Translated by Demonic Dog
Read it only at utoon.net
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Chapter 4 – Lighting a Fire
Se-jun quickly picked up on the pink atmosphere flowing between the two.
“Are you two by any chance a married couple?”
Squeak!
Squeak!
The two nodded their heads at the same time.
‘Damn it!’
Of all things, now I’m squeezed between a rabbit couple…
During college, because he had no friends with matching free periods, he had once eaten meals squeezed between a couple. It was really awkward, but he couldn’t eat lunch alone for a whole semester, so he joined them.
Then one day, while eating together, a cold wind blew hard between the two. They had fought. Se-jun got indigestion while eating that day.
‘And I gained the ability to eat alone.’
After that, he resolved never to eat squeezed between a couple again…
Squeak, squeak.
Sensing that Se-jun’s mood was strange, the husband rabbit rubbed its face against Se-jun’s hand and acted cute. It was a desperate gesture to get permission to stay here.
‘It is trying so hard to protect its family…’
Se-jun’s heart softened. And he became ashamed of himself for still being bound to the past.
‘Right. Those two were a couple, and these two are married.’
Se-jun did not know the profound world of married couples.
“Okay. Stay here. But it’s not for free.”
It wasn’t that he said it expecting anything.
Squeak!
Squeak!
At Se-jun’s permission, the rabbit couple nodded their heads vigorously as if it were natural, ran to a corner of the cave, and began digging a burrow to make their home.
“A burrow?”
As Se-jun watched the rabbit digging the burrow, something flashed in his mind. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if he could escape by digging a tunnel from here.
‘How foolish! Because there was a hole to go out above, I only thought of that way!’
“Rabbit!”
Squeak?
The husband rabbit, who was diligently digging the ground, popped its head out at Se-jun’s call.
“Can we get out of this place by digging a tunnel?”
Squeak…
The rabbit thought for a moment and then shook its head from side to side.
“No?”
Scribble, scribble.
The rabbit began to draw a picture on the floor. It drew the cave Se-jun was in and began to dig deep below it.
And
Whoosh.
It poured water into the dug-out spot with the watering can it held. The area below Se-jun’s cave was filled with water.
“Ah. The bottom is all water.”
Squeak!
The rabbit nodded.
“Okay. Continue what you were doing.”
Squeak!
The rabbit went back to digging the burrow.
Then
Beep. Beep.
The alarm rang. The smartphone’s battery was at 100%. Considering the speed of the laptop’s discharge, it seemed he could fully charge it at least one more time.
[May 16th, 6:00 AM]
Se-jun’s routine began.
First, he checked the cherry tomato sprouts.
“Well done, guys.”
(…T…)
Now, the green leaves were fully spread open. The sweet potato field still had no news.
Se-jun went to the pond, washed his face, and watered the field.
And
Snap, snap.
He broke the green onions so that the cherry tomato sprouts could see the sun. The more he broke the green onions, the thicker and more split the stems became, producing more leaves. Initially, there were about three leaves per green onion, but now eight were rising.
“Breaking these will be a chore later on, won’t it?”
Se-jun dried the torn-off leaves in the sun. The leaves that were in the sun first had now hardened, with almost no moisture left.
Crunch.
Se-jun finished his morning work while eating the leaf he had just broken. Now, if he broke the green onions and watered them once more eight hours later, the day’s work would be over.
Having finished his work, Se-jun sat on his designated spot and stared blankly at the sky.
How long had he been looking at the sky like that?
Ugh! Ugh!
Boo! Boo!
“Huh? What is this sound?”
Se-jun looked in the direction of the sound. It was the sound coming from the burrow dug by the rabbits.
The sound quickly stopped.
“What?”
When Se-jun looked at the sky again and was about to fall into a blank state,
Ugh! Ugh!
Boo! Boo!
the sound was heard again. Listening closely, it was the sound of gasping for breath.
‘Could it be?!’
