“Goodness, why is it so hot today?”
That day—
Astyr, or rather, Tia, lay flat on the floor while Grandma from Room 107 fanned her with a hand fan.
Tia crossed her eyes and watched her bangs flutter when the lady from Room 203 suddenly opened the front door and stepped inside.
“U-Um, unni… I think something terrible has happened…”
Normally, the woman would have immediately scooped Tia into her arms while saying, “How can our Tia be this adorable?”
But today, the woman quickly avoided looking at her.
Tia tilted her head.
“What’s wrong? Did somebody cause trouble again?”
“N-No, it’s not that…”
Again.
The woman glanced at Tia before quickly looking away.
Tia’s eyes naturally shifted toward the envelope in the woman’s hands.
The lady from Room 203 was gripping the crumpled paper envelope so tightly it looked like she was afraid of losing it.
“You better not be making a fuss over nothing again. You always scare the child like this…”
But the moment the envelope was opened, Grandma from Room 107 fell silent.
Without the fan, sweat slowly formed on Tia’s forehead.
Silence filled the tiny one-room apartment.
Only the sound of cicadas crying outside remained.
Then—
“...What are we supposed to do now…”
The grandmother suddenly turned around and tightly pulled Tia into her arms.
“What do we do?! What do we do now?!”
And then she burst into loud sobs.
Held in the old woman’s embrace, Tia simply blinked her eyes.
Even the woman from Room 203 was sniffling.
Confused though she was, Tia quickly realized something had gone wrong.
[In accordance with Article 12, Paragraph 1 of the Funeral Services Act, the body of a deceased person without relatives has been handled accordingly. Family members are requested to retrieve the enshrined remains.]
That day marked the tenth day since her father had failed to return home.
“Funeral services…?”
What was that supposed to mean?
After the grandmother and the lady hurried out, leaving her alone, Tia stared at the paper over and over again.
It was filled with difficult words she didn’t understand.
Still, there was one phrase she did know.
“...‘Deceased person’ means someone who died.”
Fear suddenly crept over her, and Tia quietly set the paper down.
As she fidgeted with her fingers, her eyes landed on the Tanipang sticker book Seulhee had given her at kindergarten.
Most of the stickers were already used up—
except for Tia’s favorite, Ttonapang.
“Show me your shining magic~ Catch Catch……”
Humming the Tanipang theme song softly, Tia carefully peeled off the Ttonapang sticker.
Then she left Room 107, entered Room 106, and brought back one of the flyers her dad had collected.
On the blank back side of it, she slowly wrote in marker:
[Please let Daddy come home.]
No one in the Quail Class at kindergarten could write letters as neatly as Tia.
And of course, she didn’t forget to firmly press the Ttonapang sticker beneath the sentence.
“Daddy…”
Daddy always said strange things.
He believed he came from an empire called Talochium—
and that Tia’s hometown was there too.
He claimed that in that world, he had been an incredibly powerful holy knight.
Every day he fought evil monsters and villains.
He was supposedly the strongest hero, respected by everyone.
Tia shook her head firmly.
Of course, she had believed him until around age three.
Back then, her dad sounded so cool that her heart would pound with excitement, and sometimes she couldn’t sleep until after nine o’clock.
But Tia was four years old now.
Which meant she was practically all grown up and knew everything.
‘The strongest holy knight loved by everyone would definitely be rich.’
But Tia and her dad weren’t rich.
They were poor, if anything.
You could tell because all her kindergarten friends went on summer vacations every year—
while Tia and her dad had never gone anywhere even once.
And her dad hardly ever rested.
He worked on weekends.
On Children’s Day.
On Hangul Day.
Even on Christmas.
Whenever Tia asked why he worked so much, the adults at Gold Apartments would say:
“His job doesn’t make much money compared to how hard he works.”
It was difficult wording, but Tia vaguely understood.
No matter how hard Daddy worked, he still couldn’t earn enough money to buy her a new Tanipang sticker book.
Still, Tia didn’t mind.
Because Daddy was a hundred times—
no, a thousand times more precious than any sticker book.
Tia always thought her hardworking dad was amazing and kind.
“There’s obviously a story behind it all.”
