Long, long ago, there was a Little Match Girl.
Even in the frigid winter, Little Match Girl had to drag her exhausted body out to work. After bustling about all day, all she earned was a small, dry piece of dark bread to fill her stomach.
But even living in such conditions, Little Match Girl remained optimistic, because she believed this exhausting life was only temporary. In the not-too-distant bright future, she would surely be able to enjoy the wonderful life of retirement.
But what Little Match Girl had not expected was that just as she was about to retire, new work was piled onto her shoulders, nearly crushing the breath out of her.
Little Match Girl was weak—truly weak. But perhaps as a cruel joke of fate, she, the one least willing to shoulder such responsibility, had been entrusted with such a heavy burden in a time of crisis.
In that dark, chaotic, and lawless era, she barely had a moment to catch her breath, yet she turned the tide and held up a great building on the verge of collapse.
At last, that most chaotic era passed.
When the other matches left, Little Match Girl gave up on the idea of leaving. Narrowing her eyes, she enjoyed this rare time of rest—this was the life she had always longed for.
But what the poor Little Match Girl had not expected was that after working herself to the bone for her entire life, just when she thought she had finally earned some time to rest and enjoy herself, with the arrival of a brand-new era, she could not even fulfill such a tiny, humble wish.
Already half-retired, she dragged her weary body back into office. Not only did her junior lord it over her, but he also used her