“These guys!”
The rabbit couple was engaging in mating activity as soon as they made their shelter.
After that, the mating activity continued a few more times.
Few hours later.
When it became 2:00 PM, Se-jun stood up to do the afternoon work.
Then
Squeak.
Squeak.
The rabbit couple came out of the burrow together in harmony.
Then they moved quickly and began the farm work Se-jun was about to do.
Squeak, squeak.
Whoosh.
The husband rabbit hummed and watered the crops with the watering can,
Squeak, squeak.
Snip, snip.
and the wife rabbit harmonized with the husband rabbit’s song, cutting the green onions with scissors.
The husband sings, and the wife follows. A harmonious couple. That exact phrase came to mind.
However, there was something else that kept Se-jun bothered.
“What are those things…”
As it turned out, the watering can the husband rabbit held and the apron the wife rabbit wore were items.
Water came out continuously without stopping from the watering can. And as for the apron, perhaps because spatial magic was cast on it, the wife rabbit pulled out farming tools like scissors or a shovel from the apron whenever they were needed.
He was a bit envious. To think they had such equipment. He had dug and torn with his hands and carried water himself.
Watching the rabbits work, time went by quickly.
However, he quickly became bored. Just then, he saw the light passing through the plastic bottle placed nearby refracting and gathering into a intense light.
Seeing that, something suddenly came to mind. It was a broadcast where survival experts appeared on TV in the past, and a scene where they filled a plastic bottle with water to light a fire came to mind.
‘Shall I light a fire?’
It seemed that if he lit the well-dried green onion leaves, they would burn well.
“Good.”
Se-jun stood up and gathered the well-dried green onion leaves.
And
Rip, rip.
He tore the leaves thinly so they would catch fire easily, and gathered them well in the center.
Then Se-jun, using the plastic bottle filled with water like a magnifying glass, began to focus the light onto a single point on the green onion leaves.
Squeak?
Squeak?
When Se-jun did not move for over 20 minutes in the same posture, the rabbit couple approached. They seemed curious about what the farm owner was doing.
Noding off, nodding off
After about 10 minutes, the rabbits seemed bored and began to doze off.
Then
Smoke rising.
Smoke rose from the pile of finely torn green onion leaves. An ember was created.
‘It works!’
Se-jun focused even more, shining the light onto the ember with the plastic bottle. The ember grew stronger, and the smoke became thicker.
“Puff! Puff!”
Se-jun lifted the finely torn leaves holding the ember and carefully blew air into them.
The rabbit couple woke up from sleep at the sound of him blowing air and stared at Se-jun.
And
Squeak!
Squeak!
They were shocked upon seeing the smoking green onion leaves.
How long had he blown air like that?
Blaze.
A fire caught, spitting out flames.
“Hehehe! It worked!”
Squeak.
Squeak.
The rabbit couple looked at Se-jun with eyes of respect. Among the rabbits’ items, there was no item that could start a fire.
Once the fire was made, the first thing Se-jun did was roast green onions to eat. He just wanted to fill his stomach with anything warm.
The dried green onions had become hard enough to be used as firewood, making them difficult to eat, so he roasted the green onions harvested today.
When the outside of the green onion turned black, Se-jun grabbed the end and lifted it.
And
“Ah! Hot! Hoo.”
Blowing on his fingers, he placed it on another leaf and peeled off the blackened skin of the green onion.
He lifted the roasted green onion up and put the peeled part into his mouth.
Munch.
‘…It’s sweet!’
At the incredible taste, Se-jun’s eyes opened wide. Sugar ran wild in his mouth. An immense sweetness exploded.
Se-jun threw a few green onions he would eat into the flames and began to devour the green onions frantically.
Squeak?
At Se-jun’s reaction, the husband rabbit courageously put a green onion into the fire.
And after a while,
Squeak!
Squeak!
