I Realized It Was an Academy Game After 10 Years

With new family members, more tasks arose.

It was time to expand.

The original house was a brick house built in a nice spot, reminiscent of a fairy tale, but since it was designed for just me, it wasn’t very spacious. A 15-pyeong house isn’t small for one person, but the storage room and the workshop took up more than half the space, so the actual living area wasn’t that spacious. Hence, it was crucial to increase the living space.

I couldn’t keep sleeping in a cramped room, feeling awkward.

As Karina finally recovered enough to walk, I immediately got to work.

I took out the wooden pieces and tools I salvaged from the wrecked ship, and the first thing I did was tear down one entire wall. Typically, that would take a lot of time, but can someone who is reincarnated in such a world be ordinary?

This world’s reality was far from normal, to begin with.

“Crafting.”

It’s been a while since I used that. Recently, I’d been crafting things by hand as a hobby, not using any skills. Seeing the pile of bricks forming in an instant made me smile. As long as I had materials, this skill allowed me to skip some of the processes. It was one of the reasons I could survive in this land.

Ultimately, I could make anything as long as I had materials. The more complicated the item I had to create, the more materials I would need, but… this wasn’t a skill that let me slack off entirely. In the beginning, I struggled just to process dirt properly.

Just then, my stomach growled. It was about time for a meal.

I needed to finish this quickly and go eat. By now, Karina would be vigorously stirring something in a pot. Whether it was because she was a saint or not, even though walking was still difficult for her, she had recovered enough to whisk the pot without any issues.

I had told her she could just rest, though.

Anyway, after the meal, I planned to head to the beach to check for any possible survivors or additional corpses.

To be honest, I didn’t think there would be any survivors.

It had been a decade since there were only Karina and me on this island. Even if someone was lucky enough to wash up on the shore, if they ended up in the territory dominated by monsters that divide this island into sections… they would have become a meal.

Those monsters could swallow humans in a single bite.

I had been living in hiding within their territory for seven years. It was only three years ago that I finally earned their acknowledgment and made an implicit agreement not to invade each other’s territories, after which my deserted island life became somewhat boring.

So, in either scenario, the chance of them surviving was extremely close to 0%. If there happened to be humans like Renny, who have that final boss-level combat prowess, they might even kill a monster and take over its land… but were they still alive? Even if they were, the likelihood of them being on this island was slim.

Well, the more companions, the better, so I intended to divide the exploration of the island into sections. I had a patient to take care of, and spending a long time exploring the island was difficult.

“Should I expand a bit more while I’m at it?”

I was initially planning to just make one more room, but if I’m going to do it, I might as well make it a bit bigger.

Just in case, a new castaway might show up.

A hope that hadn’t existed before began to whisper back into existence because of Karina.

“Crafting.”

Making another batch of bricks, I started fitting them in place. In about two hours, a pretty decent space should be ready. Quite fast for reconstruction, but I had been doing this for 10 years. Plus, I’m not exactly an ordinary human.

I quickly built the floor with a speed that would put any private in boot camp to shame, stacking bricks, and starting to make floors and ceilings out of wooden planks.

The method involved filling the lower space with dirt and bricks, placing planks on top, then filling in with bricks. I hadn’t done construction work in Korea, so it was all a bit haphazard, but doing this for a long time gives you a knack for it.

…Considering that I had to build my house dozens of times due to monster assaults or tsunamis, it’s a relief that these special bricks are sturdier. The issue is that I’d need to go into the dungeon to gather materials.

My territory and those two monsters share an unspoken non-aggression pact, so I need to be careful when going to the dungeon.

I’ll have to sort them out someday.

That way, I can prepare to escape this island.

“It should be time to apply this…”

I applied a sticky liquid extracted from insect-like monsters onto the walls. The liquid soon soaked into the bricks, binding them together. Now a sturdy wall that wouldn’t collapse under normal impacts was complete.

Having coated the walls without leaving any gaps, I wiped the sweat that had gathered on my forehead.

The expansion was nearly complete. Once the liquid dried, the walls would be strong enough to withstand just about any impact. It took roughly three hours. I glanced up at the sun above my head and casually pushed the tools into a corner. There wouldn’t be anyone to steal them anyway, so it didn’t matter.

I headed straight to the well to wash myself off. Then I filled the previously made bucket with water. It was for Karina to wash.

Although she couldn’t enter the water or splash it on herself yet, Karina was maintaining minimal cleanliness by wetting a cloth with lukewarm water and wiping herself down.

