I Realized It Was an Academy Game After 10 Years

Trap check: All clear.

Living conditions: All clear.

Fence status: All clear.

Marked the 3650th line on the record stone.

Morning exercises start with warm sunlight in the front yard.

No need for a chant. After repeating it thousands of times, even a fool can find the rhythm without a count. After finishing my exercises, I head back home to grab my tools. There’s no time to waste. If I don’t move diligently, I’ll starve to death on this deserted island.

“What was I supposed to do today~?”

Check the fishing nets I set up by the beach, pick a few coconuts, fix my tools, send out some pointless distress signals, and check if anything washed ashore on the beach.

Just the morning, and my to-do list is already this long.

In the afternoon, I’ll prepare the ingredients I brought, hunt, brainstorm new traps to set around the house, and take a stroll around the island.

This deserted island, about the size of Ulleungdo, is overflowing with annoyances despite being empty of people.

What could possibly be so plentiful to attract so many monsters here? Just thinking about those tasteless little bastards makes my teeth grind.

“Really, can’t a single person just drop by? I could use just one more person to talk to.”

Walking along the path, I mutter to myself, knowing nobody will hear.

With my trusty shovel slung over my shoulder, dried jerky in my mouth, humming a tune, my morning routine feels horrifically refreshing.

As I stroll while breathing in the fresh air, I occasionally, no, quite often, miss the stale air.

The choking smoke, the nasty cigarette stench that makes it hard to breathe, the overwhelming perfume wafting from faces. The fragrant smell of coffee.

When I’m hungry, I remember the spicy scent of ramen boiling in the pot while I blew on it in front of the computer.

Those were such familiar scents.

But it’s been a decade since I’ve sniffed such aromas.

“I want ramen. Ramen, ramen, ramen…”

Walking along while chewing on the nostalgia of the past, the jewel-like blue and clear sea unfurled before my eyes. It was a sight I was used to. This beach is practically my home ground, a place I frequented to no end.

As I entered my makeshift home turf, a different sight greeted me today.

“Oh, a treasure ship?”

Today, a ship rode in on the waves.

A wrecked ship, though.

There are rare occasions when a wrecked ship washes ashore with the waves. Since there are various types like naval vessels, cargo ships, and fishing boats, I’ve gotten valuable materials from such wrecks before. They’re like supply drops from the sea.

However, there’s a minor issue — sometimes I have to chop up the corpses bloated by the water left on the ship, like the swelled rice. If I leave them, they’d just turn into zombies and knock on my wooden walls all day.

It’s essential to chop up corpses for a good surface.

I placed my basket down and scrutinized the wreckage washed ashore. Seeing beautifully painted planks that must’ve been the ship’s hull, this one must’ve been a passenger ship or the vessel of some highborn person.

There’s no reason to decorate the outer surface so elegantly otherwise.

After rummaging around for a while, I dragged a few seemingly useful planks and a hefty barrel all the way to the sand. Unfortunately, the other items were pretty useless.

“Barrel~ barrel~ What’s inside, I wonder~?”

I hope something useful is inside. Preserved foods like pickles would be nice, and jewels sliced for fun wouldn’t be bad either. Clothes or oil would work too. Almost everything has a use.

I didn’t just call the wreck a treasure ship for nothing. I’ve been making do with food self-sufficiency and processing materials on this deserted island, but I relied on these wrecks for jewels or vegetables I can’t cultivate here.

If luck strikes and I found something like seedling seeds, that would be even better. I’ve never witnessed sprouting under the worst farming conditions or whether the seedlings turned mushy from seawater, but at least I could try.

“Why won’t this open?!”

Is it slippery from water absorption? Eventually, I forced the shovel blade into the gap to pry the lid open and leaned in to check the contents of the barrel.

“Huh?”

A person? A woman? Pink hair? That’s quite a unique hair color. The heroine from my favorite game also had pink hair. Given her rather luxurious clothing, she must be a noble lady.

“Did she hide in the barrel to survive?”

That’s quite a common occurrence.

At least she floated on water, so if luck favors her, she might’ve reached this beach, but… most end up as corpses starving to death, floating forever or sinking to the ocean floor. Still, this corpse seems relatively fresh.

I pulled the pink-haired figure out of the barrel. Laying her on the sand, I scanned her body with my eyes. The water revealed her alluring figure. I don’t have a taste for lusting after corpses, but it’s been years since I’ve seen a perfectly intact body like this, so… yeah.

Let’s chop her up and put her in a grave. I have to be careful not to cross any lines. No matter how deserted this island is, I don’t want to give up on humanity.

She’s still warm… I’m not far gone enough to do such things while uttering such grim lines.

I lift the shovel over my head. If I bring it down like this, just like the other bodies buried in my mound, she’ll become just another mass of once-human flesh. The dearly departed would probably prefer that over turning into zombies.

But just as I was about to swing the shovel down, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes. Those pink eyes met mine. I could only freeze in the posture while holding the shovel. Pink and golden eyes. Heterochromia. I know someone, or rather a character, with eyes like that.

Survival Academy.

Karina. The Saint of Kalon Church.

“…S-save… me…”

She left behind that short phrase before closing her eyes again. Looks like she fainted.

“All plans for today are canceled.”

Muttering to myself as a habit, I picked her up in my arms.

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