Chapter 96

He nodded slowly like a Sloth at my question.

“Yes.”

“Don’t call me Noona then.”

“……why?”

“Why did you lie that you are twelve? Are you a scammer? Do you want to be arrested for fraud, sir? No, should I call you grandfather? Or ancestor?”

Jenas’ face looking at me was bizarrely distorted. It was the first expression I had seen since I met him.

“You look older than me, Noona.”

“Shut up, grandfather.”

Jenas puffed out his cheeks with a dissatisfied face at my words. He pretends to be cute even though he is a thousand years old, but he really is. Damn. I guess it’s because he has the appearance of a handsome boy.

“I don’t like it.”

“Then how should I address you?”

“……Jenas? Jenny?”

“I dare not call my ancestor who has lived for a thousand years by name. By the way, did you just call yourself Jenny?”

“……”

“Then what about Grandpa Jenny? You asked me to call you Jenny.”

“Noona, I don’t like it.”

Jenas said eerily with an expressionless face. I suddenly thought, could he possibly kill me on an island where even magic can’t be used?

“Just kidding. I’ll call you Jenny.”

No wonder he’s calm like an old man. It’s because he has lived for a thousand years.

‘A thousand years……’

Actually, what Jenas said didn’t sound like the truth. I don’t know if I can believe him.

Could he be mistaken? He probably woke up on this island before us, and after a long time had passed, he lost his sense of time.

Even after speculating about this and that, despair came over me again.

“Can we leave this island?” I muttered.

“……idiot.” Jenas sighed and scoffed at me.

“Can you stop calling me an idiot?”

“We can’t.”

“What?”

I asked back because I didn’t think I heard it right.

“We can’t leave this island,” Jenas replied again, affirming.

With the appearance of a little boy, he sighed tiredly like an old man who was at the end of his life. Well, he is indeed an old man.

“Because I’ve been on this island for a thousand years. You said it yourself, you idiot Noona.”

“Don’t call me Noona. I am a thousand years younger than you.”

“Then……”

Jenas looked at me with a disapproving face and then made a troubled face.

“I’ll call you Meg.”

Even Enoch hasn’t called me Meg yet……

“Just call me Margaret.”

“Meg.”

“Huh, whatever. Why am I doing something this childish with a thousand-year-old grandfather? By the way, the sun is setting, shall we move fast? Let’s go to the cabin to talk about the details.”

Indeed, the sky was dyed with a deep red light.

I’ll ask Jenas at the cabin what he’s learned on this island for a thousand years, what he’s been doing all this time, and what happened to his group.

Of course, I still have to be wary of him. It’s even more suspicious to hear that he’s lived for a thousand years. The reason why I kept joking around, showing lightheartedness and no tension was partly to be wary of him.

Fortunately, we arrived at the cabin in no time.

The cabin my group stayed in was deep in the mountains, and this one is in a place where you can see a huge river.

Also, the size is incredibly large. It is a three-story cabin large enough to accommodate at least ten people.

“Wow. Who made this?” I murmured, looking around the cabin.

Jenas put down the coconuts, followed me, and tilted his head.

Then he suddenly clapped, as if he just remembered something he had forgotten. It’s kind of scary to make such a gesture with an expressionless face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your wound.”

At his words, I carefully put my hands on my stomach, trembling from the constant pain. The blood still oozes out.

“I’d better stop my bleeding first and get changed.”

Hearing my words, Jenas disappeared somewhere and came back with a first aid kit in his arms. It looks just like the one I found.

He helped me to sit down slowly and took out disinfectant and bandages from the first aid kit.

“I will do it myself. Since it’s a dress, I have to take everything off to see the wound.”

At my words, Jenas gave me the first aid kit with a slightly embarrassed face and backed away.

“Then I’ll go find clothes……”

Then he quickly went to the second floor. At times like this, I really feel like he is like a twelve-year-old child.

I first took off my dress, lifted the hem of the chemise, wiped the area around the wound, and disinfected it. Then I wrapped my stomach with gauze and a thick bandage to stop the bleeding.

Just in time, Jenas came down to the first floor with a pile of clothes in his arms.

Seeing my astonished expression, Jenas made an excuse in a small voice. “It’s all in the cabin.”

I nodded. The cabin where I stayed also had modern stuff, so there was nothing particularly strange about having something like this here.

