An unfamiliar ceiling greeted him when he opened his eyes...
Hae Dam wasn't surprised.
This was all too familiar. He had been through it at least two hundred times in his life.
First, he calmly assessed the situation.
Since he had just regained consciousness after fainting, he was naturally in his weasel form. He was wrapped in a soft wool blanket, and everything around him was dark. Apparently, he was inside a small box. Beside him were two heat packs, both radiating warmth. He could also see a dish of water and some finely chopped raw chicken.
The fact that he was in a box rather than a pet carrier meant whoever had found him probably didn't own any animals.
And the blanket, heat packs, water, and meat meant that person wanted to save him.
Someone kind found me again!
It looked like he could relax!
The little weasel flopped onto his back in the soft blanket once more.
I'm hungry.
Naturally, he was still hungry.
That was why he had collapsed in the first place.
Starvation.
The ginseng gatherer's wife had even given his condition a name: chronic hunger.
Hae Dam could count on his fingers the number of times he had ever felt truly full. On the other hand, he had given up counting how many times he had awakened beneath an unfamiliar ceiling after collapsing from hunger once the number passed twenty-five.
Get it together. I need to go home...
Lying here wasn't going to solve his hunger. He needed to get home and eat the emergency food supplies he had carefully set aside for situations like this.
Struggling to clear his dizzy head, Hae Dam managed to get to his feet and wriggle out of the soft blanket. He pushed aside the fabric covering the little box with his head—on closer inspection, it was a coat made of an incredibly soft material—and emerged into an enormous living room.
That was unusual.
Hae Dam had fainted in all sorts of places: residential neighborhoods, roads, trains, enormous shopping malls, deep in the mountains, and countless others. Yet the places where he woke up were generally much the same.
Veterinary clinics, ordinary homes, shelters belonging to stray animals...
Or sometimes exactly where he had collapsed.
In any case, he had awakened in ordinary people's homes more times than he could count, so there was no reason to be particularly surprised.
And yet, right now, Hae Dam was astonished.
He had never seen a living room like this before.
This person must be incredibly rich!
Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows lay the Han River.
And this wasn't one of those apartments where you could barely glimpse the river from a corner. It offered a sweeping panoramic view of the Han River.
There were marble floors, leather sofas maintained so impeccably that not a speck of dust could be found, and a table made from natural stone with an exceptionally rare pattern. The rug on the floor was clearly handmade, while a large abstract painting hung on the white wall above the sofa. The absence of any other artwork made that single piece even more striking.
The television and speakers were nowhere to be seen, perhaps because they were built into the walls. Their absence made the living room feel even cleaner and more luxurious.
But most importantly...
There was the glass display cabinet beside the sofa.
Its black frame complemented the overall color scheme of the living room, and its shelves were packed with bottles of infused liquor.
There were familiar varieties like plum liquor and Korean black raspberry liquor, along with honey liquor, sanghwang mushroom liquor, ginseng liquor, mountain-cultivated ginseng liquor...
Even wild-ginseng liquor.
All the ginseng roots had been preserved in their original shapes. Some had as many as eight branches.
The labels bore inscriptions such as "2030 / Mount Jiri / wild ginseng gatherer / wild ginseng" and "2034 / Supyeongbat / 10 cultivated ginseng roots."
The most recent was from 2034, while the oldest dated all the way back to 2019.
Beneath them were rectangular boxes of various sizes containing candied red ginseng, sliced red-ginseng confection, ginseng chips, and other treats.
Some of these products required room-temperature storage, while others needed to be frozen. Since they were all kept in the same cabinet despite their different storage requirements, it seemed the cabinet allowed the temperature to be controlled separately on each shelf.
Outside, the sun was just beginning to set.
The orange glow of sunset spilled through the windows and across the living room, making the glass bottles of infused liquor shimmer brilliantly with golden light.
What if I actually died and went to heaven?
The sight was so dazzling that Hae Dam raised a tiny front paw to shield his eyes, only to topple sideways.
Just how rich is the person who picked me up?
He hoped it was someone who had always dreamed of raising a small, adorable white weasel.
I think I'd be happy living as an animal for the rest of my life if I could stay somewhere like this...
Beep-beep.
Just then, he heard the electronic door lock at the entrance disengage.
Still lying on the rug, Hae Dam lifted his head.
He didn't realize it himself, but a weasel with pure white fur stood out tremendously against the rug's muted gray tones.
"Oh, you're awake."
A man with neatly styled brown hair and dark eyes that held almost no light looked down at the weasel.
He appeared to be in his early twenties, around Hae Dam's age.
Hae Dam was particularly sensitive to human beauty and ugliness, and he was extremely particular about faces. Even by his standards, however, this man was exceptionally handsome.
He had a small face, well-proportioned features, and fair skin. He was tall, with long arms and legs and broad shoulders. He wore a black turtleneck beneath a dark gray cardigan, and the neat, understated style suited him perfectly.
But there was something almost excessively calm about him.
