The Beginning of Survival (1)
The sky stretched high above, and the gentle spring breeze carried flower petals swirling in a dance that momentarily blurred Jiwoon’s vision. As he stared blankly, a petal adhered to his cheek. He instinctively brushed it off and lowered his gaze. A wide, fan-shaped crimson flower—geranium.
“Man, every time I do reserve training, it feels like I’m breaking down even more. My whole body aches,” one of the reservists complained loudly, patting his shoulder exaggeratedly. Jiwoon dusted his hands off and chuckled at the fuss.
The speaker was one of the reservists Jiwoon had grown close to during training. The oldest among them, with a friendly demeanor, he had naturally become the spokesperson for the group.
“Well, you’d better take care of yourself, big brother. Your wife’s probably waiting for you anxiously at home,” Jiwoon joked, grinning.
The reservists burst into laughter. The man, surnamed Park, scratched the back of his head sheepishly and gave Jiwoon a playful nudge with his elbow.
The three-day reserve training concluded by noon, marking the end of all activities. The reservists picked up their bags, exchanging farewells with fellow trainees and active-duty soldiers they’d grown familiar with, and started passing through the camp’s main gate.
Some, finding old acquaintances, banded together to grab a taxi, planning to hit a barbecue restaurant in Seoul for drinks.
“Hey, Han Jiwoon! Wanna join us? Yongcheol’s running a barbecue spot in Sinchon.”
“No, I’m good. You guys have fun!”
“Aw, come on. Well, if you change your mind, give us a call!”
“Sure thing.” Jiwoon nodded lightly to the reservist waving his phone at him, seemingly reluctant to part ways after sharing a bunk for three days.
“Where the heck is that guy?” Jiwoon muttered, glancing back toward the parade as the trickle of people leaving the camp slowed.
At that moment, a soldier came dashing toward him from the distance.
“Senior! Han Jiwoon, senior!”
“Hey, Corporal Oh! Took you long enough!”
“Sorry, the team’s work ran late. Here, I’ve got it—your two cartons and an extra pack.”
“More than I expected. Thanks, Corporal Oh.”
“Ah, it’s no big deal. The guys who don’t smoke didn’t want theirs anyway. And at 1,500 won a pack, it’s a steal for us.”
Grinning broadly, Corporal Oh handed over a plastic bag filled with military-issued cigarettes. Jiwoon pulled out his wallet, handed him seven 10,000-won bills, and said, “Here’s for the smokes, and keep the rest. You’ve worked hard putting up with all the reservists’ grumbling these past few days.”
“Oh, no, sir! I can’t accept this. Let me give you your change,” Corporal Oh exclaimed, flustered, waving his hands as he fumbled for his back pocket.
Jiwoon stopped him with a warm smile. “Just take it. Our squad didn’t even have a proper meal together. I’ve already given a little to the other reservists to hand out to the guys they liked. Don’t worry about it.”
“But still—this is a bit much…”
Seeing Corporal Oh hesitate, Jiwoon patted his shoulder lightly. “I said it’s fine. Back when I was active-duty, I used to get pocket money from townsfolk during community support missions. Is it too little or something?”
“Oh, no, not at all! Thank you, sir. I’ll use it well,” Corporal Oh replied, finally relenting.
Jiwoon’s joke left Corporal Oh flustered as he waved his hands wildly, eventually slipping the cash into his pocket with an apologetic expression.
Jiwoon liked Corporal Oh, who, despite his rank and experience, often displayed an endearing naivety. Patting the younger man’s shoulder a few times, Jiwoon offered a warm farewell.
“Alright, no need to feel too grateful—it’s not much anyway. Take care of yourself in the military. I’m off now.”
“Yes, sir! Take care!”
“Ugh, you’re going to burst my eardrum. Fine, loyalty!” Jiwoon chuckled, responding playfully to the salute before walking out of the base’s main gate.
The sun was still high in the sky, but with the lively reservists gone, the surroundings grew noticeably quiet. Jiwoon placed the plastic bag of cigarettes in his backpack and strolled toward the bus stop.
“Ugh, playing the generous guy is tough when you’re broke. 8,000 won… I could’ve stretched that for two meals if I’d been frugal. Maybe I went overboard.”
8,000 won. It wasn’t a huge amount, but for Jiwoon, it was far from negligible. At 28 years old, his cautious thinking might seem stingy, but his circumstances made it necessary.
