chapter 12

Chapter 12

Father laid out the whole story.

I didn’t know if the details he recounted were true, nor whether he had embellished his motives for killing. Hearing my father speak of these past events made me unable to trust him wholeheartedly anymore.

But in any case, whether that family tried to rob him, or he impulsively broke in to steal, he killed someone.

I was silent for a long time, but soon calmed down. “Dad, come over here to me first.”

He stood at the edge of the cliff, covering his face and weeping, shaking his head vigorously. But the ground beneath his feet was loose; he lost his balance and nearly fell backward.

Father’s pupils contracted, his arms flailed, and my heart skipped a beat.

I lunged forward, grabbed him just in time, and pulled him away from the edge.

Rocks and earth tumbled down the cliff, vanishing without a sound, only the mountain wind howling. Father gasped for breath, his expression dazed.

Fortunately, it was a close call but no harm done.

I knew my father feared death. Rationally, he wanted to end it all, but when the moment truly arrived, he couldn’t be as calm as he imagined.

I held his hand and said, “Dad, it’s too high here. Let’s walk down a bit, so you can see how high it is.”

Father let me lead him, offering no resistance. So we circled to the side, heading slowly down toward the river valley.

The path down the mountain was treacherous and unmarked. We stumbled along for two hours before finally reaching the flat ground at the bottom of the valley.

Directly above us was the cliff from before, towering and distant, half-hidden among the layers of vegetation on the mountainside, leaving only a sharp tip visible.

I looked up and said, “It’s so high. If you jumped, it would hurt a lot.”

Father replied, “I don’t have any other way.”

Dusk had fallen, the sky aglow with sunset. The wind swept through the valley, rustling and cold.

At that moment, I felt a calm yet terrifying gaze.

Looking around, I found a sheep not far away, staring at us. It watched so quietly, like a detached observer.

A chill ran through me.