Chapter 24

Rex’s hunting time was short. As if there was a meat refrigerator hidden somewhere, he brought back a limp animal in just a few minutes. Usually, they were the size of an arm, but this time he caught something as big as a bear. When Suji looked at it with surprised eyes, Rex briefly pointed to the hill.

“We need something big enough to use as bait.”

Suji hesitated. Communication was not smooth, which was frustrating, but it seemed to mean that something big was needed because of the hill. She soon gathered firewood from the surroundings to cook the meat. As she struck a lighter to create a flame, the dry branches easily caught fire. As the smoke and flames grew, the nearby bushes rustled loudly.

Something must have come. As Suji began to feel afraid, Rex threw the stick he was working on into the bushes. Then the bushes quieted down. There would be no need to clean up the corpse. In this swamp, when a corpse appears, another creature comes and eats it. If no creature appears, the mud of the swamp will absorb and consume the corpse. Always maintaining the swamp’s original form.

‘Will I end up like that if I die?’

Suji thought bitterly. The idea of eventually dying in this swamp didn’t seem so absurd. Rather, she thought she had been lucky to survive so far.

‘Lucky, huh.’

Suji looked at Rex. The man who lifted a large wild animal with one hand and tied it to a tree trunk was her luck. He was the greatest fortune she had encountered in this swamp. He was strong and wise enough to navigate this wild ecosystem freely. Suji thought that if he was with her, she could survive safely in this place.

‘But it doesn’t seem like he came to save me.’

Suji recalled their first meeting. The moment she first saw him in that pit full of snakes, she thought he was the grim reaper. She thought he was a being who came to kill her, but that expectation was wrong, and he protected her. Safely, so that she wouldn’t die.

‘It’s not like he saved me out of kindness.’

From what she had seen, Rex had no hesitation in killing life. No matter how noble it seemed, if it was deemed a threat, he killed it. It seemed no different even if it was a person, but why did he, who had never met her before, save her and continue to help her? Could it be because he had a special favor for her?

‘That favor….’

It would be nice if his feelings were filled with the same excitement. Suji thought it was frustrating that she couldn’t fully read his emotions. If only she could ask, but since they couldn’t communicate, all she could do was infer his feelings.

‘He definitely doesn’t dislike me. He is a person who only takes efficient actions.’

Suji watched Rex preparing the animal. His hands precisely separated the flesh from the skin. Neither too much nor too little, perfectly. Seeing this consistent meticulousness, Suji realized again.

‘He is here by his own will.’

To meet such a man in a swamp like this. And to want to be with him no matter what strange things happen. Suji thought, reading her own emotions. She didn’t know what her role was or what she should do to survive, but living as Survivor 1 wasn’t so bad. To survive here.

‘I have to do something to fulfill my role.’

This was an important conclusion for Suji. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do anything, but that she needed to do something to survive in this bewildering world. Suji thought she could do well if she was with him.

Day and night, anytime.

‘Of course, the way of living will be a bit different at night.’

As a slightly lewd thought crossed her mind, her face turned incredibly red.

Whenever he grabbed her by the nape of her neck, whenever she lay beneath him, the excitement intensified and her whole body softened. Unknowingly, her lower abdomen twisted and she became wet as if melting. When did she start reacting so submissively to him? She wondered if she seemed strange to Rex too. Suji felt embarrassed by her own thoughts and ended up laughing.

“!”

Then she suddenly met Rex’s gaze. Suji quickly hid her face in the flames. She hoped Rex wouldn’t notice her like this. She hoped he wouldn’t realize that she was aware of her feelings and thinking about him, blushing with embarrassment. Suji even had to hold her breath, worried that Rex might hear her pounding heart.

Fortunately, the meat cooked quickly, giving off a savory aroma. Rex, having made incisions, cut the meat into large chunks that were dripping with fat. He then skewered the chunks of meat onto the stick he had prepared earlier and placed it behind him. When Suji looked at him, he carefully selected the softest and least fatty piece and fed it to her by hand. Suji obediently accepted the food.

