After college ended, the streets of the city slowly returned to their usual rush.
The sky was surprisingly calm that afternoon.
Even though the sunlight wasn’t particularly strong, Yemir still walked beneath his black umbrella. He always preferred carrying one whenever he was outside under an open sky.
Two middle-aged men walking in the opposite direction glanced at him.
After passing him, one of them muttered with a mocking laugh,
"Kids these days... always carrying umbrellas like girls. There’s not even any rain."
Yemir ignored them.
A few minutes later, he stopped in front of a familiar departmental store.
DANI’S DEPARTMENTAL STORE
The shop looked almost as old as the city itself.
There was a small seating area outside, a coffee table on one side, and rows of products filling the interior.
A female customer was sitting near the counter, chatting with the elderly woman who owned the shop.
"It feels so peaceful when I come here around noon," the woman said. "There aren’t many customers, so we can actually sit and talk for a while."
Just then, Yemir entered.
The atmosphere changed almost immediately.
He folded his umbrella and placed it beside the door.
The elderly woman behind the counter looked up.
"Hello, Miss Ana!"
"Hey, young man."
She smiled.
"Your face hasn’t changed at all. I wonder what kind of magic you have."
Then she waved at the other woman.
"Come again sometime."
Miss Ana smiled and waved back before picking up her walking stick.
"I should get going. If I stay any longer, I’ll probably get stuck here."
She slowly left the store.
The elderly woman watched her go before turning back to Yemir.
"Dani... I suppose she was your friend?"
The woman gently adjusted her white hair, tying it neatly behind her head.
"Yes. We were good friends back then. Although I was two years older than her."
"Really?" Yemir looked at her.
"You look like you’re around forty."
Dani immediately narrowed her eyes.
"You stay quiet. I don’t want to discuss my age with you."
She grabbed her apron from the hanger and tossed it at his head.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
The apron covered Yemir’s face.
Dani laughed.
Age had certainly left its mark on her face, but the mischief in her eyes hadn’t disappeared at all.
A few women sitting nearby watched them.
One of them laughed.
"Look at how she treats him just because he was a little late."
Dani immediately turned toward her.
"You should be ashamed of yourself. Calling an older woman by her first name!"
She paused proudly.
"Although I’m still beautiful, of course. Haha! Only my hair has turned white."
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Yemir’s lips.
"That’s exactly why I call you Dani. If I called you Grandma, you’d feel even older."
Dani stared at him for several seconds.
Then she shook her head.
"You nocturnal creature. Stop talking and get to work."
The shop gradually became busier.
Some customers ordered coffee and sat at the nearby tables. Others sat outside, pretending to be busy with their phones. Some wandered through the aisles, looking at products without any intention of buying anything.
Yemir didn’t care about any of it.
He simply did his own thing.
Sometimes he read a book.
Sometimes he held a cup of coffee and stared through the window.
And sometimes he exchanged a few words with Dani.
That day was no different.
After a while, a woman named Poly slowly approached from the counter and stopped beside Yemir.
"Hi, Yemir."
Yemir lifted his eyes from his book.
A young woman stood beside him.
She was dressed in modern clothing and carried herself with confidence.
Yemir immediately became uncomfortable and pulled his book slightly closer.
"H-Hi."
"You remember me, right?"
She smiled.
"I’ve come here several times just to have coffee with you around."
Poly gently moved his book aside and leaned slightly closer.
Then she pointed toward a bottle of juice on the shelf.
"I want that one."
"That one?"
Yemir looked at the shelf.
"Which one?"
Poly slightly curved her lips.
"Juice."
"Oh."
Yemir quickly stood up, retrieved the bottle, and placed it in front of her.
Poly looked at him for a moment.
He’s a little too innocent. Explaining things to him is going to be difficult.
She paid for the drink and walked away.
Yemir quietly returned to his seat.
A little later, two schoolgirls entered the shop.
They were students from Hii-School.
As they entered, both girls glanced at Yemir.
