Desert Island Survival # 4
Desert Island Survival # 4
"Heh heh heh, yes. I taught him."
"What!"
I spun a little bullshit just to mess with him, and Ryu, who's hyper-sensitive about this stuff, immediately rounded on me with bulging eyes.
This guy is openly burning with rivalry toward Si-hoo. Wait—who actually won that cadet battle, anyway? I never asked. Something to find out from Si-hoo later.
"I taught Lee Si-hoo a secret technique to make him stronger. Ryu Cheon-hwi, the fact that you fell victim to that skill... it was unexpected, but entirely plausible."
"You...! Teaching Lee Si-hoo such vulgar skills!"
This son of a bitch?
Calling my ultimate technique, War Cry, vulgar?
"Ha! Even so, leaning on a Scream Man like you... that's proof that Lee Si-hoo's limits are clear!"
"Oh, sure. So, dear Ryu, you're telling me that for all your talk, you lost to Si-hoo? Kikikik."
"Shut up! I'll win next time!"
"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna enjoy watching. Man, I can't wait to see who wins next."
"Your anticipation means nothing!"
—Swish!
With that shout, Ryu stomped over to the other side and flopped down on the spot. This guy really is impossible to read.
He's a riot.
Well, whatever.
—Creeeak.
"Huh?"
Woo Yu-ri's here too.
I was about to say something, but Yu-ri spotted me first and waved.
"Oh, what's this? Kim Geun-cheol? When'd you get eliminated?"
"About thirty minutes ago. But Woo Yu-ri, you got eliminated? How?"
"Ha, I swear. Leona got me. Damn it, man."
—Slide.
Yu-ri scratched the back of his head and plopped down beside me.
"What, you got taken out by Leona?"
"No, Leona was camouflaging like some special ops soldier. The bastard just burst out of nowhere, ambushed me, stole first strike, and—ugh."
Yu-ri sounded genuinely frustrated as he explained. Clearly, he'd wanted a proper fight with Leona.
Everybody has that competitive streak.
"She just cleaned me out. Ah, for real. So damn frustrating. I really wanted to go head-to-head with Leona. I mean, who hides that hard? Completely suppressed her aura, too—couldn't read her at all. I went down in like a few hits...! Argh, this is a blow to my pride."
Now he's raking his hair, full-body regret.
"Heh heh heh, Yu-ri's really kicking himself over it, huh."
"Seriously, yeah."
"Actually, I got taken out by Leona too..."
"What? You too?"
"Yeah. Some special forces commando jumped me out of the bushes."
"Right?! I'm saying. She went full-on tactical."
Yu-ri wouldn't stop marveling at it—must've shaken him pretty badly.
"Heard she trained when she was young. She was textbook."
"Then there's no winning that. I did some combat training when I was a kid too, but Leona's from European nobility, right? She probably learned way more than me. Probably."
We whiled away the time talking about Leona like that.
"Anyway, did you get a kill?"
"Yeah. One Victory Point. Who the hell do you think trained me."
"Oh. Look at Kim Geun-cheol. All that teaching paid off, huh?"
Yu-ri grinned, sounding almost proud, and clapped me on the back. Even though he hasn't really taught me anything serious yet.
Ah, but my swordsmanship actually did level up a little. It'd be nice to show him and get his opinion.
"Anyway, who'd you take out?"
"Mun Min."
"Ah. Mun Min."
"Yeah."
Yu-ri reacted a bit carefully to that. But I'd already made up with Mun Min during the fight earlier. No hard feelings now.
"Now that I look at you, Kim Geun-cheol... you seem kinda drained. What, you feeling bad about taking Mun Min down?"
"Nah. We already made up while we were fighting."
"Oh, you did? Good for you. Well, sometimes the best way to settle things is to fight it out. But then what's your deal? Why do you look so wrecked?"
"Well, it's..."
I got the urge to spill my guts again!
So I told Yu-ri everything that had happened. After listening to the whole story, Yu-ri went, uh, basically—
"Ugh, uhm. Hey, hey! What kind of grown-ass man worries over crap like that! You were saving your friend and it was an accident—that's all that matters!"
He cheered me up way more coolly than I expected!
—Thwack thwack!
Slapped me on the back while doing it, too!
"S-So that's how it is?"
"What else would it be? The second you saw your buddy got bit by a snake, you threw yourself into it like that—that makes you a damn good friend. The hell is a Scream Man like you doing agonizing over that. Honestly."
Right!
If anything, it was a good thing!
"Thanks, Yu-ri! Listening to you kinda lifts the weight off!"
"Yeah but how'd you get his thigh, though—"
"Fuck off."
"Joking, joking."
"Oh, right. Yu-ri. I think my swordsmanship suddenly kinda—boof—shot up during that fight with Mun Min?"
"What? Bullshit. You're the guy who screams the second he sees a sword coming at him."
"For real, though?"
"Then let me see it next time. This bastard... maybe you're a real-combat type?"
Seems like it.
Anyway, that's how I spent the time chatting with Yu-ri. But seriously, how long do we have to stay at this elimination dorm?
* * *
The next day.
The final winner of the Desert Island Survival was Leona.
"Fufufu, an utterly predictable result. As class president, I must be the strongest. Still, everyone worked very hard!"
She's absolutely over the moon. Her face shone with such pure, honest joy that she practically had a halo.
Now that is what you call a goddess.
"A truly flawless strategy, Leona. Concealing yourself through thorough camouflage and eliminating all villains by ambush. That's a method active heroes would use. Outstanding."