I checked the clothes he had put on the floor. There are skirts and several pairs of pants. Not many t-shirts, and the size is not for me.

“Oh, this will suit me.”

I picked up black cargo pants.

‘It’s the right size for me. No more t-shirts?’

I rummaged through the piles of clothes with a hard eye, like a consumer looking at second-hand clothes on the shelves of Dongmyo Market[1].

[1] A flea market located in Seoul and famous for literally having everything you need.

I finally found a plain white t-shirt that fits me perfectly, matching the cargo pants.

There are plenty of other fine clothes, but only a few that seem to fit my size and are suitable for the wild.

“There are also shoes.”

I checked several pairs of shoes under the pile of clothes. I found boots that seemed to fit me perfectly.

“Your feet will hurt if you wear the wrong shoes.”

It’s nothing new to me, but the thing is I might get blisters.

‘If I get some socks later, I’ll wear them.’

I left the boots aside for now and got up from my seat with the clothes I just picked out.

Jenas, who had been standing quietly watching what I was doing, stared blankly at me.

“Are you done?”

“Yes, I’ll go change on the second floor.”

Jenas nodded slowly at my words.

“Go to the second floor only.”

“Only the second floor?”

“Don’t go to the third floor.”

“Why?”

“My room is there.”

“So?”

“Respect my privacy.”

He explained the reason in clear sentences. But don’t you know that when you put it that way, it just makes one even more curious?

I nodded for now.

“Okay.”

Then I slowly climbed the stairs to the second floor. I felt like the wound was less painful because I had sterilized it and stopped the bleeding.

‘Even so, I should have stayed on the first floor and told Jeans to go up to the second floor like before.’

Regretting that I didn’t think of that, I finally arrived at the second floor.

‘There isn’t anything like monsters on the second floor, right?’

There’s nothing wrong with being suspicious. I’ve even seen a spider evolve into a monster before, it was also on the second floor of the cabin.

I made my way to the second floor after checking that the wet crossbody bag I was carrying on my shoulder was safe.

However, contrary to what I was worried about, nothing happened on the second floor. But,

‘It’s dirty.’

The floor is full of rubbish. I cover my nose because of the smell.

‘The smell of mold seems to be mixed with the smell of food waste.’

There are so many things corroded that I can’t identify them, and some of them are modern stuff I’m familiar with.

I walked down the hallway, looking at the trash-like floor. There are a total of four rooms on the second floor, and I walked into the room that looked the most intact.

It is a room with only one wooden bed. As soon as I closed the door, I threw off my wet dress.

“Huh, finally I can breath.”

I took off my chemise too, leaving only my underwear. Then I suddenly noticed that there was no underwear on my upper body, so I immediately ripped the chemise in half and put it back on.

‘Chemise is made of a thin fabric, so it dries quickly, so it’ll be fine.’

First, I put on cargo pants over the underwear and a white t-shirt over the chemise.

“Wow, I think I’m going to cry.”

In fact, tears welled up in my eyes. It’s so touching to be able to wear such comfortable clothes.

I thought about keeping the torn dress but decided to just throw it away. It’s not wearable, and if I ever need extra cloth, I can choose one from the pile of clothes that Jenas brought earlier.

I went out again into the hallway on the second floor. I tried to pick out some of the rubbish to see if there was anything useful, but there was only stuff that deserved to be left on the floor.

‘Well, if it’s such good stuff, there’s no way Jenas would just leave it on the floor like this.’

Does Jenas have something like the wisdom of a thousand years of living? He seems to be a greater wizard than Kayden. Of course, if Kayden lives for a thousand years, he will become such a wizard.

I pondered for a moment when I saw the way up to the third floor. But if I’m late, Jenas will get suspicious, so I decide to go down quietly for now.

When I went down to the first floor, Jenas was lying in a hammock in front of the fireplace and staring at me.

Then he quietly raised his thumb.

“It looks good on you.”

“It’s very comfortable.”

I carefully sat next to him and looked at the fireplace. While I was changing clothes, he must have started the fire.

I quietly watched the burning embers. Whatever Jenas’ identity is, for now, he’s too friendly to me.

I had a mountain of questions I wanted to ask him, but after I found some stability, my worries about my group rushed in like waves.

‘I miss you all.’