Chapter 56
I thought for a moment before carefully asking,
“What if I can’t get treatment right away…? I mean, how long can I last with the medicine I took?”
“Just with the medicine? Hmm, I don’t really know either, but you should still be able to last a few days. Eom Papa’s medicine is more effective than most antidotes.”
‘A few days…’
I nodded.
“Got it. First of all… thank you for saving me. If you hadn’t been there, I would have been as good as dead. At the time, I really thought that was the end.”
“N-No, it’s nothing! I just happened to have the medicine with me…”
“But I owe you my life because of that medicine. Honestly, considering what you’ve done for me, I should help you find your grandmother, but I have my own circumstances… so I don’t think I can go as far as finding your grandmother.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m thinking of taking you only as far as the nearest village… How does that sound? Would that be okay?”
Even as I spoke, I kept sneaking glances at the girl. I was worried she might be terribly disappointed. But the girl said something unexpected.
“Does that mean… can’t you get treatment right away? Because you have your own circumstances….”
“Hm? Yeah. I suppose so.”
“Then…”
The girl suddenly held something out. It was a medicine bottle.
“Please take this, at least.”
My eyes widened.
“You only took one pill. Once its effects wear off, the cold poison will spread through your body again in an instant, and it might hurt even more than before.”
“…….”
“You were suffering so much earlier. Taking this with you will help a lot. There isn’t much, but it should be enough to keep you going for a while. I don’t need it, so I’ll give it to you. And…”
The girl smiled shyly.
“Thank you for saying you’d help me. That’s enough for me, too.”
I stared blankly at the girl.
That smile genuinely looked happy, and I couldn’t bring myself to say anything for a long while. Belatedly, I let out a hollow laugh and muttered,
“This kid is making me into a shameless bastard…”
***
To cut to the chase, I didn’t accept the medicine bottle.
I hadn’t done anything for her yet, so taking the bottle right away felt wrong, and the girl’s face was so innocent and pure that my conscience pricked me.
No, seriously. No matter how young she was, how could someone be that innocent? What was I doing at her age…?
I smacked my lips, then carefully put the medicine bottle back into her hands and said,
“Hey, put it away, put it away. You shouldn’t just hand things like this to people. Are you trying to make me into a bad guy?”
“Huh? No, that’s not it…”
“If that’s not it, then what is? If I accept this, I’ll become a heartless, shameless bastard with no conscience. You’re supposed to see what the other person does first before deciding whether to give them something this precious. Got it?”
“…….”
The girl didn’t seem to understand how it was any different whether she gave it to me now or later, but after I refused several times, she eventually nodded.
I patted the girl on the shoulder, then knelt down in front of her. I turned my back toward her and said,
“Get on. We need to get out of the mountain before sunset.”
The girl hesitated before reaching out her arms. I walked along the mountain path with the girl, and we talked about many things.
That was how I learned more about her.
The girl’s name was Pyeonghyeon.
She said she was an ordinary girl who lived alone with her grandmother in the mountains.
I almost snorted involuntarily at the word ‘ordinary,’ but managed to hold it back. What kind of ordinary girl could rattle off information I had never even heard of?
‘This kid is pretty bad at hiding things.’
Still, I didn’t bring it up. Everyone had their own circumstances, after all.
‘I do, too.’
I smacked my lips and asked,
“By the way, how old are you? You obviously look younger than me, but…”
“Me? I’m… ten.”
“Really? You looked even younger.”
“I hear that a lot… I don’t think I look that young, though…”
I chuckled.
“What do you mean, you don’t look young? You’re tiny enough that I thought you were eight. I thought I was supposed to carry you around like a baby.”
“I-I’m not a baby…!”
“Okay, okay. Whoa, don’t squirm around. You’ll fall!”
I deliberately tilted my body slightly. Pyeonghyeon, startled, hurriedly wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. As I snickered, I felt a stinging gaze on the back of my head.
I shrugged and said,
“I’m kidding. Anyway, I am older than you. I’m twelve.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Surprising, right? If you look younger than your age, people tend to think I’m one or two years older than I really am. Maybe it’s because I look old? Do I look really old to you, too?”
“No. I think it’s just because you’re tall…”
Pyeonghyeon and I continued chatting quietly.
Then, at some point, Pyeonghyeon fell silent. She seemed troubled, and even her answers became hesitant. When I glanced at her to see if something was wrong,
Pyeonghyeon finally muttered,
“…Um.”
“Hmm?”
