Who is it?
His throat is burning, and his tongue feels like it’s been cut by a blade. Because he drank too much salty seawater, his insides have completely burned up.
“Ugh….”
His whole body felt like mush. The cheek Director Hwang hit still burns like it’s been scorched. Even his nape was hot, and he couldn’t sleep at all.
Whiiiiing.
As if to add insult to injury, cold sea winds blow in all night long.
Yeah, that makes sense. The waves came crashing in so fiercely. That’s why the raft ended up sinking in the end.
The more he thought about it, the more shitty and guilty he felt, so he buried his face in the blanket.
Home—he missed home terribly. Me too, fuck, I want to eat hot rolled omelet and kimchi jjigae. I want to eat mackerel too. If he could return to Korean soil, it would be fine to make grilling mackerel his profession.
If only he could go back, he wanted to do anything.
He felt so wronged and miserable that tears seemed about to fall. He bit down hard on the soft flesh inside his cheek. As he rubbed his tender eyelids with his fists, pushing away the tears.
He glimpsed something.
‘What was that just now…?’
Blink, blink—he blinked in the darkness. A hot stream of tears trickled down his cheek.
Alphas and Omegas. Trait-holders had excessively developed senses. Sight, smell, touch, hearing—everything was above average. On top of that, Woonghee even had excellent sixth sense.
What is it? Did I see wrong? It felt like he made eye contact with someone…. His heart beat anxiously.
Press, press—he pressed his eye sockets with his fists. Then he looked toward the cave once more.
“What…?”
There was already nothing there. D-did I see wrong because of the tears?
Drip, drop. The sound of water dripping from somewhere could be heard. It was falling from the cave ceiling. Did a wild boar come? Or another animal? Or was it—did he really make eye contact with a person after all?
He became confused, unable to make a judgment. Woonghee grabbed the machete and rushed out in front of the cave.
“……”
And he ended up facing it. The countless footprints stamped in front of the cave. In an instant, goosebumps rose and his chest tightened.
“M-maybe.”
Maybe there’s no chance these are my footprints…?
Woonghee slipped his foot into the deeply indented footprint. No, these aren’t his. At a glance they look similar, but these stick out both above and below. They’re not mine, not mine.
What could it be, really?
Whose footprints could these be? As if possessed by a ghost, Woonghee stood there in a daze.
Rustle—the sea breeze blew.
Come to think of it, he really did seem to make eye contact earlier. Could someone have been watching him? Why on earth?
“That’s creepy.”
Woonghee frantically pulled out an Omega Suppressant. Gulp—he shoved one pill into his mouth and even gulped down water.
Then he rushed out of the cave. Then there was a fire blazing fiercely at the far end. Beyond that fire, he could see eyes looking back at him.
…It was Director Hwang.
Whenever he sees him, those filthy eyes glitter.
As if smelling the pheromone scent coming from him, he kept twitching his nose.
That bastard. Today his gaze looked especially greedy and hideous. As if drooling toward him.
Was it because he already discovered that only fourteen Suppressants remained?
Woonghee looked beyond. He could see cabins built in the trees. A total of five. Houses with such plausible form that it was hard to believe they were built in a place where there’s nothing but trees spread out like this.
“……”
In contrast, the place he lived was a cave. No door, no windows, nothing. Truly primitive itself. The entrance was wide open like a beast’s gaping maw.
If someone came in and just stuck their eyes in there, they could easily see Woonghee.
‘I need a door too.’
Woonghee immediately turned around. He strode into the grass. Thwack, thwack—he pushed away the leaves brushing against his face with his elbows while rolling his eyes around.
“Ah, is this it….”
It was a tough, sturdy leaf. It looked similar to what Managing Director Gi had placed on the roof.
He cut it off with the machete, chewing through it. It was quite tough—the insulation would be excellent, and it clearly wouldn’t let much rain through either.
He wove them together haphazardly. He arranged them well at the cave entrance and pressed them down firmly with solid rocks.
But then whooosh—when the sea breeze blew, didn’t it try to split open to the side? He felt a bit disappointed.
Then something flashed in his mind.
‘The tie pin…!’
It looked expensive at first glance, so he’d hidden it away to sell when he returned to land, but it seemed perfect to use now.
