Somewhere in the Big World

It was a warm winter with snow piling up.

However, just because it is expressed as warm doesn’t mean it is not cold. Everyone was walking down the street wearing thick, warm clothes.

Those who just stay in one place are probably waiting for something, like a bus or a group that doesn’t show up on time.

Movement is the key to generating heat. Everyone knows that, so no one would just sit still on the cold street, stomping their feet.

Narin was no exception. She was busy moving her feet, full of thoughts of going home and eating the warm bungeoppang she had just bought.

My feet were numb as I stepped on the crunching snow, but the heat I felt as I moved was enough to overcome the cold.

Or maybe I could have overcome that level because I was filled with anticipation of eating a bungeoppang that was crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, and filled with delicious red bean paste and cream puff.

“Hehehe. This is the joy of being an adult. When I was young, I had to save up money to buy a bag and share it with the kids… … . I lost all the bungeoppang.”

Na-rin, who was so excited, entered the alley with excited steps.

I managed to get a job as an office worker at a large guild, but they didn’t provide me with all my necessities. So I went to a precious single room near my workplace.

Although living away from her family was lonely at times, the cramped one-room apartment she barely managed to secure with the expensive price of land in Seoul was a precious treasure to Na-rin.

Even that was possible because the price went down and it was possible to obtain it two years ago when gates, passages to other dimensions, started appearing all over the world one after another, drastically reducing the population.

If it weren’t for that, I would be having a hard time, wasting two hours a day commuting to and from work.

Although they were only a little outside the downtown area, there were already few people around. So, something unusual caught Narin’s eye right away.

A small box placed next to a telephone pole. Sometimes, there are people who just throw away their trash like that. Na-rin passed by, grumbling to herself, and stopped when she saw the small creatures wriggling around inside the box.

“No, what is this… … . Who abandoned these guys here… … !”

A box with the words, “Please raise them well,” written with care. However, the care seems to have been limited to the words and did not extend to the creatures inside.

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have abandoned the small, cute hamster and the palm-sized girl sleeping next to it.

“On a snowy day like this, you just put toilet paper on the floor and throw it away? And you want me to raise it well like this? You’re a really bad person!”

Narin was angry, but anger that had no place to go was ultimately meaningless. Instead of continuing to be angry, Narin squatted down and looked at the little girl and hamster in front of her.

As if sensing the presence, the hamster licked the almond and looked at Narin with sparkling eyes. The girl just put her arm on and closed her eyes.

It was pretty and dense, just like a doll. But the steeply rising and falling chest visible under the clothes roughly made of rolled up tissue paper clearly showed that it was a living being.

Has the person been hit by a shrinking ray? Or is he a race of fairies or dwarves from another world?

It was a bit strange, but wasn’t it a world where flying elephants, walking lizards over two meters long, and things like krakens were no longer the stuff of legend or myth?

So Narin’s heart was filled with worry rather than excitement.

The box is already covered in snow, and the nights are only going to get colder. Will the girl and the hamster, who are fed up with Paris, be able to hold out until others come to take them?

If he were to leave right now, the girl would feel like she would suffocate. Even though the hamster has fur, it doesn’t seem like it could last long.

Give me some almonds, please. Five is nothing. If I leave this alone, I’ll be the one who killed him.

I feel bad for the girl and the hamster, and I’m angry at the guy who played with the little girl like a pet and then got sick of it and abandoned her.

But I’m not really in a position where I have much money. How many days are left until this month’s payday? There’s rent and management fees to pay, and money I’m putting away in savings…

Although they were pitiful, Narin was just a freshman in society. She had a hard time taking care of herself, so she thought it would be hard to raise something like a pet.

“Um, sorry, I guess it’s going to be hard for me… … .”

Did he notice that the scales in Narin’s mind were tilting towards the weight of reality? Or was it for another reason?

Tears began to well up in the hamster’s eyes. Then he climbed on top of the little girl, as if trying to cover her with his body heat.

It must be really cold. But how much more money do you have to spend this month… … . How much will it cost for the kids to eat… … . Vaccinations and things like that… … ?

But the moment she saw the girl again, who looked like she was about to suffocate, Narin impulsively put the bungeoppang bag into the box and lifted the box.

“Hey, I don’t know! Eat less rice!”

Narin headed straight to her studio apartment. Inside the box, the sound of envelopes rustling continued.

Did the hamster smell the fish-shaped bread? Narin, who had planned to finish all four of them by herself for dinner, thought that she should at least give one to each of these poor babies.

White snow continued to fall where the box had been, and even the traces of what had been there disappeared.

The man in the white gown, who had been watching the place from afar, sighed and disappeared.