Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Debt of the Living
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Hwan-in opened his eyes to the prickling sensation in his throat from the cold and thirst. He blinked a few times, gazing at the gray interior of the pit.
Sunlight wasn't filtering through the gaps in the tree roots outside... It felt like night, so why was everything so bright?
Usually, he could barely make out the outline of his hand, but here he could even see the patterns on the dirt walls. Before he could question this gray world, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a Corona Berry, and ate it.
A few chews released a sweet-and-sour juice that gushed out, moistening his parched throat.
Quack.
Hwan-in glanced at Emergency Ration with bleary eyes as it cried out, seemingly demanding some for itself. He spat out the seed, then fished out two slightly squished Corona Berries from his pocket and fed them to its beak before pulling it close to his chest.
Quack?
...Warm. Hwan-in thought there was a reason duck-down parkas cost so much as he patted the back of the wriggling Emergency Ration nestled against him.
With Emergency Ration quieted by his gesture, Hwan-in curled up tighter and closed his eyes again, seeking more sleep.
He had no idea how long he'd slept, but his condition seemed slightly improved.
Whether it was actually better or just numbness hiding the pain, the reduced agony was welcome all the same.
He repeated the cycle of sleeping, waking, eating Corona Berries, and drifting off again. By the time he'd consumed all 21 of his own berries plus the ones set aside for Emergency Ration, he could finally sit up.
"I barely survived..."
His body felt like he'd run an Ironman triathlon followed by 12 rounds of boxing—utterly wrecked.
His arms, legs, and face felt like mere husks of skin. His fingers were down to bone. Pressing his stomach, it sank inward.
He looked like he'd burned every last bit of energy just to heal.
His watch read 1 p.m. Not a full day gone... two days? Three?
Quack...
Emergency Ration, nestled between his legs, let out a feeble cry.
It seemed hungry. Three days might be about right.
Hwan-in was starving too. Staggering to his feet with the staff for support, he emerged from his hideout.
Blinding light made him squint. He grabbed the spear lying at the entrance and slung Emergency Ration over his shoulder.
...
The weight of Emergency Ration pressing into his shoulder—barely 2 kg—made Hwan-in realize just how dire his condition was.
And something felt... off about his mindset. Changed? Different, anyway.
Before, he'd had no qualms about butchering Emergency Ration. Now, even thinking about it stirred a faint aversion.
Logically, roasting it in the hideout for a stamina boost made sense, risks be damned.
Yet here he was, stepping out to forage instead. Naturally, without a second thought.
After a moment's reflection, Hwan-in concluded it was because Emergency Ration's presence brought him considerable comfort.
A fragment of memory from his school days flashed by.
—You know how, when you wake from a nightmare and someone's there, it's such a relief? Hwan-in, you've never felt that?
—No.
—Really?
—I've never even had a nightmare.
—Whoa, you're something else.
Middle school, maybe? He couldn't recall who he'd been talking to.
That wasn't the point. Now, he thought he understood that sense of relief.
The tiny warmth of a living thing in his arms brought such solace.
Watching Emergency Ration crane its neck in search of food, Hwan-in quietly resolved: if escaping the jungle proved impossible—or if death loomed—he'd set it free.
Using his spear as a staff, Hwan-in navigated out of the cracked earth fissure and clicked his tongue softly.
The hideout was in a gap wide enough for two people, thanks to the earthquake. To exit, he had to scale a 3-meter wall or detour around.
'Haven't walked 100 meters and I'm already winded.'
No strength to climb using tree roots, so he took the long way. Even so, after 100 meters down a gentle slope, he was gasping for air.
Running into a monster now would be disastrous. Hwan-in prowled the jungle as silently as possible, foraging for food.
Not wandering aimlessly. Target: Corona Berries. Location: the forest where those unidentified beasts roamed.
The Green Monsters and Beast-Head Monsters had devoured every last one nearby.
To find more, he'd need to venture where they didn't.
Corona Berries lasted about three days. He'd stock up while out and recuperate a few more days in the hideout.
Sip... whoosh... Sip... whoooo...
Muffling even his breaths, Hwan-in suddenly reeled from dizziness and dropped to one knee with a thud.
'Shallow breathing—oxygen deprivation?'
He inhaled deeply through mouth and nose, filling his lungs, breathing quietly.
His exhaustion must be profound; just deep breaths cleared stray thoughts, emptying his mind.
Like the first time meditating at that mountain temple during college prep study sessions.
Feeling his head and heart ease, he opened his eyes—and flinched, shoulders hunching as he focused.
"...What the hell."
Another color had overlaid the world. Like a faint mist filter, then hues painted atop it.
Brown trunks appeared reddish-brown; green foliage showed as pumpkin orange, yellowish-orange, pale yellow.
Weeeeng—
...
A blue bee flitted by in shades of green.
Quack.
