explore.
'...What is this?'
Choi Yu-ri gazed blankly at Kang Tae-seong's back.
There was something strangely familiar about the sight.
No, more precisely—
It looked like something she'd seen somewhere before.
'A bear...?'
The bear documentary she'd watched as a child.
At the thought that suddenly came to mind, Choi Yu-ri vigorously shook her head.
'Come on.'
How could a person be anything like a bear?
It was such a rude thought.
But suspicious evidence kept piling up right before Choi Yu-ri's eyes.
…
"These berries are safe to eat, too."
Kang Tae-seong said as he picked some small berries from a tree.
"They aren't poisonous, and the taste... they're decent enough to eat."
"Mmm! They're sweeter than I expected!"
"Don't eat too many."
That wasn't all.
As they were walking around the stream, a huge black shape emerged from the bushes.
...!
A low-slung body.
A thick neck.
Muscles showing beneath its coarse fur.
It was a wild boar.
The moment she saw it, her breath caught in her throat.
The way it snorted and rooted around in the dirt was intimidating all by itself.
'...It's that big?'
The wild boar was much larger than she'd expected.
It was on a completely different scale from the ones she'd seen in photos or videos.
Her legs went stiff.
She had to run.
Her mind screamed at her to, but her body wouldn't move an inch.
Then it happened.
"Stay behind me for a moment."
With those brief words, Kang Tae-seong naturally stepped in front of her.
His broad back filled her field of vision.
Instinctively, she hid behind him.
...
Kang Tae-seong stared silently at the wild boar.
He remained still for a long while, continuing the standoff with the boar.
She had no idea what exactly he was doing.
Did Boss have his own way of dealing with wild boars?
He was simply standing there, meeting its gaze.
...
How much time passed like that?
Snort.
The wild boar, which had been breathing heavily, stopped moving.
Squeal—
The boar turned its head.
With its back to them, it disappeared into the forest.
"...It's gone."
Kang Tae-seong muttered as if nothing had happened.
But it looked completely different to Choi Yu-ri.
'Boss beat the wild boar...!'
It was just like watching a giant bear silently drive away an intruder that had entered its territory.
He hadn't growled, thrown rocks, or done anything else threatening.
He'd merely taken a step forward, as if showing it who ruled the mountain.
The boar, overwhelmed by his presence, seemed to have turned around and backed off on its own.
That was how it looked to Choi Yu-ri.
'...That's so cool.'
The thought came to her unconsciously.
…
He could identify edible berries at a glance and drive away a wild boar.
After one strange situation after another, Choi Yu-ri couldn't help asking.
"Boss."
"Yeah?"
"What are you, really?"
Kang Tae-seong tilted his head.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean..."
Choi Yu-ri was genuinely curious.
"You haven't actually lived in the mountains for years, have you?"
Were you some kind of mountain hermit?
Kang Tae-seong gave an awkward smile.
"No, not that."
"Then how do you know how to do all this?"
"I just grew up in the countryside."
...
Choi Yu-ri narrowed her eyes.
He grew up in the countryside?
Choi Yu-ri wasn't an idiot.
'Still, this is weird.'
What chaebol group CEO in the world could act like this?
He could grill meat, was physically capable, and displayed all these survival skills in the mountains.
Even if he grew up in the countryside, this was still strange.
Feeling Choi Yu-ri's gaze, Kang Tae-seong broke into a cold sweat inside.
'It's all thanks to the system.'
Finding drinking water, navigating the mountain trails with ease, and identifying edible berries were all thanks to Eye of the Observer.
Driving away the wild boar was thanks to Villain's Charisma.
In other words, everything Choi Yu-ri found suspicious was the work of his system abilities.
Kang Tae-seong sighed inwardly.
It wasn't as if Tae-seong himself had those abilities, of course.
'It's not like I'm some survival expert.'
But that didn't mean he could tell her the truth about all of this.
He couldn't exactly say, I have something called NTR points, and I bought skills with them.
"I just got lucky."
"Hmm..."
Choi Yu-ri looked at Kang Tae-seong suspiciously, then eventually looked away.
'Well...'
It's better not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
That wasn't what mattered right now.
Somehow, thanks to the incredibly capable Kang Tae-seong,
the two of them had settled into life in the mountains so well that it was hard to believe they were stranded.
"There are fish in here."
Kang Tae-seong's voice came from the stream.
Choi Yu-ri watched him from a little distance away.
"Are you going to catch them? But we don't even have a fishing rod..."
If nothing else, they could have scooped them up if they had a net.
But they had neither a rod nor a net.
Even so, Kang Tae-seong looked around as if he had a way.
"Ah, here it is."
Tae-seong said that and casually walked up to a boulder.
Crack.
......
Choi Yu-ri's eyes widened.
Kang Tae-seong lifted a huge boulder.
A massive rock that had been embedded in the ground.
"W-Wait a second, Boss—"
Don't tell me...
Thud.
The boulder Kang Tae-seong hurled hit another rock jutting out of the water.
A loud sound echoed through the valley.
A moment later, something floated up to the surface.
Fish.
One or two appeared, then so many fish floated to the surface that she lost count.
They'd all been knocked out.
...
Choi Yu-ri was speechless.
Kang Tae-seong calmly scooped up the fish.
"There we go."
He looked so natural doing it
that it was all the more absurd.
"Um..."
Choi Yu-ri cautiously opened her mouth.
"That... that's such a brute-force method..."
Kang Tae-seong paused at her words.
"...Brute force?"
Choi Yu-ri hurriedly waved both hands.
"No, I don't mean it as an insult! It's a compliment! A compliment."
"A compliment?"
"Yes. Really."
Choi Yu-ri looked back and forth between the floating fish and Kang Tae-seong.
A scene from the documentary she'd seen long ago overlapped in her mind.
<King of the Mountain: The Bear>
Deep in the mountains.
A huge bear was walking along a riverbank.
The fish in the water sensed the danger instinctively.
-To fish, bears are among the most dangerous predators.
The bear on the screen casually waded into the water.
The fish swam desperately to escape, but there was no point in running from the ruler of the mountains.
....
Returning to reality, Choi Yu-ri looked at Kang Tae-seong before her once more.
A man who roamed the mountains like his own home and found food right away.
He secured water and drove away a wild boar.
He even caught fish in one go.
...
Somehow, they were too alike.
Of course, it was a ridiculous thought, but...
'Still, he does resemble one.'
A huge frame. Brute strength to match. And an uncanny vitality beyond compare.
And...
‘He's as oblivious as a bear, too.’
Even that clueless look he'd had when he casually asked if she wanted to wash first by the stream.
He was a bear through and through.
Having sorted out her thoughts, Choi Yu-ri muttered softly.
"Just as I thought..."
Kang Tae-seong looked up.
"Hmm?"
Choi Yu-ri hurriedly shut her mouth.
Then she let out a small sigh.
"...It's nothing."
But inwardly, she had to admit it.
‘Boss must have been a bear in his previous life.’
Kang Tae-seong really was a bear-like man.