#80
Without a second thought, Eunsol moved his legs toward the direction where the grass had rustled. Though his legs gave out several times, causing him to collapse to the ground, Eunsol continued, even crawling if necessary.
The rustling sound gradually grew closer. Eunsol raised his hand and roughly wiped his hazy, tear-filled eyes.
Realistically, it made no sense. Though his mind knew that the child who had been in his womb couldn’t possibly be wandering around in the grass, Eunsol was frantically chasing after traces of his baby like someone half insane.
“…Ah.”
Finally, he reached the spot where the suspicious movement had been detected. Eunsol carefully parted the grass with his hands, which had somehow become covered in wounds.
What appeared through the parted grass was a tiny white rabbit.
The rabbit, with fur as white as pristine snow without any impurities, perked up its ears and looked up at Eunsol. Its jet-black eyes were as clear as glass beads.
“It was just a rabbit…”
Only then did a sense of reality return.
Even if this was a place one came to after death, he wouldn’t necessarily be able to meet his child. Lucky hadn’t even seen the light of the world yet.
Even in the ultrasound image, the life form had appeared as small as a bean, not yet fully grown.
“Hic…”
Eunsol buried his forehead on the ground and released a suppressed cry. Despite already pouring out the sorrow, pain, and regret that filled his heart through tears, he still felt suffocated.
He wished he could become an idiot incapable of any thought.
If that happened, perhaps this pain strangling his breath would also disappear like a mirage.
“Ugh, sob…”
Eunsol, who had been continuing his sorrowful crying, turned his head at the soft touch he felt beside his face.
The baby rabbit, which had been sitting alone in the middle of the grass, had somehow moved next to Eunsol.
With its eyes tightly closed, it was rubbing its forehead against Eunsol’s tear-wet cheek, as if trying to comfort him.
“Were you… lonely too?”
The rabbit was the first living being Eunsol had encountered here. Although he hadn’t explored other areas yet, there had been no other signs of life except for the rabbit.
“St-stop, it tickles…”
The rabbit, with both ears drooping downward, kept bringing its face to Eunsol’s.
Its black eyes resembled Eunsol’s. At the sight of it approaching blindly without fear, Eunsol slowly raised his huddled body.
“It’s so small…”
When he quietly extended his hand, the rabbit promptly jumped onto Eunsol’s palm as if it had been waiting.
The rabbit was so tiny that it barely filled Eunsol’s palm. Eunsol securely held the rabbit with both hands and lifted it to eye level.
The tears that had been flowing abundantly, making his white eye area red and raw, were gradually stopping due to the rabbit’s adorable behavior.
“…Hello. Nice to meet you.”
His small whispering voice was still immersed in sadness. Eunsol displayed a faint smile that seemed as if it might disappear at any moment.
When he gently lowered his head and touched the rabbit’s nose with the tip of his round nostrils, the black eyes immediately narrowed to slits and disappeared.
“Do you perhaps know… where this place is?”
Though aware that the rabbit couldn’t understand his words, Eunsol busily moved his lips, partly to push away the silence.
It was like being in a dream.
Despite his hands being covered in wounds from repeatedly falling and scraping against the ground, he felt no particular pain.
Is this really a dream…?
While talking to the rabbit and drawing different thoughts, Eunsol bit the inside of his lip hard.
“…It doesn’t hurt at all.”
Though he should have felt a sharp pain, it was as if he had received an anesthetic injection; he was only aware of the action of biting his flesh.
“Are you perhaps hungry?”
Then he noticed the rabbit busily raising its front paws and scratching its nose. Eunsol’s head naturally tilted to the side. He slowly lowered the rabbit to the grass.
The rabbit, with its ears perked up, soon moved its tiny feet quickly and grabbed a blade of grass nearby.
“You’re really cute.”
He had never had the opportunity to interact with animals in his life. His step-brother had begged his parents to keep a dog and a cat when he was young, but since he had fur allergies, his request remained just a request.
Every time the baby rabbit ate the grass, its plump cheeks rippled like waves.
At this sight, Eunsol moved his finger as if hypnotized.
Poke.