Emergency Ration had spotted the insect and quacked softly. Glancing at it, Hwan-in's brows furrowed deeply. The green duckling was now tinged pale greenish-yellow.
Not just it—his own body glowed pale greenish-yellow too.
Beyond it, he could see his hand's original color and the dirt-caked coat. Uncharacteristically rattled, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
"...?"
Emergency Ration returned to green; the world snapped back to normal.
Shaking off the stupor, Hwan-in limped onward, flexing his hand open and shut before shaking his head slightly.
'Hallucinations too? My condition's worse than I thought.'
Hoping to find food soon, he pressed on without stopping, slowing only a bit.
About an hour in, his body started moving easier.
The gash and burn on his right thigh and below remained numb, but elsewhere, sensation was returning.
'Stiff from days of near-death? Walking's loosening it up.'
Not a bad thing. As long as the hallucinations didn't persist.
After that deep-breath episode, whenever his focus lapsed and his mind fogged, the colors overlaid again, several times.
Now, just focusing his eyes brought it on at will.
"...My body's reacting to some drug?"
Maybe an unknown germ from the thigh wound had gone to his brain.
No real downsides beyond the visual clutter of myriad colors—except it wasn't random; he controlled it.
"Annoying."
Since encountering that staff-wielding Green Monster, incomprehensible events kept piling up.
This bodily change felt like an extension, but its nature eluded him—frustrating.
Anyway.
Three hours in, without monster encounters, he spotted his first Corona Berry bush.
Relief washing over him, he picked ripe ones to sate his hunger.
Quack quack.
Less ripe for Emergency Ration, fully ripened for himself. As he gathered diligently, he absentmindedly focused his eyes and frowned at the berries' hue.
'Pale greenish-yellow?'
His own color overlaid the orange fruit—identical.
A hypothesis clicked in Hwan-in's mind.
He quickly scanned the bush. Newly formed were wallow-white, fingernail-sized turned bright green, then pale green to yellowish-green, dime-sized onward: pale greenish-yellow.
He picked every pale greenish-yellow berry, stuffing his pockets, then surveyed around.
There: an oyster mushroom lookalike, but with blue cap.
Wild mushrooms were off-limits on Earth without expertise.
Common near Corona bushes, but he'd avoided them. Now, they showed purple overlay.
After glancing around, he chipped some with the spear tip, skewered on a twig, and held near Emergency Ration's beak.
Quack. Quack.
It twisted its beak away in refusal.
Tossing the blue-but-purple mushroom aside, Hwan-in scanned further. Nearby trunk: coral-shaped yellow mushrooms—pale greenish-blue in vision.
Chipped one similarly and offered; it snapped it up like lightning.
"...!"
Clarity dawned in Hwan-in's mind.
The visionary colors defined a living thing's essence.
Different hue from his own: poison. Similar: safe.
Emergency Ration confirmed it.
Five color families overall:
Red family?
Yellow family?
Cyan family?
Purple family?
Achromatic family?
He and Emergency Ration: cyan subfamily—pale greenish-yellow, pale yellow-green.
His own: deep green-tinged pale greenish-yellow; Emergency Ration's: blue-infused pale greenish-yellow.
It ate anything up to 10% blue in green: insects, fruits, bark, roots in green, yellowish-green, blue-green, pale green.
Never touched true blue or sky-blue.
Kee-heeek!
Keerrrrk!!
Testing mismatch effects? Courtesy of Green Monsters.
En route verifying his hypothesis, he'd crushed two with superior reach, then experimented.
Kuh... krrrk... waaagh...
Kee... kee-hee... kick...
Forcing blue mushrooms (purple vision) from nearby bushes on the deep-green monsters: vomiting, diarrhea, hematuria within five minutes, coma, then choking on puke.
Hypothesis confirmed.
"Guess food's no issue now."
Body still heavy and aching, but spirits lifted.
Even achromatic white was safe.
Curious about roasting effects, he gathered mushrooms, fruits, roots, bark, insects galore and tested: fire turned them mostly achromatic.
Medium roast faded original hue to white; overdone trended black, charred to pure black.
Achromatic tests: three Beast-Head Monsters drawn by his fire.
Near-green-blue hides. Charred-black coral shrooms: agony from gut pain. Properly roasted white (cyan vision) ones: fine.
"Monsters are off the menu."
Beast-Head's vision-cyan suggested roasting viability, but blood and guts were purple; post-mortem, blackening. Roasted foreleg smoked faint purple—he smothered it hastily.
Monsters edible would've solved everything.
Verification done, Hwan-in foraged in earnest via visionary sight.
Tree inner bark, Corona Berries, nameless grass roots, assorted mushrooms...
Amazed at the jungle's bounty, he filled his pockets overflowing, then stripped off his suit coat to bundle more.
Five kilos total.
Coat knotted as a sack on his back, he munched chewy, crunchy coral mushrooms—no flavor, but satisfying—heading home.
Light heart made body and leg pain fade somewhat.