Even a Lonely Squirrel Has Its Burrow - Chapter 144

Rustle—

At the sound of leaves brushing together, Garam opened his eyes.

Still lying down, he turned his head to look outside and saw that it had gotten quite dark. When he sat up and poked his head out to look at the sky, the sun was still up. The dense trees made it feel darker inside.

While he was at it, Garam tried moving his leg a few times. It still hurt a little, but he felt that if he moved carefully and slowly, he could go a bit farther.

He paused for a moment to listen for any signs of people nearby. Once he was sure that no one was around, he scurried outside.

Just in case, Garam climbed higher and began hastily moving along the thick branches up in the trees. Then, from far away, he noticed the faint sound of someone’s voice.

“Pii…?”

Garam tensed up immediately. He perked his ears to listen more closely, but the sound was faint and distant, like a low hum.

Could it be that Ryu Beomju had already chased him this far? Being a tiger, he could cover much more ground than Garam, a small squirrel.

What would happen if he was caught here?

All sorts of ominous thoughts flashed through his mind. Garam swallowed hard and climbed even higher. He figured that if he stayed at a great height, even a tiger wouldn’t be able to spot him.

Garam clung to the upper part of the tree, listening carefully as the sound slowly came closer.

“–Ah!”

His ears perked up even more at the slightly clearer voice. For some reason, it sounded familiar, but Garam forced himself to calm the heart that had started to race.

“–ram!”

His heart began to beat even faster. He couldn’t hear it clearly, but he was sure. The person calling out was looking for him.

Before he knew it, Garam began to move. As he descended a bit, the approaching voice grew clearer.

“Kang Garam!”

Even though his mind told him to be patient until he could clearly confirm who it was, Garam’s body moved on its own, drawn in by the familiar voice.

Thump—

In an instant, Garam climbed down the tall tree and pushed off the ground with all his strength. At that moment, he couldn’t feel any pain in his leg.

Though his feet got stuck in the piles of snow here and there and slowed him down, Garam kept running as hard as he could, even half stumbling. With each step, his heart swelled. He felt like he was about to cry, but he held it in and pressed strength into his legs.

“Garam!”

The voice came even closer. He didn’t even need to see the person’s face. Garam knew that voice well.

He was certain. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize the voice of the one he loved.

“Pii!”

Hoping that he’d be found just a little faster, Garam cried out loudly.

Maybe the cry had been heard—Sa Muheon’s voice, which had been desperately calling out for him, suddenly stopped. But that was okay. Far in the distance, through the gaps in the trees, Garam could see Sa Muheon’s figure.

He wanted to reach him as quickly as possible. As Garam ran with all his might, their eyes finally met as Sa Muheon was scanning the area.

Garam cried out with joy.

“Piiit!”

However, the expression on Sa Muheon’s face as he looked this way showed no signs of joy or relief.

He was looking at Garam with a terrified expression. At first, Garam was puzzled by that look, but then he sensed something behind him and realized what that expression meant.

He had run so hard to escape. Sa Muheon was right there, just ahead.

He felt like he was about to burst into tears. It was all over now. He was going to be caught and eaten by Ryu Beomju.

As the shadow loomed over his head, Garam tightly shut his eyes—and at that moment, a tremendous roar burst out from above.

“Rooaaaar!”

He felt something huge rushing at him. Though he hadn’t given up running until the very end, Garam rolled across the ground.

He didn’t know how many times he rolled. Fortunately, there was snow on the ground, making it a soft landing.

He couldn’t come to his senses right away. As he struggled to lift himself up and shook his head, he heard a loud growling sound near his ears.

Garam turned his terrified eyes toward the source of the sound. What he saw there was something he hadn’t even imagined.

“Grrrr…”

“Grrrk!”

There were tigers. Two tigers were rolling in the snow. One of them was definitely Ryu Beomju, but he had no idea who the other one was.

As the two tigers grappled, one briefly let his guard down, and the other instantly gained the upper hand. Without hesitation, he bit into the neck of the one lying on the ground. Bright red blood splattered across the white snow.

