Chapter 24 – The Second Morning

The next morning.

Wasn’t this all a night’s dream, wouldn’t it be that when I wake up in the morning, I’m in the barracks again.
I thought about that before falling asleep.

But no.
When I woke up in the morning, I was still in a cave somewhere on an uninhabited island, and Banra’s mother was asleep next to me.

“Sue… Suu…”

Even though they had lived together for nearly 10 years, it was the first time they had seen her mother asleep.
My mother was asleep with her arm around my chest, with a carefree, relaxed face.

“Uh…”

My mother is still wearing a bikini to this day.
I couldn’t take it off even when I was sleeping because bugs popped out of it when I took it off. Even when she was doing dirty work, it had to be worn somewhere on her body.

And that’s a bikini, but in reality, it’s not much different from underwear.

Even now, my mother’s breast, who embraced me, is pressed against my side. It was her heart that condensed all the tenderness in the world.
All my nerves were focused on the side, and the pulse in the side was beating so fast that I wondered if my heart had moved to the side.

Thanks to that, my lower body showed off its healthy presence from the morning.

Is it not enough even if I took off three feet yesterday? I was setting up a grandiose tent in cheap sweatpants I bought instead of pajamas.

“… Mother. Mother?”

The body clock set to the military standard informed that it was time to wake up.
I gently shook her mother’s shoulder to wake her up.

“Ugh…”

But my mother is talking in her sleep, and she hugs my torso tighter.
Then, put one leg on top of my body! It was straddling

“Wook!”

Of course, that leg hit my lower leg where the tent was set up.
It was sturdy, so it didn’t break, but it was quite a shock.

“Oh, mother… ?”
“Umnyum? …”

… I bet you didn’t do that on purpose.
Mother was still fast asleep with a happy face.

By the way…
… I don’t want to wake up.

I was so happy at this moment lying in bed and lounging around.
A flimsy bed with only a mattress, no pillows, and a desolate cave all around, but at this moment, I was so happy.

You don’t have to force yourself to wake up from a drowsy sleep. Next to me is my sleeping mother, skin to skin with me. What could be more happy than this?

Why don’t we just sleep like this for another sigh?
This isn’t even an army, so you don’t have to wake up on time. You can sleep all day long.

It would be nice to wake up after a while and play dirty jokes with your mother like you did yesterday.
Okay. It’s much more efficient than collecting coins by hunting wild animals.
Ok then Let’s do it.

Kill a Tyrannosaurus and get 7,000 Coins VS Collect 7,000 Coins by doing naughty things with your mother all week.

Seung-pil, passing by, will know which one is easier and safer.
And…

“Sue… Suu…”

… Wouldn’t it give you coins for touching or stripping your sleeping partner?
It’s something you never know until you check it out.
If so, I guess I’ll just have to check it out.

So I stretched out my hand to my sleeping mother–

“Ahem. Ahem.”
“Ugh.”

The sound of coughing in my ears.
When I turned my head, I saw Seunghee staring at me from the other side of the mattress.
With eyes that seemed to ask what he was trying to do to a sleeping woman.

“… Did you sleep well, Seunghee?”

Greeted shyly.

“Yes. Thanks.”

A blunt answer came back.
It didn’t sound like a good night’s sleep.

“… Haven’t you done anything yet?”
“Haven’t I said anything yet?”
“Well, that’s the case…”

No matter how you look at it, those eyes are the ones that curse me.

It’s honestly not something I’m proud of. Doing things like that with my mother.
But if you just leave it out because it’s embarrassing, everyone becomes dangerous.
Recall Rubens’ Simon and Perrault.

“Did you tell me yesterday? If you want to survive here, you have to do it with a partner.”
“Who said what?”
“Seunghee, you should do it with Seungpil too.”
“Ugh!”

At my words, Seunghee frowned as if she saw something dirty.

That would be a typical sibling reaction. It is said that siblings often get along worse than others.

In that sense, my mother and I may have an advantage.
Unlike Seungpil’s brother and sister, who still couldn’t make up their minds after a day, my mother and I were able to earn coins by accepting it from the first day.

Even if there are other survivors here, Seung-pil is probably similar to brother and sister. So, wouldn’t it be possible to see that we got ahead by a day or so.

“I told you to decide today.”
“Because I know.”

At my words, Seunghee pulled the blanket over herself as if she was annoyed.
The blanket and pillow that Seunghee is wearing were also the ones I bought last night. Because he said he couldn’t sleep without a blanket or pillow.

Actually, it’s not that expensive, so there’s nothing wrong with it.
However, it is impossible to feed them with the coins we have earned forever. In the long run, I, my mother, and Seung-pil’s brother and sister are in danger. Seunghee should make up her mind as soon as possible, even for the sake of each other—

“——Kyaaaaagh!”

