The next day, Saeng woke up early and rubbed her eyes, and went bathroom to get fresh and do the daily hygiene routine, then she also took a shower bath and changed into a grey color sweatshirt with white pants.
She went near the window to open the windows, but she noticed window glass panes had scratches and small cracks in them. This confirmed that somebody was trying to invade her room.
She thought of repairing it soon but the repair workers won't repair it soon until this situation ends. She then decided to tape it up, she put straps of strong tape and pasted from top to bottom on the window panes, to make it a little more stable than before.
She then walked into the hall room and finds them awake and Yeong's mom is already cooking something for them. She went near Yeong's mom and Yeong was engrossed in talking with the rabbit plush, held close to him.
She could smell the delicious aroma of Hoe ( raw dishes) and Naenjguk ( Cold soup) coming from the kitchen, she also noticed that rice has been already cooked.
Yeong's mom noticed her and said, "Did you sleep well?", She hummed yes. Yeong's mom turned towards her and said, " Yeong was saying, you gave her your favorite plush and that removed his fears yesterday and made him feel safe. Thank you for that".
Saying that, she touched her cheeks with looking at her with happiness in her eyes, Saeng just felt something inside her body and then looked down to find her hands redden again for minutes longer than the previous time.
Then all of them sat and ate breakfast together and Yeong's mom and Yeong went to their flat to bring some necessary items, then she just went inside her bedroom, turns on her laptop, then took out some books and notebooks, and starts scribbling notes down and surfing articles through the internet on the laptop and also making some charts and graphs on the laptop.
After some time, she checked her phone, and she found many missed calls. She recognized those missed calls were from U-ram and Mi-Ok.
She called them and they didn't receive her at first, then after trying again, U-ram receives her call, he scolds her, and asks for the reason for not receiving their calls.
He expresses, " Saeng-a, because of you, Mi-Ok couldn't sleep well yesterday night. Mi-Ok is worried about you, when you didn't receive the call yesterday, me and mostly Mi-Ok were really having bad thoughts, but somehow, I managed to calm her down. Next time, I don't want Mi-Ok to be worried because of you. And, you don't step out of your house. It is not all safe outside. Please take care of yourself".
Saeng just neutrally answered and then told him to inform Mi-Ok that she is safe and he also is safe.
Then somehow, she is hesitant, but still asks, " Is Si-U with Mi-Ok?, she doesn't know why she asked about Si-U.
Hearing her question, U-ram felt irritated and annoyed, and rudely replies, " That it is none of your business, However, he might be, it shouldn't concern you.
And stay away from him, he doesn't need someone like you, you two are not suitable for each other".
Then suddenly someone takes the phone away from his hand and that was Mi-Ok, she looked angry and glared at U-ram, and then she talked with Saeng, scolding her for carelessness and advising her to be safe and also informing her, " Si-U is safe, he was quite stubborn yesterday to meet you but I stopped him as situation outside is not safe for him and you too.
And ignore U-ram's senseless talks and thank you for asking about my brother".
The Saeng hums and then ends the call after talking for some minutes.
After that Mi-Ok turns towards U-ram and asks him, " Why are you so interested in my brother's life?, and why you are being so mean to Saeng ? and what if both of them date each other or not in the future, it shouldn't be a problem for you".
U-ram feels more irritation, he replies, " Our Saeng is not suitable for Si-U, she is not made for relationships". They continued to argue for 20 minutes, then Si-U comes in between to help them calm down, he advised them to not fight over something that they don't know.
Si-U looks towards U-ram and says," It doesn't matter to me if she is normal or different, even if she doesn't know emotions much but she is still human, she has a heart like everyone, she might not be expressive but still she behaves with honesty and blunt.
And, she doesn't deserve this disrespect, just because she doesn't fit into the norm.
So, please don't judge her without at least trying to understand her".
Mi-Ok also says, " He is right, I judged her once and treated her harshly at first but later she became my best friend, who was honest and always by my side, don't forget, she is the link that helped us meet and know about each other and then rest is the history.
You never understood her neither in the past nor in the present now". Saying this both went inside their rooms.
U-ram was shocked and felt sad upon the realization that he was being too mean to all of them. After all, Saeng did help them bond and meet but he doesn't know why the thought of them together makes him frustrated and reminds him of that hurtful memory with Saeng.
Si-U stares out his window, recalling their conversations where U-ram appeared annoyed by his closeness to Saeng, which confuses him as it is just concern or something else, he hopes it is just concern.
