Bring It On! - Chapter 5

Chapter 5. 

It was the moment my resolve to save him started to feel ridiculous. I looked up at the man with cold, dead eyes.

“You’re going to escape from here?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t even know where your home is.”

“Anywhere would be better than this place.”

“Of course it would be. Do you think we’re staying on this deserted island because we don’t know that?”

The man, as if he had no need to hear any more, started walking ahead again. The hem of his sun-dried loungewear fluttered gallantly with each of his steps. I put my hands on my hips and shifted my weight to one leg, letting out a sigh from deep within.

Letting him go felt unsettling. But it didn’t seem like he would listen to me anyway.

After a moment of hesitation, I shouted toward him.

“A rescue team is coming! So just wait patiently!”

The man didn’t even pretend to hear me and continued walking away.

***

He turned out to be surprisingly stubborn.

Judging from his behavior so far, he seemed picky enough to not eat the same side dish twice, but he showed an unexpected level of persistence as he busily moved around the island until sunset.

“I thought he’d tinker for maybe an hour and give up.”

And his stamina was practically monstrous. He didn’t rest for a second, zipping all over the island, picking up scattered planks and stacking them in one place. It looked like he genuinely believed that by layering the broken and splintered boards, he could create a sturdy base for a boat.

But he didn’t stop there. He tried gathering crushed and torn plastic bottles and wrapping them tightly with tough seaweed. But eventually, the whole thing collapsed. 

When Suho came along carrying some rope he’d found by the beach, the man immediately called out, “Hey, kid!”

With one hand on his hip, he beckoned arrogantly with the other. It was the picture of a punk. Suho tilted his head innocently, then ran over to him.

“Give me that.”

But he picked the wrong fight. Suho might have the kind of face that made you think he’d steal a house deed if you gave him a candy and whispered sweetly, but he was no pushover. That’s exactly why I hadn’t been able to stop him from filling our shelter with junk until it was about to explode.

Sure enough, instead of handing over the rope, Suho proudly slung it over his shoulder with a dramatic snap.

“That’s not how you ask for a favor.”

“What?”

Suho stomped the sand lightly, fidgeted, then turned his back without a hint of regret. The man, startled, called out, “Hey, hey!”

Suho glanced back at him. His firm lips remained tightly shut. The man looked at Suho’s pert face and let out a breath of disbelief, then roughly ran a hand through his hair.

“That rope…”

Suho’s eyebrow twitched. The man, clearly unused to asking for help, fumbled with his words despite being twice Suho’s size.

“Let me borrow it.”

“How are you going to repay me?”

“Ugh, I’ll repay you. Somehow.”

“Nooma…!”

Suho called me to look at this liar. The man turned his head toward me. I could read the complicated mix of emotions in his furrowed gaze. Help me. No, don’t help me. Help me. No, don’t.

I was sitting on higher ground than those two. With my elbows on my knees, I looked down at him indifferently. As the man checked our expressions, he sighed and gave up.

“Damn it.” 

He muttered, realizing neither of us would be convinced. Face scrunched up, he started gathering seaweed that had washed ashore again.

***

The next day.

“That’s not how you do it.”

“Go away.”

“You have to grip the axe closer to the blade.”

“I said, go away!”

When the irritated man shouted, Suho ran straight to me with a surprised face. But he wasn’t really scared.

The man had spent the whole day wrestling with plastic bottles and planks, and in the end, he actually managed to build something. He had strung up empty coconut shells like a baby mobile. 

Honestly, calling it a boat was generous. It was so flimsy it looked like it would break with the slightest force. Still, the man dragged it all the way to the water. But the moment he set it afloat and climbed aboard, seawater started gushing in through the bottom, and the boat sank instantly.

His arms flailed desperately above the surface.

“Help, phwah—cough—somebody, help…!”

At his panicked, desperate cries, Suho and I had no choice but to rush over and pull him out.

Gasping for breath, the soaking wet man looked like a drowned rat as he wiped his dripping face with one hand. And then he said.

“I knew it wouldn’t work.”

It was a matter of pride. He spoke loudly as if completely unbothered or regretful since he already expected the outcome. I decided to pretend I didn’t notice his eyes were strangely moist around the corners.

The weather on the deserted island was unpredictable.

During the day, the sun blazed down fiercely enough to scorch everything alive, then at night, the temperature dropped sharply.

The sun was setting below the horizon. The reddish glow of the sunset dyed the sea as it slowly sank into the water halfway.

“Shouldn’t you at least eat something?”

Eventually, unable to hold back, I spoke first. We somehow survived the first day thanks to the man’s monstrous stamina, but from here on, things were truly dangerous. The color was draining from his face. His eyes looked hollow, and his lips were cracked and dry.

He glanced our way as he carried a log over his shoulder. Smoke curled up from the campfire, and in a battered pot, two crabs were cooking thoroughly. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he stared into the pot, but the slight parting of his lips at the sight of the dried fish and various meats hanging to dry snapped shut immediately. It was because of the bugs swarming all over the meat.

“Don’t bother.”