Jiwoon’s profession was that of a novelist—specifically, a fantasy novelist, a genre considered niche and borderline fringe literature. Making ends meet in such a career wasn’t easy, and the royalties he received were just enough to support himself. To make matters worse, his publisher had recently gone bankrupt, leaving unpaid manuscript fees and making him acutely sensitive to any loss, big or small.
“Well, 70,000 won for four cartons of cigarettes… guess I made 10,000 won off this deal. Let’s think of it as a win,” Jiwoon muttered with a faint grin, amused by how his financial worries now extended even to such small sums.
After waiting for a while, the bus to the train station arrived. By the time Jiwoon had waited for Corporal Oh, most of the reservists eager to leave had already departed, leaving him the sole passenger boarding the bus.
“Empty, huh?”
Given the remote military base location and the bright midday hour, the bus had no other passengers. Not one to mind solitude, Jiwoon felt a touch of relief and settled into the backmost seat.
As the bus began its journey, Jiwoon leaned against the window, gazing out as drowsiness began to creep over him. He shook his head, trying to stay awake.
Corporal Oh had said it would take six stops to reach the train station, but if he fell asleep, he could easily miss it. However, three days of exhausting training, combined with his sedentary writer’s lifestyle, quickly eroded his resistance to sleep.
Don’t fall asleep… you can’t fall asleep… Despite his best efforts, Jiwoon’s head began to nod as he drifted off.
Screeeech! Bang!
“Huh?”
A deafening noise jolted Jiwoon awake, followed by a jarring impact. His eyes flew open just as his body was flung from his seat, tumbling wildly across the bus. Everything blurred in the chaos, and the driver’s seat seemed ominously empty.
“Urgh!”
Another violent thud threw Jiwoon’s body across the cabin. Outside, the scenery spun erratically before his consciousness slipped away.
Swoosh…
Wind howled through a dark forest, rustling through decaying vines and twisted, gnarled trees. It swept over a motionless figure sprawled on the forest floor before vanishing into the distance.
The figure, face-down on the ground, slowly lifted their head.
“Ugh…”
Jiwoon groaned, clutching his forehead as he tried to rise, only to collapse back to his knees. The pain coursing through his body was overwhelming, but the pounding headache rendered him unable to stand.
Remaining on his knees, Jiwoon pressed his thumbs against his temples, lifting his gaze. His head felt heavy as a stone, and his limbs throbbed with discomfort.
“Damn it…”
Rotating his neck a few times, his vision finally steadied, revealing his surroundings.
“What the…?”
The ground beneath his hands was damp and unpleasantly squishy. Around him loomed grotesquely contorted trees, their species indiscernible, in a forest dimly lit by the feeble sunlight filtering through the canopy.
“This… what is this?”
A forest wasn’t inherently unusual, but the last thing Jiwoon remembered before blacking out was the narrow valley and dark blue river beneath the plunging bus.
Now, there was no valley, no river—just an eerily quiet forest.
“Where the hell am I?”
Panicked, Jiwoon scrambled to his feet and surveyed the area. No matter which direction he turned, all he saw was forest. The air was thick with the stench of decay and the musty aroma of dying plants, making him recoil.
“This can’t be real… Wait!”
Reaching into his pocket, Jiwoon hastily pulled out his phone. No signal. The screen displayed “Out of service area.”
“What’s going on here? Damn it! Then again, in a forest like this…” Jiwoon sighed. “Alright, first things first—”
Though his body ached terribly, Jiwoon forced himself to move, searching the area. Yet, no matter how thoroughly he scoured the vicinity, there was no sign of the bus or any wreckage.
“Okay, it’s a forest. But where’s the bus? Even if it was destroyed…” He stopped himself mid-sentence, shaking his head.
Defeated, Jiwoon slumped against a nearby tree stump.
“Alright… let’s think calmly. Slowly.”
Taking deep breaths, Jiwoon’s thoughts began to settle. Though he couldn’t fully grasp the situation, one thing was clear: he had survived and now found himself inexplicably in a forest. His body ached, and his head throbbed, but he had no visible injuries, and his belongings, including his backpack, were intact.
As unsettling as the mysterious forest was, Jiwoon reassured himself that he was likely still somewhere in South Korea. He figured he’d find his way out in a few hours or, with luck, regain a phone signal soon.
“Alright, let’s move. All I need is a signal,” Jiwoon said, forcing himself to think optimistically as he ventured deeper into the forest.
The ominous atmosphere unsettled him, but Jiwoon steeled his nerves, focusing on the fact that he was alive.
(To be continued…)
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