Sigh… I'm exhausted… completely drained."

Despite his monthly salary barely reaching 2 million won, Sejun manages to save 1 million won each month by cutting down on living expenses after paying his rent and student loan installments. This has allowed him to accumulate a sum of 12 million won in his savings account. However, even though this is a considerable amount, it falls short of Sejun's goal.

"Phew. When will I ever be able to buy a ticket? Can I even afford one?"

Sejun sighed, overwhelmed by his challenging objective.

A mysterious 99-story black tower appeared out of nowhere in the heart of Gangnam, Seoul, ten years ago. The tower boasted geometric patterns and a structure defying the laws of physics.

"This is how I'll save money to buy a ticket and enter the tower. Then, I'll earn loads of money in the tower for Serang and me…"

"Hehehe…"

Sejun daydreamed about Serang, a member of Korea's top girl group Moonlight Fairy. In other words, it was Sejun's own fantasy.

While Sejun was lost in his daydream and walking with a goofy grin, a black hole appeared in the empty space in front of him.

And then…

Whoosh.

It began to suck in everything around it.

"What?! What is this?!"

"I have to conserve power, but…"

Sejun reluctantly turned on his smartphone's flashlight on a low setting and continued exploring the cave.

Three hours later.

The cave exploration was over. The cave was completely blocked off in all directions. He checked every gap between the rocks and weak points, but there was no place that seemed like a possible exit.

"There's no exit… Did I end up stranded?"

Sejun mumbled as if he had lost his mind, and trudged back to the place where the sun was shining through the hole in the cave ceiling.

What should I do…"

He had to admit it. It was impossible for him to get out of here alone.

"Hello-! Is anyone there-!!!"

Sejun shouted desperately towards the hole in the cave ceiling.

But

"Hey~ I'm here~!"

Sejun's desperate shout couldn't escape the hole and only circled inside the cave.

"Hello! Is there someone here?!"

Sejun screamed until his throat was about to burst. But not a single person, let alone anything, passed by near the hole.

"Damn it! Can anyone hear me?!!!"

Thump!

Sejun couldn't hold back his anger and kicked the ground for no reason. And so, a day had passed.

Day 2 of being lost.

[May 11th, 6 AM]

Beep-beep-beep.

The alarm he had set for work rang.

"Ugh…"

Sejun got up with difficulty from the uncomfortable sleeping place and turned off the alarm on his smartphone.

"...…"

Sejun, who had just woken up, stared at the hole in the cave ceiling all day.

Even after several hours had passed, no one passed by.

"Is there anyone?!"

Sejun's shout was only reflected off the damp rocks and returned as a gloomy echo.

Grrr.

Sejun's stomach grumbled. Although he was worried, he had to eat to survive.

"Ugh… I'm really hungry."

He realized that he hadn't eaten anything since he left work.

'What should I eat?'

Sejun found a flat rock to sit on and settled down.

And then

Rustle.

He took out an apple wrapped in a plastic bag from his bag. It was a washed apple given to him by a coworker at the office.

'Thank you, Minjun.'

Sejun decided that if he ever got out of here, he would repay Minjun with sweet and sour pork. It's not that Minjun liked sweet and sour pork, but Sejun was craving it with black bean noodles right now.

So, Sejun resolved to treat Minjun to sweet and sour pork and ripped open the plastic packaging to take a big bite of the apple.

Crunch.

The sweet and sour juice of the apple filled his mouth.

'It's so delicious!'

As his appetite returned, his hunger became uncontrollable.

Crunch. Crunch.

Sejun was devouring the apple as if he was possessed.

"Ah."

He stared at the remaining apple core and seeds with a forlorn expression. The amount was insufficient.

Thump. Thump.

Sejun dug a shallow hole with his foot and buried the apple seeds and core together.

Then, he started to take out the items from his bag.

A laptop, 500ml of water left from the office, green onions, cherry tomatoes, and sweet potatoes he had bought to grow at home.

"One, two, three…"

Sejun began to count the cherry tomatoes in the plastic container. He wanted to accurately understand the amount of food he had.

27 cherry tomatoes, 10 green onion stalks, and 7 sweet potatoes .

For now, he planted all the green onions, 3 cherry tomatoes, and 2 sweet potatoes, and left the rest as food.

Cherry tomatoes have many seeds inside, so even just three of them can yield a lot of plants. As for sweet potatoes, they were the only available food that could provide carbohydrates, but he couldn't plant many of them.

'First, let's fill up my stomach.'

Sejun washed a sweet potato and five cherry tomatoes in the small pond.

It was fortunate that there was a small pond in the corner of the cave. At least he could find water.

'It would have been nice if there were fish too…'

There were no creatures the size of tadpoles in the pond. Sejun realized there were no insects or small animals like mice in the cave either.

Sejun would normally be scared by insects or mice, but now that there were none, it felt strange. He had seen many scenes in movies where people ate insects or mice when there was no food.

'Really, if the food runs out, I might have to eat something like that.'

Of course, it would be best to escape this place before the food runs out.

As he chewed the sweet potato, the crisp sound made his scattered thoughts disappear. Now was the time to focus on the sweet potato.

Yum yum.

It was delicious! The more he chewed, the sweeter it became. He always boiled or roasted sweet potatoes, but he thought it was fine to eat them raw sometimes.

"Now, let's get to work."

After finishing one sweet potato and five cherry tomatoes, Sejun picked up a green onion.

And then,

He broke off about one-third of the green leafy part from the root of the onion, placed it separately on the ground.

'I'll eat it later.'

Although it wouldn't taste good, he might have to eat it to survive.

Sejun buried the white part of the onion root in the soft soil where the sunlight entered. Then he planted two sweet potatoes on the left side and cherry tomatoes on the right side.

He simply buried the sweet potatoes in the ground and planted the seeds that came out of the crushed cherry tomatoes.

He sucked the tomato juice off his hands and went to the pond. He filled a 500mL water bottle with pond water and watered the crops he had just planted.

When the work was finished, Sejun lay down on a rock, looking at the ceiling, and waited for someone to pass by. He tried to minimize energy consumption due to the lack of food and occasionally shouted, "Is anyone here?!"

But no one passed by.

Beep beep. Beep beep.

[May 12th, 6 AM]

Day 3 of being lost.