Clank, clunk!
He flips the lighthouse switch. In an instant, everything before his eyes goes white.
The light was blindingly bright. Enough to create hallucinations, making him wonder if this was heaven.
The lighthouse was operating properly. With a face soaked in joy, Woonghee frantically sent out a distress signal.
- · · — — — · · ·
There’s still no news yet.
But one thing has become clear. People lived here. Maybe boats came and went, and planes flew overhead too.
On the other side, far away on that island, people might be living there.
Sunlight descends like gentle white silk. Then it settles on Woonghee’s light brown hair, creating an angel ring.
Now all he has to do is keep sending distress signals with this. If he can just hold out, scrounging for food, water, and salt until people come…
“A raft…!”
Woonghee’s cheeks, which had swelled round with joy, twitched and trembled.
“We can take a raft to that island!”
A thunderous shout fell from Director Hwang. His thick fingers were pointing at the distant island.
“That’s right, exactly! We can take a raft to that island over there.”
People agreed, and waves of joy rippled among them. We’re saved, we’re saved, seeing that there’s a lighthouse here means people really must have lived on that island, they all jumped around wiping away tears.
Fuck, we can finally escape from this shitty island. I miss my mom, I want to eat kimchi jjigae stuffed with fucking tons of meat and rice—they muttered such things too.
“There are logs everywhere here, we can cut them down and bind them tightly with vines. And bring out all the plastic containers from the cruise ship!”
Paeng Hana blurted out, flipping her hair. While everyone was soaking in joy as if throwing a celebration party, Woonghee’s voice splashed among them like cold water.
“…N-no, the sharks!”
“What!?”
Director Hwang’s bloodshot eyes whipped toward Woonghee. The flickering look was just like the wild boar’s eyes he’d seen a few days ago.
“I saw a shark carcass that washed up on the shore.”
When he too discovered there was another island. It’s not that he hadn’t thought of a raft.
However, there was a problem. Sharks. Crows had swarmed and were tearing at the bloated intestines. The sight was extremely horrific and gruesome.
…Moreover.
Moreover, Tula had said something like that. That other islands in the Philippines were half water, half sharks.
[Woong, a white and soft baby like you absolutely has to be careful. They’ll rip your head off.]
Then he bragged about how when he was young, he’d go out on boats with his friends and play by hitting sharks on the head.
‘Baby my ass, the bastard’s three years younger than me.’
The guy babbled in English, and Woonghee babbled in Korean. They could understand each other’s words through sheer intuition, and communication worked surprisingly well.
[Don’t make me laugh, Woong is a baby. The noodle lady at the market asked if you were an adult.]
He wondered why she asked that. She was asking Woonghee if he was a whore.
Tula lived in the oldest and shabbiest slum area. Drugs, prostitution, gambling, kidnapping. A hotbed of crime where all sorts of things swarmed. The question he asked Woonghee was also an attempt to report him to the police and collect a reward if he was a minor.
‘The eldest son with a young little sister is going to ruin his life like this.’
Woonghee twisted his lips while hanging cheap underwear on the worn-out clothesline.
[I’m fucking macho, so Woong just trust me.]
‘Crazy bastard, take it easy, or your dick will fall off.’
For real, so real! Tula showed off his forearm, flexing his biceps. Sharp shark teeth were carved there.
[My friend got one of his arms bitten off back then, so he only has one arm, you know?]
Do I have to keep listening to this nonsense? Woonghee glanced at him with a coldly stale expression.
Then a fern-like hand popped out from one side and tugged at Woonghee’s short-sleeved shirt. A little one with a huge eyeball attached to a small head looked up at him.
‘Hurry up and go get some milk. The little one says she’s hungry.’
Woonghee whacked the guy’s head with a detergent container, making a smacking sound.
[Tch….]
Tula quietly scratched his head. Then he looked down at Woonghee’s hands, which had housewife’s eczema. On his white face, on his nape, on his knees—everywhere was covered in bruises like spotted flowers blooming.
[You won’t have to do that shit anymore, Woong. I’m gonna make big money soon, fucking big money.]
‘Who are you to say.’
Whether Tula made big money or not, what did that have to do with him?
[I, I’m……]
The young guy’s face turned bright red. The tall and slender guy’s head nearly touched the ceiling.
[Filipino men never lie!]
The guy who suddenly let out a shout bent his waist and quickly disappeared through the creaking wooden door.
“…The lighthouse is already lit now. How about we watch for a few more days? We just discovered it today.”
“Hey, are you crazy?”
Please, let’s watch for just a few more days—he continued to say that, but the director was a person with whom common sense didn’t work.
“The movie launch is in a week, fuck!”
