I asked you to write a light novel, but you wrote about living?

The first shark arrived quickly.

It followed the trail of blood left by the marlin to the small boat, its black dorsal fin cutting through the sea surface, and lunged straight at the silvery-white body on the side of the boat.

The old man gripped the harpoon tightly.

Only when the shark was completely close did he suddenly bend down and suppress all the remaining strength in his arms.

A harpoon pierced the shark's head.

The seawater churned violently.

The shark sank, taking the harpoon with it into the deep sea.

Before it died, it still tore a large chunk of flesh from the marlin.

For the first time, a gap appeared on the originally intact silver-white fish body.

[ID Sea Emperor Development System]: Only one piece is missing, the rest can still be preserved.

【ID Rampage Mechanical Arm】: But the harpoon is gone too.

The initial sense of relief in the comments section quickly faded.

The old man readjusted the sails and continued his return journey.

But the marlin's blood was still flowing.

The red trail stretched out behind the small boat like an irreversible path, drawing predators from afar.

The death of the first shark did not end the danger.

Soon, the dorsal fin reappeared on the surface of the sea.

Lacking a harpoon, the old man tied a knife to the oar.

As the shark approached, he leaned down and lunged at the blurry shadow underwater.

One was forced to retreat.

The other one, however, bit the big fish from the other side of the boat.

The seawater turned red time and time again.

The marlin, which was even larger than the small boat, was gradually torn apart with each tearing.

At first, the readers were still doing calculations.

How much meat is missing?

How much can the remaining portion be sold for?

If most of the elderly people survive, then these past few days and nights will not have been in vain.

The knife attached to the oar broke off quickly.

The old man switched to a short stick.

After the short stick was knocked away, he removed the rudder handle.

The sharks kept chasing after them.

The old man stood up again and again.

His hands had already been cut by the fishing line, and his shoulders and back had almost lost all feeling after being pulled for several days and nights.

After each swing of his weapon, he would lean against the hull and catch his breath for a long time.

But whenever the dorsal fin reappears on the surface of the sea, he will still grip the thing in his hand tightly again.

【ID Night City Ghost】: If we drive them away, at least half of them will remain.

After a while, someone finally replied.

[ID Seaside General Store]: I'm afraid half of it won't survive.

A long time passed.

[ID: 100,000 words per second]: Then leave a little bit.

This time, no new comments were left for a long time.

Everyone has already figured it out.

The old man couldn't save the fish.

All he's doing now is delaying the shark's consumption of it.

But he still didn't stop.

He had no harpoon, so he picked up a knife.

The knife broke, so he picked up a short stick.

When the short stick was gone, he removed the rudder handle.

As long as he still had something he could wield, he didn't sit down and wait.

The last group of sharks came at night.

The old man could no longer see them clearly.

In the darkness, only the constant tearing sounds coming from the side of the ship could be heard.

He gripped the last remaining rudder and slammed it down repeatedly in the direction the sound came from.

a bit.

Another one.

The rudder handle broke.

The old man then continued to beat the piece of wood.

Until it became quiet again by the side of the boat.

The shark finally left.

It wasn't because the old man repelled them all.

It's because there's nothing left to eat on the big fish.

The marlin that the old man had spent days and nights catching was reduced to nothing but its enormous head, sharp snout, and a white spine.

The fish skeleton clung tightly to the hull, dragging along in the dark sea.

The old man sat back down at the stern of the boat.

He no longer had the strength to be angry.

I don't even have the energy to be sad.

The harpoon is gone.

The knife broke.

The short stick and the rudder were also lost.

The giant marlin that once leaped out of the sea in the sunlight, so enormous it almost covered the small boat, is now nothing but a skeleton that can neither be sold nor fill an empty stomach.

The struggle, which lasted from dusk till dawn, seemed to have been completely devoured by the shark.

In the comments section, no one said anymore that the old man should have cut the fishing line earlier.

No one questioned him about why he insisted on sailing to such a distant sea area.

Everyone simply followed the wrecked boat, continuing its journey towards the shore.

The old man knew that he had gone too far out to sea.

He did not blame the sea.

They didn't blame the marlin.

They didn't even blame the sharks that came chasing the scent of blood.

He simply sat at the stern, steering the rudderless boat, slowly dragging the skeleton back to port.

late at night.

The entire village was asleep.

No one greeted the old man.

No one knows what he just experienced at sea.

The old man furled the sail, hoisted the mast onto his shoulder, and walked step by step toward his shack.

The mast was too heavy.

He walked for a while, then had to stop and rest.

Once I regain some strength, I'll stand up again.

Take a few steps.

Sit down again.

The mast pressed down on the old man's shoulder.

From a distance, it looks like a person carrying something that has long exceeded the limits of his body.

The huge fish bones were left on the shore.

Moonlight fell on the white spine, extending from the fish's head to its high-raised tail.

Even after all the flesh and blood have been eaten, it is still longer than the old man's boat.

[ID Professional Sea Fishing for Thirty Years]: He actually caught it.

These few words were quickly pushed to the top of the commentary.

There was no cheering.

No one is discussing how much the fish could have originally sold for anymore.

That fish skeleton can no longer bring wealth to the old man.

But that is enough to prove that he really did sail out to sea alone and really did subdue a marlin that was bigger than a small boat.

The old man returned to his shack, lay down on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

The boy arrived the next morning.

He first saw several fishermen gathered on the shore.

