The Trap
I pressed eastward from the northern safe zone. The boundary between the safe zone and the danger zone was blurry in this area, so I naturally crossed back and forth between the two as I advanced. There were a few life signs along the way, but the creatures fled as soon as I drew near. Probably just rabbits or deer. Since I didn’t feel any particular need to hunt, I ignored them and kept moving.
After walking diligently for about an hour, I finally reached the eastern edge of the island. Just ten more minutes and I’d hit the shoreline. That’s when I suddenly stopped.
“……”
A tiny sense of unease caught my eye. If someone asked me what felt off, I couldn’t point to anything specific and say, “This right here.” But something was definitely wrong. Maybe it was because I’d been staring at nothing but forest for hours? My eyes, now accustomed to the woods, picked up on a subtle dissonance that refused to blend into the surroundings.
It was like those panels in comics where only the moving parts are colored differently. The patch of ground covered in grass felt ever so slightly off in hue compared to everything around it.
I prodded the suspicious patch with the butt of my titanium spear.
Thud.
No reaction. I pushed harder.
Thud. Crack.
A wooden board disguised with weeds dropped away. Beneath it, dozens of razor-sharp wooden spikes jutted upward—looking painful just to glance at. If I’d stepped on it without knowing, I would’ve fallen straight onto them and skewered my foot.
“……A booby trap?”
It came back to me. This was the kind of trap they taught us about during military information sessions. Vietnam War, wasn’t it? The story went that using these old-school traps to inflict injuries had been a popular tactic. Getting caught wouldn’t necessarily kill you, but it would cripple an operation. One wounded soldier meant four or five others taken out of the fight—someone to carry them, someone to guard the carriers. In a squad of twelve, losing five people was a massive blow.
I examined the trap more closely. Those sharp wooden spikes were unmistakably handmade. The hole had been dug by hand, the spikes placed with care, and the whole thing camouflaged with a wooden board. Most of all, this was an anti-personnel trap. Not for hunting animals—for hunting people. I could feel the murderous intent directed at other humans.
“A trap, huh……”
It wasn’t that I hadn’t considered setting traps around our own hideout. But there was always the chance one of our group might accidentally step on one, or an unrelated survivor could get hurt. So I’d only thought about it and never followed through.
Yet here was someone who had actually done it. It made sense. If anything, I was the one being too soft. There was an efficient way to hunt other survivors and protect the hideout, and not using it was the strange part.
“Which means there are survivors in this area.”
What should I do? This group didn’t seem like pushovers compared to the last one. If they were willing to hurt others, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to have sex either. They might have laid traps like this around their territory to secure safety, then spent their days inside the hideout having orgies and racking up coins.
“This…… doesn’t look good……”
They were still outside radar range. Setting traps this far from their base suggested they had plenty of manpower and resources to spare. If they were as desperate for food as the last group, they wouldn’t have had the luxury of placing traps so far out.
Lots of people. Plenty of supplies. Their equipment would probably make the last group look like beggars. And the closer I got to their hideout, the more traps there would be. The danger alarm in my head was flashing bright red.
“……No. Leaving them alone would be even more dangerous.”
I placed my foot on the spike trap and slowly shifted my weight onto it. I could feel the spikes digging into the sole of my combat boot. If I’d stepped on it unaware, they would have gone straight through. If military boots barely held up, ordinary shoes would be shredded. Anyone from that poor group earlier who stepped on this might have died without a potion to save them.
I could feel the installer’s clear hostility. It was like a warning: If you come any farther, you die.
But if I pretended not to notice and walked away? Suppose dozens of men and women were having massive gangbangs in there every single day. In a few weeks, maybe a few months, they’d be armed with advanced weapons, ruling the island in a bad ending. With good weapons, danger zones would mean nothing. They might even hunt tyrannosaurs for fun. And by then, the fate waiting for me, Mom, Seunghee, and Kaylee back at our cozy little hideout would be……
“That can’t happen.”
