Chapter 1:

Four months old Kim Jung Hee grunted to himself as he forced his neck to lift his big head. This thingy that holds his eyes and mouth is just too heavy, he thought to himself. Move, you stupid little...

The frustrated baby wanted to move, to see the world around him. It was only a month or so ago when his vision cleared and he can now see most of the things around him. And it fascinated him. He wanted to know more.

But the more he sees things, the more it creates questions in his mind. What is that thing behind the chair over there? What is that thing flapping in the big hole in the wall? What is Mother doing in the other room when she leaves me here in the bed all alone? What is Father doing outside the room that creates that horrible noise? Ooooh, I wanna know!

A cat nimbly jumped up into the window that Jung is looking at and Jung stop moving. Jung’s eyes widened, fascinated by the sudden creature that appeared in front of his vision.

"Guuh?"

"Meowh," the cat answered. She gave the little creature a haughty look and then dismissed the human kitten. The cat is more interested in looking for the perfect place to nap.

Jung watched the cat drop to his bed and stop just out of reach of his chubby little arm. The baby stared at the swishing tail back and forth behind the animal, and it almost mesmerized him. Jung reaches for it in vain, but the cat only stares at him with cold, baleful eyes.

The cat then sniffed him. Then it sniffed the air, then walked imperiously next to the baby's feet in the relatively wide bed. She finally chose a spot near Jung's feet. The cat sniffed the spot again, circled it once, and then sat down gracefully. The cat scratched the back of its ear and settled down for a nice little nap.

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With his position, Jung could not see what the fascinating creature was doing, and he tried to lift his swollen head, but he just couldn't do it. He was sure the stupid thing deliberately caught his attention and then went to that spot so he could not observe it, and it infuriated him. I wanna see! Jung thought to himself. He lifted his head with an effort, then fell back again. A tear built in the side of his eyes.

Stupid creature! Kick! Kick!

He tried to reach the creature with his left foot. Then his right. Hell, any feet will do, but his chubby, little legs are just too short to reach anything.

OoooH! Why can’t I touch you?! Kick! Kick!

The stubborn baby tried again and again, but to no avail. He turned over to his belly, but that didn’t help his position. It actually made him further away. He still can’t see the cat. It didn’t occur to him to use his arm to change direction. Despite all his effort, he simply rocks back and forth. Instead, he rolled back to his old position, and all he could see was the ceiling. ‘Gah! Babuuh…” he called out. I wanna see you , furry creature.

Eventually, baby Jung gave up. He just can’t move properly, and the stupid creature left him. And he is hungry and he is tired.

"Waaah!! Uwaaah!" Jung cried in frustration.

Jung's tired mom hurried to his room and saw with mild surprise that her son was turning red. She touched his forehead and could feel the heat in his body. She carried her baby and loosened her bundle a bit since the baby was feeling hot. As she bobbed the little baby up and down, he noticed the cat in the baby’s bed.

"Shooh! Shooh, cat!" She tried to whack the cat with her slippers, but even before she grabbed her weapon, the cat already moved from her position, and the mother was unable to reach the nimble animal. Meowing, the annoyed cat left on her own accord, grumbling all the time about annoying humans and not leaving her alone in peace.

Jung also attempted to communicate with his guardian about the annoying creature and how his stupid head is so heavy, as well as the creature smugly looking at him and his stupid short feet incapable of kicking the stupid creature. Jung became even more frustrated as he was unable to communicate his meaning, and the annoying guardian was simply swaying him around in her arms.

Stop moving me around, I wanna tell you about the creature!

Then he forgot what he was complaining about, and then he felt tired and closed his eyes, and the next thing he knew, he was already dreaming about the stupid cat getting a kick in the face.

Despite her exhaustion, Kim Jin Ae smiled at her adorable sleeping son. "What am I going to do with you, little one? You have too much energy, and I don't have any spare ones to spend on you." The middle-aged woman's concerns about how they will raise a child surfaced again, but she crushed them and buried them in the darkness of her soul. This child will live, and we will provide for him with the best possible future, she thought with a determined, grim scowl.

Just make sure he has a better life than me, and I will be content, she silently asked her ancestors.

She took a moment longer to dance with her precious son, and then eventually returned him to the bed. She watched him sleep fondly for a while longer before returning to her work outside.

The cat, meanwhile, found a place near the barn and the cow and took her own nap.

Just another day, in the sleepy village deep in North Korea.