Leveling Up By Surviving Alone - L.U.B.S.A Chapter 2

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It’s the seemingly friendly people in a place like this who are the scariest. After all, you never know what they might do once you’re asleep. If it’s simple robbery, that’s bad enough; if it’s anything else, it could be far worse.

Ji Yeonwoo had no intention of being forced to indulge any stranger’s bizarre tastes in a strange place. So, despite the growing cold with each step higher, he kept climbing the mountain ridge. It was near sunset by the time he finally reached the summit and found a spot to camp.

“Who’d have thought there’d be bamboo in the Taebaek Mountains?”

*Whoosh—*

Except for the narrow man-made path, the area was thick with bamboo. Whenever the wind blew, the bamboo stalks—each about as thick as a person’s forearm—swayed and made strange, whispery sounds. Mixed with the quiet breeze, it was oddly pleasant rather than eerie.

“Not bad at all.”

He picked a suitable place to set up.

It was time for his Hunter-grade backpacking gear—bought at a 30% discount for three million won—to shine.

First, he opened his one-touch tent and staked it down haphazardly. It seemed flimsy at a glance, but it was made from monster hides of some sort, so it would be more than sturdy enough for a few days.

As night settled in, the air grew cold.

He needed a fire.

He managed to scrounge up some dry wood. Now all that remained was to light it. A tanker he used to work with—now his enemy—had told him that nothing beats a lighter, but lighters, in his view, had no romance.

Instead, Ji Yeonwoo held up his personal “dream tool”: a fire steel that could start a flame without any fuel.

*Chkk!*

*Fwoosh—*

With sparks this good, who needs a lighter? Besides, in the chaos of battle, a lighter could get soaked and fail or fall and explode when knocked around.

> “Hey, got a light? Huh? A ‘fire…something?’ No lighter? Are you nuts? How are we supposed to light a cigarette with that? Even if you don’t smoke, what if—ugh, never mind.”

Sure, he remembered arguing about it, but it hardly mattered now, so he let it go. A few gentle blows, and the embers flared into a proper campfire.

Now it was time to cook.

He pulled pork belly, green onions, garlic, and ginger from his bag. He put the pork belly on a lightly oiled pan and grilled it. As soon as enough oil rendered out, he drained it and set it aside. Then, in the now-pork-fat-coated pan, he tossed in the chopped green onions, ginger, and garlic. Once they were sautéed, he cut the pork belly into bite-sized pieces and put it back into the pan.

Next, he added red chili powder, oyster sauce, salt, and other seasonings, stirring it all around again. Because the sauce could burn if overheated, Ji Yeonwoo carefully raised and lowered the pan over the fire, paying meticulous attention to the heat.

Once the stir-fried pork belly was cooked through, he sprinkled sesame seeds and drizzled sesame oil over the dish, and a rich, savory aroma filled the air.

Feeling proud, he glanced at a half-open wooden box. Inside were more than twenty different seasonings: powders like salt, sugar, chili powder, and liquids like sesame oil, perilla oil, oyster sauce, and so on—all tightly packed in.

Written on the wooden box was the name “Ji Cheolsu.” It was a memento from his father, who had loved camping. Although he always carried these around, he rarely had the chance to use them. After several months of lugging them around, finally getting to pull them out felt worth it.

The instant rice was already heated in boiling water. He scooped a spoonful of steaming white rice, dabbed on the spicy red sauce, topped it with a piece of pork belly, and took a big bite.

*Chew, chew…*

A gentle but zesty spiciness hit his tongue. The slightly crunchy pork fat gave way to a burst of rich juice that blended perfectly with the sauce, creating a delectable harmony.

“Mmm—!”

“Who cooked this? Damn, it’s good!”

He started craving a drink, so he poured some soju into a paper cup. As the stir-fry flavor lingered in his mouth, he washed it down with a quick shot.

“Ahhh!”

All that robust flavor, mellowed by chewing, vanished with the clean finish of soju. It was incredible how a single shot cleared his palate for the next delicious bite.

