Chapter 143 – Survival (5)
“Can you walk?”
“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t even have to hold my hand huh?”
It’s been a week since I’ve been at the gate, and I’m getting used to it. Today, from the old cave ceiling, dew dripped down the stalactites overnight, and the sunlight coming through the cracks in the cave created a club-like spot light.
In the midst of it, Seong Ha-yeon Hunter and I were walking step by step, holding both of his hands tightly. It was to help the rehabilitation treatment of Seong Ha-yeon Hunter, who spent most of the week sitting or lying down.
Each step forward was cautious. Outwardly, there was no problem with his health, and there was no problem with his body function because he had been stretching regularly, but his steps were still trembling. I moved backwards step by step, matching the movement of her legs.
Then she took another step forward, matching my movements. A drop of water fell in the corner of the cave. The sound falling at regular intervals sounded like music in some ways. In line with the sound, I took a step back quietly. Hunter Seong Ha-yeon took another step forward in line with my movement. I took a light step forward, holding her hand tightly.
Drops of water fell once again.
Seong Ha-yeon Hunter raised the corner of her mouth slightly at her movement, and then she took another step back in the same way as I did. Rehabilitation training was turning into steps to match the waltz that started playfully.
Without the sound of music, we moved our feet several times in sync with the drops of water, then our eyes met and we laughed.
Haha!”
Seong Ha-yeon Hunter laughed and sat down on her grass cushion. Over the past week, little by little, our life has been getting better. The predators roaming around were fought and chased away, and the inside of the cave was polished by Seong Ha-yeon Hunter, who trimmed and polished it little by little. The grass bed was now really shaped like a bed, and the fire pit had skewers hanging over it for cooking.
I sat down next to her and said.
“Look at the wound.”
She casually took off her clothes. The wound on her smooth side was now half-healed. But she was still only doing simple stretches and strength exercises, as her blood oozes out with the slightest movement. She said while watching Sung Ha-yeon Hunter grind her wound again.
“You should get well soon.”
“The wound is very deep. There’s no cure hunter, so I can’t help it. Don’t stress too much and get some rest.”
“Even so, I have to protect you in a place like this.”
I laughed at her words.
There was still a strange line between her and me. To me, she was Yoo-jung’s close senior, and to her, I was her close junior’s lover. There was a line between us that could never be crossed, no matter how much we joked around and left her side bare.
When we were still sleeping, we kept our distance, and even when we were joking around, when we suddenly realized where we were, we would take our hands off of each other, avoiding eye contact with our smiling faces, without anyone saying anything first. I changed the herbs and got up again.
“Bye.”
“I’ll be back.”
Seong Ha-yeon Hunter simply made the bedding and cleaned the inside of the cave after I left. Every time I saw her like that, I thought I was married, but she never said it out of her mouth. Because I had two women to marry.
I will definitely go back
If, when I go back, if I lay my hand on the Holy Father, Hunter, what will happen to our relationship? I was dating two women as an unavoidable accident, but I knew that such coincidence and luck would not come three times.
So, today I went out in search of prey. In place of the broken shield, Hunter Seong Ha-yeon made her shield by overlapping trees. There are many types of trees that are quite hard, so if you make a good weave of thick branches, you can make a shield that can be used for hunting once.
After fighting monsters all day until their shields were about to break, and bringing useful pieces of meat and miscellaneous items, Hunter Seong Ha-yeon would make something new with them or grill delicious meat and share it.
Today too I had to fight until evening. It was because other monsters rushed at the D-class monster they had luckily caught. I was able to return to the cave only after defeating 7 monsters that looked like wild dogs. Compared to the meat I protected, the shield was tattered with sawdust, and the clothes were left with large torn marks.
The clothes, which had been patched up countless times, now became more hideous and ridiculous due to the stitches added over and over again whenever they were torn. When I crawled into the cave wearing clothes that even a scarecrow wouldn’t wear, Seong Ha-yeon, a hunter who was lighting a fire earlier today, greeted me.
