## Chapter 10 – Control
I frowned at the unexpected quest details.
‘Drinking water?’
Drinking water is important no matter what environment you’re stranded in. After all, the human body is made up of 60-70% water. I once read that you can’t survive more than a week without water, but you can live for a month if you only drink water. That’s how important water is to humans.
‘First clams, now drinking water.’
My thoughts became a little complicated. Surely, it doesn’t mean I have to wander around this damn island to find natural drinking water?
That would be really awful. How am I supposed to find drinking water in a sea full of salt?
“Hey.”
“?”
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“It’s nothing. We’ve dug up enough, let’s go back now. If we work any longer, we might get heatstroke or sunstroke in this hot sun.”
Nod.
We each grabbed an end of the burlap sack and headed back to where the others were.
***
“What’s that?”
Someone came out to meet us when we arrived.
It was Yoon Ji-hoo.
A huge height. Muscular body. Brown hair and blue eyes.
Being of mixed race and liking to work out, he had a bigger and more sturdy build than most gym rats, but his family history was a bit unique.
“Huh? Those are lilies, right?”
He recognized them at a glance.
It took me a while to learn what lilies looked like, but Yoon Ji-hoo recognized them after seeing them just once.
‘He really is the son of a Michelin-starred chef.’
Yoon Ji-hoo’s father is a Michelin-starred chef and controls a significant portion of the Korean food industry. Thanks to his family history, he had quite a bit of talent and insight, even though he didn’t have any particular interest in cooking.
“But why did you catch these?”
“In case we run out of food.”
“Ah. Come to think of it, there was that minor problem. Did you two catch them?”
Yoon Ji-hoo looked up at me and Kim Yeon-joo next to me.
Flinch. Kim Yeon-joo trembled at the gaze.
After experiencing several things yesterday, she had engraved the fear of our classmates in her heart.
Especially since she had heard a separate story from me, she became as careful as possible and kept her head down in front of the boys.
She was almost no different from the teachers.
“Yeah. The two of us went.”
“That won’t do. Hey, you guys! Yeah. I’m talking about you lazy bums sitting there resting!”
Everyone’s attention was focused on Yoon Ji-hoo’s loud voice, and the teachers who were resting on one side hurriedly ran to Yoon Ji-hoo.
“Aren’t you coming over here?”
Yoon Ji-hoo got slightly annoyed, and only then did the flight attendants, who had finally come to their senses, all gather.
“I don’t think you guys are aware of something. Did you come here to play? Did you come here to play?”
“…….”
“We’re the ones who came on a graduation trip to play. Not you guys, right? You have to! Take responsibility for! Protect and feed the students well!”
Yoon Ji-hoo pushed each person’s chest with his index finger as if hitting them.
His strength was so great that the teachers and flight attendants were pushed back or fell over and then returned to their original positions with that light action.
The action continued for a while, and even when Yoon Ji-hoo pressed his index finger against the women’s breasts, they didn’t complain.
‘When I see things like this, I realize we were really living in a strange world.’
Being scolded by a younger boy who can’t even make a peep, and silently enduring it.
“Did you guys do wrong, or not?”
“…We did wrong.”
“Your voice is too small! Did you do wrong, or not!”
“We did wrong!”
I kept the scene in my eyes.
And around this time, I was able to specify a little more what I wanted to do.
Definitely not in a good way.
They say if you’re with a monster, you become a monster?
I suddenly wondered.
What does it feel like to not treat people like people?
I had been learning it directly from them for the past three years, so I wanted to do the opposite.
‘I want to trample on them. I want to treat them as I please.’
It wasn’t because of revenge.
Perhaps I had already become a monster without knowing it, like them, over the past three years.
Perhaps it was because the values such as etiquette and morality that ordinary humans should have were all destroyed in the past three years.
‘But not yet. Let’s wait. Until that moment comes someday, I’ll hide this desire deep inside.’
“Haa. From now on, move on your own, okay? Don’t make me say it again until my mouth hurts. Got it?”
Nod nod.
“Then prepare these for dinner.”
Yoon Ji-hoo disappeared, and long sighs flowed out from everywhere. And soon, fierce gazes were directed at me.
