Even a Lonely Squirrel Has Its Burrow - Chapter 7

“Yes, thank you.”

As they continued their meal, Garam answered Lawyer Yang’s questions diligently. He needed to explain in more detail the things he had briefly mentioned that morning. Lawyer Yang nodded from time to time, carefully listening to Garam’s words. By the time the meal was nearly over, the questions had come to an end. Lawyer Yang nodded seriously and spoke.

“Hmm, now that I’ve heard everything, it really doesn’t seem like a bad plan… But are you sure you’ll be okay with this, Garam?”

“Yes! I’ll be fine.”

“Still, it’s going to be hard to live like a real wild squirrel, eating only nuts and fruits. No matter how small your true form is, you’re still human, and surviving on just those might be tougher than you think.”

It was a concern Garam had already considered. However, he couldn’t come up with a better solution. As Garam pressed his lips together and remained silent, Lawyer Yang, who had been pondering the situation, made a suggestion.

“Then how about this?”

“Yes?”

Garam, who had been staring at the table with his head lowered, biting his lips, glanced up.

“There’s a park right nearby. A pretty large one. You must’ve seen it while coming and going….”

“Oh, yes.”

Garam nodded. Around Lawyer Yang’s office, there were many tall buildings, and nestled among them was a very large park. It was much bigger than the park Garam had briefly visited the day before.

“So, I was thinking, if you’re planning to stay in a park like you said, why not stay in the one right in front of us?”

“Oh….”

It was an unexpected proposal, but it seemed like a pretty good idea. Lawyer Yang continued.

“The park is spacious, so it’ll be easy for you to hide in your true form. If something happens, you can come here for help. Plus, I’ll need updates on how things are going. What do you think?”

Garam’s eyes gradually widened. Seeing his surprised expression, Lawyer Yang smiled gently.

“We could also have lunch together occasionally. Even though I understand why you need to lay low for a while, the thought of you living off just nuts doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Oh….”

The kind words, filled with genuine concern for Garam, almost brought tears to his eyes. Pressing his lips together, Garam nodded slowly. Lawyer Yang’s expression brightened noticeably. Seeing his smile, Garam couldn’t help but smile shyly in return.

—

Life as a squirrel turned out to be better than Garam had expected.

Lawyer Yang walked with him around the park, pretending to be on a casual stroll while helping Garam scope out the area he would be staying in. He also told Garam that he would keep the office window open at all times so that Garam could come by if anything urgent happened or if he wanted a good meal.

While Garam had received help from several people before, Lawyer Yang’s kindness reminded him of his late father. Suppressing the tears that threatened to fall, Garam forced a bright expression and nodded in gratitude.

But, just as Garam had told Lawyer Yang, he never ended up visiting him.

“Oh, wow! There’s a squirrel living here?”

“Right? I didn’t know squirrels could live in places like this… But isn’t it adorable?”

Sitting comfortably under a tree, peeling an acorn, Garam looked up at the people observing him. The two, who had been whispering about him moments ago, seemed to be office workers from the nearby buildings, judging by the employee IDs hanging around their necks.

“Whoa, it’s looking at us!”

“Must be because we’re watching it.”

The two giggled, continuing their conversation while keeping their eyes on Garam. Paying them no mind, Garam went back to peeling his acorn.

In the past, he had never even considered eating raw acorns. The closest he had come was eating acorn jelly. But now, living in his true form, his taste seemed to have changed. The acorn he held felt like the most delicious thing in the world.

Crunch.

Garam neatly peeled the shell off the acorn and examined it briefly before nibbling at it.

“It’s delicious…!”

Acorns are this delicious? It was something Garam would never have known if he hadn’t been living in the form of a squirrel. He wagged his tail slightly and finished off the acorn he had been holding. The people watching him still couldn’t take their eyes off the squirrel, engrossed in eating its acorn.

Only then did Garam begin to feel a bit burdened by their stares and stood up.

“Oh…”

The spectators let out disappointed sounds, assuming the squirrel was about to leave since it had finished eating. But contrary to their expectations, the squirrel didn’t head for the bushes—it moved toward the bench where they were sitting. The squirrel, which had been under the tree until a moment ago, scurried closer, surprising the onlookers.

“Oh, oh!”

Even so, the people didn’t run away but remained seated, closely observing the squirrel that climbed up onto the bench.

“Look at it; it’s so cute. It doesn’t seem to be afraid of people at all.”

“Yeah… And its fur is so sleek! It looks even cuter up close.”

As the squirrel that they had been observing approached, their voices grew quieter, likely out of concern that they might scare it away. Garam watched the whispering humans for a moment before letting out a deep sigh as he sat on the bench. He thought this would scare them away, but instead, they seemed to find the sudden proximity of the squirrel endearing rather than frightening.

Garam sat on the bench and stared blankly at the distant sky. He could feel the people next to him letting out small squeals and taking pictures, but he kept his gaze fixed on the sky, not bothering to look their way.

Even though Lawyer Yang had scouted out the park with him and reassured him repeatedly, he couldn’t hide his lingering concern for Garam. Yet, contrary to those worries, Garam found his new life as a squirrel to be surprisingly satisfying.

If anyone else heard that Garam, a squirrel shifter, was living in a park in his true form, they would probably laugh it off as a silly joke or shake their heads in disbelief. It was an absurd situation, to be sure.

Most shifters didn’t find it particularly awkward or difficult to live in their true forms. However, that didn’t mean it was always comfortable. Fundamentally, they were closer to humans and spent most of their lives in human form. It wasn’t easy to live entirely as an animal.

Naturally, Garam couldn’t claim that this life was perfectly comfortable either. While he was a squirrel shifter, he had rarely returned to his true form except when he was very young. Sure, he liked burrowing into blankets in his squirrel form while sleeping, but that was an occasional indulgence—not something he did every day.

Still, there were clear advantages to this lifestyle.

For one, people didn’t try to avoid him or chase him away.

“Wow, it looks like it’s washing its face.”

“So cute…”

As Garam rubbed his face, he heard murmurs of admiration. If he had done this as a fully grown man, people would have thought he was crazy. But as a tiny squirrel, even just breathing made people gush over how adorable he was. Not that Garam particularly enjoyed being fawned over by people, but it was certainly better than sleeping rough as a human, constantly anxious about being found by debt collectors.

“Oh, looks like it’s leaving now.”

“Bye, little squirrel.”

As Garam stood, the people waved their hands at the small squirrel. He glanced at them briefly before leaping off the bench and darting into the bushes.

While it was good not to be suspected, the open display of affection and attention still made his face feel hot with embarrassment.

In the shifter community, revealing what type of shifter one was wasn’t particularly shameful or unusual. However, openly showing one’s ears or tail was considered something only young children or those not yet adept at controlling their forms might do. Fully revealing one’s true form was generally reserved for family or very close friends.

Garam slipped into the bushes and made his way to the large tree where he had been staying.

Up above, there was a small hollow just big enough for a squirrel. He remembered how thrilled he had been when he first found it. It was high enough to keep him safe from predators like cats, and the hollow was too small for anything but tiny birds to enter.

Inside, Garam had stuffed the hollow with soft materials, turning it into a cozy bed. As he crawled into it today, he felt the soft cushioning envelop his body. It was warm and comforting.