Then they quickly looked at each other.
Before entering the store, they had carefully checked their makeup, lipstick, and hairstyles outside.
Now they walked in casually, pretending they hadn’t done any of that.
One of them looked at Yemir and said,
"Seriously, he looks even more handsome today than yesterday."
"Really? I saw him this morning. He looked exactly the same to me."
"That’s because people don’t notice when they’re getting more attractive."
"Oh, so that’s what you think?"
The other girl laughed.
"Anyway, what are you getting?"
"Two coffees."
She looked at her friend.
"Nana, what are you having?"
"Umm... one piece of chocolate cake."
"What? You’re eating chocolate cake again?"
She pointed at her.
"Look at yourself. You’re going to ruin your fitness."
"Shut up. You’re always talking nonsense."
Nana made a playful face.
Then she looked at Yemir.
"Look at us. Do you think we look good together?"
Yemir froze.
"Uh..."
He scratched his head.
He had absolutely no idea how to answer that.
Dani suddenly appeared beside them.
She looked at the two girls, then at Yemir.
"What exactly is going on here?"
The girls immediately began whispering to each other.
"You talk."
"Why me?"
"You were the one who wanted to ask him!"
"But this was your idea!"
A few awkward seconds passed.
Finally, Mini forced a smile.
"Hehe... he’s our senior, so we were just asking him something about our studies."
Dani raised an eyebrow.
"If you’re so interested in studying, why aren’t you at school?"
Mini suddenly had nothing to say.
Nana quietly stepped away.
As the two girls prepared to leave, Dani grabbed Yemir by the arm and started leading him toward the back.
The girls immediately stopped.
Now they finally had the courage to speak.
"Wait!"
Yemir turned around.
"Can we... take a picture with you?"
"A selfie?"
Both girls nodded quickly.
Before Yemir could refuse, they started giving him one reason after another.
After being put under enough pressure, Yemir finally sighed.
"Fine. One."
The girls almost jumped with excitement.
But just then—
"Hey! You two!"
Dani’s voice came from the counter.
"Wait there. I’m coming."
Both girls froze.
Nana quickly slipped a small note into Yemir’s hand and hurried away.
As she left, she called out,
"Please call me at least once this time!"
Mini and Nana quickly disappeared down the street.
Yemir said nothing.
He simply looked at Dani and lowered his head slightly.
His behavior made one thing clear—
He respected the elderly woman enough not to challenge her in front of others.
Dani returned to her work.
The atmosphere inside the shop slowly returned to normal.
Evening began to settle over the city.
Yemir picked up his umbrella and walked toward the door.
"Take care, Dani. Keep working. I’m heading home."
Before leaving, he looked back once.
Dani was still standing behind the counter, watching him.
As Yemir stepped outside, Dani called after him.
"There’s been so much crime in the news lately..."
She paused.
"And those incidents involving that Z..."
Her expression became slightly serious.
"Be careful out there."
Yemir’s voice came from the other side of the glass door.
"Don’t worry about those things, Dani."
The glass door slowly closed.
The shop became quiet again.
Dani continued staring through the glass.
The smile on her face gradually faded.
Outside, Yemir walked down the darkening street with his umbrella in hand.
Dani’s lips slowly curved into a small smile.
The City was Slipping into evening
The city’s lights turned on one by one.
Cars moved through the streets. People continued talking. Storefronts glowed beneath the evening sky.
The city was still far from asleep.
Yemir walked slowly.
Then—
His ear twitched slightly.
He stopped.
For several seconds, he stood completely still.
Then he turned his head toward another direction.
His brow furrowed.
He quickened his pace.
A little farther ahead, he saw something in the distance.
Black smoke.
Then—
An orange glow.
A building was on fire.
People had gathered around it.
A Fire Service vehicle had already arrived, and firefighters were trying to control the flames from below.
But the fire had spread toward the upper floors, making the rescue much more difficult.
Yemir pushed through the crowd.
"Did someone call the Fire Service?"
