Securing the Perimeter Around the Hideout
"Goddamn it..." A curse slipped involuntarily between my tightly clenched teeth. I'd gone out hunting with a light heart to clear the area around the hideout, but I sensed from the very first moment that the whole thing was fucked.
Ding♪ Sudden Mission Generated! Hunt the jaguar.
"Shut the hell up, you bastard." I ground my teeth and leveled my bamboo spear at the predator staring me down from straight ahead.
-Grrrrrr.
Yeah. So this is what a jaguar looks like. It resembled a leopard, but something about it felt slightly off. I had seen a leopard once as a kid at the zoo with my mom. It definitely hadn't been this big. If anything, this size was closer to a tiger, wasn't it? Above all else, the most crucial thing was missing: the wire fence. Between me and the jaguar glaring in my direction there was nothing but weeds and piles of rubble. The distance was a mere twenty to thirty meters. Close enough for it to pounce the second I looked away.
"Tch. Like things would ever go that smoothly for someone like me."
The map on my phone displayed living creatures. It could at least tell me whether something was a survivor or an animal, but it didn't reveal the exact species. While out hunting, I had followed a lone marker that had separated from the rest. And of course, it had to be this bastard I ran into.
-Grrrrrrrr.
The jaguar lowered its stance and fixed its eyes on me. The pressure it gave off was no joke. It was on a completely different level from the hyenas. Even though it clearly saw me as prey, it wasn't letting its guard down in the slightest.
"Hoo..." I slowly steadied my breathing. Sweat made my grip on the bamboo spear slippery. A bead of sweat rolled down my cheek and dripped from my chin.
-Crunch.
I didn't retreat. Instead, I took a step forward, closing the distance.
"Heh. Fine. Let's do this."
For some reason, I laughed. Had I finally gone crazy? I wondered what the jaguar was thinking right now. Did it believe its prey had willingly walked right up to it? Too bad for it, the bamboo spear in my hand was no ordinary weapon. If it wanted to run, now was the time.
-Crunch.
The moment I took another step forward—
-Kyaaaooo——!
——the beast lunged.
"Ugh!"
That terrifying feline elasticity. Our eyes met for a split second. By the time I registered it, the jaguar was already at eye level with me. But I was faster. I had already thrust the spear before our gazes even locked.
-Kik, kiiiiiiik!!
The jaguar had charged in, trying to slash my face with its front claws. Because it had leaped first, there was no way for it to dodge the spear I had driven forward. With the same momentum it had used to rush me, the jaguar impaled its own chest on the bamboo spear right below the neck.
"Kgh!"
An enormous shock ran through my arms. I immediately released the half-buried spear and rolled sideways.
-Kihiiii——
The jaguar, now a living bamboo skewer, let out a grotesque shriek and thrashed across the ground. Blood sprayed everywhere, kicking up clouds of dust. But the spear buried in its chest refused to come out.
"Hoo..."
I rose from the roll and drew the machete from my back. Time to put the suffering beast out of its misery.
"Hup!"
I brought the machete down on its neck.
-Thwack! Thwack!
-Kiii——!
I struck twice, but the creature's wild thrashing made the blade glance off its shoulder the first two times.
-Thwack!
On the third strike, the blade finally sank into the jaguar's neck. Blood gushed out. Its head dangled from the half-severed neck. It was gruesome.
"Haa... Shit..."
I had won. The realization finally let the tension drain from my shoulders. My arms, which had been rigid with stress, were now trembling violently.
Ding♪ Sudden Mission Cleared! A reward has been granted!
The system message officially announced the jaguar's death. Its corpse immediately turned into smoke and vanished. All that remained was the bamboo spear lying on the ground.
"Whew. I really thought I was going to die back there."
For a moment I had genuinely believed I might die, yet looking at the result, I had taken it down surprisingly easily. Once I got past that single instant of danger, killing it had taken only another instant. All thanks to the bamboo spear. At first I had thought it was just a crude, simple weapon. But the more I used it, the more I realized something was different about it. Once you stab with it, it pierces no matter what. It isn't even particularly sharp like a metal spear. Yet the moment you thrust, it drives straight through even the toughest hide. And once it embeds, it doesn't come out. It continuously deals dot damage while stuck in the target. On top of that, with such a thick spear lodged in its body, the creature can't even move properly. Anything stabbed by this spear ends up like the jaguar just now, forced to take a follow-up attack and die. It really is a rare item. Good thing I ate it when I had the chance. Without the bamboo spear, I probably would've died three times over.
I picked up the fallen bamboo spear and pulled out my phone to check the system message. That's when an item suddenly popped into existence right in front of me. This had to be the sudden mission reward.
"What the hell. Another swimsuit?"
It was a black swimsuit. This time it wasn't a bikini but a black one-piece style.
◈ Physical abilities increased by 20%. High defensive power despite its appearance.
◈ Specialized combat swimsuit optimized for enhancing physical capabilities.
"Tsk."
Female-only, huh. The bikini didn't have that restriction. It felt like the system had deliberately given it to me knowing I wouldn't be able to use it myself. Damn it. Gender discrimination in this day and age? The option was tempting enough that I had wanted to test it, but it looked like that wasn't happening. What a shame. I wondered if it would help when I had sex with Mom if she wore it.
