Chapter 3 – 003 Flood Damage
It is forbidden to fall asleep deeply while camping. Especially if it is bivouac in the forest.
There are many wild animals on the earth, especially in the mountains of Korea, which are said to be safe.
It is said that tigers and wolves are extinct, but there are black bears that the government is constantly releasing, wild boars, and at least wild dogs and wild dogs.
For example, when Hwanin was a high school student, he encountered a stray dog that became sensitive while taking a walk in the back mountain.
The wild dog was killed by Hwanin’s clubbing, but anyway.
How much time must I have spent going biking with my father, biking alone, learning and napping with my ears pricked up according to what I had learned.
‘…….’
Hwanin opened one eye softly and narrowly at the strange feeling that flowed through his skin.
And saw. A bright yellow eye passing through the tangled tree roots.
I closed my eyes, feeling the sensation running down my spine. I also stopped breathing.
I opened my ears to the point where I could hear the sound of a needle dropping.
It’s still. There is no sound of birds or insects.
Sabak………… Lightly….
The sound of wet leaves being stepped on continues faintly through the silence.
‘It’s too light for a monster’s footsteps. It’s highly likely that it’s a beast.’
Are you wandering around? If it were a wild beast, it might have followed the body odor that could not be completely erased, or the smell of itself that was foreign to the forest.
Hwanin, holding the hilt of the stone ax in his arms, carefully opened one of his eyes. However, it was unreasonable to look at the bottom of the forest where even the moonlight did not shine.
All I see is pitch-black darkness.
At that time, the yellow light reappeared through the narrow gap between the thick tree roots.
The yellow eyes were Hwanin who noticed that he was staring at a place other than where he was hiding, but he quickly closed his eyes.
‘It was about the height of my waist.’
When you think about the scenery before sunset, the height of those bright yellow eyes is about your waist. It was lower than the green monster I encountered during the day. In addition, the quadrupedal footsteps are the unique rhythm of quadrupedal walking.
It must be a beast.
‘It must be the size of a tiger.’
Fighting back is suicidal.
Seruk…… Sareuk…….
…… Flow…….
I could hear the wind blowing through the long, winding cylinder. Is it the beast’s breath or growling?
As I listened to the sound of the predator at close range, my nervous heart began to thump and rapidly consume oxygen.
The tree roots were very thick and hard. Even a bear is so entangled that it cannot be destroyed at once.
Hwanin focused on the dynamics of the outside world, repeating in his head the action of cutting the middle of the forehead with a stone ax if a beast poked his head into the gap.
Hold on for a while The sound of whispering in Hwanin’s ears gradually faded away.
‘589…… 599…… 600.’
When I counted up to 600, breathing really hard, the burdock-burdock-song of the birds returned, and the chirping grass insects began to fill the forest.
‘…… Couldn’t find me.’
It must be because it hides in the roots of a stinky tree and covers its entire body in a muddy coat. …… Or maybe the purpose was different.
After slowly catching his breath, Hwanin suddenly felt his hand go numb and realized that he was holding the stone ax handle too tightly and relaxed his hand.
He was so nervous that sweat trickled down his palms and his fingers tingled.
The crisis had passed, but Hwanin did not let go of the tension as he rubbed his palms on the leaves.
After spending time with open eyes, Hwanin made up for the lack of sleep with a nap when the dark blue dawn approached.
Crunchy.
“Mmm.”
Hwanin, who first learned that human joints can become stiff like this, carefully moved his body, which felt like a piece of wood, and started stretching.
It must have been stupid to not move for more than six hours in a squatting position.
At first, there was a popping sound all over the body, as if the muscles were screaming, but as the stretching was repeated, the heat gradually rose and the movement became easier.
Hwanin, feeling that his body was in good condition, laughed loudly.
The emotions I felt during a day in the jungle here were more intense than the emotions I felt during my 26 years of living.
Gurgling-
When the body is activated, it asks for calories. Hearing the sound from inside his stomach, Hwanin first began to search for the traces left by the beast last night.
“…… Hmm.”
And found footprints.
When I found a footprint unique to felines left in the slightly damp soil, I put my paw on it.
Convex flesh. Each paw pad is the size of Hwanin’s foot.
At this level, it is three to four times larger than a tiger.
Carefully following the trail of footprints, I realized that last night’s beast was not looking for me, but was just passing by.
There were footprints at regular intervals on the bare ground where no leaves were piled up.
It was fortunate in misfortune. If such a monstrous beast, and a cat that can be said to be a natural hunter, is aiming for it…….
Hwanin, who was unconsciously trying to kiss his lips, realized that his lips were cracking due to lack of moisture.
