Castaway: Baek Jaeseong-3

True to the South Sea, islands were scattered all around us. Laid out at easy intervals across a sea that flashed with reflected sunlight, they made a spectacular sight. Each island filling our open view flaunted a beauty of its own, and with so many still wearing landscapes no human hand had touched, there was real pleasure in looking.

Jisu snapped photos of the water this way and that on her phone, as if she meant to post them as her profile picture.

"That's Biwido Island over there. Nothing but rock—a stone island through and through. Fish gather in droves among the reefs around it, so it's a famous spot among anglers."

The guesthouse-owner bastard pointed here and there across the water, playing tour guide in a bid to thaw the boat's frigid atmosphere. It didn't melt so much as a degree. The whole mess was his own damn fault.

His attempt to clean up after himself was almost admirable, but the wrecked mood showed no sign of recovering. The invisible war of nerves between me and that hunter bastard was still going strong.

Even in that icy atmosphere, Jisu kept sightseeing in earnest, her eyes shining. The owner, sweating bullets, cast a look of salvation toward the only one among us who still looked like a tourist.

Drive the damn boat, you idiot.

"Wow, fishing? That sounds fun."

"But it's a dangerous place, so accidents happen every year. The current running through those reefs is pretty strong. One wrong step and you're gone."

Jisu was the only one actually listening to him.

I stared endlessly out past the horizon, while that insufferable hunter bastard, apparently bored of the scenery, was watching some video on his phone. Still, Jisu's conversation with the owner loosened the boat's frozen mood a little.

"Do monsters ever show up around here?"

"The Hunter Association runs suppression operations on a regular schedule. Even so, every few years a dungeon or a monster appears without warning, and people die. The Association ran a suppression around this time last year, so the next one's about due."

"Is that so? Do a lot of people die?"

"Not that many. More anglers die from simply losing their footing, actually. Ah—speaking of monsters, that reminds me of a story. Every few years, they say a ghost boat turns up around here."

The story was interesting enough that I found myself listening in spite of myself.

"A ghost boat!?"

"That's right. Every so often, an unmanned boat gets carried in on the current and washes up on an inhabited island. Nothing supernatural about it, of course—the owner probably got taken by a monster. The monster snatches the person and leaves the boat to drift. Haha! It's just a rumor, though. I couldn't tell you if it's true. I've never seen one myself."

Wiiiiing!

The boat sliced through the sea, surging forward with a clean, bracing rush. It was refreshing enough to unravel every tangled thought in my head and melt the thick knot in my chest in a single stroke. The scenery whipping away behind us only sharpened the sense of speed.

"The weather's so clear. The view is gorgeous."

Jisu looked at me as she said it. She was right—nothing obstructed our sight.

"Yeah, it really is. A view that actually makes your chest swell with—huh?"

Something alien caught my eye beyond the horizon. An artificial motion, visible against the glass-bright surface of the water. I sharpened my gaze and looked again.

"Jisu. Doesn't that look weird over there?"

I tapped her shoulder and pointed. Jisu, who'd been chatting cheerfully with the owner, followed my finger.

The sea stretched out there, a deep, vivid blue—and the water was spinning around something. It looked like the whirlpool you get when you pull the plug in a bathtub, sitting right in the middle of the ocean.

"Huh!? That really is weird. Oppa, what is that?"

"Sir. What is that over there?"

I asked the guesthouse owner, the one among us with the most local knowledge, about the unidentified whirlpool. His eyesight apparently wasn't up to it; he squinted in the direction I was pointing.

"I can't quite see it. What are you looking at?"

"Over there... at the far end. Something like a whirlpool has formed."

"A-a whirlpool, you said!?"

The owner shot the question back in a voice loud enough to jump his own heart out of his chest. His body shook like a man who'd seen a ghost, cold sweat pouring down him. Something was wrong.

"A whirlpool! That's a sign of a monster appearing! Don't tell me a new dungeon has formed nearby!? I-I'm turning the boat around."

The owner trembled like an aspen as he wrenched the wheel. Our boat carved through the water in something like a drift, swinging its bow around. Seawater sloshed over the seats as a result.

"Ah! Fuck! How do you even drive!?"

The hunter bastard, who'd been watching a drama with earbuds in, hadn't grasped the situation. He shook out his wet hair and snapped at the owner. His girlfriend filled him in.

"Th-they say a monster showed up?"

"What? A monster?"

The man's face went rigid. Even a Dungeon Hunter would find meeting a monster at sea an ugly situation—unless he'd been trained for that kind of work.

He swallowed hard, staring at the ominous whirlpool, then barked at the owner beside him.

"T-turn the boat around! As fast as you can!"

"I am!"

Our boat raced back far faster than it had come. But something was cutting through the water from the unidentified whirlpool, closing on us. All that showed above the surface was bubbling foam; I couldn't make out what it was. And it was a lot faster than our boat.

"Something's coming."

"Hiiiik! That's—don't tell me that's an Arrow Shark!? Aigoo! To see one of those in my lifetime!"

The moment it closed to within ten meters of our boat, a monster with a massive body burst up from beneath the surface. It came down on us in a violent spray of water.

True to the name Arrow Shark, it was a grotesque shark with a snout shaped like a sharp arrow. The body was about two meters long and maybe seventy or eighty centimeters thick, the whole of it a sleek, streamlined form. It had turned that enormous body into a single arrow and hurled itself at us.

"Holy Gauntlet."

Brilliant light gathered around both ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my fists, forming a pair of gauntlets that sheathed my hands.

I kicked off the boat and leapt. The recoil sent the boat rocking hard.

THUD!

I struck the Arrow Shark's jaw dead-on as it dropped toward us. A heavy impact punched through the Holy Gauntlets and into my hands.

