"Ha-ah.. ha-ah.. ha-ah.."

When I lifted my palms to cover the sky, sunlight came through my fingers, shining red to the inside of my skin, and I could see it burning me.

I filled my mouth with air to endure the momentum, but it was not enough.

The muscles come to the limit and tremble 

ust holding the center of the body consumed my mental power.

30 minutes after I went up the mountain with my dad, my physical strength was on the floor.

"Whoa... whoa... Dad, I'm going to go up now. I'm tired."

My father, who was walking in front of me, comforted me with a light smile under the sun's backlight. 

"Are you really going to give up here? It's normal just a little while away." 

"I think you said that earlier. I'm going back home."

"Okay, well, let's go back. Oh, that's too bad. We're almost at the top. It would have been great if we reached the top."

My dad smiled significantly when I stopped moving for a while.

"...why?"

"Now, let's imagine it in our heads. Eat the sweet pie that your friend Leah made for you and enjoy the cool breeze.

The wind evaporates the sweat on your skin and your tongue falls into a sweet pie.

And how's the view? You became a giant from a high place, and you could enjoy a new world by looking at a village that was much smaller than you!

But I can't. If you want to go back, you have to go back.

I understand and respect your opinion. Yeah, well, let's go back!"

"..."

Dad passed me down without saying anything. When I stood still without moving, my dad asked me with an innocent face.

"What's wrong, Fre? Aren't you coming down quickly?" 

I looked elsewhere, took my back and tapped my foot with my heel.

Uh-huh. We can't go down without eating Leah's pie. Leah might get upset if I don't eat it. Leah gets scared when she's upset."

"Oh really? If Leah's the reason, we can't help it."

I wanted to climb the mountain again, but I didn't want to get caught by my dad.

So I calmly hid my heart by mentioning Leah's pie.

Dad was so naive to be deceived by the words that he climbed the mountain with me again.

"As expected, I'm evil hehehe."

After that, the summit was visible in front of me when I left the dense forest of trees for an hour.

Maybe I was the one who was deceived.

"It's finally normal. We did it! We did it!"

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.”

I was exhausted and fell on the rock like a liquid.

"Daddy, did you cheat on me?"

When I expressed my resentment, my father also lied down next to me.

Son, what's the standard of being close to the top? Do you think it's close if you get there in 5 minutes?"

It depends on the situation since it's 5 minutes, but I thought it was a short time to think of it as a distance to travel.

"Uh, yeah, like five minutes. It's close if it's a distance."

"Son, if you grow up well and have a strong body and a strong mind, you will be able to break through here in five minutes from there."

"What? It just took me an hour, and it's ridiculous."

"Okay, so if you succeed, will you admit it? You're my son, so you can do everything I can because you resemble me."

"Really?"

"Oh, of course. What do you want me to show you now? Wait five minutes."

Dad stood up right away and was ready to run away. I reached out and pulled my dad's collar quickly.

"Wait, Dad."

"What's wrong?"

"It's okay. You don't have to look at it's okay."

"Then I can't prove what I said."

"I don't care about that anymore. It must have been hard for me, but my dad must have had a hard time coming up. We look alike, don't we?"

When my dad heard that, he looked satisfied and patted my head.

"Yeah, I hope you'll keep that in mind. I'm glad you're such a nice kid."

Dad held my hand and raised me up. 

"Son, stand up and look around."

At that moment, I felt that the world was expanding around me.

The endless blue sky and the magnificence of hundreds of thousands of clusters of green trees opened my eyes to the new world.

The blue sky was always visible, but now there is little in the way of vision, so even the same sky was completely different.

It felt new to see everything under my feet.

(Did I cross all of this?)

When I realized that I truly understood the feelings of natural beauty, highness, and achievement, my heart suddenly started to whine and resonate.

The echo of this heart has been more intense than any stimulus in my life so far.

"Oh,. oh.."

I felt like I was going to devote my whole life to the mountain.

"Daddy, what the hell is that mountain?”

I pointed my finger at the silver mountain, which rises much higher than this mountain.

Then Dad grabbed my finger and said,

"It's still early for you. You'd better not pay attention.”

The father's expression, which he said like that, became a bitter look for a moment, and then changed to a smile again.

"That mountain, so to speak, is the last step in the world of mountain climbing.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

But you've barely crossed the safest mountain in town."

"What do you mean?”

Dad looked at the far sky and said,

"In short, you're a beginner, and that's the final step.”

My heart, looking at the silver mountain, began to beat fast.

"Final stage... I'm gonna have to..."

Dad blocked my view and took out Leah's pie.

