Chapter 1 (ILMRM)

Small creature.

Four small feet rolled on dry ground.

Fluffy beige hairs fluttered in the wind.

The fist-sized roll of fur running through the woods stopped.

-thump – thump-

As the pink nose pointed toward the sky, the silver beard trembled. A bunch of hair that was smelling with a frown turned its head to the left.

[Found it!]

Its eyes, which seemed to have black rice grains attached, sparkled with joy.

It was chestnut.

Not just one or two, but five!

Before someone else take it first, the hamster quickly stood up in front of chestnuts, ridiculing its four feet.

Then she put the chestnuts in her cheek pouches.

Two on the left cheek and two on the right cheek. The last chestnut was put in the center.

A hamster with its cheeks full of chestnuts raised its chin and run away.

[It’s done…..]

There was a small hole under the rotten tree trunk.

A hamster spitting chestnuts in a comfortable hideous piled up with fallen leaves, breathed a sigh of relief.

Five chestnuts.

Two days’ worth of food was almost settled.

Hamsters, who have to eat 20% of their weight every day have a strong obsession with food.

When the hideout was full of food, the hamster, Soi, was relieved and she sat down on her bum on the fallen leaves.

[Now, let’s eat.]

It was when the hamster had just put its teeth in the chestnut.

-crumble-

Some strange sound brushed its small ears.

Soi, raised its ears while holding her chestnuts, her nose flinched and her body stiffened.

[T-this smell is…..]

The hamster with red eyes turned her frozen head.

It was a weasel.

Ah!

Soi, who meet her natural enemy through the hole, quickly threw the chestnut at him.

And she hurriedly jumped into the other passage of the nest.

“Kkiiiii!”

The weasel who had been hit on the forehead by a chestnut followed her with a frightening sound.

Soi screamed inside.

[I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!]

When I was a human, I definitely liked animals because they were cute, but now that I’m a hamster I can’t like them because I’m so scared.

Right behind, the sound of the weasel’s quick steps was heard.

Soi cast all her four feet from her death.

I don’t want to die! I don’t want my limbs torn!

Soi bit her front teeth and fleed with all her might.

The chase continued.

Even after she crossed the fallen tree and broke through the brush, the weasel still followed.

As her eyes were about to dim out and she was out of breath, a hole came into Soi’s sight.

[There!]

There was a narrow gap under a large rock embedded in the ground.

Soi pushed her face in between.

Because of the narrow gap, Soi’s chubby buttocks went in slowly.

“Kii!”

The weasel’s claws brushed against a cotton swab-like tail.

You could hear the cry of a weasel who missed the hamster by a narrow margin.

Soi took a deep breath and then she hid far in the crevice of the rock.

The weasel who had been scratching the rock and digging again and again suddenly moved away in angry steps.

Only after the smell of the weasel became distant, Soi released a sigh of relief.

[Sa-, I’m saved….]

The exhausted hamster wiped her face and small jelly paws with salvia.

It was grooming to soothe herself from the tense state.

Soi, who had been cleaning her body for a long time, stopped at a rumbling sound.

The sound echoed from her slim stomach.

[Hungry….]

Soi thought of the chesnuts she had left on the tree trunk with a sad face.

Somehow, I was lucky today…

Soi rubbed the hungry belly and looked into the cracks of the rock.

There was no weasel on sight, but she didn’t have the courage to go out.

Besides, the day was getting brighter.

During the day it’s easier to see the natural enemies.

Even if I don’t see them, the bright colored fur will make me get noticed.

Hamster Soi, who is bound to be nocturnal, rolled up with a sigh.
Unlike the former shelter which was fuzzy by collecting leaves, the soil under the rock was damp and cold.

Soi curled up smaller with a sad face.

[Things can’t go on like this. Winter is about to come.]

Frost was slowly falling in the forest.

It was proof that the affluent autumn, a time in which was easier to find fruit, was passing.

Soi wasn’t a wild rat, but a pet, a hamster.

It has been a miracle just to endure this far.

Without a second thought, it was an obvious result that she would starve when winter comes.

Crouching like a ball of wool, Soi’s eyes sparkled with determination.

[I need to find an owner.]

Only one person lived in this deserted forest.

A rustic cabin in the middle of the woods.

And the black-haired guy who lives there.

Soi’s little heart, who thought about him, swelled with hope.

[You are going to raise me right?]

With her body curled, Soi rested on her cheeks and closed her eyes.

The floor was cold, but her dreams of the future were sweet.

                                  ***

Soi looked quietly at her reflection on the puddle.

It looked as if four feet were wearing socks, and the body seemed to be wrapped in a beige coat.

