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Chapter 6 ‌‌‌
"Damn it!"
Enoch had been quietly surveying the land ‌‌‌‌below the Mountain when he finally let the curse slip from his lips.
The day was remarkably ‌‌‌‌‌‌clear. The excellent visibility meant the distant horizon came into sharp focus, more vivid than usual.
Beyond the two other mountain peaks nearby—similar in height to ‌‌the one we'd climbed—the horizon was faintly visible as well. ‌‌‌‌
No matter how I looked at ‌‌it, we were on an Island.
Ha...! ‌‌‌Hahaha! ‌‌‌‌
"Damn it, this place is an Island."
I splashed my face with my hands, ‌swallowing bitter tears along with the ‌‌hollow despair that washed over me.
This confirmed my hypothesis even more ‌‌‌solidly. That we were inside a novel. Though honestly, it had never really been a hypothesis to begin with.
After a long while, I regained my composure and quietly committed the Island's topography to memory.
A massive river flowed through the middle, and it oddly resembled the Han River of Seoul.
For convenience, if I called the far side the Northern Island and this side the Southern Island, then the Southern Island had one more mountain similar in height to the one we'd ‌‌‌climbed.
The Southern Island had two mountains in total, ‌while the Northern Island had one.
"This really is an Island...."
I simply collapsed where I stood. My legs ‌had lost all their strength. ‌
Enoch, who had ventured far ‌to ‌‌survey the surroundings, returned. ‌‌‌‌He too sat down beside me with a hollow expression on his face.
We sat in silence, each lost in our own thoughts.
"Where exactly is this place? Could it be an Island near the Langrid Empire? Or...."
Could it possibly be Korea...? If ‌‌‌this Island had modern Korean items, wasn't it worth suspecting?
The ‌‌real problem was that I hadn't finished reading the novel—more pressing than possessing Margaret's body.
I'd read up to the part where the heroine Yuanna escaped the Island through that 'Door' that appeared after a year, but then an accident happened, and I don't know what came after.
- ‌‌‌‌A door connecting to the outside of ‌the Island opens every year. And before that 'Door' opens, they must survive on the Island by any means necessary.
Though the novel was written in first-person perspective, that passage was clearly stated in the introduction.
It was someone's practice novel written by hand, but only that ‌‌‌passage was in a different handwriting, which was odd. ‌‌
I'd found ‌‌it curious that someone would actually write an entire book by hand in this day and age. ‌‌
Moreover, the descriptions were remarkably plain and realistic, feeling almost like the actual record of a castaway, which made it all the more compelling to read.
'This is all because I secretly stole and read someone else's novel that I found on the street. Damn it.'
I tore at my hair.
Enoch, sitting beside me, was no better off, splashing his face with equally exhausted hands.
His expression was quite despairing.
"I can't figure anything out."
Enoch furrowed his brow with a helpless, pained expression. Then he cursed once more and irritably ran his ‌‌‌fingers through his hair. ‌‌
This was the first time I'd seen him display such intense emotion. But I understood ‌‌the despair of this situation ‌‌all too well.
"Stranded on this wretched Island."
It was unfair enough to be killed by a falling sign, but now I had to actually survive on this Island from someone's practice novel—it was simply too unjust.
With a gloomy expression, I ‌‌‌rested my hands ‌‌‌on both cheeks and thought. It was unfair, but I couldn't die like this.
'Let me think of a way. A way out.'
As planned initially, gathering as many survival necessities as possible and finding the 'Bunker' that the heroine had discovered seemed to be our best option.
There's no choice. We ‌‌‌can only proceed with the original plan.
'Anyway, what are the other characters doing right now?'
From what I recall, the ‌characters awakened in different locations. Some came to on the riverbank, while others found themselves in the depths of the Forest.
Enoch was quarreling with Margaret ‌‌on the Beach when he encountered the female lead, if I ‌‌‌remember correctly.
The novel's progression has already diverged from its original path from the very beginning, but what ‌‌‌‌does it matter? I need to survive ‌‌‌‌first.
Grrrrowl.
My famished stomach emitted a pathetic sound. Enoch glanced at me. The noise had ‌‌come from ‌‌my ‌belly.
'Again? Me again?'
Enoch's stomach remained silent while mine kept protesting its hunger. Was it following its master's lead?
But thinking about it, we'd consumed nothing ‌‌but acai berries and poured all our energy into climbing the Mountain.
Enoch hadn't even ‌‌‌slept, so he must be in a state of even greater caloric ‌‌depletion.
'Right. This is definitely a problem. We need to take action.'
I brushed myself off and stood up.
"Let's head down first. Now that we know it's an Island, we can descend and devise a plan. And we need to survive."
I ‌‌extended my hand toward Enoch, who remained seated.
Enoch still had no place in my plans for what lay ahead. But I lacked the strength to flee and evade him ‌‌‌‌‌right now.
Enoch looked at my outstretched hand, then gazed up at me with an expression that revealed ‌nothing of his thoughts. ‌‌‌
Only then did I remember that he despised me.
'There's no way he'd take the hand Margaret offered....'
I was ‌‌withdrawing my hand when he belatedly ‌‌‌‌grasped it. His large hand wrapped ‌‌around mine with surprising gentleness.
He rose to his feet without exerting much effort. It seemed he hadn't needed to hold my hand to stand.
I couldn't fathom what ‌‌he was thinking.
"Thank you."
Exhaustion still marked his features plainly, yet his devastatingly low voice was so achingly sweet it was ‌‌‌harmful to my heart.
Why did this man have to appear so fresh and honeyed even in circumstances that demanded he ‌‌‌look haggard?
I turned away, clutched my chest, took a deep breath to steady myself, then faced Enoch again ‌‌with an unaffected expression.
"Let's go."
We had to descend the Mountain before sunset.

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team ‌and enjoy the latest releases, please ‌‌‌‌read directly on our official site: valirscans.org ‌
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