"Hey, hey! What happened to you?"
I felt Kang Sora's hand tapping my head, snapping me out of my shock.
"What happened to you?"
"Sorry, I was just stunned."
"Does this mean you've seen this statue before?"
Seeing Kang Sora's expectant expression, I nodded while thinking of a lie to avoid revealing the truth of my transmigration.
"Yes, I saw something similar on the island I was transported to. There was a statue similar to the one you described that the villagers there worshipped."
"Do you know more about it? Like its name or why the inhabitants of that island worshipped it?"
Seeing the sparkle in Kang Sora's eyes, I felt a headache coming on as I crafted a new excuse to evade her questions.
"No, unfortunately, I couldn't stand that primitive, uncivilized island, so I escaped as fast as I could."
Disappointment appeared on Kang Sora's face, but she soon smiled and patted my shoulder gently.
"It's okay, I understand how you feel. Even I can't stand staying in this backward world."
I felt Kang Sora's hand pressing firmly on my shoulder while an unnatural excitement appeared in her eyes.
"The important thing now is that we've found a lead about the reason for our reincarnation. All we have to do is look into it more."
"When we have the time and the ability, let's go to the island you were transported to and search for information about that strange statue."
"What do you think?"
"Great idea."
I felt strange seeing the intensity of Kang Sora's enthusiasm.
'What is wrong with this girl? Why is she so obsessed with returning to Earth to this extent? Was she that successful in her life there or what?'
'Unfortunately for you, the Starting Island has likely been destroyed by Sung Jin by now, so you won't be able to verify my words for the rest of your life.'
"Anyway, let me finish my story."
Kang Sora moved her hand away from my shoulder as she returned to narrating the story of her reincarnation in this world.
"After I woke up and found myself inside that dilapidated temple, I felt terror and strangeness at the same time from my illogical situation, so I went out to search for more information."
"That's when I hit the bitter truth... I had been transported to a different world."
Kang Sora's expression turned bitter as she spoke this truth.
"At first, I tried to deny it as much as I could, but in the end, the evidence was right there in every corner of the world."
"I had no choice but to accept the truth."
Seeing Kang Sora's pained expression, as if she were telling a painful story from her childhood, I felt I had to say something.
"It's okay, I understand your feelings.
In the end, who could easily accept the fact of being transported to another strange world?"
I spoke with a consoling smile, or at least what I thought was one.
'Well, I accepted my transmigration in the first ten minutes.'
Kang Sora smiled faintly upon hearing my words.
"Anyway, after accepting the truth of my transmigration to this world, I began searching for ways to return to my world, and that's when I heard about cultivators, which is what brought me here."
"What about you?"
Seeing Kang Sora's anticipating expression, I sighed wearily, preparing myself to lie so as not to reveal my ability to return.
"Well, as you can see, my story is very similar to yours."
"I found myself on a primitive island worshipping that strange being, so I wanted to escape from there as quickly as possible and search for a way to return to Earth. During my escape, I heard about the cultivation sects on the Island of the Dead Giant, and that's what led me here."
"What a brief story."
"Well, I'm not very good at storytelling."
I smiled embarrassedly in response to Kang Sora's comment.
'Luckily for me, she can't verify the truth of my story first.'
'Wait... even I can't verify the truth of her story. Does this mean she was lying too? No wonder she was so excited about the idea of sharing our stories; she wanted to uncover secrets.'
Suddenly, I began to doubt the intentions of Kang Sora, who had been appearing with an innocent front.
"Well, it's good that we have similar ideas. Do you have any information about the sects of the Dead Giant Island?"
"Not really."
Kang Sora's voice pulled me out of my reverie.
"Well, I heard some interesting information about them on my journey here."
"Really?"
Two weeks have passed since I started talking to Kang Sora. Throughout these two weeks, our relationship deepened somewhat as we spent time chatting about random things, whether about things from Earth or various rumors about cultivators.
Sometimes we compared this world to Earth and cultivation stories, trying to deduce the reason for our transmigration here.
Xu Bai Cai would also join us occasionally.
"Salem, come and look at this!"
While cleaning the ship's corridors, I heard Xu Bai Cai's voice calling me.
"Alright."
I threw the damn mop away and headed toward Xu Bai Cai.
"Finally, I can stop working as a housemaid for a bit."
I must admit, the days on the pirate ship were among the hardest in my life.
Especially the rule that everyone must work and be useful—for some reason, Kang Sora was not included in this rule, as she spent all her time in the shared bedroom.
"What am I supposed to see?"
"Come with me, I'll show you."
I felt strange as I saw Xu Bai Cai heading toward the deck.
The ship's deck was a forbidden area for me and every human on the ship; no one wanted to accidentally touch the waters of the Sea of Pain by mistake.
"You'll see."
Upon stepping onto the deck, I felt some agitation as I saw the massive waves striking the ship's hull and some water droplets splashing onto the deck.
"Look, this journey has reached its end."
Xu Bai Cai's voice pulled me out of my tension.
"This..."
Seeing the sight before me, I couldn't help but feel awestruck.
On the horizon, a strange island appeared.
A giant island that looked as if it were the corpse of a massive giant floating on the surface of the earth, with its face submerged under the sea.
On the giant island, wooden pillars had been fixed, and an entire city was built atop the fallen giant's body.
Seeing that shape, it was clearly my long-awaited destination.
And yet, I felt some tension seeing the strange island.
I couldn't help but ask
"That's an island made of just dust and rocks, its shape is just weird, right?"
"I don't think so."
"..."
For some reason, I feel that the Island of the Dead Giant and its sects won't be as I imagined them.