Translated by Demonic Dog
Read it only at utoon.net
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Chapter 5 – Bearing Fruit
The fish tightly held in Se-jun’s hand struggled, opening its mouth wide and snapping it shut to attack Se-jun.
Snap! Snap!
Sharp teeth collided, making a sharp sound. Every time that happened, Se-jun held on even tighter. He felt that if he was bitten by mistake, a finger would just be clean cut off.
Se-jun held the fish tightly and ran to the place where the fire was, beneath the hole in the ceiling. Meanwhile, the fish that was resisting intensely gradually gasped for breath and its body went limp.
Arriving near the fire, Se-jun placed a green onion leaf on the ground with careful movements. He carefully placed the fish on the laid leaf and covered it with another green onion leaf.
And
Rip.
He tore the green onion leaf to about the thickness of a finger and wrapped and tied the two green onion leaves folding the fish in a cross shape.
“Become delicious.”
Se-jun carefully placed the fish wrapped in green onion leaves in the middle of the fire pit.
And
“……”
he waited.
He watched for a long time.
Sniff, sniff.
“Ah, fragrant.”
The savory and greasy smell dissolved in the rising steam spread around, and the smell began to fill the cave.
He recalled his childhood. When his mother prepared a meal, the smell of food spreading from the kitchen took over the whole house.
When he entered the house after school, his mood improved when the smell filling the house was his favorite side dish. At that time, the time waiting before eating seemed happy too.
Growl.
A sound interrupting Se-jun’s thoughts occurred. He was hungry, but he endured. The single-minded determination to fill his empty stomach with something delicious.
Growl.
“Endure just a little. I will put something really delicious in.”
Se-jun pacified his stomach and waited patiently. He waited for the best flavor to be completed.
And when the smell became much thicker and richer,
“That’s it! I can’t hold back anymore!”
Se-jun pulled out the fish roasted in green onion leaves from the fire using the dried and hardened green onion leaves.
He carefully untied the string that bound the green onion leaves.
Whoosh.
As he untied the string and removed the green onion leaves, the thick aroma of fish mixed with the scent of green onion wafted out.
“Wow!”
Se-jun showed a touched expression at the sight of the fish flowing with moist luster.
Chomp.
Se-jun folded the fish in half, tore off the protruding flesh, and put it in his mouth.
“Mmm…!”
It was roasted well. There was no fishy taste at all, and from the springiness felt as soon as he chewed to the clean flavor spreading into his mouth the more he chewed.
‘This is crazy!!!’
Munch, munch.
Se-jun devoured the fish frantically.
“Gasp! When did I eat it all?”
Se-jun made a look of despair as he saw the fish, which had only bones left before he knew it.
Then
Squeak…
Squeak…
A sound of despairing was heard from the side. Se-jun was not the only one despairing.
“Huh?”
When Se-jun looked at the source of the sound, the rabbit couple had expressions of having lost their country as they stared at the fish that had only bones left.
‘Could it be?!’
No, there’s no way… What kind of rabbit eats fish!
However, thinking about it, the rabbit couple preferred cooked food like roasted green onions, just like Se-jun.
“Do you guys eat meat too?”
When Se-jun asked,
Squeak!
The rabbit couple snapped their heads at the same time as if to say, ‘Did you just realize that?’ They seemed upset that Se-jun ate it all by himself.
“Sorry. I didn’t know you guys ate meat too…”
Se-jun scratched his head, stood up, and went to the pond. He planned to catch fish. Inside the pond, the number of fish had increased more than before.
“But where do these guys come from?”
When Se-jun inspected the pond holding a torch, he saw a hole about the size of a hand span in a corner of the pond.
“Huh?”
Just then, a fish entered through the hole.
“Ah, they come in through that hole.”
They seemed to be drawn by the light of the torch. Se-jun finally came to know where the fish came from.
Se-jun, who unconsciously brought the torch close to the pond to inspect the pond a bit more.
