EP1. It all started (5)
“Shaun! How many acorns did you pick up?”
I was in a wide clearing in the back of the mountain, and Levi shouted as he ran from afar.
Looking at it, he seemed to have piled up acorns using a magic book as a pedestal.
Is it right to use it for that purpose?
I wondered for a moment, but then I shouted at Levi, who was staggering and running.
“Come slowly! Then I will fall!”
“Ah, how many times have I climbed this mountain, but I haven’t fallen this far!”
Of course, as Levy said, the number of times we climbed this mountain is uncountable, but Levy, who says so, fell once last week.
I don’t know why you’re so anxious.
Of course, what I can say is that he’s just a child, but Levy is too clumsy when he’s excited, so I’m often worried that he’ll fall and get hurt.
Levy arrived in front of me, took a moment to catch his breath, looked around and said.
“Anyway, I can’t see any squirrels today. I was going to give you acorns…”
Once I heard it, I was right.
Originally, I don’t know how I didn’t get these acorns when I collected them, but the squirrels always gathered next to Levi and begged for acorns.
Especially in this vacant lot where we are, usually when we were playing, the squirrels would watch from the side to see if they knew we were coming.
But today, I feel like I can’t see the animals very well.
I tried to suggest another way, lest Levy be disappointed.
“Then how about going to the lake in the forest? There are always a lot of squirrels there too.”
At my words, Levy seemed to think for a moment, then shook his head and said.
“No, I hate that.”
“Why? In fact, isn’t the lakeside better than the back mountain?”
Levy may not know, but at least that’s what I thought. There’s not much to see in the back mountain, only acorn trees and squirrels.
Of course, I don’t know what’s inside the mountain because I haven’t been there. However, the mountain was not well paved, so no one dared to go inside the mountain.
Levy answered my question as if it were natural.
“That’s right, villagers often go to the forest! I love the back mountain! It’s like our own secret hideout, isn’t it?”
Hmm… That’s definitely true.
Adults always make fun of us when we play.
Mostly me and Levi are a married couple, or something like that…
“Then what should I do? Isn’t it boring to just wait for the squirrels to come out?”
“Hmmm…, Aha! I have a good idea!”
“Good idea?”
I’m anxious. For some reason, when Levy puts on such a confident expression, I feel uneasy for some reason.
I was worried that he might be trying to do something strange.
“We are calling the squirrel ourselves!”
Contrary to what I expected, Levy gave a fairly plain answer.
I thought Levi would give a very shocking answer.
No, by the way, calling squirrels?
Will the squirrels that haven’t come out while collecting acorns suddenly come out just because we call?
I thought it wasn’t me.
“How are you going to call the squirrel?”
“Shawn doesn’t know that either? You can call me by name!”
Calling names? Do you want to know what the squirrel’s name is?
Regardless of my thoughts, Levy put his hands to his mouth and called for a squirrel.
“Squirrel! It’s a squirrel! Where are you? Would you like to come with me?”
Aha, calling by name was just calling the name of a species called squirrel. Well, I’m an idiot for understanding that the squirrels are calling each one by name.
Apart from that, what Levy was doing seemed meaningless no matter how he looked at it.
“Levi, stop it. There’s no way squirrels will really come out like that…”
Take- Take-
“Wow! Shawn! Look. The squirrel is here. Also I’m smart! hehehe.”
Oh my god, does that really work? It’s ridiculous.
Anyway, I can’t admit that Levi is smart. It was because he clearly remembered Levy, who said he still understood the magic book with earthworms.
That squirrel, what will happen to me if you come out of there?
Then, suddenly, I remembered one of the stories her grandmother told me when she was little.
Could it be that Levi is a legendary druid?
Her grandmother told me that druids were her natural friends, and that all animal friends and plants moved according to the druid’s will.
If you think about it, Levy has always followed animals well.
When I gave him acorns, he didn’t even eat them, so it was a bit suspicious that he always clings to Levi.
Well, I know that it can’t be true. Yes, Levi is just an ordinary girl from our village.
Moreover, at the end of the story her grandmother told her, she said that the druids disappeared a long time ago after all, and that she has never returned since.
“Oops! Squirrel, where are you going! Come here. Oh, no!”
After thinking about Levi’s true identity for a while, I stopped thinking about her at Levi’s cry and turned my attention.
“Levy? What’s the matter?”
“Shawn…, That’s a squirrel, black. They stole my acorns and ran away.”
I thought something big had happened again. By the way, the squirrel ran away?
As expected, Levi wasn’t a druid. Well, if you’re a druid, the squirrel won’t run away.
Even more so, stealing the acorns that Levi had and running away.
“Oh, I’m back! Hey! Stay still. You guy!”
As Levy said, a squirrel came out of the grass. The squirrel was holding the acorns it had taken from Levi earlier with both hands.
Levy crept towards the squirrel.
