Sejun’s hand tightly gripped the fish, which struggled and opened its mouth wide to attack Sejun, then clamped down hard.
Snap! Snap!
Sharp teeth clashed, making a sharp sound. Each time, Sejun held on tighter, fearing that if he lost his grip, he might lose a finger.
Sejun held the fish tightly and ran to the spot below the hole in the ceiling where the fire was. Meanwhile, the fish, which had been fiercely resisting, began to breathe faster, and its body went limp.
Upon reaching the fire, Sejun carefully laid down a single green onion leaf on the ground. He carefully placed the fish on the leaf and covered it with another green onion leaf.
And then
Swoosh.
He tore the green onion leaves to the thickness of a finger to use them as strings, wrapped the fish in two pieces of the torn leaves in a cross shape, and tied them together.
“I hope this tastes amazing.'”
Sejun carefully placed the fish wrapped in green onion leaves in the center of the fire pit.
And then
“······”
He waited.
He watched for a long time.
Sniff sniff.
“Ah, it smells great.”
The rich, oily scent melted into the rising steam and began to fill the cave.
He remembered his childhood. When his mother was preparing a meal, the smell of food would spread from the kitchen and take over the entire house.
When he came home after school and the smell filled the house, his mood would lift if it was one of his favorite side dishes. Back then, even the waiting time before eating was happy.
Gurgle.
A noise interrupted Sejun’s thoughts. He was hungry, but he held back. He was determined to fill his empty stomach with something delicious.
Gurgle.
“Hold on just a bit longer. I’ll put something really delicious in you.”
Sejun consoled his stomach and patiently waited. He waited for it to be completely cooked.
And when the scent became deeper and richer
“I can’t wait any longer! I can’t stand it!”
Sejun used the dried, hardened green onion leaves to remove the grilled fish wrapped in palm leaves from the fire.
He carefully untied the knot that held the green onion leaves together.
Whoosh.
When he untied the string and removed the green onion leaves, a dense aroma of fish mixed with the scent of green onion leaves spread.
“Wow!”
Sejun marveled at the sight of the moist, glistening fish.
Gulp.
Sejun folded the fish in half, tore off a piece of protruding flesh, and put it in his mouth.
“Um…!”
It was perfectly cooked. There was no fishy taste, and the chewy texture was felt as soon as he bit into it, with the savory flavor spreading in his mouth the more he chewed.
‘Amazing!!!’
Gobble gobble.
Sejun devoured the fish in a frenzy.
“Huh, I finished it already?!”
Sejun looked at the fish with only bones left and wore a crestfallen expression.
At that moment
Peep…
Peep…
A sound of disappointment came from the side. Sejun wasn’t the only one disappointed.
“Huh?”
Sejun looked at the source of the sound, and the rabbit couple was wearing a lost expression as they stared at the fish bones left.
‘No way?!’
No, it couldn’t be… rabbits eating fish!
But on second thought, the rabbit couple preferred to roast and eat the leaves like Sejun.
“Do you guys eat meat too?”
Sejun asked.
Peep!
As if to say they also just found out now, the rabbit couple simultaneously turned their heads. They seemed annoyed that Sejun had eaten it all by himself.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you guys eat meat too…”
Sejun scratched his head and got up to go to the pond. He intended to catch a fish. The number of fish in the pond had increased since the last time he saw them.
“But where are they coming from?”
As Sejun examined the pond with a torch, he noticed a small hole about the size of a hand in the corner of the pond.
“Huh?”
A fish entered through the hole at that moment.
“Ah, they’re coming in through that hole.”
It seemed they were attracted to the light of the torch. Sejun finally figured out where the fish were coming from.
Unconsciously, Sejun brought the torch closer to the pond to take a closer look.
Splash!
A fish jumped towards the torch, opening its mouth.
“Huh?!”
Whoosh.
Sejun quickly lifted the torch to avoid the fish.
Snap!
The fish bit the air.
Splash.
The fish that failed to hunt returned to the water.
“What’s going on?”
Sejun cautiously brought the torch close to the water again.
Splash! Splash!
The fish jumped up to hunt the torch.
Whoosh.
Sejun lifted the torch to avoid them.
Snap! Snap!
Splash. Splash.
The fish failed to hunt again and returned to the water.
“Aha.”
Sejun realized what the fish were reacting to. The fish would jump when they saw the torch moving near the surface, thinking it was prey.
Now that he knew how to make the fish jump, catching them was easy.
Sejun shook the torch near the pond.
Splash!
A fish opened its mouth and jumped towards the torch.
‘Here it comes!’
Sejun focused on the movement of the fish. And when the fish reached its highest point and was about to fall back down,
‘Now!’
Thwack!
Sejun swung the torch at the rising fish, knocking it out of the pond and onto the ground. The fallen fish writhed to breathe.
In the meantime,
Thwack! Thwack!
Sejun sent two more fish to the ground.
Holding the three fish that had stopped breathing, he approached the fire pit.
Squeak!
Squeak-squeak!
The rabbit couple cheered for Sejun as if they were never upset, sending him admiring gazes.
“Ahem.”
Sejun’s shoulders straightened. At that moment, he felt like a hero.
Squeak!
Squeak!
The male rabbit brought some green onion leaves and volunteered to help with the cooking.
Rustle. Rustle.
Next to them, the female rabbit tore the green onion leaves into small pieces to make strings.
“It’s done.”
Sejun spoke as he placed the third fish on the fire. All that was left was to wrap the fish in green onion leaves and tie them up, so the cooking process can be started quickly.
And again, they waited happy.
On the 11th day of being trapped in the tower, Sejun and the rabbit couple filled their bellies with fish and went to sleep.
Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep.
[June 19th, 6 a.m.]
