As soon as they entered the cave, people came forward to treat their injuries while asking what had happened. Some people were anxious, but others had their eyes on the massive eggs. There were three of them.
The team of five were extremely proud and happily bragged about how they had gone out searching for food, how they had been hunting when they suddenly spotted a nest, and how there had been no one guarding it.
There were five eggs in total. But when they arrived, there were more people already there — five on their side and three in front of them.
Just as a fight was about to break out over the eggs, the group in front decided to step back. An agreement was made that each side would take only a portion — the other group would take two, and the rest could be taken by them.
The five of them were quite happy. They didn't doubt the others and happily took three eggs.
And because of the eggs, they even became friendly with the other group.
But they had forgotten that this was no longer Earth, and they failed to notice the strange smiles on the faces of the other three.
In their excitement and talking, they had not only revealed the number of people in their group, but also the location of the camp.
"Shit."
A sudden curse was heard while they were bragging.
Everyone looked at the boy — about 19 years old, looking very thin from not getting enough food.
He gave an awkward smile to the people in the cave and returned to what he was doing.
Seeing that he was just some unimportant burden, they ignored him.
The boy who had uttered the sudden curse was Kai.
Kai looked at their smug faces and silently cursed them as idiots in his mind.
Not only had they stolen eggs from some unknown creature in this dangerous world, but they had also slipped all of their important information to an unknown group whose strength they knew nothing about.
Although he didn't want to have anything to do with these idiots, he had no choice but to share his concern with the people, because he couldn't survive alone in this dangerous world.
Kai stopped what he was doing and walked forward toward the group.
As he approached, they stopped talking and looked at him.
Kai gave them an extremely awkward smile, then explained his concerns — what if the mysterious creature tracked down its eggs? Or what if, even before that, some other group decided to attack them? He suggested that they should leave as soon as possible.
As Kai spoke, not only the team's faces, but even nearby people's faces began to turn grim.
After Kai finished speaking, he looked around at everyone.
Everyone's faces darkened. The people who had just been bragging turned red and then pale.
One of the men twisted his face and lunged at Kai, kicking him to the ground.
"You brat, how dare you spout nonsense? If there were any mysterious creature, why would they leave the eggs unguarded?"
With that, he gave another kick to Kai's stomach.
"Ughhh."
Kai clutched his stomach on the ground in agony.
Just then, another person stepped forward and slapped Kai across the face.
"Boy, what are you planning? What's wrong with sharing some information with other people? How is our small group supposed to survive without any help?"
"Exactly. We shouldn't be too suspicious of our fellow humans."
Many people agreed with them.
"Yes, they're right."
"I was almost scared to death by this brat."
"Hmph. Trying to show off."
Suddenly, most of the people had turned against Kai.
Despite arriving in this dangerous world, some people simply didn't want to face its cruel reality — or perhaps they knew, but just didn't want to believe it.
It was far more convenient to blame a brat for trying to be smart than to accept that they had put the entire group in danger.
...
They ignored Kai on the ground and walked away. After a few minutes, Kai weakly stood up and sat on a nearby stone with his head down.
'What did he even expect?'
As he was cursing himself, a leaf bowl was placed by his side.
Kai looked up to find a bowl made of a leaf filled with water, and a girl about his age sitting on a stone nearby.
For a few seconds, Kai stared at the girl, then drank the water from the bowl.
With that, he stood up and walked away. But just before leaving, he turned and looked closely at the girl's face and said:
"Be careful."
And he walked away without looking back.
The girl was stunned for a moment, then looked at her reflection in the remaining water in the leaf bowl.
She immediately understood what Kai meant.
With a determined expression, she too stood up and walked toward her bed — or rather, the patch of ground where they slept.
That evening, as Kai was busy with his work — he was making cups using leaves; the leaf bowl earlier had also been created by him — he heard some people chatting that, at noon, a couple of girls had gotten into a fight and one girl was injured on her face. Although there were no serious injuries, her face was marked.
Kai didn't think much of it and continued his work. Suddenly, the people guarding the cave entrance rushed inside, saying a group of fifteen people were coming toward the cave.
Kai stood up, his hands trembling.
Most people didn't realize the situation until a scream rang out.
One of the guards at the cave entrance was thrown in front of the group, half of his body charred and bleeding from his eyes and nose.
Some people screamed at the sight. Others vomited.
Behind the guard's body stood a dozen people staring at the survivors in disgust.
In the middle of them stood a middle-aged man. He gave a signal, and soon his people spread out and began searching the entire cave.
Every piece of food, every animal skin, every fruit, every piece of smoked meat — they took everything.
"Why are you taking our things?"
"If you take everything, how are we supposed to live?"
Seeing them loot everything, some people went to confront them — only to be stabbed.
That person fell to the ground and, within seconds, was dead.
All the others who had been struggling went silent.
Their leader, the middle-aged man, looked at the one who had just killed the person.
"Didn't I tell you the rules?"
"Sorry, boss. I was just too excited."
"Hmph. Be careful next time."
The middle-aged man brushed it off as if nothing had happened, then asked if they had found what they were looking for.
One of his subordinates came forward, carrying the three eggs, and placed them in front of the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man looked at the three eggs before him and smiled in satisfaction.
"Good."
He praised his subordinates, then gave the order.
"Go and tie them up — our new batch of slaves."
With those words, a few people produced ropes and lined everyone up, tying them together.
Soon, after binding everyone, they set off.