Its hide was hard as steel. An attack that used its own body weight as a hammer was plenty threatening—but luckily, it wasn't my match.

The Arrow Shark I'd punched dropped straight into the sea. It floated belly-up like a dead fish.

I landed back on the boat.

"Oh, come on. There's a few too many of them."

I'd dealt with one Arrow Shark, but dozens more were closing on us. Sharks or not, they hunted in packs like flying fish, chasing us down. The bubbling foam on the surface looked downright terrifying.

The owner drove in a panic, but the boat was already at top speed.

"Fuck! Nobody said it was dangerous!"

"Th-this is a first for me too!"

The hunter bastard snapped at the owner. Snapping wasn't going to solve anything.

"We have to fight for now! We're already surrounded!"

The Arrow Sharks encircled us faster than the boat itself. Jisu pulled a survival knife from her bag. The longsword she normally used was back at the house.

Jisu's ability was Sword Mastery. It granted innate talent with every kind of blade, but what she'd trained ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with was a longsword. Right now, her combat power was honestly less than forty percent.

"Hey. You get ready too."

"F-fuck! Don't talk down to me!"

When I snapped at the hunter bastard in the front seat, he got up in a temper. Insufferable as he was, we needed to cooperate for now.

"What's your ability?"

"......Werewolf."

Werewolf.

I'd heard of it. An enhancement-type ability—literally transforming into a lycanthrope. A powerful ability that covered both damage and tanking, though I had no idea how well it would perform on the water.

"They're coming again!"

This time three Arrow Sharks shot at us from three directions at once.

I channeled mana and used a newly learned skill: Light Saber.

Light rode up through the grip of my right hand and formed a thin, rod-like shape. Those fragments of light soon resolved into a sleek longsword. A sacred blade, the kind a righteous hero in a fantasy novel might wield, took shape in my hand. I held it out to Jisu.

"Jisu. Take it."

"Yes!"

Jisu leapt high the way I had a moment ago and caught the sword. Three Arrow Sharks poured down on her.

Jisu didn't flinch. She tightened her grip. A fierce current of mana rose from her heart.

She lifted the sword high overhead and leaned her body forward. Her mana sank powerfully into the Light Saber I'd given her. Maybe because she'd handled my meat sword so often, her power and my blade blended together seamlessly.

"Revolving Sword."

Jisu's body tumbled through the air in a continuous series of somersaults. The mana-wreathed blade became a spinning edge of razors and shredded all three Arrow Sharks to pieces.

Red ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blood sprayed through the air, and mangled scraps of flesh dropped onto the boat.

"Kyaaah!"

The girl in the purple bikini clapped her hands over her head and flattened herself as if an earthquake had hit. In a situation like this, that was honestly the better call.

I fired Holy Arrows at the Arrow Sharks swimming toward us, churning up foam beneath the surface. But they were extremely agile underwater.

A few arrows found their mark, but most missed. As I thought—I needed to hit them when they came up.

THUD!

"Gyaaah! They're trying to smash the boat!"

The boat heaved hard from left to right. Having figured out that coming above water wasn't working, the bastards had started using their heads.

THUD!

This time it rocked from right to left. Fortunately the boat was sturdy enough that it didn't hole immediately, but if those brainless monsters kept at it, it wouldn't last long.

"O-oppa! Do something!"

The girl in the purple bikini clung to her boyfriend, tears and snot running. Not that he had any brilliant plan either.

THUD!

"Kyaaaaah!"

"Damn it! Shut up for a second!"

The hunter bastard bellowed, apparently more annoyed by his girlfriend's screaming than anything else, and tried to take stock.

Dozens of Arrow Sharks had already gathered around us. It was only a matter of time before the boat went down.

"Hweeehng! I don't want to die like this! Hunters! Please, do something!"

The owner wailed like a baby, drowning in despair. The only people on the boat still keeping their composure were Jisu and me.

Jisu whispered to me.

"What do we do? We're at a disadvantage here."

She was right. Fighting marine monsters at sea was like going up against a fundamental absurdity. That didn't mean there was no way at all, of course.

"Looks like I'll have to use Water Control."

What I needed right now wasn't Light Control—it was Water Control. In an environment drowning in water on every side, an ability ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that commanded water would be at peak efficiency. If I'd brought Sujin along, this would've been a lot easier.

I glanced at the others. I'd rather not let anyone else know I had multiple abilities if I could help it. That would definitely drag me into annoying trouble. My women were the exception, of course.

"I'll jump in and fight. Jisu, watch the boat while I'm gone."

"Will you be okay? They're marine monsters."

"Don't worry. Just trust oppa."

I reassured her with the least trustworthy words in the world.

I'd more or less gauged the Arrow Sharks' level. They were so boring I wanted to die.

"I'll be right back."

I threw myself into the sea in a diving pose, splashing down.

The moment I entered the water, the dozens of Arrow Sharks circling the boat all turned toward me. They shot at me at tremendous speed, like a school of flying fish. Their agility underwater was on a completely different level from above.

I used Jet Stream, a skill that fired a jet of water at tremendous pressure. I was underwater right now, and water was everywhere.

Jet Stream carved a massive current through the sea, something like the wash off a steamship's propeller. The force of that current was more than enough to halt sharks two meters long.

Salt-heavy seawater doesn't freeze easily—but that doesn't mean it never freezes. One look at photos of the Arctic will tell you that.

Icing was a skill that dropped a liquid's temperature so sharply it froze in an instant. The Arrow Sharks driven back by Jet Stream became frozen fish in a heartbeat. They bobbed to the surface like ice cubes in a soda. Jisu could handle them from there.

Even I had to admit it: the power I'd grown through Power of Sex was astonishing.