“Jung Woo-jin! If you’re going to do something like that, you should have said something in advance!”
“That’s right! What are you trying to do!”
The math teacher and the science teacher glared at me fiercely.
It was in stark contrast to the fact that they couldn’t even lift their heads to Yoon Ji-hoo and couldn’t even open their mouths once.
“U-um.”
The only one with a similar reaction was the homeroom English teacher.
She had a tearful face, unable to do this or that between us.
She was always indecisive. In fact, the reason she was able to endure without being fired for three years may have been because of this.
I let out a light sigh and turned my gaze to the side.
Since it was graduation, I didn’t want to bother dealing with those who weren’t even teachers.
However, the situation was similar on the side as well.
“Yeon-joo. No matter what, this isn’t right.”
“You’re really selfish, sis. Did you want to stand out so much that you acted alone?”
“Ugh, you’re being mean, sis.”
The situation was generally similar on Kim Yeon-joo’s side as well.
Everyone was eager to blame Kim Yeon-joo.
‘No matter what group you join, never stand out and just go in the middle.’
Honestly, I didn’t expect the situation to turn out like this.
That’s because I’ve always been alone for the past three years, so I’ve never experienced someone similar being harmed because of me.
‘I learned one thing. From now on, let’s be careful even with trivial actions.’
I pushed Kim Yeon-joo back and gathered the gazes of both groups on me.
“You have a lot of complaints. If you have so many complaints, I’ll go to Ji-hoo and tell him.”
Then, the mouths of the people who were doing all sorts of nonsense were shut as if they had been sealed.
As if they had made a promise, they looked around and looked at Yoon Ji-hoo in the distance.
‘Humans are truly cunning.’
I moved my feet to where the classmates were. People were startled and tried to stop me.
“U-um.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
People trying to grab me.
I ignored them and kept moving.
The people who came to my side desperately made all sorts of excuses, but I ignored them all.
“Woo-jin. Listen to the teacher.”
“The words I said earlier have some room for misunderstanding….”
However, at some point, they couldn’t follow me anymore.
It was because the classmates’ gazes were directed at me because of the commotion they were making. The teachers and flight attendants were immediately frightened and stepped back.
Only Kim Yeon-joo followed me and asked.
“W-what are you going to do? Are you really going to tell him?”
“…….”
“Of course, it’s not that their actions are right, but there’s some truth to it. If we had acted together, this would never have happened.”
“No.”
“Yes?”
“If I had asked to go dig up clams together, they would have been annoyed, saying why bother creating work. They would have rather interfered, telling me to stay still instead of doing useless things.”
They just need an excuse.
Their character was just that level.
Just look at that flight attendant named Lee Hyun-ji.
Because of her, Cheyuk was bitten by a snake and died, and I took care of the aftermath, but she hasn’t said a word of thanks and has been ignoring me ever since.
‘Her personality is messed up.’
Well, I’m not in a position to talk about others.
“S-still, are you really going to tell him? Of course, what Woo-jin is saying is all right, but.”
I stopped walking. Kim Yeon-joo also stopped following.
“Noona. I’ll give you some advice.”
“U-ung. What is it?”
“Until you leave this place, only think about yourself. Don’t worry about other people.”
“…….”
“And stop following me. I’m not going to tattle on that little thing.”
Leaving Kim Yeon-joo, who was staring blankly at me with her hands together, I moved my feet again.
The children were all resting in the open space.
***
There were many changes on the beach, which was just a white sandy beach yesterday afternoon.
Four huge shade tents were set up, and mats were laid on the floor.
Panels were lined up on one side, and judging from the fact that they were connected to fans, they were being charged with solar power.
It seemed that they had brought them from the plane to solve the sunlight problem.
‘It would be nice to give one of the shade tents to the teachers or flight attendants.’
The size was that big, but it seemed that they wanted to take up a large space for each person, so they didn’t seem to have any intention of giving it out.
My gaze turned around and headed to the center of the group. There, 19 days’ worth of food was piled up.
“What’s up?”
Yoon Ji-hoo, who was talking to Kim Jae-joon, asked. I answered with a foolish smile.
“I wanted to get some water.”
