"L-Lena, what do you mean 'holy water'? Common sense says no one would drink purified piss…"
"That's why it's even better!"
"?"
Piss being better?
Seol Hajeong couldn't wrap her head around it.
Kim Taeyang answered for her.
"It doesn't rain much on this island."
"Can't we just find fresh water?"
"Hey, if you wanna be a parasite's wife, be my guest. Kek kek."
Seawater's salty.
Fresh water's contaminated.
Compared to that, purified piss is practically holy water!
"Hey, useless sow, don't be too disappointed. Beg for my piss, and I'll squirt some more."
"Unlike dirty fresh water, Taeyang-nim's clean piss…! I wanna chug it now…!"
"Yo! President sow, beg for my piss too…!"
"..."
Seol Hajeong knew Kim Taeyang was purifying fresh water.
'He's deliberately giving us piss-purified water to gaslight us…!'
His intentions were obvious.
But to survive, she had no choice.
She had to beg for his piss.
"Taeyang-ssi, please. Let me have a chance to drink your purified urine."
"Hey! Make it dirtier!!"
With a straight face, Seol Hajeong spoke in a flat tone.
"I wanna drink Taeyang's piss until my belly's full…"
"Kek kek kek. You've got some sow potential, huh? Yo! I'm feeling the urge! I'll piss and bring it right over!!"
"..."
Kim Taeyang left.
Sighing, Seol Hajeong apologized to Lena.
She just wanted to get through this.
"Lena, I acted rashly."
"I'm sorry for getting mad too. But I hope this doesn't happen again."
"Yeah. Sorry."
They reconciled quickly.
But the awkwardness lingered.
They didn't speak until bedtime, proof of the tension.
***
Rustle.
They lay in the cramped shelter.
Hunger kept Seol Hajeong awake.
Lena's words echoed in her mind.
'President! Are you crazy?!'
'I haven't heard Lena use informal speech since we first met.'
Seol Hajeong, Lena, and Kuma were peers.
Yet Lena and Kuma treated her like an adult, using formal speech.
It wasn't her demand.
Lena started it, and Kuma followed.
So she didn't mind if Lena spoke casually.
But not emotionally like this.
'Lena's trust in me is breaking. I need to talk to her gently today and start listening to her tomorrow. I'll need time to adjust too.'
Sorting her thoughts, Seol Hajeong spoke cautiously.
"I'm sorry about today. I was stubborn. You've been here longer, so I should've followed your lead…"
"..."
No response.
Just soft breathing.
Lena was probably asleep.
'Oh well.'
Seol Hajeong let it go and closed her eyes.
***
On the edge of consciousness, a faint voice swirled in her ears.
"President, you asleep?"
She tried to answer, but sleep pulled her under.
As she relaxed again—
Rustle-
Lena got up.
Careful not to wake Seol Hajeong, she slipped out of the shelter.
'Lena? Where's she going…?'
Startled awake, Seol Hajeong sat up.
Curious, she peeked outside.
"!"
Lena was in front of Kim Taeyang's shelter.
After some hushed talk, she went inside.
'What are they doing? No way…'
Seol Hajeong decided to wait for Lena to come out.
An hour passed.
Two hours.
Three hours.
Lena didn't return.
'Lena…'
The image of Lena giving herself to Kim Taeyang burned in her mind.
What else would a young man and woman do in the dead of night?
'Since when…'
Seol Hajeong's fist clenched.
Overwhelmed by exhaustion and betrayal, she was dragged into a nightmare.
***
"Hey, hey, tighten it properly!"
"Ugh! Sorry…"
"Finish quick and get out. I need sleep."
"Almost done…"
Lena showed up at my shelter.
Nothing shady's going on.
She's fixing the frame of my shelter.
My place is big for a lean-to, with a high ceiling and layered supports.
The knots tying them need regular checking.
I could do it, but climbing up risks breaking it, so I passed it to Lena.
Also, it's repetitive and annoying.
In return, she gets a few yams.
"Kek kek kek. You actually wash and wear those panties?"
"Of course…"
"You've only got one pair. No time to dry them, right?"
"So I skip wearing them every other day."
"Hey! So tomorrow's a no-panties day?!"
"..."
Still, Lena's better than Seol Harin or Chloe.
Those two would've ditched their panties ages ago…
Probably tried to strip mine too…
I kept enjoying the view.
"How's it going with the president sow?"
"Not great. She's capable but stubborn."
"She's the sow you missed the most, right?"
"Was."
Her hips wiggled with every word.
Feels like I'm talking to her butt.
"Already regretting it?"
"She tripped chasing a rabbit today. I told her it's impossible barehanded, but she didn't listen."
That opened the floodgates.
Lena unloaded all her pent-up complaints.
"She insisted on building a shelter first, wrecked her condition. Keeps spouting corporate nonsense like some old geezer…"
"Corporate talk on a deserted island? For real? She's hilarious! Kek kek kek."
"Right?! This place is nothing like society! She still thinks she's a conglomerate heiress or student council president. Zero grasp of reality."
Lena clammed up, realizing she went too far.
Good sign for me!
"Hey, useless sow."
"Yeah?"
"Cramped sleeping quarters suck, right?"
"Obviously."
"How about it? Stay here for the night if you want."
"R-Really?"
Her voice perked up, the liveliest I'd heard today.
"Get up early and slip back to your shelter. President sow might get sad if she notices, though. Kek kek."
Lena finished the work and climbed down.
She fidgeted, then lay next to me.
"I'll just crash for a few hours then."
***
Kim Taeyang, Lena, Seol Hajeong.
Their survival saga had developed its own clichés.
"Lena, how about a morning meeting? In companies, setting goals in the morning boosts efficiency…"
"If you've got time for corporate talk, go check the traps."
