I Picked Up an Abandoned Villain in the Polar Region

Episode 64

 

He remembered what Brody had told him around the campfire the day before yesterday.

“You have to keep your promise.”

Kyle used all his strength to support Brody and carry her on his back.

And again he took the baby in his arms, and set out, pulling the goat by rope.

His heavily loaded legs shook with every step.

But Kyle never fell, he just kept walking.

Previously, he had attempted to just abandon Brody who couldn’t wake up, but not anymore.

The person he used to be-the one who thought he’d just leave her alone if she was in trouble, kill her if she got in the way, and continue on his own path-was no longer there.

Kyle couldn’t let her go just because she was a burden to him and an obstacle in his way.

Just as Brody couldn’t abandon him.

His eyes were spinning, his legs were shaking like aspen trees, and the soles of his feet felt like they were burning as he continued going ahead.

 

***

 

When evening came and Kyle stopped his journey and collapsed on the floor as if he was completely exhausted.

He lay stretched out on the ground next to Brody for a while, unable to get up.

But soon, he came to his senses and got up to light a fire.

Because the weather grew cold at night, he had to light a fire before it got too late.

That was not all. He also had to milk the goat and pasteurize the milk for tomorrow.

“Oh, should I just starve the kid?”

Kyle glared at Ron with his eyes wide open, nonchalantly saying things he shouldn’t have.

Of course, Ron, who knew nothing about it, just smiled innocently at Kyle.

And that bright smile only made Kyle’s stomach turn even further.

Eventually, Kyle, exhausted from his one-sided fight with the baby, got up.

Since Brody had to be fed anyway, milking and sterilizing the goat’s milk was inevitable.

“You will only get to eat because of her.”

Kyle scolded the grinning baby, laid him down next to Brody, and went to light the fire.

But as Kyle moved away, Ron looked at Brody, who was groaning in pain beside him, and started to cry in fear.

It wasn’t a loud, wailing cry, but more of a whimpering sound that made Kyle, who was tending to the fire, lift his head.

Is he like this because he is hungry?

“I’ll give you food, so keep your mouth shut and wait.”

Kyle spat out those words to the baby in a stern voice and then laughed belatedly.

I think I am going crazy. 

That wasn’t something he would normally do, having once laughed at Brody for talking to a baby.

But Ron strangely became quiet right away, as if he understood him.

Of course, that didn’t last long.

By the time Kyle had finished lighting the fire, Ron had started sobbing again.

“What the hell is the problem?”

When he finally couldn’t stand it anymore and approached Ron, who was crying with a bright red face while looking at him.

Ron would always whine and annoy Kyle whenever he left him to do something else. So Kyle, who had been toyed with by Ron so many times, swallowed the boiling anger rising in his throat and closed his eyes tightly.

He had to endure it, if only for the sake of Brody, who was determined to bring this baby back to its mother.

Kyle couldn’t let Ron continue to whine next to Brody, who needed to rest, so he brought him to his side.

Immediately after, Ron stopped crying and sat quietly beside Kyle, reaching out to play with his legs.

At Ron’s now quiet appearance, a sigh of mixed annoyance and relief escaped Kyle’s mouth.

He recalled when one day Brody was so worried about Ron crying that she couldn’t do anything and just froze up, he really wondered why she was acting like that.

But seeing the baby acting up in so many different ways made Kyle realize that it was impossible to not care.

Kyle also wondered why the baby was crying and ended up bringing the baby to his side.

But at that time, he told Brody to leave the crying baby and do her own thing…

Moreover, she had a sense of responsibility that Kyle didn’t have. So she must have been even more nervous day and night.

As he thought about Brody, who had not slept for days to take care of the baby, he felt even more sorry for her, who was now lying there in pain.

While Kyle was having this time of reflection, Ron kept playing with his feet and soon started to take his toes into his mouth.

Kyle snapped out of his reverie and frowned at the sight of the messy baby’s behavior.

“Are you for real?!”

He immediately took the baby’s foot out of his mouth. Then, as if he found this action funny, Ron suddenly looked at Kyle and burst out laughing.

It was absurd.

But even he couldn’t slap a smiling face. Kyle suddenly felt strange when the baby looked straight at him and smiled brightly.

All the babies he had seen so far had been afraid of him.

Moreover he hated them, so they became even more fearful in front of him.

But Ron was laughing at himself like this, so it became difficult to blame the baby he had always hated.