Soi, who was staring at her cute little pink nose sighed.

[Why did I end up like this?]

Soi was a hamster, but not a ‘hamster’.

More precisely, she was a hamster on the outside but a human on the inside.

Soi’s round and black eyes stared at a faintly distant place.

Soon, the past, which felt quite distant, flashed in front of her eyes.

Lee So-Yi, an ordinary Korean, with black hair and black eyes, stood at Dongjak Bridge and looked down at the Han River.

I assure you that I did not want to die.

I was just a little sad at my family who only thought about my little brother.

The cheek on which I got slapped when I said I didn’t want to get a loan for the settlement money that my brother had to pay, was burning a little.

I was looking at the black river, wiping away my tears, and suddenly my head hurt as if it were exploding.

My body felt like I was riding on a roller coaster, then my stomach churned like I was going to vomit right away.

The last thing I remember was sitting down.

Then, as if a fuse had blown out, consciousness was cut off.

After a while, where Soi opened her eyes, it was inside a dirty and dark prison.

“Wha-what…..”

In an unrealistic situation, Soi curled up and looked around.

Even if she didn’t believe it, she had to.

The place where she fell was obviously a prison.

The chills on her body proved that this never happened to be a dream.

Something was leaking and it had formed pools of water all over the floor.

While Soi was staring confused at the dirty water, a rusty hinge was heard.

Those who came down the stairs with loud noise were men with dirty beards and ugly faces.

“What, you got it wrong?”

It was the voice of a man with a yellow tooth.

Those who were giggling among themselves looked at Soi with disgusting eyes.

“You’re trembling. Are you afraid of us?”

“Would a woman who thought this was scary lie down at the entrance of a forbidden forest? If she knew the world was rough, she wouldn’t have been there.”

Soi instinctively stepped back to get away from them.

However, a thick chain around her neck restricted her movements.

An exceptionally plump man with a big belly came out and looked at her then he sneered at her sight.

“It hasn’t even been uploaded to the ledger anyway, can’t we just take her away?”

“No. Don’t you know that you will die if you get caught by the boss?”

“Oh! You were lying since the beginning! The boss hasn’t seen her yet.”

“Go. If you want to get thrown away.”

The men who were arguing among themselves turned their heads in unison when they heard the door open.

“The boss is here! Come up quickly!”

When the urgent voice was heard from above, the men watching Soi hurried up the stairs.

The fat man who was about to climb up suddenly turned around.

“See you later, beauty.”

Without a front tooth, he grinned and moved away.

[I have to run away.]

Feeling her life being threatened, Soi looked around.

It was an old prison but the iron bars were strong and thick.

[This is the only thing…]

Soi bites her lips as she pulled hard on the thick restains on her neck.

The shackles were made of iron that was heavy enough to have a stiff neck.

I can’t break it with a hand that I’ve only held a pen within all my life.

In the prison next door, somebody kept sobbing.

Soi raised her knees and buried her face in them.

[Mom… I miss you…]

How long has it been?

Something annoying was heard in her ears when she was in despair.

A black rat with a long tail came into Soi’s sight, looking up to do something.

The chubby rat came through the iron bars and was eating the hard bread that seemed to belong to Soi.

A mouse. If I could be a mouse.

Then I could get out of here through the bars.

She looked at the mouse with envious eyes.

It was then.

I heard a rattle from my ears again, and someone’s dull footsteps rang.

“You’ve been waiting, haven’t you?”

He was the fat man with white bread from earlier.

He wasn’t alone.

He was with the man with a yellow tooth, who was reliving his appetite.

The lumpy man who took the key suddenly turned around and asked the man with one yellow tooth.

“My share of the money is bigger, right?”

“What are you talking about? I’m the one who stole the keys. Of course, I should get more.”

“What? I made the offer first.”

Soi’s face turned white while they were arguing.

I have to run. But how?

Her trembling eyes were fixed on the back of the rat running away with a piece of bread.

“Oh! Well, let’s do half and half, okay?”

Having concluded, they put the key in the locker of the iron fence.

A mouse. If I could be a mouse.

As soon as the vain wish became an earnest prayer, Soi’s body began to shine brightly.

“Oh, what?”

The two men covered their eyes with their arms from the blinding flash.

After the brief light disappeared, they stiffened to turn their eyes back on.

“Ugh, where is the light….. Wait. Where’s the girl?”

The lumpy man who barely adjusted his eyes screamed as he looked inside an empty iron cage.

The man with a yellow tooth standing next to him was also shocked.

Just up until now, the woman who was in the room no longer was there.

There was only a strange piece of clothing lying in there.