Winter Rabbit in Wonderland

SoYoon tried with all her might to persuade herself that the boy was not SoHa but still ended up following him. And thus she figured out who he and his little sister were.

March and Dor—they were mere supporting characters, but they were the two people Alice met when she first came into Wonderland. If the story were to go as planned, these two would have to survive in the slum. And these two…SoYoon remembering the ending, guiltily fiddled with her hair.

Are you crazy, Ye SoYoon? You don’t even know if you can go home if the story finishes; what do you expect to get out of it if you change the narration this badly?

But they are so young.

If only he didn’t look like SoHa. If Heart and Mad Hatter had not been acting on a whim…

She went into the kitchen and sent a message to Heart. He replied, saying to do what she pleased. A few moments later, March came out of the room, and she threw out a suggestion to him.

“You come to the neutral zone. Work under me.”

White Rabbit’s tasks were extensive. From delivering cigarettes to the doctor to delivering letters, eradicating thugs, item delivery, alleviating friction, and like a few days ago at Outhouse, helping a psycho clean up his mess, she had plenty to do. And among those chores, there was something that this boy March could do.

March shook his head in surprise upon hearing her suggestion.

“People from the slums cannot leave here.”

“I’ve received permission.”

“Don’t lie! Even if you are the White Rabbit, there is no way you can get permission like that…”

“From Heart.”

Heart was Wonderland’s strongest man.

If you were to wonder who the king of Wonderland was, then nine out of ten would name Heart. SoYoon blurted his name like a free pass at an amusement park, but March received the information with reverence. He asked with an expression full of both hope and suspicion.

“Did Heart really give permission?”

SoYoon, instead of answering, showed him her cellphone message.

/[I’m going to take two kids out from the slums.]

[Do as you please.]

There was no caller ID function on the phone, so neither Heart’s nor her name showed on the screen. March, still unable to believe it, continued to ask.

“How can I tell if this is Heart that sent this?”

From inside the room came a rustling sound. March hurriedly went inside. There was a sound of someone coming.

“You awake, sleepyhead?”

“Yes…”

“You slept so much, yet you are still sleepy? Give it a rest.”

“Brother…”

“What?”

“It’s not fair…Growing all by yourself…”

March didn’t answer and patted Dor on the head.

Dor blinked and asked March, “But brother…Who’s that girl…?”

“Girl…who are you talking about?”

SoYoon stood where Dor was looking. March looked her up and down and asked while pointing.

“Are you a girl?”

“You better put down that finger before I break it.”

Dor smiled even at SoYoon’s violent outburst. It was a smile that was one of someone lacking knowledge of the drudgery of the real world. SoYoon removed her mask and smiled at Dor.

“Hi. I’m White Rabbit.”

“I’m Dor…Hi, Rabbit Sister…”

“If you don’t mind, I would rather have you remove the ‘Sister.””

“Okay, Rabbit…”

White Rabbit’s name, riddled with the notion of blood, was erased all of a sudden by the small girl’s lips. SoYoon laughed. She whispered to March, who scoffed in exasperation “Ha! Rabbit?”

“Do you want to rot in here forever, or go with me?”

“The answer is already determined, so you just have to say the word.”

***

SoYoon didn’t plan on giving the hurt March tasks to do anytime soon. She had March piggyback Dor as she took them to the hospital. Having just woken up, the doctor with the five o’clock shadow finished treating March in 30 minutes, yet scratched his head, perplexed upon observing Dor. March pleaded with the doctor.

“Can you fix her? What’s wrong with her?”

“Well…This is something even I haven’t seen before. I don’t know what to tell you.”

“You quack! Tell me…! That hurts!”

SoYoon kicked March’s leg. There was no point in getting on the bad side of the doctor.

“Sorry, doctor. He’s just a kid, so he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“You and him both…Anyways, I am the one that can’t properly treat it, so it’s probably best to take her to the big hospital in Outhouse.”

“If it’s an illness you don’t know about, it would be the same whichever hospital we go to. I’ll come again later. Oh, that’s right. And this kid will be handling your cigarette deliveries from now on.”

SoYoon handed him the money to pay for the visit, then lifted Dor in one arm and dragged March out with the other. March threw her off and muttered that it wasn’t fair.

“What does that mean?”

“What?”

“It’s the same whether we go to a big hospital! Just because it’s not your sister, you can’t just say whatever you want!”

SoYoon hit March on the forehead. He grabbed his reddened forehead and slumped.

“F*ck! It hurts!”

“Quit it, kid. I’ve told you before. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Doctor is a genius among the geniuses in Outhouse. What do I mean? I mean exactly what I said. If it’s a disease he doesn’t know about, then no one does.”

“Then—then what do we do? Will Dor have to sleep forever?”

The 14-year-old boy had tears in his eyes. SoYoon sighed. She was sure she had sighed a lot more after meeting March.

“Just wait five years. In that time, Dor will get better.”

When Alice came, everything would be resolved. SoYoon hesitated but patted March on the head. There was no evidence that proved this, but her sincerity must have hit home, because he stopped crying. The rest of the tears disappeared as the conversation progressed.

“Don’t mess with the doctor. Also, however sick you are, don’t loosen your attention around him.”

“Why?”

“That person’s specialty is taking out organs while a person’s asleep.”

There was a reason a respected genius had to crawl into this place. The doctor was exiled from Outhouse after taking organs from comatose patients to complete his own experiments. After hearing her explanation, March’s face whitened in fear.

“I—I have to run errands for him…”

“If you just stay alert, you’ll be safe.”

Oh no, did I make a mistake? March stuck close to her side and stared at the back of the sleeping Dor’s head.

***

The news that White Rabbit had taken an assistant spread fast. Heart called SoYoon to his house.

“There’s a lot of talk these days. Some are saying White Rabbit has a little brown brother, and others are saying you have a pretty little girl doll. And some are going as far as saying you are fattening them up for slaughter. So what do you think?”

“I like this better.”

SoYoon pointed to the sandwich she was holding. The tender roasted bacon, fried eggs, melting cheese, crisp lettuce, fresh tomato, and sweet and tangy pickles were all in the sandwich that Heart served her.

He must have enjoyed watching a usually emotionless SoYoon get excited over food because he kept offering her things to eat. Thoroughly enjoying the perfect harmony of the salty sandwich with the aromatic coffee, SoYoon hummed happily.

“Why are you asking me something you already know the answer to?”

“There are too many things happening consecutively. People are going to start expecting this sort of charity. I think you rushed into the decision.”