Buried Alive: The Cave's Deadly Collapse
Day five years and eight on the deserted island. Lee Seong-un snapped awake as the entire cave shuddered with vibrations.
"What the fuck? What's going on?"
"Wh-what is it?"
Lee Seo-hee and Baek Jin-ah, who had dozed off inhaling his scent at dawn, yelped in hoarse, echoing voices.
"Shut up and stay still."
Lee Seong-un kept his eyes squeezed shut for a long moment before opening them, dodging the faint outlines of objects as he made his way to the cave entrance. A thick, wet earth smell hung in the air ahead.
'Never been blocked by a landslide before. I got too complacent.'
The damp squish underfoot and the wet soil clinging to his hands confirmed it.
"What happened? Hey, say something!"
"Why aren't you talking?!"
Back at the mattress, Lee Seong-un untied the vine rope binding their arms.
"The entrance is buried in mud. If you don't wanna suffocate in here, dig like your life depends on it."
He gave the curt explanation, grabbed a dimly visible palm frond husk, and started scooping out the encroaching wet soil.
"N-no way, you're lying, right?"
Lee Seo-hee screamed it was a lie, but Lee Seong-un snapped back that she should help instead of wasting breath and kept digging.
"...Baek-jjin. This is real, isn't it?"
Baek Jin-ah, who had blamed Lee Seo-hee for drunkenly grabbing the boat's wheel and hogging all the food on day one under Lee Seong-un's threats, muttered it.
"I-I don't know. Let's just dig."
Whether due to his uncharacteristically grim tone and actions, she forgot her resentment, fumbling for tools to scoop dirt.
Honestly, no idea how much time had passed. They hadn't even eaten since waking before the whole cave shook again, shoving more mud inward through the entrance.
'...This could go on forever.'
Seeing their hard-dug progress undone left him hollow, but wallowing wasn't an option.
"...Fuck."
"I wanna go home...."
Lee Seo-hee and Baek Jin-ah, scraping desperately with palm husks, hit their physical limits. Their ragged, metallic groans echoed as they barely cleared the influx.
"Stop. Come here."
Even digging frantically for survival, they needed to recharge.
"Eat this first."
They eased their hunger with palm fruits and energy bars, taking a brief rest.
"Not digging more dirt?"
Baek Jin-ah grumbled anxiously at the downtime, but he scolded her to follow Lee Seo-hee's example, sprawled shamelessly on the mattress.
"That bitch has nothing in her head, so she's carefree."
He'd anticipated something like this after years on the island, but facing it brought no self-reproach—only detachment.
He agreed they needed to dig faster to survive; ominous tremors from above still pushed soil slowly inward. But skipping rest after filling up risked overload and collapse. He wouldn't chance it.
"Rest."
At least the sealed cave held body heat despite the chill—no wind meant tolerable warmth.
"Hey, give me a hint at least."
"What bullshit."
"You said you'd stop if I guessed who you are."
Her desperate tone amid the life-or-death crisis, probing his identity.
"You got energy to spare, huh? Talking crap like that."
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Well, might be the last chance, so a hint's easy enough."
He wasn't trying to scare her. In the pitch-black cave that might be their tomb, her faintly visible shoulders trembled.
"Ask quick if you wanna. I need sleep."
"What's your name?"
"That's not a hint question, dumbass?"
"...I'm not a dumbass."
Her shamelessness from the start was almost funny.
"If you're not, say 'Please give me a proper hint.'"
"You're hilarious."
"You begged for a hint, now you're bitching."
It felt like yesterday he'd carved a face into a coconut or made an eco-friendly onahole to keep his sanity before they washed up. For once, this back-and-forth felt like real human talk, not one-sided commands. Not bad.
"What, too stupid for your brain to turn?"
"You wanna die for real?"
"Could happen?"
"Loser acting all cocky...."
The old slur stirred nostalgia more than anger.
"How's it feel getting owned by that loser dick?"
"......"
He'd meant to rile her, and it worked; she clamped her mouth shut. Her silhouette rose and flopped onto the mattress.
"Sleep plenty. Gotta dig like maniacs when we wake."
"...Shut your trap. I'm sleeping."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Fucking sarcastic prick...."
With that, two steady breaths turned ragged from the mattress. He joined them, lying against the cave wall and closing his eyes quietly.
Day five years and nine. They kept digging, but the slow influx forced faster pace.
Day five years and ten. Rationing food tightly for rests, but even that felt luxurious.
Day five years and eleven. No more thunder, lightning, or rain beyond the dirt—except mealtimes and sleep, nonstop digging.
Lee Seo-hee had splashed precious freshwater on the mud, making it heavier; her ice-cold feet stalled work.
Day five years and twelve. Rations maxed out sparse, now just eight chocolate pieces and one palm fruit.
Cave spring water filled bellies, but tool-less heavy labor burned calories. Water alone couldn't sustain strength.
'Head's getting dizzy already...'
Air seemed ample at first, but endless toil thinned oxygen.
'Worst case, tomorrow's the end.'
Telling them would spur frenzy, but exhausted Lee Seo-hee and Baek Jin-ah might just quit.
'Can't die like this, but digging's the only way.'
Left: two chocolates, spring water. He should've eaten to dig more, but with stamina to spare, he yielded to them.
They filled on water and resumed.
"Ugh...."
"So tired...."
The sweet chocolate eased their parched mouths enough to drag themselves up and scoop weakly. Mental boost only—digging was half-hearted futility.
'Won't last till tomorrow; today's the crux.'
Even prodding soft soil with his bamboo spear beside him, no faint light pierced the oppressive dark. Weariness gnawed him too.
'Wanna bust a nut one last time before dying.'
Sex as a final sendoff in the dark cave sounded ideal, but his pounding head killed the urge.
Just stab, scoop, stab, scoop—maniacal repetition was all he could cling to.
Crack!
The bamboo spear, dulled by gravel, rocks, and wood chunks, splintered. Other tools had shattered earlier; this last one broke.
'Fuck. I'm beat...'
Wetting his throat with water, he tried again, but futility crashed in.
No satisfaction in their efforts—just regret for wasted strength.
"...Don't wanna die."
"Mom, Dad...."
Lee Seo-hee and Baek Jin-ah slumped mid-dig, wheezing faint breaths.
Regret piled in his spinning head: should've eaten the chocolate himself.
As oxygen thinned, memories flashed—a painting he'd seen: two men with pickaxes. One pushed to diamonds; the other quit one swing short.
"Hey... get up, don't just lie there."
The parallel fueled absurd strength. Maybe one more scoop reveals outside—he clawed soft soil barehanded.
Tool-less agony burned: nails snagging gravel, splinters stabbing, soil cascading back.
Dodge collapses, dig, scoop, repeat. Fingers numb in delirium, but vivid nail-flips and searing wounds jolted fading awareness.
Hot fingertips hit damp soil, then cold liquid—he yanked back as pressure and vibration clamped his arm.
Instinct saved him; the massive ceiling-clogging mud mass churned violently.
He scooped up the sprawled Lee Seo-hee and Baek Jin-ah under each arm and barely sprinted deeper into the cave.