Hiro's New Friends

by Sumin

Hiro, who was a 14-year-boy, lived in the countryside just outside of a small city, called Jang-yu. He had heard about a school trip to a youth hostel on the Jiri Mountain, so the next day, he walked home heavily because he had been depressed all day.

Hiro was so timid that he couldn't make friends easily. He was sure that it would be a terrible memory for him and sincerely didn't want to go on the trip, but he had to go if he wanted the chance to make a friend, which he desperately did.

When he arrived home, he unwillingly started packing for the trip.

While he was packing his clothes into his old black backpack, Nabi, an adorable black cat, and White, his three-year-old Korean dog, came to him. They began licking his face like they wanted to play with him.

Despite their repetitive interruptions, Hiro had to keep focused on packing. He thought over and over again that he would be isolated at the camp because he didn't have any friends.

Suddenly, Hiro sprang to his feet. "I will take you!" Hiro shouted to Nabi and White.

He decided to bring Nabi and White, who were already his best friends, but secretly.

He looked around. His black backpack looked big enough to take both of them. He hugged White and Nabi happily with his gentle hands.

White barked few times.

The next day, he put White and Nabi into the bag carefully and left house with his heavy-looking backpack.

When the bus for the trip arrived at the youth hostel and all students got their rooms, he rushed to his room and entered the bathroom. In the small bathroom, he opened his backpack cautiously and whispered to his pets to be quiet.

Suddenly, Nabi jumped out from the bag and ran away through an opened window above the shower booth.

Hiro went out quickly and hid White behind the hostel. Even though he tried to find Nabi and searched for her for an hour, he couldn't find her, and his mood became blue again.

That night, after the schedule of the day, Hiro went out secretly again to feed White. On the way, he heard a low chatting from the backyard of the hostel. As he came around the corner fo the building, he discovered that three students were playing with White and had already fed him by the time he reached the backyard.

"Is he your dog?" a boy wearing a black ball cap asked Hiro.

"Yes and I also had a cat, but I lost her today," Hiro answered sadly. He told them how his cat Nabi had jumped out the window and had disappeared.

Fortunately, the three students wanted to help Hiro find Nabi again and they started to

discuss how they could find Nabi.

"Why don't we catch her with her favorite food?" John who was the boy wearing the ball cap suggested.