Splash!
A fish flew up toward the torch and opened its mouth.
“Huh?!”
Swish.
As Se-jun hurriedly lifted the torch to avoid the fish,
Snap!
the fish bit the empty air.
Splash.
The fish that failed its hunt went back into the water.
“What is this?”
As Se-jun carefully brought the torch close to the water again,
Splash! Splash!
fish jumped up to hunt the torch.
Swish.
As Se-jun lifted the torch to avoid them,
Snap! Snap!
Splash, splash.
The fish that failed their hunt this time as well went into the water.
“Aha.”
Se-jun realized what the fish responded to. The fish jumped up, thinking it was prey, if something moved near the water surface.
Since he knew how to make the fish jump up, catching them was easy.
Se-jun waved the torch close to the pond.
Splash!
A fish flew up toward the torch, opening its mouth.
‘It’s coming!’
Se-jun focused on the fish’s movement. And when the fish reached its peak height and was about to fall again,
‘Now!’
Thack!
Se-jun swung the torch toward the rising fish, hitting it away from the pond. The fish that crashed onto the ground struggled to breathe.
Meanwhile,
Thack! Thack!
Se-jun sent two more fish to the ground.
When he approached the fire with the three fish that had stopped breathing,
Squeeeak!
Squeak!
The rabbit couple cheered, sending gazes of respect toward Se-jun as if they had never been upset.
“Ahem.”
Se-jun’s shoulders squared. For this moment, he felt like he had become a hero.
Squeak!
Squeak!
The husband rabbit brought green onion leaves and volunteered as a cooking assistant.
Rip, rip.
Beside him, the wife rabbit finely tore green onion leaves to make strings.
“Done.”
Se-jun said, putting the third fish into the fire. Since it was finished just by layering the fish with green onion leaves and tying them, the cooking was quick.
And then the happy waiting once again.
Day 11 of being stranded. Se-jun and the rabbit couple fell asleep after filling their stomachs with fish.
***
Beep. Beep.
[June 19th, 6:00 AM]
It became the morning of the 41st day of being stranded.
“Up I go!”
Waking up from sleep, Se-jun approached the pond. However, beside the pond, there was one more small pond that had not been there before.
It could be called a washing area made by connecting a small stream of water beside the pond to avoid fish attacks. He washed his face and scooped water here.
Splash! Splash!
Se-jun washed his face and went to the field. Centered around the rock that was Se-jun’s designated seat, green onions were in front, cherry tomatoes that had grown to about Se-jun’s knee height were on the left, and sweet potato sprouts were visible on the right.
Finally, the long-awaited sweet potato sprouts appeared. All the crops Se-jun had planted on the first day of being stranded had finally taken root safely in the tower.
“I feel proud.”
Many things had happened during that time.
On the 32nd day of being stranded, the Blue Moon appeared once again. Through that, Se-jun came to know that the Blue Moon cycle of the floor he was on was 30 days.
And a few days ago, there was a happy event. The wife rabbit gave birth to six babies, increasing the family.
Squeak!
Squeak!
When the energetic cries of the baby rabbits were heard from inside the burrow, the dad rabbit diligently carried green onion leaves.
“I should prepare breakfast.”
Seeing the busy rabbit couple, he wanted to help them.
Snap, snap.
He broke the green onion leaves, put ten into the fire, and spread the rest on the ground to dry.
Then he approached the pond and waved the torch left and right over the water.
Splash! Splash!
The fish flew up to hunt the torch. Se-jun swung the torch toward those fish.
Thack, thack.
Today, fortunately, it was two fish with one swing.
Flap, flap.
He covered the two fish with green onion leaves, tied them with a stem, and put them in the fire.
Meanwhile, he pulled out the well-roasted green onions and ate them.
“As something warm enters, my stomach settles.”
After eating the roasted green onion like that, Se-jun watered the crops and spent time spacing out for a bit.