Their lives are in danger, but what the hell does that damn movie matter? Even the others who’d been swayed all followed Director Hwang, pushing through the grass.
After pouring kerosene into the lighthouse and everything. Is this really going to be the ending? Only the lighthouse’s light, standing forlorn, kept Woonghee company.
…No, just one person.
Only Managing Director Gi remained there, looking at Woonghee.
***
It took exactly half a day.
They chopped the logs and wrapped them tightly with vines, binding them firmly. They tied plastic bottles all around too. They hung every single oil drum that had contained diesel, leaving nothing behind.
“One, two, three!”
Shouting the count together, they all turned the raft. Splash—the quite decently built raft slowly rides the waves. But it still looked unstable.
“I think we need to add more vines…. It won’t work yet.”
Woonghee muttered, but Director Hwang punched the back of his head to shut him up. Telling him not to talk nonsense.
“I’m ready.”
Soon Paeng Hana sat on the raft. Managing Director Gi’s subordinate and the manager pushed the raft with all their might. Splash splash—they pushed hard enough to submerge their chests. Then the raft began to drift away, bobbing.
“Oh, ohhh, it’s going, it’s going!”
Paeng Hana, sitting with her bottom on the raft, burst out in admiration. Gripping the vines like handles, she smiled brightly. Riding completely on the current, the raft was flowing at quite a fast speed.
And that’s when it happened. On the rolling waves, her body floated up lightly then sank down uneasily.
Paeng Hana’s body swayed. It was meant to just test whether it floated properly in the water, but the waves were frighteningly carrying her away.
“Uh, uhhh, I want to come back now!”
Frightened, Paeng Hana buried her calves deep into the seawater. She was trying to resist the fast current somehow.
Her long calves were trembling visibly. The manager quickly pulled hard on the rope tied to the raft. Digging his heels into the sandy beach, he pulled with all his might.
“Pull now, pull!”
Even Woonghee quickly clung to the rope behind him. Trembling, his elbows strained.
At that moment, the vine that had been taut like a bowstring went twang and snapped.
What happened was that one of the logs where the rope was tied began to shift, unraveling the vines.
“Uh, uhhh…! What do we do!”
Paeng Hana began to drift farther and farther away, bobbing. Fear rippled in her large eyes without double eyelids. Help me, I’m drifting away—she looked at the manager.
“Hey, Hana-ya!”
The manager could only stamp his feet helplessly.
“Oppa said you can’t swim either! Try paddling like this with your arms, hurry!”
The manager flailed his arms wildly as if drowning. Her thin, stick-like arms plunged into the seawater, trying somehow to overcome that strong current.
She struggled frantically, even using her long legs, but it was useless. She just kept being pushed back by the rolling waves.
The waves pushed her back forcefully, as if rebelling fiercely.
What to do, what to do…. Woonghee wriggled his toes. That vast, endless ocean seemed about to open its maw wide and swallow Paeng Hana whole at any moment.
As he stamped his feet, a voice pierced through his head like lightning. It was Tula.
[Look, look. I told you Filipino men don’t lie!]
The guy who came home that day was with his friend. One sleeve under the short sleeves was completely empty.
It wasn’t bragging. Everything was real. The sharks too, and his friend who’d gotten one arm ripped off.
But seeing that raft rolling and moving away before his eyes, instinct activated before reason, slipping its reins.
“Fuck…!”
He frantically threw off his raincoat. Snap snap snap! Buttons flew off. Splash—he jumped straight into the water.
He plowed through the surging seawater with his body, crushing it.
This seawater was so willful. Viciously and roughly, it tried to swallow human bodies.
“Ahhhhh, save me!!”
He frantically gathered the plastic bottles floating around. Getting closer, the raft was already half-destroyed.
“Sa, sa, *gasp*, save me…!”
Paeng Hana was barely clinging to an oil drum, flailing about.
The plan had been to put that woman on the remaining raft and push the whole thing back. But there was a problem. As soon as Woonghee wrapped his arms around one log, the raft started to break apart.
It seemed he could only carry a few plastic containers at most. Or completely abandon Paeng Hana.
…Paeng Hana or the raft.
He had to use his head. In this situation, what the hell was the best option?
“What are you dawdling for, you son of a bitch! The raft, you have to bring the raft!”
Even in the midst of this, Director Hwang was shouting from the sandy beach to hurry up and bring the raft.
“You fuck, are you trying to get everyone killed! The raft, bring the raft and the plastic!”
Woonghee knew well enough too. Every single plastic container had been attached there.
To get out of here, to get out of this goddamn island, he knew he had to hold onto the raft.
“Come here…!”
Woonghee spread his arms toward Paeng Hana.
“B-but what about the raft!”
“Then are you going to die like this? Hurry up and come here!”
