It began with him taking off the power supply system worth 50 roots from the machine.
Using a long wooden stick that was as long as a pole, he ran up and smacked the robot on its head. Hitting it once wasn’t enough – he hadn’t eaten much and was thus very weak. Even he found it strange during his sprint how his body was so slow.
Even so, the boy tried again and this time, he felt the stick pierce through something along with a thud.
But he screamed immediately after that. The friction had caused splinters from the wooden stick to stab through his palms.
Regardless, the boy managed to separate the power supply system after many twists and turns. On one side of the device which was the size of his palm was a panel that absorbed sunlight.
Despite stopping its operation, the panel still glinted under the sunlight.
The boy gave a bright smile.
That bright panel appeared like the future ahead of him.
However, he perhaps shouldn’t have cried in pain from the splinters. Someone appeared from the other side of the bush.
It was a man with a face full of beard.
An ‘adult’.
“…”
The moment their eyes met, the boy quickly turned around and hurriedly walked down the mountain while hiding the device behind his clothes.
His heart began to thump.
After the war, ‘adults’ became a very dangerous existence to all the boys and girls left behind at the village.
He had to go to the village chief’s house as quickly as possible…
Everything would be solved the moment he arrived at the chief’s house.
The boy was walking down the mountain with that thought in mind, while also pretending to have not noticed the adult following from behind, but that was when the sound coming from behind him fluttered his heart. He could hear rapid rustling noises of grass – the adult was walking faster and faster.
Therefore, the boy walked even faster. At this point, although he was still not running, it was evident that he was in a hurry. Wondering if they were just coincidentally walking down the same path, the boy slightly deviated from the main pathway. He knew everything about the mountain because this had been his playground ever since he was young.
In front of him there would soon be a steep slope, below which was the village and the village chief’s house.
He walked while holding his breath.
Soon, he slightly turned back to have a look and was suddenly met with a pair of eyes that were right in front of his face.
At the same time, a roaring voice entered his ears.
“Hey.”
Startled, the boy threw his body down the slope. He rolled and his chin ended up hitting boulders at times but was still able to move after opening his eyes.
The village chief’s house was right there.
I’m alive!
*
Gyeoul walked.
Although she rarely ever went down to the village apart from shopping, her feet were in a hurry this time. A strange ominous feeling was hitting her heart.
When facing something that they were trying to look away from, people tended to become more rushed the longer they had been turning away from it.
Her feet were as light as a breeze but she was faster than a sprinting beast.
After arriving at the village, she went through her memories. The place the boy and his younger brother was always at was an inhabited alleyway far from the centre of the village. She knew exactly where it was and there was nothing stopping her feet.
But when she got there, she couldn’t see the older boy.
“…”
The younger boy was lying down gasping for breath as if he was about to stop breathing any time soon. Gyeoul kneeled in front of him and closed her eyes. She then used the healing mana of a dragon to cure his body.
Then, she took out the porridge she had prepared before coming here and sent it down the boy’s throat. He ate it quite well as if he liked the taste.
Soon, the boy came to himself.
“…W, who are you?”
“Where is your brother.”
“Sorry…?”
“Where is your older brother.”
“…”
The boy looked nervous. After being pestered by Gyeoul, he reluctantly opened his mouth.
“…He’s probably at the village chief’s house…”
Gyeoul blinked her eyes. Then, she repeatedly swept her hair with her fingers and sighed.
“Why did he go there.”
“To buy candies… Because I said I wanted to have candies…”
“Candies?”
“Yes. It was very painful, but I suddenly thought of candies, so he went to the chief’s house…”
A deeper sigh left her mouth.
“Like I said, why.”
“Sorry…?”
Her ominous feeling became reality.
“The chief’s entire family died in the war.”
*
“Uh…?”
The boy widened his eyes.
The village chief’s house was like heaven to the boys because his wife was a proficient baker who made and sold snacks.
But today, it looked different.
The signboard at the front was turned off. That was understandable because electricity was now a very precious resource.
However, being met with six menacing adults after opening the door was completely unexpected.
“Huhn?”
“Who the hell is that.”
It was even more unexpected to see those swords and axes next to them… “Oi. Grab that kid.”
“Ah, hukk!”
Startled, the boy turned around and tried to run away. He was so nervous that he couldn’t even utter a scream.
“No you don’t!”
Someone threw a sickle that dug into his leg.
“Ahhhkkk!”
The boy fell on the ground with a scream. His skin was ripped as blood oozed out. Drenched in fear, the boy tried to raise his body but his efforts were in vain – his legs failed him.
Even so, the boy managed to stand up with a stagger and took out the sickle that was digging into his leg. Despite bursting into tears, he shouted.
“D, don’t come here! Don’t come! I’ll kill you all!”
Swinging the sickle left and right, the boy threatened them. That was when someone suddenly appeared from behind, grabbed onto his wrist and wrapped a tough arm around his neck.
“Kuhk…”
The sickle dropped from his hand as he instinctively realised that it was the man who had been chasing after him in the mountain.
“Bring him in!”
“Yes sir.”
“Well done buddy. I would’ve been happy with a rabbit, and yet look what you brought for us!”
“What should we do with him?”
“Is that even a question? His face looks pretty neat. Wash him clean and take him to Baron Collosin.”
“To that fat old man again?”
“Who else. He gives the most money. Anyway you go wash him nicely and make him into a teddy bear.”
The boy widened his eyes.
He knew what a ‘teddy bear’ was. It was making a person into a toy for those perverted nobles by cutting off the knees and elbows. He had retched so much when he first heard it because of how disgusting it was.
Was that going to happen to him?
A loud warning alarm dizzied his brain. Feeling stifled, the boy closed his eyes and struggled.
