Episode 67
After dinner, Kyle went down to the river to wash his fishy and charred hands.
But as he sat down at the water’s edge to wash his hands, he suddenly stopped when he saw something new on his face reflected in the water.
“What?”
Kyle felt around his mouth in embarrassment, and black soot appeared on his hand.
“Did you see it?”
Brody, who had come closer, giggled playfully.
Kyle’s gaze turned murderous as he looked at Brody.
Now he realized why Brody was smiling the whole time he was eating.
Kyle really hated looking funny to anyone, so he quickly wiped his mouth with the river’s water.
Brody, who behaved as if she had two more lives left, cried out in a voice full of regret as she watched the soot disappear.
“Oh, don’t wipe it!”
As Brody shouted that and burst into laughter, Kyle, who was furious, immediately threw water at her.
“Aaaah!”
Brody ran away screaming. But Kyle continued splashed water on the back of Brody’s head as she ran away because he was not satisfied with just one hit.
Brody, whose clothes were all soaking wet, couldn’t hold it in any longer and started throwing water at Kyle, and a water fight ensued.
The two people were threatening to take revenge on each other, but all that could be heard was their laughter.
After finishing the fun water play, the two of them came up to the camping area and lay down with Ron on the blanket that had been laid out.
Everything surrounding them was peaceful as they lay down after a hard day.
All around, the sound of the river flowing and the crackling of firewood could be heard.
Before their eyes, the great Milky Way flowed across the night sky like the Anders River’s water.
“Ron, hold this-.”
Before going to bed, Brody played with Ron using the reeds she had broken off.
When she teased Ron by thrusting the end of the reed at him, Ron would laugh and reach out to grab it.
“Kyle, look at this. Look at the way he’s reaching for it.”
Brody, who was excited to see Ron laughing so hard he could barely breathe because it was so funny, called Kyle.
But Kyle ignored those words with a blank expression. And at the moment, Brody’s urging was heard again.
“-Ayle!”
Suddenly, a cuckoo-like voice rang out between them.
“…Ha?”
It was Ron’s voice.
When Ron, who had always babbled “Ahhhh” and “Ehhhh”, spoke with a clear voice, not only Brody but also Kyle looked up in surprise.
“What? What did he just say?”
Brody looked at Ron with wide eyes.
She was sure he said Kyle’s name… Did she mishear him?
But as if she hadn’t misheard, Ron again tightened his throat and opened his small mouth to shout clearly.
“A-yle!”
With that voice, the bodies of the two adults who had been lying down rose from the ground as fast as a bouncing ball.
“Kyle, did you hear that? He definitely said “Kyle”, right?”
“I guess so?”
Although the pronunciation wasn’t perfect, Ron was definitely imitating Brody’s call for Kyle.
“Oh my god!”
A moved Brody covered her mouth with both hands to prevent her from screaming.
She was the one who had always tried to talk to Ron, saying that he would listen to what she had to say.
After countless attempts, she finally got a word in. She was so overwhelmed with emotion that she hugged Ron and cheered.
“Ron! Try it one more time! Okay?”
But Ron just laughed along with Brody, who was delighted, and said nothing more, acting hard to get.
Brody was desperate, so she begged him.
“Say Brody. Bro-dy!”
Despite her precise instructions to follow the mouth shapes she made, Ron just babbled and laughed.
Brody eventually grumbled in frustration at not having her name called by Ron.
“Why is it Kyle and not my name? I’m the one who took care of you, so why? You little white wolf.”
“He instinctively knows that if he makes a good impression on me, his trip will be easier.”
As Kyle, who was lying on his back watching the scene, grumbled, Brody glared at him with a pointed gaze and started brainwashing Ron.
“Ron, from now on say Brody, not Kyle. Okay? Say Brody.”
Kyle laughed at Brody’s determined attitude as if she wouldn’t give up until he called her name.
In fact, he knew why Ron said his name and not Brody’s.
If one thought about it, it was so obvious. It was because Brody always said Kyle’s name in front of Ron.
A deep smile appeared on Kyle’s lips as he remained silent, keeping this fact to himself.
Kyle’s eyes, staring at Brody and Ron, had a warmth they had never contained before.
And the warmth seeped into Kyle’s chest too.
They sat in the same place, spoke with the same heart, laughed with the same heart, and looked at each other.
Kyle felt a sense of connection that he had never felt even with his family, and it was only within this small group that he had found it.
The smile on his lips did not disappear, but deepened along with the night.
***
Brody and Kyle along with Ron walked down the Anders River, heading south.
And on the third day, they followed the groundhog’s instructions and left the river heading towards the East Sea, and walked inland for two more days.
After five days of suffering, when they finally reached the capital of the wilderness, Volcan, the first thing that greeted the three was the dust of the wasteland.
“Ow, dust… Cough, cough!”