"Come on, let's have a delicious pie!"

After that, I enjoyed the pie my friend made me at the top of the mountain with my dad and felt the fresh wind on my skin.

After a happy time, I went down the mountain with trembling steps. When I arrived at the village, the sky was dark.

However, there was a building that stood out the most in the village at night, and the building was clearly emitting scarlet light through the windows.

I pointed my finger at the building.

"Daddy. Dad."

"What's wrong?"

"What's that building? It's night and it's shining red like the sun."

"Oh, that's a blacksmith shop" 

"The blacksmith shop?"

"Okay, would you like to go in?"

When I went into a blacksmith's shop with my father, I immediately noticed a familiar face.

"Reah?"

"Oh! Pre!"

Leah, the girl who made me a pie today, came running with her hands stretched out with great spirit.

When I was daunted and dodged sideways, Leah subtly turned her ankle and flew in the direction I avoided.

"Gasp!"

At the same time as the bone was bent, a itchy voice came to my ears.

"What are you doing here, Fre?"

"I said my dad would show me around here."

"Really? I came here with my dad."

"It's the same."

As usual, it's better to meet someone you know in an unexpected place,

Let's look beyond Leah's shoulder, who is full of love. 

There was someone who was believed to be Leah's father, and I felt jealous in the gray eyes looking at me. 

Leah's dad muttered quietly to himself.

"Leah doesn't do that to me. To me..."

The gaze was so intense that Leah carefully pushed Leah with weak force and signaled.

"Leah, that's enough."

Leah smiled small and looked playful when she heard it.

No, I don't want to! I'll never let you go!"

And I've been tightening my body. As a result, Leah's father's look at me became more serious.

"scare.."

"What?"

"I'm scared. Stop it."

"You two are a scary family."

After being released from bondage by my father's mediation, I went to the front of the golden-colored liquid in the blacksmith's cage, exuding curiosity.

The more I looked at it, the thicker and dreamy I felt, so I kept looking at it.

Just by getting close, the hot heat swept over the skin, forcing me to wrap my face with both hands.

"Daddy, what is this?"

Dad answered with a smile as always.

"a blast furnace, molten metal. It's so hot that if you put your hands in, your hands will melt in no time."

"Oh, I see."

I saw the golden liquid once again and this time I felt scared, so I took a step back. But my dad said something weird. 

"Okay, well, why don't we put our hands in?"

At the moment, I didn't understand what you were saying, so I looked at my father and looked at him with my mouth open and a blank look on my face.

"What? Where hand in?"

Dad approached the furnace with a breath in his palm. 

"Yap!"

It would have been a joke to hear normally, but now it sounds more creepy than any other sound.

I saw my father put his hand in the furnace water.

Everyone in this place had big eyes.

The calm father's face shriveled from the center and gave a painful scream.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! My hand! My hand! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

What's going on right now?’

I was frozen by the shock, but when I understood the situation, my whole body trembled.

As soon as my world collapsed, I lost my balance and fell, I immediately got up and burst into tears and ran to my father.

"Daddy!"

"My hand! My hand! My hand!" 

Dad collapsed on the floor and curled up like hugging his hand.

I kept hitting my dad on the back and sobbing.

"Hand! Hand! Are you okay? Oh, my! What should I do? Dad, your hands are melting!"

"My hand... my hand! Ta-da! You're fine." 

The father took out his hand that was wrapped in his arms and showed it.

The hand was cleaned without any marks of burn, let alone melting.

"The truth is, this is..."

"What are you doing with your son? He's crying!"

Next to me was Leah with a spiteful face. Dad made a blank expression and apologized if he had nothing to say.

"Uh, sorry. I was joking around a lot."

Then Leah looked at me and hugged me as if she was protecting me with an infinitely sweet face.

"Are you all right?"

"Uh, uh, yeah."

lt wasn't okay at all. My eyes were showing as much white as possible with the pupils contracted.

For me, Leah, whose expression changes quickly rather than his father's prank, was the most frightening.

She had a face that seemed to kill people until just now, but now she's so warm. If I did something wrong, Leah's face seemed to change like a different person in an instant.

Can a person's expression change so quickly?

I swallowed the words, "Don't come to me because I'm scared of you more," and vowed not to do anything nonsense to Leah.

I asked my dad about what he just did to change the cold atmosphere. Dad explained what just happened with excitement as his face brightened up again.

"You know when a liquid is heated, it becomes a gas, right?

When I put my hand into the furnace water, the moisture on the surface of my hand quickly evaporated due to the huge temperature difference and became gas.