Someone took a ruler and measured from the fish's mouth all the way to its tail.

Eighteen feet.

People gathered around the skeleton, discussing it animatedly.

The boy did not stop.

He strode into the shack and saw the old man's sleeping back, as well as the hands lying by the bed.

His palms were covered in scars.

There were tears from the fishing line, and bloodstains from the fight with the shark.

The boy stood there and watched for a long time.

Then, he cried.

When the old man was alone at sea, he repeatedly murmured:

I wish the boy were here.

When his palm was cut, he thought of the boy.

When his left hand cramped, he thought of the boy.

Even in the long, dark night, when there was no one to listen to him, he still thought of the boy.

The old man has finally returned to shore.

The boy really did come.

He didn't ask how much the fish could have originally sold for.

They didn't press the elderly man about why he insisted on going to such a far place.

He quietly left the shack, brought the old man hot coffee, and told the others not to go in and disturb him.

When the old man woke up, the boy handed him the coffee.

The old man took a sip, remained silent for a moment, and then said in a low voice:

【"They beat me, Manolin," he said. "They truly beat me."】

"They beat me, Manolin," he said. "They really beat me."

The boy refused to admit it.

【"He didn't beat you. Not the fish."】

("It didn't beat you. The fish didn't.")

The old man knew.

It's not that fish.

That's what happened later.

It was the sharks that followed the trail of blood that tore his catch, which had taken him several days and nights, to shreds until only the skeleton remained.

But the boy still told the old man:

They will go out to sea together again in the future.

The old man said he had run out of luck.

The boy, however, didn't care at all.

Unbelievable luck.

He can bring you good luck.

Upon seeing this, a comment slowly appeared.

[ID: The Old Radio by the Sea]: The old man thought of him all the way, while he waited on the shore for the old man to return.

No one discussed the value of that fish skeleton anymore.

The old man lost the big fish.

The boy, however, did not lose trust in him.

The end of the story.

Several tourists arrived at the port and saw the huge skeleton on the shore.

They didn't know what it once belonged to.

I wonder how many days and nights an old man spent at sea trying to bring it back.

Some people mistook it for a shark.

He looked away after a moment.

The world will not understand a person just because they have experienced suffering.

To those tourists, it was nothing more than a skeleton whose name they couldn't recall.

In the shack.

The boy sat by the bed, watching over the old man who had fallen asleep again.

The old man did not dream of marlin.

I didn't dream about sharks.

I didn't dream about everything I had lost.

He is dreaming of lions.

This concludes the main text.

On the work's page, the words "【Completed】" are quietly lit up.

The millions of readers who finished reading the book did not immediately flood the comments section as they had when it was first published.

Some people revisited the morning of the old man's eighty-fifth day at sea.

Some people lingered in the darkness when the last group of sharks appeared.

Some people stared at the long fish skeleton on the shore, not turning the page for a long time.

The overwhelming jokes, predictions, and doubts that flooded the book at the beginning seemed to vanish all at once.

Much later, a comment finally appeared in the book review section.

[ID Newcomer Report]: So, did the old man win or lose?

No one could answer immediately.

Judging from the result, the old man obviously lost.

He failed to save the big fish.

No wealth was gained.

They didn't even bring back a single whole piece of fish.

After days and nights of perseverance, only a skeleton remained.

But if the old man really has nothing left, why does his skeleton still hold such captivating attention?

[ID Logic Analyst]: He lost everything he gained, and the result was failure.

[ID Old Port Thirty Years]: The failure lies in this harvest, not in what he did.

【ID Seaside General Store】: If only fish meat counts as a victory, why is the skeleton, which cannot be sold, more distressing than a whole fish?

【ID Havana Old Dock】: Because the fish meat will be eaten, but the fish bones prove that he really went there.

After this reply appeared, the debate gradually subsided.

It was only then that many people realized that they had always wanted to determine a winner and loser for the elderly.

However, "The Old Man and the Sea" never guarantees that as long as a person is brave enough, they will definitely get the desired result.

The ocean will not be any more merciful because of the old man's insistence.

Marlin is not wrong.

The sharks were simply chasing the scent of blood in the seawater.

No one came specifically to fulfill the old man's wishes, nor did anyone come specifically to ruin him.

The only decision an elderly person can make is their own.

On the eighty-fifth day, he was no longer required to go to sea.

When the fishing line is taut, he can loosen his grip.

Even after losing the harpoon, he could sit on the boat and wait for the sharks to devour everything.

But he didn't.

He didn't know that perseverance would definitely lead to victory.

As long as he had something he could use, he continued to do what he could.

What's truly awe-inspiring is not that the old man never failed.

Rather, he had lost the big fish, admitted his defeat, but did not deny everything that had happened before.

He did not conquer the sea.

They also failed to overcome fate.

He simply accepted that the sea wouldn't accommodate anyone, and then did what he could to the very end.

Some people recall their fruitless efforts.

Some people recall what they tried their best to keep, but ultimately failed to preserve.

They suddenly understood.

Not getting it doesn't mean you never got it.

Admitting defeat does not mean that a person should give up.

Fate can take away his harvest, exhaust his body, and tear what he cherishes down to its skeleton.

But they cannot decide for him what kind of person he should become when all of this happens.

Only at this moment did the words written in the book's synopsis truly resonate with all the readers.

The next second, the entire book review section was almost completely flooded with the same sentence:

A person can be destroyed but not defeated.