His breathing gradually became ragged. A large hand pressed him down with tremendous force. At this rate, his jawbone might be crushed…!
“Mmph, mmph, nngh…!”
The thought crossed his mind that he might really die like this.
“Ugh, urk…!”
But no matter how much he struggled, all he could grasp were these damn weeds.
“Shut your mouth. If you don’t, I’ll tear your jaw off.”
Director Hwang growled. Finally, a tree branch caught at his fingertips. He grabbed it. He was about to stab Director Hwang’s eyeball with it. He’d make a proper oden skewer…!
“Ahhhhh…!”
But unfortunately, Director Hwang twisted his head away. The branch only lodged in the back of his neck at best. He scrambled backward to avoid Director Hwang, who was screaming and writhing.
“Ha, haa, haa…!”
A tree dug into his back. Woonghee gasped violently for air. He greedily sucked in breath, then fired off a question.
“How did you get that…!”
This bastard…
Woonghee narrowed his eyes. He recalled Paeng Hana’s words about being suspicious of Director Hwang. Isn’t it really you? Aren’t you the one who killed the captain and tore up the lifeboat?!
“Fuck, I’m the one who picked that up from the sea!”
Director Hwang pointed at the tube. Inside, valley water was filling up. It looked like it would sink at any moment.
The T-shirt Director Hwang was wearing had all its threads unraveled. And on one side, fish bones were scattered everywhere…
Could he have been trying to sew it?
“That absolutely won’t work!”
Stupid bastard! Poking at a tube with a needle is useless. It’ll just make the hole bigger, you moron Director Hwang.
“The material is different so it won’t stick together.”
No matter how densely he packed in the thread, seawater would definitely push through the gaps.
“Then what should I do, you rag of a bastard?”
Woonghee bit his plump lips tight. Then, then what should I do…?
Swoooosh—the sea breeze blew. The surrounding trees swayed.
What if I wet those large leaves with water and cover the hole? If I tie it up tightly with shoelaces…?
No, no. That won’t be enough. It’ll easily come loose when tossed by seawater. Hadn’t he already experienced the power of those waves?
Such a simple method won’t work.
I need to be more meticulous. What could plug the hole? I need something sticky.
Fish eyeballs? What if I crush them and spread them? No, that wouldn’t even come close.
Once again—swoooosh—the mountain wind blew, scattering Woonghee’s hair.
Sunlight shattered white. And what filled his vision again were nothing but trees.
“…Trees.”
Right, trees, there are lots of trees here… Woonghee hurriedly approached a tree. When he peeled the bark with his fingernails, a sticky substance dug under his nails.
“Right, the answer is trees.”
It’s sticky, so it’s better to fill the hole with this. Is this how someone who first discovered electricity felt? It was like a light suddenly switched on in his hazy mind.
I’ve finally found it, my light.
“I need to tell the others right away.”
As he quickly tried to get up from his spot, he felt a strong force from behind. Director Hwang grabbed his hair. It was a brutal force as if tearing off his scalp.
His body’s axis collapsed entirely.
“Urk…!”
“Hey, you idiot bastard.”
That damned Director Hwang’s face filled his vision.
“This is for two people.”
As his eyelids trembled, Director Hwang’s eyes full of madness pierced into his vision.
“…So what?”
He babbled, soaked in anxiety. Actually, there was a question slowly raising its head. Why hadn’t he told the others earlier? Why hadn’t they all put their heads together to come up with a solution?
“Why should I tell them?”
Crazy human. His eyes were so far gone, he really seemed to have lost his mind completely. He must have rotted all the way to his organs, not just aged.
“If I found it, isn’t it mine?”
“What kind of bullsh—!”
It was nonsensical bullshit. Woonghee’s lips moved, but his words were cut off by the other’s rough speech.
“Hey, didn’t I tell you to shut your trap if you don’t want to die?”
He lowered his voice, then scraped his throat with a rough voice.
“It’s got a hole, you son of a bitch. If we all get on and it sinks because it’s too heavy, we’re just screwed, got it?”
Woonghee let out a sigh—”Ah, ahh”—through his slightly parted lips. Right, that’s true. What they had to cross with that lifeboat were waves howling like a son of a bitch.
“Keep your mouth shut, understand?”
But.
Is it right to leave all those people here and leave?
“Fucking bastard, if only you hadn’t thrown away that raft in the first place…”
Director Hwang immediately stabbed a dagger into Woonghee’s chest. That thing that had been stuck in his heart like a stake since that day.
It was guilt. Woonghee’s pupils were soaked in confusion.
“So shut your mouth, you son of a bitch. Got it? Either we all die, or only we survive.”
The director pulled down his pants zipper—ziiip. He spat to one side, then pissed. The yellow stream drew a large parabola, and it couldn’t have been more disgusting.
When Woonghee was staring blankly at that filthy hideous sight, at that moment, a familiar pheromone rushed in like grabbing the back of his neck.
“No way…”
Whoosh—the mountain wind blew. At the same time, a thick pheromone flowed over like an attack. His body reacted before his head.
“It’s Managing Director Gi…”
“Wha, what…!”
Woonghee cast his gaze to the valley. The lifeboat was already almost submerged. It was full of water, with only the very edge poking out.
Crack crack crack—a sound like bones breaking echoed through the forest. Someone was approaching.
Woonghee stiffened with tension. As the distance narrowed, Managing Director Gi’s face gradually became visible. The man slowly assessed the situation.
“What were you doing?”
He licked his lips with his tongue. He watched Woonghee once, the director once.
“M-Managing Director…”
Director Hwang was truly so shocked he was frozen in place. Without even pulling up his pants zipper.
He stretched out his hand to lean against a tree, then elegantly tilted his body. Then he looked down at Woonghee like a monarch. Each gesture was perfectly precise like a sculpture.
“I asked what you were doing here.”
His sinister eyes rolled sharply. They alternately captured Woonghee’s face and Director Hwang’s vulgarly exposed crotch in his vision.
Woonghee hurriedly grabbed his forearm. He’d never touched his body first before. But he couldn’t stay still. In case he noticed the lifeboat in the water.
“M-Managing Director…”
“I asked what you were doing.”
He pulled him in. Woonghee had no choice but to press his back against the tree. His massive body completely blocked the front. There was no room to move, no corner to escape to. It was a perfect prison.
Thump thump—his heart beat madly. The overwhelming presence he exuded strangled his body and mind.
“Just…”
Woonghee murmured softly. Soon he grasped Woonghee’s narrow jaw in his hand.
“I just wasn’t feeling well.”
“You call that babbling an excuse right now?”
His mouth corners twisted in displeasure.
The distance was too close. They could even feel each other’s breath. It seemed like he’d be caught if his pupils wavered even once. The eyes directed at him narrowed.
“You smell like that son of a bitch.”
He finally turned his eyes to Director Hwang.
“Should I check if that bastard smells like you too?”
He whispered like that and was about to turn his steps. In an instant, a sharp warning sound rang in his head.
“M-Managing Director…!”
What if he approaches that close and discovers the boat? Woonghee quickly grabbed his thick shoulder. Immediately, cold eyes stabbed at him like a knife.
“So you really are a slut who can’t live without men, just like you look? You couldn’t hold it in, how very.”
The hand gripping Woonghee’s jaw tightened. He growled in his throat and burst out with cold fury. Then his thick tongue roughly pushed into Woonghee’s mouth.
