episode_0022

Even after the great cataclysm in which passages connecting to other worlds sprang up one after another and all kinds of monsters came over, South Korea survived.

The world’s population has decreased by 1/10, but most of that is in China. People who were scattered all over the place because the land was so vast were sacrificed, and in the midst of all that, there was a power struggle between the Party and the new Hunter faction, and people died.

Even though it was torn apart by that, South Korea was still one of the countries with a large number of survivors.

Because the population density was high and people lived in crowded places.

If you include those populations, including the alien races that came from other dimensions, society was able to function, although not as well as before.

Yes. A foreign race. A foreign race like Namin. It wasn’t just monsters that came from another dimension.

Some people crossed the gate out of curiosity and ended up settling down in this world, while others were refugees who came to escape the world that was on the brink of destruction.

The races that chose to invade were all repelled by the Hunters supported by Narin’s Guild, the government, and other organizations. The races that chose to coexist settled here peacefully under the guidance of each country’s government.

Namin should have been like that too. She should have adapted to this place like the elves, dwarves, and other races… … . How did she end up in a place that treats pets and suffer like that?

Just as some races chose invasion over coexistence, the treatment of other races also varied from person to person.

Most people just think of them as neighbors who look a little different. But sometimes, some see them as people who take away their jobs, and sometimes, there are those who are possessive of the unique appearance of the other race.

If they were large in size, or if they appeared in a crowded place, or if they came in a group, there was less risk of being targeted by such greed. If there were eyes to see, even kidnappers wouldn’t have the courage to do so.

But what if it was Namin? If it was a child smaller than that hand, even if someone picked it up and put it in their pocket, no one would notice and it would pass by.

Wasn’t Namin already someone who had no memory of moving to the facility before? She might have been kidnapped with her family when she was a baby and scattered in different directions.

Even the other families were sold out early, and Namin was left there alone, waiting to be adopted, and then was abandoned.

There must be a supply because there is demand. Narin recalled the story she heard the next day after telling the manager, who was very knowledgeable about the matter, about preventing more victims like Namin from occurring.

‘I tracked it through CCTV. Do you see this man in a white coat? I went back in time and traced the path, and found the facility in the middle of Seoul. And it’s a worse place than you thought, Ms. Na-rin.’

I thought it was bad enough that they were already capturing members of different races and selling them as pets. Now, it could get even worse.

‘Isn’t this some kind of pet shop for rich people with shady hobbies? If it’s worse than that… … .’

‘I’ll just tell you that something terrible is happening. It’s better for you, Narin, not to know. Anyway, the government is planning a suppression operation, so don’t tell anyone else. Don’t dig any deeper.’

I didn’t think it would be a very good organization. But a government-level suppression operation? Narin, who had thought that at most the police would show up and handcuff the bad guys, felt heavy-hearted.

But at the same time, Narin was a person who knew her limitations. As an individual with no particular power, it would be best to inform such a powerful organization and only hear the results.

I didn’t even want to wonder about the process. I was at an age where I knew that there were many things in the world that could hurt you just by knowing about them.

Look, there was a suspicious delivery box right in front of your house.

Usually, when it comes to delivery, there is a tracking number, and it has the sender and recipient addresses written on it, and there should be other information about who sent the item and what it is.

The unsealed box simply contained a note addressed to the person who took the hamster and the little girl.

First of all, I thought that Na-min and Ham-shik might be worried, so I deliberately didn’t mention the box and just said that a detergent bundle had arrived and came in to wash up.

Na-rin became anxious because she never thought that someone would know that she had picked up Na-min and Ham-shik and send them a box.

I never thought that someone would follow me the day I picked up the box. Maybe someone saw me picking up the box that day, looked up which building I live in, what floor I live on, and then checked my home address yesterday. That’s why they sent me something like this today.

Washing her face and letting the water drip down her face, Narin looked into the mirror. There was a woman who had just shed her juvenile image.

It’s scary. Even before the cataclysm, there were bad people who put dangerous items in packages and committed terrorism.

While some people just indiscriminately commit bomb attacks, there are also vicious men who try to implicate people as drug smugglers without their knowledge.

Besides, he already knows my home address. He left the box there clearly targeting Narin. That means he might do something else in the future.

So let’s not open it for now. Let’s just leave the box as is, take a picture of it, and send it to the manager. Tell him that it looks like the person who abandoned Na-min and Ham-shik left it behind.

Then the manager will contact the government, and they will conduct an investigation.

This is also an opportunity to catch the bad guys, so they could set up a hideout around here, and government agents could protect me.

Thinking like that, Narin wiped her face with a towel. If you think about it, you could blame Na-min for having to go through all this because she picked up Ham-shik.

Narin didn’t do that. Because those who persecute that poor little child are bad people.