“Is this the time to worry about cleanliness when life and death are at stake?”

“I never asked you for help. Don’t stick your nose in.”

“Then don’t stick around where I can see you. Why do you keep lurking near us?”

The man was lost for words, flustered. I sneered subtly through my nose. Though I told him to mind his own business, the truth was, when no one else was around, he was scared. 

You have to deceive the one who wants to deceive you. I could see right through his true feelings.

My laughter pierced his weak spot like a hammer blow. The man, clearly triggered, snapped back indignantly.

“Hey! I was going to leave anyway. Damn, just looking at how damn huge this land is, there’s no reason for me to stick around and watch your pathetic mess. Yeah, you said it right.”

He didn’t know how to tone down his attitude properly. Instead, he got even more agitated, which made me shake my head. He was hopeless.

With just one massive log on his shoulder, the man walked westward into the darkening horizon. Each step seemed to be a desperate struggle of his shattered pride. Pride doesn’t feed you. It’s all pointless. Tch.

***

“He said he was leaving.”

Last night, he’d been all proud and loud, showing every ounce of pride he had. Yet even now, he was still in my sight. Well, maybe he was farther away now. Only about twenty steps from where he’d originally been.

Though busy moving around today, he kept glancing our way. Wherever he had slept, his exposed skin was mottled with bug bites. His thin loungewear, which showed every muscle contour as he moved, was torn and full of holes after just two days, no longer even usable as a rag.

“Well, he says he’ll manage himself.”

My sympathy lasted only a moment. If he died because of his stubbornness, it was his loss, not mine. I treated him like a nobody and returned to my own routine, cutting wood to expand the shelter, briefly sitting down to enjoy some instant coffee. The instant coffee I’d taken from Kim Jae-cheol was my only pleasure and healing time on this deserted island.

Then I laughed for a long time when I saw Suho crying over a mosquito bite on his lip. While we were chatting, I suddenly felt a gaze. Turning my head, I met the man’s sorrowful eyes. He flinched a beat late, then turned his head as if he hadn’t been looking at all.

I went to the stream to wash the sweat off my face. I heard footsteps trailing behind and looked back. Sure enough, the man was there. He tapped a tree in front of him and lightly kicked it. When I finished washing and came out, he quietly went to the same stream and washed his face.

Refreshed by the cool water, the man dove back into building the raft. I’d heard his screams all night long… Did he not sleep? There were more logs than I’d seen yesterday.

“That should be enough now, right?”

He seemed to think the same as me, gathering the logs in one place and looking on proudly. Then, hungry, he glanced at us eating lunch. I could have offered him some food but didn’t. Just as I averted my eyes, I saw his disappointment quickly spread in his pupils.

Eventually, he tried to catch fish with his bare hands but failed spectacularly. Then, probably trying to pick coconuts hanging high up, he awkwardly started climbing a tree.

“Whoa, he’s gonna fall doing that.”

Suho said as he lifted his empty plate. Suddenly, a heavy thud shook the ground. I jumped up in surprise.

The man was clutching his leg in pain. He had slipped while climbing, and the friction tore the fabric on the inside of his thigh, revealing a large red wound. He hadn’t even managed to touch a single coconut.

He struggled in pain or self-pity before limping out of my sight.

***

Whoosh…

Suddenly, a heavy rain poured down. I untied the ropes holding up the waterproof tarp rolled to the sides. The raindrops hit the transparent tarp, making a loud noise.

“Do you think that guy’s going to be okay?”

Just before going to bed, Suho, sensitive to the cold, asked as he put on socks.

There was no way he’d be okay. I worried he was still clutching his wounds somewhere, moaning in pain.

“Don’t worry about it and go to sleep.”

“What if he dies?”

“I’ll check on him, so you just sleep.”

I covered Suho with a blanket and got up. Putting on my raincoat, I grabbed a flashlight. The sky was pitch black, the moon hidden behind thick clouds.

I ran through the pouring rain toward the spot where the man had gathered the logs. But there was no sign of him, only the logs drifting far out to sea.

I searched around for a long time but couldn’t find him anywhere. Eventually, I returned alone to the shelter. Suho was already fast asleep.

I hung my soaking raincoat outside. Shaking the raindrops from my hair, I rubbed my chilled arms.

“Did he die?”

I had been annoyed by his stubbornness earlier, but I didn’t really want him dead. The wound on his thigh lingered in my mind, making me uneasy. I prayed I wouldn’t find his corpse in the morning. If he had died, I hoped the sea had taken him away.

Lying next to Suho, I forced my eyes shut. My mind was restless. I didn’t think I could fall asleep easily. Then, I heard rustling behind me. I opened my eyes wide.

Splash, splash. Wet footsteps entered the shelter quietly and pressed against my back as someone lay down.

It was him.

Instinctively, I sensed his presence. I felt the cold wetness of rainwater soaking my back.

He thought I was asleep and rested his face on my shoulder. Then…

“Sniff, sob… cough.”

I heard quiet crying. Without a word, I silently lent my back to him.