Brody covered Ron’s face with the hood she wore on her head and wrapped him in her coat while holding him in her arms.
Across the dusty wasteland, a tall, massive wall was visible. Brody pointed to it and said, “That’s Volcan over there.”
“Is that a castle?”
It was Kyle who asked the question.
“Volcan is a fortress city. There is a city within those walls.”
“Ah.”
Kyle nodded after hearing the explanation, then looked at the castle wall that seemed strange and asked Brody.
“That wall. Don’t you see any signs of an attack?”
“Signs of attack?”
Brody’s vision was blurred by the dust.
She squinted her eyes and looked again.
And soon after, just as Kyle had said, she noticed that part of the high wall had collapsed.
What was even stranger was that there was no sign of any maintenance work being done.
Because of this, it had an eerie atmosphere, like an abandoned city.
Above the heads of the two people standing with an uneasy feeling in front of this Volcan, an eagle had been circling for a while.
“Kyle, that eagle. Is it after our goat?”
Kyle, who had noticed the presence of the eagle long ago, looked around with eyes full of caution.
It wasn’t just the eagle.
He had seen weasels stick their heads out of their burrows to spy on them, and then as soon as their eyes met, they would immediately hide in their burrows.
Brody and Kyle never let their guard down amidst the eagles, weasels, and the gloomy unpleasant surroundings.
But during this time, Ron was in a good mood because he was back home, and he kept babbling in Brody’s arms, making Brody feel awkward.
“Ron, be quiet. Now is not the time to be having a leisurely conversation with you.”
It was when Brody stopped for a moment to give Ron a heads up that Kyle, who was walking ahead, gained some distance.
Kyle frowned as he suddenly noticed the goat turn and go to the side instead of going in his direction.
“Hey, not there. Go ahead.”
But strangely, the goat kept changing course, not listening to Kyle who was pulling the leash and pointing it in the right direction.
Eventually, Kyle strode forward, trying to drag the disobedient goat away by force.
However when he stepped into the area overgrown with wild grass without any doubts…
“!”
The ground he was standing on suddenly gave way, and Kyle fell into a deep hole in an instant.
“Kyle!”
Brody, who was following behind him, saw that sight and ran after him in panic.
“Kyle!”
Brody heard Kyle, who was lying in a very deep hole like a well, groan and shouted.
“Kyle, are you okay?”
Her screaming voice echoed through the dark pit. And after a moment, an irritated voice replied back.
“Ugh… Do I look okay?”
Judging from the way he was screaming, he didn’t seem to be seriously hurt. Brody, who thought he was fine, told Kyle.
“Just wait a minute! I’ll get you out of there!”
In order to get Kyle out, Ron had to be put down in a safe place first.
Brody immediately looked around and laid Ron down under a small tree that didn’t appear to have any hole in it.
Then she returned to the pit and caught the goat that was wandering nearby.
Fortunately, when Kyle fell, he let go of the goat’s leash, so the goat wasn’t dragged in with him.
Brody quickly untied the goat’s leash. While untying it risked their precious goat running away, this was not the time to worry about that.
After freeing the goat’s leash, Brody immediately lowered the rescue rope into the pit.
“Kyle! Grab this!”
However the hole was deeper than she thought, and no matter how hard she tried, the rope just wouldn’t reach Kyle.
“I can’t catch it! Go down a little further!”
There was no way to get down any further. Brody, who was chewing her lips and wondering if there was another way, suddenly thought of a good idea.
She immediately took off the hood and coat she was wearing and tied them together like strings.
After tying up the rope and clothes and lowering them back into the pit, a welcome response came back from Kyle.
“Got it!”
The rope was pulled tightly.
Brody gritted her teeth as she tried to support Kyle’s weight as he climbed up the rope.
While struggling to save Kyle, Ron, who had been left under a tree, suddenly came to her mind, so Brody raised her head to check on him.
“Uh…?”
Brody blinked her eyes when she couldn’t see Ron who was supposed to be there, and looked back in disbelief.
“Huh?”
But even after rubbing her eyes and looking closely, nothing had changed. The area under the tree was still empty.
Brody’s face turned pale.
Ron.
Ron disappeared.
Ron, who she had apparently left lying quietly under the tree, had disappeared without a trace.
Brody jumped up from her seat, dropping the rope she was holding onto.
Kyle’s screams rose from the pit, but she was too panicked to hear them.
“Ron!”
Brody searched every inch of the area, trying to find Ron, who seemed to have vanished into thin air, whether into the sky or the ground.
But still Ron was nowhere to be seen.
In this short moment, she looked up at the sky, unconsciously searching for God, with cold sweat pouring down her face.
Brody then held her breath as she watched the giant eagle that had been circling overhead for a moment fly away with a small lump in its hand.
The little lump was Ron.
When she realized that, Brody screamed like a madman.
“Ahhhhhhh-!”