"..."
Seol Hajeong's words, golden in the outside world, fell flat on the island.
She'd been reduced to a punching bag.
"Not some old geezer, so annoying."
"You talking about me?"
"Talking to myself. Assume all my informal speech is just that."
Lena had started speaking casually, her tone growing sharp.
By afternoon, her persuasion kicked in.
"Taeyang caught an octopus today. Said he's gonna boil it for sukhoe."
"Sounds tasty."
"If you'd just apologized, I could've eaten some too."
She subtly urged Seol Hajeong to bow to Kim Taeyang.
"Want octopus? I'll catch one."
"How?"
"Well…"
Seol Hajeong had always been good with people.
Her natural charisma drew them in, and her CEO mother's lessons helped her manage them.
But this situation was new.
'I'm so incompetent, nothing I say works…'
She thought she was better than most, but that was arrogance.
Survival here demanded experience and knowledge over brains.
Kim Taeyang had prepared for the island.
Lena had picked up some of his know-how.
Compared to them, Seol Hajeong was a clueless novice.
"President, just accept it. The two of us can't escape this island, let alone survive."
"I believe in our strength. We've cleared dungeons before."
"That was when we could use mana… Ugh. Just apologize to Taeyang. What's so hard?"
Seol Hajeong thought she had no reason to apologize.
If anything, he owed her one.
'He stole my sister…!'
She couldn't say that to Lena.
"Lena, don't you get it? He's trying to take Hecate-nim completely."
"What's the point now? I can't even offer Hecate-nim artifacts."
"What about his harassment? You're okay with being called a sow and all that?"
"If it makes him happy."
"…?"
Lena's resolute attitude threw Seol Hajeong off.
Her expression turned deadly serious.
Eyes gleaming with a conviction so unwavering, it bordered on madness.
"President, snap out of it. Two women can't do anything here. Women need a man's protection."
"You're the one who needs to snap out of it. Kim Taeyang's brainwashed you."
"It's not brainwashing! I decided this myself! Women are weak, men are strong! And Kim Taeyang's the strongest male out there…!"
Lena's breathing grew heavy.
Her eyes shone with an untraceable fervor.
"W-We can train. Build muscle, learn skills, adapt to the island—"
"No way! Still dreaming of being a female CEO?! This is a deserted island!!! All a woman can do here is pick fruit!!! And even that's hard without a man's help!!!"
Lena grabbed Seol Hajeong's shoulders tightly.
Her burning emotions coursed through her grip.
From her parted lips came unbelievable words.
"Girls can do nothing."
Women are useless.
"Without men."
That's what Lena was saying.
"Women need to be desirable to men. That's our duty, nature's mandate."
"..."
Her unshakable stance left Seol Hajeong speechless.
"Remember that."
Lena turned and headed back to camp.
Seol Hajeong followed, powerless.
***
Rustle-
At night, Lena left the shelter without fail.
She didn't even check if Seol Hajeong was asleep anymore.
"Lena, where you going?"
"Bathroom."
Seol Hajeong knew it was a lie.
But she was powerless to stop her.
Soon, giggles echoed from Kim Taeyang's shelter.
'What are they talking about to laugh like that?'
Kim Taeyang and Lena.
Their happiness felt worlds away from Seol Hajeong.
'Are they talking about me behind my back?'
On second thought, what else would they talk about?
What events are there on this island?
'To them, I must look like a fool…'
Seol Hajeong knew.
The student council president, reduced to a useless woman.
What juicy gossip that must be.
"..."
She sat up, hugging her knees.
This damn island didn't even have a stuffed animal or pillow to hold.
She felt utterly alone, dreading the morning, longing to return to before the dungeon.
Exhausted, she wanted to abandon everything.
But.
Seol Hajeong wasn't taught to lose.
"It's worth a shot…"
She pulled a blade from her backpack.
Zing-
The metallic scrape of the knife sounded like a beast's growl.
***
I'd been waiting for day 20.
Why?
Because today's chest had a power bank!
I scoured all the videos I'd saved!
Gonna binge all night!!
"Hahahaha."
Lena sat next to me, naturally watching the sitcom.
"Hey, don't laugh so loud. Your president'll hear."
"She's asleep, it's fine. Hurry, play the next episode!"
I thought she wouldn't like this stuff, being so stoic.
Is it the island's magic?
Lena was ecstatic watching the sitcom on the tiny smartphone.
Her laughter was infectious, boosting my mood.
Funny stuff's better shared.
"Should've brought the president sow too. Could've shown her the sitcom."
"That stubborn chick… Useless and won't listen."
"Kek kek kek. You've completely turned on her, huh?"
"Just being in the same space makes me sigh… Next episode, quick!"
"Hey, hey, don't rush. Trash-talk the student council and president sow, then I'll play it."
"Student council? Don't even remember what they do. Seol Hajeong, that young geezer. Talks like a bland yam. Just looking at her chokes me up. Curse the whole student council…!"
No hesitation In Lena's words.
"Hey! This traitor chick feels no guilt now?! Hilarious!!"
Then—
Crack!
The wooden door shattered.
Seol Hajeong had kicked it down.
"Taeyang-ssi."
"Huh? What's with you?! Don't wreck my place!!"
Seol Hajeong twirled a knife, tossing and catching it.
The blade danced between her fingers.
"If you're the king of this island, I'm the challenger."
"What's that nonsense?"
Thud!
She drove the knife into the wooden wall.
"I challenge you to a duel. Knife fighting. If I lose, I'll be your slave. But if I win…"
Her expression turned icy, her gaze sharp as a blade.
"Then I'll be the queen of this island."
A duel…
I get she's pissed, but…
Can she handle it?
With that frail body…?