Chapter 4 of 100
Chapter 4: Starting a Fire
7 min read1,870 words
Sejun quickly grasped the pink atmosphere that was developing between the two.
"Are you two a couple?"
Beep!
Beep!
They both nodded simultaneously.
'Damn!'
To think he would end up in the middle of a rabbit couple...
Beep beep.
Sejun's mood seemed strange, and the husband rabbit rubbed his face against Sejun's hand, showing affection. It was a desperate gesture to be allowed to stay.
'He’s trying so hard to protect his home...'
Sejun's heart softened, and he felt embarrassed for still being tied to the past.
'Right. They were a couple, and these are a married couple.'
Sejun didn't understand the profound world of married couples.
"Alright. You can stay here. But it won't be free."
He didn't expect anything in return.
Beep!
Beep!
The rabbit couple nodded vigorously at Sejun's agreement and ran to the corner of the cave to dig and start making their home.
"Hole?"
Sejun watched the rabbits digging and had a sudden realization. He thought that maybe he could dig a hole to escape from here.
'Stupid! I only thought about the hole above!'
"Rabbit!"
Beep?
The husband rabbit, who was digging the ground, poked his head out at Sejun's call.
"Can you dig a hole to get out of here?"
Beep...
The rabbit thought for a moment and shook his head.
"Can't?"
Swoosh swoosh.
The rabbit started drawing on the ground. He drew the cave where Sejun was and began digging deep below it.
And
Swoosh.
He poured water from a water pot into the dug area, filling the bottom of Sejun's cave with water.
"Oh. The bottom is all water."
Beep!
The rabbit nodded.
"Got it. Keep going."
Beep!
The rabbit went back to digging.
At that moment
Beep beep. Beep beep.
The alarm went off. The smartphone's battery was at 100%. Considering the laptop's discharge rate, it seemed like it could be fully charged one more time.
[May 16, 6:00 AM]
Sejun's daily routine began.
First, he checked the cherry tomato seedlings.
"Good job, guys."
(...T...)
Now the green leaves were fully open. There was still no news from the sweet potato field.
Sejun went to the pond to wash his face and water the fields.
And
Crunch. Crunch.
He bent the leeks to let the cherry tomato seedlings see the sun. The more you bend the leeks, the thicker and more branched they become, producing more leaves. Initially, each leek had about three leaves, but now they had eight.
"Later, it will be a job to bend these, too."
Sejun dried the leaves he had picked in the sun. The leaves that had been in the sun were now almost completely dry and hard.
Crunch.
Sejun finished his morning work by eating the freshly bent leaves. He would bend the leeks and water them again in eight hours to complete the day's work.
After finishing his work, Sejun sat in his designated spot and stared at the sky.
How long had he been staring at the sky?
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Puff! Puff!
"Huh? What's that sound?"
Sejun looked in the direction of the sound. It was coming from the hole the rabbits had dug.
The sound quickly stopped.
"What?"
Just as Sejun was about to fall back into a daze and look at the sky again,
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Puff! Puff!
The sound came again. Listening closely, it sounded like heavy breathing.
'No way?'
"These guys!"
The rabbit couple had started breeding activities as soon as they finished making their home.
The breeding activities continued several more times.
A few hours later.
At 2:00 PM, Sejun got up to start his afternoon work.
At that moment
Beep.
Beep.
The rabbit couple came out of the hole together.
They quickly started the farming work Sejun was about to do.
Beep beep.
Swoosh.
The husband rabbit hummed a tune while watering the crops with a water pot.
Squish squish.
Snip snip.
The wife rabbit added harmonies to her husband's song while cutting the leeks with scissors.
The husband sang, and the wife followed. It reminded Sejun of the phrase "husband leads, wife follows."
But there was something else that bothered Sejun.
"What's with them..."
It turned out that the water pot the husband rabbit was holding and the apron the wife rabbit was wearing were items.
Water continuously flowed from the water pot, and the apron seemed to have a spatial magic spell on it, as the wife rabbit took out farming tools like scissors and shovels from it whenever she needed them.
He was a bit envious. They had such equipment, while he had to dig and pick things by hand and carry water.
Watching the rabbits work, time passed quickly.
But he soon got bored. Then he noticed the light passing through the PET bottle and refracting into a strong beam.
This reminded him of something. He remembered a survival expert on TV using a PET bottle filled with water to start a fire.
'Should I try starting a fire?'
The well-dried leek leaves would burn well.
"Alright."
Sejun got up and gathered the well-dried leek leaves.
And
Puff puff.
He tore the leaves into thin strips and gathered them in the center to make it easier for the fire to catch.
Then Sejun used the water-filled PET bottle like a magnifying glass to focus the light on the leek leaves.
Beep?
Beep?
After Sejun stayed in the same position for over 20 minutes, the rabbit couple approached, curious about what the farm owner was doing.
Nod nod.
After about 10 minutes, the rabbits started to get bored and yawned.
At that moment
Smoldering.