Deciding to shower after dinner, Narin quickly washed up and left the bathroom. I wonder if Na-min and Ham-shik have finished eating their strawberries by now.

Namin probably couldn’t eat it all because she has a small mouth. The ham diet is a variable. She has an appetite that is comparable to that of a human.

So when I went out, Namin was lying down, covered in red all over her body. Hamshik was climbing up on top of a two-story detergent box and opening an unidentifiable box.

“Oh, Namin! What’s going on!”

“Ugh… … . Sister Narin… … . Hamshik… … . Hamshik… … . My strawberry… … .”

I thought he was covered in blood, but it looks like they were fighting over the strawberries. Maybe Hamsik ate all of his and wanted Namin’s.

“Oh my. It seems like it was impossible to appease Hamsik with just one strawberry. I’ll give you more after you eat.”

“Wow!”

Narin, whose heart sank for a moment, laughed in vain when she saw the strawberry fragments all over Namin’s body, then her face became serious again and she looked at the box that Hamshik had torn open.

Even if there was something like poison inside, the purification device would have purified it on its own. I was worried that it might be a bomb, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to be that.

Ododo, ododo. Hamsik was eating something inside the box. There was a piece of paper sticking out underneath Hamsik.

I looked into it and it was almonds. Now that I think about it, the person who abandoned these kids only gave them five almonds.

“I guess that mean guy put a lot of almonds in this time… … .”

I felt embarrassed for worrying about bombs and drugs. Now that I think about it, the person who picked it up was the one who even addressed me politely.

He probably isn’t a completely bad person. With that hope in mind, Narin took an interest in the note.

“I’ll have to read what it says. Hamshik, can you come out for a minute?”

There was a note underneath the hamburger, so you had to move the hamburger to get to it.

I don’t want to disturb Hamshik, who is busy eating almonds, so I quietly support Hamshik’s butt and try to take out the note.

Hamshik pushed the note with his hind leg, as if he was annoyed by even that touch. It was funny how his butt wiggled while doing that, and Narin laughed without realizing it.

“Poo-ha, Hamshik-ah. Are you that busy eating?”

Thanks to that, the serious mood improved a little. Narin took a deep breath and started reading the note sent by Hamsik and Namin’s former guardian.

At the same time, Narin’s complexion darkened. As the manager had said, there were stories written there that were better off not knowing.

They are kids from a research institute that conducts biological experiments. They usually do experiments on rats and birds, but they happened to find a species that seemed to be a miniature version of humans, so they conducted clinical experiments on them.

Narin gritted her teeth at the story that all the other children had died and only Namin had survived.

Namin is an intelligent child. When she is happy, she smiles, and when she thinks she did something wrong, her expression darkens. She also knows how to get angry when Hamshik steals her food.

He’s just a small kid, no different from a human. He’s no different from the elves who can’t live without dying.

They said they experimented on kids like Namin. They thought Namin would die if things continued like this, so they secretly abandoned Hamshik because he would die if he was caught by the senior researchers.

Narin, who confirmed the location of the research lab and the USB file attached, suppressed the urge to contact the manager right away.

“Oh, Na-rin-ni. Did the old man who abandoned us write you a note? What does it say?”

Since Namin is watching, it might be better to think that it was abandoned because it couldn’t be adopted from a pet shop.

So Narin tried to smile and hide the truth.

“Ugh, I feel so bad for abandoning Na-min and Ham-shik because things got tough. My sister asked me to raise them well.”

It wasn’t a lie. The short note, the confession, and the self-reproach contained in the USB were clear to the eye.

It must have been difficult for you mentally, and you must have felt sorry. You also asked me to raise you well, so it was all true.

Namin understood it with a heart that was broader than her size.

“Aha. I can’t help it since things are tough. But it would have been okay if I had received the support money in my name. I guess you didn’t know.”

“Or, if you receive support money, you have to continue living together, but there may have been circumstances that made that impossible.”

“Aha. That could be true. Aaaah, Hamshik! If you eat all that, you won’t be able to eat dinner!”

Fortunately, Namin got over it okay. She was so focused on the note that she forgot about Hamshik.

Hamshik’s appetite is so great that he could eat all the almonds in the box. But wouldn’t that make his stomach burst?

Narin, who hurriedly turned her gaze to the boxes, witnessed Hamshik throw himself from the stacked boxes.

Then Hamshik went to his house and spat out all the almonds he had in his mouth.

It seemed like he was trying to store almonds. Since he would have rice at home anyway, he did it in case he got hungry.

Narin was confused as to whether Hamshik was smart or if he was acting out of instinct.

I barely came to my senses after seeing Namin following Hamshik around and burying almonds with him.

Anyway, this fact should be reported to the manager. Narin took pictures of the note and USB and sent them to the manager.

A reply from the manager arrived immediately, telling me to bring the evidence to work the next day.