It’s over for now, but after a while, your legs will loosen up, cold sweats, chills, and severe hunger with nausea.
It is a sign that death is getting closer.
The gaze naturally goes to the orange fruit that resembles the corona virus. At first glance, they are fruit bushes scattered around so much that they might be weeds.
Pusseuk!
At that time, an animal the size of a squirrel, like a mixture of an elephant and a rabbit, jumped out of the thicket at a reasonable distance from Hwanin.
Hwanin, who momentarily grabbed the stone axe, began to keep an eye on the small creature.
Overall, it is a rabbit, but its ears, covered with fine brown fur, are broad like those of an elephant. The forelimbs, which are as long as the hind feet, are developed to make it easy to grab something, and the fine whiskers growing at the end of the blunt snout shake constantly as if it has a function to sense air vibrations.
“…….”
The hare and squirrel that came out of the thicket stood on two feet and looked around, sniffing their noses as if they had not found the ghost, probably because of their poor eyesight.
After a while, assuming that there are no enemies, he picks out orange berries with quick movements and pulls the largest and darkest berry with all his might.
Pussut, Tick-
With a light sound, the bush swayed slightly, and the fruit fell into the hands of the rabbit squirrel. And the rabbit squirrel held the fruit in its side with one arm.
Tadadadadat-
He began to climb trees proficiently.
After jumping up 10 meters in an instant, the rabbit squirrel arrives at the nearest tree branch and skillfully peels off the bumps on the orange fruit with its forepaws.
Patter.
The orange bumpy shell fell for a while and then stopped.
Rabbits and squirrels eat the flesh of the neatly peeled fruit while chewing it.
Hwanin, who watched the whole scene, lowered his gaze to the fruit bush.
If this was Earth, that fruit would have been a ‘relatively’ safe food to consume. However, this place was not Earth, and even if the fruit was food for the rabbit squirrel, it could be poison for him.
Hwanin stared at the ominous-looking fruit for a moment before picking off one similar to the one the rabbit and squirrel picked.
The rabbit squirrel peeled off its skin while using its snout…….
“…….”
The texture is as soft as touching velvet fabric. Pulling the protrusion to peel the skin off, it peels off better than expected.
The contents were similar to blanched and peeled tomatoes. When I cut it in half with a multi-tool, three or four perilla-sized seeds caught my eye.
‘The smell is similar to citrus juice.’
After thinking for a while, Hwanin tore off a bit of the flesh with a knife and placed it on his tongue. And I waited for a while, rolling my tongue…….
‘Are you okay?’
There is no feeling of tingling or numbness in the tongue. In the meantime, the taste spreads on the tongue, but the taste was just okay.
Slightly bitter, slightly sour, and moderate sweetness.
Hwanin, a little amazed at how sweet the unmodified wild fruit could be, swallowed the piece of fruit that was on his tongue.
‘268…… 279…… 299…… 300.’
I learned from his father that poisonous berries, fruits, etc., Cause symptoms within 5 minutes. So he looked at his watch and waited for five minutes, but there was no stomach ache or stomach tightening or anything.
Just in case, remove all the seeds, put the whole flesh in your mouth and chew it, and the juice bursts and spreads sweetness in your mouth.
Delicious. Slight astringency and sourness accentuate the sweetness.
I waited another 5 minutes, but there was no colic or signs of an upset stomach. With a sigh of relief, Hwanin takes out his smartphone and finds another fruit similar to the one the rabbit and squirrel picked and takes a picture of it.
“It’s fortunate that I just changed my smartphone.”
After buying a new one, I even replaced it with a high-capacity homemade battery. The option to eat the battery was turned OFF while walking yesterday, and the brightness was also set to 0. The sound is also set to silent and no vibration, so if you use it sparingly, it will last for 6 days.
After that, Hwanin secured a large leaf that looked similar to a palm leaf, and while walking around, he picked and collected orange berries that he named corona berry.
This forest seems to be the home of corona berries, so you won’t have to worry about food for the time being.
Hwanin, who ate about 10 corona berries to avoid hunger as well as thirst, set off again.
First of all, the goal is to find people.
Of course, it may not exist, but for survival, it is urgent to find an intelligent body similar to humans anyway.
It may be a tribe hostile to foreigners and strangers, but that is something to think about after finding people.
Looking at the ground more closely than yesterday, Hwanin, who was walking along the road, also inspected countless trees, found a bush with a strange appearance and stared at it.
“Not good.”
The strange shape was the footprints of the beast that had crushed the bush.
When I put my foot on the footprint of the newly discovered beast and compared it, the size of this footprint is slightly smaller.