As a gas membrane formed on the surface of the hand, there was an empty space between the water in the furnace and my hand and the furnace did not actually touch the water!

So it's safe to put your hands in and take them out quickly before the moisture evaporates."

"Oh, I see. That's a good idea."

"Would you like to try it yourself?"

I answered quickly and quickly.

"No, thanks. I'm okay." 

"Oh, yeah, never again."

Dad's eyes were not on me when he answered.

Leah was staring fiercely at her father from behind.

"Try it again. Try it."

As the atmosphere was about to cool down again, Leah's dad said to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. 

"I'd like to go out for a moment and talk to you alone, is that okay?"

"What story?" 

"The secret stories of men."

"Okay, good."

 As soon as I heard it, I was curious and accepted the proposal lightly. 

Leah's dad looked at my dad and said,

"Please."

"You're leaving me with this kid?"

"Yeah, don't be ridiculous. It won't be long."

"Fre's father, we'll talk for a while. I think we need a long story."

"Uh..."

Leah, who had a scary expression just now, smiled again without any problem, and I got goosebumps.

'I'm gonna keep my distance from Leah from tomorrow.'

"Come on, let's go."

Leaving her father with a sad face behind, she followed Leah's father out of the blacksmith's house. The night air was quite chilly coming out of the hot blacksmith's shop.

But I felt fresh at the same time, so I didn't feel bad. The hazy mind suddenly awakened.

Perhaps we were intoxicated by the heat of the blacksmith's cage, and our actions became a little violent.

Leah's dad led me to a very dark alleyway, where we sat on a box of just the right size, relying on the starlight.

After a brief silence, I saw a silhouette of a person looking into the air as if confessing to the stars.

Leah's dad brought it up first.

"I once gave my all, for my dream."

I gave everything for my dream. When I heard this, I thought it was very romantic, but I felt that the presence in my eyes was so fragile. Even though he looked scary when he was by Leah's side.

"But I couldn't achieve my dream."

"Why? How could you do that?"

I soon realized that I asked a rude question.

"I didn't have the talent."

I didn't know him very well, so I had nothing to say hastily.

"I gave everything to my dreams, and I thought I lost everything because I couldn't achieve them.

When I returned to my hometown after a long time, there was no trace of me, and there was no place to go back, no one who remembered me."

"But now... There's Leah, too. I'm... I'm here, too"

I wanted to comfort the man who said this because he looked so pathetic, but he didn't listen to me and kept talking.

"It may be provocative to you, young man, but I was trying to sort things out and disappear from this world."

Should we really do that if we lose everything? Is that the only way to do it? Can't we start all over again?

I'm sure a restart life would be better than the first time, but now I'm not completely convinced by my uncle's words.

In order to resist the backlash mind, he clenched his fist and made his fingernails dig into his palm.

 "Then I saw a baby abandoned on the street. I thought that the baby lost everything because he had only his parents when he was born."

The man's voice began to tremble and he pulled his head off like a tear. I felt that a shocking story would begin that would not be compared to earlier.

"I had a really horrible and dirty idea. The baby's in the same boat as me, so let's..."

"You live with a baby because in the same boat?"

"Let's disappear together. In this world"

Oh my god.

"I held the baby and headed high.

Until now, the baby has been looking at my face without crying or struggling.

Just as I got there and I was about to fall.

This tiny, infinitely tender being opened his little lips and said to me,  papa."

'papa.."

When I heard that, I realized what I was about to do and cried like a day when I didn't achieve my dream.

At the same time, I'm with this baby right now."

I asked carefully.

"Maybe the baby's name is..." 

"That's the name you think it is. I started living my life again from that day. Whenever I see Leah, I always want to say sorry and thank her. Leah is the most precious thing to me right now." 

"I see."

"But it seems like my daughter has been showing a lot of affection and interest in you lately, and she's always talking about you."

I felt the he's gaze toward me as he was looking into space.

"I honestly don't like you. From the fangs of the devil... No, I'm not talking about this. Anyway, I'll tell you once and for all, whatever you are, I'll get rid of the person who makes my daughter cry."

My eyes opened wide with sudden hostility and my whole body was strengthened to endure it.

"Huh!"

"I'm sorry, I won't say this next time. I hope you don't tell this story to anyone else." 

I couldn't calm down easily, so I managed to nod my head up and down mechanically.

After that, he went back to the blacksmith's house with his father and slept under the blanket.

What was Leah's dad trying to tell me?’

As I tossed and turned, I was convinced that many things that happened today would remain as strong memories of my childhood for the rest of my life.

.

.

.

And as I just became an adult, I was looking at the silver mountain.

"Let's go."