Chapter 8
At that, Aegittongpul spat out the nail he’d been biting and looked at me.
With his eyes alone, he was throwing every kind of insult imaginable.
“Tsk. How dare you look at your noona like that, Aegittongpul.”
“Aegittong… haah.”
He stopped mid-word and lowered his head with a sigh.
If I were to think he was moved by hearing his nickname, that sigh was way too full of irritation.
I hurried to placate him.
“I actually forgot your real name. Tell me again.”
“…McClain.”
Right, McClain.
“Can I call you Mac?”
Didn’t Beolgeosungi say his name was Benjamin or Bentley and tell me to just use the first part? I thought maybe this one would allow it too.
But he shut down my scheme in one stroke.
“My name is not something a lowly creature like you can casually shorten.”
“Ah, yes.”
I answered sarcastically. After that, there was nothing more to say.
We sat there in silence for a long while, staring at the sea at the very end of dawn.
The dark blue sky was growing lighter.
The sea breeze was cool, the sound of the waves rising, the forest leaves rubbing together—it all felt nice.
If some guy hadn’t been taking up half my field of vision, I could’ve filmed an emotional vlog.
But he kept fidgeting with his hands, drawing my eyes there, and it was ruining not just the mood but my sanity.
I was about to tell him to keep his damn hands still—
Then I saw what he was touching: the cut from yesterday.
I closed my mouth.
Feeling oddly guilty, I dredged up some kindness that didn’t even exist and asked,
“Is your hand okay?”
It was fine. There was already a scab.
If he didn’t keep picking at it like that, he could brag tomorrow that it had healed.
But he seemed to think differently.
Without answering, he bit down hard on his lower lip and avoided my gaze.
Seeing that made something ache inside.
…Tsk. Getting hurt with no mom around must’ve felt pretty miserable.
Feeling sorry for him, I raised my hand and patted his shoulder.
He glared and growled like he was about to bite me for it, but my hand was just a fistful to him, so I ignored him and kept going.
“It’s a good thing it wasn’t serious.”
Normally I would’ve teased him about making a fuss over something so small, but this wasn’t the time.
Why else would he be sitting there spacing out at dawn instead of sleeping?
Getting swept to some unknown place was confusing enough, and with pride as big as his, he couldn’t even show it—then he got hurt on top of that.
And it wasn’t even his fault. He got hurt while working after being beaten up by some lunatic.
That lunatic didn’t even give him worker’s comp—just threw mugwort at him to shut him up.
Tsk. He must’ve been sitting there writing a novel in his head about escaping the deserted island while lamenting his fate for getting stuck with such a terrible employer.
I know. I know everything, you little punk.
I kept patting his back until he finally calmed down.
And maybe my plan worked, because the raised corners of his eyes—glowering like a puffed-up cat—slowly settled down.
The sun was peeking up from the east.
Time to start the day.
When I stood up, his gaze followed me.
“McCl—”
McClain. Was that right? I repeated his name in my head just in case I got it wrong and was about to call him again when—
“Just call me whatever’s convenient.”
I blinked in surprise at his sudden generosity.
Earlier he was all “a lowly creature like you,” and now this?
“Then can I call you Aegittongpul? It’s already stuck in my mouth.”
“Didn’t I say call me whatever you want? Don’t make me repeat myself.”
He said it indifferently and brushed himself off as he stood.
Watching him, I giggled quietly.
I said to his back as he walked ahead of me,
“I’m going to wash up. Wanna come?”
After a moment, he nodded.
“Sure.”
Unlike us, who had woken up early and been chattering away, the Barbarella-man of this area was still traveling through dreamland.
So only Aegittongpul and I went to the stream.
We drank some of the water we’d cooled overnight and headed into the forest.
But from the edge of the forest, Aegittongpul started fidgeting, and once he stepped inside, his face turned white, like someone had set up a reflector board in front of him.
Since the sun wasn’t fully up yet, the forest was dark enough that I even had the stupid thought that I could use his face as a light.
As his steps crept closer behind me—
“Wait.”
I raised my hand to signal him to stop.
I heard him suck in a sharp breath, tense. But I had to stop him.
Because—
“Your shoelace is untied~”
There’s no prank more fun than scaring cowards.
Just as expected, the sigh of relief Aegittongpul let out turned into angry panting.
But that was it.
Not wanting to show he’d been scared, he didn’t even snap at me and just kept following.
After a few more steps—
“Huh!”
This time, I pointed into the middle of the forest.
Aegittongpul jumped and stared where I pointed.
I said in a grave voice,
“Isn’t that… a tree?”
Yes. Where I was pointing, dozens of trees were standing.
After falling for my trick twice, he finally snapped.
“Can’t we just go normally?”
I could practically hear his teeth grinding.
Of course, that kind of threat meant nothing to someone drunk on mischief.
