Chapter 2
I narrowed my eyes against the piercingly bright sunlight. In the distance, I could see terrain that had been carved away by erosion.
The eroded land stretched inward from the coast.
In other words, this place was a river mouth. And if I followed it upstream, I would find fresh water.
They say that even when the sky falls, there’s still a way out.
Once I calmed myself and started acting rationally, paths began to reveal themselves one by one.
Encouraged by hope, I headed upstream along the sediment layer of the riverbank.
If I couldn’t find any people even where fresh water flowed, then I’d have to go into the forest to look for food.
If there were no people near such an essential survival resource, then finding people at all would be hopeless.
Praying that I would meet anyone at all, I hurried forward.
The higher I went, the deeper the valley became. The forest shade cast over the valley also grew darker.
Because of my nervousness, even the sound of a bird suddenly taking off made my heart sink.
I scanned my surroundings for anything edible, but I couldn’t find any fruits I recognized as safe.
Well, even if there were, they’d probably be inside the forest. This was the river mouth, connected to the sea, and the soil nearby must be salty.
I postponed food for now and focused on moving upstream.
As the river narrowed, exposed bedrock began to appear. The sound of rushing water scraping against stone rang in my ears.
Afraid of slipping on wet rocks, I crawled over them on all fours like an animal.
Before long, fish stopped jumping out of the water, and even the frogs that glared at me with bulging eyes after being stepped on were nowhere to be seen.
The deep water of the gorge had become shallow enough that the rocky bottom was clearly visible beneath the stream.
Once I could judge its depth, I went down into the valley and immersed myself in the water without hesitation.
“Damn, this feels like heaven…”
The cool temperature of the water gradually soothed my stinging skin.
Part of me wanted to calm my burning throat with this clean water too, but I didn’t.
Salamander eggs—supposedly found only in pristine water—seemed to tempt me like a snake, whispering that it was safe to drink, but unlike my soft-hearted ancestor Eve, I steeled myself.
Even clean water still needs purification.
Better to wander the forest and get one-shot killed by a beast than to drink recklessly, get sick, suffer, and die.
Yeah. One-shot kill.
I looked toward the forest I would soon have to enter and steadied my breathing.
I gave up on finding people. Just as expected, there were no signs of human presence here.
In short, my life was something I had to save myself.
With resolve, I came out of the water and wrung the moisture from my clothes.
Then I climbed up the slope of the valley and immediately pushed forward, parting the bushes with my arms.
Everything happened in an instant. If I hesitated even a little, I felt like I’d turn and run in disgrace.
Actually, I had grown up in the countryside, with mountains behind me, a river in front, and the sea visible if I raised my head—so I wasn’t unfamiliar with the wild.
So this time too, I tried to accept the situation calmly.
Getting excited would only dull my senses to what was around me.
I stepped carefully, trying not to make loud noises. I had no intention of becoming a morning alarm for whatever was sleeping nearby.
I carefully climbed over a tree covered in green moss. The line of ants marching through a crack in the bark paused.
Up to that point, I could still find it kind of cute.
But the unexpected problem was that this forest truly hosted a wide variety of creatures.
When I saw an unidentified bug crawling slowly across a leaf, I nearly jabbed my eyes out with my index and middle fingers.
After spotting several many-legged creatures, I found myself clenching my teeth without realizing it.
My molars felt like they might sink back into my gums.
And it wasn’t just my sight that was assaulted.
In the forests near my hometown, the air always smelled fresh with phytoncide, but this place was different.
The thick green stench, like the slime of half-ripe plants, felt more clammy than refreshing.
Every time I stepped on the squishy moss, it felt like I was entering a swamp I could never return from.
Even so, since I had come in, I couldn’t turn back. I tried hard to shake off the uneasiness and brushed aside the vines hanging down from branches.
Wild plants brushed against my pant legs, and umbrella-sized leaves loomed overhead.
They were banana leaves. In the sea of green, their bright yellow skins immediately caught my eye.
See? The world doesn’t want me dead!
Planning to fill my stomach, I picked a few and put them into my backpack.
Afterward, I glanced around. There was no one I needed permission from, but I still felt strangely self-conscious.
Contrary to my worries, there were still no signs of animals.
No droppings, no clumps of fur, no footprints. Only birds chirping above, occasional cicadas, and the faint breathing of insects below.
Not seeing animals was definitely good news. But because of that, my neck relaxed—and my thoughts wandered.
Maybe I should’ve eaten something after all.
As the chance of being eaten went down, the chance of eating something else also went down, which felt a bit unfortunate.
I was thinking about the frog legs I had seen earlier when—
Crack.
The branch I stepped on snapped loudly.
“……”
All sound around me stopped.