I stuffed the item into my backpack and headed toward the next hunting target.
*
Thankfully, no more big game like the jaguar appeared. The most dangerous thing after that was a pair of hyenas. Dealing with them was a bit of a pain, but I had grown used to it by now and wasn't particularly scared. The local food chain went roughly like this: weasel < raccoon < wild boar < hyena. And now a jaguar had been added to that chain. The difficulty had suddenly shot up. Then again, with a goddamn Tyrannosaurus around, a jaguar wasn't all that impressive. Wild boar. Hyena. Jaguar. What would get added next? Lions? Tigers? Grizzly bears? ...At that point I'd probably need a gun. No matter how strong the bamboo spear was, I doubted it would work on bears or tigers. Still, spending five hundred coins on a rifle for a single bullet felt a bit much...
While my mind wandered with those thoughts, I aimed a rock and threw it.
-Whoosh.
-Thwack!
Kiiing!
"Nice!"
The weasel that had been blankly distracted by something else collapsed after my rock hit it. I didn't remember having any special talent for this, yet rocks I threw half-heartedly seemed to land with weird accuracy. Small animals like weasels and raccoons would bolt the moment they saw a person. Throwing rocks was far more efficient than chasing them on two legs.
I walked up to the weasel still rolling on the ground in a daze and swung my machete.
-Kik!
The weasel died. In its place, something like a weasel pelt dropped. I picked it up and stuffed it into my backpack. There was no real need to kill such small animals, but we had Ppiyak at the hideout. Even if a person wouldn't get hurt by a weasel, Ppiyak might. Then both Seung-hee and Mom would be sad. So I had no choice. Don't hold it against me too much.
"Is this enough?"
One jaguar, two hyenas, two wild boars, three raccoons, and two weasels. Those were all the creatures marked on the map in the area. Anything further out was too far. No need to go after them.
"Hmm... Guess I'll head back."
Cleaning up the small fry had taken more time than expected. If I didn't return soon, Mom would start worrying. I was about to turn toward the hideout when I suddenly glanced west.
West. The direction where a certain mother who had lost her son lived. It had already been a full day since her son died. How was she doing right now? It was only a brief connection, yet it still weighed on my mind.
"......"
In the end I turned my head and walked back toward the hideout where Mom was waiting.
*
"Whoa! It's been forever since I felt sunlight!"
Seung-hee, who had finally come out of the hideout after so long, made a big fuss.
-Ppiyak! Ppiyak!
Ppiyak was also outside, flapping its wings happily. Those two really were on the same level.
"Changjae, are you really not hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine. This much is nothing now."
"Really? You can't hide anything from Mom."
"Aww, what would I even hide?"
Mom's worry was through the roof. I had said I'd be back within an hour but ended up taking over two. I had tried to keep her from worrying by giving a short time estimate, but being late only made her worry even more. It was all my fault. I would reflect on my actions.
"Hng... The garden is gone..."
The small garden where we had planted the mysterious seeds back when Seung-pil was still alive. It was now completely devastated, apparently dug up by wild boars. Seung-hee seemed to have cared about that garden more than I thought. She crouched in front of the ruined plot, looking dejected.
"Uuu... My melons..."
...As if melons would even grow here. I had worried for nothing.
Meanwhile, Mom was following Ppiyak around the front yard, watching it with delight.
-Ppiyak, ppiyak...
"What should we do? There aren't any bugs, so Ppiyak looks disappointed."
Just as Mom said, Ppiyak kept pecking at the bare ground before letting out cries that sounded exactly like disappointment.
"It's a chick. What does it need bugs for? Just tell it to eat the feed."
"Oh, you. But it's still pitiful, isn't it?"
-Pii...
Ppiyak drooped its head pitifully after hearing Mom. This little guy... It definitely understood human speech.
"...Sigh."
No helping it. I scrolled through my phone and looked for a snack to feed Ppiyak. Not because I felt bad for the chick, but because I didn't want to see Mom looking sad while watching it.
This looked good. Ppiyak could eat them and we could plant some in the field too. When I bought it, a rather heavy bag appeared. It seemed to contain a mix of large and small seeds, about one kilogram total.
"Mom, give these to Ppiyak."
I grabbed a handful of seeds from the bag and poured them into Mom's hand.
"Wow! Thank you, Changjae! Our son really is the best!"
Mom looked as happy as if she had received a present herself. I watched her joyfully feeding seeds to Ppiyak for a moment, then headed over to the garden where Seung-hee was.
"Seung-hee, just dig some holes and plant these. I'll go get water."
"Hehe. Okay~."
I handed her a hoe and the entire bag of seeds. But when I returned with the water a short while later, Seung-hee was no longer at the garden.
"......"
She was sitting right next to Mom, feeding seeds to Ppiyak. Using the entire bag I had entrusted to her, of course.
"Haa..."
It was my fault for leaving it to Seung-hee. Who could I blame?
-Ppiyak! Ppiyak!
Ppiyak happily pecked back and forth between Mom's hand and Seung-hee's. Every time it did, the two of them burst into laughter together.
"...Well, I guess it's fine."
The seeds weren't that expensive anyway. If the two of them were happy, that was enough. Another peaceful day was passing by.