Chapter 237 – Sacrifice
* * *
Cha In-cheol was hiding among the roots of a large tree.
I wasn’t the type of person who could hide, but I did try to avoid being noticed.
Because he could not die before completing his given mission.
“How long has it been?”
At first, I ignorantly counted the time by one second.
However, if he heard something rustling in the grass or a bird flying, he would be so startled that he would forget the numbers. Because Cha In-cheol was a more sensitive man than he looked.
Cha In-cheol failed so many times.
Now I’ve decided to give up on counting and rely purely on intuition.
“It probably hasn’t been 15 minutes yet.”
Changjae Kang. What on earth is that man trying to do?
Cha In-cheol deliberately did not ask in detail. This is because his words that managers can listen and respond if you speak deeply touched me.
But is it really so?
When first asked about the operation, he said: ‘I have to think about it now.’
… Isn’t there actually no operation at all?
Isn’t this how he plans to eliminate himself, the intruder, and swallow our group whole?
As he thought that he might die soon, all kinds of thoughts came to Cha In-cheol.
Maybe it would be best for him to run away now…
-Ahh!
Cha In-cheol slapped his own cheek hard with his own hand.
And he scolded himself.
“Don’t be weak. Cha In-cheol.”
I was hit so hard that my cheek felt swollen. Still, thanks to you, I came to my senses.
I thought that having thoughts like this was evidence that my mind had become weak.
That he was somehow looking for an excuse to escape alive. In order to rationalize his cowardice, he is making that man a fake.
Now was not the time to think about other things. He had to think only about carrying out the given mission reliably.
“… “How long has it been?”
I forgot time again.
I don’t know if 20 minutes have passed, or if it’s not even 5 minutes yet.
Cha In-cheol blamed himself for his stupidity, but he didn’t even have time to blame himself.
-Growl.
Perhaps because he heard the sound of a slap, a wolf came out of the grass and bared its teeth.
“Oh my.”
Much bigger than a large dog.
It was a force that would have left him without a move if he had encountered it on a normal day.
But not now.
He caught several carnivores on the way here. Among the dogs, there was a wolf like this.
Of course, I was able to hunt without getting hurt because Kang Chang-jae was with me at the time, but after overcoming several dangerous obstacles, I now know how to fight alone.
And wolves probably have no experience hunting ‘humans with weapons’. On the other hand, Cha In-cheol, who had hunted wolves, found it worth the effort.
Cha In-cheol is ready to fight.
First, let’s just grab the wolf in front of us and burst its liver. Then he decided that the time would be roughly right.
Cha In-cheol and the wolf face off while having a snowball fight.
It was the wolf that moved first.
“Hriya!”
-Wow!
And at the moment the wolf charged, Cha In-cheol raised his ax with both hands diagonally and struck.
The ax blade deflected off the wolf’s head and cut into its shoulder. The wolf, who rushed forward without fear, was defeated by power beyond imagination. It flew in the opposite direction and crashed into a large tree.
“Huh!”
Cha In-cheol did not waste any time. He immediately lunged at the fallen wolf to deliver another blow.
What I learned while hunting with Changjae Kang. That means thinking about the next move while moving and executing it right away.
If you are one second behind, you will be attacked, and if you are attacked, you will die. The one who moves 1 second first survives. Cha In-cheol deeply felt this fact while watching Kang Chang-jae fight, and put it into practice.
-Tsk!
The ax hit the head of the fallen wolf.
The wolf screamed and stopped moving.
It was instant death.
“Whoa.”
Cha In-cheol turned around, exhaling hot breath.
There, three wolves were already surrounding Cha In-cheol.
Cha In-cheol picked up the ax again.
Wolves do not walk alone.
If there was one, you should have thought that there was a group nearby.
“I guess this is where I will die.”
Cha In-cheol dropped the ax blade on the ground.
There was an item entrusted to him by Kang Chang-jae, a vacuum-packed ‘great wild boar liver.’
Deeply.
The ax blade tore the vacuum packaging and became lodged in the soft liver.
Although the plastic was only slightly torn, the extremely strong smell of blood pierced Cha In-cheol’s nose.
-Krrrr…
And at the same time, the wolves’ mood changed.
If he had been cautiously searching for the dangerous man who killed his comrade just before, he had shown his will to attack fiercely right after he exploded his liver.
“Are you saying that we shouldn’t be taken over by these guys and that we should hold out until the Tyrannosaurus comes…? …”
-Kooooong──
A terrifying roar was heard from afar.
Is this the sound of a dinosaur? Even though I knew it was a long way away, I felt numb.
Tyrannosaurus must have smelled the liver too. In that case, it could be said that everything went according to plan.
“Haha…”
Cha In-cheol strengthened his resolve.
I am prepared to die here.
If it was the way to protect the woman and family he loved, Cha In-cheol had no regrets.
* * *
The sun was about to set.
A fun evening.
A meat party was in full swing in the survivor group in the safe zone, without Cha In-cheol.
Lunch is a meat party, dinner is also a meat party.
There was enough meat that I would not be short of meat for the next week. The survivors, who had starved for a full day, were busy putting meat into their mouths.
Everyone is excited and grilling and eating meat.
There was a particularly quiet person.