Woonghee pinched the gap shut with the man’s tie pin. He rubbed the sandy beach in front of the cave with the machete, scribble scribble. He meticulously erased the footprints.
So that if someone left footprints again, he could recognize them right away.
***
Click, click-click, click, click…. He turned the lighthouse switch off and on by himself.
Today too, there was still no news. Cruelly, only the growling sound from his stomach could be heard.
“Let’s eat first….”
He unwrapped the bundles one by one. Today he was planning to enjoy coconut shrimp.
He wondered if this would taste okay, but a savory smell spread out sharply. Woonghee carefully lifted up the plump cooked shrimp with wooden chopsticks.
“Wow….”
The savory taste spread in his mouth like paint. It wasn’t as good as buying and eating it, but this was quite excellent. Perhaps he was eating something tastier than Woongju back in Korea.
When that thought crossed his mind, his heart crumpled like a bruised peach with brown spots.
She must be looking for him. What if she even thinks he’s dead?
“……”
The chopsticks held in Woonghee’s fingers gradually descended downward.
His long eyelashes trembled. Dawn light fell, casting eyelash shadows beneath his eyes. His brown-tinged eyes dampened with melancholy, becoming teary.
“Lee Woonghee-ssi!”
At his name suddenly heard, Woonghee’s head whipped around. The shrimp tail caught in his plump lips was slurped in.
Who was it—it was Paeng Hana. And behind her, stuck to her like goldfish poop, was her manager.
“Wow, what’s that smell? It’s so sweet-smelling.”
Woonghee bit the soft inside of his cheek. A small dimple formed in the middle of his round cheek.
“Shrimp….”
“Shriiimp? Shrimp smells this sweet?”
“…It’s just leftovers from eating. I eat so much of that stuff.”
Unable to meet her eyes, he muttered quietly while staring into space.
“If you want to eat it, eat it. I’m full so I’m going to throw it away anyway. It’ll rot if I leave it.”
Paeng Hana’s eyes widened.
“Really? All of this? I was hungry, perfect timing! Oppa, hurry and come here, he says to eat this!”
Paeng Hana and her manager quickly rushed over and grabbed the shrimp in their hands.
“Wow, crazy, it’s really sweet. What is this?”
“Why is the shrimp so plump? This is insane, it’s like we’re at a Michelin restaurant.”
The two kept up their banter like that while crunching the shrimp shells and all. Watching them eat without even removing the heads, Woonghee gathered his belongings one by one. He was about to go down to the cave now.
“Excuse me. Woonghee-ssi!”
Hearing the voice calling him, he slowly turned his head to see Paeng Hana holding something out to him.
“Actually, I should have said thank you right there on the spot… It’s too late. I’m sorry. I wasn’t in any state either.”
It was none other than a Choco Pie. Red packaging. How long had it been since he’d seen a Choco Pie…. Even without tasting it, he knew that sweet taste, and sweet saliva naturally pooled in his mouth at that sweetness.
“No, noona…!”
The startled manager grabbed Paeng Hana’s forearm. He was appealing with a look asking how she could give away such a precious thing. The kind that said they absolutely, absolutely, absolutely must not hand this precious thing over to the enemy.
“It’s fine. I don’t really like snacks.”
Woonghee turned his head away sharply and showed his palm.
“If I eat stuff like that, I get a blood sugar spike.”
He spouted any words, but they were ridiculously absurd words. What could he obtain on this island scrap to be going on about sugar?
“I don’t really eat things that are bad for my body. It’s fine.”
“Excuse me…!”
He heard a voice calling from behind, but Woonghee went down hurriedly from the lighthouse with his sports bag slung tightly on his shoulder.
Just because he saved her once doesn’t mean she should think there’s even a small bond with him. That woman is no different from the others anyway.
Think about how she giggled on the cruise, drunk as hell, snapping her bikini. Was that being in her right mind?
He has to follow the rules. First, stay away from those people. Have you already forgotten, you stupid bastard?
“Don’t trust anyone, this is just a world of survival of the fittest.”
Muttering like that, brainwashing himself, he arrived in front of the cave.
What unfolded before Woonghee’s eyes was.
“Fuck….”
As if proving his thought that there’s no one to trust here. Countless footprints stamped in front of the cave.