He rewinds yesterday's events, when he was just attending college classes in the morning and then playing so peacefully but his peace vanished when he heard and saw the news on the YouTube app, which made him think of his loved ones, his sister, his brother-in-law, and Saeng.
He then hurried fast to his home and found home locked, he felt anxiety fill him as he was worried for his sister's well-being, then he took out his bike and went in search of them as their phones were not responding to any of his calls.
He searched for them everywhere, then after Mi-Ok and U-ram reached home, they were worried about Si-U, so they charged their phone, while charging, U-ram called him and kept it on speaker when the call was received, they heard Si-U's stressed tone, and he asked them questions continuously and then asked, whether Mi-Ok is safe.
They ordered him to not ask questions and reach home safely and avoid people or creatures or whatever.
Si-U reached home and knocked on the door, then suddenly out of somewhere, something wrapped around his upper body tightly and Si-U noticed a tall snake wrapped its tail around his upper body, he tried to escape out of his grasp and at the same time, Mi-Ok opened the door and found her brother trapped within snake's tail, she screamed in fear and U-ram went to help Si-U escape out of this.
Mi-Ok went inside and came back after some time, then she hurried fast and stabbed the knife deep in the tail, the snake shouted in pain and hissed, and then his grip loosened, and Si-U escaped out of his grasp.
They entered their home but Si-U grabbed the knife and was going to stab the snake again, but Mi-Ok stopped him from doing it, and says, " It will be an attack, not a defense. He doesn't deserve to be hunted".
Si-U expressed his negative thoughts about wild animals, " They are just animals, who are not the same as us. They just know only to attack and hunt. They are emotionless beings".
Hearing this, Mi-Ok is surprised by his intense dark thoughts about animals, she wanders about Saeng, who loves animals and understands them quite well.
Si-U tries to harm the snake again, but then the snake begins to speak in human language, which made them speechless as till now he was just hissing, he pleads to Si-U not to kill him.
And that snake speaks in a sad tone," I had no intention to hurt you from the first, I wrapped you in my tail. I only needed help for my family who have become lambs and are being hunted by real tigers who are somewhat human-structured".
U-ram and Mi-Ok felt bad for him but Si-U again tried to stab him as snakes are manipulative, but then his sister grabbed him roughly and slapped him hard and his cheeks turned red.
He stared wide open at his sister, who never was this angry, her eyes filled with angry tears, and says in rage," You are also like U-ram, the insensitive people, who don't deserve people like Saeng, who understand the animals so well even when she doesn't understand their language, she is emotionless too, so will you kill her too?
Do wild living beings don't deserve to be understood or loved or live at least?
You all are pathetic, and my dear brother, just because you hate animals because of your sick mentality, that means you are also biased like U-ram.
You both stay away from Saeng, because someday, you may end up hurting her badly", Mi-Ok then asked that snake to lead her to his family, the snake then crawled down the stairs and showed her the way.
Both of them looked down, U-ram felt pain for hurting his girlfriend so badly and her brother felt tears forming in his eyes as he hurt his sister and made her this angry.
He ignores his tears and hurriedly followed his sister to make sure Mi-Ok is safe but U-ram was lost in a particular memory, which causes frustration and hurt whenever he remembers.
Then He also hurried down the stairs and looked for them and then found them on the ground floor, where they were standing in front of a door.
U-ram rushed to them, the snake led them inside, and notices the lambs injured and gathered in a corner, they were scared of that snake even after he was just saying them comforting words, and those lambs run and hid behind Mi-Ok and U-ram.
U-ram and Mi-Ok observed the hurt in those snake eyes, this was also noticed by Si-U, who felt bad for his reckless action.
Si-U then made some arrangements inside their room so that no one can enter the house or even if they do, they made the lambs wear some protective outfits which will help them protect themselves.
After that, Si-U apologizes to the snake for his killing attempt, which made his sister also forgive him for his recent action.
Then they went again back to their apartment and Mi-Ok patted her brother's back for trying to face and accept his wrongdoing.
Si-U was relieved to know that his sister was not angry anymore with him and also she forgave him.
Then Mi-Ok asks him," Si-U, why are you still looking worried? ", To which he replied, " I just want to make sure that Saeng is safe and that is only possible when I meet her in person".
His sister smiles at his fondness and concern for her best friend, she then advised him to go meet her but avoid troubles and return home soon. Her brother is glad to hear that her sister allowed him to visit her.