Leave the Hero's Ex-Girlfriend Alone! - Chapter 17
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Leave the Hero’s ex-girlfriend alone!
EP17
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A briny smell stung my nose.
The air that slipped into my nostrils scraped sticky against my lungs.
“…Am I dead?”
It wasn’t as painful as I’d expected, so that was the first conclusion that came to mind.
As I tried to shift my body, sand crumbled behind me with a dry rasp.
My wet clothes clung to my skin, and my hair wrapped damply around the back of my neck.
“Ugh…”
My mouth was bone-dry, and my lips were split raw from salt and blood.
I rubbed my eyes and slowly pushed myself up.
Sunlight came pouring in all at once and struck my vision.
Where am I…
I looked around.
There was nothing special to see, only an endless horizon.
The one thing that caught my eye was that I was in the middle of a small beach with not a single person in sight.
“…What is this place.”
No matter how frantically I searched around, there was still no one.
My brain finally caught up with reality.
My last memory was, without a doubt… a massive wave.
I tried to jump to my feet, but I swayed and dropped back down.
My legs gave out for a moment, but aside from a scrape on my calf, there was no serious injury.
“It’s okay. Just keep your head together.”
I forced my body upright.
I needed to figure out where I was.
Just then—
Rustle.
A sound like leaves brushing against each other came from the direction of the brush.
I whipped my body around toward the sound.
“Haesoo.”
…Of all people, why did it have to be you.
A silhouette against the sunlight was coming toward me, pushing his wet hair out of his face with careless fingers.
“Zero.”
He appeared before me with a thoroughly wrecked face.
“At least you’re alive. Thank goodness.”
The moment I realized he was Zero, I opened my mouth.
The first thing that came out was this.
“Please, save me.”
“Huh?”
Zero burst into loud laughter, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
Tears welled up as he dropped to his knees in the sand and started hiccupping with laughter.
He laughed for a good while, then wiped his eyes and spoke, a trace of a grin still lingering on his face.
“Not all villains hurt people, you know.”
For a moment, I had no reply.
Villains hurt people.
I know that well, because I’ve lived through it.
Yet every time Zero shows up in front of me, he never actually does anything.
Still, it was hard to simply nod along to his words.
I raked my hair back with my hand.
My hair, stiff with seawater, snapped in short pieces between my fingers.
“Do you know where this place is?”
“Not really. I opened my eyes here after getting caught in that wave, same as you.”
He wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and jerked his chin toward the shore.
“I walked along the coastline for a while… and not a single person, not even a piece of trash. But there are snakes, thankfully.”
“Wait… that’s something to be thankful for?”
“If there are living creatures on an island, doesn’t that mean people have passed through here at least once?”
“Snakes can cross the ocean too, you know…”
“Well, in a hopeless situation like this, don’t we need some kind of hope just to keep our sanity?”
I let out a sigh and scanned the area again.
The white sand stretched wide along the shore, with a few strands of seaweed bobbing lazily on the water.
Right ahead lay a dense forest, and the sunlight was cruelly clear.
“I swear, this is insane. I came all the way here for a reward vacation, and look what it turned into.”
“Tell me about it. I even bought a Hawaiian shirt for this.”
Something suddenly occurred to me.
“What about Alpha? Did you see him by any chance?”
Zero lowered his eyes slightly.
“No, I didn’t.”
Thankfully, he hadn’t been swept up with us…
So that meant it was really just Zero and me now.
Should I count it as a relief that I wasn’t alone?
For now, escaping this place came first.
To do that, I was in no position to be choosy about means or methods.
“You don’t have a way off this island either, do you?”
“Right.”
“Then help me out.”
I’m the type who saw something like this coming and read “How to Survive on a Deserted Island” cover to cover dozens of times.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to make a distress signal.”
“Well, that’s the basics, at least.”
Zero nodded in agreement.
We gathered the stones scattered around us and arranged them on the sand in a shape meant to be seen.
“I really hope someone spots this.”
“Yeah, me too.”
The Villain had caused this mess, so whatever anyone says, the Association will have to step in.
At the very least, I had to hold on to that hope.
I decided to take one gamble here.
“You said earlier that you had no way out, right?”
“Yes.”
“Villain… your friends aren’t going to come help you, either.”
