Chapter 23: Deserted Island, Day 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 23: Deserted Island, Day 1
8
Day one on the deserted island.
Sitting in the shade of the forest to escape the scorching sun, I listened quietly to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.
Come to think of it, how long had it been since I’d last seen the ocean?
Having lived inside a game for five years, I’d never had the chance to visit the sea. So, in a way, I was enjoying an unexpected summer vacation.
Of course, this “vacation” consisted of nothing but a vast, empty beach and a forest.
My phone was dead from being submerged in the water.
Besides, this place seemed to be an island, so it was unlikely I’d get a signal anyway.
And judging by the sun’s position, we were probably on the other side of the world.
The only thing I could do right now was dry my salt-soaked clothes.
Thanks to that, I was now sitting in just my pants, staring blankly at the sea.
Rustle—
A sound from behind made me turn my head.
Si-ho was sitting there in silence.
Her cardigan, school blouse, and skirt were hanging on a tree branch. Dressed only in a t-shirt and shorts, she looked quite pitiful.
Was it because of her small frame?
She kept her eyes fixed on the ground, unable to meet my gaze.
“…I’m sorry.”
“I told you, you don’t have to apologize.”
Another apology escaped Si-ho’s lips.
She seemed to feel an immense sense of guilt for what had happened because of her spatial teleportation.
It was a field she was normally confident in, one where she had never failed, so she appeared all the more disheartened.
She speculated that the blind man in the black glasses had interfered with her space, scrambling the coordinates.
In that case, it wasn't even her fault.
“Besides, it would’ve been much worse if you’d teleported here alone. Imagine how scary it would be to be stranded in a place like this by yourself.”
Si-ho remained silent, her head bowed.
The fact that my jokes weren’t landing showed just how dejected she was.
She had always seemed so self-assured.
It was understandable that she’d be so down.
“How is it now?”
“…Not yet.”
Only a few minutes had passed since the incident.
Si-ho’s spatial ability hadn’t returned yet, which meant we had no choice but to wait until it did.
“Well, can’t be helped. Should we look around the island?”
“The island?”
“It’s not like we have anything else to do, right? And who knows? Maybe people live here.”
People have explored so much of the globe; there couldn’t be that many uncharted islands left.
For all we knew, this could be a tourist spot like the Maldives.
“And our clothes are pretty much dry now.”
The sun was so strong that our clothes had dried quickly.
The lingering salt was a bit uncomfortable, but there was also the risk of mosquito bites.
In a region like this, there was a high chance the mosquitoes carried malaria.
Getting bitten was something we had to avoid at all costs.
As I said this, I stood up and put on my clothes. Si-ho followed me without a word.
Just sitting around wasn’t going to solve anything.
‘More importantly, I want to find a source of water, just in case.’
There was no telling how long it would take for Si-ho’s ability to return, and water was essential for survival.
Both of us had swallowed a lot of seawater, so we were bound to get thirsty.
Under a sun this intense, we could easily get dehydrated.
‘I’m the guardian here. I have to be the one to handle this.’
Si-ho was only nineteen.
Of course, I was only twenty-six myself, but the older person has a responsibility to bear.
“Shall we go?”
I picked up a sturdy-looking branch from nearby, and together, Si-ho and I started heading into the forest.
Using the branch to push aside the undergrowth, we were thankfully able to make decent progress.
“Kyaaah?!”
Suddenly, a scream erupted from behind me.
“Si-ho?!”
Startled, I brandished the branch like a weapon and spun around to protect her, only to freeze on the spot.
Because there was a giant insect on Si-ho’s shoulder.
No, holy crap, even I wanted to scream at that thing.
“Ack! Aaaack! It’s gonna kill me! Si-ho’s gonna die!”
Si-ho shrieked, seemingly in a greater panic than during the teleportation incident. I quickly swatted the bug off with my fist.
A shiver ran down my spine from the squishy, crunching sensation on my hand, but at least the bug was off her shoulder.
Terrified by the insect, Si-ho was trembling uncontrollably. I brushed off her shoulder and said, “It’s okay, Si-ho. The bug is gone now.”
“Hic, sob…”
Si-ho buried her face in my chest, whimpering and sniffling.
Does she regress to a childlike state when she’s scared?
She was so small. I gave a bittersweet smile and patted her on the head until she calmed down.