Smoke started rising from the pile of finely shredded leek leaves. A spark was created.
'It works!'
Sejun focused even more, using the PET bottle to focus the light on the spark. The spark grew stronger, and the smoke became thicker.
"Huff! Huff!"
Sejun carefully blew into the finely shredded leaves containing the spark.
The rabbit couple woke up from the sound of the wind and looked at Sejun.
And
Beep!
Beep!
They were shocked to see the smoky leek leaves.
How long did he blow into the leaves?
Raging.
The fire started, and flames shot up.
"Hehehe! It worked!"
Beep.
Beep.
The rabbit couple looked at Sejun with admiration. None of their items could start a fire.
With the fire, the first thing Sejun did was roast leeks. He just wanted to fill his stomach with something warm.
The dried leeks were too hard to eat, so he roasted the ones he had picked that day.
When the leeks were charred black, Sejun picked them up by the ends.
And
"Ouch! Hot! Hoo."
He blew on his fingers and placed the charred leek on another leaf to peel off the black skin.
He lifted the roasted leek and put the peeled part in his mouth.
Munch.
'So sweet!'
Sejun's eyes widened at the incredible taste. His mouth was filled with sugar. The sweetness exploded.
Sejun threw a few leeks into the fire for himself and started eating them greedily.
Beep?
The husband rabbit bravely put a leek into the fire at Sejun's reaction.
And after a while
Beep!
Beep!
The rabbit couple, moved, peeled and ate the leeks. All three of them had soot on their faces and were eating enthusiastically.
Day 7 of being stranded.
Sejun fell asleep after filling his stomach with warm food for the first time.
***
Beep beep. Beep beep.
[May 19, 6:00 AM]
Day 10 of being stranded.
"Ah!"
Sejun woke up energetically as usual.
Beep!
Beep!
The rabbit couple, who had woken up first, greeted Sejun.
"Right. Good morning."
Splash! Splash!
Sejun went to the pond to wash his face and sat in his spot.
Beep.
The wife rabbit brought roasted leeks.
"Thanks."
Sejun said as he took the food.
Munch munch.
While eating the roasted leeks, he looked at the fields where the crops were planted. The leeks were already harvested, and the ground was moist. The early-rising rabbits had already finished their work.
Moreover, the wife rabbit had even prepared breakfast. It was great that they did it for him.
But
"......"
There was even less to do in a place where there was already little to do.
"I need to move."
Today, he decided to transplant the cherry tomatoes. If they grew too close together, they wouldn't absorb nutrients properly, so it was time to transplant them.
Thud. Thud.
Sejun dug the soil with his hands and prepared the spots to transplant the cherry tomatoes.
Thud.
The husband rabbit carefully scooped the soil with a spoon-sized shovel and moved the plants. He also moved the six seedlings he had planted later.
He arranged 58 seedlings in six rows of ten.
"Phew."
Seeing the seedlings neatly planted in rows, Sejun felt a sense of accomplishment. Lately, he felt proud of small things easily.
After finishing the transplanting of the cherry tomatoes, Sejun immediately started a new task.
Making a torch.
He tied several leaves together to make a handle and shredded the dried leaves at the end, wrapping them hundreds of times.
The dried leek leaves burned for a long time, making them suitable for a torch. In fact, they burned for so long that he didn't need to manage the fire separately.
It was a boring task that he would usually abandon immediately, but now he found it very interesting to create something he needed for his life using his own will and body.
After investing a few hours to make one torch, the alarm signaling it was time to sleep went off.
Beep beep. Beep beep.
[May 20, 6:00 AM]
Day 11 of being stranded.
"Ah!"
Beep!
Beep!
"Right. Good morning."
As soon as he woke up, Sejun greeted the rabbit couple and went to the pond to wash his face.
The pond was brighter than yesterday. Sejun, who had always found it inconvenient to wash his face in the dark, first installed the torch by the pond.
"Good. Hehehe."
Sejun brought his face to the pond to wash it, looking at the burning torch.
At that moment
Splash!
A fish suddenly jumped out of the pond and tried to bite Sejun's face.
"Ah?!"
Sejun quickly moved his body back. The fish's body emitted a fishy smell that brushed past his nose. He barely avoided it.
Flap flap.
The fish, which had fallen to the ground, struggled to return to the water.
"What... what is this?!"
Sejun, who was startled, approached the flapping fish and examined it closely.
It had a black background with golden stripes and sharp teeth.
If he had been a little slower, his nose would have been bitten off.
Thud!
Sejun kicked the fish to the opposite side of the pond to prevent it from escaping.
He then looked inside the pond.
"Oh!"
There were several more fish of the same species swimming inside.
"Why are they here?"
While Sejun was thinking about the reason,
Flap flap.
The fish was trying to escape back into the pond by moving its body.
'I can't just stand here!'
Sejun quickly grabbed the fish that had fallen to the ground.
Day 11 of being stranded. Finally, he could eat meat.