“Water?”
“Yeah.”
I had to check.
Whether getting drinking water didn’t matter what kind of water it was, or whether I really had to wander around in nature to find it.
“You know where Do-kyun is? Go there.”
I walked to where Yoon Ji-hoo pointed. The kids were each lying down and resting, and I moved between them.
“Damn it. The battery’s dead too. I’m so bored, what do I do now? If I had some drugs, time would pass quickly.”
“Don’t overdo it. Tae-hoon, are you really going to die young?”
“Hey. It’s not that kind. Park Ji-min, you should try it too. It’s really great.”
At that time, my eyes met Park Ji-min, who was talking to Kim Tae-hoon.
‘Should I say hello?’
Considering what happened earlier, I felt bad if I just ignored her. I felt like I had to do something.
“You do it a lot. I don’t like it.”
However, she continued talking to Kim Tae-hoon, treating me like a non-existent person as usual.
The question of whether we had become a little closer by mixing our bodies seemed to be my delusion.
I stood in front of the water, where a lot of 2L plastic bottles were piled up.
“There’s a cup there, right? Pour it into that and drink it.”
After pouring water into the cup, I opened the quest window.
[173/600ml]
‘It works.’
It means that it doesn’t matter what kind of water it is, there’s no need to go looking for it in nature.
I poured the water into my mouth and asked.
“Can I take one of these?”
The kid who was reading a book next to the water answered without taking his eyes off the book.
“No. From today, water will be controlled. If you want to drink, come and drink it.”
“Can’t you give me even a small one?”
Next to the 2L water bottle, there was also a small size of 330ml.
Just yesterday, we each carried one of those around, and even now, the kids were each putting one next to them and drinking it whenever they were thirsty.
So, if I received one of those each and hid them, I might be able to complete the quest smoothly.
However, at that moment, the book slammed shut.
Putting his glasses down on top of it, the kid who was guarding the water glared at me with a cold gaze.
“You can’t understand what I’m saying at once. You’ve become very cocky? You’ve graduated now, huh?”
Han Do-hoon.
A politician’s family whose father is a five-term member of the National Assembly.
He doesn’t talk much usually, but when he’s not in a good mood, he doesn’t hesitate to use harsh words or fists.
Putting down his glasses means he’s going to use violence from now on.
‘He was the first one to beat me until I fainted.’
I woke up and was in the hospital. It means he beat me like crazy to the point where I was taken to the hospital.
Of course, this incident was covered up and concealed, so no one knows about it.
‘But it’s not bad if he’s the one guarding the water.’
It hurts to get hit, but Han Do-hoon wasn’t the type to beat me that much after I was taken to the hospital.
Above all, unlike in the past, I now have stamina and physical strength.
Also, he’s from a politician’s family.
Whether it’s for image management or not, he always smiled and gave me something when he was a little relieved.
A kind of gag order and damage control.
So, he would probably beat me up appropriately this time and then smile and give me a bottle of water.
So, I was willing to get hit, and Han Do-hoon raised his fist to hit me….
“Give it to him.”
Huh?
We looked at the owner of the voice as if we had made a promise.
There was Kim Jae-joon. The leader and de facto ruler of our class.
“Ji-hoo said that you brought a sack of lilies early in the morning to get food. You deserve to receive that small bottle of water after all that hard work.”
“Tsk. You’re lucky. Take it.”
I received the 330ml bottle of water.
Yoon Ji-hoo said from a little distance away.
“But let me tell you in advance, it’s better not to think about using that to remove the salt from the clams. We don’t have any water to waste like that, so just use seawater appropriately. Is that okay, Se-young?”
The girl who received the question from Yoon Ji-hoo nodded.
“Yeah. The seawater here is clear, so it’s okay. No problem.”
Oh Se-young.
The daughter of the owner of a famous hotel chain, and a rising star in the Korean culinary world who has been featured in the media for her outstanding cooking skills at a young age.
If Yoon Ji-hoo, the son of a star chef, and that Oh Se-young say it’s okay, then there probably won’t be any problems.
I answered that I understood and took good care of the water in my arms.
‘Hoo. I managed to get 330ml somehow.’