My body froze. The only things moving were my heart, which had forgotten its place, and my eyeballs.
I couldn’t see anything with my eyes, yet it felt like every living thing in the forest had stopped and was staring at the intruder—me.
Standing awkwardly, I summoned God, Jesus, Buddha, and every deity I could think of.
But despite gathering all the busy gods for a grand religious coalition, nothing happened.
The forest began making sounds again, as if it had never stopped.
I should be grateful that the chance of being eaten had disappeared.
If there had been an animal, it would have lifted its head at that noise and rushed at me in delight.
I exhaled the breath I had been holding. Just as I lifted my head in relief, something crept down into my line of sight from above.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
Descending on a thread from above, it seemed to make eye contact with me and stopped right in front of my nose.
It was a spider with an abdomen the size of an adult man’s fist.
The moment I saw its eight legs moving freely, I lost my mind.
“AAAH!”
Where had my promise to stay quiet gone? I swatted it away with the banana in my hand and bolted forward like a lunatic.
The startled forest erupted. Birds flapped up into the air, and strange noises echoed from everywhere.
But I was too busy running with no mind left.
I sprinted at full speed toward the distant shoreline, past bamboo standing like prison bars.
Before long, the red soil disappeared beneath my feet, replaced by white sand.
Even after bursting out of the forest, I ran along the beach for quite a while.
The shudder from seeing that black body and thin legs wouldn’t fade.
Only after getting far away did I finally stop and catch my breath.
Ha… I ended up disobeying Bear Grylls’ teachings because I saw my most hated insect in giant size.
He said you have to conserve stamina in places like this.
Now I was completely drained. Dragging my melting body under the blazing sun, I turned around.
Shade—quick, I needed shade…
Huh?
I stopped mid-turn.
What’s that?
At about the eleven o’clock direction from where I stood, something that looked like a person was lying on the beach where the waves reached.
Because of the glare from the white sand, I squinted hard and looked again.
It wasn’t something that looked like a person.
It was an actual person!
It hadn’t been long since I regretted wasting my stamina, but overjoyed, I ran toward him.
It had to be my friend or his father!
But contrary to my hopes, it was a young man.
And as if the fish had robbed him of his clothes, the only thing covering his naked body was a piece of rag barely hiding his important parts.
I bent down and pressed on the man’s carotid artery.
I’d only ever tried this with friends after watching anime where the protagonist checked for life, so this was my first time doing it for real.
Thankfully, his pulse was beating.
“Hey.”
Holding the MacGyver knife, I called out to him. These days, you never know—sometimes the person you save demands your wallet too.
Worried he might suddenly attack, I tightened my grip on the knife.
Then I stepped back and nudged his arm with my foot.
“Are you okay?”
“Ugh…”
He groaned whenever I touched him.
Looks like he was coming to. A moment later, he spat out water and began coughing.
Seeing him regain consciousness, I held the knife upright.
But unlike my battle-ready self, he just rolled over and gasped for air after a few coughs.
He didn’t look like he had the energy to hurt anyone. Slightly relieved, I approached and asked,
“Hey, can you hear me?”
I asked loudly, just in case. His mouth opened and closed like a carp.
“Wa… wa…”
Depressed? All of a sudden?
“Mu… mul…”
Ah—no way.
“Water?”
Since he didn’t correct me, that must have been it.
Thinking I had to save him first, I opened my bag and took out a coconut.
His primitive-looking outfit was suspicious… but with those model-like long legs, maybe stone axes were the accessory trend for this year’s spring/summer.
Seriously, I’ll never understand city people’s fashion sense.
I sat down and poured coconut water into his mouth.
My precious coconut water flowed endlessly down his throat.
When the coconut ran dry, the pain twisted into his face eased a little.
Is he a foreigner? His features look really exotic.
Since it wasn’t a face you’d normally see around, I stared without realizing it—then flinched when I saw his eyelids twitch.
Oh, he’s about to open his eyes.
Before I could finish the thought, the eyes that had been blinking several times finally opened.
They were a light brown, like his hair.
Startled by the sudden eye contact, I still didn’t look away.
They say some lunatics attack if you avoid eye contact, right?
So if he was a lunatic, I’d become one too—I stared him down.
Perhaps intimidated by my glare, he closed his eyes again and muttered in a low voice.
“…Hun…”
What is he saying?
“I’m… hungry…”
Ah, hungry?
That made sense. If he’d been drifting for days, all he’d had was seawater—it’d be strange if he weren’t hungry.
But…
Wouldn’t a normal person, upon opening their eyes, first ask where they were, who this angelic stranger was, or thank them for saving their life?
I was quietly impressed by a man who looked for food before saying hello and opened my bag.
I took out a banana, peeled it, stuffed it into his open mouth—and stood up.