Then again, if a bug like that landed on my shoulder, I’d probably regress to a child, too.
“Hold onto my shirt. I’ll walk slowly, so let’s keep going.”
We couldn’t stay like this forever. I had Si-ho grab my shirt from behind and started walking forward slowly.
A short while later, I lifted my head, sensing moisture on the wind.
It was different from the salty sea breeze.
I was sure of it. There was water.
I picked up my pace, pushing through the undergrowth, and soon, I could see a small stream flowing between the trees.
It wasn’t very wide, but clean water was running through it.
“Si-ho, it’s water!”
I called out cheerfully, and I felt Si-ho flinch behind me.
When I glanced back, she was looking down, her face bright red.
She seemed incredibly embarrassed about the fuss she’d made over the bug earlier.
Come to think of it, Si-ho usually maintained a very chic demeanor.
After throwing such a tantrum, it was only natural she’d feel that way.
In times like this, it’s best to pretend I didn’t see anything.
I walked over to the stream and dipped my hand in the flowing water.
It felt wonderfully cool against my skin.
‘It should be safe to drink, right?’
Visually, at least, it looked fine.
People in Korea often drink from mountain streams, so in a natural environment like this, it should be even safer.
With that thought, I cupped my hands and took a sip. The thirst in my throat was instantly quenched.
My mouth, which had been caked in salt from the seawater, finally felt alive again.
As I continued to drink, Si-ho hesitantly sat down beside me, cupped her hands, and took a small sip.
Her eyes widened, and a moment later, she began drinking eagerly.
It seemed she had been very thirsty, too.
“I feel alive again.”
“Me too.”
Perhaps refreshed by the water, Si-ho’s expression became much more relaxed.
“Let’s remember this spot and explore just a little more.”
We had found a source of water.
That alone was a significant achievement, so we decided to look around the island a bit more.
Before long, we discovered that the island we were on wasn’t very large.
After walking through the forest for some time, we emerged on the opposite side.
Once again, all we could see was the vast, empty ocean.
The emerald color of the sea was beautiful, but that was all there was.
“Doesn’t seem like anyone lives here.”
“No, the island is too small.”
I had hoped it might be a tourist destination, but an island of this size was probably too small to even appear on a map.
Though I felt a little disappointed, I didn’t let it bother me too much.
Since the island was small, it was unlikely to have any large predators.
Besides, most animals wouldn’t pose a threat to a hunter like Si-ho.
Her spatial ability might be on the fritz, but her physical capabilities were still those of a hunter.
To be honest, even though I was her guardian, it was more likely that she would be the one protecting me.
I was just a civilian, after all.
“Let’s rest for a bit.”
My ankles were a little sore from trekking through the undergrowth.
When I suggested a break, Si-ho nodded, and we sat down in the shade.
Now that we had explored the entire island, we were suddenly out of things to do.
I considered looking for something to eat, but I couldn’t tell what was edible and what wasn’t.
One wrong move could lead to a bigger disaster, so I decided to only search for food if we were truly desperate.
‘They say a person can survive for ten days without food.’
Since we had water, there was no need to rush.
The chances of Si-ho’s ability returning before then were much higher.
“Si-ho, there’s something I’ve been curious about.”
I decided to use the spare time to talk with her.
As I spoke, her gaze turned toward me, and I asked the question that had been on my mind.
“You’re not an A-rank hunter, are you?”
Si-ho had definitely been introduced as an A-rank spatial ability user.
But no matter how skilled, an A-rank hunter couldn’t teleport to the other side of the planet.
At best, they could move within Korea. There were no A-rank hunters capable of teleporting such a massive distance without any strain.
That’s why I concluded that Si-ho wasn’t an A-rank hunter.
Like her brother, she was most likely S-rank.
“Were you hiding it on purpose?”
When I asked again, she looked hesitant.
Then, as if deciding there was no point in hiding it any longer now that I’d figured it out, she opened her mouth.
“No. That’s just what the hunter evaluation said. So I didn’t say anything.”
The hunter evaluation.
That part struck me as odd, too.
Did that mean that at the time of her evaluation, she hadn’t been strong enough to be measured as S-rank?
“You have your reasons, I see.”
Those two returnees had been targeting Si-ho.
Orjia had called them returnees, so that much was certain.
Why would two people like that be after Si-ho?