It was Cha In-yeong, Cha In-cheol’s younger brother.
“I wish I could have eaten with you too…”
Cha In-young muttered gloomily.
She had been starving since yesterday, and so had her brother.
But my brother left without even eating lunch. And he didn’t come back even in the evening.
Cha In-young was just worried about her brother, whether he was eating properly or where he was and what he was doing.
“If I had known it would be like this, I would have at least apologized…”
Since saying harsh words to Cha In-cheol that day, Cha In-young has been avoiding her brother.
In fact, it wasn’t Cha In-cheol’s fault that Cha In-young wasn’t selected as a partner that day. Even though she knew it, she said harsh words to her brother in anger. Because she had no one else to blame.
Cha In-young had never said anything so harsh to her brother. So she didn’t know how to apologize.
Cha In-cheol would probably have forgiven her right away when her brother said he was sorry, but Cha In-young couldn’t do that, so she suffered alone and avoided her brother.
Then she ended up here.
Since her brother was not in sight, her empty space felt even bigger. He didn’t seem to be able to digest meat even if he ate it.
When my brother comes back this time, he has to apologize unconditionally.
Cha In-young made this decision to herself.
“Jiyoung, eat a lot.”
“Hehe. Yes.”
Besides her brother, Cha In-young had someone else she was worried about.
This is Jiyoung Kim.
Until yesterday, Jiyoung Kim was an outsider in this group.
She was treated coldly, especially among women. You could say she was an outcast.
The only person who treated Kim Ji-young normally was her brother In-cheol, who did not discriminate against others.
She felt bad for bullying, so whenever Cha In-young tried to talk to her, her other sister came after her and advised her not to talk to that person. I also heard that if she doesn’t, it won’t be good for you and her brother.
After that, Cha In-young also did not try to get involved with Kim Ji-young. She was everywhere in the women’s faction fight, and even if she got involved, nothing good would happen to her.
But now she is having a meat party.
Jiyoung Kim was the center of this party.
In Cha In-young’s eyes, it seemed extremely unnatural.
“Jiyoung did a great job for her.”
“What am I? Ho ho ho.”
The two older sisters, Yoon Seo-hee and Joo Hee-kyung, who can be said to be the spiritual pillars of the female group, were strangely praising and encouraging Kim Ji-young today.
As a result, other women naturally approached Jiyoung Kim, talked to her, and treated her in a friendly manner. It was as if she had been a close friend from before. Until now, everyone has been treating us as invisible people.
It struck Cha In-young with an ominousness that could not be expressed in words.
What on earth was being talked about between the sisters?
And what happened to her brother?
The sisters didn’t say anything other than ‘My brother followed Changjae.’
She said she left to do big things with Changjae. I’ll be back as soon as I finish work.
Cha In-young, who knew nothing, had no choice but to believe what he said and wait.
It would have been nice for my brother to at least say something to her.
Why did my brother leave in such a hurry?
Cha In-young felt resentful towards her older brother who worried her so much.
When she came back, she would apologize, but I thought she would definitely say something.
“Ah.”
At that time, Cha In-young felt something strange.
In her hand, which was holding her chopsticks, she was holding something that was not my belongings.
Square shape. Just the right size to hold in one hand.
She had no memory of holding anything like this.
It was a cell phone.
『Player Cha In-cheol, passed away. Terminal ownership is transferred to the partner.』
A mechanical message flowed from a mobile phone.
Come to think of it, this cell phone was the same one her brother used.
“Oh… “Oppa?”
Cha In-young’s heart sank.
What on earth happened?
Cha In-young did not want to understand.
“Mr. Jiyoung. Please continue to take good care of me?”
“Sure. Please just leave it to me.”
“Hohoho.”
The laughter of the women at the party grew louder.
In it, Cha In-young felt as if she had fallen into another world alone.
*
“Fuck! It doesn’t fucking break!”
-Puck! Puck! Puck!
She arrived at Kush Tapa’s nest.
As planned, Kushtapa went to eat the wild boar’s liver and was not in the nest.
There are a total of 5 dinosaur eggs in the nest.
It was bigger than an ostrich egg and smaller than my head.
And she was oddly different. So much so that it won’t break even if you stab it with a spear.
Because the egg was round, the spear blade did not stick in it and kept slipping on the surface.
“Ah. There’s no need to do this.”
I changed my strategy and held the dinosaur egg in my hand instead of spearing it.
A cool and heavy feeling.
I threw it with all my might against a large stone.
-Pussy!
The egg broke, and the contents flowed out.
Hmm. What a shame. There must have been 50 servings of fried eggs.
I then broke all the remaining eggs. There is only one left.
-Kooooong──
“Ome. “Mr.”
As I packed the one remaining egg into my empty backpack, I heard Kushtapa’s roar from afar.
A roar that makes you want to pee. I felt like the fear written into my genes was being stimulated.
It was different from the roar I had heard before.
This time, it seemed like he was screaming in anger, knowing that I had broken and stolen the egg.
I’m really doing something crazy.
For some reason, I laughed.
“Hmm, let’s see if I can really chase you to the ends of the earth.”
I started running carrying a backpack full of eggs.
Toward the swamp where Pia waits.
