Lair Under the Bridge (1)
Hanbit Elementary School, second grade, class three, attendance number twenty-four. Han Heerin.
Heerin had been in a good mood lately. The only downside was the carrots that kept sneaking into the breakfast salads her mom made for her.
“That’s all for today’s lesson! Everyone head home safely, and no staring at your phones while you walk!”
“Okaaay~”
The moment their homeroom teacher finished the closing remarks, bright voices exploded across the room. Heerin’s was one of them.
“Heerin! Want to play with—”
“Sorry! I’ve got stuff to do today!”
Heerin brushed off her friend’s invitation without hesitation, quickly packed her bag, and left the classroom. She passed through the school gate, crossed the street, and—being the good kid she was—carefully looked both ways at the crosswalk. After walking and walking, she arrived at the bridge that spanned the stream running through the neighborhood. She wobbled her way down the steep slope that had no stairs.
“Beggar Sister!”
Heerin shouted cheerfully even as she stumbled. “Beggar Sister! I’m here!”
At her repeated calls, rustling sounds came from the pile of cardboard boxes under the bridge. One side of the pile opened, and a woman emerged, scratching her stomach.
“Mmm… What? Is it already time for school to let out?”
“Beggar Sister, you were sleeping until now again? Mom says if you wake up this late you can’t grow up to be a proper adult!”
Heerin scolded the woman while setting her bag down and rummaging through it. What she pulled out was a triangle kimbap she had bought at the convenience store on the way.
“Here. You haven’t eaten anything today either, right?”
“Kid, I’ve told you multiple times—I’m not a beggar.”
Even as she said that, the woman accepted the kimbap and peeled off the wrapper with practiced hands.
“You don’t have a house and I’m the one who brings you food. That makes you a beggar!”
“A beggar is someone who begs. This is you offering it to me, so it’s not begging.”
“Huh? Is that… how it works? Hmm~?”
Heerin tilted her head. It was a difficult concept for a second-grader. Since she was a very smart child, she simply decided not to think too hard about complicated things.
“Anyway, look at this! Look! Isn’t it cool?”
Heerin pulled out a large piece of cardboard and some styrofoam from her bag. “I picked them up on the way! This will make your house way sturdier!”
“Mmm-hmm~”
The woman answered without even looking at her, chewing on the kimbap. Since this wasn’t a one-day or two-day occurrence, Heerin didn’t mind and simply crawled into the cardboard pile.
Unlike its shabby exterior, the inside of the cardboard house was surprisingly well-organized. This was exactly what Heerin called “Sister’s house.” A worn but still usable mattress had been laid down with cardboard on top to make a proper bed, and the walls were reinforced enough to withstand most wind and rain. All of it had been built with materials Heerin had brought.
“Hehe~”
Humming a little tune, Heerin cut and taped the new materials, happily decorating the cardboard house. This had recently become her favorite new hobby—building a secret base. It had started when she felt sorry for the beggar sister she happened to meet and wanted to bring her something. The beggar sister herself had grumbled that she didn’t need it, but Heerin was sure she was just being shy.
Once she actually started building, though, she discovered there was nothing more fun. Everyone has that dream of a secret base at least once. Usually such things collapsed in the rain or became dangerous when homeless people moved in, but fortunately Heerin’s secret base was safe in that regard. Being under the bridge protected it from most weather, and the beggar sister stood guard so no other homeless people would settle there. Even if the beggar sister was technically a homeless person herself.
Even so…
Heerin pressed down firmly on the cardboard she had added to the wall, making sure the glue stuck, and glanced at the beggar sister. The woman wore ragged, stretched-out clothes that looked like they had been fished out of a clothing donation bin. Yet even in those clothes, her beauty couldn’t be hidden. Silver hair that somehow still sparkled despite living and sleeping under a dusty bridge, skin without a single blemish, and an inexplicable aura of charisma. No matter what, Heerin never once felt like the woman would harm her.
The woman, sensing the gaze, turned her head and tilted it. Her back was already flat on the floor.
“Hmm? What is it?”
…And honestly, aside from her appearance and aura, watching her lie on the ground and roll around right after waking up made her seem completely harmless.
“…Hm.”
The woman, who had been lying on the bare ground diligently shortening the lifespan of her already tattered clothes, suddenly looked upward. It was as if she could see the sky straight through the bridge above them.
“Kid. It’s going to rain soon. You should head back for today.”
