22 – First Semester Training (4)
“Wow! It’s beef brisket! Look at this! There’s kimchi too!”
Arna exclaimed with joy as she checked the contents of the box. A day without anything to eat except jerky. This food must be more welcome than ever.
“Unbelievable! Abalone with water parsley! Supply officer, do you know anything?”
Arna had just come from a recent battle.
But now, Arna was perfectly fine. Not a single speck of dirt on her, let alone any wounds.
Was she really someone who had just fought? I asked Arna.
“Arna, what happened to the three people we met earlier?”
“Oh, them.”
Arna tapped her lower lip as if it were nothing.
“They tried to attack me for real, so I eliminated them on the spot.”
“All three of them?”
“No, one of them ran away before the fight even started. Who was it again? Oh, it was Baek Juhee.”
The three people Arna identified with her Blindside skill were Baek Juhee, Lee Sanghoon, and Han Baram.
She managed to eliminate Sanghoon and Baram, both B-rank Awakened individuals, on her own.
Maybe this training would be a walk in the park if Arna just stayed hidden behind her.
In other words, it’s like putting a spoon on a set table.
A fitting expression for me.
“Enough of that. Let’s eat now, shall we? We haven’t had a single meal yet.”
Arna impatiently rolled her foot in a hurry.
Right. After finishing the outside chores, can the master just stay still? Let’s quickly prepare dinner.
I rummaged through the box for the barbecue party.
“…”
“Hmm? What’s wrong? Suddenly opening your mouth wide.”
There is none. Nowhere to be found.
Just in case, I rummaged through the box, fearing I might have missed something.
But I couldn’t find it.
“What are you looking for so desperately…?”
“Arna….”
I looked at Arna with a face that seemed to have lost everything, filled with despair and no hope.
“What do you think is the most important thing at a barbecue party….”
“Huh? The most important thing? Hmm, probably meat…?”
“No. You’re wrong.”
“Then, a grill or a pan to cook the meat?”
“That’s also wrong.”
Here is the beef brisket.
And this spoon is enough to use as a frying pan to cook the meat.
But.
I missed something more important than meat and a frying pan.
“The most important thing for cooking meat is fire. We don’t have any fire right now. No lighter, not even matches….”
“F-fire…?”
Arna blinked her eyes a few times.
And a moment later.
“Screaaam…!”
Even the sleeping birds screamed so loudly that they flew away.
Arna tore at her own blonde hair.
“Without fire, any barbecue party or anything else is useless…!”
“That’s right. Unless we eat it raw.”
“Y-yes…! Let’s scratch a rock…!”
“But give it a try. See if it works as you wish.”
Not all stones are the same. Even if you scratch stones rolling on the ground a hundred times, not a single spark will fly. Only your hands will end up hurting.
And trying to rub wood is just a futile situation. Recent rain had made the leaves and branches damp.
“Ugh…! This is ridiculous…! Not being able to eat meat just because there is no fire…!”
“If there is at least one solution.”
“Gasp…! What, what is this…?”
Arna abruptly thrust her body forward, shoulders hunched in apparent desperation, her eyes sparkling with intensity.
I politely clasped my hands together, resembling a devout believer.
“Only awaiting the arrival of the pioneer of fire, Prometheus.”
“eeek…! This has to be a joke…!”
Unable to contain herself, Arna shook me by the collar. It seemed even heroes were helpless before hunger. Her mind was halfway gone.
Let’s end the jest here.
“Now that it’s come to this, we have no choice but to go find the fire ourselves.”
“Find the fire…! Where…!”
“Someone must have it.”
Just as someone might sneakily bring beef jerky, someone must have secretly brought cigarettes.
The craving for smoking was as strong as the appetite. Probably, there was a student who, during the possession inspection, discreetly hid cigarettes.
“Arna, go find those who are smoking right now. Go and confiscate their lighters.”
“Once again, you’re subtly passing the work on to me…!”
“Are you just going to stand by and watch the meat rot?”
“Ugh…!”
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Arna ground her teeth. She understood that there was no other choice.
Finally, she brandished her sword and leaped into the bushes.
“I’ll do it…! I’ll do it, alright…!”
Please, do not recklessly confront her, students facing Arna.
She’s in a more sensitive state than ever.
“During that time, I…”
Since Arna went out again, it’s time for me to do the household chores.
I decided to explore the surroundings to find any available food.
“The easiest thing to find is probably mushrooms.”
It’s absurd to have no mushrooms when there’s beef and abalone. The essence of Chadol Samhap is mushrooms.
It can be considered complete only if there are mushrooms.
Luckily, I found mushrooms under the tree. A gigantic one with a rainbow-colored cap.
…”
No matter how much knowledge I have about mushrooms, I could at least recognize that it was a poisonous one. The moment it goes into your mouth, it’s a direct route to heaven.
Rustle, rustle—
“…!”