The squirrel, who had been watching that scene, seemed to climb on top of Levy’s hand when Levy came up to her and gently held out her hand… Then quickly turned around and ran away!
“Evil! This squirrel guy! Are we going to do it!? Okay. I will chase you until I catch you!”
Ah, looking at it, Levy’s anger has gone all the way. If that’s the case, I won’t be angry until I see the end.
As I expected, Levi took the magic book he had put on the ground and chased the squirrel.
No, now is not the time to stare at this blankly. Even though this mountain is on the small side, there are no roads properly, and because the forest is so thick, if you get lost, you could be in trouble.
More importantly, even if Levy and I climbed up the back mountain, we had never been to more than this empty lot, and now the place where Levi chased the squirrel is in the opposite direction of the village.
I finished my thoughts and immediately started running after Levi. And shouted at Levi.
“Levy! Come back! It’s dangerous to go further!”
Fortunately, I haven’t lost sight of Levy yet, but maybe he didn’t hear me, or he just ignored me because he was too excited, and he just kept running.
This is going to be a big deal! I kept running after Levi.
I wonder why the girl has such good stamina. But fortunately, Levi’s voice was heard in front of me.
“···Levi, stop it and let’s go home now! Panting.”
Then this time, Levy’s voice was heard from afar, even quieter than before.
“Shaun! Come fast! I caught the naughty squirrel!”
It’s fortunate. Still, I walked over to Levy, relieved that his anger would be relieved now.
That time when I was walking towards the place where I heard the voice.
Suddenly, I heard something from the bush next to me.
The grass began to shake with the sound of squatting. I looked at the bushes where the noise came from.
I still can’t see anything in the bushes. In my mind, I quickly ignored it and yelled at Levi to go, but I couldn’t move.
For some reason, it reminded me of what Luke hyung told me then.
“Sean, if you see a beast in the woods, or even if it’s not a beast, once you notice that there’s something around you, you have to stop what you’re doing, hold your breath, and be still. Never run away just because you’re scared or make a big fuss! Then the animals get excited more easily and attack. Got it?”
Of course I know. There are no beasts that can be a threat in the back mountain.
Because I’ve played with Levi countless times in this back mountain. Perhaps no one has been to the mountains as many times as we have.
And I had never seen a big beast while walking around the mountains like that. Those guys will come out only after crossing the forest lake and entering the deep forest.
But. Maybe if
No one went to the depths of the back mountain. So deep down there may be dangerous animals unlike I expected.
At the same time, rustling noises continued to be heard in the bushes.
Why is it only now that these thoughts flash through me like this!
For now, as my brother advised, I stood still. If you are a scary beast, please just pass by.
I thought I had gone in the bush, but I noticed it once.
With that kind of tension, I had a brief fight with the being in the bush.
Then, the being that finally made a presence in the bush slowly began to emerge.
I gulped.
What if it’s a wild boar or a wolf? Or even a bear?
Can you fight back? Wouldn’t it be better to run away?
The moment he had already taken a step out to run away, the being finally fully revealed itself in the thicket.
Meow. It was a wild cat crying.
I looked at the bobcat emerging from the bush. As soon as the wildcat met my eyes, it turned around and went back into the bush and disappeared.
“…Ugh.”
For some reason, it felt like all the energy in my body was draining.
By the way, I’ve only seen wildcats once in my grandmother’s animal picture book.
Hmm. What Luke said is wrong. The biggest animal on the back mountain was not a rabbit, but a bobcat.
I had this stupid thought, probably because I was relaxed. Looking at it, do you feel like you forgot something?
···Oops! I completely forgot about Levi!
In the face of a serious life-threatening problem, I had completely forgotten about Levy.
But something is strange. If I’m late like this, isn’t Levy supposed to come looking for me?
I called Levy out of some uneasiness.
“Levy!”
But there was no answer.
Feeling more and more uneasy, I hurriedly ran to the place where Levy called me earlier.
“Levy?”
But there was no one there either. My eyes went dark.
I looked around for a while. It could be that Levy was hiding nearby as a practical joke. Expecting that.
But after looking around for several minutes, Levy was nowhere to be found.
I realized. It’s such a big deal.
By the time that thought popped into my head, when I came to my senses, I was running like crazy.
Without a set destination, without any rules, I ran in all directions and shouted.
“Levy! Levi, where are you! Please answer me! Levi…! . . . Levy.”
After wandering around for a while, at some point I realized that the place I was standing in was a completely unfamiliar place.
I too have lost my way.
It shouldn’t be like this. I had to stay calm. I took a slow breath and thought.
A lot of negative thoughts came to my mind, but I tried to erase them and conversely, I tried to come up with only good thoughts.
No. No matter how much I tried to drive out the negative thoughts, only the worst things continued to linger in my head. Suddenly, I remembered the situation in the bush earlier.