Sniff, sniff.
Whether it was fully cooked, a delicious smell began to spread.
Tap, tap.
Se-jun pulled the fish out of the fire and began to cut the strings that bound the leaves. Right on cue, the husband rabbit trudged out of the burrow.
“Rabbit!”
Se-jun called the dad rabbit.
Squeak…
Perhaps the husband rabbit found parenting hard, as there was no energy in its reply.
“Eat this together with your wife.”
Squeak.
The husband rabbit was moved. The husband rabbit hurriedly went into the burrow with the fish.
But
Squeak!
Squeak!
As the babies they had barely put to sleep woke up, the rabbit couple was able to eat the fish only much later.
***
Beep. Beep.
[June 19th, 5:00 AM]
Day 50 of being stranded. The smartphone rang a notification and died.
Fortunately, the rabbits woke up exactly at 5:00 AM and slept at 7:00 PM. Following the rabbits’ life rhythm, it seemed that the jet lag would not break down due to the continuously rising sun.
“You worked hard.”
Se-jun placed the dead smartphone into his bag along with the already dead laptop.
Then
Squeak!!
Squeak!
Whether they had become somewhat accustomed to parenting now, the rabbit couple came out of the burrow and greeted him.
“Yeah. Good morning.”
Whoosh.
Snip, snip.
While the husband rabbit watered the crops with the watering can and the wife rabbit cut the green onion leaves,
Thack!
Thack!
Se-jun caught fish in the pond.
Then, when he took the caught fish, went to the fireside, wrapped it in leaves, and put it in the fire, the wife rabbit took out roasted green onions, placed them prettily on green onion leaves, gave them to Se-jun, and went into the burrow along with the husband rabbit.
It was to take care of the babies’ breakfast while the fish was cooking.
Yum, yum.
While he was filling his hunger by eating green onions like that,
“Huh?!”
A yellow flower blooming at the tip of the cherry tomato caught Se-jun’s eye.
And the content he saw on the internet came to mind. It was said that pollination did not happen if there were no bees or wind.
Although wind blew in this cave, it was weak. To ensure pollination, Se-jun carefully rubbed the flower with a bone left over from eating fish.
‘Succeed. Succeed.’
Se-jun artificially pollinated the flower with an earnest heart.
***
“Up I go!”
As soon as Se-jun stood up, he approached the rock wall of the cave.
And
Draw.
Using the fish bone, he drew a stroke on the rock wall.
Beside it, two “Jung” () characters were carved, and ten strokes were carved in the upper row.
It became the 61st day of being stranded. Since the smartphone disappeared, he had been recording the date like this.
‘To think it’s already the 61st day…’
Just as Se-jun’s mood was about to sink, the cave became noisy.
Squeak!
Squeak!
Squeak!
As morning came, the baby rabbits came out of the burrow in a line following the parent rabbits.
Squeak!
Squeak!
The rabbit couple greeted Se-jun in the morning and asked for help.
“Okay. I’m coming.”
Lately, Se-jun watched the baby rabbits once in a while. Nothing major, just enough to keep them from going to dangerous places.
While Se-jun supervised the baby rabbits, the husband rabbit watered the field and the wife rabbit cut leaves to prepare breakfast.
Since the baby rabbits ate well whatever they were given, the meal was peaceful. Once the meal was finished, the rabbit couple took the babies and went back into the burrow.
Se-jun washed his face and went to the cherry tomato field. In the cherry tomato field, flowers bloomed one by one, and now it had become a field of flowers.
Se-jun lightly shook the branches with the cherry tomato flowers.
“Succeed. Succeed.”
Since there were too many flowers now, he did not pollinate them one by one but lightly shook the branches while chanting the spell of pollination.
Then
“Huh?”
Between the fallen petals, a tiny green cherry tomato smaller than a pea, very small, was visible.
Day 61 of being stranded, fruit finally bore.
It was the day before the Blue Moon.