It was the morning of the 41st day of being trapped in the tower.
“Let’s get moving!”
Sejun woke up and approached the pond. However, there was now an additional small pond next to the old one, which hadn’t been there before.
In order to avoid the fish’s attacks, a small faucet-like water stream was connected next to the pond. Sejun washed his face and fetched water from there.
Splish! Splash!
Sejun washed his face and went to the field. In the field, centered around Sejun’s designated rock, there were green onions in the front, cherry tomatoes that had grown to the height of Sejun’s knees on the left, and sprouts of sweet potatoes on the right.
Finally, the long-awaited sweet potato sprouts appeared. All the crops Sejun had planted on the first day of the crisis had safely taken root at the top.
“I’m proud.”
A lot had happened in the meantime.
On the 32nd day of being trapped in the tower, a Blue Moon appeared again. With that, Sejun realized that the Blue Moon cycle on the floor he was on was 30 days.
And a few days ago, In their burrow. Mrs. Rabbit gave birth to six babies, and the family grew.
Peep! Peep!
As the energetic cries of the baby rabbits came from inside the burrow, Daddy Rabbit busily started watering the green onion leaves.
“I have to prepare breakfast.”
Seeing the busy rabbit couple, Sejun wanted to help them.
Snap! Snap!
He broke off 10 green onion leaves and put them on the fire, and the rest were laid on the ground to dry.
Then he approached the pond and waved the torch from side to side over the water.
Splash! Splash!
The fish that jumped up to hunt the torchlight. Sejun swung the torch towards them.
Thump!
Today, luckily, it was a one-hit-kill.
Flutter, flutter.
He covered two fish with green onion leaves, tied them with stems, and put them on the fire.
In the meantime, he took out the well-cooked green onions and ate them.
“It’s comforting to have something warm inside.”
After eating the cooked green onions, Sejun watered the crops and spent some time staring blankly.
Sniff, sniff.
A delicious smell began to spread.
Tap. Tap.
Sejun began to cut the strings that tied the fish wrapped in leaves as he took them out of the fire. Just then, the husband rabbit came out of the burrow, wobbling.
“Rabbit!”
Sejun called the Daddy Rabbit.
Peep…
The husband rabbit seemed to be tired from parenting, his response lacked energy.
“Share this with your wife.”
Peep.
The moved husband rabbit hurriedly took the fish and went into the burrow.
However,
Peep!
Peep!
As the baby rabbits woke up, the rabbit couple could only eat the fish after a while.
Beep-beep. Beep-beep.
[June 19, 5:00 AM]
On the 50th day of the crisis, the smartphone rang the alarm for the last time and died.
Fortunately, the rabbits woke up precisely at 5 AM and went to bed at 7 PM. It seemed that there would be no change of the time difference due to the continuous daylight if they followed the rabbits’ daily rhythm.
“You did well.”
Sejun put the dead smartphone in his bag with the already dead laptop.
At that time,
Peep!!
Peep!
The rabbit couple, who seemed to have become familiar with parenting by now, came out of the burrow and greeted him.
“Uh, good morning.”
Swoosh.
Swish, swish.
While the husband rabbit watered the crops with a watering can and the wife rabbit cut the green onion leaves,
Thump!
Thump!
Sejun caught fish from the pond.
Then holding the caught fish, he went to the fire and wrapped the fish in leaves and put them in the fire. The wife rabbit took out the roasted green onions, beautifully arranged them on the leaves, and handed them to Sejun before going back into the burrow with her husband.
They went inside to prepare breakfast for their babies.
Munch. Munch.
As he satisfied his hunger by eating the green onion,
“Huh?!”
Sejun noticed a small yellow flower blooming at the end of a cherry tomato branch.
He remembered what he had read on the internet. If there were no bees or wind, pollination wouldn’t happen.
There was a gentle breeze in the cave, but Sejun decided to make sure pollination took place by carefully rubbing the flower with the fishbone.
‘Please work. Please work.’
Sejun pollinated the flower with his earnest heart.
*****
“Let’s get moving!”
As soon as Sejun got up, he approached the rock wall of the cave.
And
Swoosh.
He used a fishbone to etch a line on the rock wall.
Next to it, there were two vertical lines and ten lines above.
It had been 61 days since getting trapped in the tower. He had been recording the date like this since the smartphone battery died.
‘It’s already been 61 days…’
Just as Sejun’s mood began to sink, the cave became noisy.
Beep! Beep! Baby!
As morning came, the baby rabbits came out of the burrow one after another, following their parents.
Beep! Beep!
The rabbit couple greeted Sejun in the morning and asked for help.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
Lately, Sejun occasionally looked after the baby rabbits. It wasn’t a big deal, just making sure they didn’t go anywhere dangerous.
While Sejun watched the baby rabbits, the husband rabbit watered the field, and the wife rabbit cut the leaves to prepare breakfast.
The baby rabbits stayed quite when given food, so the meal was peaceful. After the meal, the rabbit couple went back into the burrow with their babies.
Sejun washed his face and went to the cherry tomato field. The cherry tomato field had become a flower garden with more and more flowers blooming.
And Sejun lightly shook the branches with cherry tomato flowers.
“Please work. Please work.”
Since there were now too many flowers to pollinate one by one, he lightly shook the branches and recited the pollination spell.
That’s when
“Huh?”
A tiny green cherry tomato, smaller than a bean, appeared between the fallen petals.
On the 61st day of being trapped in the tower, the green cherry tomato finally ripened.
It was the day before the Blue Moon.
Hello everyone, It’s my first time translating, so please let me know in the comments if you notice any mistakes in my translations. Also, I started translating after the comics came out, which are very well drawn, so please check them out too.
Comic link – https://realmscans.com/a160423/series/solo-farming-in-the-tower/