“This is going normally.”
“Ha…”
At my taunting, he let out a sigh like he was suppressing the urge to murder.
At that point, I felt like I should shut up.
For twelve years of school, I’d lived for the joy of teasing friends, getting smacked on the back for it.
That instinct was now screaming at me to shut up if I wanted to stay alive.
So after that, I behaved myself and led Aegittongpul properly to the stream.
When we arrived, his face brightened noticeably.
It was the first time I’d seen that expression since we got here.
He sat by the water and cautiously tested the temperature with his fingertips, like a cat dipping its paw.
Compared to the Barbarella-man who jumped straight in no matter what, and me, who dunked my face in to wash up, his behavior naturally drew my attention.
In the golden morning sunlight, a fairy-like pretty boy scooping water with his hands and neatly washing his face—
It was practically a painting.
Compared to him, I…
My reflection in the water looked like some beast that had come down to tear meat and drink.
Damn it.
I stirred the water.
I was born with a curse that bound me to roughness forever.
Being gentle was never an option.
I splashed water on my face and scrubbed my features hard.
Just like at home, water went flying everywhere.
Feeling someone’s gaze, I turned my head and saw Aegittongpul staring at me.
It was the look of a herbivore seeing a carnivore—full of shock, caution, and contempt.
I returned the favor by blowing my nose too.
He shuddered and looked away.
While I waited for him to finish fixing his hair, a frog croaked somewhere.
At first it was faint, but gradually it grew louder.
Without realizing it, I swallowed.
Honestly, I didn’t want bananas again today. I’d rather chew cud like a cow.
I turned my head slightly toward the sound.
At that moment, my eyes met a frog hiding in the grass.
Maybe it saw the madness of hunger in my eyes.
The green body leapt up.
But I was faster.
I grabbed the frog’s thin leg mid-jump.
As I clenched its squishy body, its shrill cries rang painfully loud.
Hearing that, Aegittongpul came over and stared wide-eyed at the frog in my hand.
“Why did you catch that?”
Since it was an obvious question, I gave an obvious answer.
“To eat it.”
His face filled with horror.
He looked back and forth between me and the frog like I’d just said I was going to eat him.
“You’re saying you’re going to eat that hideous thing?”
“What? Hideous? You must be full already.”
“No matter how hungry you are, how could you eat something like that—”
“This brat is looking down on frogs. If you grill them well, they taste like chicken.”
Heh heh.
Grinning stupidly at the thought of chicken-flavored meat, I went hunting for the next target.
I shoved aside the guy standing there with his mouth hanging open and searched the forest behind him.
Oh, another one.
I needed a few more.
Judging by how much the Barbarella-man ate, one wouldn’t be enough.
After searching the area, I caught four frogs.
Holding two in each hand, I walked back, while Aegittongpul looked like he’d just swallowed all four raw.
And his jumpiness—don’t even get me started.
He suddenly screamed, so I turned around, and it was just a vine brushing his shoulder, but he reacted like a ghost had tried to rip him apart.
In the end, seeing him slow to a turtle’s pace from all the fear, I asked,
“Want a piggyback?”
Of course, he looked at me like I was insane.
I didn’t even have to hear his answer to know what he was thinking.
I’d rather ride on a ghost’s back than yours.
Refusing my back and walking out of the forest on his own, Aegittongpul was already exhausted before the day even started.
The bright face I’d seen at the stream felt like ancient history—there was no life left in him.
I handed him some water and headed back to the Barbarella-man’s place.
Barbarella-man was still stuck in dreamland.
I kicked the pillar of his shelter.
“Hey. Wake up.”
“Uuugh…”
That zombie sound—just when I forget it, it comes back.
“Wake up. It’s morning, you bastard.”
“Hungry…”
Look at that. After stuffing himself before bed, the first thing he says is that he’s hungry.
“Fine. I’ll feed you, so get up.”
The moment I said that, the crude bed shook.
Soon, the owner of the shelter crawled out in his trench coat, eyes barely open, looking around.
Meanwhile, I brought over a log, put the frogs on it, and started prepping them.
First, I cut off their heads, removed the guts, and skewered the bodies on wooden sticks.
Unlike Aegittongpul, who couldn’t bear to look and turned away, Ben’s eyes lit up when he saw the frog skewers.
And without being told, he started preparing the barbecue.
Thanks to that, we were able to grill them right away and move up breakfast.
He sat reverently in front of the fire, watching the frogs burn and swallowing his saliva.
When they were cooked, he lifted a skewer with a proud face and held it out to me.
I thanked him without thinking and took it, tasting the half-burned frog meat.
I’d told Aegittongpul it tasted like chicken, but honestly, it was my first time eating frog too.
It didn’t really taste like that. It was just… okay.
But who eats for taste? We eat to survive.
However, one guy looked like he had no intention of surviving at all.