Rex’s expression was gentle, and his hands were calm as he cut the meat. Because he liked seeing Suji eat diligently, Rex continued to feed her until she refused. Only after Suji had eaten some refreshing fruit did she get up from her seat. When she returned after washing her mouth, Rex was ready to go.

With the long skewer of meat over his shoulder, Rex turned to look at Suji, making her heart race. She hurriedly gathered the lighter and pot. Wrapping them around a tree branch and slinging them over her back, she then tied the stick Rex gave her around her waist like a belt. Rex, satisfied, began to move.

The path to the hill was treacherous, filled with numerous puddles and monsters waiting for them. Rex burst the fish that suddenly attacked with one hand and taught Suji how to use the stick.

“Hit harder. These things become incapacitated if you hit them on the side.”

Rex explained as he stomped on the jumping fish with his heel. Suji, envious of his calm demeanor, swung the stick horizontally as Rex instructed. The wide part hit the side of the fish’s fin, sending it flying far away. Rex nodded in approval.

“You have to keep swinging without stopping.”

After hitting the fish for over five minutes, Suji’s arm ached. Seeing her struggle, Rex moved her to the back and burst the remaining fish with his own hands.

‘Phew.’

The fish hiding in the reed field seemed endless. Suji was soon out of breath, unlike Rex, who was still effortlessly handling the fish. She couldn’t keep up with him. He had infinite stamina. Suji bit her lower lip, deciding to accept reality. There was no point in feeling powerless comparing herself to someone she couldn’t catch up to. It was better to focus on what she could do within her capabilities.

Suji tightened her grip on the stick as she faced another fish coming at her.

After swinging her arm for a while, the attacking fish gradually decreased. The remaining ones seemed to have hidden, as the reed field swayed slightly. Rex extended his hand to the exhausted Suji, offering to carry her.

“I’m okay,” Suji refused his gesture. She didn’t want to be a burden, especially since they were just starting. However, Rex frowned, displeased with her refusal. Despite her heavy breathing, Suji walked on her own and followed closely behind Rex.

Rex eventually accepted Suji’s stubbornness and decided to help her by slowing his pace.

‘He’s deliberately going slow.’

Suji appreciated Rex’s consideration. He accepted her wishes and even thought of ways to help her. Suji hoped she wouldn’t be a burden to him as she looked ahead. The fog that had been obscuring their view was gradually fading.

“Wow…”

If the path they had taken so far was a swamp, the landscape ahead was a peaceful grassland. With a dense forest to their right, the hill stretched out gently. Seeing the open view, Suji finally let out a relaxed sigh.

‘It feels like paradise because it’s daytime.’

The green grassy field basking in the sunlight presented a tranquil scene. It was peaceful enough to be a perfect spot for a picnic. Suji felt the sun’s rays, which were almost uncomfortably hot, and rubbed her arm. Rex carefully observed the hill and then started moving.

“Don’t move.”

At some point, Rex’s arm reached out. Suji froze at his stern command. Soon, a strong vibration could be felt from the ground. She thought it might be an earthquake, but Rex stood still.

Suji, frightened, mimicked Rex. Suddenly, a long, elephant-like trunk burst from the ground with a loud thud, startling her so much she almost fell. Rex, however, calmly took a large piece of meat from the skewer and threw it near the trunk. The trunk sniffed the meat and then quickly retreated underground. Soon after, a maggot the size of a horse emerged from the ground.

‘What… what is that?’

Suji looked at the creature with a tearful face. The long-nosed maggot soon split into hundreds of smaller maggots, which disgustingly clung to the meat. The sound of their mandibles crunching the flesh echoed harshly in her ears. Amidst this, Rex pointed to something on Suji’s back.

‘The lighter?’

When Suji handed it to him, Rex set fire to a stick and threw it onto the chunk of meat. The fatty, sizzling meat quickly caught fire. The maggots writhed and fell to the ground in a frenzy. Rex looked at the blackened, burned creatures with indifferent eyes and then gestured for them to move on.