“L, let goo—!”
As soon as he was able to breathe again, he shouted as loud as he could. The man behind him released his hand and covered his mouth as if he was finding it noisy, as the boy instinctively bit down on the closest finger.
“Uhk–”
The hand was removed from his mouth but it was not a good sign.
“This little rat…”
His ears picked up the enraged voice as he had to gasp for breath again. Holding onto the boy’s hair, the man turned his body around and his fist as big as a rock turned solid. The man raised his shoulder with fury written all over his face.
The boy had to close his eyes from the immense sense of fear.
It was then.
Clomp.
A soft sound echoed across.
It sounded like a footstep.
Clomp.
The man’s body froze stiff as the boy also stopped retaliating.
Clomp.
The footsteps echoed yet again as they turned their gazes to look at the source of the sound.
Clomp.
Underneath the long water-coloured hair,
They saw eyes bluer than the hair.
Clomp–
The blue witch showed herself. In front of the aura of a mature dragon, the men holding weapons were nothing but insects.
“W, who are you!” shouted a courageous one. Even though he was looking at a girl smaller than himself, he thought he was in front of a large statue.
When she turned her gaze towards him, he thought a sculpture was turning its head in front of his eyes.
“I’m asking you who you…!”
His breath stopped in the middle as if a huge fist had gone down his throat.
“Who do you think you are.”
Her voice that sounded clear in the past was different this time. The air settled with a chill.
Looking at the ripped leg of the boy, she opened her mouth.
“Who are you to do this to a kid.”
Her voice was cold enough to pierce through one’s skin.
Without listening to their response, she drew a magic circle on the ground.
Chaaaakk–!
Hundreds of ice thorns soared up and stabbed through all the human traffickers in that place.
It happened in an instant. Some were pierced multiple times in their stomach, some had holes in their head while some were skewered all the way from their ankles to their stomachs.
However, not a single scream was heard,
Because they had all died in the blink of an eye.
.
.
.
After that, Gyeoul took the two boys to a nearby territory.
Making a connection with the lord of that territory was nothing difficult. Everything she had learned throughout her life was from Yu Jitae, so she followed his method. She took a small treasure and handed it over to the noble.
“Give these kids a house to live in.”
The noble was frightened by how all of his trusted soldiers had immediately fainted, but realised how great the treasure was and accepted her request.
Like that, the kids gained a house and a housekeeper.
“There will be a day off for the housekeeper, so you can come play.”
Saying that, Gyeoul returned to the mountain where her restaurant was.
For the next 10 years, until the boys became young men, they came to the mountain restaurant every weekend and ate the food Gyeoul made for them.
“We are here, Miss Benefactor.”
“Welcome.”
The boy who used to be 12 years old, met a partner at 17 and got married. From a point in time, he began visiting her with his wife.
In addition, the younger boy who was 9 years old grew so tall that he was now bigger than his older brother. He used to love candies in the past and was now even operating a candy store.
Something interesting happened. The belly of the wife kept increasing in size and next year, the number of people visiting her increased from three to four.
“Can you please give her a name? It would be a great honour to receive her name from you, Benefactor.”
Gyeoul turned them down.
“Parents should be the one naming the child.”
Even though the boy who was now an adult himself was disappointed by it, Gyeoul remained firm. That was when his wife cutely came up and handed her the baby, asking her to carry and bless the child.
“It’s okay.”
“Please. Don’t say that.”
In the end, Gyeoul had to receive the tiny baby that was wrapped in a blanket. That little baby looked up at her with its squinted eyes.
“…”
Seeing that, Gyeoul felt a very deep and intense emotion.
“…”
Gyeoul aligned her forehead with the baby’s.
She then blessed the child, hoping for a healthy and happy future,
Just like what someone had done to her in the distant past…
.
.
.
Her Amusement came to an end.
The boy who used to be 12 was now 30.
He wasn’t a boy at this point. They were now full-fledged adults and even their children looked to be around the same age as Gyeoul.
It was unknown how they noticed it but on the night Gyeoul was about to leave, the two families came to her and bid farewell.
She lightly returned the greeting, and told them to stay safe.
“Benefactor. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
The boy, who was now obviously an adult with that thick beard, gave a deep bow to Gyeoul with budding tears.
“Before you leave, there is something I would like to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Before, we were puzzled and sometimes we thought it was natural. However as we turned older, we realised that was not the case. It was something I had been wanting to ask the whole time, but couldn’t dare ask you.”
“About what.”
“Why were you so nice, Benefactor, to us two dirty brothers?”
The boy solemnly asked a question.
Gyeoul blinked her eyes because she hadn’t been expecting to be asked such a thing. After a short silence, she opened her mouth.
“When I was young…”
Lifting her head, she looked at the sky. Her sapphire eyes glistened under the moonlight.
“There was someone who did the same to me. He gave me delicious food, a warm bed, and treasured me without wishing for anything in return.”
Reminiscing in those memories made her delightful, yet bitterly homesick.
Gyeoul whispered as if she was in a dream.
“He said he had a similar benefactor when he was young. And there was something he requested of me.”
There was a gift that once began as an encouragement to life.
That was conveyed down from a certain middle-aged woman to Yu Jitae; and from Yu Jitae down to Gyeoul.
– Later if you see a child that needs your help…
– Help them out at least once.
And now it was Gyeoul’s turn. Her gift had been conveyed down to these boys.
“In the future, if you see children suffering from hunger and pain.
“Then please be nice to them without asking for anything in return.”
They replied with falling tears.
“…We will etch it into our souls.”
The gift will continue being shared down.
Into the distant future, to children Gyeoul did not know of.