When I looked around, I could not see much of the flat terrain, as if I had entered the hilly terrain, and the curved terrain filled my field of view.
Coronaberry bushes also stand out everywhere.
The fortunate thing is that even though I walked for about 3 hours, the corona berry is growing on its own, and the unfortunate thing is that the possibility of several beasts passing by last night has increased.
This is not the end.
I gave my eyes to a particularly large tree in front of me, then moved closer to it.
“Can you climb a tree?”
As if he had slipped while climbing a tree, Hwanin stared blankly at the 6 rows of claw marks growing vertically on the tree. He then looked around and muttered,
“Should I make a shield?”
If it was made as envisioned, it would be a micro raft rather than a shield, but in any case, if you attach a handle to a flat thing and lift it, it becomes a shield.
Hwanin, who finished his thoughts and plans, moved quickly.
First of all, I gathered the wood firewood that was as thick as the club I made yesterday. Wood planks are good for making shields, but what you can do with a multi-tool is limited to small and detailed work.
You might be able to chop wood into planks with a stone axe, but you can’t expend your valuable weapons for such a thing.
After collecting enough firewood, they plucked a corona berry bush to secure stems to use as twine substitutes. Then he straightened the jagged lengths of thick wood firewood with a stone axe.
By the way.
Bang!
I accidentally took a rock while polishing it, and instead of scratching the stone axe, the rock was dug out.
“…… What the hell is this made of?”
Hwanin muttered as he watched the stone chipped away by the stone axe and resumed his work.
Anyway, by chance, Hwanin found out that the stone ax was very strong, but he was able to find some comfort.
If it’s a strong and solid weapon, it should last quite a while.
After that, he made a square shield by arranging tree branches trimmed to the appropriate length vertically and intertwining the trunks of bushes he had secured.
The result of the two hours of popping up was exactly what I envisioned and expected.
Thanks to the many thick and straight branches, it is dense enough to block arrows. Pointy tree branches were also deliberately inserted into the gaps, so if you hit a green monster with this, you’ll be covered in blood at once.
Of course, it was not in Hwanin’s mind to block the attack of a large beast with this crude wooden shield.
This shield was used only for containment, and for creating gaps by inserting it into the muzzle when biting.
It is Hwanin’s will not to die even if he dies.
I put my wrist on the inner belt of the finished improvised wooden shield and tried to move it around.
Its size barely covered the upper body, so there was no hindrance to movement.
‘Shouldn’t I have looked at some books related to shield art?’
Paulus Hector Meyer, a medieval German civil servant, had been interested in a martial arts textbook that he had made while embezzling, but he was an illusionist who had no knowledge of anything else.
I’m ignorant, but first…… Hold the pose you saw in a medieval dueling game.
I think the shield would cover the entire upper body and above the knees. Spread your legs moderately diagonally to prepare for the impact from the front…….
‘In this position, the other side will only be able to see the top of the eyes and the bottom of the knee.’
I’m trying to swing a stone ax in this state.
Took.
It seems difficult to wield a stone ax while holding out a shield. I hit it, but my arm gets caught in the wooden shield.
‘I’ll have to flip the shield slightly when attacking.’
To strike, the shield must be fully folded, so the attack method is mainly to strike. It is also difficult to wield a stone axe with both hands. You have to wield it with only one hand, but the center of gravity of the stone ax is very low, so it puts a lot of strain on your wrist.
The short reach of the stone ax is also a concern, and the poor durability of the shield is also noticeable for blind fighting.
As he moved around, he saw many flaws, so Hwanin made another club.
This time it is not a tree branch, but a wooden stick about 1.5 m long. It is as thick as an adult thigh, as if it had been broken for some reason after growing for decades.
I processed it with a stone ax to make a handle, peeled the bark of a bush stem with a multi-tool, and wrapped the handle with a soft part.
“This way, it won’t slip.”
After holding it with one hand and swinging it three or four times, Hwanin silently further processed the handle so that it could be held with both hands.
I can wield it with one hand thanks to going to the gym regularly at work, but the center of gravity is comparable to that of a stone axe, so it seemed better to wield it with two hands.
A wooden shield in his left arm and a stone ax in his right hand. Two-handed clubs on the back.
“Hmm.”
It’s poor, but after having weapons and armor, I thought it would be better to make arm and leg protectors.
After thinking for a moment, Hwanin shook his head. I don’t have the dexterity, skill, or time to make something like that. He’s not even safe in the environment.
‘I should think about evasion and survival, not combat.’
Hwanin, who carried the club in both hands, began to move his steps again.
