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nTL: Hanguk

nSejun quickly sensed the pink atmosphere flowing between the two.

n“Are you two a couple?”

nSqueak!

nSqueak!

nThey both nodded at the same time.

n‘Damn!’

nBeing caught between a rabbit couple…

nHe once had no friends with matching free time in college, so he had to eat with a couple. It was awkward, but he couldn’t eat alone for a whole semester, so he joined them.

nOne day while eating together, a sudden tension arose between the couple, leading to a heated argument. . Sejun felt very uncomfortable while being stuck between them.

nAnd then I acquired the skill to eat by myself.

nAfter that, he vowed never to eat with a couple again…

nSqueak, squeak.

nFeeling Sejun’s strange mood, the husband rabbit rubbed its face against Sejun’s hand, trying desperately to win his approval to stay. It was a desperate gesture to protect their home.

n‘Working so hard to protect their family…’

nSejun’s heart softened. He felt ashamed for still being stuck in the past.

n‘That’s right. They were a couple, and these two are a married couple.’

nSejun didn’t know the profound world of a married couple.

n“Alright. You can stay here. But it’s not for free.”

nHe didn’t expect anything in return.

nSqueak!

nSqueak!

nUpon Sejun’s approval, the rabbit couple nodded vigorously and ran to a corner of the cave, digging a burrow to create their own dwelling.

n“A burrow?”

nWatching the rabbit dig the burrow, Sejun had a sudden idea. He wondered if they could dig a burrow to get out of here.

n‘Stupid me! I only thought about the hole above because it was there!’

n“Rabbit!”

nSqueak?

nThe husband rabbit, busy digging the ground, peeked out at Sejun’s call.

n“Can you dig a tunnel to get out of here?”

nSqueak…

nThe rabbit thought for a moment and shook its head.

n“No?”

nSwish, swish.

nThe rabbit began drawing a picture on the ground. It drew the cave where Sejun was and started digging deep underneath.

nAnd then,

nWhoosh.

nIt poured water from the watering can into the dug hole. The bottom of Sejun’s cave filled with water.

n“Ah. The bottom is all water.”

nSqueak!

nThe rabbit nodded.

n“Okay. Keep doing what you were doing.”

nSqueak!

nThe rabbit went back to digging its burrow.

nAt that moment,

nBeep, beep.

nThe alarm rang. The smartphone battery was at 100%. Considering the discharge rate of the laptop, it seemed like he could recharge it once more.

nMay 16th, 6 AM

nSejun’s daily routine began.

nFirst, he checked the tomato seedlings.

n“Good job, guys.”

n(…T…)

nNow, the green leaves were fully blossomed. There was still no news from the sweet potato field.

nSejun went to the pond, washed his face, and watered the field.

nAnd then,

nSnap, snap.

nHe broke off some leaves so the tomato seedlings could get some sunlight. The more he broke the leaves, the thicker and more split the stems became, producing more leaves. At first, there were about three leaves per plant, but now there were eight.

n“Will it become chore to break these later?”

nSejun dried the torn leaves in the sunlight. The leaves that were already in the sun had now hardened, almost moisture-free.

nCrunch.

nSejun finished his morning work while eating the freshly torn leaves. Now, after 8 hours, he just had to break the leaves once more and water them to finish the day’s work.

nSejun, who had finished his work, sat in his designated seat and stared blankly at the sky.

nHow long had he been staring at the sky?

nOoook! Ooook!

nBoo-woo! Boo-woo!

n“Huh? What’s this noise?”

nSejun looked in the direction where the noise came from. It was the sound coming from the rabbit couple’s burrow.

nThe sound stopped abruptly.

n“What was that?”

nJust as Sejun was about to stare at the sky again and zone out

nOoook! Ooook!

nBoo-woo! Boo-woo!

nThe sound was heard again. Listening carefully, it was the sound of panting.

n‘No way?!’