Eunsol’s shoulders trembled lightly at the sensation felt at his fingertips. He stopped after one touch because the rabbit had stopped eating and was staring up at him.
“Uh, umm…?”
Just as Eunsol was checking the rabbit’s reaction, wondering if it was angry, the baby rabbit charged at him like a tank.
Though its size was small enough to fit in Eunsol’s hand, its spirit was no less than that of a general on a battlefield.
Eunsol, who had been kneeling, was surprised by the rabbit’s momentum and fell backward.
Fortunately, since the surroundings were filled with grass tall enough to brush against his calves, there was no impact. Even if he had been hurt, he had already recognized that this was a space where pain couldn’t be felt, so his fear had diminished.
“Ugh, w-wait, rabbit…”
Had rabbits always enjoyed licking people like this?
Since he didn’t know much about rabbits, Eunsol had to defenselessly endure the attack of the rabbit licking his face all over. He couldn’t push it away forcefully either. The tiny life form seemed like it might be severely injured by even a small force.
A clear laugh escaped through his unavoidably parted lips as a ticklish sensation covered his face.
A strange sensation, like mist on water, soaked his entire body, as it had been an unimaginably long time since he had laughed so thoughtlessly.
Eunsol wiped away the tears that had pooled in his eyes with his fingertips. He experienced for the first time in his life that tears could form even from laughter.
“Are you not hungry anymore? I won’t poke your cheeks now. Do you want to eat more grass?”
He felt sorry for possibly interrupting the rabbit’s meal by touching its cheek. Eunsol sat up and broke off some of the grass the rabbit had been eating before.
The rabbit, which had been on Eunsol’s chest, quickly crawled down his body and sat in front of him.
“It’s okay. I really won’t touch you.”
The rabbit might have been staring up at Eunsol without any particular thought. But Eunsol, feeling guilty, quietly placed the grass in front of the rabbit and hid both hands behind his back.
The rabbit, after tilting its head from side to side, soon settled comfortably and began to nibble on the grass Eunsol had plucked.
As the rabbit focused on eating, Eunsol hugged his knees and quietly watched.
Strangely, he couldn’t take his eyes off the rabbit.
Thoughts of the baby kept swirling in one corner of his mind, but when the rabbit filled his vision, those thoughts evaporated like a mirage.
Even his sad emotions disappeared when he saw the rabbit’s plump cheeks and wiggling bottom.
“Are you full now? Hmm? What’s wrong, rabbit?”
It didn’t take long for the neatly piled grass to disappear.
The rabbit, which had been quietly eating grass, suddenly perked up its ears. Its small head swiveled in various directions.
Eunsol’s head also moved in tandem with the rabbit.
“Rabbit…!”
Suddenly, the rabbit dashed toward a particular direction. It ran so fast with its tiny legs that even though Eunsol immediately got up to follow, it was not easy to keep up with its speed.
He understood that, being a wild animal, they couldn’t stay together indefinitely. However, this place, whether it was the afterlife or a dream, was a space detached from reality.
He didn’t want to be left alone in a place with no one else, consumed by terrible sorrow.
“Just a bit, slow down…”
Though he felt no pain, his breath easily became ragged. Eunsol diligently moved his feet while pressing down on his aching chest.
Swoosh!
Perhaps the rabbit felt Eunsol’s desperate call. It suddenly stopped its movement and looked back at Eunsol.
The rabbit’s ears alternated between perking up and drooping down. It was as if it had a message it wanted to convey to Eunsol.
“Huff, huff…”
Eunsol steadied his rough breath with his hands on his knees. Fortunately, instead of running away from Eunsol, the rabbit remained in place.
“…Let’s stay together.”
Crouching beside the rabbit, Eunsol gently extended his index finger. The rabbit, which had been tilting its head, stretched out its plump front paw and gently tapped the tip of Eunsol’s index finger.
Then it slightly opened its mouth, lightly bit Eunsol’s finger, and started moving again.
This time, it wasn’t running quickly like before but trotting along, so Eunsol could walk alongside it at his own pace.
“What’s that?”
The place where the rabbit led Eunsol was a large tree standing at the top of the hill. The leaves rustled against each other in the blowing wind, producing a pleasant melody.
“…It’s a pine tree.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
