Chapter 12

She thought that he only looked rational on the outside, while surprisingly functioning purely on instinct. Still, the reason she didn’t hate it was because, at least for this moment, it gave her the illusion that she was lounging leisurely on a vacation and having a romance.

“…It seems like things are going the way you want.”

A warm reply spilled through Lee Soo’s teeth. As if trying to swallow that answer, he brought his face within a hand’s span of Lee Soo’s.

The man’s shadowed eyes swept across her face. His hand, which had been resting idly on the table, slowly reached toward her cheek.

His hand, large enough to cover her face, looked more suited to crushing something than cherishing it. When that hand gently brushed her cheek, her lower back felt strangely ticky.

Lee Soo clutched her pants tightly and stood up from her seat.

“I-I’ll still wash the pants cleanly and give them back.”

Stammering out her words, she hurried straight into the quarters as if running away. Glancing back for a split second just then, she saw him looking down at the hand that had touched her cheek with a pleased expression.

Creak. Lee Soo closed the door. Only after she was completely cut off from him was she able to let out the breath she had been holding.

“Hah, ahh…”

The cheek he had touched still tingled faintly. Clutching the innocent pair of pants to her chest, she took deep breaths for a while.

She wondered what kind of expression he was making right now on the other side of the door. Could he still feel the sensation on his fingertips? Or was he off finding a new target that was fun to tease?

Calming her flushed cheeks, Lee Soo took off her pants. Sand that had been heavily stuck to her hips fell off with a dry crunch. While she was changing clothes, she wanted to shake the sand off all over her skin.

She soon untied the necktie around her waist and took off her jacket as well. Peeling off the damp, clinging jacket made her skin feel cool. Fearing that her skin would break out if she stayed wet like this, she slid her bra off too.

The area where the bra’s underwire had pressed against her skin was swollen and red. Leaning her body weight against the door to block it, Lee Soo fanned her chest with her hand.

Every time she moved her hand, her breasts—easily a C-cup—jounced. Staring down at her chest for a long moment, she brushed the sand off various parts of her body.
Then, as she raised her head, her eyes met a man standing outside the window.

The man was wearing a black t-shirt and shorts. His hair and eyes were brown, and his skin was sunburned to a shade close to bronze.

Realizing that it was Declan, Lee Soo grabbed her jacket to cover her chest.

“Declan?”

She wasn’t quite sure how long Declan had been watching. But the sight of his male organ heavily erect against the front of his pants was vividly etched in her field of vision.
Declan proudly gripped his shaft right over the surface of his pants. Then, he asked with his mouth movements.

“Wanna do it? If you’re interested, come out the window.”

Far from feeling sorry for peeping at her with a gloomy gaze, he was brazen instead. Turning pale, Lee Soo shook her head.

“Not interested.”

Winking as if telling her to speak up when she needed him, Declan climbed back up the hill. When Lee Soo hastily finished putting her clothes on, Manuel’s voice reached her from outside the door.

“Now that the rain has stopped, the boys and I are going to look around the island. Want to come with us?”

Outside, Hayden’s voice could be heard giving a brief refusal. Lee Soo, still inside the quarters, followed suit and declined.

Having dressed fully, Lee Soo came out to the tent, fished a body wash out of the sack, and headed down to the lake. Finding a suitable spot to sit, she began washing Hayden’s suit pants.

Thanks to the cleared rain, a cool breeze was blowing. Wanting to dry the pants quickly while the breeze lasted, she hurried her hands as she washed them.

Hayden was sitting at the tent table, watching the spectacle.

A leisurely and persistent gaze embraced Lee Soo from afar. Lee Soo let out a quickened breath.

Just as she finished rinsing the soap out of the pants, Manuel and Dehart walked over from the opposite side. Their faces were flushed as if they had discovered something interesting.

Dehart approached first and explained the reason.

“Lee Soo, there’s something totally awesome deeper inside the island.”

“What is it?”

“A place like a golf course and a machine room. A set of golf equipment is just sitting there on the field, so the guys are playing golf. In front of the machine room, there are even abandoned construction shovels and sickles lying around. Oh, and the machine room has mountains of water cooler jugs, so we don’t have to worry about water anymore.”

“A golf course? A golf course…”

Perhaps it was a facility used by Graham, the owner of this island. Thinking that there might be a clue there, Lee Soo straightened her back and asked.

“U-Water, water? I’m so glad we found water. Are there any other notable traces at the golf course? Is the power on in the machine room?”

Manuel caught Lee Soo as she walked unsteadily up from the lakeside and replied.

“Nah, looks like the machine room ran on electricity dragged over from that burnt building up on the hill. The lights didn’t turn on, but there was just a laptop sitting there by itself.”

“A laptop? Can the laptop turn on?”

“It turned on for a bit before the battery died. There wasn’t much on it, just a sex video.”

Dehart chimed in to add to the conversation.

“A video of some guy with hair color just like Hayden Wyatt having sex with some woman in an office.”

As if they had planned it, they stared at Hayden underneath the tent. They seemed to have a strong hunch that the protagonist of the video was Hayden.

Wringing the water out of the pants, Lee Soo shook her head.

“Ah, that guy is probably Graham. He might have similar hair color and build to Hayden, but his voice and physique are different.”

Judging from what she had seen on the CCTV, Graham had a strong air of being as delicately handsome as a model. Just as she was about to explain that point, Manuel snatched the pants from her hands, wrung out the remaining water, and asked.

