Episode 26
“Isn’t that salt you’re holding? It seems like you’re putting in too much….”
It was only then that Jacob realized that he had been absentmindedly sprinkling salt into the pot of soup.
“Oh my, I am sorry I was distracted.”
He put the salt shaker down in a hurry and looked embarrassed. But Brody was still standing there, looking up at him and asking worriedly.
“Mr. Jacob, are you okay? You don’t look well.”
Brody held out a handkerchief, noticing the cold sweat running down his face.
“Now that I think about it, you must have been very tired both physically and mentally today. It seems like it was a lot of work for you to invite us. How about sitting down for a bit?”
Jacob accepted the handkerchief she handed him affectionately and tried to reply, out of habit, that it was okay.
Then suddenly a chunk of cooked meat fell onto the cutting board in front of them. Both of them looked up in surprise.
The one who threw the meat on the chopping board was Kyle. He looked down at the two with a cold face and said,
“I also need to rest a bit today because I used up all my energy that I didn’t need to use because of someone, so can you help me with grilling the meat?”
Brody responded.
“Kyle, just wait a minute. I’ll just help him make this soup and then I’ll be right back.”
Kyle threatened, “Come right now.”
Jacob came to his senses when he saw Kyle like that.
He thought it wasn’t because he was having a hard time, but because he was annoyed by the way his lover, Brody, was being so affectionate towards him.
But Brody, either oblivious or thinking that her lover wouldn’t be upset by her actions, continues to help him and because of that, Kyle’s eyebrows furrowed.
Jacob thought he should send her away before Kyle got angry.
He snatched the carrot from Brody’s hand and said,
“Miss Brody, go help Mr. Kyle. Miss Brody has already prepared all the ingredients, so all I have to do is cut them.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
To Brody’s concern, Jacob nodded repeatedly, saying it was okay, and motioned for her to quickly follow Kyle.
Then she followed Kyle to the fireplace in the living room, telling him to call her if he needed help.
Jacob’s tension eased slightly only after the two left the kitchen as he sighed deeply.
But that was only for a moment, as Jacob’s gaze slowly turned to the bag containing the sleeping pills.
After a while he looked into the living room.
Now was the time, no one was around. The two of them were absorbed in grilling meat in the living room.
But even though he knew this, Jacob couldn’t take out the bottle rashly.
When the decisive moment came, his heart weakened. Moreover, he was too timid to commit such a great sin, and he was too scared.
But…no matter how scared he was, that fear couldn’t be greater than his desire to protect his family.
Finally, Jacob gathered his wavering mind and took the bottle out of his pocket.
Then he poured white powder into the pot where he had cut up the ingredients.
He could see it was six o’clock from the clock in the distance. He had to feed them this soup before the moose arrived.
Jacob took the pot of soup and went to the fireplace where they were.
The meat was already cooked. Since the meat was prepared for Kyle anyway, he took the dishes to the kitchen and started eating first.
It didn’t take long for the soup to boil after the pot was placed over the roaring wood fire.
After crossing the river from which there was no return, Jacob, feeling exhausted, stared blankly at the bubbling soup.
Suddenly Brody came up next to Jacob.
She must have thought Jacob was tired, so in his stead, she stirred the soup in the pot with a spatula and spoke.
“Thank you so much for inviting us here today, Mr. Jacob.”
Jacob’s eyes turned red as he heard her heartfelt gratitude.
He swallowed back his surging guilt along with his tears and forced a smile.
“No, Miss Brody. I am more grateful. You two are my lifesavers….”
But what was he doing to those benefactors now?
Jacob was so disgusted with himself that he wanted to die.
Of course, Brody, who had no idea what he was thinking, continued speaking with a smile.
“Mr. Jacob is a benefactor to us too. You said you would help us go south. I am so grateful that I don’t know how to repay you.”
“No. That…you don’t have to be so thankful.”
Jacob, who felt awkward talking to her, started scooping the finished soup into bowls with a spatula.
But Brody continued to nag at him in the meantime.
“No, Mr. Jacob. I’m serious. We were in a time of urgency.”
Jacob unconsciously raised his head, following the cautious tone of her voice.
He looked at Brody with a questioning face. She glanced at the kitchen where Kyle was and whispered softly.
“Actually, that person’s family is in a very dangerous situation right now. We have to go and save them before everyone dies.”