Of course, I had never seen her wash. I would just drop off the water and cloth, then step outside right away. But this felt strangely couple-like. Our distance was too far for that relationship…

Karina and I were still more like awkward housemates. There was often a suffocating atmosphere in the same house. Karina still looked at me cautiously. After all, she was unable to move properly, living with a guy with a rough appearance.

In my shoes, I would have full-blown MAX levels of wariness.

But she was improving little by little, so maybe after a month, we could be on friendly terms? Trust between us would ultimately be vital to escape this island. If we can’t trust each other, we can’t defeat the monsters, nor explore the dungeon, which is the most essential thing for me.

“…Speaking of which, it’s about time to gather some larvae.”

It was a thought that suddenly popped into my head.

But even if Karina hadn’t washed up on the beach, it was something I had to do.

It’s been a while, so the larvae should have multiplied a lot. I had eaten quite a few larvae lately, so I needed to replenish them. They were the most reliable source of nutrition around here. Now, farm animals like cows and pigs seemed foreign.

“I still want to eat pork belly. Marinated ribs would be nice, and chicken… don’t even get me started.”

But on this island, there are no farm animals. Only those tasteless monster babies. I needed to turn those monster babies into fertilizer for the land quickly, so I had to finish my preparations.

It was about time to go inside.

I wiped off the water, holding the bucket, and opened the house door.

Hmm, a delicious smell.

As soon as I opened the door, a savory aroma invaded my nostrils. The delicious scent was enough to make my mouth water, and hunger came rushing in like a tide. Karina was sitting in front of the brazier, stirring the contents of the pot with a ladle.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“Yeah.”

“Please wait just a moment. It’s almost done.”

I set the bucket down in the corner and sat in front of the brazier to relax. Unlike a few days ago when she was horrified by the soup’s ingredients, Karina was now stirring the green liquid skillfully. Maybe she had gotten used to it after eating so much.

Eating bugs for every meal means you can’t help but develop a tolerance…

“You’ve gotten used to it.”

“The soup with bugs was a bit surprising… but it’s not the time to be picky, right? It has a decent flavor too. But I really think you’re amazing.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You built the house all by yourself…”

“You mean the expansion?”

“Oh, is that what it’s called? Yes. I had no idea a house could expand so quickly.”

“You get good at this if you live on a deserted island for ten years.”

“Ten years… did you really live alone for that long?”

She still had a somewhat skeptical expression. I even showed her the scratches I made on the rock wall. After all, ten years was more than half her life, so it’s understandable she finds it hard to believe. Nodding again, she looked at me with warm eyes and said,

“You’ve really had it tough for ten years.”

I couldn’t respond to Karina’s words and just nodded.

Being acknowledged for ten years of hardship was quite an emotional moment. Memories of the struggles I faced for ten years flashed before my eyes. I struggled for a while, opening and closing my mouth, trying to find the right words.

I didn’t know what to say.

In the end, I squeezed out a simple response after much effort.

“…Thank you.”

“Isn’t that something I should say? Thank you for saving me.”

Karina had a soft smile on her lips. There was a slight blush on her cheeks, showing she was a bit embarrassed by this awkwardness. We silently looked at the pot again.

“It’s done.”

At Karina’s words, I snapped out of my daze and received a steaming bowl from her. Today, it had a refreshing scent, perhaps because dried fruit was added.

I scooped up some soup with a spoon and savored the flavor of the hot liquid that settled on my tongue.

Mmm. It was savory with a slight tang.

While it had vibes reminiscent of dongchimi for a soup, anyone who indulges in gourmet tasting during a deserted island life doesn’t deserve to be fed well. Here, you should be grateful just to have something to eat.

“Thanks for the meal.”

“…Thanks for the meal.”

The modest meal quickly came to an end. I shoved the empty bowl along with the rest of the dishes into the pot and stood up. Cleaning dishes right away is less of a hassle. As I attempted to leave, Karina started preparing to wash herself while sitting on the bedding.

“Have a good trip.”

Somehow my face felt hot as I nodded and hurriedly rushed out of the house.

———–

Scrape scrape.

Having finished washing the dishes with the soap I made myself, I stood up and stretched. Without a sink or tap here, washing dishes was an incredibly tedious task, but it had to be done. I planned to carry the dishes and head back inside when suddenly…

The ground shook.

An irregular vibration struck the soles of my feet without mercy.

Just when I had begun to forget that something might go wrong on this island, it seemed something had exploded again.

“…It’s starting again.”

I dropped the dishes and rushed to the front yard, grabbing the shovel leaning beside the entrance.

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