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Chapter 96
In response to my question, he once again nodded as slowly as a sloth.
“Yeah.”
“Don’t call me ‘noona.’”
“…Why?”
“Why did you lie about me being twelve? That’s fraud. Do you want to get arrested for fraud? No… do you want to, sir? Grandfather? Ancestor?”
The expression on Jenas’s face twisted in a strange way. It was the first real expression I’d seen on him since we met.
“On the outside, you’re a noona.”
“Shut up. No, really, shut up, grandfather.”
At my words, Jenas puffed up his cheeks in dissatisfaction. Acting cute after living a thousand years—maybe because he was a pretty boy, it was ridiculously adorable. Damn it.
“I don’t like that.”
“Then what should I call you? Or… do I call you at all?”
“…Jenas? Jenny?”
“I don’t think it’s right to call an ancestor who’s lived a thousand years by their name. And… did you just call yourself Jenny out loud?”
“….”
“Then how about Grandpa Jenny? You said you wanted me to call you Jenny.”
“Noona. I said I don’t like it.”
Jenas said it in a deadpan, chilling voice. But on this island, where he can’t even use magic, how could he possibly kill me?
“Just kidding. I’ll call you Jenny.”
No wonder he seemed so calm and old-fashioned. He really had lived a thousand years.
“A thousand years…”
Honestly, Jenas’s words didn’t feel entirely real. I wasn’t even sure if I could believe him.
Maybe he had just arrived on this island before us, and after all this time, I was just misunderstanding things.
I speculated endlessly, but then a wave of despair washed over me again.
“Will we never be able to leave this island?”
As I muttered this, Jenas sighed and scolded me.
“…You’re so stupid.”
“Can you not call me stupid? That hurts.”
“You can’t leave.”
“What?”
I repeated it, thinking I had misheard.
“You can’t leave this island.”
But Jenas emphasized it again, like driving a stake into the ground.
Though he had the face of a child, he sighed as if he were an old man who had lived a full life. And maybe he really was an old man who had lived a full life.
“You heard me say I’ve been on this island for a thousand years, so you’re stupid.”
“I’m a thousand years younger than you. Don’t call me noona.”
“Then…”
Jenas looked at me with a dissatisfied expression, then a troubled one as if deep in thought.
“I’ll call you Meg.”
Even Enoch hadn’t called me Meg yet…
“Just call me Margaret.”
“Meg.”
“Ha, forget it. What are we even doing, acting childish with a thousand-year-old grandpa? The sun’s setting, so let’s move. We’ll talk in detail at the cabin.”
The sky had indeed turned a deep crimson.
I wanted to ask Jenas in the cabin about what he had learned in a thousand years on this island, what he had been doing, and what had happened to the others.
Of course, I still remained on guard. Hearing that he had lived a thousand years made him even more suspicious. My casual jokes and lighthearted attitude had been, at least in part, to keep him at a safe distance.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to go far before reaching the cabin.
The cabin where I had stayed with Yuanna’s group had been deep in the mountains, but this one overlooked a wide river and was much larger.
It was three stories tall and could easily accommodate at least ten people.
“Wow. Who could have built this?”
I murmured while inspecting the cabin. Jenas followed, setting down a coconut and tilting his head in curiosity. Then, with a blank face, he clapped his hands. It was slightly scary to see that gesture with such an expressionless face.
“What is it?”
“Injury.”
At his words, I placed my trembling hand over my stomach, which was still bleeding.
“It’s better to stop the bleeding and change clothes first.”
Jenas disappeared for a moment and returned carrying a first-aid kit. It looked exactly like the one I had seen before.
He helped me sit down slowly and took out disinfectant and bandages from the kit.
“I’ll stop the bleeding myself. Since it’s a dress, you’d have to take it all off to see the wound.”
At my words, Jenas looked slightly embarrassed and handed me the kit before stepping back.
“I’ll go find clothes then…”
And he dashed up to the second floor. At times like this, he really looked like a twelve-year-old.
I first removed the dress, lifted the hem of the chemise, cleaned around the wound, disinfected it, then applied gauze and wrapped a thick bandage around my stomach to stop the bleeding.
