← The Beast Who Asks
Ep. 6

A Word's Distance

2026-06-21

Cast: Keon

An afternoon when the mountain air had grown familiar.A Word's Distance #2...It's not the envelope I'm touching. It's that wrist.A Word's Distance #3Do you know how many years it's been since Geon-yul last walked someone out past the mountain?A Word's Distance #4Not just a few years. More than that.A Word's Distance #5He's... not someone who usually sees people off?A Word's Distance #6For Baek-rang to walk someone out past the mountain— it's not something that happens often.A Word's Distance #7Yesterday, at the mountain gate.A Word's Distance #8You can go. I won't stop you.A Word's Distance #9A Word's Distance #9A Word's Distance #10I pulled away... but it's still there.A Word's Distance #11Still warm. It must be because the pharmacy is warm.A Word's Distance #12Yeah. Right. That must be it. ...Like I'd been found out.A Word's Distance #13Baek-rang... doesn't usually see people off.A Word's Distance #14I don't want to see the place where I let you go. Not twice.A Word's Distance #15He said he wouldn't... And yet, he did. Still. You grabbed my wrist, didn't you.A Word's Distance #16Yeah. ...I did.Leaving the pharmacy, my steps felt heavy.The youngest's eyes trail after the outsider.Your scent's changed.A Word's Distance #20……Hello. I said your scent changed.A Word's Distance #21Not a threat. But... they're testing me.A Word's Distance #22It's not just the smell of someone who's lingered too long. What it means... we know.A Word's Distance #23What does it mean?Steps that already knew the answer.A Word's Distance #25Alpha. I know.A Word's Distance #26If there's something you need to know, come to me.A Word's Distance #27You're doing great. He said that to Saha... but it reached me too....See you.A Word's Distance #29The feeling of standing before someone without a word of explanation.A Word's Distance #30A silence that doesn't weigh, even left unfilled.A Word's Distance #31Your spot's still here. ...Nothing pulled at me.The world beyond the mountain felt even further away.Give me your hand. Huh? You're cold.A Word's Distance #34I didn't even notice... but he already knew.A Word's Distance #35That you don't even notice your own cold hands, it gets to me.A Word's Distance #36A Word's Distance #36A Word's Distance #37One word. Just one word.A Word's Distance #38Close enough that, if we touched, I'd feel the warmth.A Word's Distance #39A Word's Distance #39A Word's Distance #40...Because if I do, I'll have to decide where this moment goes.A Word's Distance #41Because they hadn't touched — that's exactly why—A Word's Distance #42My body moved before my mind could… I didn't pull my hand away.A Word's Distance #43A Word's Distance #43A Word's Distance #44Do this and you'll just make excuses about cold hands again.A Word's Distance #45The end of that — cracked.A Word's Distance #46The nape of that neck, turning away after a joke — flushed like that.It wasn't running away. You were just scared. Only from me — you couldn't hide it, in the end.……Walk.A Word's Distance #49Still unsaid — together.A Word's Distance #50Tried to remember what came after the twice-swallowed 'the truth is—'… and cut it off myself.A Word's Distance #51The wind shifted.A Word's Distance #52It's raining. It hasn't started yet. It has.A Word's Distance #53A Word's Distance #53A Word's Distance #54The path the feet memorizedThe place that parts the rainA Word's Distance #56A Word's Distance #56A Word's Distance #57The world had shrunk to this one roomA Word's Distance #58Sit.A Word's Distance #59The fire warms the back of my hand… but that one spot stays cold.A Word's Distance #60Give it here.A Word's Distance #61This time, he didn't pull awayA Word's Distance #62It's not the fire. Was his hand… always this warm?A Word's Distance #63Still cold. Here.A Word's Distance #64Those eyes were no longer weighing anythingA Word's Distance #65When scents mix… it means the pack has let someone inside. Before the mind decides, the body already counts them as its own.A Word's Distance #66Like that hand — where the body knew before the mind. And… who decided that?A Word's Distance #67Me.A Word's Distance #68Not the crowd. Not the scent. Me. I was the first one you chose. Before anyone else.A Word's Distance #69Words laid in a place long built up. Then why… did you say I could go. While holding my wrist.A Word's Distance #70……Actually.A Word's Distance #71When I grabbed your wrist, I forgot how to let go.A Word's Distance #72You… I can't let you walk away.A Word's Distance #73The distance of a single word — this time, it was closing in.A Word's Distance #74……Like this. I really can't let you go.A Word's Distance #75There, she stopped again.A Word's Distance #76I understood now — not leaving wasn't the same as refusing.A Word's Distance #77……Your hands aren't cold anymore.A Word's Distance #78I know. I think I could spend my whole life just looking at that.A Word's Distance #79Another spot, claimed by his warmth.A Word's Distance #80The reason I wasn't ready to hear it… wasn't because I feared it might be goodbye. It was because I feared it might be 'stay.'