"Yes," someone immediately replied. "They’re already here."
Another person added,
"There are still people inside. Most of the building is safe for now, but the fire hasn’t been fully contained."
Suddenly, a cry came from the crowd.
A parent was looking toward the upper floors in panic.
"There! On the roof!"
She pointed upward.
"My little child is standing near the edge!"
She turned desperately toward the rescue workers.
"He went upstairs with his father and their cat!"
One of the firefighters looked up.
"Where’s his father?"
The woman shook her head.
"I don’t know. I can’t reach him on the phone."
The child looked around seven or eight years old.
He wasn’t looking directly down.
Instead, his attention remained fixed on a small cat trapped farther along the rooftop.
The flames, the shouting, and the chaos around him didn’t seem to matter.
He slowly tried to move toward the cat.
"Kid! Come back!"
"Don’t go any closer!"
"Leave the cat!"
People shouted from below.
One person angrily said,
"The building owner should be held responsible! Look how low that railing is!"
The child didn’t respond.
His eyes remained fixed on the cat.
Meanwhile, one of the firefighters spoke into his walkie-talkie.
"We need a helicopter to reach the rooftop."
A response came through.
"It’ll take around twenty minutes."
Twenty minutes.
For a child standing near the edge of a burning building, that was far too long.
Yemir had heard everything from where he stood.
He looked at the building again.
Something about the situation formed a clear plan in his mind.
Without hesitation, he stepped forward.
A firefighter moved to stop him.
"Where are you going?"
Yemir calmly answered,
"Up."
"That’s impossible. It’s not safe."
Yemir looked toward the dark staircase inside the building.
"Don’t worry. I hike and do mountaineering. I’m used to working at high elevations."
He didn’t wait for another response.
Yemir headed inside.
A few people tried to stop him, but he was already moving toward the staircase.
The air inside was heavy with smoke.
Heat pressed against the walls of the stairwell.
In some places, the smoke was so thick that he could barely see more than a few steps ahead.
The heat forced him to change direction several times.
Then he reached a damaged section of the staircase.
Yemir stopped.
He looked down.
Then he carefully moved along a narrow section beside the wall, finding another way upward.
A few moments later—
He reached the floor directly beneath the rooftop.
The roof was visible from there.
The child was standing dangerously close to the railing.
One hand gripped the railing while the other reached outward toward the cat.
Yemir quickly scanned the area.
Then he looked toward the rooftop.
reaching the child directly would be difficult .
getting to the upper section first wood be easier .
But a wall blocked the way.
A rescue worker was already trying to break through it.
He struck it several times, but the wall barely moved.
Yemir stepped forward.
He studied the wall.
Then he clenched his fist.
For a brief moment, everything around him seemed to disappear.
Then—
BAM!
His fist struck the wall.
Cracks spread across its surface.
The rescue worker stared.
"I hit this thing three or four times, and it barely moved..."
Yemir raised his fist again.
Another strike.
BAM!
This time, a large section of the wall broke inward.
No one said a word.
Yemir simply brushed the dust from his hand and moved forward.
He looked down at the rescue equipment scattered nearby.
Then he picked up a thick rope.
He checked the position of the rooftop railing and spun the rope once in his hand.
Then—
He threw it.
The rope cut through the air and landed over the rooftop railing, catching firmly on the other side.
Yemir looked down.
One firefighter handed him a helmet.
Another gave him a safety jacket.
He took both.
He put on the helmet and pulled the jacket over himself.
Then he gripped the rope tightly.
Everyone below looked up.
Some had forgotten to take out their phones.
No one was talking.
Only the sound of the fire and distant sirens filled the air.
Above them—
The child was still looking toward the cat.
Yemir began climbing the rope toward the rooftop.
One step at a time.
Every movement brought him closer to the child.
Everyone below watched in silence.
And for the first time, the child looked away from the cat.
He looked toward Yemir.
There was still fear in his eyes.
But there was something else too.
Hope.
Hope that someone would save his beloved cat.