At that moment, there was a rustling sound in the bushes. Has Arna returned already?
Rustle, rustle—
No. The sound was too gentle to be Arna. If it were her, she’d make more noise, something wilder.
Rustle, rustle—
It’s getting closer. Is it an animal?
Just in case, I readied my weapon for any unforeseen circumstances—a single, fancy spoon.
Battle preparedness achieved.
“Huuuh…!”
But contrary to expectations, emerging from the bushes was a girl, covered in a lot of dirt, wailing mournfully.
She was sobbing so intensely, it was almost comical.
“Huuuh…!”
“Why’s a grown-up bawling like that? It’s unbecoming.”
“But… but…”
The girl pulled something out from within her embrace. It was a common sight—a canned peach.
“I went through so much trouble today to find food…! I still can’t eat it because I don’t have a can opener…! Huuuh…!”
“….”
Ordinarily, canned goods would have a pull tab for easy opening. But that particular can had nothing of the sort. It was sealed tight from all sides.
Not even a barbecue set, let alone a can opener… The planner, whoever they were, seemed quite ruthless.
“If there’s no can opener, why not use a rock or something to pierce it?”
“But then it’ll get dirty with soil…! I can’t eat food that’s touched dirt!”
“You must be really full.”
It’s so absurd, it’s not even laughable. Are all these “enlightened beings” like this? Seems like everyone’s missing a screw.
“I’ll open that can for you.”
“Huh…?”
The girl stopped crying abruptly and widened her eyes.
“You can open it? How?”
“It’s simple if you use this.”
She showed me a spoon. Of course, when you open a can, the spoon is the tool most often sought after the opener.
With just this spoon, I can easily open the can.
The female student handed me the can. Her hands were trembling.
“Don’t hold it too high in the middle… understand?”
“I won’t sacrifice my conscience for just one peach.”
Tak.
On the top of the can, right at the edge, she stood the blade of the spoon.
She pressed it tightly, creating a crack. Then, she inserted the head of the spoon into the gap.
And.
Thunk!
“Wow! It opened! It opened!”
The female student immediately drank the liquid from the opened can. Her throat must have been quite dry.
She then started eating the peach with her bare hands.
“Wait. Didn’t we say we can’t eat food with dirt on it? What about your hands?”
Her hands were covered in dirt. Mud was even caked under her fingernails.
“Umm… Did I say something like that?”
“….”
“Would you like a piece too? It’s quite delicious.”
“I’d rather eat the mushrooms I saw earlier….”
Once her stomach was somewhat satisfied, the female student had a much more relaxed expression. Afterwards, she turned her head to look around, as if she had the time to spare.
“By the way, what were you doing here?”
“I’m waiting for the fire.”
“A fire…?”
“Yes. As you can see, I don’t have a lighter.”
She gestured to the barbecue set, which was fully equipped except for a fire.
The female student nodded a few times, as if she understood the situation.
“I think I can help with that fire.”
“What? Are you a smoker?”
“Not a smoker, but….”
Thump. Thump.
The female student took a few steps back. Then she extended her arms towards the front.
“Well, it’s not really a remarkable ability, so don’t expect too much.”
She closed her eyes and began to focus.
Immediately.
Whoosh!
A small flame bloomed at the tip of the female student’s finger. It was a tiny spark, about the size of a birthday cake candle.
“hehehehe, I’m only a D-class Awakener for now, so this is all I can do….”
“Oh, Prometheus…!”
I immediately knelt down on the spot.
***
At the same time, somewhere on the island.
“Phew….”
The male student leaned against a tree and exhaled a puff of smoke from his cigarette.
“Ugh…this f*cking training…time feels like it’s not passing at all….”
I spent the whole day without finding anything to eat and only got beaten up. Naturally, my mood is the worst.
If I hadn’t brought my cigarettes, I would have been in big trouble. There was only this cigarette that could comfort me in this moment.
Dodo dodo dodo dodo dodo─!
“…!”
In the moment when I was leisurely smoking my cigarette. An immense noise echoed, disrupting the tranquility of the night.
“What, what is it…! Did a bear appear or something…!”
It’s approaching this way. Whatever it may be, it’s definitely a formidable creature. I have to run away quickly.
The male student quickly put out his cigarette and grabbed his duffel bag.
Plop!
But it was too late. Before he could even take a step, the other person burst out of the bushes.
“Huh…?”
I thought it was an immense beast. But upon closer inspection, it was a person.
And not just any person, but the top student, Arna Kristindötteir.
“Fire! Fire! Give me fire! Right now! Hurry up!”
Arna shook the male student’s shoulders frantically, her eyes bloodshot. Due to being deprived of food for a long time, she had lost all sense of reason.
“Yes, yes, here it is…!”
The male student couldn’t bear the madness any longer and offered his lighter to Arna.
Along with the number tag on his back.