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"Guys, the river current is gone! It disappeared… it's cut off!"
Rogi shouted urgently, saying whatever came to mind.
"Huh? What's cut off?" Leo asked back.
"The river current is gone!" Rogi shouted again.
The others didn't understand what Rogi meant. But strangely, Eti understood immediately and shouted:
"The boat is going to fall…."
At Eti's words, Leo grasped the situation and shouted loudly:
"It's a waterfall!"
The children were terrified.
Leo hurriedly looked ahead at the river. They were at a very high point, and the turtle boat was about to be swept by the current and fall down to the ground.
Leo shouted toward EAT:
"EAT, it's a waterfall! It's really high here—we're going to fall!"
But EAT didn't even have the capacity to take care of himself right now.
The boat rushed faster and faster toward the waterfall, and the children were frozen in fear.
At that moment, Pai urgently shouted at Yona:
"Yona, take out everything you have! Anything!"
At Pai's desperate words, Yona thought:
"Anything?"
Then she quickly recalled Pai's story.
"Wait…"
Yona muttered to herself.
"Pai's story… Pai's ability… what Pai wanted…"
Pai had once asked Yona for the ability to communicate with animals and plants, and the power to heal anyone.
At that moment, Yona came up with an idea to overcome the crisis—but there was no time to explain it.
The boat was already about to fall off the cliff.
Yona shouted urgently at Pai:
"Pai… shout! Scream! Shout for help—shout for someone to save us!"
Pai became angry, thinking Yona was saying something ridiculous at such a critical moment.
"That's your solution?! Who's going to help us, you idiot!"
Yona was serious, but there was no time to explain.
"Pai, please! You have to scream! You have to shout for help!"
Pai grew even angrier.
"Who's going to help us, you idiot!"
At that moment, the boat lifted briefly into the air—
and then began to fall toward the ground.
All the children screamed—and Pai screamed too:
"Kyaaaaaaa—!"
As Pai screamed in fear, the countless vines wrapped around the rocks beside the waterfall began to move all at once.
The vines—the plants—had responded to Pai's scream.
They quickly caught Pai and her friends as they fell.
Then the vines carried Rogi, Eti, Dabi, Ellie, Yona, Leo, EAT, and even the turtle boat down safely.
Below the waterfall was a large pool of water, surrounded by rocks and flat ground. The vines gently placed them all there.
The children, except Pai, sighed in relief, grateful to have survived.
Meanwhile, Pai was talking with the vines in the distance.
"Thank you for saving us~"
Not only the vines, but all the surrounding plants responded to Pai.
Only Pai could hear them. The others, unaware, watched her in confusion.
Yona explained to the others that it was Pai's ability.
After the intense tension, the children began to feel hungry and thirsty, looking exhausted.
Leo placed a hand on his stomach as it growled.
"I'm so hungry."
Soon, others began saying the same.
Dabi: "Is there anything we can eat?"
Leo: "I want to go back to the study room…"
EAT: "If we leave the story now, we don't know what kind of disadvantage we'll face next time."
Yona: "Right, let's try to find food here."
Rogi: "So leaving the story anytime has consequences…"
Eti: "I'm thirsty~"
At that moment, Pai casually said:
"I want bananas."
Then Leo added:
"Wouldn't there be bananas in a place like this?"
Rogi also spoke what came to mind:
"Pineapple, coconut!"
The children started naming fruits they thought might exist in the forest.
Then Pai suddenly said:
"Huh? I think I smell fruit."
Eti called out in surprise:
"Pai unni!"
Everyone turned to Pai in shock, but Pai looked confused.
"What's wrong?"
Yona pointed behind Pai.
"Behind you!"
Pai slowly turned around.
Behind her was a huge bunch of bananas, as if someone had gathered them there.
Surprised, Pai immediately grabbed one and took a bite.
The rich, sweet flavor filled her mouth.
"Wow, this is so good!"
At Pai's words, the children rushed over and began eating bananas too.
Rogi's eyes widened.
"Wow, this is really delicious."
She had never tasted a banana like this before.
Meanwhile, Leo said nothing—he simply kept eating quickly.
"Why didn't we see these bananas before?" Dabi said, looking around.
At that moment, Ellie thought of something and called out:
"Pai! Try saying something else you want to eat!"
Rogi looked at Pai as well.
"Something else? Umm… strawberries, peaches, watermelon!"
The children watched with anticipation.
But nothing happened.
Yona looked at the bananas and said:
"Those don't grow in a place like this…"
Dabi, still peeling a banana, asked:
"Then what does grow here?"
Yona thought for a moment.
"Mango, pineapple, coconut… those should exist."
Then she added something surprising:
"Guys… I think this might be a jungle…"
Yona felt chills at her own realization and looked at her friends—
but they were only thinking about pineapple.
They didn't care about the jungle.
They stared at Pai with desperate eyes.
Pai looked toward the forest.
"I want mango, coconut, and pineapple!"
Soon, vines extended from the dense forest and brought the fruits Pai had named.
The children cheered and grabbed mangoes—
but they had never eaten them before.
They turned them around in their hands, unsure how to eat them.