n“These guys!”

nAs soon as the rabbit couple made their home, they began breeding activities.

nAfterward, the breeding activities continued several more times.

nA few hours later.

nAt 2 pm, Sejun got up to do his afternoon work.

nAt that time,

nPeek.

nPee.

nThe rabbit couple came out of the burrow happily together.

nAnd quickly started doing the farm work Sejun was about to do.

nPeep-peep.

nSwoosh.

nThe husband rabbit hummed while watering the crops with a watering can, and

nVzz-vzz.

nSnip-snip.

nThe wife rabbit accompanied her husband’s song by cutting the leaves with scissors.

nThe husband sang and the wife followed. It reminded him of the phrase “husband sings, wife follows.”

nHowever, what bothered Sejun was something else.

n“What are those things…”

nIt turned out that the watering can held by the husband rabbit and the apron worn by the wife rabbit were items.

nWater kept coming out of the watering can non-stop. And the apron seemed to have a space magic on it, as the wife rabbit took out farming tools like scissors or shovels whenever she needed them.

nHe was a bit envious. They had such equipment. He had to dig and tear with his hands and carry water.

nWatching the rabbits work made time pass quickly.

nBut soon, he got bored. At that moment, he saw the light passing through the PET bottle, refracting and concentrating into a strong light.

nSeeing that, an idea came to mind. He remembered a scene from a TV show where survival experts used PET bottles filled with water to start a fire.

n‘Should I try to start a fire?’

nIt seemed like the well-dried leaves would burn well.

n“Alright.”

nSejun got up and collected the well-dried leaves.

nAnd then,

nSwoosh. Swoosh.

nHe tore the leaves thinly to gather them well in the center, so the fire could catch easily.

nAnd Sejun began to focus the light on the dried green onion leaves using the PET bottle filled with water like a magnifying glass.

nSqueak?

nSqueak?

nWhen Sejun stayed still in the same position for more than 20 minutes, the rabbit couple approached him. They seemed curious about what the farm owner was doing.

nAbout 10 minutes passed, and the rabbits started dozing off, seemingly bored.

nAt that moment

nSmoke started to rise from the finely torn pile of green onion leaves. An ember was created.

n‘It’s working!’

nSejun concentrated even more on shining the light from the PET bottle on the ember. The ember grew stronger, and the smoke became thicker.

n“Whoo! Whoo!”

nSejun carefully blew air into the finely torn leaves containing the ember.

nThe rabbit couple woke up from the sound of the blowing and looked at Sejun.

nAnd then

nSqueak!

nSqueak!

nThey were astonished to see the smoking green onion leaves.

nAfter blowing for a while,

nThe fire started and flames burst out.

n“Hehehe! I did it!”

nSqueak.

nSqueak.

nThe rabbit couple looked at Sejun with admiring eyes. They didn’t have any items that could start a fire among their belongings.

nThe first thing Sejun did when the fire started was to roast green onions to eat. He just wanted to fill his stomach with something warm.

nThe dried green onions had become too hard to eat, like firewood, so he roasted the ones he had picked today.

nAs the surface of the green onion turned black from the roasting, Sejun lifted it by holding the end.

nAnd then

n“Ouch! Hot! Hoo.”

nHe placed the blackened green onion on another leaf and peeled off the burnt skin while blowing on his fingers.

nHe lifted the roasted green onion and put the peeled part in his mouth.

nPuch Puch.

n‘…So sweet!’

nSejun’s eyes widened at the incredible taste. It was like sugar was running wild in his mouth. An intense sweetness exploded.

nSejun quickly threw a few more green onions into the flames and began eating the roasted green onions hurriedly.

nSqueak?

nSeeing Sejun’s reaction, the husband rabbit bravely placed a green onion into the fire.

nAnd shortly after,

nSqueak!

nSqueak!

nThe rabbit couple ate the peeled roasted leeks with emotional expressions. All three of them ate with enthusiasm, getting black smudges on their faces.

