Flower of Snow (2)
I finished the frame of the cabin in eight hours. I set up four neatly shaved main beams and laid down the floor. It looked empty, but it was half-finished.
"...It should take about another day."
This was a monologue intended for the viewers.
Half a day should be plenty. In construction, the foundation work is always the hardest and takes the longest. Besides, the tools I'm using are incredibly good. I can get ten times the efficiency with only a tenth of the effort I'd normally need.
"For now..."
Let's stop here.
I slumped down onto a tree stump.
Crackle, crackle. Warming myself by the campfire I had built earlier, I placed a frying pan over the flames. Once the pan was sufficiently heated, I tore off some pork belly and tossed it in.
Sssssssss—
In a situation like this, pork belly was perfect. Its calorie-to-mass ratio was vastly superior to other meats.
Watching the pork belly sizzle, I held my breath for a moment.
Suddenly, fine powder drifted down in tiny specks. I quietly looked up.
Snowflakes drifted down serenely from the pure white sky. Some caught on the tree branches, blending into nature, while others touched the ground, piling up softly.
It was a hazy, ethereal landscape. It felt as if time had stopped. As if the entire world were drifting away from me...
"..."
Without a word, I flipped the meat. The seared side was an artistic shade of brown. A perfect Maillard reaction.
In the past, there had been similar situations. Deserts. Snowfields. The Arctic. Glaciers. Underground. Coal mines. I hadn't been picky. None of us had. Because those kinds of things were our training.
Unconsciously, I looked across from me.
It still felt like he was sitting right there. Like he was staring into the frying pan, drooling.
“Hey, Ha-woon. Isn't this fully cooked yet?”
To Seo Ji-hyuk, who would ask while flapping his arms, I would reply:
"Not yet."
“No way, cut the crap. You always say 'not yet.' No matter how I look at it, it's done.”
A shadow, grown long before I knew it, cast itself over his empty spot. A faint smile slipped past my lips.
"Just wait a little longer."
You idiot.
Seo Ji-hyuk, who used to chuckle at those words, was no longer in this world.
I would never see his smile again.
Gritting my teeth, I lowered my head. I flipped the pork belly again, pretending to inspect it closely.
It was perfectly cooked.
There was no need for scissors here. Properly cooked meat is done all the way through, even without being cut.
I picked up the whole slab of pork belly with my tongs and bit right into it. Juices burst from the cut.
"...It's delicious."
Was it because of the scenery? Or was it because it was after hard labor?
Or was it because I was thinking of you?
I pulled out the dog tags I wore like a necklace.
I always wore them, but they weren't actually mine.
It was my comrade's last request. A dying wish to deliver his dog tags to his sister.
I was seeing his sister right in front of my eyes, yet I couldn't bring myself to hand this over.
To some extent, it was because I was afraid.
I didn't know why.
I just didn't know.
Because I didn't even understand myself.
"...Man, he really makes it look delicious."
This was the group monitoring room, where the production staff sat in front of dozens of monitors, each assigned to a single explorer. Kim A-rang was watching Seol Ha-woon in the middle of his pork belly mukbang.
"Gulp."
She unconsciously smacked her lips. The meat was cooked perfectly even. He had grilled it beautifully.
Throwing some kimchi onto that pork fat would have been the icing on the cake, but unfortunately, there was no kimchi—likely due to its low caloric efficiency.
"I know, right? We could literally just broadcast this as a mukbang. Wow... he's just tearing into it."
The youngest writer also swallowed hard.
The sight of him picking up a whole strip of pork belly with tongs and tearing it apart with his teeth would easily net over ten million views if released as a short-form video.
The youngest writer pressed her temples.
"This is driving me crazy. PD-nim, let's go eat Seol Ha-woon—no, I mean, pork belly today."
"We have to. Absolutely."
Just as they were discussing dinner, PD Im Hyeong-uk slinked up from behind.