Why not have another?

*Gulp…*

“Kyaah… this is living!”

He gazed around:

– The soft moonlight,

– The majestic silhouette of the mountains below,

– The twinkling lights of the lodging village beyond.

Everything looked beautiful.

He thought of his late father.

“He really loved camping.”

His father had owned a ton of gear—this spice box, plus a variety of cookware made from monster carcasses. He’d even appeared on TV shows, that’s how much he loved it. When Ji Yeonwoo was young, his dad used to take him on city-outskirts camping trips. But once he got older, Ji Yeonwoo had stopped going along.

If only he’d known they’d part so soon, he would’ve gone with him more often…

His eyes grew damp.

“Dad, don’t worry. I’ll take care of Mom and Ji-hye. Everything’s looking up. From here on, it’s going to be smooth sailing!”

He truly believed it. Even though he was an F-rank Hunter scraping by, it was still a lot better than the hard labor jobs he used to do for day-to-day survival. Back then, there hadn’t been any hope at all. But now, he had hope, and it motivated him.

He’d always been this optimistic—so much so that his colleagues sometimes ridiculed him for it.

He sipped once for the night view, another time for the moonlight, then one last shot for the atmosphere—three in total. Given his usual limit was half a bottle of soju, this was about as far as he could go.

“Urgh, I’m a little drunk… but I’ll be fine, right?”

Morning would come soon enough. Sure, he knew Hunters outside city limits could be as dangerous as monsters, but he hadn’t seen a single soul on his way to the summit. He doubted there’d be any trouble now.

He stuffed his leftovers into a black plastic bag. The frying pan—his father’s memento—was made from the shell of a C-rank monster called a “rock water beetle,” and a few swipes with a wet tissue made it look as good as new.

Then he crawled into his tent and unfurled his sleeping bag. Part of the three-million-won sale bundle was this sleeping bag made from “lightning goose down,” supposedly lighter, less prone to static, and smaller in bulk. Whatever it was, it had all the magic needed to send a tired, tipsy Ji Yeonwoo straight to dreamland.

He switched off the lantern, letting the tent go dark. In that cozy darkness, he closed his eyes.

A stray thought:

‘I’m usually so picky about where I sleep…’

*Snorrrk—*

 

Yet the moment he shut his eyes, he was snoring loudly. Even if the surroundings flashed brightly, he wouldn’t wake.

 

*Whoooosh!*

* Kwakwakwakwang!*

 

Trees splintered, everything scattered in the wind. Even then, he didn’t stir. For a brief moment, everything seemed to float, as if gravity had disappeared. When things settled again, he still didn’t notice a thing.

 

He eventually awoke—only after he’d slept his fill.

 

“Whoo-ah!”

 

Regaining consciousness, he felt a strange lightness in his body, far from how one would feel after sleeping outside with just a sleeping bag.

 

‘Wow, that lightning goose down is amazing…’

That’s all he thought at first.

 

He opened his eyes and saw sunlight filtering through the tent.

 

Weirdly, the air around him felt warm—almost muggy. It definitely did not feel like the morning of a bamboo forest in the Taebaek Mountains.

 

“Why is it so hot?”

 

He unzipped the tent and stepped outside. The direct sunlight stung his skin, and what greeted him was…?

 

A beach?

 

*Shwaaa—*

 

“…?”

 

Ji Yeonwoo gave a small smile, lifted his hand, then promptly slapped himself in the face.

 

*Smack!*

 

“Ow!”

 

It hurt. So this wasn’t a dream. He pinched himself several times, and each time his cheek stung.

 

What are the odds that the mountain summit would turn into a beach overnight? What on earth happened while he was asleep?

 

And his smartphone…?

 

> **- You are outside the service area.**

 

“…”

 

This was a Hunter’s specialized smartphone. It connected via satellite, so it should work anywhere—on top of Mount Everest or, with a bit of exaggeration, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Even if he died, the device alone should still signal his location.