nOn the 7th day of being trapped in the tower,

nSejun went to sleep after filling his stomach with warm food for the first time.

nBeep-beep. Beep-beep.

nMay 19th, 6 am

nOn the 10th day of the disaster.

n“Alright.”

nSejun got up energetically today as well.

nSqueak!

nSqueak!

nThe rabbit couple, who had woken up first, greeted Sejun.

n“Yeah. Good morning.”

nSplish-splash! Splish-splash!

nSejun went to the pond to wash his face and sat down in his spot.

nSqueak.

nThe wife rabbit brought the roasted green onion.

n“Thanks.”

nSejun said as he received the food.

n~ Munch ~Gulp. ~ Munch ~Gulp.

nWhile eating the roasted green onions, Sejun looked at the field where the crops were planted. The green onions had already been harvested, and the ground was damp. The rabbits, who had woken up early, had already finished their work.

nOn top of that, the wife rabbit had prepared a meal. It was so nice that they took care of it themselves.

nHowever,

n“……”

nThere was even less to do in a place where there was already little to do.

n“I need to move around a bit.” .

nToday, he decided to transplant the cherry tomatoes that he had put off. It was time to transplant them because if they grew too close together, they wouldn’t be able to absorb nutrients properly.

nSejun dug the soil with his hands, made a place to transplant the cherry tomatoes, and

nWith a small spoon-sized shovel, the husband rabbit carefully scooped and moved one by one. They also moved the six new sprouts they had planted later.

nA total of 58 sprouts were planted in six rows of 10 each.

n“Whew.”

nSeeing the neatly planted sprouts in a row brought a sense of pride. Sejun was proud of doing even small things these days.

nAs soon as Sejun finished transplanting the cherry tomatoes, he started a new task.

nMaking torches.

nHe wove several leaves together to make a handle and wrapped the end with finely torn dried leaves hundreds of times.

nDried green onion leaves seemed to be suitable for torches as they maintained the fire for a long time. The green onion leaves burned for so long that there was no need to manage the fire separately.

nAt first, it would have been tedious to continue, but now he found pleasure in using his will, body, and effort to create something essential to his life.

nAfter investing several hours, he made a torch and an alarm rang to notify it was time to sleep.

nMay 20th, 6 AM

nOn the 11th day of the disaster, the morning dawned.

n“Alright!”

n“Peep!”

n“Peep!”

n“Right, good morning.”

nAs soon as he got up, he greeted the rabbit couple and went to the pond to wash his face.

nThe pond was brighter than yesterday. Sejun, who had always been uncomfortable with the darkness when washing his face, installed a torch by the pond first.

n“Nice. Hehehe.”

nSejun looked at the burning torch and brought his face closer to the pond to wash his face.

nAt that moment,

nSplash!

nA fish suddenly jumped out of the pond and tried to bite Sejun’s face.

n“Ugh?!”

nSejun hurriedly leaned back. The fishy smell of water from the fish’s body brushed past his nose. He barely dodged it.

nThe fish that fell to the ground wriggled to return to the water.

n“What… what is this?!”

nSejun, who was flustered, approached the wriggling fish and took a closer look.

nIt had golden stripes on a black background on its body and sharp teeth.

nHe could have had his nose cut off if he was just a little bit late.

nSejun pushed the fish to the opposite side of the pond so it couldn’t escape.

nHe then examined the pond.

n“Oh!”

nInside the pond, several fish of the same species that had just attacked Sejun were swimming.

n“Why are they here?”

nWhile Sejun was thinking about the reason,

nThe fish wriggled to escape back to the pond. .

n‘I don’t have time for this!’

nSejun hurriedly caught the fish that had fallen to the ground.

nOn the 11th day of being trapped in the tower, they finally had the chance to eat fish.

n𝘳𝘦.𝒸𝑜𝘮

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