But as soon as Jacob heard those words, his whole body froze.
If they didn’t go, there were more people who would be dead.
That was unexpected.
According to her words… the moment he handed Kyle and Brody over to the moose, he wouldn’t only kill them but Kyle’s entire family would also be killed?
Jacob’s limbs began to tremble.
He never imagined that what he would do would lead to such a terrible ending.
Only then did Jacob realize what he had done and panicked.
Meanwhile, Brody, who had unintentionally destroyed his mentality, went to the kitchen where the table was, carrying the bowl of soup she had taken from him without knowing anything.
In the kitchen, Kyle was eating absentmindedly. She happily placed the soup in front of him and headed back to the living room.
But when she came back, she noticed something strange about Jacob who was holding the other bowl of soup.
Brody’s expression hardened as she watched him standing there, his whole body shaking in a daze.
“Mr. Jacob?”
At that moment, the bowl of soup he was holding fell to the floor, and Jacob fell down with it.
“Oh!”
The bowl didn’t break because it fell on the carpeted floor.
Brody hurriedly ran to Jacob, who seemed to have lost all his strength and collapsed.
“Are you okay?”
But Jacob was panting and mumbling inaudible words, as if he was about to burst into tears at any moment.
“Mr. Jacob…?”
“I, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Miss Brody…”
He held onto Brody and began to cry, apologizing over and over again.
“I, I did something to you two…that I shouldn’t have done…. I’m so sorry….”
Brody frowned as he suddenly blurted out a series of incomprehensible words.
“Mr. Jacob, what are you talking about? What? Speak clearly.”
Then Jacob burst into tears and confessed his sins to her.
“I promised to hand you over to the moose. They said that if I handed you over, they would spare my mother and sister…”
“…What?”
Brody couldn’t come to her senses after hearing his confession. No, more accurately, she couldn’t accept it.
The fact that Jacob had lured them here to hand them over to Moose.
But that dazed state didn’t last long. Jacob, who was holding her arm, suddenly raised his head and shouted.
“The soup…the soup!”
And at that moment, Kyle’s voice was heard from behind them.
“Hey, why does this soup taste like this?”
Brody and Jacob looked into the kitchen at the same time. Jacob’s face turned pale when he saw Kyle coming out of there.
In Kyle’s hand was a bowl of soup he had half finished which meant he had eaten the sleeping pills.
There was no time to think any further. Jacob jumped up from his seat and shouted.
“We have to run away! Now!”
The strong sleeping pill Kyle took didn’t work. Before the moose realized, he had to make up for the mistakes he had made.
Brody finally came to her senses after hearing Jacob’s urgent cries.
Although she didn’t fully understand the situation, she instinctively knew that they had to run away rather than understand it now.
On the other hand, Kyle, who usually becomes insensitive to the sounds of his surroundings when he eats. Because he was hungry, he was too busy eating meat to hear their conversation earlier, so he just frowned.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Then Brody ran over and grabbed his arm and said,
“Kyle, transform. We have to run now! If we stay here, the moose will come for us!”
“The moose…?”
As Kyle’s face hardened at those words, Jacob ran to the front door and shouted at the two of them.
“Come out quickly! We have to get away before they get here!”
By this point, even Kyle, who knew nothing about the situation, couldn’t help but sense that the situation was urgent.
He swore, threw down the bowl of soup, and ran with Brody to the front door where Jacob was waiting.
“The moose said they’d be here at 8 o’clock. So if you run away now…!”
The moment Jacob opened the front door…
“Hey.”
The three people stood at the door and held their breath at the voice that greeted them.
And when they slowly raised their heads, they finally saw people with heights that matched the high ceilings of the house standing in front of the door, looking down at them.
“Did we come too soon?”
There were nearly ten men, all of whom had shoulders taller than Kyle. The sight was so terrifying that it made them cringe.
In short, these three people were not capable of handling it.
Moreover, Kyle, the only one who could fight here, suddenly felt as if all the strength in his body was drained and his eyes became hazy.
The sleeping pills he took were starting to take effect.
“I came early because I couldn’t trust the reindeer as he is so timid… It was a good decision.”
The moment the moose men laughed
with scary faces and grabbed the clubs, ropes and nets in their hands.
Bam!
The door slammed shut in the blink of an eye.
Jacob yelled at Kyle and Brody.
“There’s a back door in the kitchen! Go out through that back door!”
