Panic wouldn’t get him anywhere.

Furrowing his brow, he turned back to the UI screen floating in front of the massive black stone.

“Alright… let’s see what I can actually do in this weird place.”

He swiped toward the Trade icon—an in-game marketplace menu.

But the screen that popped up was completely empty. No items. No sellers.

“Still nothing to buy or sell, huh… I guess everyone else is still busy panicking,” he muttered.

He closed it and tapped the icon labeled Inventory & Crafting.

A new panel appeared.

Ren’s eyes scanned the inventory, which was almost entirely empty.

There was only one item—a small, rusted fishing hook icon.

“...This is it?” he mumbled, tapping on it.

A small window popped up with a short description:

[Rough Fishing Hook]

A simple metal hook that can be used for fishing when combined with rope and a wooden stick.

Quality: Low

Durability: 20/20

Note: “Sometimes, your first stroke of luck comes in the simplest form.”

He switched to the Crafting tab.

A list of basic items was available:

[Stone Axe]: 2 Wood, 2 Stone, 3 Plant Fibers

Description: A basic tool for chopping trees. Not too sharp, but gets the job done.

[Stone Pickaxe]: 2 Wood, 3 Stone, 3 Plant Fibers

Description: A basic tool to break hard rocks.

[Wooden Spear]: 2 Wood, 1 Stone, 1 Plant Fiber

Description: A simple weapon. Better to have a spear in hand than an empty hand when facing a shark.

Note: Can be thrown!

[Auto Trash Collector]: 10 Wood, 10 Plant Fibers, 10 Plastic Bottles

Description: Place this on the edge of your island to catch drifting trash. Works silently, asks for nothing in return.

Seeing the list made the corner of Ren’s lips twitch.

“Yep… this really is just like a survival game,” he muttered with a bitter smile.

Still, as a veteran gamer who once survived in a virtual world using nothing but a spoon and a single potato,

Ren was pretty familiar with this kind of interface.

Without wasting time, he grabbed his only tool—[Rough Fishing Hook]—and made his way to the shoreline.

The sound of gentle waves lapping against the beach wasn’t exactly calming.

Trash floated everywhere across the otherwise calm water: plastic bottles, bits of wood, vines, a large wooden barrel.

Ren took a deep breath and mumbled,

“Welcome to the new world.”

With awkward motions, he threw the hook toward a floating barrel.

It was less than five meters away.

He swung the rope, mimicking the fishermen he’d seen in movies.

Miss!

“Damn it. Okay, this time for sure!”

He tried again, aiming at a plastic bottle.

Missed again.

“Wow… so my 200 hours in Fishing Simulator mean absolutely nothing?” he whined.

After several more failures, his arm began to ache. But he kept going.

His face was now drenched in sweat from the blazing sun.

And finally—after countless failed attempts—

Click.

The hook latched onto something.

He slowly pulled it back—

From the surface of the water came a piece of driftwood.

Ren collapsed onto the warm sand, the grains sticking to his skin.

His breathing was ragged as he gulped in air, exhausted.

The salty sea air stung his nose, a harsh reminder that he was really stranded in a foreign world.

He stared at the wooden piece in his hand in disbelief.

Just one. But it felt like he’d run a full kilometer.

“Damn… why is this so hard…”

At that moment, a small wave of regret washed over him.

“I kinda regret… never working out, even once...”

He lay on the beach, gasping, hands trembling.

But behind all that fatigue and frustration—his eyes gleamed.

He did it.

---

All day long, Ren kept wrestling with the sea to gather trash using his hook.

At first, his throws were stiff, constantly missing.

But thanks to relentless effort, his casting skills slowly improved.

He started to understand the waves, the movement, and how to time his throws.

Each attempt became practice, making him more skilled.

His hands moved faster, his eyes sharp, always predicting the next drift.

Now, he missed far less.

He even managed to reel in a large wooden barrel—

—and found what looked like a blueprint for a water purification device.

The discovery gave Ren new motivation.

Though fatigue still clung to him, each small victory stoked his drive.

In this strange new world, Ren was slowly learning to master the art of survival—

something he never imagined doing as a gamer.

By the time the sun began to set, casting orange-red hues across the sky,

Ren finally stopped.

His left hand throbbed—red and slightly swollen from nonstop casting and hauling trash.

He deposited all his collected resources into the system inventory.

Inside, he now had:

Wood (20+)

Plant Fibers (10+)

Plastic Bottles (15+)

Hard Bread (1+)

Fresh Water Bottle (1+)

Water Purifier Blueprint (1 / 3)

“Well... not bad,” Ren said with satisfaction.

His body felt heavy with exhaustion.

With slow steps, he returned to the center of the island.

A cool sea breeze tousled his black hair wildly, drying the sweat on his clothes.

Once he reached the black stone again, he opened the Crafting feature.

He actually wanted to make a few tools like an axe or spear—

but had forgotten to collect stones.

So for now, he crafted the Auto Trash Collector instead.

He figured it would make gathering resources easier moving forward.

Pressing the Craft button quickly consumed most of what he had gathered.

-10 Wood

-10 Plastic Bottles

-10 Plant Fibers

For some reason, Ren felt like crying.

“Damn it, why does this feel like heartbreak?”

To make matters worse, he realized that crafting actually took time.

Thankfully, the auto collector only required about 15 minutes to finish.

Once it was done, the item was automatically transferred to his inventory.

Wasting no time, Ren grabbed it and rushed back to the beach.

Just like in a game, he could freely choose where to place it.

He positioned the auto trash collector in the area with the most debris.

It was a simple tool—made of wood, plant fiber netting, and plastic bottles acting as buoys.

Once he confirmed it was safely installed, Ren returned to the island’s center,

ate a modest meal, and drank a little water.

He didn’t dare consume everything, saving some for the morning.

With drowsiness taking over, Ren finally closed his eyes—

falling asleep beneath the stars and moon in the night sky.