A shrill scream interrupting my thoughts.
It was Seunghee’s scream.

-Jaak——!

And this was the sound of Seunghee slapping the cheek of Seungpil who was sleeping.
… It seems that Seungpil was talking in his sleep and touched something.

“Huh? Yes? What is this sound? What’s happen?”
“It’s nothing, mother. Get some more sleep.”
“Yes… ?”

I comfort my mother who woke up and put her to sleep again.
Whew. Seungpil also has a long way to go.

*

“Good night, Corporal Kang Chang-jae.”
“… Okay.”

Seungpil woke up with a maple leaf mark on his cheek.
Needless to say, these are the fingerprints made by Seunghee.

Should I pretend not to know this? Should it be?

“Seungpil. Did you not wash before going to bed yesterday? Wash up first.”
“Yep. Oh, did you buy a new shower room?”
“Okay. I bought it while you were sleeping. There is also a bathroom next door.”
“As expected, Corporal Kang Chang-jae! You are amazing!”
“It sounds kind of sarcastic.”
“Could that be? Haha.”
“And take this too.”

I handed over the leftover shower supplies to Seungpil yesterday. I also bought underwear and a change of clothes from the store.

“Oh oh! Thank you, Corporal Kang Chang-jae!”
“Buy Seunghee with your coins.”
“Yes!”
“And Seungpil. I don’t want to keep talking about it either.”
“Yes. I know. I will convince Seunghee within today.”
“Okay. Good luck then.”
“If you don’t listen, I will force you to do it.”
“No. That doesn’t work.”
“What? Aren’t you crazy?!”

At the end of the conversation, Seunghee intervened.

Ha, Seungpil, Han Seungpil… Are you really stupid
No matter how much it is, where is the guy who says that in his own ears? Rather, you only raised your guard.

“Ha… I do not know. Let the two of you come to an agreement.”
“Yes.”

They really have a long way to go.
Forcing it is the worst. Your mother won’t like it either. More than anything, I don’t think I can survive in that kind of atmosphere.

That must be what the guy who brought us to this deserted island was aiming for.

In the case of my mother and I, it’s fortunate, but if we can’t reach an agreement, there will be a situation where one side will forcefully attack us. Otherwise, I would have to go hunting at the risk of it. Then, if one of them dies, it will be a big deal again.

[That’s why I didn’t do this at first, and then I regretted it after one of my family members died. ‘If I knew it would be like this, I would rather have done it then’.]

I thought I could now understand what my mother had said yesterday.
Seung-hee shouldn’t have any regrets after Seung-pil’s death. I’m worried because I don’t think you’ll understand what I’m saying.

“Mother. Did you pick up any seeds yesterday?”
“Huh. This?”

At my words, my mother brought a bag of seeds from the corner of the cave.

[Vegetable seeds (random). What will grow?]

Small envelopes contain seeds that look like watermelon seeds.
The number of seeds is about 10. I don’t know what will come out, but even if I plant it, I won’t see any damage.

“Yes. I want to plant one. Because the ingredients are secretly expensive.”

All sorts of ingredients were sold at the cell phone terminal’s shop.
From fresh food to snacks, vegetables, meat, instant food, frozen food and more. It was like a large supermarket.

The only problem is that the price is exorbitantly expensive.

10 kg of rice 100 coins, 20 lettuce leaves 20 coins, 10 eggs 30 coins.
The 3kg pork belly we ate yesterday was 70 coins.

Compared to other tools and facilities, only the poisonous food is excruciatingly expensive. Is this an uninhabited island where food is scarce? Anyway, thinking about what to eat every day, it was hard to handle with only coins.

“I got things like meat from hunting, but things like vegetables and rice didn’t come out. However, it is too expensive to buy everything at the store. It would be nice to plant a seed and get something out of it.”
“Are you going to do it now?”
“Yes. I think it would be better to do it before sunrise.”
“Then, wouldn’t it be better if Seung-pil came along? It would be dangerous alone.”
“Hmm…”

Mother’s words were also right.
It’s dangerous if a hyena attacks again while shoveling.

My mother added to the troubled me.

“Actually, yesterday when I was with Seunghee, I heard a strange noise outside.”
“Does that sound strange?”

That was another golden word. Why didn’t you speak yesterday?
… Yesterday I was busy with other things, so I guess I didn’t have time to talk.

“Huh. Like someone knocking on the door. It’s like ‘bang bang bang!'”
“A knock on the door… Was that a person?”
“Is that so?”

Seunghee, who had been eavesdropping on it, intervened.

“It must have been a person. An animal would not have knocked on the door with such a regular rhythm.”

There are other people nearby.
It was the moment when the thing I feared became a reality.