“How do you know that?”

“I saw something similar in the burnt building too. The woman is blonde, right?”

Manuel paused as if recalling the person in the video, then tilted his head.

“The guy’s body was blocking the view so I couldn’t verify that part, but I’m sure the guy called the woman Michelle. The woman was dying of pleasure because she liked the guy so much. I’ve never heard such a soul-leaving moan in my life.”

Crossing his arms, Dehart glanced back toward the golf course.

“That bastard probably screwed the woman inside the golf course machine room while watching that stuff again. What an enviable punk born to rich parents—he must be great at screwing since he does it so much. His body was insanely flexible, too.”

Then, he continued with a tone of regret.

“I wanna watch more of that video.”

Manuel gave the back of Dehart’s head a playful smack.

“You perverted bastard.”

A short while later, Declan’s group carried water jugs and construction shovels over and stacked them in front of the house.

Declan appeared with the laptop tucked under his arm. He said he planned to keep the laptop safe until they escaped the island, carry it out with him, and extort money from Graham.

When evening arrived, the people who had each been spending time their own way returned to the quarters. The clock pointed to 9:00 PM, but the sky was as bright as afternoon.

Thanks to it being summer. Had it been winter, they might have collapsed in illness, unable to endure the harsh cold. Lee Soo was grateful for the warm weather, the long daylight, and the fact that there was at least some food.

On the other hand, Jenna wandered around and did nothing but complain. According to Manuel, who knew Jenna through a mutual acquaintance, it seemed she was currently going through alcohol and nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

Lee Soo, who was relatively fine, volunteered to clean the quarters.

Judging by how much dust had accumulated inside, every place she wiped came away pitch black. If Hayden hadn’t helped out, she might have broken down from physical exhaustion right away.

By the time she finished cleaning, it was already 11:00 PM. As the day grew dark, everyone settled into the quarters and lay down to sleep.

They had cleared all the furnishings of the quarters outside, but the space was hopelessly inadequate for eight people to lie down. Because of that, they agreed by default to lie on their sides.

Yet Jenna alone lay facing the ceiling defiantly and spoke up.

“I want a cigarette.”

Manuel, who had put up with Jenna’s whining all day long, smiled and replied.

“I want to take a shower in warm water.”

Declan used the laptop he was pressing his cheek against as a pillow and let out a long sigh.

“Hah… I want to have sex.”

Dehart was still feeling a sense of regret over the sex video.

“I want to watch that video from earlier again.”

Lee Soo, lying with her face toward the wall, stayed quiet, but she had something she wanted deep in her heart more than anyone else. She wanted to reclaim her lost memories. If she did, at least she would know why and because of whom she ended up in this mess…

The morning was so sunny that it was hard to believe it had rained for two whole days.

Hayden’s pants, which had been left on the tent table, were dried out completely.

The men began showering in the lake.

Lee Soo and Jenna remained inside the room. The interior was dim, but the stream of light pouring through the window created a cozy atmosphere.

Since all the furniture inside the quarters had been taken outside, the space was completely empty. All that remained was the sack of food, firewood inside the fireplace, and scented candles set apart respectfully.

With nothing to do and nothing to look at, Lee Soo started wiping the floor with a rag. At that moment, Jenna, who had been sitting blankly, asked Lee Soo.

“Aren’t you tired running around doing all the work?”

Tiring as it was, it was still better than living in a filthy place. Lee Soo rinsed the rag inside a wooden barrel she had filled with water the day before and replied.

“We’ll all be using this space, so it’s better if it’s clean.”

Just as the conversation cut off abruptly, Jenna picked an unnecessary fight.

“I’ve never seen anyone putting on an act of being so nice who actually turned out to be a decent person.”

Jenna had complained from one to ten yesterday as well. It seemed like the withdrawal symptoms made everything grate on her nerves irritably.

Lee Soo furrowed her brow and wrung the rag out tightly. Jenna didn’t miss even that distorted brow.

“I didn’t mean to imply that’s you, so why are you making that face? It’s scary when you glare at me with those slanted eyes.”

If she kept picking fights, Lee Soo wanted to scream and show her what truly being scary meant, but the energy to waste on it was too precious. Clenching her teeth, Lee Soo replied smoothly.

“I understand you’re stressed, but don’t be rude. I’m not here to put up with your bad temper.”

Right then, the area in front of the door grew increasingly noisy. The men seemed to have finished showering and gathered at the tent.

Breakfast began. Unlike yesterday when everyone ate their fill, today the canned ham was divided into eight equal portions. Aside from that, there was a handful of almonds and a protein shake.

It was an amount too embarrassing to even call a meal. But in this extreme situation, no one complained.

Having finished their meal, the football players headed out to the coastline, saying they wanted to leave a rescue signal and work out.

Hayden sat lazily in the chair under the tent, drying his damp hair. Every time a cool breeze blew from the forest, a fragrant scent of strawberries wafted gently from him.
The scent of strawberries… A shower… Lee Soo also wanted to take a comfortable shower.

“Is the lake very deep?”

Hayden narrowed his eyes languidly and spoke in a low voice.

“By your standards, it’ll be deep. Why, are you going to take a shower?”

Lee Soo was surprised by how quick-witted he was, then nodded belatedly.

Hayden looked out over the lake and stood up from his chair.

“I found a decent spot while swimming, so I’ll take you there.”

Lee Soo followed behind him as he guided the way, surprisingly gently. Jenna came along with them as well.