“Exactly. Just look at the man in Room 106. Why would someone that handsome live in such misery at his age? It’s obviously for the child. He’s scared she’ll be taken away.”
“But it’s strange. Even illegal immigrants can get visas or something, can’t they? Tia’s already four years old. Shouldn’t they register her birth soon…?”
“I told you, Tia can’t even have her birth registered! And if they suddenly try now, do you think the district office would stay quiet about it? If they catch an illegal immigrant, the fines are enormous. And then our Tia might even get deported to another country. The young man from 106 would probably end up in prison here. How could they survive a separation like that?”
“Forget that, I’m just thankful for the kindergarten principal downstairs. She’s a good person. If she’d kept refusing to accept Tia, that poor child would’ve fallen behind immediately.”
“Tia would’ve been fine anyway. I’ve never seen a kid like her before. She practically taught herself how to read and write! By the way, has the guy from 106 still not said what country he’s from?”
Even though she’d accidentally overheard all sorts of adult conversations while half-asleep—
Tia had still been happy living with her dad.
“...Sniff.”
A drop of snot fell onto the scrap paper.
Tia froze.
Without realizing it, tears had begun dripping from her eyes.
“Hic…”
Her face crumpled as she buried it in both hands.
Daddy needed to come home soon.
“Daddyyy…”
The phrase deceased person kept floating through her mind.
Tia curled herself into a tiny ball and squeezed her eyes shut.
Repeating to herself that it couldn’t be true.
That the deceased person couldn’t possibly mean Daddy.
At some point, she must have fallen asleep.
When she woke up, it was completely dark outside.
Grandma from Room 107 returned only late at night, drenched from the rain.
In her hands was a cardboard box stained with water marks.
Tia opened it—
and blankly stared.
“Daddy’s going to live with Tia for a very, very long time. Someday we’ll return to our hometown, and I’ll make our Tia smile in a much bigger and cleaner house.”
‘I even used the Ttonapang sticker…’
But it wasn’t Daddy who arrived.
Tia simply stared at the three words written on the box:
Personal Belongings
She knew what that meant.
She had heard the term once in a TV drama.
So that meant…
Without living a long life.
Without returning home.
Without making Tia smile.
Daddy had left her behind all alone.
In the end.
Late that night.
While Grandma from Room 107 snored in her sleep, Tia quietly slipped outside.
She secretly entered Room 106—
the room where she and Daddy used to live together.
On top of the drawer in the far corner sat the box of belongings Grandma had placed there.
Tia climbed up and opened the lid.
“...”
Inside were only Daddy’s usual hat, a few keys, and his wallet.
As she tilted the box to look more closely—
clatter.
Something fell out.
At the very bottom of the box lay a broken necklace.
‘Daddy’s…’
Without realizing it, Tia picked it up.
It was a necklace Daddy always kept tucked inside his coat, so she had never seen it properly before.
She removed the snapped string and held the stone hanging from the center.
Suddenly her throat tightened.
It felt like Daddy’s warmth still lingered inside the stone.
Tears welled up in Tia’s eyes.
And then—
BOOM.
The ceiling suddenly shook.
Startled, she looked up—
only to feel another heavy vibration travel through the floor.
BOOM!
She stumbled backward as a bright light suddenly spread before her eyes.
[Why are you crying?]
Tia blinked in shock.
The stone had slipped from her hands—
and was now floating in midair.
Glowing brightly around its edges.
“T-The stone is talking…”
At that moment—
pop!
Something suddenly sprouted from the stone.
A tiny black head, no larger than an adult’s fist.
Tia stared with her mouth hanging open as ruby-like eyes, a nose, mouth, and ears formed on the stone.
[Why are you crying?]
At the second question, Tia hurriedly came back to her senses.
Though still wary, she gathered her courage and spoke.
“M-My daddy…”
[I understand.]
The stone interrupted her.
Now it had grown tiny arms, legs, a tail, and even wings.
Licking its little front paw a few times, it said:
[That man died, didn’t he?]
Tia’s eyes trembled.
“...Daddy, Daddy is…”
[Shall I bring him back to life?]
Before she could process those words—
the stone creature, still staring at Tia, shook its head lightly and continued:
[I asked if you’d stop crying if I saved your daddy.]