At that moment, Jenas came down from the second floor, carrying a pile of clothes in his arms.
“They were here in the cabin.”
Seeing my puzzled expression, he muttered a small excuse. I just nodded. Since there had been modern items in the cabin I used before, it wasn’t especially strange that there were some here too.
I looked through the clothes he put on the floor. There were skirts, pants, and a few shirts. Not many T-shirts, and not all of them would fit me.
“Ah, this one will fit.”
I picked out a pair of black cargo pants.
‘The size should be perfect. Is there a T-shirt?’
Like a picky shopper at a flea market, I sifted through the pile of clothes, looking for something that would fit and be suitable for surviving in the wild.
I found a plain white T-shirt that seemed like it would fit me perfectly. There were other decent clothes, but only a few that fit and were suitable for wearing outdoors.
“They even have shoes.”
I found several pairs of shoes buried under the clothes. A pair of black walkers caught my eye. They seemed roughly the right size.
“If I wear the walkers wrong, my feet will hurt.”
They weren’t new; someone had worn them for a long time, but they seemed okay. Still, I wanted to avoid blisters.
‘If I find socks later, I’ll wear them.’
I set the shoes aside and stood up with the clothes I had chosen.
“Done?” Jenas asked in a dazed voice, watching me quietly.
“Yes. I’ll change on the second floor.”
Jenas nodded slowly. Then he added:
“Just go to the second floor.”
A very meaningful statement.
“Second floor only?”
“Don’t go to the third floor.”
“Why?”
“That’s my room.”
“Is that the reason?”
“Respect for privacy.”
He explained concisely. But stating it like that only made me want to go up there more.
I nodded and slowly climbed the stairs to the second floor. Having disinfected and bandaged the wound made it feel slightly less painful.
‘I should have just stayed on the first floor and let Jenas go up to the second.’
I didn’t think of that. Regretting it, I stopped just before reaching the second floor.
‘I hope there aren’t any monsters up here.’
It never hurts to be cautious. I had seen spiders evolve into monsters before.
I checked that my wet crossbody bag was secure and stepped carefully onto the second floor.
But nothing happened. It was just… dirty.
‘Disgusting.’
The floor was littered with trash. I quietly pinched my nose. The smell was overwhelming.
‘Mold, rotting food… and maybe a mix of other things.’
Many of the items were so decomposed that I couldn’t identify them, but there were some modern objects I recognized.
I walked down the hallway, scanning the four rooms on the second floor, and entered the one that looked the most intact.
It had only a lone wooden bed. I closed the door and took off my wet dress.
“Ah… I feel alive.”
I kept only my drawers under the chemise. Then I realized I had no top undergarment, so I tore the chemise in half and wore it again.
‘The chemise is thin; it should dry quickly.’
I put on the cargo pants over the drawers and the white T-shirt over the chemise.
“Wow, I could actually cry.”
Tears welled up. Wearing comfortable clothes felt so amazing, I was almost emotional.
I decided to throw away the torn dress. It was just baggage, and there were plenty of clothes Jenas had brought that could replace it.
I returned to the second-floor hallway, thinking about scavenging useful things from the trash, but everything lying on the floor seemed completely useless.
‘Of course. If it were useful, Jenas wouldn’t have left it on the floor.’
Jenas must have the wisdom of a thousand years. Plus, he seemed a more incredible magician than Kaiden. Though, if Kaiden lived a thousand years, he might become like that too.
I glanced at the stairs leading to the third floor, hesitated, but decided to quietly go back down so Jenas wouldn’t get suspicious.
On the first floor, Jenas was lying on a hammock near the fireplace, quietly watching me. He then silently gave a thumbs-up.
“Looks good.”
“Really comfortable.”
I sat carefully beside him, staring at the fireplace. While I changed, he must have lit the fire.
I quietly watched the flames flicker and burn. No matter who Jenas really was, for now, he was excessively kind to me.
I had a mountain of questions for him, but now that I felt settled, worry for the others came crashing over me like waves.
‘I want to see everyone.’