Instructor Lee So-ra praised Leona as well.
"Well, in a place like this, you have to know how to use the terrain. Still, Lee Si-hoo was a formidable opponent."
"Ugh... to fall to an ambush."
Si-hoo is... yeah. Apparently, at the very end, he couldn't withstand Leona's ambush and went down. The two of them were the last ones standing, and Leona won.
Anyway, Instructor Lee So-ra's lesson began.
How to fight in forested terrain like this. How you should go about surviving. Leona was the textbook example, and we were taught to camouflage ourselves and suppress our mana like her in future scenarios.
The instruction wrapped up like that, and break time came.
Today was a rest day.
I came back to the dorm, washed up, and was lying blankly on the bed when—
"U-Um...?"
Here it comes.
Si-hoo, who'd been silently staring at the TV, spoke up.
"H-Hey, Geun-cheol?"
"Uh... Si-hoo."
I sat straight up.
No.
No, seriously, fuck.
Why is this so awkward.
I just couldn't take it—it was so mortifying and excruciating. Sure, I'd gotten a bit of consolation from Yu-ri yesterday... but now I had officially become the Guy Who Sucked His Friend's Thigh. Thigh-sucking piece of garbage! How am I supposed to live my life now that I've gone and sucked my friend's thigh!
I absolutely could not look Si-hoo in the face!
"Geun-cheol...! Stop dodging my eyes, it's painful for me too, you know!"
Si-hoo shouted, face bright red.
"W-Well."
"But still! About yesterday, um, I mean."
Si-hoo had been stammering.
—Step.
He moved closer and said quietly.
"C-Can we forget about it? Mutually."
"Forget it?"
Can you forget something like that?
That painful memory is going to follow me forever! If only Si-hoo were a pretty girl! It would've been a fond memory! But he's not!
"You did that to save me, Geun-cheol... so, u-uhm. Honestly, it's still a bit weird, but... I think we can... let it go. As long as only we forget, nobody else knows. Let's bury it in the dark, Geun-cheol."
I mean—
"Si-hoo."
"Yeah?"
"Right now I feel like I'm gonna die. Honestly, I think I need counseling."
"No! We just have to keep our mouths shut!"
"Actually, I already told Leona and Yu-ri everything. There's no running now."
"Why would you tell them?!"
"But! I needed to tell somebody! I just wanted counseling!"
"Nooooo! Geun-cheol, you—! Isn't that going too far?!"
"No, I—!"
"I'm over here trying to be okay with it! And you're just—!"
"Ah, sorry!"
Right!
Si-hoo is putting in the effort to overcome this ordeal! But instead of overcoming it, I'm just wallowing in even more agony!
"Now that I think about it, yeah. You're trying to get past it, and I've just been stewing in the pain. I'm sorry, Si-hoo! I'll try to forget it too!"
"Nngh... well, do that. Honestly, it was an accident. I-If you'd been the one bitten by a snake, Geun-cheol, I'd have done the same thing."
Hearing that kinda calmed me down.
"Thanks, Si-hoo."
"Nah, it's nothing. But hey, Geun-cheol? Is it really that shocking?"
"Of course it's shocking, man."
I'll be blunt about my feelings.
"If you were a girl, Si-hoo, that'd be one thing. But going that hard on a guy's thigh and not being shocked—is that even human?"
"U-Uh? Geun-cheol?"
"What?"
"A-Are you saying... it'd have been okay if I were a girl?!"
Well, at least less bad.
"You perv!"
"Again with the perv! I said less bad!"
"That's even more dangerous! Misunderstanding or not, if you suddenly go sucking a girl's thigh, that's a crime!"
"That's also true!"
I am genuinely a mess!
"Honestly...! Ha! I give up, Geun-cheol! I seriously need to get some sleep!"
"Honestly, I'm exhausted too..."
"I'm gonna go wash up!"
"Go ahead."
Maybe I'll feel better after a proper night's sleep.
Aaaargh!
* * *
"Phew!"
The moment she sheds her clothes, a sense of liberation floods in. But at the same time, her gaze drifts down toward her own thigh.
"Geun-cheol, seriously...!"
A specific patch of her thigh was flushed red. The suction had left internal bruising. Seeing it sent a wave of excruciating embarrassment surging through her, and then weird thoughts began creeping in. Geun-cheol had done... that sort of thing... to this place...!
"...!"
—Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Her heart pounded like it was about to burst.
Her thigh... her thigh!
To suck it that hard! Of all people, it was Geun-cheol who sucked on it like that!
The more she thought about it, the more she felt like she was going insane.
Of course, she understood that it had been an accident.
No... looking at it rationally.
"I-It felt good."
Not in a weird way—it had genuinely felt good.
Friendship.
It was friendship.
The moment Geun-cheol registered that she'd been bitten by a snake, he rushed over without a second thought and sucked out the blood. Well, she wasn't actually bitten, but... Geun-cheol was a friend who would act without hesitation if it meant saving her.
Couldn't be more reassuring. That fact genuinely made her feel good. She felt that friendship, knowing: Geun-cheol is that kind of friend.
Yeah.
That's the kind of quality a guy should have.
"Hk!"
Lee Si-hoo sucked in a sharp breath at that thought. Did I just think about what I like in a man? I really shouldn't.
"Phew."
See.
Being around Geun-cheol really does make her weird.
"It'd have been okay if I were a girl... what a thing to say. Honestly."
Why is she the one grumbling about it.