 

Yet now it showed “no signal.”

 

There was only one possibility:

 

“I got pulled into a rift, didn’t I…?”

 

Panic surged through him, and goosebumps prickled his skin. A cold sweat dripped down his spine.

 

“Ugh… Ugh…!”

 

An emotion welled up from deep inside, bursting out of him:

 

“Aaaaaahhhh!”

 

He screamed until he calmed down—until his voice went hoarse—finally realizing that shouting might draw something dangerous to him.

 

“Hah… hah… hah…”

 

Then he slowly backed away, clutching the Hunter’s knife he’d kept on his body even as he slept.

 

“There’s… nothing here?”

 

If anything dangerous had been around, he guessed he’d have woken up inside its stomach instead of on a beach.

 

“W-what… is… this…?”

 

*Shwaaa…*

 

Waves crashed against nearby rocks, oblivious to his mental state. In front of him lay an enormous beach stretching to the horizon. Enchanted, he walked closer. Each step pressed his soles into scratchy sand. After about a hundred steps, the gentle, lapping tide reached his ankles.

 

He scooped up some water and tasted it on his tongue. It was extremely salty, as if mocking his desperate hope that it might be drinkable.

 

In a daze, he turned back. Beyond the wide expanse of sand—past where his tent was set up—loomed a sheer cliff, at least the equivalent of a hundred floors high. Clouds hung halfway up, concealing whatever lay above. Tilting his head upward, he found a sun roughly twice as large as the one he was used to, gazing indifferently down at him.

 

Flop.

 

Ji Yeonwoo sat down heavily. Whether he liked it or not, he had to accept one fact:

 

He was stranded.

 

More precisely, he had been pulled into another world.

 

*Shwaaa!*

 

Waves crashed against the rocks, splashing him in the face. The water tasted salty and bitter—just like his situation.

 

—

 

*Shwaaa!*

 

The huge sun that had been high overhead was now well on its way down. Though his phone had no service, it still dutifully showed that ten hours had passed.

 

“Huh…”

 

He stared blankly at the foaming waves. A beach in front of him, a cliff at his back… half a day since he’d pulled himself together, and nothing had changed. He couldn’t leave. He spent hours gazing mindlessly at the scenery, turning over the same thoughts again and again, concluding that he only had two choices:

 

Either die or survive.

 

“That… is the question…”

 

In truth, his odds of survival seemed slim. He had no clue how he’d ended up here, but one thing was certain: this place was a rift. Ji Yeonwoo, who’d lacked the courage to enter any rift—preferring to hunt low-level, Earth-native monsters—had been tossed into a nightmare scenario.

 

Clearing an F-rank rift typically required ten F-rank Hunters working together. Telling him to clear one alone?

 

And there was no guarantee this was an F-rank rift at all…

 

“It’s impossible… impossible!”

 

Despair overwhelmed him. A sense of powerlessness crept through his entire body.

 

As time passed, the giant sun dipped below the horizon, turning the sky from bright blue to a soft scarlet. He witnessed a breathtaking sunset so vast it couldn’t be taken in at a single glance—utterly indifferent to his misery.

 

Majestic nature at its finest.

 

Before it, Ji Yeonwoo—just a tiny speck of a man—could only clutch his knees tighter. The scarlet sky went black. The once-thundering waves grew calm. Under the newly dark sky, a giant full moon rose over the ocean, as big as that oversized sun. Within that moon, he seemed to see the faces of his mother, his younger sister—who’d grown up only to hang around the house scratching her ample backside—and his father, who had passed away urging Ji Yeonwoo to take care of them.

 

He made a decision.

 

In a burst of energy, he shot to his feet.

 

“I’d rather fight and die than just give up. No… I’m going to survive and make it back!”

 

He strode purposefully to the tent where he’d first appeared in this world. His once-despairing steps were now filled with resolve—an optimism and simple-mindedness that his old teammates had mocked, but which now might just help him endure.