229 – Zzhi #3
“Senior, I’m really relieved. If I hadn’t conveniently carried the Anti-Venom every time I went out, it would have been a huge problem…! If I had been just a little bit later, it would have been a disaster…!”
Modern medicine was truly amazing.
With just one shot, the problem that had been worrying me until now disappeared completely.
“Ari, thank you so much. Nice to meet you!”
Ari, who had just entered the dark cave, looked like a fairy or an angel descended from the heavens. I almost received some emergency treatment from Seo Ye-rim without knowing what was going on.
“You guys are okay too?”
Seo Ye-rim seemed pleased to see another survivor, blushing as she spoke to Yu Ara. I interrupted the conversation and said to Ari.
“Ari, Ye-rim was bitten by a snake too. I quickly sucked out the poison, but can you take a look?”
“I’ll take a look.”
Swish—.
Yu Ara examined the inside of Seo Ye-rim’s thigh. The red snake bite marks on her white thigh were illuminated by Lee Jin-A’s lantern.
A lantern, huh.
What a wonderful marvel of civilization.
“…You sucked it out? Are you sure? The snake venom that bit Seo Ye-rim?”
Yu Ara’s voice trembled a little. The tension increased as memories of the crisis we had been in as doctors came flooding back.
Seo Ye-rim soon spoke.
“That’s right. I told him not to, but he forcefully put his mouth on me and kept sucking and licking—”
Slaam—!
Yu Ara slapped Seo Ye-rim’s thigh with her palm.
“Ahhh!”
It made a rather crisp sound.
Seo Ye-rim jumped up, as if she had been hit on the butt, and frowned.
“Hey! Yu Ara, what the hell was that for? Do you want to die?!”
“Judging from your reaction, it seems like there’s no sensation or response at all. It looks like the senior took appropriate action at the right time. Seo Ye-rim is absolutely fine.”
I see.
That meant my efforts weren’t in vain.
–Chatter, chatter, chit-chat.
After that, I used “Nymph Technique, Chit-Chat” to summarize the situation I had learned very briefly and concisely.
Soon Lee Jin-A nodded.
“So that happened. You spent two days together after meeting Seo Ye-rim and eating some coconuts and various fruits, right?”
That was correct.
But Ari frowned slightly.
“Did the senior say that? It only sounded like chit-chat to me?”
It seemed Ari wasn’t used to “Nymph Technique, Chit-Chat.” Seo Ye-rim, who had been rubbing her thigh with her palm, snickered and chimed in sharply.
“That’s because you’re not friendly with the nymphs. The more you get along with the nymphs, the more affinity you develop for the nymph techniques, don’t you know? Still, you weren’t originally a Core, were you?”
Pouty—.
Ari frowned.
Yu Ara and Seo Ye-rim then glared at each other and started growling. They’ve had a rivalry with each other since way back, and seeing them act like this again reminded me of old times.
Swish—.
I took the opportunity while Seo Ye-rim and Yu Ara were bickering to return Lee Jin-A’s dagger that I had obtained. Lee Jin-A responded with, “Oh, my dagger,” happily.
Rumble, swoosh—.
The rain fell even more fiercely.
However, the unease was less than before.
After all, having three is better than two, and having four is better than three for survival.
Just as I was thinking this, Lee Jin-A spoke.
“I have something for you too.”
“For me?”
Lee Jin-A rummaged through the chest area of her tattered clothes.
After about five seconds of rummaging, what she held in her palm was a gorgeous RGB-colored gaming spider, Kkungkkungi!
“Kkungkkungi!”
—Skwang—!
Kkungkkungi jumped onto my palm.
And began wiggling its front legs from side to side, clearly showing it was happy to see me. I was equally thrilled to see Kkungkkungi, and my mood suddenly lifted!
“I knew you would be alive! Amazing! It’s definitely Kkungkkungi!”
—Hioooong…!
If I had met Kkungkkungi, the probability that Kkungkkungi, Ahn Ahn, and the Nymphs along with Kalilnoi were also alive somewhere was very high.
However, Seo Ye-rim, who was watching that scene, made a comment.
“Doesn’t it seem like you guys look happier than when you reunited?”
# # #
The web made by Kkungkkungi was very strong and durable.
It had good elasticity and stretched like a rubber band.
I used Kkungkkungi’s web to make a bow. It was a very primitive tool, but it became a relatively threatening weapon.
Our night passed quickly as we organized our weapons and gear while discussing what had happened.
I learned that Yu Ara and Lee Jin-A had drifted ashore at the same beach and had been surviving together until now.
“Lee Jin-A, I’m jealous of you.”
I recalled a post that sometimes appeared on the internet as a joke. It was the kind of post asking what three things you would take with you if you could go to a deserted island.
1. A multipurpose knife.
2. A survival expert.
3. A doctor.
4. A rifle with five bullets.
And so on—
Lee Jin-A had essentially acquired both the doctor and the multipurpose knife at once. One could say it was a premium starter pack for surviving on a deserted island.
Rumble—!
Then, thunder struck again.
Ari screamed.
She clung to my side and trembled.
“I’m, I’m scared…”
I found it funny and thought it was cute.
Ari was afraid of thunder.
That was entirely plausible.
Then Seo Ye-rim, who was sharpening arrows with Lee Jin-A’s dagger, spoke.
“It’s because you’ve committed a lot of sins. Because you’ve committed a lot of sins. If a person lives righteously, they wouldn’t be scared even if thunder strikes or lightning crashes, just like I do. That girl Yu Ara is scared of divine punishment because she has committed lots of sins.”