The rabbit couple ate the green onions after peeling them with touched expressions. All three ate diligently, with soot smeared on their faces.
Day 7 of being stranded.
Se-jun fell asleep after filling his stomach with warm food for the first time.
***
Beep. Beep.
[May 19th, 6:00 AM]
Day 10 of being stranded.
“Up I go.”
Se-jun woke up energetically today as well.
Squeak!
Squeak!
The rabbit couple, who woke up first, greeted Se-jun.
“Yeah. Good morning.”
Splash! Splash!
Se-jun went to the edge of the pond, washed his face, and sat in his spot.
Squeak.
The wife rabbit brought the roasted green onion.
“Thanks.”
Se-jun said, receiving the food.
Munch, munch.
While eating the roasted green onion, he looked at the field where the crops were planted. The green onions were already all cut, and the ground was moistly soaked. The rabbits, who woke up early, had already finished the work.
Furthermore, the wife rabbit even prepared the meal. It was so great that they did it on their own.
But
“……”
In a place where there was already nothing to do, there was even less to do.
“I should move a bit.”
Today, he decided to transplant the cherry tomatoes that he had put off. Since they could not absorb nutrients properly if they grew too close together, it was about time to transplant them.
Thump, thump.
Se-jun dug the soil with his hands to make spots to transplant the cherry tomatoes,
Scoop.
and the husband rabbit carefully scooped them up one by one with a spoon-sized shovel and moved them. While they were at it, they also moved the six sprouts planted later.
He made 6 rows with 10 sprouts per row for a total of 58 sprouts.
“Whew.”
Seeing the sprouts neatly and well planted in rows, pride rushed in again. Lately, Se-jun was someone who easily felt proud over nothing major.
As soon as transplanting the cherry tomatoes was finished, Se-jun started a new task right away.
Making a torch.
He wove several green onion leaves cut today to make a handle, and at the end, he finely tore dried leaves and wrapped them hundreds of times.
The dried green onion leaves maintained fire for quite a long time, so he thought it would be good to make a torch out of them. Indeed, the green onion leaves burned for so long that there was no need to manage the fire separately.
Normally, it was a task boring enough that he would have quit immediately. However, now it was so much fun to make what was necessary for his life entirely of his own will, using his own body.
After spending several hours like that to make a torch, the alarm announcing sleep time rang.
Beep. Beep.
[May 20th, 6:00 AM]
The morning of the 11th day of being stranded dawned.
“Up I go!”
Squeak!
Squeak!
“Yeah. Good morning.”
As soon as he woke up, he exchanged morning greetings with the rabbit couple and went to the pond to wash his face.
Unlike yesterday, the pond was bright. Se-jun, who had found it uncomfortable that it was always dark when washing his face, installed the torch at the pond first.
“Nice. Hehehe.”
While looking at the well-burning torch, Se-jun brought his face close to the pond to wash it.
Then
Splash!
A fish suddenly popped out of the pond and tried to bite Se-jun’s face.
“Argh?!”
Se-jun hurriedly leaned his body back. The fishy smell of water coming from the fish’s body brushed past the tip of his nose. He really barely avoided it.
Flap, flap.
The fish that fell to the ground struggled to return to the water.
“Wh… What?!”
Se-jun, who was flustered, approached the flapping fish and inspected it closely.
It had golden stripes on a black background on its body and possessed sharp teeth.
If he had been even a little late, his nose would have been cut off.
Thud!
Se-jun kicked the fish to the opposite side of the pond to prevent it from escaping.
Then he inspected the inside of the pond.
“Oh!”
Inside, a few more fish of the same species that had just attacked Se-jun were swimming.
“Why is this here?”
While Se-jun was thinking of the reason,
Flap, flap.
the fish was struggling to escape to the pond, moving its body.
‘This is no time to be standing around!’
Se-jun quickly grabbed the fish that had fallen to the ground.
Day 11 of being stranded. He finally became able to eat meat.