It must be because she possessed some kind of special power.
“Honestly, there’s a lot I’m curious about. Like why you were in the forest in the middle of the night.”
There were more than a few strange things about Si-ho.
“But it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”
However, I didn’t press her for details.
She and I had only just gotten to know each other.
There was nothing to be gained by prying into matters she was uncomfortable discussing.
At most, it would only satisfy my own curiosity.
“We haven’t known each other for long. We can talk about it later, when you’re ready.”
As her manager, I wanted to maintain a good relationship with her, not create an awkward one.
Hearing this, Si-ho was silent for a moment before leaning her head back against a tree with a soft thud.
“…Will you listen to my story?”
The moment she spoke those words, I quietly nodded.
Honestly, I was dying of curiosity.
9
Girasung.
A group of returnees who committed various crimes for reasons unknown.
Their criminal activities had led to countless clashes with the World Returnee Association, making the two organizations sworn enemies.
And recently, Girasung had been making some strange moves.
They were using laptops and phones to display some kind of gate, triggering dimensional phenomena.
While no dangerously high-level dimensional entities had crossed over so far, their actions were becoming a major headache for every nation.
As a result, countless returnees from the Association were scouring the globe, and the situation between Girasung and the Association was on the brink of all-out war.
And the face of Baek Seol-hyang, the chairperson of the World Returnee Association, was harder than ever.
It was because of what she had heard from the returnee, Orjia.
“Iron-Blood!”
At that moment, the door was thrown open and a person stormed in.
Her clothes were splattered with blood, but she paid it no mind, her eyes blazing.
“What about Domi-oppa?! What happened! Tell me, now!”
Her face, twisted with fury, was like that of a fearsome demon.
The Heavenly Demon, Cheon Hong-ryeon.
Though she was currently in the body of the earthling Shin So-ra, she had just returned from a battle with a Girasung returnee.
All she had heard was that Domi—Kang Ha-chan—had been caught up in a spatial teleportation used by Ha Si-ho.
The moment she heard the news, she had rushed here all the way from Gangwon Province.
“Please be quiet. We are looking into it.”
With those words, she turned her gaze to the old woman sitting before her.
She was none other than the Mountain Spirit Matron, whose clairvoyance extended across the world.
Realizing that she was the one searching for Ha-chan, Cheon Hong-ryeon grit her teeth and clenched her fists.
“Where’s Orjia? I need to hear what she has to say.”
“She is currently resting and receiving treatment after her engagement with the Girasung returnee. You will hear the report from me.”
Baek Seol-hyang pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose, trying to regain her composure.
She was struggling so hard to suppress her own emotions; she was almost envious that the other woman could just let hers explode so freely.
‘If anything happens to Ha-chan…’
She bit her lip hard.
Anxiety and dread once again crept into her heart.
“Hey, your Crown is showing.”
“…A mistake.”
At Cheon Hong-ryeon’s remark, she forced her emotions back under control.
The silver crown that had materialized above her head vanished once more. She took a deep breath and began to speak.
“We have identified two Girasung returnees. One is Sobolev Catherine, a Russian with lightning-based abilities and a former soldier. The other is Aoki Kaito, a blind Japanese man who is an illusion and spatial user.”
The moment she heard “Girasung” and “blind man,” Cheon Hong-ryeon froze, as if she remembered something.
“This Aoki Kaito guy, does he wear black glasses and a school uniform?”
“Yes, that’s right. He’s the Girasung returnee you mentioned before.”
“That son of a bitch.”
Magi began to seep from Cheon Hong-ryeon’s body.
Watching her eyes turn crimson, Baek Seol-hyang turned her head toward the Mountain Spirit Matron.
“Mr. Ha-chan is the priority right now, not people like him. However.”
As she spoke, Baek Seol-hyang’s expression grew colder than ever before.
She was the very image of the Iron-Blooded Empress, exuding an aura so intimidating that even the Heavenly Demon, Cheon Hong-ryeon, felt a sense of pressure.
“When this is over, I will annihilate Girasung.”
A murderous glint shone in her blue eyes.
But as soon as she thought of Ha-chan, the killing intent in her eyes was replaced by deep worry.
‘He has to be okay.’
Could this incident become the trigger?
Gripped by that fear, she prayed desperately for Ha-chan’s safety.