“Huh? The weather forecast said the chance of rain was low…”
Heerin grumbled in disappointment but stopped decorating the secret base and quickly prepared to leave. The beggar sister had never been wrong about things like this. She would be bored at home with no one there, but it was still better than getting caught in the rain.
“Then, Beggar Sister! See you tomorrow!”
“I keep telling you I’m not a beggar.”
Heerin neatly ignored the woman’s words, waved enthusiastically, and climbed back up to the bridge. As she walked up the slope, her head was already full of excited plans for how she would decorate the secret base tomorrow.
“Whew. She finally left.”
The woman whom Heerin called Beggar Sister had a proper name of her own: Serpina. It was obviously not a Korean name. She wasn’t Korean, and she wasn’t even from Earth to begin with. If one had to classify her, she would be called an otherworlder. A dragon who had returned to Earth through dimensional travel magic—that was Serpina’s true identity.
Of course, the details were rather complicated if you dug into them. She had originally been a healthy young man on Earth who died in an accident and was reincarnated as a dragon in a fantasy world… but there was no need to overthink it.
Serpina still clearly remembered the name she had used before becoming a dragon, back when she had been male. However, given the sheer length and depth of the years she had lived, the name that would come to her lips first if someone asked was Serpina.
As soon as Heerin left, Serpina returned to her “house” and lay down on the bed. The cardboard still held the warmth of the little girl’s body heat. Serpina closed her eyes, breathing in the faint scent of the new cardboard and glue Heerin had attached.
Living in a makeshift house of haphazardly taped cardboard under a bridge. Anyone would call it the life of a beggar, and Serpina knew that perfectly well. But in her case, the situation was a little different. At least, that was what she insisted.
Hygiene, cleanliness, safety—most of the conditions required for proper housing were solved with magic. If she had to name a drawback, it would be the slight issue of privacy. In that sense, this spot under the bridge was exactly to Serpina’s liking. For some reason, almost no one ever passed by this area.
When she thought back to her memories from when she had been male, even a tiny stream in the neighborhood would have had walking paths built alongside it and people constantly strolling by. Yet in the month since Serpina had settled here, the number of people she had encountered could be counted on one hand. It was no wonder there weren’t even stairs leading down to the area and Heerin had to carefully descend the slope.
“Still, that kid comes here every single day.”
Serpina thought about Heerin. A young girl who treated this place where almost no one passed by as her own playground, coming and going as she pleased. A young girl who brought her food every time she visited.
Heerin cited the fact that she gave her food as the reason for calling her a beggar, but Serpina saw it differently. It wasn’t that Heerin was giving her food. It was that Serpina was graciously accepting the offerings Heerin presented. Honestly, even Serpina found it strange—not the fact that she was receiving food from a little girl, but that she felt absolutely no shame about it.
Perhaps the instincts she had suppressed for so long were finally bursting free. Ever since she had been born as a dragon, she had never once spent her time being as lazily draconic as she was now. Therefore, accepting food from Heerin didn’t feel embarrassing at all. To Serpina, it was perfectly natural.
Just like a dragon that had built its nest receiving tribute from the surrounding races.
Good. With that, all three basic needs—food, clothing, and shelter—were neatly resolved. Therefore, Serpina was not a beggar. It didn’t matter what other people thought. As long as she herself thought so, that was enough.
If she had to name something regrettable, it would be her clothes that were gradually falling apart. Even that could be fixed by finding new ones when they became too worn. Come to think of it, lately she had begun sensing from Heerin’s eyes the thought of I want to dress Sister in pretty clothes!
What could a lower-grade elementary student be thinking? Perhaps to Heerin it felt similar to wanting to play dress-up with a doll. It was exactly that age, after all. Not that Serpina had any intention of wearing the frilly, doll-like clothes the girl might bring.
Plop. Drop.
While she lay on the bed thinking about this and that, raindrops began to fall one by one. The presence of the nameless stream beneath the bridge grew stronger, and the faint scent of rain filled the air.
“I wonder if she made it home before getting properly soaked.”
Serpina muttered quietly. For better or worse, the only source of stimulation in this life under the bridge was Heerin. Since it was too much trouble to go looking for stimulation herself, the fact that the girl came to her on her own made her something like fate. Especially since she brought offerings of food every day.
Serpina was even willing to grant some of Heerin’s requests.
She had definitely thought that way, but…
The day after the rain.
“Beggar… I mean, Pretty Sister. Can you watch this little one for me!”
As always, Heerin had come without fail. In her hands was something completely unexpected.
—Nyaah….
Inside the box Heerin held out was a tiny kitten that looked like it couldn’t be more than a few months old.