“…….”
Swoosh—.
The rain continued to pour more heavily.
It snowed yesterday, and today it was raining.
The climate on this island was quite chaotic.
I went outside the cave to take a look at the situation.
It was dark, so I couldn’t see well, but I could vaguely sense that the valley’s water was rising and the low areas were getting submerged.
“I’m glad we came up to higher ground today.”
Thanks to climbing to a higher place, it was possible to reunite with Ari and Jin-A.
It was always exhilarating to know that my judgment was correct.
I’m really amazing.
—Hioooong…! Hioooong…! Mioooong…!
It was morning, and I briefly dozed off while listening to Kkungkkungi’s beautiful song.
I peeked outside the cave, drawn by the chirping of birds.
The sky, which had poured rain as if it were the flood of Noah’s time last night, was now very clear, and the island was neither floating nor submerged.
It was truly a bizarre island.
When I was wondering what this place was, Lee Jin-A approached, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
“What was it? According to Yu Ara, there’s a high probability that there’s a crack at the peak of this mountain. Undiscovered nymphs or animals are likely to be there.”
Is it a crack within a crack?
Double cracks aren’t common but can sometimes be seen.
With that feeling, we decided to climb the mountain today to reach the top.
“Did the path collapse last night?”
The rocky mountain was quite steep and rugged. Thanks to the rain that fell last night, there were many places where soil had collapsed and where the topsoil was loose, and there were many slippery areas where snow hadn’t melted.
However, we had a rope made from Kkungkkungi’s web, and there were four of us, including me.
—Kkungkkungi…!
There was also a magnificent spider.
Especially, Kkungkkungi had an extraordinary knack for finding paths.
It was probably due to the unique spider sense that ghost spiders possess.
—Hioooong…!
We followed the guiding spider Kkungkkungi all the way to the top of the mountain. There, we were able to discover something peculiar.
It was a massive cave. Within it, there were wall paintings that resembled the appearance of a cow or a dinosaur, and they looked extraordinarily old.
Could it be a prehistoric site?
With the light of the lantern as our guide, we ventured deep into the cave until we spotted an oval-shaped portal glowing with a brilliant rainbow color.
Since all four of us were Awakened, we didn’t need anyone to explain to us that it was the entrance to some kind of crack.
“Are you planning to go inside?”
Seo Ye-rim spoke as if she was a little uneasy.
“I think it might be better to wait for the rescue team here. If we get lost inside that double crack, it could be troublesome in many ways.”
So, Seo Ye-rim was on the side of waiting?
Soon, Yu Ara chimed in.
“I’m also against entering hastily. There’s no guarantee of nymphs or animals being inside. And I’m worried about these footprints too….”
There were dinosaur footprints fossils in Goseong and Deokseong.
Similar footprints were stamped in front of the crack.
They ranged in size from about the size of my palm to much larger ones.
“Lee Jin-A, what do you think?”
I asked Lee Jin-A for her thoughts.
She seemed to be deep in thought for a while before replying.
“I don’t know.”
I see.
Lee Jin-A seemed to have not much thought about it.
Was it my turn now?
“I—.”
—Hioooong…!
Pop—!
Just as I was about to say something, Kkungkkungi, who had been resting on my shoulder, darted into the crack!
In the blink of an eye, without giving me a chance to stop, I thought it would be better to go in after Kkungkkungi.
I had originally planned to go in!
“Then I’ll go inside and check it out! Anyone who wants to wait here can wait! It’s better if one person stays here anyway. We need to greet the rescue team when they arrive!”
Swish—.
I said that and entered the crack.
The first thing I felt was the warm sunlight.
Then, it was an environment spread out like a jungle.
Swoosh, swoosh—.
As I looked around, Lee Jin-A, Seo Ye-rim, and Yu Ara followed me inside.
I raised an eyebrow and asked.
“Hey, if you all come in, what will we do? It’s better if one person stays outside.”
Although I said that, I realized that everyone didn’t want to be left alone on the deserted island.
At that moment, I heard a sound of “Hioooong…!” from the distant forest.
Thinking it was Kkungkkungi, I dashed through the brush only to see a massive spider web right in front of me.
And there was something on it….
“Ahhh! What is that?!”
Seo Ye-rim screamed at the sight of an incredibly massive spider!
A giant spider!
It was the size of a tiger!
It had a tiger pattern too!
Could it be a giant tiger spider?
—Hioooong…!
What a giant spider, making the same sound as Kkungkkungi.
Lee Jin-A drew her dagger.
“Should we fight? Is it a demon!”
However, I didn’t feel particularly wary.
I danced by raising and lowering my left and right arms like Kkungkkungi always did.
This was the spiders’ way of ‘greeting’—signifying ‘I am harmless and I want to befriend you.’
—Kkwang, kkwang…!
Soon the giant tiger spider let out a loud cry.
I didn’t know what it meant, but it didn’t seem like it was going to attack us.
Swish—.
I slowly reached out my hand towards the giant tiger spider.
The spider also slowly extended its front legs towards me.
It was truly a communion.
Just as I felt a deeply touching sensation in my heart, suddenly the giant spider seemed to recoil, letting out a pop— and fled leaving its web behind!
What on earth was that?
—Pirrururururur…!
As I raised my head, something came flying down from the sky and slammed into me. I fell to the ground, and something soft touched my face.
The soft touch of feathers—.
“Kalilnoi?”
—Hoo, hoo…!
The presence that ambushed me from the sky was Kalilnoi!
And riding on it was—.
“Ahh-! I’ve found the owner of the house…!”
“Oinoi!”
