Even a Lonely Squirrel Has Its Burrow - Chapter 16

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

The man, holding Garam up and turning his wrist this way and that to examine him, asked with a worried expression. His concern was so apparent that Garam almost felt like nodding to reassure him. But he quickly regained his senses and began wiping his face frantically.

Seeing that, the man seemed to finally be convinced Garam was okay. He let out a small sigh and gently scratched between Garam’s ears.

“Do you know how worried I was?”

“Chirp, chirp…”

‘I didn’t expect this either…’

Garam let out a small squeak as if making an excuse. The man, not understanding a word, chuckled and stroked Garam softly from his head to his back. Though Garam was already familiar with it, the man’s large build belied his surprisingly gentle touch.

“Chiiirp…”

Garam melted under the man’s soothing strokes. After a while, the man tried to place Garam back in the cage, but the attempt failed when Garam scrambled up his arm to perch on his shoulder.

“Don’t want to?”

“Chirp, chirp!”

‘Do you think I’m some hamster?’

Climbing over the man’s shoulder and up to the top of his head, Garam made himself comfortable. Laughing heartily, the man extended his hand again. Although Garam worried he might be put back into the dreaded glass cage, he decided to trust the man one last time and scampered onto his palm.

Fortunately, the man seemed to understand Garam’s reluctance to return to the cage. Instead, he held Garam gently and stepped out of the room.

Sitting in the man’s palm, Garam stretched his body as far as he could to take in the view outside. The man lightly held him in place.

“If someone as small as you falls from this height, it’ll be a big problem.”

“Chirp! Chirp!”

Garam squeaked loudly, trying to argue that he wasn’t small at all, but of course, the man couldn’t understand. Exhausted from his failed protest, Garam sat quietly in the man’s palm, letting himself be guided through the house.

“This is a room you can’t go into, so I’ll keep it closed. But you can go into this one. I’ll keep the door shut for now… but you won’t figure out how to open it, right?”

The last remark seemed more like a mutter to himself. Garam, preoccupied with observing the house, barely registered what the man was saying.

‘How is this house so big?’

Though he couldn’t say it out loud, Garam was amazed. If he had been in his human form, his eyes would have been wide as he looked around in awe. Luckily, his squirrel form made his constant glancing seem natural.

The man’s house was the largest Garam had ever seen.

Until now, the biggest house Garam had known was his grandmother’s. Her two-story house was spacious, and the garden where she loved to spend time made it even larger.

Looking out through a large window in the living room, Garam saw that this house, too, had a garden. However, unlike his grandmother’s house, the walls here were so tall that no outside scenery was visible. Instead, the tall trees created a miniature forest-like environment that Garam found appealing.

The house had high ceilings and was a single story, but it felt endlessly vast as the man walked. Perhaps because Garam was in his squirrel form, the structure felt even more complex and overwhelming than a typical house.

Giving up on remembering every detail, Garam decided to relax in the man’s hand, observing wherever he took him. The last stop was the room where Garam had first woken up. Compared to the other well-decorated spaces in the house, this room contained only the large glass cage. Garam tilted his head, sensing something odd.

‘Was there something else here before?’

Otherwise, it made no sense for a man who had so carefully arranged the rest of the house to leave this room so empty.

But Garam’s curiosity remained unanswered. Unable to ask questions, it was inevitable.

Standing in the empty room, the man glanced around before speaking to Garam.

“I was planning to make this your room. It’s the only empty space in the house… but then I thought it might feel too cramped for you, especially since you used to live in a wide-open park.”

Though Garam didn’t know what the room was previously used for, its spotless state indicated the man was telling the truth.

“For now, let’s sleep in my room tonight. Once I finish organizing the house, you’ll be able to move around freely starting tomorrow.”

If Garam had been an ordinary squirrel, he wouldn’t have understood a word. Yet the man continued speaking kindly, as if explaining to him mattered. Several times, Garam almost nodded instinctively, moved by the gentle tone. He barely stopped himself, pretending not to understand, and tilted his head in confusion until the explanation ended.

“Welcome to my home. Let’s get along well from now on.”

“Chirp?”

‘From now on?’

Garam finally noticed that something was off. Come to think of it, the man had mentioned earlier that he would decorate this room for him. It was excessive kindness for simply taking in an injured squirrel temporarily. Garam’s eyes trembled slightly, but the man continued talking, seemingly unaware.

“I’ll make sure you’re happy from now on. I read that squirrels don’t live very long… Why do small creatures leave so quickly?”

The man muttered to himself. Hearing this, Garam could guess how many small animals the man had cared for in the past. Garam finally realized what the large glass cage he had woken up in was. The densely spread wood shavings on the bottom confirmed it—it seemed the man had indeed kept small pets like hamsters before.

Judging by the sadness in the man’s eyes, it seemed those animals had already passed away. Garam figured he had likely caught the man’s attention and became his next pet by chance.

A chill ran down Garam’s spine. If the man’s words were to be believed, Garam’s uneasy suspicions were becoming reality.

“I’ll make sure you’re happy.”

Garam had been kidnapped. Mistaken for a wild squirrel, he was on the verge of becoming the man’s pet squirrel.

—

The next morning, Garam woke up and stretched, yawning. After scrubbing his face clean to wash off the sleepiness, he heard a soft chuckle nearby. Snapping his head toward the sound, Garam saw the man, who had apparently woken up and washed earlier than him.

Garam couldn’t believe he had slept so soundly, oblivious to the man’s movements. He was practically a domesticated pet squirrel at this point.

But the bed the man had prepared last night had been too soft. For the first time since living as a squirrel, Garam had been able to sleep deeply without waking once. Feeling slightly sheepish, he scratched one of his ears.

The man, who had been watching Garam without looking away, was drying his still-damp hair. Wearing a loosely tied robe, the man moved closer to the bedside table next to Garam’s bed. Garam quickly turned his head away.

“Chirp!”

‘Why is he dressed so carelessly?!’

Of course, the man couldn’t understand a word Garam was saying. He bent down in front of the bedside table. This made Garam directly face the inside of the man’s loosely tied robe.

“……!”

Garam froze. The robe parted, revealing the man’s firm chest, the inverted triangle of his upper body, and below that…

Garam was too stunned to even blink. As he stood frozen, the man reached out a hand toward him. Just before the man’s hand could touch his head, Garam snapped out of it, letting out a shriek and leaping onto the nearby bed.

“Chirp!!”

‘Stay away!!’

The approaching man no longer seemed human to Garam. He desperately wanted to erase the memory of what he had seen between the man’s legs. Scrubbing his face furiously, Garam tried to forget, but the more he tried, the clearer the memory became.

“What’s wrong?”

The man sat on the bed, watching Garam closely. Garam tried his best to stop his eyes from drifting toward the man’s legs and instead glared at his face.

…How could such a handsome face belong to someone with such a monstrous thing? His grandmother’s words came to mind: you can’t judge someone by their face alone. The man still looked at him with a puzzled expression, but Garam, staring intently at the man’s face, suddenly scurried off the bed and landed with a soft thud on the floor.

Garam headed straight for the door of the man’s room. Standing there and staring back at him, Garam seemed to demand that the man open the door. The man chuckled and walked over to open it.

“Did you want to go out that badly?”

…It felt as though he were a child throwing a tantrum to leave the room. But since he was in squirrel form, Garam didn’t mind any misunderstandings. Feeling triumphant, he dashed out of the room. However, as soon as he stepped out, he stopped in his tracks.