"What's this? Are you on Seol Ha-woon again, PD Kim?"
He snorted as he looked at Kim A-rang's screen. Kim A-rang gave a curt reply.
"Yeah."
"I mean, why do you keep obsessing over the guy ranked 96th?"
This Im Hyeong-uk guy was always like this. Ever since they joined the company together as rookies, he had constantly tried to keep her in check.
Kim A-rang calmly pointed at the screen.
"Take a look yourself. Seol Ha-woon's character is actually pretty good."
"He's dead last. What's adding 'UDT' to the last-place guy going to do?"
"Sure, you go ahead and keep thinking that."
Seol Ha-woon was entangled in quite a few narratives. For starters, he was the man recognized by the favorite to win, Kang Hyun. He was also the mentor figure to Im Hae-jun, who had high potential but lacked mental fortitude. And just a moment ago, during the shopping segment, a rather captivating scene had played out.
To Seo Ji-woo, whose eyes had been glued to luxury items, he had tossed a handbag filled with various survival goods, casually muttering a single line:
It's cold outside.
"Well, I guess if PD Kim pushes him, he might make it up to 40th place. He is your right-hand man, after all."
Kim A-rang let Im Hyeong-uk's sarcasm go in one ear and out the other.
Just then, Chief PD Yoon Sa-hyeok returned from a stroll.
"Oh! Welcome back, PD-nim!"
Im Hyeong-uk quickly bowed. Kim A-rang shook her head.
That's exactly why you can't be his right-hand man. Yoon Sa-hyeok was not a man who appreciated flattery. He preferred someone who would work tirelessly without sleep, even if they slapped him in the face.
"How's it going?"
Yoon Sa-hyeok asked Im Hyeong-uk.
"Yes, everything is fine. You finished editing and reviewing episode 4, right?"
Yoon Sa-hyeok nodded. As he said, the premiere of Labyrinth Exploration NaN was just around the corner. It was the reason her heart occasionally squeezed with anxiety even while monitoring.
"PD-nim, you've really worked so hard. I heard you were even called to the parliamentary audit this time..."
"Hard work, my foot. Go back to work."
"Ah, yes sir."
It wasn't "go rest," but "go work." Classic Yoon Sa-hyeok.
Sipping his mix coffee, he stood behind Kim A-rang.
"You're watching Seol Ha-woon. How is he?"
"...PD-nim. May I dare to say something?"
Kim A-rang looked up at Yoon Sa-hyeok. A furrow of deep sincerity formed between her brows.
Yoon Sa-hyeok raised an eyebrow, signaling her to speak.
"You should keep an eye on Seol Ha-woon too, PD-nim."
"Hmm... and why should I do that?"
Yoon Sa-hyeok always asked fundamental questions. He dug into the causes of results and the basis of arguments. On the other hand, Kim A-rang was a highly intuitive person.
They were completely different, but perhaps that was exactly why they created such synergy.
"Because you might find yourself wanting to change your top pick."
At that, a faint smile appeared on Yoon Sa-hyeok's lips.
"Alright. I'll keep an eye on him when I have time."
Yoon Sa-hyeok was not one for empty words. Saying he would watch when he had time meant he truly would do so the moment he found a spare second.
"Yes. Keep up the good work."
"You too, PD Kim. You're not going home, right?"
"...I've already moved all my daily necessities into the night-duty room."
The fifteen-day Survival Labyrinth.
It would make up at most two episodes, maybe two and a half to three at the longest, but the production team had to suffer for fifteen days straight for that footage. On top of that, the runtime per episode was going to be massive, ranging between two to three hours.
"Hang in there."
Yoon Sa-hyeok sat back down at his desk to resume his work, and on the screen, Seol Ha-woon likewise resumed his construction.
"It really looks like he's trying to build a house..."
Can he actually build it?
As if reading her thoughts, Seol Ha-woon spoke.
—It should take about another day.