At that time, fortunately, a wildcat came out. It was my misunderstanding that it would be dangerous. But what if it wasn’t?
I first knew that wildcats were on this mountain. Neither Uncle Joe nor Brother Luke had ever told me about it, so they probably didn’t know either.
That means other animals besides lynxes can also be found deep in these mountains. The wild boar, wolf, or bear I was thinking of earlier.
As I stood still and thought, I felt that the soles of my feet were very sore.
My old shoes were completely worn out from running in the mountains for a long time, and I couldn’t even wear them anymore.
I took off my shoes and looked at the soles of my feet. I did get a few blisters, but luckily there didn’t seem to be any major problems.
But just in case, I’ll go see Riel noona later.
So, as I was looking down, I saw a huge tree branch moving smoothly.
Oh my God! Looking closely, it was not a tree branch, but a snake!
I thought for a moment whether I should stay still like before, but luckily the snake was still quite far away, so I cautiously stepped back and got completely away from the snake.
From noble mtl dot com.
Fortunately, I found the snake in advance and ran away, but my worries only grew.
My head was filled with worries about Levy.
It was me who happened to see the snake quickly, so it was fine.
But what about Levy? What if Levy didn’t find it and was bitten by a snake? I heard that snakes have terrible poison…
Until now, I was simply worried about Levy getting lost, but now it’s different. In fact, it was confirmed that animals that can pose a threat to life live in this mountain. Levi is really dangerous!
I wondered if I should go back to the village and ask the villagers for help. But that method also had problems. Now I don’t know the way to the village, and if I ask the village for help and find Levi, it might be really late.
What should I do?
I can’t stay still like this. As time goes by, Levy will become more dangerous.
I made up my mind right away. Let’s keep looking for Levi for now. I decided to leave asking the village for help as a last resort.
Then how do we find Levy? First of all, don’t wander around. I’ve been doing that until just now, but I’ve lost my way and things have gotten worse.
I soon came up with two plans. Are you going down the mountain or going up the mountain?
Since I don’t know where the direction of the village is, I chose the height rather than the direction of the mountain.
After thinking about it for a while, I decided to head down the mountain.
Probably believing that if Levy knew he was lost, he would definitely go down.
You have to go down to get out of the mountain anyway, right?
Actually, there is a possibility that my thoughts are wrong. That’s because we can’t fully know Levi’s situation.
But you have to believe it. Levi must have gone down.
After making up my mind like that, I started to descend from the mountain.
It never leaves my head. The worry that you might be wrong doesn’t go away.
Maybe the snake from earlier appeared and bit you and collapsed on the spot, desperately looking for me.
A lot of anxiety came over me, but I kept forcing myself to think about something else to shake off those thoughts.
In the old stories her grandmother told her when she was young, the things I liked were fixed.
A story of a hero, an anecdote of an adventurer. Legend of heroes.
Those stories are strangely not all the same, but slightly different.
A fairy tale that defeats the devil and lives happily with the princess.
The legend of defeating the evil dragon and saving the continent.
A heroic story of defeating a bad king and becoming a new king after winning a war.
I found one thing in common in all these different stories.
The main character always overcomes his ordeal with his own strength and meets a happy ending.
The same goes for me now. It’s a bit difficult right now, but with a little more effort, I’ll be able to save Levy and return home safely.
I can tell.
That you are waiting for me.
So I gathered my strength and continued to call Levi and descended from the mountain.
“Levy! Answer me if you can hear me!”
At some point, as if I had come down completely from the mountain, I walked for a while not on an incline but on a flat surface.
That means we are about to leave the mountain, but since the surrounding scenery is unfamiliar, this must be the other side of the village.
At that moment, your voice was heard outside the thick grass and trees.
“Shaun? Here it is! Come fast!”
“Levy…? …Levy! I’ll go! Hang in there!”
You’re all right. I’m so glad really.
I ran towards the exit of the brightly lit mountain where I could hear Levi’s voice.
As I ran, I was sure Levy was safe, completely relaxed, and I thought for a moment.
Come to think of it, I’ve never been to the other side of the mountain. What’s here?
Could there be forgotten ancient ruins or undiscovered dungeons?
Well, that can’t be right?
Where is Levy?
I kept running. A small amount of light streamed in through the cracks in the thick trees.
Finally leaving the tired mountain, I frowned at the bright light for a moment, then slowly opened my eyes and looked ahead.
And that scene I saw for the first time.
It’s amazingly beautiful.
I could only stare blankly.
Above the endless fields.
Tens of thousands of flowers spreading brightly and filling the ground without gaps.
A warm sunset sinking down before you know it.
And you, who became one in that beautiful scenery.
You looked at the sunset with your back turned and smiled brightly as you looked back at me.
When I saw that, I realized.
Today this day.
This dazzlingly beautiful sight.
And
I will never forget your smile.