“What… should I call you? I haven’t heard your name yet…”
“Oh.”
I exclaimed as if I had just realized something.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t told her my name yet. No wonder she kept stumbling over her words whenever she tried to address me.
I was about to open my mouth when I suddenly hesitated.
‘…Is it okay to tell her the truth?’
Normally, I would have told her the truth. But it hadn’t been long since the Xiao Family Manor had been destroyed. The masked men might still be searching the area, and there might be others looking for survivors of the Xiao Family.
I wanted to hide it as much as possible, just in case. But giving her a fake name felt strange, too…
I decided to make something up.
“Dan.”
“Pardon?”
“Call me Dan. You can even cutely call me ‘Big Sis Dan~’ if you want.”
“What? Not Big Brother Dan?”
“Big Broth… What?”
I was so startled that I stopped in my tracks. Pyeonghyeon stiffened as well, startled.
My voice rose involuntarily.
“Big Brother? You thought I was a man? I’m a woman!”
“Pardon? No, I mean, yes?”
“What do you mean, ‘yes’? Can’t you see I’m wearing a skirt? The cloth I used to bind your foot was torn from my skirt! What did you think it was? Or… did you think I was a man who liked wearing skirts?”
“No, no, that’s not it!”
Pyeonghyeon hurriedly answered.
“I-I must have mistaken you because your hair is short. I’m sorry. I thought you were wearing a skirt as a disguise…”
“Who wears a skirt as a disguise? Honestly. You saw my chest earlier, too…”
“Eek?!”
Pyeonghyeon shrieked, startling me as well. I turned around.
“Why are you so surprised? It’s not like it’s embarrassing for two girls to see each other’s bodies.”
“I-I-I never saw it! I didn’t, I swear!”
“You keep denying it, which makes me want to tease you even more. Don’t you remember? You discovered the Frost-Palm mark on my chest. Who was the one who mentioned it first?”
“That, that was…!”
“You saw the Frost Palm but didn’t see my chest? You saw the sky but somehow missed the sun? And you expect me to believe that? Huh?”
“No, that’s not it, really…”
Pyeonghyeon finally became teary-eyed, so I hurriedly said,
“I’m kidding. Don’t be so embarrassed. You have one too, so why are you freaking out like that… But seriously, are you embarrassed about your chest? Your chest?”
“Sis…!”
I burst out laughing and stopped there. If I went any further, Pyeonghyeon really looked like she might start crying. I pretended not to notice Pyeonghyeon huffing and puffing as I resumed walking along the mountain path.
Then, unable to resist my mischievous impulse, I casually said,
“If you want to see it one more time, just tell me.”
Pyeonghyeon cried out,
“Nooo!”
“Puhahaha!”
I burst into loud laughter. It had been fun for the first time in a long while.
***
In the end, we had to spend a night in the mountains.
It wasn’t because we had spent so much time bickering and teasing each other… but because the sun had set much faster than expected.
Even when I met Pyeonghyeon, the sun had already begun to tilt toward the horizon, and after everything that had happened and after walking along the mountain path for a while, the sun had set in an instant.
For now, I could vaguely make out objects around me, but once it grew darker, traveling with my injured body would be dangerous. The mountains at night were so dark that it was impossible to see what lay ahead. What if we encountered a wild animal…?
‘I can’t just sleep anywhere. We need somewhere suitable to spend the night.’
Fortunately, we were able to find a cave. It was cleverly concealed behind some bushes, and Pyeonghyeon had spotted it with her sharp eyes.
“Good. Let’s stay here tonight and go on our way. It’ll be better to leave once it gets light.”
“Yes.”
The cave was narrow, but it was large enough for two children to fit inside. I set Pyeonghyeon down and sat beside her. Since neither of us had a flint, there was no way for us to make a fire.
Our surroundings quickly grew dark.
It was uncomfortable lying on the hard ground, but sleeping pressed close to Pyeonghyeon kept us reasonably warm, so it wasn’t too bad. Perhaps because I was exhausted, I quickly fell into a deep sleep.
And when I opened my eyes, my body was drenched in cold sweat.
“……?”
I blinked and struggled to sit up. I was sure I had slept deeply, yet instead of feeling better, my body still felt heavy.
No, if anything, I seemed to be in worse shape than yesterday. My arms and legs were strangely numb, and I couldn’t put much strength into them. I was beginning to worry whether I could even walk properly like this.
‘Why? She said the medicine would last for a few days.’
Could its effects really be wearing off sooner than expected?
If I can’t even last a few days like this…
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