A snowy mountain where the horizon blurred into the sky. Seo Ji-woo was crouched low, glaring at something. In her line of sight, a deer with twitching ears came into view.
Gulp.
Smacking her lips, Seo Ji-woo gathered mana in her hands.
This was her daily bread—or rather, a beast she desperately hoped would become it.
Whoosh!
She wove a lasso of mana and shot it forward. But her fingertips trembled.
"Ugh!"
The deer bolted as the lasso whipped through empty air.
"Ah, damn it."
It was because of her hands. It had already been twenty hours. Exposed to the blizzard, her hands were practically frostbitten.
Even the gloves she had woven with spellcraft were useless now, as they generated no heat.
To begin with, a spell designed to generate heat in a place completely devoid of a heat source had an efficiency close to zero.
Many people mistakenly believed that spellcraft was a miracle that created something out of nothing. In reality, it was closer to a miracle that amplified what was already there.
"...My hands are going to shatter at this rate."
She grit her teeth.
She couldn't let herself suffer over this level of pain. Her brother had endured far worse trials. Right now, she was just slightly short on funds and a little cold.
"I have no choice."
In the end, Seo Ji-woo pulled out the handbag at her waist. The bag Seol Ha-woon had suddenly thrown at her along with the words, It's cold outside.
Her pride had kept her from even opening it until now, but she was in no position to be picky.
"...!"
The moment she peeked inside, she saw a pair of gloves. Seo Ji-woo quickly pulled them on. She overlaid them with threads of mana. This would vastly amplify their cold protection.
"I'm saved..."
Looking further inside, she found emergency rations, chocolate, matches, oil, and even a mini burner and a pot.
Seo Ji-woo unconsciously let out a silly grin, but suspicion quickly crept in.
"Wait a minute, though."
Why on earth did he give this to me?
Suddenly, Yun Hwa-rim's voice replayed in her head:
“I'm telling you, Ji-woo, he likes you.”
Come to think of it, ever since the third qualifiers, Seol Ha-woon had been doing things that seemed designed to catch her attention. Saying things like "half-right" or "half-wrong."
...No way, right?
Seo Ji-woo pulled a piece of chocolate from the bag and popped it into her mouth.
"Ahhh..."
The chocolate melted on her tongue. The sensation of her entire body absorbing that tiny burst of high calories felt like heaven.
Reinvigorated by the sugar rush, Seo Ji-woo pulled herself together.
She absolutely had to succeed in her hunt.
Zzzzz...
Thirty hours had passed in the Survival Labyrinth. Im Hae-jun was still asleep. He had been sleeping continuously ever since he built his dugout. It seemed he was trying to endure the labyrinth solely through sleep, which wasn't entirely a bad survival strategy.
Im Hae-jun's carrier was already packed with high-calorie food. If he minimized his waking hours and remained still, he might actually survive for quite a while.
In fact, he didn't toss or turn at all, looking exactly like a hibernating squirrel. His small frame only added to the resemblance.
...
Suddenly, Im Hae-jun's eyes snapped open.
"Oh, he's awake."
The writer in charge of monitoring him muttered with half-asleep eyes.
It was his first time opening his eyes in fourteen hours, but to the writer's disappointment, Im Hae-jun merely moved his body blankly to open his carrier and stuff high-calorie foods, including chocolate, straight into his mouth. It was clear his brain was still asleep.
Gulp.
Swallowing after barely chewing, he lay flat on his back and fell right back to sleep.
"...Well, that's certainly convenient."
The writer let out a yawn and sank back into his chair.
Just as he was about to follow Im Hae-jun's lead and drift off to sleep...
Ooh!
Suddenly, a strange cheer erupted from nearby.
"...?"
The writer turned toward the source of the noise. It was PD Kim A-rang's desk. Other PDs and staff members were gathering behind her, looking on.
What are they doing?
Exhausted by fourteen hours of watching a sleep broadcast, the writer stretched and stood up.