Clean Panties, Dirty Soul

An alarm wakes everyone up at 1:00 am. It turns out that a few college students have gone missing during their exploration in Wolffang Valley.

My heart goes tense at the news. After all, my stepdaughter, Nancy Campton, had told me yesterday that she'd be exploring that place!

Since Nancy has asthma, I specifically prepare medication that's meant to treat asthma in my medical kit just in case anything happens.

After carrying my backpack, I begin urging my husband, Jack Campton, who's also the leader of the rescue team, to set off right away. But he keeps stopping me in my tracks.

"What's the rush? Let's wait for Dakota to finish doing her makeup."

Half an hour later, Dakota Sweeney, who has a face full of makeup and is wearing a pink rescue jacket, begins complaining in a high-pitched voice.

"Why did you keep rushing me? Thanks to you, my eyeliner came out all crooked!"

On the way to the valley, Dakota actually pulls out a pair of pink lace panties. After unscrewing the cap of a bottle of life-saving water, she starts washing it with said water.

I can't endure her stupid antics anymore. "Have you gone nuts? This bottle of water could potentially save someone's life!"

But Dakota replies in a matter-of-fact tone, "I'm a woman with principles! I must wash my underwear that I've changed out of on the same day!"

Jack shoves me away at that moment. He then snatches the bottled water from me before passing it to Dakota.

"Willow Armstrong, you're the crazy one here! Is it wrong for Dakota to take care of her hygiene?"

As I stare at Jack, a cold smile slowly spreads across my face.

It's not wrong for Dakota to take care of her hygiene.

I just wonder if Jack is capable of facing the consequences behind Dakota's tendency to drag things out.

I fell hard into a pile of sharp gravel. The impact lacerated my palm, blood oozing from my bone-baring cut. I fixed my gaze on Jack Campton, yet all I saw in his eyes was annoyance.

"Oh, no, Willow! You're bleeding! You're not going to get tetanus or something, are you?"

Dakota Sweeney covered her mouth in exaggerated shock, but her eyes gleamed with poorly hidden delight. "What a pity. I just used the alcohol pads to wipe the mud off my shoes."

As she spoke, she lifted her foot and showed off her limited-edition hiking boots. They were so clean they could pass for mirrors.

"Jack, let's hurry up. There are so many mosquitoes here. Look, I even got bitten," she complained.

Jack didn't even glance at my bleeding hand. Instead, he stared at the small mosquito bite on Dakota's skin, already close to fading, as if it were serious.

"Move," he ordered me impatiently. "There are too many mosquitoes here. Dakota only got bitten because you've been dragging your feet here."

I looked at him coldly. Was he seriously berating me over a mosquito bite when I had an open wound that could get infected and cause me a fever?

I used to think I had married a hero, but I now realized I had married a man blinded by vanity and desire, someone too small to recognize what actually mattered.

I said nothing. I simply bent down and did what I could to clean and wrap my wound. They stood off to the side, watching as if it were a silent film that had nothing to do with them.

Our team moved on.

The mountain path grew steeper and harder to walk. Meanwhile, Dakota's complaints never stopped.

"This chocolate energy bar is way too hard. It's making my teeth ache!" she grumbled after taking a tiny bite, frowning in disgust and tossing the rest into the grass.

Out here, in the wilderness, that small bar could've been someone's only source of energy for an entire day. A moment later, she tore open a pack of compressed rations.

Instead of eating it, she scattered it toward a few wild birds by the trail that clearly weren't afraid of humans, then lifted her phone and started filming a short video.

"Guys, look at me, getting up close with nature. Aren't these little birds adorable?"

Her sweet voice made my stomach churn.

Suddenly, one of the birds swooped down. A splatter of droppings landed squarely on the biscuit in her hand. She screamed shrilly and flung the entire pack away as if it were contaminated.

Then, she twisted open a bottle of precious drinking water and poured it over her soiled hand. That was our life-saving water.

"What on earth are you doing?" I finally snapped, unable to hold back any longer. "That water was for survival! It wasn't for you to wash your hands!"

Dakota froze at my yell, then her eyes welled up with tears. She turned to Jack with a pitiful expression. "Jack… She yelled at me…"

Immediately, Jack rushed forward like a protective rooster, shoving me aside.

"Why are you yelling at her? You're scaring her!" he chided, jabbing a finger at my nose. "There's plenty of food and water, anyway. She's just taking the load off for you! Gosh—you're getting more impossible to deal with by the day!"

His push made me stumble, and I almost lost my balance. Once I steadied myself, I looked at him. At that moment, all I felt was unfamiliarity and repulsion.