episode_0006

It was the worst possible timing.

As the sun disappears, their vision becomes dark and a beast of a strange shape blocks their path.

The two people were greatly embarrassed by this unexpected situation.

Camilla, who had been hiding behind a tree and watching the strangely shaped beast, asked him in a small voice.

“Ra.. Raon.. Is that.. a bear…?”

Her voice was full of doubt, not confidence.

The reason was that the appearance of the beast blocking their path was so hideous.

The silhouette hidden in the shadows resembled at first glance the shape of an animal commonly called a bear.

The beast was illuminated by the soft moonlight and the wind brought by the moon revealed its gruesome and horrific appearance.

Its body was so thin that it was hard to even call it alive, and its bones, which should not be visible because they were buried in flesh, were clearly visible. All of these things made it impossible for Camilla to tell if it was a bear or something in bear skin, so she asked Raon, who had lived in this mountain for many years.

“………”

Raon also couldn’t easily open his mouth at the shocking sight of the bear.

To cut to the chase, what was blocking their path was, as she had expected, a bear.

But if you ask how the bear blocking their path changed into such a horrifying appearance…

‘Because he was eliminated in the food competition..’

The reason was that the bear right in front of us was an individual that had lost in the competition for food with its own kind and was eliminated.

The land and the sea are the home and source of all life.

All new life forms born in this world live and spread out in this world while receiving blessings from the earth and the ocean.

When they are hungry, they give them food. They provide them with a place to live. They show their merciful love to all living beings born into the world.

Likewise, many lives live, breathe, and thrive in mountains.

However, unlike the land and the ocean, mountains have a relatively small area.

Of course, it is not to say that there are few of them, but their size is very small compared to the ocean and land.

Therefore, mountains form a relatively simple ecological pyramid compared to other landforms.

To give a simple example, plants that grow using water and sunlight as nutrients are at the bottom. Insects and animals that eat them are in the middle. Predators that hunt these animals are the entities at the top of the ecological pyramid.

And among the top predators, there was also a bear.

Despite their massive strength and size, their endurance and physical strength are not easily overlooked, making them top predators in no time.

With this power, the bear was the true master of the mountain, positioned at the head of the top predators.

However, even though they have the nickname of the true masters of the mountain, not all bears in the world have superior strength.

Among various entities, including humans, some are born with stronger powers than normal individuals, but on the other hand, some are born with weaker powers as well.

The bear that appeared before them was also undoubtedly a weakling, incomparable to its superior compatriots.

Because of that, they would not have been able to save their own territory or hunt for food, and it seems certain that they were naturally eliminated and transformed into this hideous appearance.

There was one part that left me with some questions.

Why did bears that live in other mountains end up coming down to this distant mountain?

Originally, bears did not live on this mountain. Therefore, other top predators took the place of bears on this mountain, and occasionally, a bear that crossed paths would invade the mountain.

Such individuals did not appear as thin or feeble as the bear before their eyes.

All the bears that Raon had encountered so far had shiny fur, and when they realized that their paths were different, they obediently bit each other.

However, the bear, sniffing around with its thin nose, was showing a different behavior from the bears I had met so far.

It wasn’t long before Raon was able to figure out why the bear had abandoned its habitat and come this far.

‘No way… to find something to eat…?’

The reason the bear came all this way was to avoid competition with its own kind and to establish a new home.

He had come all the way to the mountain where Raon’s house was located in search of a new home.

When he realized this, he felt as if his mind was turning blank.

My mind goes blank like a blank sheet of paper in a situation I’ve never experienced before. I don’t know what to do.

Living in a remote area where people do not set foot for a long time, I have experienced countless things that cannot be expressed in words.

From small encounters with wild animals to major situations where your only life may be lost.

He had to learn how to survive in the wild without parents at a young age, which taught him how to survive alone and how to overcome adversity.

The bear that appeared before them today was enough to make Raon freeze.

The bear’s two eyes glow red in the moonlight, giving it a creepy appearance.

After a long period of hunger, only instinct remains and they hover around, smelling their scent carried by the wind.

Bears have a very keen sense of smell and can smell prey up to 5 km away.

If the bear had been driven mad by hunger and its ferocity had been redoubled, it would have been even more sensitive.

The bear had already smelled their scent on the wind and was pacing around them, trying to find them while keeping its footsteps as quiet as possible.

Following their faint scent…

That is why Raon trembled in fear at this terrible situation.

“Raon…!”

Camilla, seeing him like this, looked at him and held his hand tightly, which was trembling with fear.

“Ah.. Camilla…”

He was barely able to come to his senses when his cold hands became warm with her warmth.

He was frozen in fear in an unexpected situation, but Camilla’s actions brought him to his senses.

She let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his eyes looking at her as if they had come back to life.

“Thank goodness.. Are you okay now, Raon?”

“Yes.. Thanks to you, I was able to come to my senses. Thank you, Camilla.”

Raon, who noticed her worried gaze, seemed to have come to his senses and answered with a small smile. She also seemed to be relieved at Raon’s appearance and they looked at each other.

A dark mountain. We feel warmth as we gaze into each other’s eyes.

The warmth of your tightly held hands mixes together, creating a warmth that makes you forget even the cold night wind.

Her calloused hands, which have been rolling around on countless battlefields over the years, saving and taking countless lives.

Even though her hands were rough and rugged, the warmth she carried was definitely transmitted to him.

The two looked at each other in silence, feeling each other’s warmth.

The two looked at each other for a while without saying a word, and then their faces both turned red at the same time and they let go of the hands they were holding and said.

“Still… I don’t think that bear knows our exact location. So let’s run away before he finds out our exact location..!”

“Yes..! Of course.. Then run away quickly and avoid the bear!”

The two people who were looking at each other quickly let go of each other’s hands as their faces turned red.

Given the circumstances, they need to get out of this place quickly.

They were now the prey of a ferocious bear, and it was still targeting them at this very moment.

Even if a bear is skinny and hungry, a bear is still a bear.

Even if they are the lowest and weakest in the group, this only applies to them.

Basically, the strength that a bear possesses is so great that a human male can’t even hand out a business card, so choosing to fight it head-on was no different from not valuing one’s own life.

So, Raon and Camilla started to carefully leave the place, trying to avoid the guy and making less noise.

During that process, Camilla’s heart, which was looking at Raon’s back, was beating like crazy as if it would burst at any moment.

It wasn’t because of the fear of being chased by something.

The feeling and warmth we felt when we held each other’s hands.

All the private emotions she felt at that moment made her heart beat like crazy.

She walked behind him, secretly caressing her callused hands and savoring the warmth of Raon that remained faintly.