“Well… no, I suppose not.”
There was a strange gap between his ‘well’ and his ‘no, I suppose not,’ but this wasn’t the time to dig into that.
“I’m sure the Association will come to rescue me, though.”
“Lucky you.”
Did you think I’d bring it up just to brag?
“When that happens, I’ll take you out with me too.”
“That’s quite an honor. I’ve never ridden an Association rescue ship before. Sounds like a fresh experience.”
“But.”
I spoke as though I hadn’t heard Zero at all.
“Until then, you cooperate with me. Let’s call it a temporary alliance…”
“Ah, an alliance sounds good. But what if Haesoo betrays me?”
“I won’t.”
Honestly, how many people would believe me if I shouted, ‘That guy’s Zero!’?
All it would do is stir up more confusion.
“I keep my word. As long as you cooperate, I’ll help you get off this island safely.”
“…Liar.”
“Hm?”
Zero spoke so quietly that I couldn’t quite make it out.
“It’s nothing. So, what should we do now?”
“First… we don’t know how long we’ll be drifting on this island, so I’d like to gather some food.”
“Shall we head into the forest, then?”
“That sounds good.”
We carefully made our way deeper into the island.
The chirping of insects, the crunch of fallen leaves, and the wind winding around us reached my ears.
After walking for a while, we came upon a small pond.
But the water wasn’t very clear.
“Guess we can’t drink it.”
“No, we can’t. Let’s just use it for washing up.”
Zero dipped his hand into the water at the edge of the pond, then flicked it toward me in a spray.
“Ah!”
“Try to relax, will you?”
I wiped the water from my face with my sleeve and glared at him.
“Try smiling a little.”
“…Smiling comes after staying alive.”
With that, I stepped away from the water’s edge.
If there was a pond, there might be something edible nearby.
“I’m going to take a look over there.”
“Be careful. There could be snakes.”
“You really do only imagine the worst, don’t you.”
I pushed through the branches and stepped inside.
The forest interior was damp, its tree roots tangled in intricate knots.
I passed a large boulder that caught my eye and climbed onto a slightly higher ridge.
Just then—
“Huh?”
The ground gave way beneath my toes, my balance lurched, and I tumbled straight down.
“Ah…!”
My body was flung in every direction before I could brace myself, and a sharp pain spread through my elbow.
The moment I fell through the gap between the rocks, a cloud of dust billowed up.
I lay face down on the ground, gasping for breath, trying to hold on to my swimming vision.
“What… was that?”
When I finally opened my eyes, my knee was torn open and bleeding.
“Eun Haesoo?!”
Zero’s voice rang out from above.
I lifted my head with effort.
At the edge of the cliff above, I could make out Zero’s silhouette.
“Down here! I’m down here!”
“What are you doing down there now…?”
He let out a short breath, then began weaving something together from the materials around him.
Zero fashioned a makeshift rope from vine stems and tree branches.
“Hold on. I’ll pull you up. Can you grab on?”
I stretched out my arm, but the pain shot through me right away.
I bit down hard.
“…It’s fine. I can climb.”
“Hah, I’ll come down instead.”
Zero tied the rope around a tree, then jumped down himself.
“Honestly, I should have figured this would happen when you went off alone.”
Zero came over and knelt beside me.
I turned my eyes away for no good reason.
Somehow, this is even scarier.
It makes him seem like a good person.
“Give me your hand. Let me check the injury.”
“I can handle it myself.”
“You know that’s the most dangerous way of thinking, right?”
I hesitated for a moment, but in the end I held out my arm.
He gently cupped my wrist and said,
“Let’s climb up together, slowly.”
Zero’s hand was warmer than I’d expected.
Breathing hard, the two of us finally managed to climb up the cliff.
Thump.
I collapsed onto the ground and turned my head.
“I hope this event ends here…”
Instead of answering, Zero looked up at the sky.
Dark clouds were rolling in.
Before long, a raindrop brushed against my cheek.
What followed was a downpour.
Thick sheets of water came pouring from the sky, like a torrential rain.
The leaves trembled under the falling drops, shedding them one after another.
“It’s going to rain too?”
I swallowed the hollow laugh that rose in my throat and shook my head.
“Seriously… this situation is insane.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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