He seemed so devoid of vitality that he gave off an air that made it difficult to approach him casually, especially upon a first meeting.
Both his hands were full of something.
Hae Dam's nose, made more sensitive by his animal form, immediately identified the contents as food ingredients.
"So that's the ferret you picked up today?"
Another man entered behind him.
He was shorter than the calm man, though still considerably taller than average.
His entire demeanor was the complete opposite.
His jet-black hair was slicked back without a single strand out of place, exposing a gleaming forehead. He wore an impeccably tailored suit, but his swaggering posture, expression, and manner of speaking made him look more like a gangster.
He appeared to be at least ten years older than the calm man.
Hae Dam noticed their prominent brow ridges and strongly defined facial features and immediately recognized the family resemblance.
"Yeah. A cat on campus brought it to me... The veterinary clinic said it's probably a young pet ferret from somewhere nearby. Either it ran away or someone abandoned it."
"Fuck, what a bastard. Who the hell abandons a pet in the middle of winter?"
"We don't know if it was abandoned. It might have escaped... The clinic said they'd try to find its owner first."
"Why would an animal with strong survival instincts escape outside when it's below freezing? Someone dumped it."
The calm man didn't respond to his companion's firm conclusion.
Instead, he took off his shoes and slowly walked toward the living room.
Even his footsteps were as composed as the rest of him.
Naturally, Hae Dam assumed the man was coming over to pet him and fuss over how cute he was.
But the man walked straight past the weasel and approached the sofa.
He glanced inside the box and spoke.
"I left water and food in there, but it hasn't touched anything."
"Maybe it's not hungry."
"They said its stomach was completely empty. It should be starving."
"Then why isn't it eating? Did they say anything else was wrong with it?"
"Nothing abnormal showed up on the X-rays, at least. They did give it nutritional IV fluids."
The calm man looked down at Hae Dam and sighed.
"Maybe I should've left it at the clinic."
"Yeah. Why'd you go and do something so unlike you?"
The rough-looking man casually kicked off his shoes, strode over on his long legs, and plopped himself down in front of Hae Dam.
He began vigorously rubbing the weasel's fur with one enormous hand.
His touch was rough rather than gentle.
He was clearly a human who knew very little about animals.
Hae Dam disliked the way he was being handled, but for now, he obediently stayed still and pretended to be weak.
"Oh, most animals either avoid me or try to bite me right away. But this little guy's so well-behaved. Guess it really doesn't have any strength left, huh?"
"Don't bother it, brother..."
"Bother it? I'm giving it some affection."
Trapped in the man's enormous hand, the weasel turned toward the younger brother with a pleading look.
Help me!
The man regarded him calmly for a moment before quietly disappearing into the kitchen.
While Hae Dam continued to be manhandled, clattering sounds came from the kitchen.
A disgusting smell of food drifted out as well.
Soon, the man returned with both hands full of food.
Raw meat, canned salmon for cats, canned tuna, egg yolks...
People who knew nothing about animals sometimes tried offering them multigrain rice, but this man had apparently taken the time to look up what ferrets could eat.
Unfortunately...
These were all things that ferrets could eat but Hae Dam couldn't.
He merely lapped up a little water.
Thankfully, neither man tried to force his mouth open and shove food down his throat.
That was a relief.
Some people tried to force-feed him because they genuinely wanted to save his life. Whenever that happened, he had no choice but to bite their fingers, and he always felt terrible afterward.
"Well, if it can't eat, there's definitely something wrong with it. Maybe that's why its owner dumped it."
"I told you, we don't know if it was abandoned..."
"Whether it was abandoned or ran away, what're you gonna do if the owner never shows up? You gonna keep it?"
At that question, Hae Dam subtly raised his head and looked at the calm man.
He made his eyes as pitiful and sparkling as possible.
He poured every ounce of devastating cuteness into his gaze, the kind that would make anyone who met his eyes immediately declare, I'll take responsibility for this ferret for the rest of my life...!
Unfortunately, the man wasn't looking at him.
He was simply clearing away the now-useless food with an indifferent expression.
"I'll send it to an animal shelter."
Hae Dam was disappointed...
"Should we look for a twenty-four-hour veterinary clinic? What if the poor thing has rotten luck and dies in your apartment overnight?"
Hae Dam considered biting the rough-looking man's finger.
But then the calm man beside him quietly murmured, his gaze and tone resembling those of a monk who had attained enlightenment.
"If it was destined to be found by me and spend its final moments by my side, then perhaps God had a reason for arranging such a fate..."
"Listen to our baby brother. Anyone hearing you would think you're some kind of religious man."
Since he called him the baby of the family, they really must be brothers.
"I believe God exists, so I suppose I am religious."
"If an actual religious person met you, they'd probably think you were God."
"Wouldn't they be more likely to think I was some kind of cult leader...?"
"Whatever. Just make sure you don't get found out by any genuinely religious people, same as always. Anyway, shouldn't we get down to what we actually came here to discuss?"