Garam was so horrified by the scene that he couldn’t even blink and froze in place. He didn’t know who was who, and though he wanted to run away immediately, he couldn’t dare turn his back. Besides, Sa Muheon was behind him. If he turned his back and ran, and Sa Muheon was attacked in his place… The thought alone was terrifying.

But the tiger who had bitten the other’s neck simply blinked calmly as he looked at Garam. With gentle eyes and a flicking tongue that showed no intent to attack, the tiger looked at him, and Garam finally collapsed to the ground, trembling.

“Garam! Kang Garam!”

As the trembling squirrel slumped down, Sa Muheon urgently called his name and ran toward him. When Garam turned around, he saw the one he loved running toward him.

Summoning the last of his strength, Garam stood up. And then he threw himself into Sa Muheon’s arms as he ran toward him.

“Garam, baby.”

As Garam began running toward him, Sa Muheon crouched down. Garam leapt into the hand he held out.

“Pii, Piiii…!”

As he stepped onto Sa Muheon’s cool hand, a wave of relief washed over him. Garam clung to his thumb and broke down in sobs.

Sa Muheon’s hand was trembling. He gently stroked Garam’s back and carefully checked his body.

“Your… your leg…!”

Only after hearing Sa Muheon’s shocked voice did Garam look at his leg. At some point, the wound had burst open and blood was flowing. As soon as he saw the injury with his own eyes, it felt like the pain finally hit him.

“Pii… ii…?”

Holding tightly onto Sa Muheon’s hand and looking up at him, Garam saw that tears were welling up in his eyes as well.

The sight of the person who had always protected Garam, who had always been mature and kind no matter the situation, whom he had believed to be stronger than anyone—now crying—was a great shock to Garam.

He wanted to reach out and wipe away those tears right away, but right now, Garam was merely a small squirrel.

And for some reason, his vision had started to blur a little earlier. The tearful image of Sa Muheon began to flicker, slowly becoming less and less visible.

“Pii….”

“Garam, just hold on… you can’t fall asleep right now, Kang Garam!”

Only then did Garam realize that he was on the verge of passing out from the pain.

But no matter how desperately Sa Muheon called out to him, he couldn’t stop his eyelids from slowly falling closed.

“Ppiit…”

When I wake up… please be by my side.

Murmuring that, Garam surrendered to the sleep that washed over him.

Beep— beep—.

It was a mechanical sound he was now familiar with.

A hospital… Garam thought so with his eyes still closed. But even while realizing that he was lying in a hospital, he couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes.

He felt like the moment he opened his eyes, everything would fall apart. What if he opened them and it wasn’t a hospital after all? What if meeting Sa Muheon had all been a dream and he was back, captured by Ryu Beomju?

The anxiety felt suffocating. In the end, Garam couldn’t take it anymore and gasped for air, and right then, he felt someone quickly rise from beside him.

“Baby…!”

A familiar voice—more than that, there was only one person in the world who called him that. Garam gathered his courage and slowly opened his eyes.

“Garam…!”

Sa Muheon was looking at Garam with a face that looked like he could cry at any moment. Even as he pressed the button on the bed, Garam didn’t take his eyes off him.

“I…”

He barely managed to speak, but his voice came out hoarse and cracked. His parched throat throbbed with pain. When Garam winced, Sa Muheon hurriedly looked for water.

“Wait, it’s hard for you to talk right now. Just a moment.”

With trembling hands, he supported Garam’s neck and gently helped him drink some water. The lukewarm water seemed to soothe his throat a bit.

“This place…”

“At first we went to a nearby hospital, but since you kept losing consciousness, we moved you here. And your leg… the wound was deeper than expected, so they said you shouldn’t walk for a while.”

Although it wasn’t like he had lost full use of his leg, Sa Muheon looked down at Garam’s leg with an extremely pained expression. Garam, on the other hand, thought it was a relief and nodded.

In fact, when he’d resolved to escape from Ryu Beomju, he’d thought that if he pushed himself too hard on his injured leg, the wound might get worse and he might never be able to walk again. So the fact that it had ended like this felt like a blessing.