“Hurry… What? Are you hurt?”
She greeted me with a smile on her face, then she came to me in surprise. Even though she knew her side would hurt if she ran fast, she came running to me clutching her wound. I said, restraining her hasty movements.
“I wasn’t hurt. I said you shouldn’t run more than that. The last time I tried to go outside to say I was healed, but the wound opened.”
“It’s okay, I don’t bleed. Take off your clothes sooner than that. I’ll sew it up again.”
Contrary to my first impression, she was a family man. There was nothing strange about cooking, since all Hunters with some experience were above the basics, but she was also quite good at sewing and woodwork. As usual, she said as she took off my clothes.
“Get off quickly. I will sew it again.”
“No, it’s okay. Put down the spear and shield for now…”
“The shield is also broken. Throw it away, eat, and tomorrow I’ll get a new tree and make it again.”
As she said that, she was eager to undress me. I said, holding her wrist as she kept uncomfortably undressing.
“Miss Hayeon. Wait a minute…”
“Ah…”
Our eyes met. Seong Ha-yeon Hunter’s delicate and white skin was dyed red in an instant. A cute moan escaped her mouth and she shrank. Suddenly, she was scanning my body through the torn shirt. As a result of fighting for survival every day, my body, which had been enlarged by exercise, now exuded the feeling of a savage clad in muscle.
I also looked at her face. Her white face is more bloody than when she first came. Smooth neckline. Because she took care of her hygiene, her face was still clear and beautiful. I casually put my hand on her face.
“Well, shall we do it later?”
“Ah yes.”
Seong Ha-yeon Hunter blocked my hand and avoided my gaze. I nod her head at her bewildered face, then turn her around like she did and put down her spear and shield. The shield I put on the floor flew out of the cave, and I had to get a new shield material tomorrow.
She said while looking at the meat I brought.
“Hey, what kind of meat is this?”
“I just caught it because I saw a D-class.”
“Awesome. I feel like I am getting better and better.”
Actually it was. Because now I was fighting every moment with death in front of me. If I was bored, high-level monsters popped out and I had to hide, and sometimes I had to risk my life to fight. I didn’t tell Hunter Seong Ha-yeon, but if it weren’t for the Almighty, I could have died long ago and become a source of nourishment for the monsters.
“It’s all talent. It is also thanks to Almighty Emperor.”
“I should also say thank you.”
Saying that, she raised her head, then awkwardly turned her head when she saw that I had taken off my top. I too felt her body energize as I became conscious of her gaze. A man and a woman in their prime live together in a cave.
The moment I realized the simple background knowledge that I had forgotten thanks to the complicated relationship of my lover’s senior and my junior’s lover, the air in the cave became ridiculously awkward.
In that case, we would crack jokes or talk about other topics without asking anyone first.
What happened when you were young, what was your favorite movie.
“Did I tell you why I am good at sewing?”
Seong Ha-yeon Hunter wrote that method. I nodded her like a really curious person and sat down in front of her. She started talking with her eyes shining as if she believed I had been tricked. Her hand was sticking the meat onto her skewer, and with the other she made a bowl for the leftover meat.
“When I came out of the orphanage and played sports, my family became a bit poor. Did your business fail? So I had some debt at home. So I was sorry to ask to buy new clothes, so I sewed all the sportswear and such. Did you endure with real evil then? I told you that Taekwondo will definitely make you successful. Damn, I finally succeeded as a hunter and paid off all my debts.”
Seong Ha-yeon Hunter put down the clothes she was sewing and frowned at her, as if she had collapsed while explaining her. I laughed at the funny look on her face. And, I pretended to have forgotten that subtle touch that had happened just a moment ago. She chose to forget how soft it was when he held her hand or how raunchy the bosom was showing through the hem of her dress.
So, another two weeks passed.