"Is this a mango? How do we eat this…"
They only stared at the pineapple and coconut as well.
The children didn't know how to eat them.
EAT quickly took out a small knife, cut off the pineapple top, peeled it, and sliced it neatly onto a large leaf.
Only then did the children begin eating pineapple freely.
Leo: "It's my first time filling up on fruit!~"
Rogi: "Yeah! Haha"
Dabi: "I can't believe fruit can be a meal."
Ellie: "Seriously! Fruit can be food~"
After cutting nine pineapples, EAT collapsed.
"Ugh… I'm dying…"
Eti quickly fed him pineapple.
"It's good~ Eti is the best."
Eti laughed happily.
"Kyahehe~"
Leo picked up a coconut and examined it.
"How do we eat this? EAT, cut this too!"
Yona approached.
"You can't cut that with a small knife~"
Leo asked:
"Then how do we eat it?"
Yona thought.
"Break it?"
Leo immediately crushed the coconut with both hands.
The liquid spilled onto the ground.
"Oh… what a waste."
Leo picked up another coconut.
Yona's eyes widened.
"Leo, how did you break that?"
Before she finished, Leo broke another one.
He drank the liquid.
"Wow… this is really good."
He picked up another.
Yona moved closer.
"Leo, how did you break it?!"
Leo carefully handed her the coconut.
"Drink it, Yona~"
But Yona couldn't hold it well.
So Leo helped her drink it.
"Open wide—ah~"
After drinking, Yona felt refreshed.
"Leo! Give me more~"
Soon, everyone gathered around Leo.
He broke coconuts for them one by one.
Gradually, he became more precise.
Yona asked:
"Leo, your superhero story hasn't even started yet—why do you already have super strength?"
Leo didn't know.
Later, the children realized—
Leo wasn't just big—he was incredibly strong.
After eating, Dabi looked around.
"There's no way out."
The forest was dense with no visible path.
"Forests don't have paths unless people make them," Yona said.
Rogi added:
"Paths are made when people walk them."
Dabi was shocked.
"What? There's no path at all?"
"Then let's make one!" Ellie said.
He picked a stick and began pushing branches aside.
After a few steps—
he gave up.
"I can't do this."
Dabi looked at EAT.
"What do we do?"
The children looked at EAT.
He answered calmly:
"I don't know. Let's find a way."
Eti suggested:
"Let's use Pai!"
Pai was surprised.
"Use me?"
Leo understood.
"Pai, talk to the plants!"
Pai hesitated.
"What should I say?"
"Ask them to make a path," Leo said.
"That should work," Dabi agreed.
"Will it?" Pai asked.
Rogi pushed Pai playfully forward.
Pai walked toward the forest and whispered to the plants.
The others waited anxiously.
Then Pai gestured for them to come.
They ran toward her.
At the same time, the plants created a path.
Soon, the children walked forward.
Animals followed them curiously.
Birds chirped brightly.
The children enjoyed the forest.
Dabi walked ahead happily—
but then Yona, trying to catch up, tripped and fell.
Eti and Rogi ran to help her.
"Ah, sorry… I slipped."
Dabi turned around.
"Yona, are you okay?"
At that moment—
something burst out of the bushes and pushed Dabi.
Then it ran toward the group.
It was a strange creature none of them had seen before.
The children screamed.
Leo stepped forward and easily subdued it.
But Leo suddenly shouted:
"Dabi, watch out!"
Before Dabi could react—
a massive beast appeared behind him.
It charged and took Dabi away into the forest.
"No!! Dabi!!"
The children screamed.
EAT rushed after him—
but failed.
The beast returned and charged again.
EAT tried to stop it—
but was thrown aside.
Now it faced Leo.
Leo couldn't run—his friends were behind him.
Eti screamed.
Leo lowered his stance—
and punched the beast's nose.
With a huge impact—
the beast flew away and crashed into a tree, losing consciousness.
Leo tried to chase after Dabi—
but Dabi suddenly appeared.
"Ta-da~"
"What happened?"
The children rushed to him.
"Are you okay?"
Rogi asked.
Pai and Ellie checked him.
He was fine.
"I'm totally okay!"
Dabi laughed.
"Where's the monster?"
Eti pointed.
"That one~ Leo defeated it."
Dabi was surprised.
"What is that?"
Eti replied:
"A monster~ Leo beat it~"
Dabi asked:
"What about the one that took me?"
They looked—
but it was gone.
EAT said:
"Come out."
Pai asked:
"Who?"
Then—
a strange creature appeared.
Yellow glowing skin, purple eyes, squid-like head.
It trembled.
"Please… spare me…"
Pai shouted:
"Yona, what did you add?!"
Yona panicked.
"I didn't add anything!"
Dabi declared:
"It's a squid alien! We have to defeat the squid king!"
The creature protested.
"I'm not… a king…"
But the children got excited.
Pai realized something.
She approached Yona.
"Yona… I'm sorry."
"I was trying to make a story just for myself."
She bowed her head.
"We should have made something everyone could enjoy… I'm sorry."
Yona, exhausted, gave up.
"Do whatever you want. I don't care anymore."
-4 D END