After the monkey was killed, Goldie immediately came running back.

When the monkey had attacked with its first lightning strike, the little squirrel had vanished into safety without even a second of hesitation.

Seeing it return now, Oliver couldn’t help but snort and whisper,

"You are back, little coward?"

Goldie immediately stuck out his tongue before climbing onto Oliver’s shoulder again and settling down comfortably. His shamelessness was honestly impressive.

Oliver meanwhile looked toward Theo and began praising him.

After all, he firmly believed that flattering people was one of the most important skills if you wanted something from them later.

"Theo, you really are amazing."

Theo looked slightly embarrassed and scratched the back of his head.

"It wasn’t that much..."

’Back to being a kid who can’t take praises, huh?’

Oliver immediately shook his head as he continued.

"What do you mean it wasn’t much? You literally ended the fight in a single strike."

Theo looked away awkwardly.

"It only worked because you forced it down."

"Still," Oliver replied, "the way you jumped through the trees and cut it was really cool."

Theo looked even more embarrassed after hearing that.

In the end, Theo simply smiled as he looked at Oliver.

"You’re pretty amazing too, Oliver," he said. "You immediately used your whip to give me an opening. And even when that monkey managed to shock you, you still didn’t let go of it."

Oliver opened his mouth to say something modest, but before he could, Theo’s expression suddenly became strange. The boy stared at him for a moment before turning his head away as his shoulders trembled suspiciously.

Oliver narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

Theo quickly coughed into his fist as he said in a controlled tone.

"Ahem."

"I think you should fix your hairstyle."

Oliver blinked as he got confused.

"My what?"

Theo pointed at his head before immediately looking away again, as though he couldn’t bear to witness whatever was up there.

A bad feeling instantly formed in Oliver’s stomach.

Slowly, he raised a hand and touched his hair and the moment his fingers made contact, his face froze.

The electric shock from earlier had apparently done more damage than he had thought. His already messy hair had somehow transformed into a chaotic forest of spikes sticking out in every possible direction.

For a few seconds, silence descended but then Theo couldn’t control himself and he began laughing

"Pfft—"

The boy doubled over, desperately trying to contain himself.

"Hahahaha! You look ridiculous!"

Oliver’s eye twitched as he said,

"Oh, shut up."

Unfortunately, Theo only laughed harder.

Even Goldie, who had been quietly sitting on Oliver’s shoulder the entire time, tilted his head and stared at the disaster atop his owner’s head. The squirrel then made a strange chittering sound before turning away.

Oliver stared at him in disbelief.

"...Did you just laugh at me too?"

Goldie refused to make eye contact.

’This little traitor.’

All in all, Oliver’s relationship with Theo had improved considerably by the end of the hunt.

The two had spent far more time together than before, fought side by side, and even shared a few stories along the way. Though Oliver would never admit it aloud, he found the boy far more likeable than he had initially thought.

They then decided to head back to the camp as the others were still working on the boat.

About halfway through the journey, Theo suddenly stopped and fumbled through his pockets. After a moment, he pulled out the soul shard they had obtained from the monkey and casually tossed it toward Oliver.

"Ah, I almost forgot. Here."

Oliver caught the shard instinctively before looking at Theo in confusion.

"Huh? Why are you giving this to me?"

After all, Theo had been the one to land the final blow. By all rights, the soul shard should belong to him.

Theo merely rolled his eyes as he said, "Just take it."

Seeing Oliver still hesitate, he continued.

"You did most of the work anyway. Besides, you’re the one who entered the Soul Realm last out of all of us. So, you probably need it the most."

Oliver stared at the shard in silence.

’Wow... what a kind-hearted kid.’

For a brief moment, a trace of guilt surfaced within him as he thought about the Golden Pear and how he hadn’t told Theo or the others about it. Considering how generous Theo was being right now, perhaps he should have shared it.

The thought lingered for exactly one second before then it vanished.

’Nah... Forget it.’

He decided to remember this for later as he would pay the favor back in some other way.

On the way back, the two talked about many things. Most of it was meaningless chatter meant to pass the time, but every now and then a more personal topic would slip into the conversation.

That was how Oliver learned that Theo had an older sister as well.

"Ah... you have an older sister too?"

Theo nodded immediately.

"Yeah."

A smile appeared on his face as he spoke about her.

"She’s kinda strict and a little awkward sometimes, but she’s really nice to me."

For a moment, he seemed to think of someone.

"Honestly, she’s kind of like Ahreum, you know?"

Theo scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"That’s actually why I started calling her ’Noona’. Though, she was the one who asked me to call her that."

Oliver blinked before slowly nodding as the pieces immediately fell into place.

’So that’s why.’

He had been wondering for a while now why Theo had been so willing to help Ahreum. The boy had spent hours working on the boat and had even gotten himself hurt for it.

At first, Oliver had assumed Theo was simply being nice but now he understood the real reason behind it.

Ahreum reminded him of his sister.

That was all there was to it.

A small smile appeared on Oliver’s face as he glanced at the boy walking beside him.

’Sometimes people remember the people they miss in whatever way they can.’