I steeled my heart and took a step deeper into the forest. This time, I was ready to kill another human being.
I had made up my mind.
*
On the way, I discovered several more traps. There were more floor traps like the first one, plus thin tripwires that would fire arrows when triggered. The most common were steel jaw traps—commonly called bear traps. These cleverly camouflaged devices would snap shut from both sides when stepped on, driving spiked teeth into the ankle. An animal would probably never escape until it died. A human might be able to pry it open somehow, but the injury would still be severe.
Unlike the other booby traps, these steel jaw traps couldn’t be made on a deserted island. They had definitely been bought with coins. The fact that this group had enough spare coins to buy and scatter them everywhere made me even more cautious.
I hardened my resolve even further.
“……There it is.”
From the eastern edge, I turned north again. Their hideout seemed to be tucked away in the northeastern corner of the island. My radar only picked up a single survivor. There was probably a base at the northern tip, and this one person standing guard a little ways south along the path.
That meant their actual hideout was definitely farther north……
Sneaking past a sentry’s eyes to slip inside unnoticed seemed nearly impossible. In the end, I’d have to confront them head-on.
I stopped just outside the range where the survivor marker would appear and checked my gear. Would the titanium spear be enough? Wouldn’t a sword or knife be better for close combat? I spent 100 coins on a light knife and clipped it to my belt as a backup. I’d never practiced knife fighting, but as long as I didn’t freeze up and could stab a vital point, it should be fine. Fights between beginners always came down to sheer guts anyway.
Just in case, I reloaded the pistol with six bullets. My coins were running dangerously low. With what remained, I bought potions and slotted them onto my belt. In games, setting potion hotkeys was crucial. You never knew what might happen.
The backpack was light, so I decided to keep it on. It could act as a cushion if I got attacked from behind. Plus, if I raided their hideout, I’d have stuff to carry back.
The crossbow was fully loaded with twenty bolts. Thanks to my earlier practice, I could draw and fire it anytime. Accuracy wasn’t guaranteed, though.
“Time to go, then.”
I headed north. Into their territory. Their hideout was probably waiting at the end of this path. And somewhere along the way, one human standing guard. I hoped I wouldn’t be spotted too early.
With that worry in mind, I approached. Once I was close enough, I used the telescope to check on the sentry.
“……”
He was asleep. One man, late thirties. Leaning against a tree with his mouth wide open. His clothes were ragged like the other survivors I’d seen, but he didn’t look filthy. At least he was washing himself. A machete leaned against the tree beside him—similar in design to the one I used to own. Probably cost a few dozen coins.
“A bandit, huh.”
The first word that came to mind was bandit. The shabby appearance, the unkempt beard, the oversized machete—it all fit perfectly.
What now? Should I get closer? If I stayed quiet, he probably wouldn’t wake up. And even if he did, from this distance he had no way to attack me from range. That meant I held the advantage with my long-range weapons.
I silenced my footsteps and crept toward the man. I was approaching from straight ahead—the exact direction he would see the moment he opened his eyes. Yet the man remained dead to the world, snoring away.
Still? He still hadn’t noticed?
I kept my titanium spear leveled and moved closer. He might be pretending to sleep. I stayed ready to counterattack instantly if he tried anything.
“……”
……But nothing happened. It was almost laughably anticlimactic. In the end, I reached right in front of the man without any incident whatsoever.
It was ridiculous. I almost wished he would wake up and attack me first. At least then I could strike without hesitation.
Should I just kill him quietly like this? If there really was a large survivor base deeper inside, and if I intended to fight them, then yes—that was the smart move. It would let me infiltrate and launch a surprise attack.
But what if he was just an innocent survivor? What if he was simply a timid man whose only hobby was setting traps around his hideout?
I stopped at a distance where I could thrust my spear at any moment. Even so, the man continued sleeping with his mouth hanging open.