“Don’t laugh.”

Kyle tried to cover up his embarrassment by squelching the baby’s little lips.

But Ron held his fingers, which was shutting his mouth, tightly.

The small hand wrapped around his large fingers. Not only did it grab them, it squeezed them hard.

It was an extremely weak force for Kyle, but strangely enough, it weighed heavily on his heart.

At that moment, without realizing it, he remembered something Brody had said some time ago.

‘Ron would always hold my hand tightly in his sleep, and every time I would feel a strange sense of responsibility. I had to protect him. I think Ron knew that I was the only one who could look after him, that’s why he held my hand so tightly.’

Kyle looked at Ron, silently recalling those words.

“…”

He didn’t feel the sense of responsibility that Brody was talking about.

However, he couldn’t shake off that hand, which he would have normally pushed away without thinking.

It was hard to just push it away, thinking that these fingers was the only thing the baby could hold onto right now.

Because he knew how painful it was to be abandoned in such way.

So Kyle stayed up late at night sterilizing goat milk while looking after Ron.

Then he prepared some warm milk and took it to Brody to feed her.

Brody’s condition still showed no signs of improving.

The only good thing was that things weren’t getting any worse from here…

In fact, what that meant was that the current situation was so bad that it couldn’t get any worse.

Brody had been mumbling something intermittently, but now her voice was barely audible.

Kyle found something to eat for himself after feeding Brody some milk.

He got up, clutching his dizzy head, and drank the remaining milk in the pot.

But was the problem that he drank milk in a hurry after not eating anything all day?

Kyle quickly poured milk into his stomach, which was already twisted by hunger, and soon after, he ended up throwing up everything he had eaten.

“Ugh!”

Even after retching for a long time, he still felt nauseous.

He suffered from nausea and dizziness for a while, and eventually collapsed.

 

***

 

Light was coming in from somewhere.

It was not the faint light of dawn, but a bright, radiant sunlight.

It felt like he just lost consciousness, but it was already morning.

If it were before, Kyle would have gotten up right away, but now he was too weak to get up.

He also need to check on Brody’s condition… and ****, he needed to change the baby’s diaper before they left.

But Kyle only thought about such things in his head and couldn’t do anything because he was exhausted.

He just blinked, feeling dazed.

His vision was blurry.

The smoke from the bonfire that had been lit the night before was faintly visible, and beyond it a goat was tied to a tree and grazing.

But then he noticed something was appearing and disappearing around the goat.

At first he thought it was a fly.

However the fly that had been there before began to look like a large rat, and soon it came up to him and slapped him on the cheek, saying:

“Hey, listen up.”

“…”

“..…Hey, come to your senses!”

Kyle tried to open his eyes to the voice, but his body wouldn’t listen.

His exhausted body did not help him and his mind continued to become hazy.

Finally, someone had appeared who could help.

I have to tell them that there is someone else who is sick besides me…

 

***

 

Thump thump thump-.

‘…What are those noises?’

Kyle came to his senses as he heard a sound that seemed like a drum or something being ground.

He was enveloped in a warm blanket. Kyle realized this and frowned.

‘Is it heaven?’

I don’t think I lived well enough to go there though.

But when he opened his eyes with secret anticipation, what greeted him was neither heaven nor anything else, but a ceiling.

The ceiling of a small room, bathed in the warm light of candles.

Kyle stared blankly at the ceiling, his head not clearing right away.

Where am I?

Why am I here?

And what about Brody?

Where is Brody?

The moment that question came to mind, Kyle jumped up from his seat.

He looked around, but Brody and Ron were nowhere to be found.

There was only one bed in this small, cozy room, and the only person lying on it was Kyle.

Kyle immediately flung open the door and went outside to find the others.

“…”

But, as he ran out with his heart pounding, he luckily came out into what appeared to be the living room where Brody and Ron were present.

Brody was lying on the bed near the fireplace, and Ron was sleeping on the sofa.

Kyle didn’t even take time to look around to see where he was, he went straight to the bed and checked Brody’s condition.

Brody was sleeping soundly, her face looking much more radiant.

A cold towel was placed on Brody’s head. A sign that she had been cared for by someone.

“Are you awake?”

Kyle, who was examining Brody, turned around in surprise at the sudden voice.

I am done with my exams now, thank you again for your patience, dear readers (⁠ ⁠˶⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ꁞ⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠˶⁠ ⁠)🤍